This week, the winners were announced for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards! But if we’re being honest, all of these finalists are winners in our hearts. From the categories of Best Debut to Historical Fiction, Horror to Romance, and everything in between, these are the books that were double-vetted—selected not only by the Goodreads community, but also selected by us on Off the Shelf throughout the year.
17 Goodreads Choice Awards Finalists & Winners We Love
Best Fiction
Mia Jacobs has just escaped from a place and people that mean to harm her. She walks alone along the roadside at night. The forests next to her are pitch-black. In her pocket she carries a copy of her favorite book, written almost two hundred years before her time, The Scarlet Letter. It is her most precious book because somehow it seems to tell the story of her own mother, Ivy. Where Mia has just escaped from, books are not allowed. But books are Mia’s treasures, and she is on her way to the library in her town, a place where she feels safe, a place where she can get help. Here a journey will begin for Mia, one that will take her far from what she knows, but one that will ultimately lead her back to herself. This is another wonderful and magical book by Alice Hoffman. A beautifully written story about a mother and daughter—heartbreaking and uplifting.
From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage of Opposites and the Practical Magic series comes an enchanting novel about love, heartbreak, self-discovery, and the enduring magic of books.
One brilliant June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden, and books are considered evil. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her?
Through a journey of heartbreak, love, and time, Mia must abandon the rules she was raised with at the Community. As she does, she realizes that reading can transport you to other worlds or bring them to you, and that readers and writers affect one another in mysterious ways. She learns that time is more fluid than she can imagine, and that love is stronger than any chains that bind you.
As a girl Mia fell in love with a book. Now as a young woman she falls in love with a brilliant writer as she makes her way back in time. But what if Nathaniel Hawthorne never wrote The Scarlet Letter? And what if Mia Jacob never found it on the day she planned to die?
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote: “A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.”
This is the story of one woman’s dream. For a little while it came true.
MENTIONED IN:
Best Horror
In ROUGE, there are many striking images to mesmerize, to ruminate on; a marinade, almost, of intoxicating beauty, a patchwork of thoughts: Chanel Rouge Allure lipstick, cracked mirror, red shoes. Obsession, loss, oddities, sinister in the abstract: there’s something clinging, always lingering in corners of the mind and in the culty spa that held so much of Belle’s mother’s attention. Now Belle’s mother is dead, and Belle is left to explore the strange world introduced to her by a lady in red. I love the jacket’s description of the book as “Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut,” and what a radically unique combination these pages deliver.
From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty. Can she escape her mother’s fate—and find a connection that is more than skin deep?
For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.
Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.
MENTIONED IN:
Best Historical Fiction
Going against Confucius’s dictum, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” Tan Yunxian is raised to make a difference. Trained by her grandmother, one of China’s few female physicians, Yunxian learns to navigate women’s medical needs with the support of her confidante Meiling, a young midwife. However, Yunxian’s arranged marriage confines her within traditional domestic roles, barring her from contact with Meiling and threatening the important work they vowed to complete together. LADY TAN’S CIRCLE OF WOMEN is a tale about the power of female solidarity, exploring Yunxian’s battle against these restraints, her transformative journey serving women of all social ranks, and the lasting impact of her remedies centuries later.
The latest historical novel from New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, inspired by the true story of a woman physician from 15th-century China—perfect for fans of See’s classic Snowflower and the Secret Fan and The Island of Sea Women.
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.
From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom.
But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.
How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.
MENTIONED IN:
Best Mystery/Thriller
First of all, just look at this brilliant and gorgeous cover! If this doesn’t immediately scream modern classic thriller, then I don’t know what does. Inspired by the infamous Ted Bundy, BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN is a riveting historical thriller that delves into the power of women and the victims he killed instead of the murderer himself. In 1978, the young women in the FSU sorority scene were unconcerned by headlines of a serial killer in Seattle, ready for a night of partying and thrills. Sorority president, Pamela Schumacher, however, does the unthinkable. She decides to stay home. A decision that ultimately saves her life when she is awoken at 3 a.m. to find two of her sisters gruesomely murdered and two others in critical condition. Back in Seattle, Tina Cannon is trying to start over in life when she meets Ruth, a young woman with her own painful past. Together they form an incredible bond until Ruth disappears from a state park in the middle of the day. As Pamela and Tina both search for answers, they find themselves together on a hunt for the same killer. I’ll admit a fascination with serial killers, but Jessica Knoll has given a voice to forgotten women to tell a deeper and more complex story.
From the megabestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive comes another shocking thriller inspired by the real-life sorority and target of America’s first celebrity serial killer.
January 15, 1978, is a night of promise, excitement, and desire. A serial killer’s murderous spree in the Pacific Northwest couldn’t be further from the minds of the vibrant young women at the top sorority on Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee.
