Huntington Public Library Adult Reading Challenge

 A Harlequin-esque read. Feisty, attractive protagonist; tall, smart, handsome love (not at first sight). Something happens - years elapse, a fractured family is put back together. Pretty trite and predicable. An OK read. Nothing special.

  When Lisa Hodges finds out her late husband gambled away all of their savings, Lisa's kids suggest she rent out some of the rooms in her Nantucket house and turn it into a bed and breakfast. Thus unfolds the story of people that Lisa meets along the way, and how the project brings her family all together again.

  When Sasha reels out of control at work, she takes a 3 week sabbatical and get herself together. Returning to the beachfront resort of her childhood, she finds it in disrepair. The only other guest is an unsufferable man who, as it turns out, is dealing with his own forced sabbatical. Read along to see how these two find their way back to better ways of life, and help the resort that they both loved throughout their lives.

 Elizabeth Zott is the strong voice, presence, and activist needed in 1960s California. Her no-nonsense attitude and behavior in a male dominated world provides an inspiring role model much needed by many! I loved her, her daughter, her neighbor, and her dog so much -- the story made me laugh, gasp, cheer, and cry! No wonder it's such a hit and I can't wait for it to be made into a TV series.

  This book is about a tight knit friend group who takes annual trips to Maine together. The characters and their bonds are so believable, I wish I was part of this friend group! The two main characters were in a serious relationship for a decade and broke up a few months before their Maine trip. They didn't want to spoil the trip for their friends, so they pretended to still be together. The characters are around age 30 and are dealing with the fear of change and growing apart that comes naturally with new life stages, which I found relatable. The main couples' love story was so beautifully written, intense, and believable. I am a tough critic on romance stories but I commend this one. I loved the ending and all the lessons learned by all characters in the book.

 Nora is a literary agent, who has put her life on hold to raise her younger sister after their mother's death. The two sisters' devotion to each other gets challenged when Nora falls for a book editor with  razor-sharp witty banter, and Nora's sister makes a drastic life choice. Delightful ride!

 Very interesting on how to run a winery! All the different ways that go into a bottle of wine. With a family that is supportive as long as the rules were followed. Also to follow your dreams and how women are strong and can follow their dreams against the odds!

  A fun, fluffy, romantic read for summertime that touches on some deeper issues that affect people and their relationships. Hallie runs a gardening business in Napa Valley. Her longtime crush, Julian, returns to town to help run his family's vineyard after several years away. Fate brings them together, of course, and their personalities clash- Hallie is a whirling dervish of flowers, dirt, and dogs, while Julian is rigid and adheres strictly to a schedule. Opposites attract for this odd couple and despite Hallie's inability to be on time and Julian's need for timed and ordered structure, the two can't seem to keep away from each other. Tessa Bailey's characters are always fully realized and well developed, if somewhat larger than life (no one can be as handsome as the male protagonist/love interest, nobody). Secretly Yours is a rom-com read perfect for the beach or a mini brain-vacation.

  Former kid detective Charlotte Illes is now an adult with no sense of what to do with her life, until her best friends and her brother take her on a wild goose chase that gets her involved in a real murder case involving a delivery app driver. Based on the series of TikToks by the author, this is a great first novel from Katie Siegel and recommended for fans of Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew.

  I enjoyed this story and even had some laugh out loud moments. There was a lot of deep issues addressed and it made me think. It was light, yet real and current. I do recommend this book.

Georgie returns to her hometown, seeking purpose after losing her job. She becomes entangled with Levi, the black sheep of his family, who is haunted by his past. Together, these two misfits find comfort in each other and finally find somewhere to belong with each other. Georgie finds her old diary, which helps her find herself again, and Levi reunites with his estranged brother Evan as they clear misunderstandings and forgive each other and themselves.

At thirty-six , Hope McKenna-Smith is no stranger to bad news. She lost her mother to cancer, her husband left her, and her bank account is nearly depleted. Her own dreams of becoming a lawyer long gone, she’s running a failing family bakery on Cape Cod and raising a troubled preteen. Now, Hope’s beloved French-born grandmother Mamie is drifting away in a haze of Alzheimer’s. But in a rare moment of clarity, Mamie realizes that unless she tells Hope about the past, the secrets she has held on to for so many years will soon be lost forever. Tantalizingly, she reveals mysterious snippets of a tragic history in WWII Paris. Armed with a scrawled list of names, Hope heads to France to uncover a seventy-year-old mystery. Hope pieces together her grandmother’s past bit by bit. Uncovering horrific tales of the Holocaust. And to reunite two lovers torn apart by terror, all she’ll need is a dash of courage, and the belief that God exists everywhere, even in cake.

  What a page turner. I know it may seem somewhat unrealistic, but I found it so great. Emotional connection of friendship and figuring out the right love of your life made it so great.

  Elizabeth Zott is an unconventional, gifted chemist trying to make her mark in the 1960's male-dominated world of science. The resistance she encounters from the men in her field (and some women) leads her to a short lived, but intense relationship with Calvin Evans, a fellow chemist. Calvin is a world famous chemist who bonds with Elizabeth over their shared passion for scientific research, his passion for rowing, their sad family histories, and a dog named Six Thirty. Elizabeth eventually finds herself alone as a single mother and the star of a cooking show "Supper at Six" . She uses her platform in a way to empower and educate women with encouragement to follow their dreams and with lessons in chemistry. The book is funny, filled with quirky characters, and gives the reader a feminist heroine who encounters the worst possible misogyny yet succeeds on her own terms.

  I don't think that I cared for this book, certainly not in proportion to the excitement I see of everyone talking about it. It acts like it wants to present a single, cohesive story, but mostly just bounces between vignettes about the personal lives of characters who...I feel we don't really get any reason to care about their lives, if they even have lives beyond their space opera archetypes, with even some names looking like a first draft, like "Doctor Chef." I appreciate a lot of what it wants to do socially, and it certainly has some touching moments, but it often feels clumsy, more like the reference guide for a hypothetical series with placeholder dialogue than a work of fiction. Maybe more than that, though, the book consistently makes a point to tell us how socially awkward our protagonists act, which feels like it panders to stereotypical science fiction fans more than it improves the setting.

  Heather Havilesky explores the vulnerability, communication, frustrations, furies, crises, endurances, and joys of marriage. Her humor, philosophy, and transparency were balanced beautifully. This book made me laugh and gave me a lot to think about --- a great combination!