It’s been a very hectic last few months, so I saved up last month’s recommendations to add to this month’s list of recommendations. All five books are currently available, with The Roommate Rule by Georgia Stone coming out on audiobook next week. I’m also sharing a Q&A with Georgia next week, so be sure to sign up for my Substack newsletter so you don’t miss out!
Too Close to Home | Seraphina Nova Glass
There is only one thing I would change about Seraphina Nova Glass’ books: the use of a single word that seems to be peppered throughout at random intervals. That being said, everything about this book will keep you on the edge of your seat. Set in an a elite lakefront community, the story is told from the POV of three friends, Regan who finds out her husband is not quite so dead as she thinks he is, Sasha, who has her hands full with making sure her son Drew isn’t getting into trouble, while doing everything she can to keep her ex-husband alive after he took the blame for her all those years ago. Last, but not least, we have Andi, who spends most of the book believing that she was responsible for the accidental death of her ex-husband’s new wife (and nemesis), Tia.
If you’re looking for a dark read with twists that will keep you guessing (it’s been said this book is Desperate Housewives meets Finlay Donovan) then you’re going to want to check this one out.
Rating: A
Those lucky enough to live in the elite lakefront community of Cloverhill Lakes are drawn to it for its safety and top-notch school district. The moms meet for coffee at the park while their kids play, they’re heavily involved in the PTA, and the summers are filled with chardonnay, brunch, sundresses, and backyard bonfires.
But everything changes when Regan Hoffman’s car explodes at the annual Labor Day party. The wrong person was killed, but it was meant for her. As the carefully crafted walls of her community begin to crumble, Regan tries to keep it together—something made infinitely harder when she sees her dead husband, alive.
When a Cloverhill Lakes resident suddenly goes missing, dark secrets begin to surface from underneath the idyllic veneer of their beautiful community—and the truth threatens to destroy them all as Regan finds herself in a fight for her life.
The Library After Dark | Ande Pleigo
This book is definitely one you won’t want to read after dark. While You Are Fatally Invited is set on a remote island; in The Library After Dark, the main characters are in a library that holds a dark past. A past that some would prefer never came to the light of day. When Aria Stokes’ boyfriend of 4 months surprises her with two After Dark tour tickets to the Daedalus Library, Aria finds herself somewhere that she never expected to be again. Also along for the tour are a nurse, reporter, two professors, and a writer.
From the moment the first tour guest dies, we are not only starting to wonder who is going to die next… but who exactly is pulling the strings. Is it the library’s founder seemingly pulling the strengths from the grave, or someone else entirely.
If you’re any bit claustrophobic, you’re going to want to read this one with breaks in between, because, like with all ‘locked room’ books, this one starts to make you feel closed in as well. All in all, a very solid sophomore book from author Ande Pliego.
Rating: A
Not all fairytales were meant for children.
Aria Stokes is finally feeling settled—she lives in a tiny New York apartment, works as a bookseller at a local shop, and has even taken a leap of faith in love by indulging her attraction to bookstore regular Jasper. And he seems to already know her so well.
As a Valentine’s Day surprise, Jasper gets the two of them tickets to an exclusive, after-dark tour of the Daedalus Library—the grandiose establishment famed for its immersive genre-based reading rooms and, more notoriously, its rumored hauntings. While Aria normally loves all things ghastly, this place holds more dark secrets than she’d prefer Jasper to know. Like the last time she was here, she left a body behind.
But when the automatic-door entry malfunctions and Aria, Jasper, and the five other people in their tour group become trapped in the library, they are forced to venture through the storied rooms and hidden passageways of the Daedalus in search of escape . . . and Aria quite literally has nowhere to hide from the shadows of her past. Then the group learns there’s a murderer in their midst.
Now, as she tries to break out of the library’s intricate reading rooms, Aria has to decide who she can trust—and what secrets are best kept buried—if she wants to make it out alive.
