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Three young Asian American women meet at the Golden Gate International Exhibit in 1938. They forge immediate friendships and end up entertaining in the San Francisco nightclub scene. Each woman holds dark secrets that are slowly revealed as they struggle to survive during the war years. Friendship, family, love, and betrayal are examined from their diverse points of view in Lisa See’s China Dolls.

Join our Novel Idea discussion group on Wednesday, May 13 at 7pm to talk about China Dolls. Get your copy of the book at the front checkout desk.

On the island of Nantucket, an entire community must learn how to come to grips, and attempt to deal with their sorrow, after a tragic car accident claims the life of a 17-year-old girl and seriously injures her twin brother.

Summerland is the first Elin Hilderbrand novel I have read, and it sure won’t be the last. She has a definite knack for delving into the lives of the major characters. By the end of the story, you really care and feel as though you actually know them. This was a very enjoyable novel – now I see why Hilderbrand is such a popular author!

The story is set in London and goes back and forth between 2009 and 1849. In the modern thread, Julia inherits a house and travels from New York to London to clean out the house before selling it. The story switches to 1849, where Imogen lives in the house with her dispassionate husband. Imogen has an affair with the artist painting her portrait – a painting that still hangs in the house in 2009. Modern day Julia pieces together Imogen’s life and finds love in Nicholas, an antiques dealer who helps her with the research.

I really enjoyed That Summer and loved the switching of the characters and the years. Very entertaining – I hope that a movie is made from Lauren Willig’s novel.

After calling off her high-society wedding after discovery her fiancé’s infidelity (with the maid of honor), Kelly Murdock faces financial ruin before receiving assistance – and an opportunity for revenge – from the new owner of a local bra company. Mary Kay Andrews has written a great, light, funny story guaranteed to make you laugh out loud! Check out Hissy Fit today.

Grace, a career woman in her mid-thirties, enters into a relationship with Victor, a divorced workaholic with two children. After Victor’s ex-wife passes away suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Grace is thrown into all the turmoil that unfolds. Heart Like Mine is narrated by three different females. The character development is really good. I’m looking forward to reading more books by Amy Hatvany.

Sophie and Liv struggle through tragedies, tough decisions, and community ridicule nearly a century a part. A hauntingly beautiful portrait of Sophie with penetrating eyes painted by her impressionist husband connect the womens' plights across time. Liv feels a deep connection to Sophie and risks everything to keep the painting out of the wrong hands.

Sophie is left behind in occupied France during WWI as her husband goes off to fight. Liv is left behind after her husband's untimely death in 21st century London. Liv meets Paul and finds out he is on the opposing side of her quest to keep Sophie's portrait. Their relationship develops in opposite directions. She is not sure if he can pull her out of her deep depression left by her husband's death, financial ruin, and public criticism, or push her further down.

As Liv finds herself at the end of all hope, Jojo Moyes allows the reader inside the mind of Sophie on the brink of death at the hands of the enemy. In The Girl You Left Behind, parallel narratives converge as the two women continue to struggle. A satisfying epilogue ties up loose ends in both worlds, yet leaves enough for the reader's imagination to wander a bit.

I really enjoyed Elise Juska’s latest novel, which centers on a large, Irish Catholic extended family living in North Philly. Told in alternating points of view by various family members and spanning 15 years, The Blessings is a lovely, sometime heartbreaking, tale of a family and what unites them.

From flowers to foster care, from motherhood to mental illness, Vanessa Diffenbaugh takes them all on and creates a very special character by the name of Victoria. She creates the perfect setting for a book about the meaning of flowers - San Francisco! The reader cries for Victoria and roots for her to succeed. She is her own worst enemy. In The Language of Flowers, Diffenbaugh keeps us in suspense until the last minute as to what Victoria's fate will be.

Really enjoyed this book! Story is told by a 30-year-old woman, recounting her life-changing experience of finding an abandoned baby in the woods when she was 12 years old. Each character is well drawn and believable. The storyline is captivating and emotional.

Check out Light on Snow by Anita Shreve today.

