Here are few of my favorite recent reads. Library staff would be happy to help you place requests on these or any other titles. If you’d like to place your own request, visit www.newulmlibrary.org and choose Library Catalog.

Margo and Ian have been losing real estate bidding wars for eighteen months now. Ian is ready to throw in the towel, but Margo clings to her dreams of the ideal suburban lifestyle. When she gets a tip about the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood, Margo is desperate to get an edge on the competition. In Best Offer Wins, Marisa Kashino expertly illustrates the unhinged downward spiral of a woman who will stop at nothing to claim what she wants. And, boy, it’s a fun ride down.

Meg is stunned to realize that she has somehow slipped into an alternate reality. In her real life she is a soap opera star living in L.A. In the alternate reality, she’s a drama school graduate and lives in an idyllic Irish village called Avalon. But the most shocking difference is that her childhood best friend Aimee is still alive, living in Avalon, and wants nothing to do with Meg. Meg is desperate to repair their broken friendship before she loses Aimee all over again. The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison struck a chord with me; the author depicts female friendship so clearly. The fresh premise, richly depicted Irish village, and multi-dimensional characters had me looking forward to Harbison’s next novel.

Geneva grew up at and recently inherited The Rosalie Inn. The Rosalie is famous for two things: surviving multiple deadly hurricanes and being the setting of the murder of a senator’s son in the 1980s. When femme fatale Lo Bailey returns to clear her name, Geneva is caught up in a deadly hurricane of another kind. Author Rachel Hawkins is an expert at lush scene-setting and building tension and I raced through The Storm.

You might know May Cobb as the author of The Hunting Wives, which was recently adapted by Netflix. Cobb is back with another salacious suspense novel, All the Little Houses. Charleigh and Nellie Andersen are an unstoppable mother-daughter duo. They rule the social scene in their small town of Longview, Texas. When a wholesome, Little House on the Prairie-type family moves to town, the Andersens are shocked to find their social standing diminished and will do anything to reclaim it. If you enjoy watching a cast of unlikable characters get their come-uppance, you might enjoy this scandalous, plot-driven novel.

If you’d like to request these or any other titles, visit www.newulmlibrary.org and choose Library Catalog, or call the library at 507-359-8331. New Ulm Public Library is located at 17 North Broadway and is open from 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. on Monday-Thursday and 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday-Saturday. The library will be closed on Monday, February 16, for Presidents Day.