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Cold as Hell (affiliate link)
Icelandic sisters ÁrÓra and Ísafold live in different countries and aren’t on speaking terms, but when their mother loses contact with Ísafold, ÁrÓra reluctantly returns to Iceland to find her sister. But she soon realizes that her sister isn’t avoiding her … she has disappeared, without trace.As she confronts Ísafold’s abusive, drug-dealing boyfriend BjÖrn, and begins to probe her sister’s reclusive neighbours – who have their own reasons for staying out of sight – ÁrÓra is led into an ever-darker web of intrigue and manipulation.Baffled by the conflicting details of her sister’s life, and blinded by the shiveringly bright midnight sun of the Icelandic summer, ÁrÓra enlists the help of police officer DanÍel, as she tries to track her sister’s movements, and begins to tail BjÖrn – but she isn’t the only one watching…
The Quantum Curators and the Fabergé Egg (Book 1) (affiliate link)
When Neith Salah – a quantum curator charged with traveling to our parallel Earth to rescue precious artefacts – is ordered to save a priceless Fabergé Egg, she figures it’s just another job. The only problem: she’s not sure what the egg looks like. Or where it is. Or when it is.
Enter Julius Strathclyde, a mild-mannered Cambridge professor whose closest brush with death-defying treasure hunts is finding lost coins down the back of the sofa. Not the usual “save the world” type, but when Julius’ best friend is murdered while searching for the egg, Neith realizes that this mild-mannered professor is the only person who can help her solve the riddles that will lead her to the egg.
She just has to keep him alive long enough to do it.
He’s got the fountain pens. She’s got the guns. They’ll just have to hope that’s enough to keep them ahead of the Russian Mafia, unknown assassins, and perhaps even other quantum curators who want the egg for their own dark purposes… and may not be picky about who they have to kill to get it.
The Catalogued Corpse: Doro Banyon Cozy Historical Mysteries (Doro Banyon Historical Mysteries Book 1) (affiliate link)
Little Women (Little Women Series Book 1) (affiliate link)
The iconic novel of American girlhood, and basis for the film adaptation by acclaimed writer-director, Greta Gerwig.
Beautiful and proper Meg, headstrong Jo, gentle Beth, pampered little Amy—generations of young women have recognized themselves in one or more of the devoted March sisters. Set against the backdrop of the Civil War and the changing seasons of New England, the story of their passage from adolescence to adulthood—from a Christmas without presents to a glorious fall day in a bountiful apple orchard, from castles in the air to real-life hearths and homes—is just as touching and illuminating today as it was a century and a half ago.
Dare to Love a Lord (Love and Secrets of the Ton) (affiliate link)
Emma Sproul has lived her whole life in the shadow of her vibrant friend, Amelia. When Amelia’s long lost brother tries to reconnect with her, Emma is utterly unprepared for the challenges and lies that are about to follow and land on her path. The only thing she knows is that he is the most beautiful man she has ever seen. When the lines of loyalty begin to blur, will their growing feelings turn into a true love?
When Lord Eric Price becomes the Earl of Elsben, he accidentally discovers some of his late father’s treasures. The unexpected revelation of some old love letters leads him to the shocking realisation that he has a sibling he knew nothing about. All he wants is a chance to meet his sister, but little did he know how much this would cost him. While he is trying to win her trust, he will start growing other, deeper feelings for her best friend. Could Emma be the salvation he has been looking for?
Captured by the Pirate Laird (Highland Force Book 1) (affiliate link)
Wed by proxy to a baron old enough to be her grandfather, Lady Anne trudges up the gangway of a galleon that will deliver her into the arms of a tyrant. Crestfallen, she believes her disastrous life cannot get worse—until she awakes to the blasts of cannon fire.
Facing certain death, Anne trembles in her stateroom while swords clash and the chilling screams of battle rage on the deck above. When a rugged Highlander kicks in her door, she prays for a swift end.
But Laird Calum MacLeod has a reason for plundering the ship—and it’s not a stunning English lass. With no other choice, he takes Anne to his crumbling keep on the isle of Raasay and sends a letter of ransom to her husband. In time, Anne grows to understand MacLeod’s plight and finds it increasingly difficult to resist Calum’s unsettling charm—until the baron sends a reply agreeing to terms.
