The Love Story of Missy Carmichael by Beth Morrey

Title: The Love Story of Missy Carmichael

Author: Beth Morrey

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Maybe you've heard of the concept of "found family"? This is about "found community"; about a bunch of people who just refuse to let Missy Carmichael go! Missy is a private, self-conscious woman whose children have moved out and moved on with their lives, and she doesn't have many people whom she regularly interacts with, much less whom she could call friends. One day, she stumbles into a situation and embarrasses herself thoroughly, but discovers that she is suddenly surrounded by a group of people who simply won't let her excuse herself and disappear. This is a story for the times that you are convinced that you are unlovable, or have been left behind in your life, as it proves again and again that the best love stories just might be ones that help you to rediscover your love for yourself!

- Katrina

Check out The Love Story of Missy Carmichael by Beth Morrey @ the library!

Making Piece by Beth M. Howard

Title: Making Piece

Author: Beth M. Howard

Genre: Memoir; food memoir

When the author receives news that her husband has died, she decides to make and share pie as a way to deal with her grief. A journalist, she packs up her RV and, together with a filmmaker friend, interviews pie experts at various stops. Her journey eventually takes her to the American Gothic House, which she then rents and where she opens her very own pie stand. While this is another memoir born of economic privilege and the author can't resist overstuffing her story with pie metaphors and similes, you will root for her and appreciate her message of connecting through food. Several pie recipes are included.

- Sarah

Check out Making Piece by Beth M. Howard @ the library!

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Title: Black Cake

Author: Charmaine Wilkerson

Genre: Fiction

Two estranged siblings must come together when their mother dies. She has left behind a recording that begins with the story of a Caribbean swimmer who flees the island under suspicion of murder. What the siblings learn from the recording will reshape how they think of their past and their family. And when it is all over, their mother asks that they share her famous black cake "when the time is right."

Following multiple timelines and voices, Black Cake is a journey through one family's history and how one woman's choices shape that family. As with most books with multiple voices, one storyline was more engaging than the others, but this was still a wonderful story of family and left me wanting to try the titular black cake.

- Beth

Check out Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson @ the library!

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson

Title: Meet Me at the Museum

Author: Anne Youngson

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Have you ever had a pen pal? Most of the pen pals we hear about are children, but this story is about two adults who have never met, and is told through the letters that they exchange. They discuss their lives (they live in two separate countries), their jobs, their kids and grandkids and spouses. Their exchanged words help both of them take another look at events that they are living through, and to reconsider what they each want from their lives and the role they have chosen for themselves. This is a quick read but left me thinking about the story well after I finished!

- Katrina

Check out Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson @ the library!

How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby

Title: How to Become a Planet

Author: Nicole Melleby

Genre: Fiction, children's

Pluto doesn’t feel like herself anymore. She doesn’t feel like getting out of bed in the morning and she has lost interest in one of her favorite things – astronomy. Pluto’s mom, who runs a pizzeria on the Jersey Shore boardwalk, chose Pluto’s name because she loves space. Pluto and her mom have gone to the planetarium since Pluto was a young child, but Pluto doesn’t want to go.

Pluto meets Fallon, whose family opened a new business nearby. She connects with Fallon because Fallon doesn’t know her as the girl who was diagnosed with depression who stopped going to school a month before the end of seventh grade.

Pluto makes a list of things she wants to do during the summer to make her feel like Pluto again. The list includes visiting the planetarium with her mom and attending her friend Meredith’s birthday party. Pluto also needs to study with a tutor to enter eighth grade in the fall. Fallon has a checklist as well and the two teens connect because of their lists. The book realistically covers mental health in a way that is natural, not overbearing, and Pluto is likeable so Pluto’s struggles keep the reader interested.

- Elizabeth

Check out How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby @ the library!

The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood

Title: The Knitting Circle

Author: Ann Hood

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

I love stories that explore friendship and the strength women find within the bonds of their relationships with each other. The Knitting Circle is such a book....at its heart is Mary Baxter, writer, wife and mother. But now she is lost in despair at the sudden death of her young daughter. She's unable to find herself or any part of her previous life with her husband, Dylan, and the grief and sadness are swallowing her up. But then she learns to knit, and it saves her. More accurately, it's the people she meets at "Big Alice's" Sit and Knit that slowly, but surely, save her. Hood's writing is true and honest and she handles difficult, painful issues with sensitivity and humor. I've added this to the top of my "Fav's" list.

- Karen

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The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Title: The Plot

Author: Jean Hanff Korelitz

Genre: Mystery; Thriller; Literary Satire

Jacob Finch Bonner received modest recognition for his first novel but has failed to follow up on his initial success. As a teacher in a low-residency MFA program, he hears his student's "foolproof" plot that Bonner admits would make a hit. When the book isn't published a few years later, Bonner discovers that his student has died--and the plot is now available to him. The novel becomes a bestseller, but then Bonner gets a message: "You are a thief." Who is behind the mysterious note? And will he find out before it's too late? This book is addictive and suspenseful and sure to cure a reading rut.

- Sarah

Check out The Plot  by Jean Hanff Korelitz @ the library!