That night, Pamela Schumacher, president of the sorority, makes the unpopular decision to stay home. Startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she makes the fateful decision to investigate. What she finds outside her bedroom door is a scene of implausible violence—two of her sisters dead; two others, maimed.
On the other side of the country, in Seattle, Tina Cannon has found peace after years of hardship. A chance encounter brings twenty-five-year-old Ruth Wachowsky into her life and they forge an instant connection. But then Ruth goes missing from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight, the same day as another young woman, surrounded by thousands of beachgoers. Both vanish without a trace. Tina is convinced Ruth was a target of the man the papers refer to as the All-American Sex Killer.
When she learns of the massacre in Tallahassee, Tina is convinced it’s him again. She rushes to Florida, on a collision course with Pamela—and one last impending tragedy.
Bright Young Women tells the story of two women from opposite sides of the country who forge a sisterhood in grief and in the fervent pursuit of justice. Toggling between those terrifying days in 1978 and a letter that brings them together in the present, this is a novel that flips the script on the oft-perpetuated glorification of a sadistic but ultimately average man and instead turns the spotlight on the exceptional women he targeted.
Best Memoir/Autobiography
Maggie Smith is one of the most popular poets writing today, and readers of poetry and creative nonfiction alike will flock to this shimmering, lyrical memoir that takes its name from the final line in Smith’s viral poem “Good Bones” (from the book of the same title). Brilliant not just for what it tells but also what it omits, YOU COULD MAKE THIS PLACE BEAUTIFUL is written in short chapters and vignettes, with a poem or an epigraph tucked in here and there. In brief but potent passages, Smith pieces together the story of her marriage—how it came to be, how it fell apart—and her decision to champion hope in the face of heartbreak. This compelling, conversational memoir is as much about Smith’s hurt and anger as it is about her journey, in which she learns to not give in to anger but rather to lean in to healing and hope.
“[Smith]...reminds you that you can...survive deep loss, sink into life’s deep beauty, and constantly, constantly make yourself new.” —Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author
The bestselling poet and author of the “powerful” (People) and “luminous” (Newsweek) Keep Moving offers a lush and heartrending memoir exploring coming of age in your middle age.
“Life, like a poem, is a series of choices.”
In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work, and patriarchy.
You Could Make This Place Beautiful, like the work of Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk, and Gina Frangello, is an unflinching look at what it means to live and write our own lives. It is a story about a mother’s fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman’s love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility. With a poet’s attention to language and an innovative approach to the genre, Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.
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Best Historical Fiction
A family in South India carries a relentless curse—one person in every generation will drown. Spanning several years, THE COVENANT OF WATER details the lives of this family—all characters that garner empathy and fascination, their relationship with the water, and the ways in which they lead full lives despite the threat of a dark, damp fate. This epic novel contains something for everyone—romance, religion, nature, and science, all peppered with dynamic dialogue and gorgeous imagery. I often hesitate to pick up books that are longer than 400 pages, concerned that I won’t have the discipline or interest to read cover to cover, but I ripped right through this one without a single regret.
Best Horror (2024 Winner!)
There are a lot of memorable Stephen King characters, but few are as beloved as detective Holly Gibney. First appearing in MR. MERCEDES, Holly is a super-smart, unfiltered mind who is fantastic at picking up on small details and not so great at dealing with people. So for fans of this character, you’re in luck! The new novel, HOLLY, is all about our favorite PI investigating the disappearance of a girl named Bonnie. But as she digs deeper, reluctantly at first, she finds several clues pointing back to a suspicious elderly couple who are looking to live just a little longer. Especially when all clues start pointing back to a suspicious elderly couple who are looking to live just a little longer. Follow Holly as she navigates both this dark mystery and an ever-shifting world.
Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.
“Sometimes the universe throws you a rope.” —BILL HODGES
Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.
When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.
Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.
Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.
“I could never let Holly Gibney go. She was supposed to be a walk-on character in Mr. Mercedes and she just kind of stole the book and stole my heart. Holly is all her.” —STEPHEN KING
MENTIONED IN:
Best Science Fiction
In THE FUTURE, Naomi Alderman crafts a hauntingly plausible portrayal of our world teetering on the precipice of its own demise, steered by a few powerful tech magnates who prioritize self-preservation over the collective good. Drawing readers into a twisted game of power, survival, and digital manipulation, Alderman offers both a cautionary tale and a beacon of hope. As we navigate a labyrinthine narrative, we confront society’s stark imbalances, the allure of wealth, and the undeniable influence of AI. Sound like any society you’ve heard of/live in? Yes, many facets of this book resonate eerily with our own reality, and like the dystopian stories that came before it, the prescience of Alderman’s latest book will ensure that it lives on well into, well, the future.
