All the books listed here are available at the library. Stop in, give us a call, or use the online catalog to place a hold and check one out.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with romance books! The number of 🔥 indicates the “spice” level!

🔥 The Bodyguard by Catherine Center: Jack Stapleton, a Hollywood heartthrob, has a stalker. When Hannah Brooks is hired on as his bodyguard, they decide to pretend to be dating so his family doesn’t worry for their safety. Protecting her heart might not turn out to be as easy as protecting Jack.

🔥 When in Rome by Sarah Adams: Famous popstar, Amelia Rose, needs a break from the spotlight and travels to Rome, Kentucky for a much needed break. She doesn’t expect her car to break down in front of small-town baker Noah Walker’s house. Noah doesn’t have time for Amelia’s celebrity problems, but can’t help becoming her grumpy tour guide. First book in a series.

🔥🔥 A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Cana: After two scheming grandfathers come up with a plan to marry their grandchildren, Kamilah and Liam try to outfox them with a plan of their own. A fake engagement to secure their futures might end up being more than just business. First book in a series.

🔥🔥 Love Interest by Clare Gilmore: After losing out on her dream job, to the board chairman’s son Alex, Casey has something to prove. Little does she know, Alex is trying to prove himself too. As work meetings turn into after hours, Casey and Alex can’t help but be drawn to each other. Will the workplace secrets and corporate drama tear them apart or bring them closer together?

🔥🔥🔥 Chase Me by Tessa Bailey: Struggling actress Roxy, is making extra money by performing as a singing telegram. When Louis McNally II opens the door to Roxy in a giant, pink bunny costume, it’s lust at first sight… for him. He’s determined to find Roxy and make her see there’s more to him than meets the eye. First book in a series.

🔥🔥🔥 By a Thread by Lucy Score: After getting Ally fired from one of her many jobs, Dominic is surprised to see her in his office the next day. She begins to brighten up the office that has felt like a prison to Dominic for the past year. He is determined to help Ally, but she has to decide if she will accept his help or not.

🔥🔥🔥🔥 Hooked by Emily McIntire: This dark fairy tale reimagining of Peter Pan follows James on his quest to get revenge on Peter Michaels. After a night out, Wendy, Peter’s daughter,  begins an addictive love affair with James. She just isn’t sure if it’s James she’s falling for or the monster known as Hook. First book in a series. 

🔥🔥🔥🔥 The Mister by EL James: From the author of the Fifty Shades trilogy, is back with what has been described as a roller-coaster ride of danger and desire. Maxin and Alessia are both hiding secrets from each other that they aren’t quite ready to face. First book in a series.

Recommendations for Black History Month and beyond!

Lucy Parsons: an American Revolutionary by Carolyn Ashbaugh: Biography. Lucy Parsons was an outspoken writer and labor organizer. She attributed the interior position of women and minority groups in American society to class inequalities. Ashbaugh’s biography aims to shine light on the role of women in American history.

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams: Fiction. Queenie is a Jamaican British woman living in London, not quite fitting into either culture. While working at a national newspaper, she is constantly comparing herself to her middle class coworkers. In a series of questionable decisions, she begins wondering who she is and what she’s doing. 

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein: Nonfiction. Richard Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, uses his extensive research to make clear that America’s cities became racially divided through local, state, and federal government’s laws and policies. These laws and policies promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.

Beloved by Toni Morrison: Fiction. A tale of endurance, pain, heartache, and power, following the story of Sethe who is born into slavery and eventually escapes to Ohio. The memories she brings with her, haunt her along with the ghost of her unnamed baby. Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988.

Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall: Historical Fiction. From the Great Depression through the post-WWII years, Ziggy has been a gossip columnist at the Black Bottom and emcee of one of the hottest night clubs in Detroit. Ziggy begins to curate narratives of local heroes and larger than life “Saints” for the Black Bottom, making him an unofficial historian.

We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin: Science Fiction. In a near future society plagued by resurgent racism, segregation, and expanding private prisons, Nigel, a biracial boy with a growing black birthmark, is not safe. Our narrator, Nigel’s father, has a potential solution: an experimental procedure that promises to save lives by turning people white. The narrator must jump through a series of dangerous hoops to afford the operation.

His Name is George Floyd by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa: Biography. Written by two prizewinning Washington Post reporters, this biography reveals how systemic racism shaped George Floyd’s life–from roots in North Carolina, to inequality in housing, education, health care, criminal justice, and policing. The story of how one man’s tragic experience can bring about a global movement for change.

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson: Nonfiction. Explore the caste system that has shaped America and see how lives are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions in the immersive, deeply researched stories about real people.