NCW Libraries

"Joy Okafor is overwhelmed. Recently divorced, a life coach whose phone won't stop ringing, and ever the dutiful Nigerian daughter, Joy has planned every aspect of her mother's seventieth birthday weekend on her own. As the Okafors slowly begin to arrive, Mama Mary goes to take a nap. But when the grandkids go to wake her, they find that she isn't sleeping after all. Refusing to believe that her sister is gone-gone, Auntie Nancy declares that she...

While dealing with a wealth of family issues, Serenity, South Carolina, resident Maddie Townsend, jobless and newly single, finds herself the talk of the town when her son's baseball coach declares his love.

"A woman fresh out of a failed marriage has seemingly written her soulmate into existence--only to discover that great love begets greater tragedy--in this fantastical reimagination of Romeo and Juliet. Helene Janssen has been dreaming of Romeo since she was cast as Juliet in her school play in eighth grade. With her father dying from an incurable brain tumor and the boy cast opposite her a jerk, Helene invented her own Romeo--an imaginary friend...

Former college sweethearts reconnect decades later after each has married, raised a family and forged careers and embark on an intense affair that forces them to confront the moral responsibilities of their love for their families and each other.

In the Vietnamese fishing village of Phan Thiet in 1942, Tuyet meets and falls in love with Japanese major Yamazaki Takeshi, a wounded veteran with a good heart, but when he risks his life for the Resistance, she and her family are drawn into the conflict, with devastating consequences.

"When Camille Taylor's husband dies unexpectedly, the carefully constructed life she worked so hard to build in Washington, DC, shatters. After struggling for almost a year, she packs up her daughter, and heads for the Alabama coast where she grew up. The salt air and slow rhythm of the coast soothe Camille's spirit, but when she meets local fisherman Mack Phillips, she learns things have changed in her hometown. Runoff from an abandoned development...

"Brenda Malloy wants nothing to do with Christmas ever again. Last year, Brenda and her husband rushed their beloved dog, Tim, to the emergency vet on Christmas eve. The good news: Tim survived after the vet cleared the obstruction--a pair of women's lace undies. The bad news: the undies were not Brenda's. A year after the breakup, Brenda has put her life back together. She's trained for a marathon, is writing a children's novel, and she's found purpose...

"A former prodigy refuses to believe her best years are behind her in this sparkling debut about second chances, unexpected joys, and the miraculous healing power of art and connection. It's a lot of pressure being compared to Mozart. Especially when you're only five. Prudence Childs was once the most famous kindergartner on the planet. She played at the White House, appeared on talk shows, and inspired a generation of children to take up piano....

"Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life-living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher-was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father's beekeeping business. Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she...