Jen's Journal.....

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Raising Strong Daughters

I am proud of my daughter. She was upset and feeling hurt. She was crying. Being a young lady is difficult. Speaking up for yourself without sounding bratty or being misunderstood is hard to do. My daughter also has the frustrating trait of crying when you are upset, even though you don't mean to cry. Then crying harder because you are upset you are crying. It is a tough combination.

My daughter was frustrated with her assigned role in an upcoming dance through her dance class. She has been working very hard and had her heart set on a different role. I tried to reassure her that she is a wonderful dancer and that she will do great in whatever part she is assigned. She would not be consoled. She was adamant about having a different part.

We sat down and talked about it. I asked her if she had spoken with her instructor. My almost 10 year old daughter admitted that she had not spoken to the instructor. She said it is "hard to tell them stuff". We discussed that if she doesn't share how she is feeling, her instructor won't know. I asked her what would happen if she did talk to her instructor. I asked her what is the worst thing that could happen. She shared that her instructor might say no and not change her part. And we agreed. If that is the worst that will happen, she isn't any worse off and at least her opinion will have been heard.

It's tough to speak up. It's hard to share your feelings. She didn't want to sound greedy or rude. I assured her that it is ok to speak up for yourself and to have opinions. Being a girl is tough. But I am proud to say that she did it. She shared her concern. She spoke up. Her instructor agreed that she does work very hard and agreed that she could have a different role.

It's not always about getting what you want, but it is about having confidence to speak up when you feel strongly about something! I'm so proud of my girl!

Friday, January 4, 2019

Beginning a Bullet Journal 2019

So my friend, Korbyn shared a bullet journal that she had made and it peaked my interest. I started searching and finding out what exactly is a bullet journal and I fell in love!

I found my journal at Hobby Lobby. It has almost 200 pages, it is a dot-grid page, it is 5x7 ish, and has a cute cover that says "Make it Happen". I thought that would help inspire me throughout the year.

I started out by searching for sample layouts. I screen-shot / saved a bunch of samples that I liked.
Next, I made a list of layouts that I would want to do. I'm not really much of a weekly planner / write it out type of person. I rely on Google Calendar a lot. And I mean A LOT. I have about 8 calendars. So, to re-create that didn't seem very reasonable to me.

I am, however, a BIG fan of to-do lists and pretty things, so I thought I'd use my journal for those reasons! So anyway, I wrote out a list of layouts, found a journal that would fit my needs, and then I got started.

The thing I love most so far is that this journal combines a few of my loves all in one place: scrapbooking, to-do lists, organization, and creativity. I also really liked the idea of having so much info all in one place.

Here is a link to my photo album of bullet journal pics. Some are my journal, others are ideas I wanted to try: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1nya3d2gcqbRxKEB7

Here is a link to my pinterest board of bullet journal ideas: https://www.pinterest.com/jlzrichmond/just-jen/bullet-journal/

I am really excited for this new project and am hopeful that it will keep me organized and focused throughout the year! I plan to update every few months on my progress.

MSTA January Article

Avoiding Teacher Burnout

As a science teacher who has transitioned to the “dark side” (administration), one of my biggest daily concerns is the health of my teachers. Not just physical health, but psychological health as well. Let’s face it. Teaching is not for the weak of heart, mind, or spirit. Teaching is a tough job. (And I can also attest that leading teachers, as a principal, is a tough job as well!)

I am beyond proud of the staff at my building. They each eagerly care about their students and they selflessly strive to improve their practice. However, being eager and selfless are also the traits that I worry about most in them. They put others first so often, that they sometimes neglect themselves. I am constantly concerned about their self-care and their own health.

To this end, I share tidbits I find online with helpful tricks for relaxing. We have staff workouts after school on certain weekdays. I give them time on Friday mornings to work together as a staff while I take care of the students. We find humor in our jobs and we encourage one another to keep trying and keep going.

One of the best things I have done this year for myself and my own psychological health was to attend the MEMSPA conference. (Michigan Elementary & Middle School Principals’ Association) At this conference I was able to connect with local administrators to talk about our county-wide issues, but I was also able to network with administrators from all over Michigan. We were able to share our struggles but also our achievements and the great things we are seeing/doing. I was able to learn from some amazing presentations and I can honestly say I’ve never been to a conference that impacted me as much as this one did.

Here are a few of the speakers, in particular, who really resonated with me.

Sean Covey. He discussed goal setting and finding the “genius in everyone”. I’ve applied his ideas to not just my school, but also to my personal life. I am setting a few “WIGS” (wildly important goals) and will not stray from those!
Allyson Apsey. She actually is the principal of a school in Zeeland where my 2 nieces attend. Small world! She focused on the idea of “serendipity” and the idea that you get to choose every day what kind of a day you will have. Her positivity and enthusiasm is contagious and I enjoyed meeting her very much.
Kim Campbell. She was a keynote speaker one of the mornings of the conference. If you’ve ever presented, you know how tough being the first presentation of the day can be. She spoke as we were finishing breakfast and she was hilarious. She taught me that our jobs are FUN and that it is ok to find the humor in every day; to not take ourselves so seriously.
Ben Gilpin and Erin Kreger. These speakers touched on mindfulness and how to incorporate a few mindful behaviors into your day to keep you grounded. After listening to them present, I transformed a corner of our office at school into a “mindfulness” area. There is a comfy bean-bag chair, some squishy toys, a calm-down jar, and more. Students who need a break for a few minutes can come and get themselves centered in this area. So far, it has worked great!
Jimmy Casas. Jimmy was the closing keynote and, again, that is a tough job. He was engaging and so inspiring. The part of his message that stuck with me most was the question “Why doesn’t every month look like September and May in schools”? Think about it. Think about how excited you are in September to meet your new students and get back into your classroom. Think about May and how excited you are to see the sunshine and how sad you are to be sending your students off at the end of the year. (There are a few we might be kind of excited to see go, but mostly we are sad to lose our “kids”.) Now think about the months in between. Do you have the same enthusiasm for your classroom in November, February, March, etc. as you do in September or May? If you’re like me, the answer is “definitely not”. That is something I will be trying to change for myself.

So, in short, this conference came at a perfect time for me. It was in the early part of December and I was feeling burnt out and tired. This conference, in particular its speakers and networking opportunities, was amazing.

If you are feeling the burn out and are in need of some rejuvenation, you are in luck. The MSTA’s 66th annual conference is coming up soon (March 1-2, 2019) in Grand Rapids. This could be the conference that changes your life as an educator. This could be the conference that reinvigorates you and reminds you why you took on the important task of educating our children.

If you attend, I’d love to meet you! Look me up. I am the Region 9 Director and I would love to hear about all of the great things you do in your school. If you attend, I hope you take advantage of the networking opportunities as well as the getting to as many sessions as possible. Until then, I hope you can find the humor in your classroom by choosing to have a great day every day, that you can focus on a few wildly important things, and that you can find ways to make every month feel like September!

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Perfect Imperfection

Our Daily Bread
July 25, 2018

A college professor of mine, picking up on my perfectionism-induced procrastination, gave me some wise advice. "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good," he said, explaining that striving for perfect performance can prevent the risks necessary for growth. Accepting that my work would always be imperfect would give me the freedom to keep growing.

The apostle Paul explained in an even more profound reason to let go of our own efforts to perfect ourselves: it can blind us to our need for Christ.

Paul had learned this the hard way. After years striving to perfectly obey God's law, encountering Jesus changed everything. Paul realized that if his own efforts were enough to be whole and right with God, "then there was no need for Christ to die". Only by letting go of - dying to - self-reliance, could he experience Jesus living in him. Only in his imperfection could he experience God's perfect power.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't resist sin; but it does mean that we should stop relying on our own strength to grow spiritually.

In this lifetime, we will always be works in progress. But as our hearts humbly accept our constant need for the only perfect One, Jesus makes His home there. Rooted in Him, we are free to grow ever deeper in the love "too great" to ever "understand fully".

Ephesians 3:8-19
Galatians 1:11-16
Galatians 2:21

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

New Year 2018

As my winter break comes to an end, I'm trying to put the new year into perspective and gain some momentum for my life in this new year.

Here are a couple of things that are sticking out to me as I think of the new year:

Just recently, I read that "you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with - choose wisely".

For me, the people I spend the most time with are: Nick, Ali, Adrienne, Tracy, and Michelle. That's not a bad group of people. If I had to be an average of those 5 people, I would say I'm in pretty good shape.

Another thing that I read was from my Bible Study on 1 Peter. The author of the study, Jen Wilkin, said that Christians should live their lives in such a way that their actions make them stand out from others. That way, when non-believers see us, they can plainly see that something is different about us.

When I think of my girls, I want them to "STICK OUT" and in many ways, I think they do. They are different than the other kids in their classes. And I believe that a big part of that difference is that they have Jesus in their hearts. Sometimes it can just take my breath away with the simplicity of their faith. It is not something they ever question or hesitate to talk about. It is something I aspire to emulate.
I also apply that to my school. I want us to be so amazing to our kids that we "STICK OUT" and are plainly different than every other school out there. That difference will attract others to us and want them to be part of our "TEAM".

Honor our leaders. I need to do a better job of this. My Bible Study of 1 Peter discussed how we are to honor and respect our leaders and people of authority. We are to honor them in thoughts, actions, and speech. Man, that was something I definitely needed to take to heart. My study said that we are to disagree honorably and not to question out loud. I really need to work on that!