However, though some moments send chills down your spine for their potential truth, others spark a fire for change and the possibility of a brighter, more equitable world. This isn’t just a dystopian fiction; it’s a call to arms. Engrossing, provocative, and deeply unsettling, THE FUTURE compels readers to question their own roles in shaping what’s to come. As the book vividly illustrates, power may shift hands, but it never truly vanishes.
The bestselling, award-winning author of The Power delivers a dazzling tour de force where a handful of friends plot a daring heist to save the world from the tech giants whose greed threatens life as we know it.
When Martha Einkorn fled her father’s isolated compound in Oregon, she never expected to find herself working for a powerful social media mogul hell-bent on controlling everything. Now, she’s surrounded by mega-rich companies designing private weather, predictive analytics, and covert weaponry, while spouting technological prophecy. Martha may have left the cult, but if the apocalyptic warnings in her father’s fox and rabbit sermon—once a parable to her—are starting to come true, how much future is actually left?
Across the world, in a mall in Singapore, Lai Zhen, an internet-famous survivalist, flees from an assassin. She’s cornered, desperate and—worst of all—might die without ever knowing what's going on. Suddenly, a remarkable piece of software appears on her phone telling her exactly how to escape. Who made it? What is it really for? And if those behind it can save her from danger, what do they want from her, and what else do they know about the future?
Martha and Zhen’s worlds are about to collide. An explosive chain of events is set in motion. While a few billionaires assured of their own safety lead the world to destruction, Martha’s relentless drive and Zhen’s insatiable curiosity could lead to something beautiful or the cataclysmic end of civilization.
By turns thrilling, hilarious, tender, and always piercingly brilliant, The Future unfolds at a breakneck speed, highlighting how power corrupts the few who have it and what it means to stand up to them. The future is coming. The Future is here.
Best Historical Fiction
This story begins in the 1950s and alternates between the two distinct voices of Ruby Pearsall, a high school student in Philadelphia, and Eleanor Quarles, a college student at Howard University in Washington, DC. Ruby is determined to be the first in her family to attend college, while Eleanor works in Howard’s library and is on her way to becoming a talented archivist. They both have plans for their lives, but when Eleanor meets fellow college student William Pride and Ruby meets a neighbor named Shimmy, their trajectories change in unexpected ways. They both face challenges that will ultimately bring them closer to who they are and who they were meant to be. An unforgettable and powerful story.
From the award-winning author of Yellow Wife, a daring and redemptive novel set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, DC, that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal.
1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright.
Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his parents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby—and fitting in—is easier said than done.
With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.
MENTIONED IN:
Best Debut
THE WISHING GAME tells the story of Lucy Hart, a lonely 26-year-old teacher’s aide who dreams of adopting her orphaned student Christopher. Lucy is a lifelong fan of Jack Masterson’s Clock Island books, but her world turns upside down when Masterson announces a contest for his new book, held on the real Clock Island. Winning the one and only copy could secure a brighter future for Lucy and Christopher, but the journey is fraught with ruthless collectors, cunning competitors, and intriguing illustrator Hugo Reese. As Lucy battles for her future, Masterson weaves a plot twist that could change their lives forever.
Best Mystery/Thriller
Alix and Josie couldn’t be more different, except for the fact that they were born on the same day in the same hospital and happen to be celebrating their 45th birthday in the same bar. Alix is a popular podcaster, while Josie’s life has been far from perfect. When the two run into each other again, Josie offers herself up as the subject for Alix’s next podcast. While she’s initially hesitant, Alix welcomes Josie onto the show and into her home. Alix is unnerved by Josie and her past but continues with the podcast anyway until she realizes how enmeshed Josie is in her life. Just when she starts to think this may have been a mistake, Josie disappears. As Alix uncovers more about Josie’s life and her terrible secrets, she finds that she’s become the story in her true crime podcast. NONE OF THIS IS TRUE is Jewell at her best, with a riveting and fast-paced psychological thriller.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her “superb pacing, twisted characters, and captivating prose” (BuzzFeed), Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.
Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.
But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.
Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?
MENTIONED IN:
Best Science Fiction
Very dark, shockingly violent, and incredibly visual Adjei-Brenyah has created a unique and poignant near future that takes a harsh look at the American private-prison system. American private prisons have reintroduced gladiator fighting as a way to continue profit-raising through the CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, program. Incredibly popular, and divisively controversial, these gladiators are fighting for the ultimate prize: their freedom. Those participating in CAPE travel as Links in Chain-Gangs to each arena where they fight to the death. Fans cheer loudly for each fight, while protestors shout just as loudly from the gates. Loretta Thurwar is at the top of her gang and right behind her is Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker, her teammate and lover. Together Stacker and Thurwar are the fan favorites, but Thurwar is only a few matches from gaining her freedom. Thurwar ponders how to preserve her humanity outside as she prepares for victory. Of course, victory hasn’t been won yet, and those who run CAPE will do anything to keep the current system in place. The challenges they put before Thurwar will have horrifying consequences as Adjei-Brenyah questions what freedom actually means in a society built on systemic racism and overrun by unchecked capitalism.
