All Books Considered

I Don't Date Hockey Players by Lolu Sinclair Blurb from Goodreads : Anna Green lives and breathes hockey. As the Portland Freezers’ publicist, her job is to keep the struggling team in the spotlight—and out of trouble. But with their last big sponsor pulling out and ticket sales plummeting, she needs a miracle. Enter Blake Tyler, the Freezers’ fiery new center. He’s aggressive, unpredictable, and a walking PR disaster. He’s also frustratingly gorgeous. Then there’s Charlie Haskell, star forward of their biggest rival, the Skateful Shredders. He’s got charm, swagger, and a history of getting under Anna’s skin. When a brewing hockey feud turns personal, Anna finds herself caught between two players who refuse to play nice—on or off the ice. Blake plays to win. Charlie plays for fun. Anna isn’t playing at all—until her heart is on the line. With a...

Ruins by Amy Taylor Blurb from Goodreads : At a crossroads in their lives, a couple arrives in Greece to house-sit for a friend. Emma is searching for a meaningful next step beyond work or starting a family, and Julian is struggling to come to terms with the failure of his academic career. Their visions for the future seem to be pulling them in different directions, and they hope that this summer away will help them mend their frayed connection. Emma and Julian’s plans take an unexpected turn when they meet Lena, an enigmatic young Greek woman, who presents an opportunity for them to explore their relationship in uncharted and excitingly risky ways. However, as the heat in the city grows stifling, Emma and Julian find themselves far more entangled in Lena’s life than they’d bargained for. Engaged in a three-way struggle for control, Emma, Julian, an...

L.A. Women by Ella Berman Blurb from Goodreads : After a steady descent from literary stardom, Lane Warren is back. She’s secured a new book deal based off the life of her sometime friend and, more often, rival Gala Margolis. Lane’s only problem is that notorious free spirit Gala has been missing for months. Ten years earlier, Gala was a charming socialite and Lane was a Hollywood outsider amidst the glittering 1960s L.A. party scene. Though they were never best friends, Lane found Gala sharp and compelling. Gala liked that Lane took her seriously. They were both writers. They were drawn to each other. That was until Gala’s star began to rise, and Lane grew envious. Then Lane did something that she wouldn’t ever be able to take back…changing the trajectories of both their lives. Bold, dazzling, and crackling with tension, L.A. Women plunges readers ...

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...

The Dirty Version by Turner Gable Kahn Blurb from Goodreads : Heat rises and sparks fly when a surf-town author and an intimacy coordinator are thrown together to write new, steamy sex scenes for a TV series based on her hit novel in this deliciously fun debut romance. Tash was thrilled when the dramatic rights to her surprise-hit feminist novel were snapped up by an indie film studio. But no one warned her that a Hollywood shuffle could land her smart, literary epic in the hands of a huge action-movie franchise director more famous for his machismo than his artistry. And now this big shot director wants “the dirty version” of her book, demanding Tash transform the strong, complex female warriors she created into eye candy. Despite her best efforts to stall, the studio assigns Tash to its golden-boy intimacy coordinator to help her add spice to the ...

Port Anna by Libby Buck Blurb from Goodreads : Just about everything has gone wrong for Gwen Gilmore over the past year. She’s lost her mother, her teaching job, and been dumped by her—albeit not that great—long-term boyfriend. Adrift and out of options, she packs her life into her barely functioning car and makes the lonely drive north, to the only place she can think of her family’s aging cottage on the Maine coast, Periwinkle, which she’s recently inherited. The cottage and Port Anna, the foggy Maine town of Gwen’s childhood, are unchanged in many ways. For Gwen, they are full of the ghosts of her past—boyfriends, forgotten creative dreams, and painful memories of a sister lost too young. Periwinkle is also home to some more literal The Misses, friendly spirits who have long watched over the cottage, but who now seem strangely unsettled, slamming...