February offers lots to celebrate. There's Valentine's Day, which we all know and (mostly) love, Black History Month, and every four years, an extra day. Looking for a great book that combines one, two, or even all of these themes? Look no further than this month's Library Reads-- ten new releases chosen each month by librarians across the country as their favorites. You'll find romance, fantasy, history, suspense and much more. Even if not every book is set in a Leap Year, (though one is!) you'll discover a captivating tale to keep you turning pages on a chilly winter night. Browse the books here, or stop by the Main Library, where recent Library Reads picks can be found on the square shelf beside the New Releases display.
And don't forget to join the Black History Month Challenge for adults and teens. Sign up on Beanstack, or stop by the Adult Services desk for a snack-pack of cookies from Black-owned Partake Foods. Complete at least one of the four Activity Badge challenges, and be entered to win a Target gift card, and a copy of Octavia Butler's Kindred. The Black History Month Challenge runs until February 29.
Fantasy
The Book of Love by Kelly Link - Late one night, Laura, Daniel, and Mo find themselves beneath the fluorescent lights of a high school classroom, almost a year after disappearing from their hometown, the small seaside community of Lovesend, Massachusetts, having long been presumed dead. Which, in fact, they are.
With them in the room is their previously unremarkable high school music teacher, who seems to know something about their disappearance—and what has brought them back again. Desperate to reclaim their lives, the three agree to the terms of the bargain their music teacher proposes. They will be given a series of magical tasks; while they undertake them, they may return to their families and friends, but they can tell no one where they’ve been. In the end, there will be winners and there will be losers.
But their resurrection has attracted the notice of other supernatural figures, all with their own agendas. As Laura, Daniel, and Mo grapple with the pieces of the lives they left behind, and Laura’s sister, Susannah, attempts to reconcile what she remembers with what she fears, these mysterious others begin to arrive, engulfing their community in danger and chaos, and it becomes imperative that the teens solve the mystery of their deaths to avert a looming disaster.
Romance (plus a Black History Month Challenge read, with Leap Year magic!)
A Love Song For Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams - Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing.
Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her. When regal nonagenarian Ms. Della invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning.
Just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers. One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.
Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.
Suspense
The Teacher by Frieda McFadden - A mind-bending, psychological thriller from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Housemaid!
Lesson #1: trust no one
Eve has a good life. She gets up each day, gets a kiss from her husband Nate, and heads off to teach math at the local high school. All is as it should be. Except… Last year, Caseham High was rocked by a scandal, with one student, Addie, at its center. And this year, Eve is dismayed to find the girl in her class. Addie can’t be trusted. She lies. She hurts people. She destroys lives. At least, that’s what everyone says. But nobody knows the real Addie. Nobody knows the secrets that could destroy her. And Addie will do anything to keep it quiet.