THOUGHTS ON THIS 'n THAT

2021 has been a great year in publishing. Here are some of our favs!   DAMNATION SPRING (Scribner) by Ash Davidson DAMNATION SPRING is not about trees, fish or clouds. But it's perfect for those who do and don't believe we have the power to destroy our environment. It's also about love, family, marriage and a community facing changes that will uproot their lives.  FALLING (AvidReaderPress)  by T.J. Newman You're flying in an airplane at thirty-seven thousand feet and learn you're going to crash. Wonder what's going through the minds of the passengers? They're terrified, as well as the pilot. THE FAMILY SHIP (LakeUnionPublishing) by Sonja Yoerg Yoerg's novel explores controlling relationships and whether or not a family can withstand trauma. Usually, they either become stronger or fall apart. The chapters alternate between the many characters. What Sonja does best is dig inside each character and reveals their positive characteristics and flaws. We reader...

  From #1  New York Times  bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard comes the gripping, emotionally charged novel of a mother who must help her son after he is convicted of a devastating crime. What do you do when the person you love best becomes unrecognizable to you? For Thea Demetriou, the answer is both simple and agonizing: you keep loving him somehow. Stefan was just seventeen when he went to prison for the drug-fueled murder of his girlfriend, Belinda. Three years later, he’s released to a world that refuses to let him move on. Belinda’s mother, once Thea’s good friend, galvanizes the community to rally against him to protest in her daughter’s memory. The media paints Stefan as a symbol of white privilege and indifferent justice. Neighbors, employers, even some members of Thea's own family turn away. Meanwhile Thea struggles to understand her son. At times, he is still the sweet boy he has always been; at others, he is a young m...

  What do you do when your fake engagement starts to feel too real… That's the question Victoria Scott asks in Georgia Toffolo's novel, MEET ME IN LONDON (Harlequin). The aspiring clothes designer spends her days working in a bar in Chelsea and her evenings designing vintage clothes, dreaming of one day opening her own boutique. But these aspirations are under threat from the new department store opening at the end of her road. She needs a Christmas miracle, but one is not forthcoming. Oliver Russell’s Christmas is not looking very festive right now. His family’s new London department store opening is behind schedule, and on top of that his interfering, if well-meaning, mother is pressing him to introduce his girlfriend to her over the holidays—a girlfriend who does not exist. He needs a diversion…something to keep his mother from meddling while he focuses on the business. When Oliver meets Victoria, he offers a proposition: pretend to be his girlfriend at the opening of his st...

In Michelle Major's novel, MISTLETOE SEASON (Harlequin), two lonely hears find exactly what they need for Christmas. Angi Guilardi needs a man for Christmas—at least, according to her mother. What she really needs is to grow her fledgling catering business. Partnering with Magnolia’s Wildflower Inn holds promise, but when her mother falls ill, Angi’s pulled back to the responsibility of the family restaurant. While she balances work and her eight-year-old son, romance is the last thing on her mind…until Angi runs into Gabriel Carlyle. Back in town to help his grandmother at her flower shop, Gabriel has no plans to stick around Magnolia, especially after he bumps into one of his childhood bullies. Sure, Angi's all grown up and gorgeous now, and when they find themselves under the mistletoe, their chemistry is undeniable. But it’ll take more than a Christmas miracle for Angi to break through the defenses of Gabriel’s well-guarded heart and find a love built to las...