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Kaitlyn Greenidge's Libertie (2021) might be called a coming of age novel, given the fact that the book explores the issues and challenges of establishing and sustaining identity against all odds.

Clue meets The Great British Baking Show: when I read that description, I knew I had to read The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell (2023). It is the tenth season of Bake Week, a reality competition filmed at the home of “America’s Grandmother,” longtime host Betsy Martin.

I loved this bittersweet epic love story that covers history spanning from WWI through to the present day. The Book of Everlasting Things (2022) follows the story of Samir, a Hindu perfumist, and Firdaus, a Muslim calligrapher, who fall in love in Lahore just before it is torn apart by the partition of India and Pakistan.

Last summer Alice disappeared. After her ex-boyfriend started dating her (now also ex) best-friend, Brooke, Alice took everything she had learned about Agatha Christie and staged her own disappearance. Now she's back at school facing rumors and ridicule and stuck with a tutor to catch up on her school work. Iris, desperate for extra cash to escape to a new life, gets the tutoring gig. When Brooke disappears though and Alice's ex-boyfriend ends up the prime suspect for alleged murder none of the puzzle pieces seem to fit together quite the way the police say.

The Pallbearers Club (2022) by Paul Tremblay is a compelling "memoir" of an unlikely friendship between nebbishy, self-conscious teenager Art Barbara and his mysterious new friend, beginning with the first few meetings of the actual Pallbearers Club and continuing through the next several decades.

In 1880s London, Charlotte Holmes is an outlier. With no desire to follow the traditional path for society women, she sets a plan in motion that leads to unexpected consequences. Charlotte is an absolute delight, as is the cast of characters aiding in her quest to uncover the truth. This series launch by Sherry Thomas puts a fresh spin on Sherlock Holmes.

Are you ready for another amazing epic fantasy featuring strong powerful women?

You may have already watched the Oscar award-winning movie, Women Talking (2023). If you have yet to read the novel of the same name by Miriam Toews, upon which the movie is based. I'm here to encourage you to do so!

I first read the prolific and multi-award-winning author Louise Erdrich back in 1984, when her debut novel Love Medicine (1984) was released. I remember being blown-away by the book, as, sad to say, it was the first time I'd read a novel by an author of American Indian descent.

At the beginning of The Stand-In (2022) by Lily Chu, Gracie Reed’s life is a mess. She’s in desperate need of a new job so she can get her mother into a better nursing home. On top of that, she’s being followed by paparazzi who have mistaken her for Chinese movie star Wei Fangli, who’s currently in Canada to perform in a play.

This book is about international spies, MI16, and hackers. It is fast paced with action scenes and found family. I absolutely loved the way the characters interacted with each other and their handler Mother. The main character Sara is funny, smart and has an incredible sense of justice.

Prior to her latest novel, Matrix (2021), Lauren Groff was best know for her previous book, Fates and Furies, the story of a marriage set over the course of recent decades, a favorite book of President Barack Obama in 2016, a New York Ti