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Must-Read Books December 2024 |
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| The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri After the dying uncle who raised her shares that her mother was Jewish, Allina Gottlieb hides her heritage to survive. Even so, she's assaulted by an SS officer and forced to work as a nurse in a Nazi eugenics program, where she meets and grows close to another SS officer, one with his own deadly secret. This debut will please fans of well-researched, immersive World War II novels like those by Jennifer Chiaverini and Heather Morris. |
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| Pearly Everlasting by Tammy ArmstrongIn a 1920 Canadian logging camp, Pearly Everlasting is born, and her parents also take in an orphaned bear cub, Bruno, raising the duo as siblings. In the 1930s, a new camp boss causes trouble for Bruno, and he's sold off. But Pearly goes after him, even though it means heading alone to places she's never been. This atmospheric novel by an award-winning poet is "warmly enchanting" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| The Last Gifts of the Universe by Riley August Scout is an Archivist who explores the outer reaches of the stars, searching through dead civilizations for useful resources. When Scout comes across a surviving message from an alien who witnessed the cause of their civilization's demise, Scout, their brother, and their cat must race to make sure the information gets into the right hands. For fans of: LGBTQIA+ space adventures taking down evil corporations such as Megan E. O'Keefe's The Blighted Stars or Stina Leicht's Persephone Station. |
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The Drowned by John BanvilleCalled in from Dublin to investigate a missing person's case, Detective Inspector Strafford soon turns to his old ally—the flawed but brilliant pathologist Quirke—but as the case unfolds, events from the past resurface that may have life-altering ramifications for all involved.
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The Queen by Cutter, Nick"On a sunny morning in June, Margaret Carpenter wakes up to find a new iPhone on her doorstep. She switches it on to find a text from her best friend, Charity Atwater. The problem is, Charity's been missing for over a month. Most people in town-even the police-think she's dead. Margaret and Charity have been lifelong friends. They share everything, know the most intimate details about one another...except for the destructive secret hidden from them both. A secret that will trigger a chain of events ending in tragedy, bloodshed, and death. And now Charity wants Margaret to know her story-the real story. In a narrative that takes place over one feverish day, Margaret follows a series of increasingly disquieting breadcrumbs as she forges deeper into the mystery of her best friend-a person she never truly knew at all."
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| Mistress of Lies by K.M. EnrightIn this dark vampire-centric romantasy, Shan LeClaire has successfully assassinated her father to take the place at the head of her family of Blood Workers. However, her machinations against her father are just the beginning of her plans for revenge against the entire vampire court. For fans of: bloodthirsty complex heroes and court intrigue, such as those seen in The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon or Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco. |
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Hotel Lucky Seven by Kotaro IsakaAfter a mission at the Winton Palace Hotel goes awry, a desperate woman named Kamino in the elevator begs unlucky assassin Nanao, aka Ladybird, for her protection. Kamino has an inexhaustible memory and has worked as a walking database for feared underworld boss Inui. But she’s trying to escape, and is being pursued by The Six, a ruthless blowdart-wielding team of killers. Natsuo responds with a jaw-dropping mix of ingenuity and training that takes eight of Tokyo’s elite operatives off the table. Isaka takes readers on a furious cat-and-mouse race through the luxury hotel, culminating in the shocking reveal of the catalyst for the Bullet Train massacre and a complex revenge plot.
