Winter 2023 Book Tasting
Our favorite reads in eight different genres!
March 13, 2024
Check out these tasty books we enjoyed in this winter’s Book Tasting event!
In this list:
- Cozy Mystery
- Historical Fiction
- Memoir
- Mystery/Thriller
- Nonfiction
- Nonfiction: Self-Improvement
- Romance
- Speculative Fiction
Speculative Fiction
Slewfoot
Brom
A recently widowed outcast, Abitha turns to Slewfoot, an ancient spirit who has awakened in a dark wood, for help, and together they ignite a battle between pagan and Puritan, leaving ashes and bloodshed in their wake.
Piranesi
Susanna Clarke
Living in a labyrinthine house of endless corridors, flooded staircases and thousands of statues, Piranesi assists the dreamlike dwelling’s only other resident throughout a mysterious research project before evidence emerges of an astonishing alternate world.
The Passage
Justin Cronin
The latest test subject in a covert government experiment, abandoned six-year-old Amy is rescued by an FBI agent who hides them in the Oregon hills, from which Amy emerges a century later to save the human race from a terrifying virus.
The Reformatory
Tananarive Due
In the Jim Crow South, 12-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., who can see ghosts, is sent to The Reformatory where boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, while his sister Gloria rallies everyone in Florida to get him out before it’s too late.
Horrorstor
Grady Hendrix
After strange things start happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, three employees volunteer to work an overnight shift to investigate, but what they discover is more horrifying than they could have imagined.
Wool
Hugh Howey
In a future toxic landscape, a community that lives in an underground silo is rocked by the desire of Sheriff Holston, who has upheld the group’s rules for years, to go outside, setting in motion events that kindle the fire of revolution.
A House With Good Bones
T Kingfisher
Warned by her brother that their mother seems ‘off,’ Sam visits and discovers a once-cozy home with sterile white walls, a her mom a jumpy, nervous wreck and a jar of teeth hidden in the rosebushes.
A Head Full Of Ghosts
Paul Tremblay
The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when 14-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of what at first seems to be acute schizophrenia, a condition which only gets worse, leading them to believe it’s actually demonic possession, as they become the center of a reality TV show.
Mystery/Thriller
Vox
Christina Dalcher
Marginalized in a near-future America where the government limits women to no more than 100 spoken words daily before outlawing women’s education and employment altogether, a former doctor resolves to be heard for the sake of her daughter.
The Child Finder
Rene Denfeld
Hired by a family that has become desperate to find the young daughter who went missing three years earlier, a talented private investigator embarks on a search in a mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, where she is forced to confront painful realities from her own past as a lost child.
The Good Sister
Sally Hepworth
Twin sisters who are polar opposites but who are harboring a deep, dark secret about their sociopathic mother must face the consequences of both her actions and their own when one tries to start a family.
We Have Always Lived In The Castle
Shirley Jackson
The story of two sisters who have become recluses after the arsenic poisoning of four members of their family.
Local Woman Missing
Mary Kubica
When Delilah, who disappeared 11 years earlier when she was only 6 years old, shockingly returns, the residents of a quiet suburban neighborhood want to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they’ll find.
The Clinic
Cate Quinn
Checking into a remote rehab facility on the Pacific Northwest coast as a patient to investigate her famous sister’s death, Meg, battling her own addictions, searches for the truth, which is much more difficult than she imagined, especially since there’s no one who can help her.
Sadie
Courtney Summers
Told from the alternating perspectives of nineteen-year-old Sadie who runs away from her isolated small Colorado town to find her younger sister’s killer, and a true crime podcast exploring Sadie’s disappearance.
Historical Fiction
The Children’s Blizzard
Melanie Benjamin
Draws on oral histories of the Great Plains blizzard of 1888 to depict the experiences of two teachers, a servant, and a reporter who risk everything to protect the children of immigrant homesteaders.
Weyward
Emilia Hart
Told over five centuries through three connected women, this riveting novel follows Kate, in 2019, as she seeks refuge in Weyward Cottage; Altha, in 1619, as she uses her powers to maintain her freedom; and Violet, in 1942, as she searches for the truth about her mother’s death.
The Forest Of Vanishing Stars
Kristin Harmel
Raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe after being kidnapped, a young German woman, in 1941, vows to teach a group of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror how to survive in the forest until she is betrayed as her past and present collide.
The House Of Eve
Sadeqa Johnson
In 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, DC, the lives of 15-year-old Ruby Pearsall, whose taboo affair threatens her dreams of being the first in her family to attend college, and Eleanor Quarles, who hopes having a baby will gain her husband’s wealthy family’s acceptance, collide in the most unexpected of ways.
The Golden Doves
Martha Hall Kelly
To finally secure justice and protect the ones they love, two former female spies, American Josie Anderson and Parisian Arlette LaRue, aka the Golden Doves, risk everything to hunt down an infamous Nazi doctor in the aftermath of World War II.