So, as I think of the New Year and things that I want to work on for 2018, I kind of have a laundry list. I plan to try to whittle it down over the next few days and really focus in on just a few. Here are the things I'm throwing around in my brain:

Healthy Mind: find joy and peace in this life. Do the things that bring me joy: craft, write, read, play piano, etc.
Healthy Body: exercise daily, eat well, have energy for life.
Healthy Spirit: continue to apply the wisdom of my Bible Study to my life & strengthen my relationship with God.
Healthy Finances: pay off credit card and become debt-free.
Healthy Family: savor every moment with my family. Spend more quality time with the people I love the most. Dinners together, less TV, more present!
Healthy Organization: get my home organized and clean. De-clutter, de-stress, de-JUNK.
Healthy Projects: get my painting and furniture projects completed.

paint trim, farmhouse table, paint table, etc.

For now, that is what I am thinking. I guess I have decided on a "ONE LITTLE WORD" without even realizing it.......HEALTHY. So, going back to work tomorrow, I would like to focus on being healthy and happy and having a great start to 2018!

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Books I Have Read

I am an obsessive reader. When I get interested in a book or a book series, I have a very hard time putting the book down. I have taken up reading all books on my iPad now. I love this because I can read in bed with the lights off and then fall asleep reading. I use the OverDrive app which lets me read e pubs or to loan out books from my local library.

Here are the books I read so far:

