Breaking down in a nowhere town called Providence wasn’t part of the plan. When her life falls apart in a matter of hours—losing her job, her apartment, and any sense of security—all single mother Amy Lawson wants is a fresh start somewhere, anywhere but here. She doesn’t expect her car to die in the middle of nowhere, leaving her and her young daughter stranded and at the mercy of strangers in a town that seems too small to even have a decent mechanic. 🚗
Securing a safe place for her and her daughter to stay means accepting the help of a mysterious, brooding mechanic who clearly doesn’t want to get involved but can’t seem to help himself. Widower and grieving father Ben Young avoids people as a general rule, but he’s driven to help Amy—for her daughter’s sake, he tells himself. There’s something about Amy that draws him in despite his best efforts to maintain his carefully constructed isolation. When his cousins show interest in her, he fears he might miss out on a second chance at love if he can’t find a way to move on from his tragic past. 💔
Just when a relationship begins to form between Ben and Amy, she discovers she holds the key to what happened to Ben’s family years ago. The mystery she stumbles upon could either bring them closer together or destroy any chance they have at happiness. Will her search for answers cost her everything she’s found in Providence—including the man and community who’ve become her unexpected salvation? 🔍
What makes this compelling: Single mother’s life falling apart in hours, breaking down in tiny town called Providence, mysterious brooding mechanic who lost his family helping despite avoiding people, his cousins also interested in her, and discovering she holds key to what happened to his family threatening their budding romance.
College was supposed to be all about booze and boys, late-night pizza, and maybe occasionally attending class. For Zoe Lake, though, it’s turning out to be all about monsters and mayhem—which wasn’t exactly in the course catalog. An incoming freshman at Covenant College, Zoe is excited to meet her roommates, attend classes, and finally experience the freedom of college life. There’s only one problem: Covenant College isn’t all it’s purported to be. 🎓
First off, there are attractive yet mysterious men skulking around every corner, watching her with knowing eyes that suggest they see something in her she doesn’t see herself. Then there’s that persistent professor who thinks he knows some secret about her past that even she isn’t aware exists, dropping cryptic hints between lectures on ancient mythology. And let’s not forget the rumors—you know the ones. The whispers that say Covenant College is home to more than just humans, but vampires and werewolves too. 🧛
Not only is Zoe going to find herself in the middle of supernatural madness she never believed existed, but she’s also going to have to try and pass finals while she endeavors to solve the mystery of what a monster really is. Between dodging fanged classmates, decoding professor’s riddles about her hidden heritage, and trying to figure out which gorgeous guy is more dangerous to her heart, Zoe discovers that college orientation doesn’t prepare you for learning you’re not entirely human either. 🐺
What makes this addictive: College freshman expecting booze and boys gets monsters and mayhem instead, attractive mysterious men skulking corners at Covenant College, persistent professor knowing secrets about her past she doesn’t, rumors of vampires and werewolves being true, and passing finals while solving mystery of what monsters really are—including herself.
My daughter thought she had found the man of her dreams. But now her life is in danger and I’m thousands of miles from home. When Ellie tells me she has a new boyfriend, I am absolutely thrilled and can’t wait to meet him. She finally seems so happy and in love after years of disappointing relationships. There’s just one catch: Ellie has never met him in person. In fact, he doesn’t even live in the same country. Our home is in England, but Daryl is in Los Angeles. 💔
When handsome Daryl invites Ellie to stay with him at his luxury Los Angeles mansion for a few weeks, I insist on joining her. As a mother, I need to find out more about the man who has my daughter so enamored, the one she’s been talking to for months but never actually met face-to-face. Daryl welcomes us into his whitewashed house, complete with a stunning swimming pool and sun-drenched patio. Everything seems perfect—too perfect. 🏊
Then one morning, I discover a terrible secret in his basement that changes everything. He has been lying to us from the start, and the beautiful mansion is hiding horrors I never imagined. I go to confront him, but Ellie and Daryl are nowhere to be found. I call Ellie’s phone but there’s no answer. Panic sets in as I realize my daughter is alone with a man whose charming facade has cracked to reveal something far more sinister. Now I’m racing against time to find her before it’s too late. 🚨
What makes this chilling: Daughter’s online boyfriend inviting her to Los Angeles mansion after never meeting in person, mother insisting on joining from England to investigate, discovering terrible secret in his basement revealing lies, daughter and boyfriend disappearing with no answer on phone, and mother realizing daughter is alone with sinister stranger in foreign country.