The Frozen River
Ariel Lawhon
A gripping historical mystery based on the real-life diary entries of Martha Ballard, an 18th-century midwife who found herself at the center of a murder trial.
The Nature Of Fragile Things
Susan Meissner
Moving to early 20th-century San Francisco to escape New York tenement life, an Irish mail-order bride uncovers transformative secrets involving a silent child and two other women before her precarious existence is upended by the great earthquake of 1906.
The Berry Pickers
Amanda Peters
Growing up as the only child of affluent and overprotective parents, Norma, troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination, searches for the truth, leading her to the blueberry fields of Maine, where a family secret is finally revealed.
Cozy Mystery
Buried In A Book
Lucy Arlington
After losing her job as a journalist at the age of 45, Lila Wilkins accepts an internship at A Novel Idea, a thriving literary agency in North Carolina. When a penniless aspiring author drops dead in the agency’s waiting room–and Lila discovers a series of threatening letters–she’s determined to find out who wrote him off.
Engaged In Death
Stephanie Blackmoore
All appears peaceful in sleepy Port Quincy, Pennsylvania–but in this small town, old grudges die hard. After dumping her cheating fiance and cancelling the wedding, Mallory Shepard can’t bear another disaster. So when the former bride-to-be unexpectedly inherits Thistle Park, a ramshackle mansion in her ex’s hometown of Port Quincy, it’s a problem she can’t afford- literally. Abound with stray cats, peeling wallpaper, and nosy neighbors, Mallory is dying to sell it off – once she finally fixes up both the place and her messy life. Turns out, Thistle Park has its charms. But the honeymoon phase is abruptly cut short when an unwanted visitor is found dead on the front lawn. Enlisting the help of her sister Rachel, Mallory vows to unveil the killer before she herself becomes married to the suspect list.
Eclair And Present Danger
Laura Bradford
When her elderly neighbor, a widower named Bart, is found dead, smothered by a pillow, bakery owner Winnie Johnson, while comforting her frightened and grieving neighbors with baked goods, decides to stir things up to catch a killer who preys on the helpless. Includes recipes.
Lending A Paw
Laurie Cass
With the help of her rescue cat Eddie, librarian Minnie Hamilton is driving a bookmobile based in the resort town of Chilson, Michigan. But shed better keep both hands on the wheel, because its going to be a bumpy ride.
Eggs In Purgatory
Laura Childs
When they open the Cackleberry Club cafe, three widows and best friends–Suzanne, Toni, and Petra–find their first customer to be murder when Suzanne’s lawyer is found dead with a secret on his lips and egg on his face.
Elementary, She Read
Vicki Delany
When Gemma Doyle, owner of Cape Cod’s Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, finds a rare and potentially valuable magazine containing the first Sherlock Homes story hidden in her shop, she and her friend, Jayne, set off to find the owner, only to stumble upon a dead body.
Books Can Be Deceiving
Jenn McKinlay
Newly single librarian Lindsey Norris, the director of the Briar Creek Public Library, must help her best friend Beth, a children’s book author, prove her innocence when she is accused of murdering her boyfriend Rick, a local celebrity, before the authorities throw the book at the wrong person.
Do Or Diner
Christine Wenger
It seems someone made a deadly addition to an old family recipe, and Trixie is determined to find out whodunit. But between serving up orders and sniffing out clues, she’d better watch her back—or her next meal might be her last.
Romance
Alone With You In The Ether
Olivie Blake
A doctoral student with destructive thoughts managed by time travel calculations and a bipolar counterfeit artist undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy meet at the Art Institute, in a new novel from the best-selling author of The Atlas Six.
Kiss The Girl
Book 3 In The Meant To Be Series
Zoraida Cordova
A modern tale of unexpectedly falling in love and finding your voice.
Twenty-One Truths About Love
Matthew Dicks
The best-selling author of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend presents a novel written entirely in lists that convey the struggles of a man whose limits are tested by the risks he must take to save his family and failing bookstore.
By The Book
Book 2 In The Meant To Be Series
Jasmine Guillory
A young, black woman working in publishing makes a surprise connection with an author who has failed to deliver his highly anticipated manuscript, in the second novel of the series following If the Shoe Fits.
The Kiss Quotient
Helen Hoang
A 30-year-old math whiz with Asperger’s tries to make her love life as rich as her career by hiring an escort to help her with her lack of knowledge and experience in the dating department.
The Bodyguard
Katherine Center
Hired as superstar actor Jack Stapleton’s bodyguard, Hannah Brooks must pose as his girlfriend while visiting his family’s ranch in Texas where she finds it easy to protect him, but hard to protect her own, long-neglected heart.
Red, White & Royal Blue
Casey McQuiston
After an international incident affects U.S. and British relations, the president’s son Alex and Prince Henry must pretend to be best friends, but as they spend time together, the two begin a secret romance that could derail a presidential campaign.
