August is Read-A-Romance Month

August is Read-A-Romance Month

Looking for a fun, upbeat read to enjoy during the final weeks of summer? Grab a romance novel!  August is Read-A-Romance month, a time to celebrate one of literature's most popular, and optimistic genres!

Romance novels are defined by two must-haves: a central love story and a happy ending, that includes the central couple together, in either a happily ever after (HEA), or for teen protagonists, a happy for now. (HFN). While the satisfying resolution is never in doubt-- just as you know a mystery novel will end with the case solved-- how the characters reach their happy ending is what makes the read so much fun.

Romance novels also promote the idea that everyone-- regardless of age, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, body type, mental, physical or emotional struggles, deserves true love.

Like late-summer weather, romance fiction has a reputation for being hot and steamy. While there are lots of books that fit the description, there are plenty of G and PG reads too! The popular website All About Romance offers a helpful sensuality rating system in their reviews. Romance novels include numerous subgenres, and many blend categories. Whether you're in the mood for a contemporary rom-com about witches and vampires, an erotic romance set in Jane Austen-era England, or an inspirational romance that's also a thriller, you'll find it.

  • Contemporary (post-WW2 to the present) Popular authors include Nora Roberts, Jasmine Guillory, Alexis Hall and Abby Jiminez
  • Historical (antiquity to WW2) Popular authors include Julia Quinn, Cat Sebastian, Mimi Matthews, Sarah MacLean
  • Paranormal (includes fantasy/supernatural elements) Popular authors include Nalini Singh, Christine Feehan, Nora Roberts, Cassandra Claire
  • Romantic Suspense (includes thriller or mystery elements) Popular authors include Nora Roberts (yes, she's everywhere!), Jayne Ann Krentz, Linda Howard, Sandra Brown
  • Inspirational Romance (the characters' faith is central to the story) Popular authors include Jeannette Oke, Beverly Lewis, Becky Wade, Terry Blackstock
  • Young Adult/New Adult (main characters are teens, or in their early 20s) Popular authors include Sarah Maas, Colleen Hoover, Casey McQuiston, Jenny Han
  • Erotic Romance (the sexual relationship is the focus of the story) Popular authors include E.L. James, Katee Roberts, Helen Hardt, J.R. Ward

We have more romances on display in the Adult Services area of the Main Library on Harnish Drive, and be sure to check out AAPLD's Romance book club, Happily Ever After, which meets the third Monday of the month at 7 pm. Register for the September 18 meeting, and pick up a copy of September's book, Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover.

On The Move at AAPLD!

On The Move at AAPLD!

There've been some changes to the Adult Services area at the Main Library on Harnish Drive.

  • Biographies and Memoirs have moved from the Fiction area to Non-Fiction.  They now reside in the first section of shelves, facing the West Windows, across from study tables and soft seating. Career books and World Language materials have moved from rolling shelves to the 300 and 400 sections of non-fiction.
  • Fantasy, Science Fiction and Adult Graphic Novels have moved from the shorter shelves near Large Print, to the taller shelves formerly occupied by Biography and Memoir. Audiobooks (fiction and non-fiction) have moved to the shorter shelves near Large Print.
  • New Audiobooks, New Series DVD/BluRay and New Documentary DVD/BluRays are in the first row of the former Audiobooks section. Series DVDs begin in the second row of the section. After Series comes Documentaries, Musicals, and Performance. Performance is a new section that includes concerts, and opera; they're marked with an orange sticker on the case spine.  Anime DVDs are in the final row, where non-fiction audiobooks used to be, after Anime, Music CDs fill in the rest of the row. Manga has expanded to fill most of the back row, facing the North Windows.
  • DVD/BluRays have shifted toward the back of the section to provide more room. New DVD/BluRay and New International films are now in the front row of the section, facing the public computers. Hot DVD/BluRay are on the display cube near the elevator.  4K films are on the rolling shelves where New and Hot DVD/BluRay used to be.

End cap signs have been updated, but if you need help finding something, please don't hesitate to ask an Adult Services staff member. We're happy to help you locate your items.

