May 13, 2022
New Fiction
A Family Affair by Robyn Carr – Anna McNichol knows how to take charge. Raised by a single mother, she’s worked to ensure her three children have every advantage she didn’t. And while her marriage has its problems, she values commitment and believes in “till death do us part.” Now an empty nester, she’s at the peak of her career and ready to seize the opportunity to focus on her future. But life can changed in an instant, and when her husband dies suddenly, Anna’s carefully constructed world falls apart. The mysterious young woman at the memorial service confirms her husband had been keeping secrets, and Anna is determined to know the truth. For once, she doesn’t have the answers. Her kids are struggling with their grief, her mother’s health is in decline and Anna needs closure. Faced with one challenge after another, she finds support from an unexpected source. And as she puts her life back together, Anna realizes the McNichols may not be perfect but they’ll always be family, and family is forever.
Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey – Sarah Goldman, mother to six-year-old Jacob, is relieved to move across the country. She has a lot she wants to leave behind, especially Holly Monroe, the pretty twenty-two-year-old babysitter she and her husband, Daniel, hired to take care of their young son last summer. It started out as a perfect arrangement – Sarah had a childminder her son adored, and Holly found the mother figure she’d always wanted. But Sarah’s never been one to trust very easily, so she kept a close eye on Holly, maybe too close at times. The more Sarah watched, the more she learned – until one day, she saw something she couldn’t unsee, something so shocking that all she could do was flee. Sarah has put it behind her and is starting over in a different city with her husband and son. They’ve settled into a friendly suburb where the neighbours, a tight clique of good citizens, are always on the lookout for danger. But when Sarah finds hidden cameras in her new home, she has to wonder. Has her past caught up to her, and worse yet, who’s watching her now?
The Home-Wreckers by Mary Kay Andrews – Hattie Kavanaugh went to work restoring homes for Kavanaugh & Son Restorations at eighteen, married the boss’s son at twenty, and became a widow at twenty-five. Now she’s passionate about her work, but that’s the only passion in her life. “Never fall in love with anything that can’t love you back” is the advice her father-in-law gives her, but Hattie doesn’t follow it and falls head over heels for a money pit of a house. She’s determined to make it work, but disaster after disaster occurs, and Hattie’s dream might cost Kavanaugh & Son their livelihood. Hattie needs money, and fast. When a smooth Hollywood producer shows up in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia, she gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to star in a beach house renovation reality show called The Homewreckers, cast against a male lead who maybe a love interest, or may be the ultimate antagonist. Soon there’s more at stake than bad pipes and dry rot: During the demolition, evidence comes to light that points to the mysterious disappearance of a young wife and mother years before. With a world-weary detective investigating the case, an arsonist on the loose, two men playing with her emotions, and layer upon layer of vintage wallpaper causing havoc, it’s a question of who will flip, who will flop, and if Hattie will ever get her happily ever after.
The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon – 1978: At her renowned treatment center in picturesque Vermont, the brilliant psychiatrist Dr. Helen Hildreth is acclaimed for her compassionate work with the mentally ill. But when she’s home with her cherished grandchildren, Vi and Eric, she’s just Gran, providing them with care and attention and love. Then one day, Gran brings home a child to stay with the family. Iris-silent, hollow-eyed, skittish, and feral – does not behave like a normal girl. Still, Vi is thrilled to have a new playmate. She and Eric invite Iris to join their Monster Club, where they catalog all kinds of monsters and dream up ways to defeat them. Before long, Iris, Vi, and Eric do everything together – because, as Vi explains, monsters are everywhere. 2019: Lizzy Shelley, the host of the popular podcast Monsters Among Us, is traveling to Vermont, where a young girl has been abducted, and a monster sighting has an entire town in an uproar. She’s determined to hunt the monster down because Lizzy knows better than anyone that monsters are real – and one of them is her very own sister.