The Last Page | Katie Holt
The Last Page is an ode to New York City and independent bookstores if ever there was one. Ella has been running The Last Page since the previous owner’s (Leo) death. Leo was just as much of an institution as The Last Page, and Ella is prepared to take up the reins, believing that the store has been left to her in his will… only to find out that his grandson (the stranger she runs into on the subway) is the new owner. Tensions run high between Ella, Henry, and the booksellers at The Last Page as Henry discovers that the financial state of the store is in dire straits and attempts to make cutbacks to save the store. When Ella learns that the store could close, this brings her that much closer to Henry as they work together to save the bookstore that means so much to them.
While there were a few parts that were a bit to spicy for me, if you love reading stories about bookstores and romance, this is a book you’ll want to check out.
Rating: A
From the author of Not in My Book comes another irresistible, bookish contemporary romance.
Ella has grown up at The Last Page, a charming local bookstore in New York City where she now works. Her first kiss was in the women’s health section. A boyfriend dumped her in comedy. The owner is like a second father to her and has begun training her to take over the store. So when he unexpectedly dies and his estranged grandson is left everything in the will, Ella is devastated.
Henry doesn’t know the first thing about running a bookstore. With his aging mom back in Tennessee, he plans to stay in New York just long enough to ensure things are running smoothly and then head back home. What he never could have counted on was the beautiful, funny bookseller who loves The Last Page more than any place in the world—and who sees him as the villain who’s come to ruin her life.
But when it becomes evident that the store is in deep financial trouble and Henry and Ella are both at risk of losing everything, they have no choice but to put their differences aside and team up—despite the inconvenient chemistry blossoming between them.
The Roommate Rule | Georgia Stone
If you’ve read Georgia’s previous novel, The Friendship Fling, you’ll know why she’s been named the ‘British Emily Henry,’ and I’m so excited to share about her most recent novel, The Roommate Rule. The features Ava’s best friend Dylan, who is heading on an unplanned trip to Wales with a man (Ava’s twin brother Max) whom she’s only met once.
What I enjoyed most about the book was how Max gently pulls away Dylan’s layers, allowing her to be her true self, and how Dylan, in turn, gives Max the safe space that he needs most. Will they break the roommate rule? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
Rating: A+
When two polar opposites find themselves sharing a cabin for the summer, they lay down some ground rules to keep the peace—only to discover that one of those rules might be impossible to keep in this steamy new novel from the author of The Friendship Fling.
Dylan is the kind of person who is always fifteen minutes early and never leaves things to chance–so she can’t believe she’s about to spend six weeks on a last-minute trip to Wales that she didn’t plan, living in a cabin with a man she’s only met once.
Max always goes with the flow, and after his plus-one drops out of his all-expenses-paid travel influencer trip, he’s happy for his sister’s friend to take the spot. After all, from what he remembers of their brief meeting a year ago, Dylan is the kind of woman he’d be more than happy to spend some alone time with.
Not that anything is going to happen between them, because Dylan knows getting involved with this reckless, irrepressible flirt is the last thing she needs. So she makes a house rule: they are roommates only, and under no circumstances can anything . . . untoward . . . happen between them.
But as the days go by, Max starts to realize how much he enjoys chipping away at the walls Dylan hides herself behind, while Dylan begins to admit to herself that there may be more to Max than she first assumed. And before she knows it, she finds herself wondering if their “roommate rule” might be one rule she actually wants to break.
New Release
Thirty Days to home | Cathryn Rakich
Following the death of her son, Marli May accompanies her husband, Nick, on a work retreat to Puerto Escondido, Mexico, in an attempt to put her grief behind her and repair their strained marriage. But Marli’s resilience is challenged once again when she receives an anonymous text message stating her son’s death was not the accident she has been led to believe. Nick says it is a sick prank, and to forget about it. Of course, he has other things on his mind: He’s having an affair with a coworker. Before the end of their trip, he walks away from his marriage, leaving Marli alone in Mexico.
What can bring Marli back from despair this time? Mentally battered and 2,000 miles from home, she turns her attention to a stray street dog and a handsome veterinarian who harbors his own grief. She is told she must wait thirty days before taking the dog out of Mexico and into the United States. That’s thirty days to reevaluate her future, find her strength, and discover the true reason for her son’s death.