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| The Beast Takes a Bride by Julie Anne Long Inspired by "Beauty and the Beast," this 8th Regency romance in Julie Anne Long's bestselling Palace of Rogues series stars estranged spouses Alexandra Bellamy and Colonel Magnus Brightwall, who reunite after a five-year separation to rescue their reputations -- and perhaps awaken their passions. For fans of: Anna Harrington's Lords of the Armory novels. |
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| Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch Narrated by both a grumpy pony and his former owner, Penny, who's just been jailed for a murder she supposedly committed when she was 12, this thoroughly charming novel follows Pony as he travels cross country plotting his revenge on the girl who broke his heart. But then Pony discovers Penny didn't sell him years ago and sets out to prove her innocence. Fans of Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie mysteries will appreciate this humorous, thought-provoking tale that has a bit of bite. |
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| The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden After a string of terrible dates, Sydney Shaw finally meets her ideal man -- a charming doctor. But when a young woman is murdered, part of a series of coast-wide killings by a man who dates his victims, Sydney grows uneasy, suspecting her “perfect” boyfriend might be more dangerous than he seems. |
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| The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami Featuring his signature genre-blending originality, Haruki Murakami's first novel in years (which is partially based on an old short story) begins with two teens in love: a girl who says her real self exists in a walled city and the boy she imagines the city with. She goes missing, and the boy grows up, always looking for her. Read-alikes: Miye Lee's The Dallergut Dream Department Store; David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas; Gabriel García Márquez's Love in the Time of Cholera. |
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| Flint Kill Creek by Joyce Carol Oates In this unsettling but "grimly satisfying collection" (Publishers Weekly), Joyce Carol Oates explores the dark dynamics of dysfunctional relationships. From anxious mothers to jealous colleagues, her characters face tension, violence, and horror in ordinary settings. Oates’s precise prose delves into the macabre, with each story revealing the disturbing closeness between love and hate. |
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| The Rivals by Jane PekCrime fiction fan Claudia Lin and her business (and maybe more) partner Becks run an exclusive small agency vetting online dating matches with help from their tech expert Squirrel. In this "excellent" (Kirkus Reviews) follow-up to The Verifiers, they also again investigate a murder after a client dies and it seems to be related to online dating services secretly using AI for nefarious reasons. Read-alike: L.M. Chilton's Swiped. |
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| Model Home by Rivers Solomon After the seeming murder-suicide of their parents, the Maxwell siblings return to their hometown, where they confront the impacts of trauma and abuse brought on by their haunted childhood home. For fans of: The September House by Carissa Orlando. |
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| Time of the Child by Niall Williams As Christmas 1962 approaches, a 12-year-old boy finds an infant in a churchyard one cold night and quietly delivers her to his small Irish town's doctor. Dr. Troy nurses the baby back to health (secretly, lest rumors begin about his unmarried daughter), and then he hatches a complex plan that might help everyone. Set in the same location as the author's 2019 novel This Is Happiness, this "lovely Christmas miracle of a book" (Library Journal) can be enjoyed on its own. |
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| Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me by Glory Edim In her heartfelt and affirming latest that includes a reading list, Well-Read Black Girl book club founder Glory Edim shares how favorite books of her youth helped her through a fraught childhood marked by the dissolution of her Nigerian immigrant parents' marriage, an unstable home life, and her mother's depression. Try this next: The Toni Morrison Book Club by Juda Bennett; Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature by Farah Jasmine Griffin. |
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| The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America by Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz Lumbee author Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz's accessible and thought-provoking debut utilizes tribal enrollment logs, census data, and interviews to examine how evolving conceptions of Indigenous identity in the United States undermine self-determination efforts. Further reading: Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity by Leah Myers. |
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| Pig Town Party by Lian Cho A mysterious invitation leads a curious, over-confident child to an extravagant masquerade party in Pig Town, where all the inhabitants are anthropomorphic pigs. Deliciously absurd farce ensues, illustrated in exaggerated mixed-media art that’s sure to elicit plenty of giggles. |
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| The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen Like everyone else in the failing human settlement on Mars, orphaned scavenger Lunar Jones is just trying to survive. When he joins a secret squadron of dragon riders, however, Lunar realizes that there may yet be hope for the planet. This series opener boasts high-flying action and an imaginative blend of science fiction and fantasy. |
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| Tangleroot by Kalela Williams Sophronia “Noni” Reid is reluctant to move to her enslaved ancestor’s plantation in her mother’s Virginia hometown. But then she discovers the grave of Sophronia “Sophie” Dearborn, who died in 1859, compelling Noni to investigate sinister family history. Read-alikes: Jas Hammonds’ We Deserve Monuments; Kelly McWilliams’ Your Plantation Prom Is Not OK. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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