Zia by Scott O'Dell (sequel to Island of the Blue Dolphins. Loved it!)
The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg (Story of Jewish family troubles. An old man leaves his overweight, mean wife.)
Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach (Bedtime story for children. Hilarious.)
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris (The Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood series. A guilty pleasure.)
Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris (The Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood series. A guilty pleasure.)
Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris (The Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood series. A guilty pleasure.)
A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris (The Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood series. A guilty pleasure.)
The Sookie Stackhouse Companion. by Charlaine Harris (The Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood series. This book is a kind of behind the scenes guide. A guilty pleasure.)
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo (The true story of a 4-year-old's visit to heaven and the account of his travels. Inspiring and faithful.) October 2013
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. (A young adult novel about a girl with an eating disorder and body image issues and how it impacts her family.) October 2013
The Room by Emma Donoghue. (A gripping story about a young boy and his mother imprisoned in a garden shed for years.) October 2013
Divergent by Veronica Roth. (A dystopian novel about a society in Chicago. Book 1 of 3. Sets the stage for main characters, choosing of factions, and beginning of relationship between Tris and Tobias. Ends with an uprising and Tris stopping the Erudite takeover.) January 2014
Insurgent by Veronica Roth. (A dystopian novel about a society in Chicago. Book 2 of 3. Ends with an uprising against Erudite by showing everyone information which will change everything.) January 2014
Allegiant by Veronica Roth. (A dystopian novel about a society in Chicago. Book 3 of 3. Characters choose whether to stay in the city or to head outside the city walls. Ends with an uprising against the Bureau of Genetic Welfare and how the characters go on afterwards.) January 2014
Free Four by Veronica Roth. (Four's point of view of initiates and first meeting Tris. 20 pages long.) January 2014
The Transfer by Veronica Roth. (Four's story of his own Choosing Ceremony. Provides insightful background as to why things happened the way they did in the other novels. 70 pages long.) January 2014
Labor Day by Joyce Maynard. (A story of love, loss, and family. An escaped convict changes the world of a boy and his depressed mother in just 6 days. January 2014
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. (Story of a married couple who move from NY to the south to help with husband's family. Wife stages her murder and disappears trying to frame her husband.) March 2014
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (Story of a girl and her brother in prison accused of brutally murdering her family.) April 2014
The Fault in our Stars by John Greene. (Terminally ill cancer patient meets a boy. Boy ends up dying.). May 2014
Paper Towns by John Greene. (Friends on a road trip. Find out about paper towns, fictitious map towns. Girl in HS leaves clues for friends to find her.). May 2014
An Abundance of Katherine's by John Greene. (Friends on a road trip find a small town in Tennessee. One friend is super smart. Only dates girls named Katehrine and tries to write a theorem to predict length of relationship.) May 2014
Bully by Penelope Douglas. (A story of a high school girl, Tatum, and the boy who is her bully, Jared. They were best childhood friends, then he turned against her. Ended up being a love story.) June 2014
Until You by Penelope Douglas. (Jared's version of "Bully".) June 2014
Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich. (Stephanie Plum tries to capture Uncle Sunny, Antwan, and a giraffe named Kevin. She gets stuck in cement but rescued by Lula, Joe, and Ranger.) June 2014
Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich. (Stephanie Plum works with Ranger to capture Vlatko and his plunomium death tool. Briggs has to care for a pack of chihuahuas. Miguel found to be killing off poker players for not paying debt for Mexican girls, weed, and salsa.) June 2014
Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close. (Story of novellas of various girlfriends, how they meet boyfriends, how they get married, and how they grow up as friends.) July 2014
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. (Lincoln works as an internet security guard at a newspaper on the night shift. He reads emails that are flagged for content.m he begins reading emails between Jennifer and Beth and falls for Beth. The story unfolds of them falling for each other.) July 2014
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. (Story of how a man and his college professor reconnect while the professor dies of a terrible disease.) July 2014
The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom. (Story of how a man was the first to every try to track time, his life, and how he fixed two other people's lives.) July 2014
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. (Story of how a man, Eddie, dies and who he meets when he goes to heaven. Each of the 5 people were a key piece of his life in some way.) July 2014
If I Stay by Gayle Forman. (Story of how a young girl, Mia, struggles with deciding to stay and live or to give up and die after a brutal car accident kills her parents and younger brother and severely injures her. Her boyfriend, Adam, is her deciding factor to stay.) August 2014
The Vacationers by Emma Straub. (Franny is married to Jim and finds out he has an affair with his office assistant. Jim gets let go from his magazine just before a trip Franny had planned. Daughter Sylvia gets a Spanish tutor, Juan, and sleeps with him. Son Bobby and wife Carmen are in huge debt and work out fanatics. Friends Charles & Lawrence adopt a baby.) October 2015
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. (Twenty-six-year-old Louisa Clark lives with her working-class family. Unambitious and with few qualifications, she feels constantly outshone by her younger sister, Treena, an outgoing single mother. Louisa, who helps support her family, loses her job at a local cafe. She goes to the Job Centre and, after several failed attempts, is offered a unique employment opportunity: help care for Will Traynor, a successful, wealthy, and once-active young man who was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident two years earlier.) October 2015
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. (Claire Randall travels through the stones to 1743. She meets Jamie Frazer and they get married. They live together in the Scottish Highlands and survive numerous incidents. This book ends with Claire rescuing Jamie from a prison and Captain Jack Randall and then heading to a monastery to recover.) December 2014
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. (Book 2 of Outlander series. Claire is back in present time and visits Roger MacKenzie to search for answers with daughter Brianna. She finds that Jamie survived Culloden, was imprisoned, and is still alive! She must choose what to do next.) February 2015
Voyager by Diana Gabaldon. (Claire decides to try to go back to the past to find Jamie. She finds him as a printer and smuggler in Edinburgh. They have many travels again including Lollybroch, the West Indies, finding Geillis Duncan, rescuing Ian, and more!) March 2015
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon. (Brianna and Roger find Claire and Jamie in the past. B & R have a baby boy and Brianna decides to marry Roger. Ends with a clan meeting at Fraser's Ridge) July 2015
The Fiery Cross. by Diana Gabaldon. ( THE FIERY CROSS is the fifth book in the OUTLANDER series, following DRUMS OF AUTUMN. Set against the War of the Regulation in North Carolina (the first tax-payer’s rebellion in the American colonies, and a precursor to the full-blown Revolution), the story deals with Jamie Fraser’s efforts to protect his family, build a community on Fraser’s Ridge, and keep his land–this last requiring him to walk a delicate tight-rope between the pressing urgency of the rebellion and the increasingly unsteady but still dangerously powerful government. In these efforts, he’s mostly aided–and occasionally hindered–by his wife Claire, who has become the conjure-woman for the Ridge, his daughter Brianna, whose 20th-century inventiveness may possibly kill them all, and his new son-in-law, Roger MacKenzie, which whom he has a rather wary relationship, owing to his having at one point sold Roger to the Iroquois (under the misapprehension that Roger had raped his daughter, but still…), and to Roger’s sense of inferiority, comparing his own budding skills at swordcraft, farming, and leadership with the […] ) August 2015
A Breath of Snow and Ashes. by Diana Gabaldon. (The American Revolution is a civil war, with neighbor turned against neighbor, and the community of Fraser’s Ridge begins to fragment. The fragile veil of law is rent, and bands of roving men ravage the land, stealing, burning, and destroying, often not bothering to shield their actions behind the curtain of politics.). February 2016
An Echo in the Bone. by Diana Gabaldon. (4 story lines: Jamie and Claire Fraser, are now in the midst of the American Revolution; Their daughter Brianna, her husband Roger MacKenzie, and their two children, settled at Lallybroch in the 1970′s (finding their feet after their return from the past—but are unaware that that past is just about to leap out at them again); Lord John Grey and his step-son William (Jamie’s unacknowledged illegitimate son), are embroiled in the Revolution on the British side with William in the army and Lord John on the clandestine side of intelligence; and Jamie’s nephew Young Ian: his troubled love-life is about to take another sharp left turn.). 2016
Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich. (Stephanie Plum works to solve the mystery of why someone is raising fleas by feeding them blood on a college campus.) July 2016
Twenty Boy Summer by Susan Gloss. (According to her best friend Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there's a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there's something she hasn't told Frankie---she's already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.) July 2016
Vintage by Sarah Ockler. (Centered around a Midwestern vintage clothing shop and a group of women who eventually transform the store and each others' lives.) July 2016
Other People We Married by Emma Straub. (In “Some People Must Really Fall in Love,” an assistant professor takes halting steps into the awkward world of office politics while harboring feelings for a freshman student. Two sisters struggle with old assumptions about each other as they stumble to build a new relationship in “A Map of Modern Palm Springs.” In “Puttanesca,” two widows move tentatively forward, still surrounded by ghosts and disappointments from the past. These twelve stories, filled with sharp humor, emotional acuity, and joyful language, announce the arrival of a major new talent.) September 2016
Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson. (A disturbing psychological thriller in which an amnesiac desperately tries to uncover the truth about who she is and who she can trust.) October 2016
Me After You by Jo Jo Moyes. ((The sequel to the beloved New York Times million-copy bestseller, Me Before You. How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living? Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started. Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding—the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future. . . . For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here Jojo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await.) November 2016.
Landline by Rainbow Rowell. (Landline is a 2014 American sci-fi novel by Rainbow Rowell. It tells the story of 39 year old Georgie McCool who discovers that she is able to call her husband's 22 year old self through his landline.) December 2016
Blackout - Remembering the things I drank to forget. by Sarah Hepola. (For Sarah Hepola, alcohol was "the gasoline of all adventure." She spent her evenings at cocktail parties and dark bars where she proudly stayed till last call. Drinking felt like freedom, part of her birthright as a strong, enlightened twenty-first-century woman. But there was a price. She often blacked out, waking up with a blank space where four hours should be. Mornings became detective work on her own life. What did I say last night? How did I meet that guy? She apologized for things she couldn't remember doing, as though she were cleaning up after an evil twin. Publicly, she covered her shame with self-deprecating jokes, and her career flourished, but as the blackouts accumulated, she could no longer avoid a sinking truth. The fuel she thought she needed was draining her spirit instead.) December 2016
Before I Go. by Colleen Oakley. (There's just one thing more for Daisy to do - find her husband a new wife. A warm-hearted, funny, life-affirming story about the lengths we'll go to for the ones we love.) January 2017
