With her debut novel, “The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter,” author Brionni Nwosu presents a stunningly beautiful story about a woman who makes a deal with Death. The result is that the title character, Nella Carter, evades her own imminent death and becomes immortal. Her quest is to prove to Death that there are enough worthwhile humans, humans who are kind and good and loving, that Death should not end all human lives and start the human race anew.
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In all of Jenny Colgan’s books, the setting is truly as important as any character; whether it’s the seaside or a charming corner of Edinburgh, her settings never fail to enchant and charm us. “The Secret Christmas Library” is no different. The setting, in a castle in northern Scotland in freezing winter, is breathtaking as Colgan describes the huge heaps of brilliant white snow, the sparkling sea, the majestic stag, and the centerpiece: a massive, decaying, neglected, isolated estate.
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“The Seven Rings” is Nora Roberts’ last book in “The Lost Bride Trilogy,” and it’s set on the rocky coast of Maine, in a beautiful manor home filled with ghosts. Some of the ghosts are members of the Poole family who owned the mansion, others worked there and their spirits still inhabit the spacious rooms. But there is one entity that doesn’t belong, an evil spirit, who longs to possess the manor home and is willing to kill anyone who gets in her way. She killed seven Poole brides and stole their wedding rings, and she is intent on being the mistress of the mansion.
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There’s nothing like a sweet, humor-filled fantasy with just a touch of romance, and Auralee Wallace’s “The Late Night Witches” is the perfect fall novel. The main character is Cassie Beckett, and she lives on Prince Edward Island with her three children. Her husband is away with Doctors Without Borders, and it doesn’t look like he’s coming home any time soon. Her somewhat flighty sister Eliza also lives in town.
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The Missing Pages” by Alyson Richman is a perfect title for a novel about love, loss, and those who adore books. Bibliophiles are smitten by the scent of paper and ink; they love to sit in the peaceful silence of libraries and peruse vast selections of books; they love to meet other bibliophiles and talk books. And sometimes, as in this beautifully narrated story, they fall in love. There is much loss in these pages, but there is also much love.
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There are so many reasons to recommend “Other People’s Houses” by Clare Mackintosh; when a mystery features characters who are so likable and relatable that their situation and relationships become equally as important as the actual mystery, you know it’s going to be a winner. And on top of that, jumping in to read the third book in the series without having read the first two books did not feel as if anything was missing.
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A novel is at the heart of “The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes,” the lost story being a book that one of the main characters, Eva Fuentes, wrote; but this heartfelt story is really about many things. In it, author Chanel Cleeton creates three main characters who live at different times but all of whom share a deep, abiding love of books.
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When I read my first Katherine Center romcom, I realized that her novels are so much more than “just” about romance and falling in love, and her latest book, “The Love Haters,” exemplifies that concept perfectly. It’s certainly about two people falling in love, but it’s also about love in general—the not romantic kind—and it’s about learning to love ourselves. At times, especially in our picture-perfect social media culture, we feel that everything needs to be perfect, and how many of us are perfect?
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In Poppy Alexander’s newest sweet, British, small-town romance, “The Battle of the Bookshops,” she makes no pretense about its Romeo and Juliet bones. The main characters, Roman Montbeau and Julia Capelthorne, are from families who have been feuding for centuries. The Montbeaus have come out ahead and live in wealth and splendor that the Capelthornes can only dream of.
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In “The Art of a Lie,” Laura Shepherd-Robinson takes us back to London in 1749, when women had few rights, and the clever ones learned to use their wits to survive. We meet Hannah Cole a few weeks after the murder of her husband, Jonas. The confectionary shop that had been in her family for generations is struggling now that suppliers have learned a woman is running the shop. They are overcharging her, and she’s not sure how long she’ll be able to stay in business.
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The famous, the wealthy, and the not-so-wealthy all come together on Winthrop Island each summer in Beatriz William’s new novel, “Under the Stars.” For those who read “Husbands & Lovers,” a few characters will be familiar, but no matter, readers will be touched by this story about three women, all of whom end up at Winthrop Island, hoping that their lives will change for the better.
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Readers loved the alternate world Sarah Beth Durst created in “The Spellshop,” and in her new novel, “The Enchanted Greenhouse,” she takes us back to that charming, magic-filled world where flying cats roam and miniature dragons pollinate huge sunflowers in magical greenhouses. In the first book, we learned of Terlu Perna, a lonely librarian who broke the law when she created a sentient plant to keep her company in her solitary life among the stacks of magical spell books. She was sentenced to be turned into a wooden statue forever.
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