Reminder that our next meeting is going to be April 9th at the Hoover Library at 9:30 am! Our topic is is Romance, with special focus on:
In attendance:
Shawna – Pinson
Nicole – Tarrant
Holley – O’Neal
Tiffany – Irondale
Katie J – Woodlawn
Reba – Titusville
Joanne – Gardendale
Erika – BPL
Deni – Hoover
Melanie – Hoover
Topic: 2024 Favorites and Trends, 2025 Releases to watch out for
Trends noted:
• Romantasy boom – Sara J Maas and Rebecca Yarros still huge
• Psychological thrillers still popular – Freida McFadden read-a-likes good to have on hand
• Tell-alls from child-stars, youtube vloggers, evangelical “cults,” etc. Misery memoirs, true crime.
• RPG-style and satirical fantasy, cozy fantasy
• “Cozy” everything! Scifi, Fantasy, etc. People looking for comfort during uncertain times?
• Craft books – rug tufting, minis (fairy gardens, etc.)
• Immigrant stories on the rise, trans stories as well.
• Curious to note sociology/political science book trends with new administration after a slow-
down in publishing
Favorites of 2024
Adult Fiction
• The God of the Woods – Liz Moore (Mystery where complex family/community relationships are explored through alternating character perspectives and timelines during search for missing teen)
• The Resurrectionist – A Rae Dunlap (Historical fiction, gothic horror, mystery/thriller – medical students dig up cadavers to practice on)
• Victorian Psycho – Virginia Feito (Historical horror / thriller. A new governess arrives at Ensor House in Grim Wolds, England, and she’s an actual psychopath).
• Café with No Name – Robert Seethaler (Historical/German Slice of life – kindness and community in a Vienna market area).
• Annie Bot – Sierra Greer (Feminist AI Bot Science Fiction, scathing social commentary – a sexbot is granted AI learning and becomes more and more human and dissatisfied with her owner/boyfriend)
• Mal Goes to War – Edward Ashton (SciFi – AI, War, Humanity, Satire)
• Somewhere Beyond the Sea – TJ Klune (Fantasy, LGBTQ, found family, social justice/civil rights)
• Dreadful – Caitlin Rozakis (Fantasy, satire of toxic masculinity, comedy)
• Voyage of the Damned – Frances White (Fantasy, LGBTQ, Mystery – cozy, booktok read)
• You Should Be So Lucky – Cat Sebastian (LGBTQ Historical Romance set in 1960s, grumpy/sunshine romance between a baseball player and a reporter).
• Out of the Woods – Hannah Bonam-Young (Contemporary clean romance focusing on a long-term relationship that is experiencing a rough patch brought on by growing apart / longing for independence).
• What Does It Feel Like – Sophie Kinsella (Contemporary romance novella – a successful novelist wakes up in a hospital bed after a brain tumor surgery and wrestles with her life, diagnosis, and family in the aftermath – based on Kinsella’s recent personal experiences).
Nonfiction
• Frostbite – Nicola Twilley (Nonfiction – tech history focusing on refrigeration and how it shaped our relationship with food)
• Soldiers and Kings: Survival and hope in the world of human smuggling – Jason De Leon (Nonfiction, True Crime, Politics/Anthropology exploring human smuggling of migrants across Mexico with a narrative nonfiction perspective)
• The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel – Douglas Brunt (Nonfiction biography/tech history about the hidden history Rudolf Diesel, one of the world’s greatest inventors, and his mysterious disappearance on the eve of World War I).
Youth & YA
• Unstoppable John – Pat Zietlow Miller & Jerry Jordan (Picture book biography of civil rights activist John Lewis)
Coming in 2025
• Taylor Jenkins Reid – Atmosphere (Female scientist invited to join 1980s space program)
• Fredrik Backman – My Friends (heartwarming tale of friendship and art)
• Freida McFadden – The Crash (Pregnant woman stranded with strangers in a blizzard after her car breaks down).
• Freida McFadden – The Tenant (Previously successful man finds himself struggling after losing his job and decides to rent a room in his house to a charming woman to help make ends meet, but she’s not what she seems).
• The Paris Express – Emma Donoghue (Historical Fiction based on 1895 train disaster at Paris Montparnasse train station)
• Martha Wells – Queen Demon (sequel to Witch King)
• TJ Klune – Bones Beneath My Skin (re-release? Originally 2018)
Next Meeting: Romance & Friendship, with emphasis on hard-to-find subgenres:
• Clean
• Erotic
• YA
• LGBTQ – particularly Aro/Ace and Trans stories
• Diverse voices
June: RA Workshop – How to give good RA, especially with reluctant or uncertain readers
