Summer Reads

All Adults Here

“A single sudden and shocking occurrence jolts Astrid Strick — widow, mother, and small-town stalwart — into reassessing her life, especially her failings with her three grown children. Even as she tries to find a path toward redemption, it’s clear her offspring are nursing different hurts. Straub’s lovely and charming comic novel explores the messy and dissonant truths that underpin the illusions we maintain about those closest to us. No one is at fault, and everyone is to blame. Even adults have to grow up. Utterly charming and completely engrossing.”

Anmiryam Budner, Main Point Books

Little Secrets

“I started listening to this book before knowing anything about it. The narrative is split between two female characters. As the book opens, Marin is a successful businesswoman who is happily married with one child. Kenzi is a young art student in her twenties. Her boyfriend just happens to be Marin's husband. One day, Marin is a candy store with her precious son. She looks away to pay the cashier. When she looks down on her son, he has vanished. There are many surprising twists throughout this well-written story. The final plot twist is one that I never saw coming. The narration was beautifully done. I highly recommend this novel to the reader who treasures a razor-sharp thriller.”

Katie, Buttonwood Books and Toys

It was a bleak November in 2012 when Cari Lea Farver vanished from Omaha, Nebraska. Cari, thirty-seven, was a devoted mother, reliable employee, and loyal friend—not the type to shirk responsibilities, abandon her son, and run off on an adventure while her dying father took his last breaths. Yet, the many texts from her phone indicated she had... Read more »

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Octavia E. Butler paints a stunning portrait of an all-too-believable near future. As with Kindred and her other critically-acclaimed novels, Parable of the Sower skillfully combines startling visionary and socially realistic concepts. God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose... Read more »

With the Fire on High

“This was a great listen. Emoni, a single teen mom, has so much on her plate and has maturity beyond her years. She’s realistic and responsible and navigates high school, parenting, college decisions and a budding love interest. She’s becoming a talented chef and her feelings are expressed in her food. The author narrates and she had me hooked from the first sentence.”

Audrey, Belmont Books

A Wolf Called Wander

“ This is the ultimate adventure book!! I loved this book!! The author does a wonderful job of bringing OR-7 (aka Journey) to readers in a way that makes animals easier to understand. Her descriptions of his senses, hear/smell and his wag. The things that he has to learn as a pup really makes this book about family and the circle of life.”

Chris, Good Neighbor Bookstore

A Stonewall Honor Book * A Time Magazine Best YA Book of All Time

From Stonewall and Lambda Award–winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.

Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He...

Clap When You Land

“Put this book at the top of your listening list! Clap When You Land is a beautifully written and compellingly narrated story of two half-sisters who are unaware of each other's existence until their father dies in a plane crash. Elizabeth Acevedo not only writes with an exquisite voice, but she and Melania-Luisa Marte alternate narrating with voices that carry into the readers heart and soul. One of the best audio books I have listened to in a very long time.”

Mary, Anderson's Bookshop

Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shapeshifter, faces a threat unlike any other in this thrilling entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

I am Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman.
My only “superpowers” are that I turn into a thirty-five pound coyote and fix Volkswagens. But I have friends in odd places and a pack of werewolves at my... Read more »

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes a dramatic historical novel of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the post–Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives.

“An absorbing historical . . .... Read more »

This Newbery Honor winner and #1 New York Times bestseller is a beloved modern classic. Hoot features a new kid and his new bully, alligators, some burrowing owls, a renegade eco-avenger, and several extremely poisonous snakes.

Everybody loves Mother Paula's pancakes. Everybody, that is, except the colony of cute but endangered owls that live on... Read more »

The Happy Ever After Playlist

“2020 has been quite the year and all I can seem to focus on are happy love stories. Out of all the ones I’ve read or listened to this year, this one hit me the hardest. The story is great, the characters are lovable, and I just couldn’t stop listening. Each chapter had its song and the book had its own playlist that IS on Spotify. A few chapters in and I started listening to the songs before each chapter. SUCH A COOL EXPERIENCE! I’m blown away by this book. I now require playlists to go with every book I read, and I will also proceed to not stop telling other people to read it.”

Rose , Out West Books

The City We Became

“What did I just listen to and why did I like it so much? Part of falling in love with this book was the listening experience, to be certain. The narration was stellar. The production was on point. But the story... the story itself is sublime. N.K. Jemisin has written a love letter to New York City - but not the one in bright, bold letters on the silver screen - the real city, and the real people who inhabit it and call it home, even if only temporarily. And it was beyond my wildest dreams (and nightmares). The City We Became is so incredibly layered and nuanced - diving into discussions of racism and sexism and the fallacy of good vs evil. I wanted nothing more than to steep in its long chapters, and get to know its boroughs as intimately as Jemisin would allow - not mere stereotypes but fully fleshed and brilliant, blinding avatars. Witty, subversive, imaginative, unbelievable. Get on this wild ride.”

Britt, Second Star to the Right

Sergeant Lindsay Boxer tackles an ambitious case that spans San Francisco, L.A., and Chicago in this pulse-pounding thriller of "smart characters" and "shocking twists" (Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author).
Three victims, three bullets, three cities. The shooters' aim is as fearsomely precise as their target selection. When... Read more »

Three-time Hugo Award winner and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin challenges and delights readers with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption that sharply examine modern society in her first collection of short fiction, which includes never-before-seen stories.

"Marvelous and wide-ranging." -- Los Angeles... Read more »

Quinn Victoria Caine is back in her quirky town of Vienna, Virginia, starting her new life as a bookbinder in her family-owned charm-for-days bookshop Prose & Scones. With her trusty German Shephard RBG—Ruff Barker Ginsburg—by her side, what can go wrong? Okay, sure, bumping into her ex Scott or her former high-school nemesis Tricia is a... Read more »

Pulga has his dreams. Chico has his grief. Pequeña has her pride. And these three teens have one another. But none of them have illusions about the town they've grown up in and the dangers that surround them. Even with the love of family, threats lurk around every corner. And when those threats become all too real, the trio knows they have no...

Big Summer

“I have never read or listened to anything by Jennifer Weiner before, I thought would be a bit too fluffy for me. I was really surprised to find that I really enjoyed this audio. This story about friendship, loyalty, being comfortable with yourself and staying true to yourself, was very well written and I also really enjoyed the narration. I liked it even more once I got to the twist and realized there was a bit of a mystery thrown in! I very much enjoyed listening to this audio. I highly recommend this one to get your summer reading/listening started!!”

Julie, Gottwals Books

Featuring Tomie dePaola retelling his classic story against a charming musical score!

When Strega Nona leaves him alone with her magic pasta pot, Big Anthony is determined to show the townspeople how it works in this classic Caldecott Honor book from Tomie dePaola.

Strega Nona—“Grandma Witch”—is the source for potions, cures, magic, and comfort... Read more »

Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson has created a poignant, yet heartening audiobook about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone.

There will be times when you walk into a room
and no one there is... Read more »