Tiffany Crum arrives on the scene with This Story Might Save Your Life and wastes no time proving she knows exactly what she's doing, with a balance of slow-burn tension, heart, and intrigue in a package that's easy to read. Think of it as a fun mash-up of mystery, romance, and podcast culture.

The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley delivers an intriguing concept that leans towards the scientific side of magical realism: what would life be like if a unique gene meant you aged only one year for every four years an average person experiences?

Such is the life of Kit McKinley, who only reaches her early 20s before watching many generations come and go. The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley follows Kit from her birth in 1916 through to her biological 20s in the early 2000s.

Thanks to the many years that slip by in this novel, Shelley Wood’s novel reads much like historical fiction, with a slice-of-life look at many meaningful historic moments.

Whalefall centers around a solo man, left to fend for himself under seemingly insurmountable survival odds — deep in the sea and in the belly of a whale. As you may expect, Whalefall is atmospheric and tense. What you may not expect is that along with this pervasive sense of adventure comes a good deal of quiet reflection. Readers are taken deep both into the ocean and into the protagonist's emotional growth.

In Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry leans away from her traditional rom-com voice and introduces deeper themes that bleed into contemporary and women’s fiction as well.

By slowly revealing the truth of famous heiress Margaret’s complex past, Henry adds a layer of mystery and intrigue that goes well beyond the romantic tension between professional writers Alice and Hayden. While there's unquestionably a romantic thread to the book, the bulk of the plot is much more about a personal legacy and the convoluted ways that family histories are woven together.

All the Colors of the Dark tells the story of "Patch," a one-eyed boy who is just 13 when girls begin to go missing in his town. When he rescues the daughter of a wealthy family, the latest target in the crime spree, he inadvertently kicks off a tidal wave that ripples for a lifetime. This book is billed as both a crime story and a love story, and it is — but not love in the way you may think. It encompasses romantic love, but also the gruff love of a neighbor, the fearful love of a parent, the loyal love of friendship, and all the many shades in between.

Meet Lalla, a pretentious (and sociopathic) wife, stops at nothing to build the future she imagines. As she strives to ensure her husband gets a promotion and their daughter gains entry into a prestigious boarding school, a comedy of errors — and criminal happenings — quickly follow in her wake.

Evelyn in Transit is a slow and meandering search for a young woman’s budding identity. Main character Evelyn grows up restless in small-town Indiana, never quite able to live on her own terms. At eighteen, she hits the road, hitchhiking across the American West, taking odd jobs, and gravitating toward Buddhism.

The Encore will land well with readers who like family dramas with strong character development, messy-but-likable people, rise-to-riches stories, coming-of-age novels, happy-ever-after romances, and a light touch on darker emotional themes.

For those times when you maybe didn’t quite make it to the end of the book, a list of all-purpose book club discussion questions can help you be ready to start off a meaningful chat about any fiction book, no matter the content!

Questions that are too difficult or require too much thought can sometimes make your book club discussions feel like homework — and that’s the last thing you want. But if you pick questions that are too easy, the discussion just feels fluffy and sometimes a little silly — cue those cringy feelings of social awkwardness. To help prevent this, I’ve developed a simple formula that guides you through a book club discussion that’s both thought-provoking and fun!

I remember as a kid feeling like there’s so much build-up to the winter holidays and then — whoomph, they’re done, leaving this kind of dolldrums vacuum in their wake. Thankfully, this is not the case for me now because once that new year hits, I’m immediately turning my attention to my favorite authors and looking to see what they may have coming out soon.

Getting to the end of another year of reading is always exciting for me — looking back at my list of books I’ve read is almost like flipping through a slideshow from a trip abroad. I have flashbacks of books both good and bad, and an irresistable urge to tell the world all about it. And this urge isn’t just limited to my own “best of” list. I enjoy scrolling through recaps from other readers just as much! In case you are just like me and can’t get enough reading recommendations from end-of-year book lists, I pulled together my top 24 books that I read in 2024.

Our book club is pretty casual when it comes to discussing the book — never got around to reading it? Come anyway! We’re casual with our snacks, too. Despite that chill vibe, I still like to have fun with themed book club snacks when I’m hosting. I’m also a working mom of three with a busy schedule, so I look for shortcuts that allow me to create themed food without a lot of time or complicated steps! When our book club picked After the Flood by Kassandra Montag, I knew my snacks were going to be nothing but ocean, ocean, ocean … because naturally there is a lot of water in that book! 

When I looked at books that are coming out in 2024, I was thrilled to find the list packed full of the latest (and hopefully greatest) books from many of my favorite authors. If you’re looking to grow your TBR stack, this book list featuring many of the most anticipated books of 2024 will help you get on your library holds list before the line is long!

The Last Verse should be a big hit with both crime fiction and historical drama lovers alike. Twyla is a nineteen-year-old aspiring musician who decides to head to Nashville with little but the guitar on her back. When she is swept up into a crime and circumstances wholly outside of her nature, she writes a song and sings it to what she thinks is an empty bar. Weeks later, though, she hears another woman performing it on the radio — and it's an instant hit.

One of my absolute favorite subgenres of fiction is “uplit” — those often quirky but ultimately heartwarming stories that just absolutely hit the right spot and maybe even redeem your faith in humanity. I am an absolute sucker for any book centered around a lost soul finding their place in the world. I often see readers looking for more books with that flavor, so here are 15 of my favorite books in the uplit, found family genre.