And Then There Was Us

And Then There Was Us
By Kern Carter
Tundra Books, 2024. 223 pages. Young Adult Fiction

Coi is just eighteen years old but has already survived years of physical and verbal abuse from her mother. After being kicked out of her mother's house at age fourteen, Coi has lived with her father, and together they've created a peaceful life. That peace ends suddenly when her mother dies; her mother's passing also reopens up the door to her mother's side of the family, including her beloved half-sister Kayla, her stepfather, and her grandmother. As she reconnects with her family, Coi learns to see parts of her mother she never experienced and, for the first time since she was abandoned, opens her heart to forgiveness.

This book was heartbreaking, uplifting, infuriating, comforting, and extremely memorable. I felt so proud of the main character, Coi, as she continued to show just how strong and capable she was. Additionally, I was relieved to see Coi finding solace in good friends, good conversation, and good food. Surviving childhood abuse, maintaining a sense of self throughout, and recognizing that she needs to open up about her anger in order to be able to let it go - these were all things I was cheering Coi through. I found myself thinking about her and her family in moments when I wasn't reading this book, and that's how I knew it was one I needed to share with others.

If you like And Then There Was Us, you might also like: 

Abuela Don't Forget Me
By Rex Ogle
Norton Young Readers, 2022. 198 pages. Young Adult Biography

This incredible novel written in verse gives readers life-affirming poems that honor the author's grandmother's legacy. Throughout a coming of age marked by violence and dysfunction, Abuela's red-brick house in Texas offered Rex the possibility of a home. This book is a lyrical portrait of the transformative and towering woman who believed in Rex even when he didn't yet know how to believe in himself.

Red
By Annie Cardi
Union Square & Co, 2024. 250 pages. Young Adult Fiction

After a very personal decision goes public, sixteen-year-old Tess faces daily harassment and rejection by her former friends and even some of her family. When she meets some kids in the music room, her only place of solace at school, she finds they don't judge her for what's happened, and she learns to find her voice again. This book explores the complex themes of religious hypocrisy, reproductive rights, and overcoming adversity. 

Things We Haven't Said
By Erin Moulton (Editor)
Zest Books, 2018. 208 pages. Young Adult Nonfiction

A powerful collection of poems, essays, letters, vignettes, and interviews by a diverse group of impressive adults who survived sexual violence as children and adolescents. Structured to incorporate creative writing to engage the reader and informative interviews to dig for context, this anthology is a valuable resource of hope, grit, and honest conversation. It will help teens and adults tackle the tough topic of sexual violence, upend stigma, and maintain hope for a better future.

LKA

The Twilight Garden

The Twilight Garden
by Sarah Nisha Adams
William Morrow, 2024. 391 pages. Fiction

In a small pocket of London, between the houses of No.77 and No.79 Eastbourne Road, lies a neglected community garden. It was a beautiful thing once, a little oasis in a bustling city for neighbors by day and the local foxes at twilight. But the garden's gate is now firmly closed. And that's exactly how Winston at No.79 likes it—anything to avoid Bernice, who has moved in next door with her young son. Their houses may share the garden, but they're not exactly neighborly. But then a mysterious parcel drops on Winston's doormat. It contains no note, only a bundle of photographs of the garden in bloom many years ago—vibrant with flowers, filled with people from every corner of the community. Is someone trying to tell them something? The seed of an idea is planted ... Somewhere out there, a secret gardener made a decades-old promise to keep the community's spirit alive. Now it's time for The Twilight Garden to come out of hibernation.

This is the perfect book for aspiring gardeners to enjoy, since it covers the ups and downs of tending a garden. This is also the perfect book for people who like reading about the power of community, and about people finding their place in the world. Although Winston starts gardening as a way to annoy his neighbor Bernice, the garden becomes a passion project for both households. The book also jumps back in time, telling the story of the founding of the community garden, and the garden's original caretakers—two neighbors named Alma and Maya. In both storylines, characters deal with both happiness and heartbreak. This is an especially enjoyable story about people finding each other and building each other up.

If you like The Twilight Garden you might also like:

The Museum of Ordinary People
by Mike Gayle
Grand Central Publishing, 2022. 336 pages. Fiction

Still reeling from the sudden death of her mother, Jess is about to do the hardest thing she's ever done: empty her childhood home so that it can be sold. In the process of finding a new home for an old set of encyclopedias, Jess discovers an unusual archive of letters, photographs, and curiosities housed in a warehouse and known as the Museum of Ordinary People. Irresistibly drawn, she becomes the museum's unofficial custodian, along with the warehouse's mysterious owner. As they delve into the history of objects in their care, they not only unravel heart-stirring stories that span generations and continents, but also unearth long-buried secrets that lie closer to home.

Nosy Neighbors

by Freya Sampson

Berkley, 2024. 369 pages. Fiction

Twenty-five-year-old Kat Bennett has never felt at home anywhere, and especially not in crumbling Shelley House. Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling is Shelley House's longest resident, and if you believe the other tenants, she's as cantankerous and vindictive as they come. Except there's a good reason Dorothy spends her days spying on her neighbors—a closely guarded secret that no else knows and the reason Dorothy barely leaves her beloved home. When their building faces demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy become unlikely allies in their quest to save their historic home.

Also: Our Library has been getting into gardening lately! We have a Seed Library that lives at the back of our 1st floor Reference Desk, waiting for people to come take some seeds and grow beautiful things with them. We've also been hosting seed swaps and plant swaps, with our next one happening on Saturday, May 18th.  

