Happily Ever After (09/16/2024): We Could Be So Good

Happily Ever After (09/16/2024): We Could Be So Good
Happily Ever After (09/16/2024): We Could Be So Good

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

Nick Russo has worked his way from a rough Brooklyn neighborhood to a reporting job at one of the city’s biggest newspapers. But the late 1950s are a hostile time for gay men, and Nick knows that he can’t let anyone into his life. He just never counted on meeting someone as impossible to say no to as Andy.

Andy Fleming’s newspaper-tycoon father wants him to take over the family business. Andy, though, has no intention of running the paper. He’s barely able to run his life—he’s never paid a bill on time, routinely gets lost on the way to work, and would rather gouge out his own eyes than deal with office politics. Andy agrees to work for a year in the newsroom, knowing he’ll make an ass of himself and hate every second of it.

Except, Nick Russo keeps rescuing Andy: showing him the ropes, tracking down his keys, freeing his tie when it gets stuck in the ancient filing cabinets. Their unlikely friendship soon sharpens into feelings they can’t deny. But what feels possible in secret—this fragile, tender thing between them—seems doomed in the light of day. Now Nick and Andy have to decide if, for the first time, they’re willing to fight.


Next Meeting:
September 16th @ 7:00 PM at Harnish Library

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Fiction Addiction (09/19/2024): The Secrets of Hartwood Hall

Fiction Addiction (09/19/2024): The Secrets of Hartwood Hall
Fiction Addiction (09/19/2024): The Secrets of Hartwood Hall

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden

It’s 1852 and Margaret Lennox, a young widow, attempts to escape the shadows of her past by taking a position as governess to an only child at an isolated country house in West Country, England. Isolated from the village, Margaret soon starts to feel that something isn’t quite right. There are strange figures in the dark, tensions between servants and an abandoned east wing that sometimes has a light on. Even stranger are the repeated trips away on business by Mrs. Eversham, the child’s mother. Lonely, and unsure who to trust, Margaret soon finds distraction in a forbidden relationship with the gardener, Paul. But as Margaret’s history threatens to catch up with her, it isn’t long before she learns the frightening truth behind the secrets of Hartwood Hall.

Next Meeting:
September 19th @ 7:00 PM at Harnish Library

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Fiction Addiction (08/15/2024): Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Fiction Addiction (08/15/2024): Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
Fiction Addiction (08/15/2024): Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady—ah, lady of a certain age—who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to.
Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing—a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn’t know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer.
What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?

Next Meeting:
August 15th @ 7:00 PM at Harnish Library

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Happily Ever After (08/19/2024): Thank You For Listening

Happily Ever After (08/19/2024): Thank You For Listening
Thank You For Listening (cover)

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan

For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. She’s found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound booth and it allows her to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother. When she arrives in Las Vegas last-minute for a book convention, Sewanee unexpectedly spends a whirlwind night with a charming stranger.

On her return home, Sewanee discovers one of the world’s most beloved romance novelists wanted her to perform her last book—with Brock McNight, the industry’s hottest, most secretive voice. Sewanee doesn’t buy what romance novels are selling—not after her own dreams were tragically cut short—and she stopped narrating them years ago. But her admiration of the late author, and the opportunity to get her grandmother more help, makes her decision for her.

As Sewanee begins work on the book, resurrecting her old romance pseudonym, she and Brock forge a real connection, hidden behind the comfort of anonymity. Soon, she is dreaming again, but secrets are revealed, and the realities of life come crashing down around her once more.

If she can learn to risk everything for desires she has long buried, she will discover a world of intimacy and acceptance she never believed would be hers.


Next Meeting:
August 19th @ 7:00 PM at Harnish Library

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MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
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Fiction Addiction (07/18/2024): The Vibrant Years

Fiction Addiction (07/18/2024): The Vibrant Years
Fiction Addiction (07/18/2024): The Vibrant Years

The Vibrant Years by Sonali Dev

When sixty-five-year-old Bindu Desai inherits a million dollars, she’s astounded–and horrified. The windfall threatens to expose a shameful mistake from her youth. Desperate to keep the secret, Bindu quickly spends it on something unexpected: a condo in a posh retirement community in Florida. The impulsive decision blindsides Bindu’s daughter-in-law, Aly. At forty-seven, Aly still shares a home with Bindu even after her divorce from Bindu’s son. But maybe this change is just the push Aly needs to fight for the segment she’s been promised for years at the news station where she works. As Bindu and Aly navigate their new dynamic, Aly’s daughter, Cullie, is faced with losing the business that made her a tech-world star. The only way to save it is to deliver a new idea to her investors–and of course they want the half-baked dating app she pitched them in a panic. Problem is, Cullie has never been on a real date. Naturally, enlisting her single mother and grandmother to help her with the research is the answer.

Next Meeting:
July 18th @ 7:00 PM at Harnish Library

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Happily Ever After (07/15/2024): Where The Lost Wander

Happily Ever After (07/15/2024): Where The Lost Wander
Happily Ever After (07/15/2024): Where The Lost Wander

Where The Lost Wander by Amy Harmon

The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at twenty. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart. John’s heritage gains them safe passage through hostile territory only to come between them as they seek to build a life together. When a horrific tragedy strikes, decimating Naomi’s family and separating her from John, the promises they made are all they have left. Both will have to make terrible sacrifices to find each other, save each other, and eventually… make peace with who they are.