MENTIONED IN:
Best Horror
Even as her Vermont home becomes a winter wonderland, Alison’s holiday spirit is at an all-time low. But her disdain for Christmas cheer is challenged all the more when an unexpected call comes: her estranged, terminally ill mother, Mavis, wants to reconcile. With heavy reluctance, Alison welcomes her into her home, with the hopes of mending old wounds. Yet as Mavis's arrival coincides with a series of eerie disturbances, Alison's dream of a peaceful Christmas quickly spirals into a haunting question of her mother's true identity. MY DARLING GIRL is a thrilling hearthside horror where festive lights dim, revealing a chilling puzzle that Alison must solve to keep her family, which includes her two daughters, safe.
The New York Times bestselling author of the “otherworldly treat” (People) The Drowning Kind and The Children on the Hill returns with a spine-tingling psychological thriller about a woman who, after taking in her dying, alcoholic mother, begins to suspect demonic possession is haunting her family.
Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call.
Mavis, Alison’s estranged mother, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters. But Alison grew up with her mother’s alcoholism and violent abuse and is reluctant to unearth these traumatic memories. Still, she eventually agrees to take in Mavis, hoping that she and her mother could finally heal and have the relationship she’s always dreamed of.
But when mysterious and otherworldly things start happening upon Mavis’s arrival, Alison begins to suspect her mother is not quite who she seems. And as the holiday festivities turn into a nightmare, she must confront just how far she is willing to go to protect her family.
MENTIONED IN:
Best Memoir/Autobiography (2024 Winner!)
Britney Spears’s memoir comes just two years after millions listened as she spoke about her life under a conservatorship in open court. THE WOMAN IN ME is about the enduring power of music and love, and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms. This is a memoir that’s bound to have an impact on people everywhere, from the millennials who were raised on Britney’s music to anyone who can relate to themes of survival, faith, and hope.
The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.
In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.
Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
Best Thriller/Mystery
On Christmas Eve in 1959 in a town in South Australia, Isabel Turner is preparing a holiday picnic for herself and her children; several hours later, tragedy befalls the Turner family. Sixty years later we meet Jess Turner-Bridges, a journalist from Australia who lives in London but feels like neither place is truly home. For Jess, home is her grandmother Nora’s house, where she was raised when Jess’s mother, Polly, wasn’t around. When Jess receives a phone call telling her that Nora has had an accident, she travels back to Australia. While staying at Nora’s house, she discovers a book about the Turner tragedy hidden in Nora’s bedroom. Jess begins to investigate and slowly uncovers the truth about what exactly happened to the Turner family on that Christmas Eve. Will Jess also discover some truths about her own family—and, if so, will uncovering these truths help her to finally find her way home? This is a story about secrets, loss, mothers and daughters, and coming home.
Best Romance
Romance readers, have I got the rec for you! Hannah Grace, author of the smash TikTok sensation ICEBREAKER, is back with the next standalone installment of the Maple Hill series. WILDFIRE follows Russ and Aurora, who are surprised to learn they are co-camp counselors the night after their one-night stand. It’s got it all—forced proximity, elements of a forbidden romance, a golden retriever hero, ACTUAL golden retrievers! Plus, underneath their undeniable chemistry, Russ and Aurora are real people dealing with real things, making them even more loveable. P.S. You don’t need to have read ICEBREAKER to read this one, but you’ve got a few months, so why not pick that one up too?
The latest in the TikTok sensation and deliciously “swoonworthy” (Elena Armas, New York Times bestselling author) Maple Hills series follows two summer camp counselors who reconnect after a sizzling one-night stand.
Maple Hills students Russ Callaghan and Aurora Roberts cross paths at a party celebrating the end of the academic year, where a drinking game results in them having a passionate one-night stand. Never one to overstay her welcome (or expect much from a man), Aurora slips away before Russ even has the chance to ask for her full name.
Imagine their surprise when they bump into each other on the first day of the summer camp where they are both counselors, hoping to escape their complicated home lives by spending the summer working. Russ hopes if he gets far enough away from Maple Hills, he can avoid dealing with the repercussions of his father’s gambling addiction, while Aurora is tired of craving attention from everyone around her, and wants to go back to the last place she truly felt at home.
Russ knows breaking the camp’s strict “no staff fraternizing” rule will have him heading back to Maple Hills before the summer is over, but unfortunately for him, Aurora has never been very good at caring about the rules. Will the two learn to peacefully coexist? Or did their one night together start a fire they can’t put out?
Photo credit: iStock / MihailUlianikov