Ripped from passion that will be forever seared into their souls, will Anne and Calum risk everything for love?
Britt-Marie Was Here: A Novel (affiliate link)
Britt-Marie can’t stand mess. A disorganized cutlery drawer ranks high on her list of unforgivable sins. She is not one to judge others—no matter how ill-mannered, unkempt, or morally suspect they might be. It’s just that sometimes people interpret her helpful suggestions as criticisms, which is certainly not her intention.
But hidden inside the socially awkward, fussy busybody is a woman who has more imagination, bigger dreams, and a warmer heart that anyone around her realizes.
When Britt-Marie walks out on her cheating husband and has to fend for herself in the miserable backwater town of Borg—of which the kindest thing one can say is that it has a road going through it—she finds work as the caretaker of a soon-to-be demolished recreation center. The fastidious Britt-Marie soon finds herself being drawn into the daily doings of her fellow citizens, an odd assortment of miscreants, drunkards, layabouts. Most alarming of all, she’s given the impossible task of leading the supremely untalented children’s soccer team to victory. In this small town of misfits, can Britt-Marie find a place where she truly belongs?
Where Butterflies Wander: A Novel (affiliate link)
After a tragic accident claims the life of one of her children, Marie Egide is desperate to carve out a fresh start for her family. With her husband and their three surviving children, Marie travels to New Hampshire, where she plans to sell a family estate and then, just maybe, they’ll be able to heal from their grief.
Marie’s plans are thwarted when she realizes a war veteran known by locals as “the river witch” is living in a cabin on the property, which she claims was a gift from Marie’s grandfather. If Davina refuses to move on, Marie won’t be able to either.
The two women clash, and battle lines are drawn within Marie’s family and the town as each side fights for what they believe is right, the tension rising until it reaches its breaking point. And the choice is no longer theirs when a force bigger than them all—fate—takes control.
When She’s Common (Risdaverse) (affiliate link)
It’s lonely for an extrovert on Risda III, the human refuge on the edge of the universe. Maeve craves company and friends, but she knows she can’t keep harassing the locals for attention. What she needs is a pet to love on.
What she gets is…a stowaway. Sorta. Zhur is actually a praxiian prince on the run, and the cat alien needs a place to hide out. Maybe not this place, though, because it smells and it has animals and all his bespoke clothes are missing. He needs to get out of here
….Except he can’t, because he’s stranded without a credit to his name.
They’re going to have to work together to fix things. Luckily for Zhur, Maeve has a plan. Maeve always has a plan. Unluckily for Zhur, most of Maeve’s plans are bad.
Very Very Lucky (affiliate link)
With kids to look after, an ailing mother and a neglected husband, life is full for Emma Fountain—too full, she realises, when she wakes up in IKEA after falling asleep in one of the show beds. Only her crazy, funny best friend Roz keeps her sane. But when Roz climbs in through her bathroom window one day to deliver terrible news, Emma’s belief that she can find a way around any obstacle crumbles in the face of a problem she just can’t fix.
For recently widowed Thurston, life without his beloved wife of sixty-two years has lost all its joy and sense of purpose. That is until he finds himself driving his niece to work one day and meets Emma, whose busy days are the opposite of his own. As Thurston is drawn into the whirlwind of Emma’s chaotic life, and as his calming influence starts to bring her troubles into perspective, an unlikely friendship grows.
In a world where grief is the price we pay for love, can two very different people realise that the little things in life are precious, that love is all around us, and that, even after all, they might still be very, very lucky?
After Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drummossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades.
Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness. One day, after helping several of his regular customers, he notices a stranger lurking in the upper gallery of his shop, poring over his collection. But the man refuses to say what he’s searching for and only leaves when Iain closes for the night.
The next morning Iain opens up shop and finds the stranger dead, his throat cut, and the murder weapon laid out in front of him – a sword with a white cockade on its hilt, the emblem of the Jacobites. With no sign of the killer, Iain wonders whether the stranger discovered what he was looking for – and whether he paid for it with his life. He soon finds himself embroiled in a web of deceit and a series of old scores to be settled in the ashes of war.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2