If The Shoe Fits
Book 1 In The Meant To Be Series
Julie Murphy
A fashion-obsessed plus-size woman fills in for a no-show contestant on her executive producer stepmother’s popular dating reality show and becomes a body-positivity viral sensation overnight and could actually picture herself falling for the eligible suitor.
One True Loves
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Years after losing her husband in a helicopter accident, Emma Blair gradually puts her life back together and finds healing and love through her engagement to an old friend before her husband is found alive, forcing her to choose between her first and second loves.
Before I Let Go
Kennedy Ryan
After a devastating tragedy, a married couple, Yasmen and Wade, discover that love isn’t enough to save their marriage, but it eventually might be enough to bring them back together for a second time around.
Main Character Energy
Jamie Varon
To inherit her late aunt’s villa in the French Riviera, Poppy Banks must finish her novel in six months, forcing her to confront her writer’s block, family drama, complicated romances and self-doubt that threaten to throw her off course.
Nonfiction: Self-Improvement
Chris Beat Cancer
A Comprehensive Plan For Healing Naturally
Chris Wark
Colon cancer survivor who opted against chemotherapy and radiation provides the toxin-free diet, lifestyle, and therapy guidelines he used to help himself heal.
Chirunning
A Revolutionary Approach To Effortless, Injury-Free Running
Danny Dreyer, Katherine Dreyer
A running coach and nationally ranked ultra-marathon runner draws on the principles of t’ai chi to develop a comprehensive running program that promotes greater speed and distance with less effort while preventing and healing injuries.
Embraced By The Light
Betty J Eadie
Relates the near-death experience of Betty Eadie, and recounts the events that followed.
This Naked Mind
Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life
Annie Grace
Aims to help alcoholics change their relationship with drinking, showing the psychological and cultural aspects of alcoholism.
The Vortex
Where The Law Of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships
Esther Hicks, Jerry Hicks
Explains how to reconnect with one’s creative Source, or Vortex, in order to find the confidence and direction needed to have healthy, meaningful relationships with others.
The Biology Of Belief
Unleashing The Power Of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles
Bruce H Lipton
Uses simple language, illustrations, humor, and examples to describe the biochemical effects from thoughts and the precise molecular pathways through which this occurs.
The Total Money Makeover
A Proven Plan For Financial Fitness
Dave Ramsey
A strategy for changing attitudes about personal finances covers such topics as getting out of debt, the dangers of cash advances and keeping spending within income limits.
The Power Of Now
A Guide To Spiritual Enlightenment
Eckhart Tolle
A counselor and spiritual teacher shares the secret of his own self-realization and the philosophy for living in the present he has developed.
Memoir
In Love
A Memoir Of Love And Loss
Amy Bloom
The New York Times best-selling author tells the story of her husband’s battle with early onset Alzheimer’s, their determination to support one another and his eventual decision to end his own life with dignity.
Between Two Kingdoms
A Memoir Of A Life Interrupted
Suleika Jaouad
An Emmy Award-winning writer and activist describes the harrowing years she spent in early adulthood fighting leukemia and how she learned to live again while forging connections with other survivors of profound illness and suffering.
You Could Make This Place Beautiful
A Memoir
Maggie Smith
The award-winning poet explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself, interweaving snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness and narrative itself and revealing how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something beautiful.
Tiny Beautiful Things
Advice From Dear Sugar
Cheryl Strayed
Tiny Beautiful Things collects the best of Dear Sugar in one volume, bringing her wisdom to many more readers. This tenth-anniversary edition features six new columns and a new preface by Strayed. Rich with humor, insight, compassion-and absolute honesty-this book is a balm for everything life throws our way.
Nonfiction
Clear Thinking
Turning Ordinary Moments Into Extraordinary Results
Shane Parrish
Sharing stories, mental models and more, the founder of Farnam Street arms you with the essential tools for recognizing the moments that have the potential to transform your trajectory, in this must-have manual for optimizing decision-making, gaining competitive advantage and living a more intentional life.
Write For Your Life
Anna Quindlen
The #1 New York Times best-selling novelist and author of A Short Guide to a Happy Life, using examples past, present and future, shows how writing connects us, to ourselves and those we cherish and issues a clarion call to pick up the pen, and find yourself.
Life In Five Senses
How Exploring The Senses Got Me Out Of My Head And Into The World
Gretchen Rubin
Drawing on cutting-edge science, philosophy, literature and her own efforts to practice what she learns, the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Happiness Project offers profound insights and practical suggestions for heightening our senses and using our powers of perception to live richer lives.
Voices From The Pandemic
Americans Tell Their Stories Of Crisis, Courage And Resilience
Eli Saslow
A Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter paints a powerful portrait of a country grappling with the pandemic through deeply personal accounts from people all across America that show them at their worst—and at their resilient best.