The Last Time We Say Goodbye. by Cynthia Hand. (The last time Lex was happy, it was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn't look at her like she might break down at any moment. Now she's just the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that's all she'll ever be. As Lex starts to put her life back together, she tries to block out what happened the night Tyler died. But there's a secret she hasn't told anyone-a text Tyler sent, that could have changed everything. Lex's brother is gone. But Lex is about to discover that a ghost doesn't have to be real to keep you from moving on.) February 2017
In a Dark, Dark Wood. by Ruth Ware. (In a dark, dark wood. Nora hasn't seen Clare for ten years. Not since Nora walked out of school one day and never went back. There was a dark, dark house. Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare’s hen do arrives. Is this a chance for Nora to finally put her past behind her? And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room. But something goes wrong. Very wrong. And in the dark, dark room.... Some things can’t stay secret for ever.) February 2017.
Wonder. by R.J. Palacio. (August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?) February 2017
Let it Snow. by John Green. (Sparkling white snowdrifts, beautiful presents wrapped in ribbons, and multicolored lights glittering in the night through the falling snow. A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms one small town into a romantic haven, the kind you see only in movies. Well, kinda. After all, a cold and wet hike from a stranded train through the middle of nowhere would not normally end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger. And no one would think that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow would lead to love with an old friend. Or that the way back to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks. Thanks to three of today’s bestselling teen authors—John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle—the magic of the holidays shines on these hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and breathtaking kisses.) April 2017
Firsts. by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn. (Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward, fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time- the kind Mercedes never had herself. Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed. When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.) April 2017.
Before I Fall. Lauren Oliver. (For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—"Cupid Day"—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night. However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined.) March 2017.
A Dog's Purpose. by Bruce Cameron. (Surprised to find himself reborn as a rambunctious golden haired puppy after a tragically short life as a stray mutt, Bailey's search for his new life's meaning leads him into the loving arms of 8 year old Ethan. During their countless adventures Bailey joyously discovers how to be a good dog. But this life as a beloved family pet is not the end of Bailey's journey. Reborn as a puppy yet again, Bailey wonders, will he ever find his purpose?) March 2017.
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage. by Alice Munro. (A tough-minded housekeeper jettisons the habits of a lifetime because of a teenager’s practical joke. A college student visiting her brassy, unconventional aunt stumbles on an astonishing secret and its meaning in her own life. An incorrigible philanderer responds with unexpected grace to his wife’s nursing-home romance.) May 2017.
Turbo Twenty-Three. by Janet Evanovich. (Stephanie almost gets killed by a clown after trying to solve the case of an ice cream company's HR being frozen into a BoGart Bar. She hooks up with Ranger at Disney. ) August 2017.
The Glass Castle. by Jeannette Walls. (A memoir of four siblings who must learn to take care of themselves as their responsibility-averse, free-spirit parents both inspire and inhibit them. When sober, the children's brilliant and charismatic father captured their imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Meanwhile, their mother abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want to take on the work of raising a family.) August 2017
Auggie & Me. RJ Palacio. (AUGGIE & ME is a new side to the WONDER story: three new chapters from three different characters - bully Julian, oldest friend Christopher and classmate Charlotte - giving an insight into how Auggie has touched their own lives. Published previously as digital shorts entitled THE JULIAN CHAPTER, PLUTO and SHINGALING, this collection is a thought-provoking, surprising, infuriating, heartbreaking and heartwarming must-read for the thousands of readers who loved WONDER.) August 2017.
The Good Widow. Liz Fenton. (Elementary school teacher Jacqueline "Jacks" Morales's marriage was far from perfect, but even in its ups and downs it was predictable, familiar. Or at least she thought it was...until two police officers showed up at her door with devastating news. Her husband of eight years, the one who should have been on a business trip to Kansas, had suffered a fatal car accident in Hawaii. And he wasn't alone. For Jacks, laying her husband to rest was hard. But it was even harder to think that his final moments belonged to another woman--one who had left behind her own grieving and bewildered fianc . Nick, just as blindsided by the affair, wants answers. So he suggests that he and Jacks search for the truth together, retracing the doomed lovers' last days in paradise. Now, following the twisting path of that fateful road, Jacks is learning that nothing is ever as it seems. Not her marriage. Not her husband. And most certainly not his death...) September 2017.
The Couple Next Door. Shari Lapena. (Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all--a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story. Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they've kept for years. What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family--a chilling tale of deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.) October 2017.
The Year We Turned 40. Liz Fenton. (Jessie loves her son Lucas more than anything, but it tears her up inside that he was conceived in an affair that ended her marriage to a man she still loves, a man who just told her he's getting remarried. This time around, she’s determined to bury the secret of Lucas’ paternity, and to repair the fissures that sent her wandering the first time. Gabriela regrets that she wasted her most fertile years in hot pursuit of a publishing career. Yes, she’s one of the biggest authors in the world, but maybe what she really wanted to create was a family. With a chance to do it again, she’s focused on convincing her husband, Colin, to give her the baby she desires. Claire is the only one who has made peace with her past: her twenty-two year old daughter, Emily, is finally on track after the turmoil of adolescence, and she's recently gotten engaged, with the two carat diamond on her finger to prove it. But if she’s being honest, Claire still fantasizes about her own missed opportunities: a chance to bond with her mother before it was too late, and the possibility of preventing her daughter from years of anguish. Plus, there’s the man who got away—the man who may have been her one true love. But it doesn’t take long for all three women to learn that re-living a life and making different decisions only leads to new problems and consequences—and that the mistakes they made may, in fact, have been the best choices of all…) October 2017.
The Woman in Cabin 10. Ruth Ware. (In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…) October 2017.
Your Perfect Life. Liz Fenton. (Two childhood best friends wake up the morning after their twentieth high school reunion to discover that they’ve switched bodies in this hilarious and heartwarming debut by two childhood best friends.) October 2017.
The Status of All Things. Liz Fenton. (What would you do if you could literally rewrite your fate—on Facebook? This heartwarming and hilarious new novel from the authors of Your Perfect Life follows a woman who discovers she can change her life through online status updates.) November 2017.
The Child. Fiona Barton. (As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby. As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss. But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn—house by house—into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. And she soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women—and torn between what she can and cannot tell…) November 2017.
I Liked My Life. Abby Fabiaschi. (Maddy's husband, Brady, and their teenage daughter, Eve, are struggling with one nagging question since learning she committed suicide - why did she do it? Maddy seemed to have a great life. Her husband is successful, her teenage daughter is perfect. Maddy herself was thoughtful and good at giving advice. She believed in forgiveness and being nice to everyone. Brady is learning how he could've done things differently as is Eve, but it still doesn't make sense for Maddy to do something this drastic without any signs that something was wrong. However, Maddy hasn't completely left Brady and Eve. She is watching from beyond, trying to steer them in the right direction that will allow them to heal from the past and start anew.) December 2017.
Stir Fry. Emma Donogue. (Seventeen and sure of nothing, Maria has left her parents' small-town grocery for university life in Dublin. An ad in the Student Union - "2 ♀ seek flatmate. No bigots." - leads Maria to a home with warm Ruth and wickedly funny Jael, students who are older and more fascinating than she'd expected.) January 2018.
Bared to You. by Sylvia Day. Crossfire Novel #1. (Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness—beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I'd never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily...Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other's most private wounds... and desires.The bonds of his love transformed me, even as I prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart...) February 2018
Into the Water. Paula Hawkins. (In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind. But Jules is afraid. So afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of knowing that Nel would never have jumped. And most of all she’s afraid of the water, and the place they call the Drowning Pool.) February 2018.
Reflected in You. by Sylvia Day. Crossfire Novel #2. (Gideon Cross. As beautiful and flawless on the outside as he was damaged and tormented on the inside. He was a bright, scorching flame that singed me with the darkest of pleasures. I couldn't stay away. I didn't want to. He was my addiction... my every desire... mine. My past was as violent as his, and I was just as broken. We’d never work. It was too hard, too painful... except when it was perfect. Those moments when the driving hunger and desperate love were the most exquisite insanity. We were bound by our need. And our passion would take us beyond our limits to the sweetest, sharpest edge of obsession...) February 2018.
Entwined with You. by Sylvia Day. Crossfire Novel #3. (From the moment I first met Gideon Cross, I recognized something in him that I needed. Something I couldn't resist. I saw the dangerous and damaged soul inside--so much like my own. I was drawn to it. I needed him as surely as I needed my heart to beat. No one knows how much he risked for me. How much I'd been threatened, or just how dark and desperate the shadow of our pasts would become. Entwined by our secrets, we tried to defy the odds. We made our own rules and surrendered completely to the exquisite power of possession...)February 2018.
Captivated by You. by Sylvia Day. Crossfire Novel #4. (Gideon calls me his angel, but he’s the miracle in my life. My gorgeous, wounded warrior, so determined to slay my demons while refusing to face his own. The vows we’d exchanged should have bound us tighter than blood and flesh. Instead they opened old wounds, exposed pain and insecurities, and lured bitter enemies out of the shadows. I felt him slipping from my grasp, my greatest fears becoming my reality, my love tested in ways I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to bear. At the brightest time in our lives, the darkness of his past encroached and threatened everything we’d worked so hard for. We faced a terrible choice: the familiar safety of the lives we’d had before each other or the fight for a future that suddenly seemed an impossible and hopeless dream.…) February 2018.
One With You. by Sylvia Day. Crossfire Novel #5. (Gideon Cross. Falling in love with him was the easiest thing I've ever done. It happened instantly. Completely. Irrevocably. Marrying him was a dream come true. Staying married to him is the fight of my life. Love transforms. Ours is both a refuge from the storm and the most violent of tempests. Two damaged souls entwined as one. We have bared our deepest, ugliest secrets to one another. Gideon is the mirror that reflects all my flaws ... and all the beauty I couldn't see. He has given me everything. Now, I must prove I can be the rock, the shelter for him that he is for me. Together, we could stand against those who work so viciously to come between us. But our greatest battle may lie within the very vows that give us strength. Committing to love was only the beginning. Fighting for it will either set us free ... or break us apart.)