Discover August’s Library Reads

Discover August’s Library Reads

Mystery, romance, family secrets, and a guy who gets swallowed by a sperm whale. You'll find all this and more, in August's Library Reads selections.

While official summer reading is over, there's still plenty of great summer reads waiting to be discovered, including these ten fiction and non-fiction selections, chosen by librarians across the country as their favorites. 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.

Read something you loved? Leave a review in Beanstack! Log into your account, click Add A Review, and share your thoughts. Did you have a favorite character, or scene? Did it make you laugh, cry, or afraid to turn off the lights? Let us know! We'll feature some of your reviews here on the Adult Services page, and in library social media!

Literary Fiction

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo - From bestselling, National Book Award-winning author Elizabeth Acevedo comes her first novel for adults, the story of one Dominican-American family told through the voices of its women as they await a gathering that will forever change their lives.

Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake--a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she's led--her sisters are surprised. Has Flor forseen her own death, or someone else's? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila.

But Flor isn't the only person with secrets. Matilde has tried for decades to cover the extent of her husband's infidelity, but she must now confront the true state of her marriage. Pastora is typically the most reserved sister, but Flor's wake motivates this driven woman to solve her sibling's problems. Camila is the youngest sibling, and often the forgotten one, but she's decided she no longer wants to be taken for granted.

Spanning the three days prior to the wake, Family Lore traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City. Told with Elizabeth Acevedo's inimitable and incandescent voice, this is an indelible portrait of one family's journey through their history, helping them better navigate all that is to come.

Romance

Kiss The Girl by Zoraida Cordova- The third book in the best-selling Meant to Be series, is a charming retelling of the Little Mermaid, with Ariel recast as a modern-day pop star princess.  Ariel del Mar is one of the most famous singers in the world. She and her sisters—together, known as the band Siren Seven—have been a pop culture phenomenon since they were kids. On stage, wearing her iconic red wig and sequined costumes, staring out at a sea of fans, is where she shines. Anyone would think she’s the girl who has everything.

But lately, she wants more . Siren Seven is wrapping up their farewell tour, and Ariel can’t wait to spend the summer just living a normal life—part of a world she’s only ever seen from the outside. But her father, the head of Atlantica Records, has plans to begin her breakout solo career immediately, starting with a splashy announcement on a morning talk show.

The night before, Ariel and her sisters sneak out of their Manhattan penthouse for a night of incognito fun at a rock concert in Brooklyn. It’s there that Ariel crosses paths with Eric Reyes, dreamy lead singer of an up-and-coming band. Unaware of her true identity, Eric spontaneously invites her on the road for the summer. And for the first time in her life, Ariel disobeys her father—and goes with him.

Caught between the world she longs for and the one she’s left behind, can Ariel follow her dreams, fall in love, and, somehow, find her own voice?

Mystery

The Blond Identity by Ally Carter - It's the middle of the night in the middle of Paris and a woman just woke up with no memory. She only knows three things for certain:

1. She has a splitting headache.

2. The hottest guy she has (probably) ever seen is standing over her, telling her to run.

And oh yeah...

3. People keep trying to kill her.

She doesn't know who. Or why. But when she sees footage of herself fighting off a dozen men there's only one explanation: obviously. . . she's a spy! Except, according to Mr. Hot Guy, she's not. She's a spy's identical twin sister.

Too bad the only person who knows she's not the woman they're looking for is this very grouchy, very sexy, very secret agent who (reluctantly) agrees to help her disappear. That's easier said than done when a criminal organization wants you dead and every intelligence service in the world wants you caught. Luckily, no one is looking for a pair of lovesick newlyweds on their honeymoon. And soon they're lying their way across Europe--dodging bullets and faking kisses as they race to unravel a deadly conspiracy and clear her sister's name.

But with every secret they uncover, the truth shifts, until she no longer knows who to trust: the twin she can't remember or the mysterious man she can't let herself forget...

Thriller

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus - A scientifically accurate thriller about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.

Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year.

The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out—one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.