Sawbones: A Patrick Flint Novel
When a ruthless killer targets his family, Patrick Flint will stop at nothing to keep them safe. A family ski trip turns into a nightmare when thirteen-year-old Perry Flint becomes the sole eyewitness to the murder of a prominent judge’s wife—just days before Wyoming’s first capital murder trial in decades. What should have been a peaceful winter vacation in the mountains has thrust the Flint family into the crosshairs of dangerous criminals who will kill to silence witnesses. ⛷️
Meanwhile, Patrick’s wife Susanne and daughter Trish are preparing to testify against the deadly Billy Kemecke, whose criminal family will do anything to silence them before they can take the stand. The Kemecke clan has a reputation for eliminating problems, and right now the Flint family represents their biggest threat. With danger closing in from all sides—a murdered witness, an upcoming trial, and a crime family with nothing to lose—the stakes couldn’t be higher. 🏔️
Patrick must navigate a deadly game of cat and mouse to protect his loved ones before it’s too late. Between keeping his son safe from killers who know he witnessed a murder, protecting his wife and daughter from the Kemecke family’s retribution, and dealing with local law enforcement who may not be able to help in time, Patrick finds himself in an impossible situation. Sometimes being a doctor means saving lives—but sometimes it means fighting to keep your family alive. ❄️
What makes this pulse-pounding: Family ski trip becomes nightmare when son witnesses judge’s wife’s murder, wife and daughter testifying against deadly criminal family, Wyoming’s first capital murder trial in decades, ruthless Kemecke clan eliminating threats, and father fighting to protect family from killers closing in from all sides.
Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs’s hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z. 33,000 pages. 44 million words. 10 billion years of history. One obsessed man. To fill the ever-widening gaps in his Ivy League education, A.J. Jacobs sets for himself the daunting task of reading all thirty-two volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica. 📚
His wife Julie tells him it’s a waste of time, his friends believe he is losing his mind, and his father—a brilliant attorney who had once attempted the same feat and quit somewhere around Borneo—is encouraging but unconvinced. Still, Jacobs persists, marching alphabetically through human knowledge with the determination of a man who believes that somewhere between “a-ak” and “Zywiec” lies the key to becoming the smartest person in the world. 🤓
With self-deprecating wit and disarming frankness, The Know-It-All recounts the unexpected and comically disruptive effects Operation Encyclopedia has on every part of Jacobs’s life—from his newly minted marriage to his complicated relationship with his father and the rest of his charmingly eccentric New York family to his day job as an editor at Esquire. Between cocktail party facts about Albania and obscure knowledge about medieval torture devices, Jacobs discovers that being a know-it-all is harder—and funnier—than he ever imagined. 🎓
What makes this hilarious: NPR contributor’s quest to read entire Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z, 33,000 pages and 44 million words of human knowledge, wife and friends questioning his sanity, father who quit at “Borneo” encouraging him, and self-deprecating humor about how obsessive learning disrupts his marriage, family, and Esquire editor job.
Meeting Ross Davis, professional baseball coach and my sports crush, is a funny story involving a stalled elevator, the potty dance, and an attempt to get into his hotel suite. In my defense, that last one was an accident—I was desperate and thought his room was the bathroom. Not my finest moment, but definitely memorable. He came to my room instead with a bottle of scotch and a sad soul, and we spent the night talking. ⚾
My one night was not a stand, but more like a lie-in. As in, we snuggled and talked and not another thing happened—just two people sharing their stories and finding unexpected comfort in each other. So nothing surprises me more than seeing him again when he becomes the manager of the Chicago Anchors, my hometown pro-team, and our paths intersect once more. Small world, awkward reunion. 🏨
It’s here the story gets fuzzy, because Ross Davis, that sexy silver fox, has a proposal for me. Baseball players are notoriously superstitious, and Ross is somehow convinced I’m his good luck charm—one who brings him success by sleeping with him. Only sleeping. Literally just sleeping, no sex involved. Between team politics, his silver-fox appeal, and the strangest arrangement I’ve ever agreed to, I’m discovering that sometimes the best relationships start with the worst first impressions. 💤
What makes this charming: Meeting sports crush in stalled elevator with disastrous potty dance, accidental hotel suite mixup leading to scotch and soul-baring, professional baseball manager convinced she’s his good luck charm, superstitious proposal for literal sleep-only arrangement, and sexy silver fox reconnecting with hometown woman in Chicago.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 3Page 3