March 2018.

Afterburn. by Sylvia Day. (The realization that Jax still affected me so strongly was a jagged pill to swallow. He’d only been part of my life for five short weeks two years ago. But now he was back. Walking into a deal I’d worked hard to close. And God, he was magnificent. His eyes were a brown so dark they were nearly black. Thickly lashed, they were relentless in their intensity. Had I really thought they were soft and warm? There was nothing soft about Jackson Rutledge. He was a hard and jaded man, cut from a ruthless cloth. In that moment I understood how badly I wanted to unravel the mystery of Jax. Bad enough that I didn’t mind how much it was going to cost me.) March 2018.
Aftershock. by Sylvia Day. (When it came to playing games, my lover Jax was a master strategist. He pulled strings behind the closed doors of D.C.’s most powerful political players, and somehow still found time to nearly sideline my career. What he didn’t know was that when I didn’t like the rules, I threw them out and made my own. I wasn’t going to let Jax get away with it. I wasn’t going to let him get away at all. I loved Jax enough that it was impossible to give up. Jax loved me enough that giving up was the only end he’d consider. He didn’t think I could swim with the sharks. It was entirely my pleasure to show him that I’d already dived in.) March 2018.
A Wrinkle in Time. by Madeline L'Engle. (It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger. "Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me be on my way. Speaking of way, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract". Meg's father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared. Now the time has come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space?) March 2018.
The Nest. by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney. (Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got behind the wheel of a car with a nineteen-year-old waitress as his passenger. The ensuing accident has endangered the Plumbs joint trust fund, “The Nest,” which they are months away from finally receiving. Meant by their deceased father to be a modest mid-life supplement, the Plumb siblings have watched The Nest’s value soar along with the stock market and have been counting on the money to solve a number of self-inflicted problems. Melody, a wife and mother in an upscale suburb, has an unwieldy mortgage and looming college tuition for her twin teenage daughters. Jack, an antiques dealer, has secretly borrowed against the beach cottage he shares with his husband, Walker, to keep his store open. And Bea, a once-promising short-story writer, just can’t seem to finish her overdue novel. Can Leo rescue his siblings and, by extension, the people they love? Or will everyone need to reimagine the future they’ve envisioned? Brought together as never before, Leo, Melody, Jack, and Beatrice must grapple with old resentments, present-day truths, and the significant emotional and financial toll of the accident, as well as finally acknowledge the choices they have made in their own lives. This is a story about the power of family, the possibilities of friendship, the ways we depend upon one another and the ways we let one another down. In this tender, entertaining, and deftly written debut, Sweeney brings a remarkable cast of characters to life to illuminate what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of time, and the fraught yet unbreakable ties we share with those we love.) March 2018.
Still Me. by Jojo Moyes. (Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She steps into the world of the super rich, working for Leonard Gopnik and his much younger second wife, Agnes. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her new job and New York life. As she begins to mix in New York high society, Lou meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. Before long, Lou finds herself torn between Fifth Avenue where she works and the treasure-filled vintage clothing store where she actually feels at home. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places?) March 2018.
Never Never. by Colleen Hoover. (Charlize Wynwood and Silas Nash have been best friends since they could walk. They’ve been in love since the age of fourteen. But as of this morning…they are complete strangers. Their first kiss, their first fight, the moment they fell in love…every memory has vanished. “I don’t care what our real first kiss was,” he says. “That’s the one I want to remember.” Charlize and Silas must work together to uncover the truth about what happened to them and why. But the more they learn about the couple they used to be…the more they question why they were ever together to begin with. “I want to remember what it feels like to love someone like that. And not just anyone. I want to know what it feels like to love Charlie.”) March 2018.
Never Never, Part Two. by Colleen Hoover. (Charlize Wynwood and Silas Nash have been best friends since they could walk. They’ve been in love since the age of fourteen. But as of this morning…they are complete strangers. Their first kiss, their first fight, the moment they fell in love…every memory has vanished. “I don’t care what our real first kiss was,” he says. “That’s the one I want to remember.” Charlize and Silas must work together to uncover the truth about what happened to them and why. But the more they learn about the couple they used to be…the more they question why they were ever together to begin with. “I want to remember what it feels like to love someone like that. And not just anyone. I want to know what it feels like to love Charlie.”) April 2018.
Never Never, Part Three. by Colleen Hoover. (Charlize Wynwood and Silas Nash have been best friends since they could walk. They’ve been in love since the age of fourteen. But as of this morning…they are complete strangers. Their first kiss, their first fight, the moment they fell in love…every memory has vanished. “I don’t care what our real first kiss was,” he says. “That’s the one I want to remember.” Charlize and Silas must work together to uncover the truth about what happened to them and why. But the more they learn about the couple they used to be…the more they question why they were ever together to begin with. “I want to remember what it feels like to love someone like that. And not just anyone. I want to know what it feels like to love Charlie.”) April 2018.
Maybe Someday. by Colleen Hoover. (At twenty-two years old, Sydney has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her best friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter’s cheating on her–and she is left trying to decide what to do next. Sydney becomes captivated by Ridge, her mysterious neighbor. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the passionate way he plays his guitar every evening out on his balcony. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one…) April 2018.
Maybe Not. by Colleen Hoover. (When Warren has the opportunity to live with a female roommate, he instantly agrees. It could be an exciting change. Or maybe not. Especially when that roommate is the cold and seemingly calculating Bridgette. Tensions run high and tempers flare as the two can hardly stand to be in the same room together. But Warren has a theory about Bridgette: anyone who can hate with that much passion should also have the capability to love with that much passion. And he wants to be the one to test this theory. Will Bridgette find it in herself to warm her heart to Warren and finally learn to love?) May 2018.
Maybe Now. by Colleen Hoover. (Maybe Now is a follow-up to Maybe Someday, which means Maybe Someday should be read first. Maybe NOT is a companion novel to both books and can be read 2nd to 3rd behind Maybe Someday, or not at all.) May 2018.
Slammed. by Colleen Hoover. (Following the unexpected death of her father, eighteen-year-old Layken becomes the rock for both her mother and younger brother. She appears resilient and tenacious, but inside, she’s losing hope. Then she meets her new neighbor Will, a handsome twenty-one-year-old whose mere presence leaves her flustered and whose passion for poetry slams thrills her. Not long after a heart-stopping first date during which each recognizes something profound and familiar in the other, they are slammed to the core when a shocking discovery brings their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together and the forces that tear them apart. Only through the poetry they share are they able to speak the truth that is in their hearts and imagine a future where love is cause for celebration, not regret.) May 2018.
Point of Retreat. by Colleen Hoover. (As Layken and Will’s emotion-packed story continues, a stunning and unforeseen revelation about Will’s past leaves them questioning everything that they thought they knew about each other. With the foundation of their relationship at risk, they must decide whether they are willing to fight for a future together, or to retreat back into solitude and heartache. How far does Will have to go to prove to Layken his love for her will last forever? It will require something truly extraordinary to keep this couple together, and the decisions they make and the answers they find will change not only their lives, but the lives of everyone around them.) May 2018.
This Girl. by Colleen Hoover. (Layken and Will’s love has managed to withstand the toughest of circumstances and the young lovers, now married, are beginning to feel safe and secure in their union. As much as Layken relishes their new life together, she finds herself wanting to know everything there is to know about her husband, even though Will makes it clear he prefers to keep the painful memories of the past where they belong. Still, he can’t resist his wife’s pleas and so he begins to untangle his side of the story, revealing for the first time his most intimate feelings and thoughts, retelling both the good and bad moments, and sharing a few shocking confessions of his own from the time when they first met. In This Girl, Will tells the story of their complicated relationship from his point of view. Their future rests on how well they deal with the past in this final installment of the beloved Slammed series.) June 2018.
Pax. by Sara Pennypacker. (Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day, the unimaginable happens: Peter’s dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild. At his grandfather’s house, three hundred miles away from home, Peter knows he isn’t where he should be-with Pax. He strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, spurred by love, loyalty, and grief, to be reunited with his fox. Meanwhile Pax, steadfastly waiting for his boy, embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own. . . .) June 2018.
Hopeless. by Colleen Hoover. (Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies. That’s what Sky Davis realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of their first encounter. Sky struggles to keep him at a distance, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. Unable to deny their intense connection, Sky finally caves to his unwavering pursuit. However, she soon discovers that Holder’s erratic and unpredictable behavior comes with a very good explanation. One that will ultimately test her faith in the hopeless boy she’s fallen in love with.) June 2018
Losing Hope. by Colleen Hoover. (Haunted by the little girl he couldn’t save from imminent danger, Holder’s life has been overshadowed by feelings of guilt and remorse. He has never stopped searching for her, believing that finding her would bring him the peace he needs to move on. However, Holder could not have anticipated that he would be faced with even greater pain the moment they reconnect. In Losing Hope, Holder reveals the way in which the events of Sky’s youth affected him and his family, leading him to seek his own redemption in the act of saving her. But it is only in loving Sky that he can finally begin to heal himself.) June 2018
Finding Cinderella. by Colleen Hoover. (A chance encounter in the dark leads eighteen-year-old Daniel and the girl who stumbles across him to profess their love for each other. But this love has conditions: they agree it will only last one hour and it will only be make-believe. When their hour is up and the girl rushes off like Cinderella, Daniel tries to convince himself that what happened between them only seemed perfect because they were pretending it was perfect. Moments like that with girls like her don’t happen outside of fairytales. One year and one bad relationship later, his disbelief in insta-love is stripped away the day he meets Six: a girl with a strange name and an even stranger personality. But Daniel soon realizes that fairytales don’t exist, and unfortunately for Daniel, finding Cinderella doesn’t guarantee their happily ever after…it only further threatens it.) June 2018
Confess: A Novel. by Colleen Hoover. (At age twenty-one, Auburn Reed has already lost everything important to her. In her fight to rebuild her shattered life, she has her goals in sight and there is no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry. For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is keeping a major secret from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it. To save their relationship, all Owen needs to do is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin.) July 2018
My Husband's Wife. by Jane Corry. (What if your life was built on a lie? When lawyer Lily marries Ed, she's determined to make a fresh start. To leave the secrets of the past behind. But when she takes on her first criminal case, she starts to find herself strangely drawn to her client. A man who's accused of murder. A man she will soon be willing to risk everything for. But is he really innocent? And who is she to judge?) July 2018.
