I recently enjoyed these books and think you might, too!

Annie is seeking a fresh start after being dumped by her boyfriend. She moves to rural New York, settling in Rowan. The first person she meets in town is Sophie. Sophie is beautiful, a wonderful cook, a skilled seamstress, and a whiz at making lotions and other potions. She makes the small town fun and magical for Annie, even though the other citizens of Rowan seem wary of Sophie. But strange things seem to happen when Sophie is around and Annie can’t help but wonder what Sophie really is . . . and if she and Annie may be more similar than Annie knows. “Cackle” by Rachel Harrison is a sly tale of female empowerment and keeps you guessing until the end.

Lux has escaped her past and is waiting tables in Hawaii while her new boyfriend Nico repairs his boat. They plan to sail the world together once they have enough money saved. When two young women offer to pay for the repairs in exchange for a chartered trip to isolated Meroe Island, Lux and Nico jump at the chance to begin their adventures. But once the group arrives at Meroe Island, they realize that there might be truth to the dark rumors of the island’s past. This atmospheric thriller slowly builds tension as the characters’ trust for one another crumbles and the island closes in. I raced through “Reckless Girls” by Rachel Hawkins in one day.

Joy Delaney is missing. Joy’s husband Stan has been somewhat reticent when answering detectives’ questions. Her four adult children believe that their parents had a wonderful, loving marriage, with their chemistry on and off the tennis court to prove it. But Joy was a little directionless after the family sold their tennis academy, and Stan isn’t sure of what to do with himself without coaching. And then there is the question of Savannah, a young woman who showed up bruised and barefoot on Joy and Stan’s front porch late one evening and cracked open the rift that was forming between the couple. Did Joy leave of her own accord or has the unthinkable happened? Liane Moriarty tells a modern story about the ways the people we love the most have the greatest power to hurt us in “Apples Never Fall.”

Throughout her career as a writer and poet, Kate Baer has received thousands of online messages. Some of these messages are critical, cruel, condescending, and even threatening and some are filled with gratitude and connection. Baer decided to turn many of these messages into art. In “I Hope This Finds You Well” Baer shares the original text accompanied by her transformation of the original. She builds on the author’s message and transforms both positive and negative messages into poems of empowerment, support, and beauty.

If you’d like to request any of these books, visit www.newulmlibrary.org and click on Library Catalog or give us a call at 507-359-8331. We’d be happy to place these or any other books on hold for you.

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