 

I loved this book! Beautiful writing, delightful characters, and charming setting…what more can you ask for? The story is heartwarming and sentimental without being maudlin; with a great mix of humor, warmth, and insightful pearls of wisdom.

The setting is 1960s Savannah, Georgia, and the colorful cast of characters brings to life the essence of "southern hospitality.” It’s one of those books that I didn’t want to end. I wish I had women in my life like the women in this book.

Checkout Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
 
 

Do you have a mild obsession with HGTV? Not a huge fan of the Twilight craze? Then you'll probably enjoy the hilarious and often painful story of Mia and Mac and their first foray into home ownership and renovation

Mia writes Amish zombie romances for teens and shares scathing thoughts of "rival" Stephenie Meyer. She also has a deep abiding love for all things John Hughes...which proves to be her downfall. Ready to escape a crazy situation in a rental house in Chicago, Mia decides it's time to find her dream house in the suburbs. And that's when the nightmare begins.

Throughout the book, Lancaster makes several nods to Hughes and his trademarks. It's often laugh-out-loud funny. If You Were Here is a good beach read. And while I haven't read her memoirs, you can get an idea of her writing style by visiting her blog, Jennsylvania.

Check out If You Were Here by Jen Lancaster today.

 

Sometimes it just takes a woman to get everyone going on the right path. Each of these three light romantic stories is about a young woman who moves in, shakes things up, gets every problem straightened out, and, oh yes, finds love along the way.

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer (1950)
When practical and straightforward Sophy visits her London aunt after a lifetime on the Continent, she finds life in her aunt's house in constant turmoil. All the young people are involved with unsuitable matches, owe money to questionable personages, and in general, are in a constant state of disruption – until Sophy takes charge.

A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson (1998)
Young Englishwoman Ellen Carr has always dreamed of living in Austria and cooking wonderful Viennese food. She has her chance when she gets a job as housemother at an alternative school on the outskirts of Vienna. But what an alternative! The children are running wild and the teachers are all eccentric misfits. It is the late 1930s and the world is about to fall apart. Well, Ellen can't do much about that, but she can set everyone else in ship shape order.

Roommates Wanted by Lisa Jewell (2007)
Leah Pilgrim enjoys watching the comings and goings of the mismatched characters living in the rambling house across the street in her London neighborhood. But across the street Toby, owner of said house, is in despair. He wants to sell up and move away, but how can he abandon his houseful of lonely heart boarders? Leah to the rescue!

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (2011)
On New Year’s Eve in a Greenwich Village jazz club waiting for 1938 to begin,  Katey Kontent and Eve Ross meet Tinker Grey, a handsome banker.  Swept into the “smart set,” Katey rises from the secretarial pool to working at a new flashy magazine.  The novel paints an inviting portrait of New York in those heydays of pre-WWII, limos at 21 Club, screwball comedies, smoky jazz clubs, cocktails at the St. Regis, and nothing and no one is as they seem.  It is a great story showing how spur of the moment decisions can affect your entire life.

Find out more about the book in this Q & A with the author.

I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg (2010)
A charming and heartwarming  book. I laughed and I cried.  It was well worth the wait.

Check out the author's website for more about the book.

If you like Fannie Flagg's books take a look at our list of  funny mysteries to discover your next favorite read.

Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh (2003)
In her first novel, Jennifer Haigh tells of three women who marry the same man, Ken Kimble. Birdie, his first wife, struggles to hold herself together following his desertion. Then he finds Joan, a lonely heiress shaken by personal tragedy, who sees in Kimble her chance at happiness. Finally there is Dinah, a beautiful woman who is half his age. Ken Kimble is revealed through the eyes of the women he seduces and you’re not going to like him very much!

The author makes no judgments, but rather her story is a revelation of the human condition at its best and worst. She deals a steady hand of emotions, but with a deft touch. And as one review put it, “The book raises as many questions as it answers, and in that lies its true significance, a certain authenticity of voice that compels one to read on in spite—or perhaps because of—the contradictions.”

Read an interview with the author about Mrs. Kimble.