It Ends with Us. by Colleen Hoover. (Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most. Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up — she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true. Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place. As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.) July 2018
November 9. by Colleen Hoover. (Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist. Can Ben’s relationship with Fallon—and simultaneously his novel—be considered a love story if it ends in heartbreak?) July 2018.
Behind Closed Doors. by BA Paris. (Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace: he has looks and wealth, she has charm and elegance. You'd like to get to know Grace better. But it's difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are never apart. Some might call this true love. Picture this: a dinner party at their perfect home, the conversation and wine flowing. They appear to be in their element while entertaining. And Grace's friends are eager to reciprocate with lunch the following week. Grace wants to go, but knows she never will. Her friends call—so why doesn't Grace ever answer the phone? And how can she cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim? And why are there bars on one of the bedroom windows? The perfect marriage? Or the perfect lie?) July 2018.
The Breakdown. by BA Paris. (Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods, on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, with the woman sitting inside—the woman who was killed. She’s been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It’s a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm. Her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. And she probably would only have been hurt herself if she’d stopped. But since then, she’s been forgetting every little thing: where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code, why she ordered a pram when she doesn’t have a baby. The only thing she can’t forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt. Or the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her…) July 2018
All Your Perfects. by Colleen Hoover. (Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair. All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?) July 2018.
Without Merit. by Colleen Hoover. (The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit. Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix. Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.) July 2018.
Bring Me Back. by BA Paris. (She went missing. He moved on. The secrets remained ― until now. Young, in love, and on vacation, Finn and Layla are driving along the highway when Finn decides to stop at a service station restroom. He hops out, locks the car doors behind him, and goes inside. When he returns Layla is gone ― never to be seen again. That's what Finn told the police. But it's not the whole story. Ten years later, now engaged to Layla's sister, Finn gets a phone call. Someone has seen Layla hiding in plain sight.) July 2018.
Too Late. by Colleen Hoover. (Sloan will go through hell and back for those she loves.And she does, every single day.After finding herself stuck in a relationship with the dangerous and morally corrupt Asa Jackson, Sloan will do whatever it takes to get by until she's able to find a way out.Nothing will get in her way.Nothing except Carter.Sloan is the best thing to ever happen to Asa. And if you ask Asa, he'd say he's the best thing to ever happen to Sloan. Despite Sloan's disapproval of Asa's sinister lifestyle, he does exactly what he needs to do in order to stay a step ahead in his business. He also does exactly what he needs to do in order to stay a step ahead of Sloan.Nothing will get in his way.Nothing except Carter.) July 2018.
Ugly Love. by Colleen Hoover. (When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she doesn't think it's love at first sight. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction.) July 2018.
The Cabin at the End of the World. by Paul Tremblay. (A gay couple and their adopted Chinese daughter are taking a vacation in a secluded cabin. Their dwelling is invaded by four strangers who take the family captive and tell them that to prevent the upcoming apocalypse one of them must be killed by the others.) July 2018.
I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. (A tragic accident. It all happened so quickly. She couldn't have prevented it. Could she? In a split second, Jenna Gray's world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever. Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating.) August 2018.
The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell. (In the early hours of an April morning, Maya stumbles into the path of an oncoming bus. A tragic accident? Or suicide? Her grief-stricken husband, Adrian, is determined to find out. Maya had a job she enjoyed; she had friends. They'd been in love. She even got on with his two previous wives and their children. In fact, they'd all been one big happy family. But before long Adrian starts to identify the dark cracks in his perfect life. Because everyone has secrets. And secrets have consequences. Some of which can be devastating.) August 2018.
The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances. (Laura Cavendish can't wait to meet the woman who's won her son's affection. She pictures his new girlfriend, Cherry, becoming a close friend and confidante. But although Cherry is beautiful and amiable, there's something about the possessive way she touches Daniel. Cherry seems to be driving a wedge between mother and son--until one day Daniel is injured in a terrible accident. Six months later, Laura makes a fateful decision--and carries out an astonishing deceit.) September 2018.
Unwifeable by Mandy Stadtmiller. (Starting in 2005, Mandy picks up everything to move across the country to Manhattan, looking for a fresh start. She is newly divorced, thirty-years-old, with a dream job at the New York Post. She is ready to conquer the city, the industry, the world. But underneath the glitz and glamour, there is a darker side threatening to surface. The drug-fueled, never-ending party starts off as thrilling…but grows ever-terrifying. Too many blackout nights and scary decisions begin to add up. As she searches for the truth behind the façade, Mandy realizes that falling in love won’t fix her—until she learns to accept herself first.) October 2018.
The Ex-Wife by Jess Ryder. (You’ve got everything she wants … Newly married Natasha has the perfect house, a loving husband and a beautiful little girl called Emily. She’d have it all if it wasn’t for Jen, her husband’s ex-wife who just won’t leave them alone… Then Natasha returns home one day to find her husband and Emily gone without trace. Desperate to get her daughter back, Natasha will do anything even if it means accepting an offer of help from Jen. But can she trust her? And do either of them really know the man they married?) November 2018.
The Good Sister by Jess Ryder. (Two sisters. One secret... A lie that could destroy them both. When her father dies, Josie is devastated to uncover he led a secret life: another house, another family and a half-sister called Valentina. Both with red hair and icy blue eyes, Josie and Valentina could be mistaken for twins. But the similarities end there...Josie - Sweet, reserved, jealous, thief. Valentina - Care-free, confident, dangerous, liar. They share secrets. They tell lies. And for one sister, dark memories begin to surface... Should the other be scared for her life?) November 2018.
Best Friends Forever by Margot Hunt. (How well do you really know your best friend? Kat Grant and Alice Campbell have a friendship forged in shared confidences and long lunches lubricated by expensive wine. Though they’re very different women—the artsy socialite and the struggling suburbanite—they’re each other’s rocks. But even rocks crumble under pressure. Like when Kat’s financier husband, Howard, plunges to his death from the second-floor balcony of their South Florida mansion. Howard was a jerk, a drunk, a bully and, police say, a murder victim. The questions begin piling up. Like why Kat has suddenly gone dark: no calls, no texts and no chance her wealthy family will let Alice see her. Why investigators are looking so hard in Alice’s direction. Who stands to get hurt next. And who is the cool liar—the masterful manipulator behind it all.) December 2018.
Hardcore 24 by Janet Evanovich. (Trouble comes in bunches for Stephanie Plum. First, professional grave robber and semi-professional loon, Simon Diggery, won’t let her take him in until she agrees to care for his boa constrictor, Ethel. Stephanie’s main qualification for babysitting an extremely large snake is that she owns a stun gun—whether that’s for use on the wandering serpent or the petrified neighbors remains to be seen. Events take a dark turn when headless bodies start appearing across town. At first, it’s just corpses from a funeral home and the morgue that have had the heads removed. But when a homeless man is murdered and dumped behind a church Stephanie knows that she’s the only one with a prayer of catching this killer. If all that’s not enough, Diesel’s back in town. The 6-foot-tall, blonde-haired hunk is a man who accepts no limits—that includes locked doors, closed windows and underwear. Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli isn’t pleased at this unexpected arrival nor is Ranger, the high-powered security consultant who has his own plans for Stephanie. As usual Jersey’s favorite bounty hunter is stuck in the middle with more questions than answers. What’s the deal with Grandma Mazur’s latest online paramour? Who is behind the startling epidemic of mutilated corpses? And is the enigmatic Diesel’s sudden appearance a coincidence or the cause of recent deadly events?) December 2018.
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin. (From the author of the smash hits Something Borrowed and Something Blue comes a novel that explores the question: is there ever a deal-breaker when it comes to true love? First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes . . . a baby carriage? Isn't that what all women want? Not so for Claudia Parr. And just as she gives up on finding a man who feels the same way, she meets warm, wonderful Ben. Things seem too good to be true when they fall in love and agree to buck tradition with a satisfying, child-free marriage. Then the unexpected occurs: one of them has a change of heart. One of them wants children after all. This is the witty, heartfelt story about what happens to the perfect couple when they suddenly want different things. It's about feeling that your life is set and then realizing that nothing is as you thought it was—and that there is no possible compromise. It's about deciding what is most important in life, and taking chances to get it. But most of all, it's about the things we will do—and won't do—for love.) December 2018.
The Wife by Alafair Burke. (When Angela met Jason Powell while catering a dinner party in East Hampton, she assumed their romance would be a short-lived fling, like so many relationships between locals and summer visitors. To her surprise, Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, had other plans, and they married the following summer. For Angela, the marriage turned out to be a chance to reboot her life. She and her son were finally able to move out of her mother’s home to Manhattan, where no one knew about her tragic past. Six years later, thanks to a bestselling book and a growing media career, Jason has become a cultural lightning rod, placing Angela near the spotlight she worked so carefully to avoid. When a college intern makes an accusation against Jason, and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward with an even more troubling allegation, their perfect life begins to unravel. Jason insists he is innocent, and Angela believes him. But when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look at the man she married. And when she is asked to defend Jason in court, she realizes that her loyalty to her husband could unearth old secrets.) January 2019.
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center. (Margaret Jacobsen has a bright future ahead of her: a fiancé she adores, her dream job, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment. In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Margaret must figure out how to move forward on her own terms while facing long-held family secrets, devastating heartbreak, and the idea that love might find her in the last place she would ever expect.) January 2019.
Bookends by Jane Green. (Catherine Warner and Simon Nelson are best friends: total opposites, always together, and both unlucky in love. Cath is scatterbrained, messy, and–since she had her heart broken a few years back–emotionally closed off. Si is impossibly tidy, bitchy, and desperate for a man of his own. They live in London’s West Hampstead along with their lifelong friends, Josh and Lucy, who are happily married with a devil-spawn child and a terrifying Swedish nanny, Ingrid. All’s well (sort of) until the sudden arrival of a college friend–the stunningly beautiful Portia, who’s known for breaking hearts. Though they’ve grown up and grown apart from Portia, the four friends welcome her back into the fold. But does Portia have a hidden agenda or is she merely looking to reconnect with old friends? Her reappearance soon unleashes a rollicking series of events that tests the foursome’s friendships to the limit and leaves them wondering if a happy ending is in store. Fortunately, Cath has plenty to take her mind off Portia’s schemes–like her gutsy decision to leave her job in advertising to fulfill her dream of opening a bookstore. And then there’s James, the sexy real-estate agent who keeps dropping by even after the bookstore deal is done. With his irresistible smile and boyish charm could he be the one to melt Cath’s heart?) January 2019.