MB

Consort of Fire

Consort of Fire
By Kit Rocha
Montlake, 2023. 381 pages. Romance

For three thousand years, an ancient dragon god has protected the borders of the Sheltered Lands. In return, he makes only one demand: every one hundred years, the mortal ruler must send their heir to serve as his consort . . . for as long as they can survive. Sachielle of House Roquebarre is the thirty-first consort to be sacrificed to the monster who guards the mountain passes. She is young, beautiful, and she has three secrets. First: she's a disposable orphan trained in seduction. Second: her handmaid, Zanya, is an assassin and the only person she has ever loved. Third: and most deadly: she's cursed. Sachi and Zanya have five weeks to murder the Dragon in his bed. If they fail, the mortal king's curse will steal not just Sachi's life, but her very soul. The Dragon has only one secret: he is nothing like what they have been told. And he will do whatever it takes to possess them both.

I started this book with the hopes of a spicy romantasy (romantic fantasy).  It delivered that and more.  Another author describe the book as "A primal scream of queer joy" and I couldn't agree more.  The characters are complex and interesting.  The romance is heartbreaking, varied, and about as spicy as you can get. It seemed much shorter than it was, probably because you can see the inevitable ending long before it arrives. That being said, I was not bored and the author found different ways to surprise me by the end. If you are looking for a romance that has high stakes, views love as something you can give to anyone you like, and might break your heart and heal it at the same time; then this book is definitely for you.

If you like Consort of Fire, you might also like: 

Silver Under Nightfall

By Rin Chupeco

Saga Press, 2022. 506 pages. Fantasy

Remy Pendergast is many things: the only son of the Duke of Valenbonne (though his father might wish otherwise), an elite bounty hunter of rogue vampires, and an outcast among his fellow Reapers. His mother was the subject of gossip even before she eloped with a vampire, giving rise to the rumors that Remy is half-vampire himself. Though the kingdom of Aluria barely tolerates him, Remy's father has been shaping him into a weapon to fight for the kingdom at any cost. When a terrifying new breed of vampire is sighted outside of the city, Remy prepares to investigate alone. But then he encounters the shockingly warmhearted vampire heiress Xiaodan Song and her infuriatingly arrogant fiancé, vampire lord Zidan Malekh, who may hold the key to defeating the creatures though he knows associating with them won't do his reputation any favors. When he's offered a spot alongside them to find the truth about the mutating virus Rot that's plaguing the kingdom, Remy faces a choice. It's one he's certain he'll regret. 

How to Love Your Elf

By Kerrelyn Sparks

Kensington Books, 2020. 328 pages. Romance

Sorcha knew the mission was dangerous. Leaving the safe grounds of her brother's kingdom and parlaying with the elves across their border . . . well, treachery seemed at least as likely as true peace. But to support her sister, Sorcha would brave far more than the underhanded ways of the elves. Or so she thought, before she was taken hostage. Of course, her captors didn't count on her particular abilities - or on the help of the Woodsman, the mysterious thief who made his home in the forest. He saw the battle from the trees, saw the soldier attacking against incredible odds to save a comrade - and then saw the valiant fighter revealed as Princess Sorcha of Norveshka. He can't tell if he wants to kidnap her or kiss her. But despite Sorcha's stubbornness, his inconvenient honor, and a rebellion on the cusp of full war, something burns between them that neither can let go.

Someone You Can Build A Nest In
By John Wiswell
DAW Books, 2024. 310 pages. Fantasy

Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she's fallen in love. Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth. However, the hunters chase Shesheshen out of her home and off a cliff. Badly hurt, she's found and nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human. Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen's eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don't think about love that way. Shesheshen hates keeping her identity secret from Homily, but just as she's about to confess, Homily reveals why she's in the area: she's hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere? Eating her girlfriend isn't an option. Shesheshen didn't curse anyone, but to give herself and Homily a chance at happiness, she has to figure out why Homily's twisted family thinks she did. As the hunt for the monster becomes increasingly deadly, Shesheshen must unearth the truth quickly, or soon both of their lives will be at risk. And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with, rather than in, the love of her life.

KJ

Funny Story

Funny Story

By Emily Henry

Berkley, 2024. 387 pages. Romance

Daphne always loved the way Peter told their story. Too bad it turned out to be more of a prequel, a complication to Peter's actual love story, the one that ends with him dumping Daphne before their wedding to begin a relationship with his lifelong best friend, Petra. And so that's how Daphne's story really begins: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children's librarian, and proposing to be roommates with Petra's heartbroken ex, Miles Nowak. Scruffy and chaotic, Miles is entirely the opposite of buttoned-up Daphne until one night, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship. Miles decides he will convince Daphne to give Waning Bay a real shot. He'll show her why he loves this idyllic town and its residents, and if they happen to post deliberately misleading photos of their adventures together who could blame them? 

In this opposites attract romance, I was absolutely smitten with Daphne and Miles' relationship. I was worried at first because the premise seemed a little outlandish, but Emily Henry never misses. She excels at adding emotional depth to her characters while exploring heartbreak and mental health in ways that never feel heavy handed or unnecessary to the story. While it is a forced proximity story, Daphne and Miles's relationship never felt forced with the perfect amount of slow burn and angst. Funny Story is another great read from Emily Henry! 

If you liked Funny Story, you might also like:

Just for the Summer

By Abby Jimenez

Hatchett Book Group, 2024. 418 pages. Romance

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other's out, and they'll both go on to find the love of their lives. Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up. It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected including catching real feelings for each other. 

The Paradise Problem

By Christina Lauren

Gallery Books, 2024. 349 pages. Romance 

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam "West" Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she'd signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways. Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There's just one catch. Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather's will, Liam won't see a penny until he's been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he's in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he's afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents - his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife. But in the presence of his family, Liam's fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife.

BW