Next Meeting:
July 15th @ 7:00 PM at Harnish Library

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Happily Ever After (06/17/2024): The Romantic Agenda

Happily Ever After (06/17/2024): The Romantic Agenda
Happily Ever After (06/17/2024): The Romantic Agenda

The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann

Thirty, flirty, and asexual Joy is secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm, but she’s never been brave enough to say so. When he unexpectedly announces that he’s met the love of his life—and no, it’s not Joy—she’s heartbroken. Malcolm invites her on a weekend getaway, and Joy decides it’s her last chance to show him exactly what he’s overlooking. But maybe Joy is the one missing something…or someone…and his name is Fox.

Fox sees a kindred spirit in Joy—and decides to help her. He proposes they pretend to fall for each other on the weekend trip to make Malcolm jealous. But spending time with Fox shows Joy what it’s like to not be the third wheel, and there’s no mistaking the way he makes her feel. Could Fox be the romantic partner she’s always deserved?


Next Meeting:
June 17th @ 7:00 PM at Harnish Library

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Fiction Addiction (06/20/2024): Every Note Played

Fiction Addiction (06/20/2024): Every Note Played
Fiction Addiction (06/20/2024): Every Note Played

Every Note Played by Lisa Genova

From neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice comes a powerful exploration of regret, forgiveness, freedom, and what it means to be alive.
An accomplished concert pianist, Richard received standing ovations from audiences all over the world in awe of his rare combination of emotional resonance and flawless technique. Every finger of his hands was a finely calibrated instrument, dancing across the keys and striking each note with exacting precision. That was eight months ago.

Richard now has ALS, and his entire right arm is paralyzed. His fingers are impotent, still, devoid of possibility. The loss of his hand feels like a death, a loss of true love, a divorce—his divorce.

He knows his left arm will go next.

Three years ago, Karina removed their framed wedding picture from the living room wall and hung a mirror there instead. But she still hasn’t moved on. Karina is paralyzed by excuses and fear, stuck in an unfulfilling life as a piano teacher, afraid to pursue the path she abandoned as a young woman, blaming Richard and their failed marriage for all of it.

When Richard becomes increasingly paralyzed and is no longer able to live on his own, Karina becomes his reluctant caretaker. As Richard’s muscles, voice, and breath fade, both he and Karina try to reconcile their past before it’s too late.

Poignant and powerful, Every Note Played is a masterful exploration of redemption and what it means to find peace inside of forgiveness.


Next Meeting:
June 20th @ 7:00 PM at Harnish Library

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Fiction Addiction (05/16/2024): The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley

Fiction Addiction (05/16/2024): The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
Fiction Addiction (05/16/2024): The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti

Samuel Hawley isn’t like the other fathers in Olympus, Massachusetts. A loner who spent years living on the run, he raised his beloved daughter, Loo, on the road, moving from motel to motel, always watching his back. Now that Loo’s a teenager, Hawley wants only to give her a normal life. In his late wife’s hometown, he finds work as a fisherman, while Loo struggles to fit in at the local high school.
Growing more and more curious about the mother she never knew, Loo begins to investigate. Soon, everywhere she turns, she encounters the mysteries of her parents’ lives before she was born. This hidden past is made all the more real by the twelve scars her father carries on his body. Each scar is from a bullet Hawley took over the course of his criminal career. Each is a memory: of another place on the map, another thrilling close call, another moment of love lost and found. As Loo uncovers a history that’s darker than she could have known, the demons of her father’s past spill over into the present—and together both Hawley and Loo must face a reckoning yet to come.

Next Meeting:
May 16th @ 7:00 PM at Harnish Library

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Happily Ever After (05/20/2024): Two Wrongs Make A Right

Happily Ever After (05/20/2024): Two Wrongs Make A Right
Happily Ever After (05/20/2024): Two Wrongs Make A Right

Two Wrongs Make A Right by Chloe Liese

There’s much ado about everything when two adversaries become allies and fake a relationship to fool their meddling friends in this swoony, inclusive reimagining of the Bard’s beloved play Much Ado About Nothing. Jamie and Bea have nothing in common except a meet-disaster and the mutual understanding that they couldn’t be more wrong for each other. But when the people closest to them play Cupid and trick them into dating, Jamie and Bea realize they have something else in common after all–an undeniable need for revenge. Soon their plan is in place: 1. Fake date. Obnoxiously. Convince the meddlers they’re madly in love. 2. Break up. Spectacularly. Dash everyone’s hopes and put a stop to the matchmaking madness–once and for all. To convince everyone they’ve actually fallen for each other, Jamie and Bea will have to nail the performance of their lives. But as their final act nears and playing parts becomes easier than not, what once felt fake now seems all too real. What if Cupid’s arrow wasn’t so off the mark? And what if two wrongs do make a right?

Next Meeting:
May 20th @ 7:00 PM at Harnish Library

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