May 26, 2023
New Fiction
The Almost Widow by Gail Anderson-Dargatz – Someone is watching Piper, and she thinks she knows who it is: The Bushman. But there’s more than one danger lurking in this temperate rainforest. Poachers are taking down old growth trees, jeopardizing plans for a park, a project Piper is passionate about. When she pressures her husband, Ben, a natural resource officer, to identify the culprits, he takes his drone into the wilderness to track them down. And then, just as a snowstorm hits, he goes missing. Refusing to believe her husband is dead, Piper begins a desperate search for him, one that continues long after the rescue team has given up. But as she uncovers what really happened to Ben, Piper is pursued by a stalker who may have taken her husband’s life and now threatens to take her own.
The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane – Malcolm Gephardt, handsome and gregarious longtime bartender at the Half Moon, has always dreamed of owning a bar. When his boss finally retires, Malcolm stretches to buy the place. He sees unquantifiable magic and potential in the Half Moon and hopes to transform it into a bigger success, but struggles to stay afloat. His smart and confident wife, Jess, has devoted herself to her law career. After years of trying for a baby, she is facing the idea that motherhood may not be in the cards for her. Like Malcolm, she feels her youth beginning to slip away and wonders how to reshape her future. When a blizzard hits their upstate New York town on the same day that Malcolm learns some shocking news about Jess, and a regular at the bar goes missing, everyone is frozen in place for a single, pivotal week, forcing Malcolm and Jess to confront their uncertain future.
Meet Me at The Lake by Carley Fortune – Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive and idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in Toronto. The timing was wrong, but their connection was undeniable: they shared every secret, every dream, and made a pact to meet again one year later. Fern showed up. Will didn’t. At thirty-one, Fern’s life doesn’t look at all how she once imagined it would. Instead of living in the city, Fern’s back home, running her mother’s Muskoka lakeside resort, something she vowed never to do. The place is in disarray, her ex-boyfriend is the manager, and Fern doesn’t know where to begin. She needs a plan – a lifeline. To her surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives nine years late, suitcase in tow and an offer to help on his lips. Will may be the only person who understands what Fern’s going through. But how can she possibly trust his expensive suit-wearing mirage who seems nothing like the young man she met all those years ago? Will is hiding something, and Fern’s not sure she wants to know what it is. But ten years ago, Will Baxter rescued Fern. Can she do the same for his now?
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld – Sally Milz is a sketch writer for a live comedy show that airs each Saturday night. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up. When Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating a glamorous actress who guest-hosted the show, Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called The Danny Horst Rule, poking fun at the phenomenon of men dating women out of their league. Enter this week’s musical guest, Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models. Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and sparks seem to be flying. But smoking-hot male celebrities never date average women, and life isn’t a romantic comedy...right?