The Perfect Girl by Gilly Macmillan. (Zoe Maisey is a seventeen-year-old musical prodigy with a genius IQ. Three years ago, she was involved in a tragic incident that left three classmates dead. She served her time, and now her mother, Maria, is resolved to keep that devastating fact tucked far away from their new beginning, hiding the past even from her new husband and demanding that Zoe do the same. Tonight Zoe is giving a recital that Maria has been planning for months. It needs to be the performance of Zoe’s life. But instead, by the end of the evening, Maria is dead. In the aftermath, everyone—police, family, Zoe’s former solicitor, and Zoe herself—tries to piece together what happened. But as Zoe knows all too well, the truth is rarely straightforward, and the closer we are to someone, the less we may see.) February 2019.
The Ex by Alafair Burke. (Twenty years ago she ruined his life. Now she has the chance to save it. Widower Jack Harris has resisted the dating scene ever since the shooting of his wife Molly by a fifteen-year-old boy three years ago. An early morning run along the Hudson River changes that when he spots a woman in last night’s party dress, barefoot, enjoying a champagne picnic alone, reading his favorite novel. Everything about her reminds him of what he used to have with Molly. Eager to help Jack find love again, his best friend posts a message on a popular website after he mentions the encounter. Days later, that same beautiful stranger responds and invites Jack to meet her in person at the waterfront. That’s when Jack’s world falls apart. Olivia Randall is one of New York City’s best criminal defense lawyers. When she hears that her former fiancé, Jack Harris, has been arrested for a triple homicide—and that one of the victims was connected to his wife’s murder—there is no doubt in her mind as to his innocence. The only question is who would go to such great lengths to frame him—and why? For Olivia, representing Jack is a way to make up for past regrets, to absolve herself of guilt from a tragic decision, a secret she has held for twenty years. But as the evidence against him mounts, she is forced to confront her doubts. The man she knew could not have done this. But what if she never really knew him?) February 2019.
You by Caroline Kepnes. (When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card. There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting. As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.) February 2019.
Whiskey in a Teacup by Reese Witherspoon. (Reese Witherspoon’s grandmother Dorothea always said that a combination of beauty and strength made southern women “whiskey in a teacup.” We may be delicate and ornamental on the outside, she said, but inside we’re strong and fiery. Reese’s southern heritage informs her whole life, and she loves sharing the joys of southern living with practically everyone she meets. She takes the South wherever she goes with bluegrass, big holiday parties, and plenty of Dorothea’s fried chicken. It’s reflected in how she entertains, decorates her home, and makes holidays special for her kids—not to mention how she talks, dances, and does her hair (in these pages, you will learn Reese’s fail-proof, only slightly insane hot-roller technique). Reese loves sharing Dorothea’s most delicious recipes as well as her favorite southern traditions, from midnight barn parties to backyard bridal showers, magical Christmas mornings to rollicking honky-tonks. It’s easy to bring a little bit of Reese’s world into your home, no matter where you live. After all, there’s a southern side to every place in the world, right?) March 2019.
The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy. (They call themselves the May Mothers—a collection of new moms who gave birth in the same month. Twice a week, with strollers in tow, they get together in Prospect Park, seeking refuge from the isolation of new motherhood; sharing the fears, joys, and anxieties of their new child-centered lives. When the group’s members agree to meet for drinks at a hip local bar, they have in mind a casual evening of fun, a brief break from their daily routine. But on this sultry Fourth of July night during the hottest summer in Brooklyn’s history, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is abducted from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but the May Mothers insisted that everything would be fine. Now Midas is missing, the police are asking disturbing questions, and Winnie’s very private life has become fodder for a ravenous media. Though none of the other members in the group are close to the reserved Winnie, three of them will go to increasingly risky lengths to help her find her son. And as the police bungle the investigation and the media begin to scrutinize the mothers in the days that follow, damaging secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are formed and fractured.) March 2019.
If You Were Here. by Alafair Burke. (Magazine journalist McKenna Wright is chasing the latest urban folktale-the story of an unidentified woman who heroically pulled a teenaged boy from the subway tracks, seconds before an oncoming train. When McKenna locates a short video snippet that purportedly captures part of the incident, she thinks she has an edge on the competition scrambling to identify the mystery heroine.)
Little Black Lies. by Sandra Block. (In the halls of the psychiatric ward, Dr. Zoe Goldman is a resident in training, dedicated to helping troubled patients. However, she has plenty of baggage of her own. When her newest patient arrives - a beautiful sociopath who murdered her mother - Zoe becomes obsessed with questions about her own mother's death. But the truth remains tauntingly out of reach, locked away within her nightmares of an uncontrollable fire. And as her adoptive mother loses her memory to dementia, the time to find the answers is running out.)
Jemima J. by Jane Green. (Jemima Jones is overweight. About one hundred pounds overweight. Treated like a maid by her thin and social-climbing roommates, and lorded over by the beautiful Geraldine (less talented but better paid) at the Kilburn Herald, Jemima finds that her only consolation is food. Add to this her passion for her charming, sexy, and unobtainable colleague Ben, and Jemima knows her life is in need of a serious change. When she meets Brad, an eligible California hunk, over the Internet, she has the perfect opportunity to reinvent herself–as JJ, the slim, beautiful, gym-obsessed glamour girl. But when her long-distance Romeo demands that they meet, she must conquer her food addiction to become the bone-thin model of her e-mails–no small feat.)
Mr. Maybe. by Jane Green. (To Libby Mason, Mr. Right has always meant Mr. Rich. A twenty seven-year-old publicist, she's barely able to afford her fashionable and fabulous lifestyle and often has to foot the bill for dates with Struggling Writer Nick, a sexy but perpetually strapped-for-cash guy she's dating (no commitments – really). So when Ed, Britain's wealthiest but stodgiest bachelor, enters the picture, her idea of the fairy tale romance is turned on it's head.)
Babyville. by Jane Green. (Meet Julia, a wildly successful television producer who appears to have the picture-perfect life. But beneath the surface, things are not as perfect as they seem. Stuck in a loveless relationship with her boyfriend, Mark, Julia thinks a baby is the answer . . . but she may want a baby more than she wants her boyfriend. Will a trip to New York City with a jet-setting friend—and all the glittering energy and eligible men the city brings—help her discover what she really needs?)
Straight Talking. by Jane Green. (Meet Tasha—single and still searching. A producer for Britain’s most popular morning show working under a nightmare boss, Tash is well-versed in the trials and tribulations of twenty-first century dating. She and her three best friends certainly haven’t lived the fairy tale they thought they would: there’s Andy, who’s hooked on passion, but too much of a tomboy to have moved much beyond the beer-drinking contest stage; Mel, stuck in a steady but loveless relationship; and Emma, endlessly waiting for her other half to propose. Their love lives are only complicated by the sort of men who seem to drift in and out: Andrew—suave, good-looking and head over heels in love . . . with himself; Simon, who is allergic to commitment but has a bad-boy nature that’s impossible to resist; and Adam—perfectly attractive, but too sweet to be sexy.)
It's Your Ship. by D Michael Abrashoff. (When Captain Abrashoff took over as commander of USS Benfold, it was like a business that had all the latest technology but only some of the productivity. Knowing that responsibility for improving performance rested with him, he realized he had to improve his own leadership skills before he could improve his ship. Within months, he created a crew of confident and inspired problem-solvers eager to take the initiative and responsibility for their actions. The slogan on board became "It's your ship," and Benfold was soon recognized far and wide as a model of naval efficiency. How did Abrashoff do it?) August 2019.
What Happened that Night. by Sandra Block. (One moment Dahlia is a successful Harvard student. The next, she wakes up from a party, the victim of a brutal assault. Her life veers into a tailspin, and what’s worse, her memory of the attack has been ripped away, leaving a cold rage in its wake.)
All Day & A Night. by Alafair Burke. (The latest story dominating the tabloids - the murder of psychotherapist Helen Brunswick-couldn't be further from Carrie Blank's world handling federal appeals at an elite Manhattan law firm. But then a hard-charging celebrity trial lawyer calls Carrie with an offer she can't refuse: Anthony Amaro, the serial killer police blamed for the murder of Carrie's older sister, Donna, has new evidence related to Brunswick's murder that he believes can exonerate him. Determined to force the government to catch Donna's real killer, Carrie takes on Amaro's wrongful conviction claim.)
The Good Sister. by Jess Ryder. (Two sisters. One secret... A lie that could destroy them both. When her father dies, Josie is devastated to uncover he led a secret life: another house, another family and a half-sister called Valentina. Both with red hair and icy blue eyes, Josie and Valentina could be mistaken for twins. But the similarities end there…Josie – Sweet, reserved, jealous, thief. Valentina – Care-free, confident, dangerous, liar. They share secrets. They tell lies. And for one sister, dark memories begin to surface… Should the other be scared for her life?)
Best Friends Forever. by Margot Hunt. (Kat Grant and Alice Campbell have a friendship forged in shared confidences and long lunches lubricated by expensive wine. Though they’re very different women—the artsy socialite and the struggling suburbanite—they’re each other’s rocks. But even rocks crumble under pressure. Like when Kat’s financier husband, Howard, plunges to his death from the second-floor balcony of their South Florida mansion.)
Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone. by J.K. Rowling. (A boy who learns on his eleventh birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and possesses unique magical powers of his own. He is summoned from his life as an unwanted child to become a student at Hogwarts, an English boarding school for wizards. There, he meets several friends who become his closest allies and help him discover the truth about his parents' mysterious deaths.) September 2019.
Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets. by J.K. Rowling. (A mysterious elf tells Harry to expect trouble during his second year at Hogwarts, but nothing can prepare him for trees that fight back, flying cars, spiders that talk and deadly warnings written in blood on the walls of the school.) October 2019.
Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban. by J.K. Rowling. (Harry Potter's third year at Hogwarts starts off badly when he learns deranged killer Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban prison and is bent on murdering the teenage wizard. While Hermione's cat torments Ron's sickly rat, causing a rift among the trio, a swarm of nasty Dementors is sent to protect the school from Black. A mysterious new teacher helps Harry learn to defend himself, but what is his secret tie to Sirius Black?) December 2019.
Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire. by J.K. Rowling. (There is an upcoming tournament between the three major schools of magic, with one participant selected from each school by the Goblet of Fire. When Harry's name is drawn, even though he is not eligible and is a fourth player, he must compete in the dangerous contest.) January 2020.
Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix. by J.K. Rowling. (Now in his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) learns that many in the wizarding community do not know the truth of his encounter with Lord Voldemort. Cornelius Fudge, minister of Magic, appoints his toady, Dolores Umbridge, as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, for he fears that professor Dumbledore will take his job. But her teaching is deficient and her methods, cruel, so Harry prepares a group of students to defend the school against a rising tide of evil.) February 2020.
