Our Winter Reading Program for adults has been happening at my library the last few weeks, giving already avid readers another reason to indulge in some new titles! For every book folks read, they are entered to win great prizes, plus get a little completion prize along the way! It’s great fun, and there’s even a staff competition – so of course, my reading is about to accelerate! Here are this week’s latest reads from me…
–Marissa
1. Say Yes to the Marquess by Tessa Dare
I’ve been waiting and waiting (and waiting!) for a new Tessa book, especially after meeting her at ALA this summer. She’s a former librarian, went to IU (like me!), and writes awesomely funny and romantic Regency novels. I’m pretty that, even though she doesn’t know it, we’re best friends. 🙂
This is another great novel from Dare, the second in her “Castles Ever After” series. Clio Whitmore is tired of waiting for her erstwhile betrothed to come home from the Continent and wed her, but when she announces her intentions to her not-going-to-be brother-in-law, he loses his cool and insists that she WILL be married to his brother. And except for that teeny detail of him falling for her himself…
This is another delicious read – fast and funny, warm and sexy, and with a great supporting cast. I couldn’t put it down!
2. The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
This is the sequel to Simsion’s smash debut, The Rosie Project. Don (the VERY organized, probably-on-the-spectrum husband) and Rosie (the free spirited, younger wife) are back, and living in New York City, having been married for 10 months now. So when Rosie announces that she’s unexpectedly pregnant, it throws Don’s orderly life for a curve. Toss in an arrest, an unexpected roommate, a beer cooler, and a deception, and you have a recipe for disaster. Will Don and Rosie survive with their marriage intact? This novel just didn’t *spark* with me the way the first one did, but was still tender and funny, and it was great to revisit Don and Rosie in their “happily ever after”.
3. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
Years ago, I was enchanted by a debut novel, called Garden Spells. Since then, I have been a big fan of Allen’s, and when I read that she was releasing a return to Bascom and the Waverley sisters from her debut, I was thrilled. Sisters Claire and Sydney are settled with their husbands, kids and homes, but magic still swirls around them, the apple tree still throws apples, and now Bay, Sydney’s daughter, is on a collision course for heartbreak. This sweet novel evokes the smells and tastes of the South, a longing to live in their home with its sticking doors and temperamental apple tree, and a belief that maybe a bit of magic does exist in the world. If you loved Garden Spells, you’ll be glad to return to Bascom: I know I was.
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