All Books Considered

Songs for Other People's Weddings by  David Levithan and Jens Lekman Blurb from Goodreads : From award-winning, bestselling author David Levithan and beloved, acclaimed singer-songwriter Jens Lekman comes a charming, tender novel about an unlucky-in-love wedding singer trying to find the right words to save his relationship J is an accidental wedding singer. Unlike most wedding singers, he writes an original song for every couple—his way of finding out about the small, strange things that brought them together and the hopeful, vulnerable feelings they’re experiencing. J’s own love life is in a state of flux. His girlfriend is off to New York for work, and as her life grows bigger and busier without him in it, he finds it harder to stick to a happy tune. He doesn’t know whether to encourage the soon-to-be-wed couples or warn them. When complication...

Kato by Otis West Blurb from Goodreads : A darkly funny, low-stakes caper set in early-2000s Seattle—featuring a stolen BMX bike, a clapped-out Celica, and a ferret named Milo. After a rough breakup, Keith crashes with old friends at a dilapidated Ballard house. He quits his job, buys a rusty Celica for $400, and starts dating a Swedish nanny. But when one of the sketchier roommates steals his younger brother’s prized BMX bike, it sets off a slow-motion train wreck of epic proportions. Soon Keith finds himself living in a guest house behind a mansion and working as a personal assistant to a shady tech bro named Chad, whose startup might be porn-adjacent. There’s also drunken bowling, putrid corporate bathrooms, grow lamps, a reunited grunge-turned-rockabilly band, a houseboat, a flare gun, and eventually, a shootout. Set in a city where flannel had ju...

First Time, Long Time by Amy Silverberg,  Narrated by the Author Blurb from Goodreads : For fans of Emma Cline and Melissa Broder, the story of an untethered, sardonic young woman falling for an older radio host… and then for his daughter. When aspiring writer Allison moved to L.A., she expected her life to finally take shape. After years of dwelling in grief over her brother's unexpected and untimely death and allowing her mercurial parents' feelings and desires to infect her own, she feels ready become the main character in her own story again. Yet Allison continues to feel inextricably tied to both her parents, particularly her unpredictable father, and weighed down by her the loss of her brother. In L.A., as with anywhere else, she feels lonely and adrift, unable to write and barely scraping by as an English teacher. After a serendipitou...

Dead of Summer by Jessa Maxwell Blurb from Goodreads : Years after her best friend mysteriously disappeared from a remote New England island, a young woman returns in search of answers in this atmospheric and scintillating thriller from Jessa Maxwell, nationally bestselling author of the “deliciously entertaining” (Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author) The Golden Spoon. Orla O’Connor hasn’t been to the isolated New England enclave of Hadley Island since she graduated from high school a decade ago. As a teenager, her best friend Alice disappeared from its shores without a trace—but with plenty of rumors. Now, Orla returns to her family’s beachfront home to clean it out before her parents sell it. The island and her best friend’s house next door, abandoned after her family left in grief, are stirring up memories she would like to avoid. The...

The Greatest Possible Good by Ben Brooks Blurb from Goodreads : Arthur Candlewick spends three days in a disused mine shaft with only his son’s drug stash, a book on the concept of ‘effective altruism’ and a bottle of medium-priced Bordeaux for company. When Arthur emerges, he has decided to sell the family timber business and give away his wealth to charity. His family think he has lost his mind. His university-bound daughter, Evangeline, wants to change the world but perhaps not at the cost of her own privileged life. His son, Emil, good at maths and not much else, becomes more distant than ever. And his wife, Yara, just wants the doctor to run another brain scan on her husband.   A book hasn't depressed me like this one did in a long time... it was just so sad.  It was not just a dysfunctional family but four very messed up people adrift...

The Lake Escape by Jamie Day,  Narrated by Lisa Larsen and Phoebe Strole Blurb from Goodreads : WILL THIS BE THE BEST WEEK OF THEIR LIVES... OR THE LAST? JULIA, DAVID, AND ERIKA grew up together spending summers at their idyllic Vermont lake homes for as long as they can remember. Now adults—with their own sullen teens, endless mortgages, and low-voltage sex lives—the three friends have amassed secrets over the years. This summer, David is eager to show off his newly renovated home—which now blocks his friends’ cherished lake views—and his much-younger girlfriend. He also, unwittingly, brings a nanny with a hidden agenda. What could possibly go wrong? When David’s girlfriend mysteriously vanishes after a shouting match, Julia and Erika wonder just how well they know their lifelong friend. The lake harbors a harrowing two young women, with no kno...

Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell Blurb from Goodreads : Alexandra grew up hungry. Hungry for food, hungry for safety, hungry for love. Which is why she's worked so hard to have it a beautiful home, a gorgeous doctor boyfriend, and an ambitious job matching individuals with... unconventional emotional responses. Sure, her clients may sit somewhere on the psychopathy scale. But they're not the dangerous, murderous kind. They're doctors, lawyers, teachers, and everyone deserves love. And that's exactly what Alex thinks she's found. Love. So she's floored when she arrives to her dinner with her boyfriend, expecting a ring in a little box, and instead finding her best friend sat at the table with him. They have news. They're together now. And apparently her birthday dinner is the best time to share the news. Suddenly,...

If You Love It, Let It Kill You by Hannah Pittard Blurb from Goodreads : A refreshingly irreverent novel about art, desire, domesticity, freedom, and the intricacies of the twenty-first-century female experience, by the acclaimed writer Hannah Pittard Divorced and childless by choice, Hana P. has built a cozy life in Lexington, Kentucky, teaching at the university, living with her boyfriend (a fellow academic) and helping raise his pre-teen daughter. Her sister’s sprawling family lives just across the street, and their long-divorced, deeply complicated parents have also recently moved to town. One day, Hana learns that an unflattering version of herself will appear prominently—and soon—in her ex-husband’s debut novel. For a week, her life continues largely unaffected by the news—she cooks, runs, teaches, entertains—but the morning after baking mac ’n’ cheese from scratch for her nephew’s sixth birthday, she wakes up ch...

The Blue Horse (Porter Beck #3) by Bruce Borgos Blurb from Goodreads : A controversial wild horse round-up in the high desert of Nevada results in two murders and too many suspects for Sheriff Porter Beck to deal with. A helicopter driving a controversial round-up of wild horses suddenly crashes and the pilot is found to have been shot. Then the person coordinating the round-up for the Bureau of Land Management is savagely murdered, buried up to her neck and then trampled to death by the very same wild horses. And there's no lack of suspects—with the wild horse advocacy group having sworn to protect the horse At Any Cost! Now the state and federal agencies are showing up looking for answers or at least a scapegoat. Sheriff Porter Beck has had better days. Porter Beck's new girlfriend, Detective Charlie Blue Horse, arrives to help with the investigation, which leads them to Canadian Lithium mining operation near...