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince. by J.K. Rowling. (As Death Eaters wreak havoc in both Muggle and Wizard worlds, Hogwarts is no longer a safe haven for students. Though Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) suspects there are new dangers lurking within the castle walls, Dumbledore is more intent than ever on preparing the young wizard for the final battle with Voldemort. Meanwhile, teenage hormones run rampant through Hogwarts, presenting a different sort of danger. Love may be in the air, but tragedy looms, and Hogwarts may never be the same again.) February 2020.
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows. by J.K. Rowling. (Following Dumbledore's death, Harry is moved to a safe location and during this event Mad-Eye is killed. Ron and Hermione decide to join Harry in his quest to destroy the Horcruxes. The trio goes on a mission to find the deathly hallows, save Hogwarts, and kill Lord Voldemort.) March 2020.
Harry Potter & The Cursed Child. by J.K. Rowling. (Following Dumbledore's death, Harry is moved to a safe location and during this event Mad-Eye is killed. Ron and Hermione decide to join Harry in his quest to destroy the Horcruxes.) March 2020.
Written in My Own Heart's Blood. by Diana Gabaldon. (British Army is leaving Philadelphia and George Washington pursuing them. Jamie has "returned from the dead" claiming Claire as his wife, even though she married Lord John Gray while he was "dead". William, Lord John's son finds out Jamie is his dad and takes off. Brianna tries to protect Jemmy from a criminal. Roger disappeared into the past. Lots going on!) July 2020.
The Secrets She Keeps. by Michael Robotham. (Agatha is pregnant and works at a grocery store, counting down the days until her baby is due. The one thing she looks forward to at work is catching a glimpse of Meghan, the effortlessly chic customer whose elegant lifestyle dazzles her. Meghan has it all: two perfect children, a handsome husband, a happy marriage, a stylish group of friends, and she writes perfectly droll confessional posts on her popular parenting blog—posts that Agatha reads with devotion each night as she waits for her absent boyfriend, the father of her baby, to maybe return her calls. When Agatha learns that Meghan is pregnant again, and that their due dates fall within the same month, she finally musters up the courage to speak to her, thrilled that they now have the ordeal of childbearing in common. Little does Meghan know that the mundane exchange she has with a grocery store employee during a hurried afternoon shopping trip is about to change the course of her not-so-perfect life forever…) July 2020.
Look Alive 25. by Janet Evanovich. (There's nothing like a good deli and the Red River Deli in Trenton is one of the best. World famous for its pastrami, cole slaw and for its disappearing managers. Over the last month, three have vanished from the face of the earth, the only clue in each case is one shoe that's been left behind. The police are baffled. Lula is convinced that it's a case of alien abduction. Whatever it is, they'd better figure out what's going on before they lose their new manager, Ms. Stephanie Plum.) July 2020.
Twisted 26. by Janet Evanovich. (Grandma Mazur is a widow...again. This time her marriage lasted a whole 45 minutes. The unlucky groom was one Jimmy Rosolli, local gangster, lothario (senior division) and heart attack waiting to happen...well, the waiting's over.) July 2020.
If I Run. by Terri Blackstock. (Casey Cox’s DNA is all over the crime scene. There’s no use talking to police; they have failed her abysmally before. She has to flee before she’s arrested . . . or worse. The truth doesn’t matter anymore.) September 2020.
If I'm Found. by Terri Blackstock. (Casey Cox is still on the run, fleeing prosecution for a murder she didn’t commit. Dylan Roberts—her most relentless pursuer—is still on her trail, but his secret emails insist that he knows the truth and wants to help her. He’s let her escape before when he had her in his grasp, but trust doesn’t come easily.) September 2020.
If I Live. by Terri Blackstock. (Casey is hiding again—in Memphis this time—but it’s different now. She knows without a doubt that Dylan believes her and is doing all he can to help bring Brent’s killer to justice. He’s become an unexpected friend . . . and even, maybe, something more. Hope makes everything more bearable.) September 2020.
Regretting You. by Colleen Hoover. (While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together. ) September 2020.
Roommaid. by Sariah Wilson. (Madison Huntington is determined to live her dreams. That means getting out from under her family’s wealth and influence by saying no to the family business, her allowance, and her home. But on a teacher’s salary, the real world comes as a rude awakening—especially when she wakes up every morning on a colleague’s couch. To get a place of her own (without cockroaches, mold, or crime scene tape), Madison accepts a position as a roommaid. In exchange for free room and board, all she needs to do is keep her busy roommate’s penthouse clean and his dog company. So what if she’s never washed a dish in her life. She can figure this out, right? Madison is pretty confident she can fake it well enough that Tyler Roth will never know the difference. The finance whiz is rich and privileged and navigates the same social circles as her parents—but to him she’s just a teacher in need of an apartment. He’s everything Madison has run from, but his kindhearted nature, stomach-fluttering smile, and unexpected insecurities only make her want to get closer. And Tyler is warming to the move. Rewarding job. Perfect guy. Great future. With everything so right, what could go wrong? Madison is about to find out.) October 2020.
My Sister's Lies. by SD Roberts. (For a decade, Hannah’s life has been pretty close to perfect – she has a great job, she’s married to Mark, and her child-free existence means she’s free as a bird. The only sadness in her life is a fall-out with her sister Diane, who hasn’t spoken to her in over ten years. But now Diane is on her doorstep – and this time, she’s got her teenage daughter Mia in tow.) December 2020.
The Stillwater Girls. by Minka Kent. (Ignorant of civilization and cautioned against its evils, nineteen-year-old Wren and her two sisters, Sage and Evie, were raised in off-the-grid isolation in a primitive cabin in upstate New York. When the youngest grows gravely ill, their mother leaves with the child to get help from a nearby town. And they never return.) December 2020.
The Shadow Box. by Luanne Rice. (After artist Claire Beaudry Chase is attacked and left for dead in her home on the Connecticut coast, she doesn’t know who she can trust. But her well-connected husband, Griffin—who is running for governor—is her prime suspect.) December 2020.
This is Not How It Ends. by Rochelle Weinstein. (When Charlotte and Philip meet, the pair form a deep and instant connection. Soon they’re settled in the Florida Keys with plans to marry. But just as they should be getting closer, Charlotte feels Philip slipping away.) December 2020.
Every Last Secret. by AR Torre. (Cat Winthorpe has worked hard to get what she has: a gorgeous home; social standing; and William, her successful, handsome husband. Then a friendly new couple moves into the estate next door. While cautious, a good neighbor like Cat greets them with open arms and warm hospitality) November 2020.
Her Final Words. by Brianna Labuskes. (It seems like an open-and-shut case for FBI special agent Lucy Thorne when Eliza Cook walks into the field office. The teenage girl confesses to murdering a young boy. Disturbingly composed, she reveals chilling details only the killer could know. Beyond that Eliza doesn’t say another word, leaving a vital question met with dead silence: Why did she do it?) November 2020.
Girls of Glass. Brianna Labuskes. (When the granddaughter of one of Florida’s most powerful judges disappears, it triggers a personal trauma for Detective Alice Garner: the kidnapping and murder of her own child. As a flood of painful memories comes rushing back, Alice sees herself in the guilt-ridden and emotionally fragile mother Charlotte Burke, who has become the target of a rush to judgment) November 2020.
The Haunting of Brynn Wilder. (After a devastating loss, Brynn Wilder escapes to Wharton, a tourist town on Lake Superior, to reset. Checking into a quaint boardinghouse for the summer, she hopes to put her life into perspective. In her fellow lodgers, she finds a friendly company of strangers: the frail Alice, cared for by a married couple with a heartbreaking story of their own; LuAnn, the eccentric and lovable owner of the inn; and Dominic, an unsettlingly handsome man inked from head to toe in mesmerizing tattoos.) by Wendy Webb. October 2020.
Trust No One. by Debra Webb. (It’s the worst possible time for Detective Kerri Devlin to be involved in an all-consuming double-homicide case. She’s locked in a bitter struggle with her ex-husband and teenage daughter, and her reckless new partner is anything but trustworthy.) October 2020.
The One & Only Bob. by Katherine Applegate. (Bob sets out on a dangerous journey in search of his long-lost sister with the help of his two best friends, Ivan and Ruby. As a hurricane approaches and time is running out, Bob finds courage he never knew he had and learns the true meaning of friendship and family.) January 2021
Stillhouse Lake. by Rachel Caine. (Gina Royal is the definition of average—a shy Midwestern housewife with a happy marriage and two adorable children. But when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor—the ultimate warrior mom.) January 2021
Killman Creek. by Rachel Caine. (Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text…) January 2021
Wolfhunter River. by Rachel Caine. (Gwen Proctor escaped her serial-killer husband and saved her family. What she can’t seem to outrun is his notoriety. Or the sick internet vigilantes still seeking to avenge his crimes. But now, a threatened woman has reached out. Marlene Crockett, from the remote town of Wolfhunter, is panicked for herself and her daughter. When Gwen arrives in the small, isolated rural community, Marlene is already dead—her own daughter blamed for the murder. Except that’s not the person Marlene feared at all. And Gwen isn’t leaving until she finds out who that was.) February 2021
Bitter Falls. by Rachel Caine. (Gwen is hired to investigate a cold-case. Finds a cult, they kidnap Sam & Connor, Gwen has to find Carol to get them back!) February 2021
The Wedding Game. by Meghan Quinn. (Luna and Alec clash on national TV as harsh words and glitter fly with abandon. But as they bicker over color swatches and mood boards, they find themselves fighting something else: their growing mutual attraction. While Luna is torn between family loyalty and her own feelings, Alec wonders if he might have been wrong about love and marriage all along…) March 2021
If You Must Know. by Jamie Beck. (Sisters Amanda Foster and Erin Turner have little in common except the childhood bedroom they once shared and the certainty each feels that her way of life is best. Amanda follows the rules—at the school where she works; in her community; and as a picture-perfect daughter, wife, and mother-to-be. Erin follows her heart—in love and otherwise—living a bohemian lifestyle on a shoestring budget and honoring her late father’s memory with a passion for music and her fledgling bath-products business.) April 2021
The Next Wife. by Kaira Rouda. (Tish Nelson has it all. Youth, influence, a life of luxury, and a new husband. But the truth is, there’s a lot of baggage. Namely, his first wife—and suspicions of his infidelity. After all, that’s how she got John. Maybe it’s time for a romantic getaway, far from his vindictive ex. If Kate plans on getting John back, Tish is one step ahead of her.) May 2021
Last Light. by Terri Blackstock. (In the face of a crisis that sweeps an entire high-tech planet back to the age before electricity, Deni Branning's career ambitions have vanished. She's not about to let her dream of marriage go as well.) June 2021
Night Light. by Terri Blackstock. (Survival has become a lifestyle. When two young thieves break into the Brannings' home and clean out the food in their pantry, Jeff Branning tracks them to a filthy apartment and discovers a family of children living alone, stealing to stay alive. Where is their mother? The search for answers uncovers a trail of desperation and murder . . . and for the Brannings, a powerful new purpose that can transform their entire community - and above all, themselves.) June 2021
True Light. by Terri Blackstock. (While still in darkness, the Brannings help to start a government system in their neighborhood, & establish a church & a school, but a new outbreak of murders threatens their work!) June 2021
Dawn's Light. by Terri Blackstock. (As the Pulses that caused the outage are finally coming to an end, thirteen-year-old Beth Branning witnesses a murder. Threatened by the killer, she keeps the matter to herself. But her silence could cost her life!) July 2021
The Seven Day Switch. by Kelly Harms. (Who do Celeste and Wendy think they are? They’re about to find out thanks to one freaky week. After a neighborhood potluck and too much sangria, they wake up—um, what?—in each other’s bodies. Everything Celeste and Wendy thought they knew about the “other kind of mom” is flipped upside down—along with their messy, complicated, maybe not so different lives.) July 2021

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. by Mary Ann Shaffer.
The Secret Wife. by Gill Paul. ( December 2020.

Books to read:
The first phonecall from heaven: Mitch Albom

If you have some book suggestions for me to read next, please do share! Thanks!