Annie's Book Stop of Worcester

 

This week, love seems to be a theme in most of the books we see in our new arrivals. Even though they are not all romances, whether it’s familial love or relationship love most of them deal with affairs of the heart.

 

 

In the fiction books, Maame: A Novel by Jessica George is about a young British Ghanaian woman as she navigates her twenties and finds her place in the world, after being a primary caregiver for father who suffers from advanced stage Parkinson’s.

 

 

River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer tells the story of a mother’s gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children in the aftermath of slavery.

 

 

Exploring motherhood, marriage, consequences, and our incredible human capacity for hope, The Snow Hare by Paula Lichtarowicz is the story of a woman who dares to love and to dream in the face of impossible odds, and of the peace we each must make with our choices, even long after the years have gone by.

 

 

Now for the actual romances: Recovery Road by Christine Feehan. A broken man finds a woman worth living for in Christine Feehan’s Torpedo Ink motorcycle club series.

 

 

Final Offer by Lauren Asher is the last in a steamy romance series about billionaires building a Disneyland-esque park for adults. It is a second chance romance featuring Callahan Kane and his mysterious ex.

 

 

Colleen Hoover’s Heart Bones: A Novel follows two young adults from completely different backgrounds embarking on a tentative romance, unaware of what the future holds.

 

 

In the case of the thriller, The House at The End of The World by Dean Koontz, there are no romantic themes. In this novel about fears known and unknown, there is an omnipresent terror that could bring about the end of the world.

 

 

In LOVE, PAMELA by Pamela Anderson, Pamela is telling her story, a story of an irrepressible free spirit coming home and discovering herself anew at every turn. With vivid prose interspersed with bursts of original poetry, Love, Pamela is a pensive, layered, and unforgettable memoir.

 

 

As always, thank you for making our shelves your destination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FICTION:

 

 

WOMEN’S FICTION:

 

MAAME: A NOVEL by Jessica George

 

An unforgettable debut about a young British Ghanaian woman as she navigates her twenties and finds her place in the world, for readers of Queenie and The Other Black Girl.

 

 

Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi but in my case, it means woman.

 

 

It’s fair to say that Maddie’s life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie is the primary caretaker for her father, who suffers from advanced stage Parkinson’s. At work, her boss is a nightmare and Maddie is tired of always being the only Black person in every meeting.

 

 

When her mum returns from her latest trip to Ghana, Maddie leaps at the chance to get out of the family home and finally start living. A self-acknowledged late bloomer, she’s ready to experience some important “firsts”: She finds a flat share, says yes to after-work drinks, pushes for more recognition in her career, and throws herself into the bewildering world of internet dating. But it’s not long before tragedy strikes, forcing Maddie to face the true nature of her unconventional family, and the perils––and rewards––of putting her heart on the line.

 

 

Smart, funny, and deeply affecting, Maame deals with the themes of our time with humor and poignancy: from familial duty and racism, to female pleasure, the complexity of love, and the life-saving power of friendship. Most important, it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures—and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong.

 

 

LITERARY FICTION:

 

RIVER SING ME HOME by Eleanor Shearer

 

Rare. Moving. Powerful. This beautiful, page-turning and redemptive story of a mother’s gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children in the aftermath of slavery marks the arrival of a remarkable new talent.

 

 

Her search begins with an ending.…

 

 

The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs.

 

 

Away from Providence, she begins a desperate search to find her children—the five who survived birth and were sold. Are any of them still alive? Rachel has to know. The grueling, dangerous journey takes her from Barbados then, by river, deep into the forest of British Guiana and finally across the sea to Trinidad. She is driven on by the certainty that a mother cannot be truly free without knowing what has become of her children, even if the answer is more than she can bear. These are the stories of Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. But above all this is the story of Rachel and the extraordinary lengths to which a mother will go to find her children…and her freedom.

 

 

 

HISTORICAL FICTION-WWII:

 

SNOW HARE by Paula Lichtarowicz

 

In this “riveting, heartfelt” novel of love and consequences (Heather Morris, New York Times bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz), a woman dreams of becoming a doctor until World War II leads her instead into an astonishing love—and a fateful choice.

 

 

 

Is it possible to fall in love at the edge of life?

 

 

Lena has lived a long, quiet life on her farm in Wales, alongside her husband and child. But as her end approaches, buried memories begin to return. Of her childhood in Poland, and her passion for science. Of the early days of her marriage, reluctant wife to an army officer. Of the birth of her daughter, whose arrival changed everything.

 

 

Memories less welcome return, too. Her Polish village, transformed overnight by the Soviets, and the war that doomed her entire family to the frigid work camps of the Siberian tundra. And buried in that blinding snow, amongst the darkness of survival, the most haunting memory of all: that of an extraordinary new love.

 

 

Exploring motherhood, marriage, consequences, and our incredible human capacity for hope, The Snow Hare is the story of a woman who dares to love and to dream in the face of impossible odds, and of the peace we each must make with our choices, even long after the years have gone by.

 

 

 

ROMANCES:

 

 

PARANORMAL ROMANCE:

 

RECOVERY ROAD by Christine Feehan (Paranormal Romance)

 

A broken man finds a woman worth living for in the new novel in #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan’s Torpedo Ink motorcycle club series.

 

 

Kir “Master” Vasiliev doesn’t care whether he lives or dies. He’s a burnt-out shell with no one and nothing but his club. Whatever Torpedo Ink needs, Master will put himself in harm’s way time after time. If he doesn’t make it back, he’s certain everyone will move on just fine.

 

 

Investment banker Ambrielle Moore knows her own mind, and she’s not willing to settle for anyone. So when a second-rate gangster and his thugs try to coerce her into marriage—and giving up all of her family’s money—she’s having none of it. Until they turn to cold-blooded murder.

 

 

Grieving and enraged, Ambrie is ready to go scorched earth on her captors when Master shows up anticipating a damsel in distress. But Ambrie is nothing like he expected, and everything he never knew he desired….

 

 

FINAL OFFER by Lauren Asher

 

From TikTok sensation Lauren Asher comes the last in a steamy romance series about billionaires building a Disneyland-esque park for adults.

 

A second chance romance featuring Callahan Kane and his mysterious ex.

 

 

 

HEART BONES: A NOVEL by Colleen Hoover

 

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends with Us and It Starts with Us!

 

 

Moving, passionate, and unforgettable, Colleen Hoover’s novel follows two young adults from completely different backgrounds embarking on a tentative romance, unaware of what the future holds.

 

 

After a childhood filled with poverty and neglect, Beyah Grim finally has her hard-earned ticket out of Kentucky with a full ride to Penn State. But two months before she’s finally free to change her life for the better, an unexpected death leaves her homeless and forced to spend the remainder of her summer in Texas with a father she barely knows.

 

 

Devastated and anxious for the summer to go by quickly, Beyah has no time or patience for Samson, the wealthy, brooding guy next door. Yet, the connection between them is too intense to ignore. But with their upcoming futures sending them to opposite ends of the country, the two decide to maintain only a casual summer fling. Too bad neither has any idea that a rip current is about to drag both their hearts out to sea. 

 

 

 

THRILLERS:

 

 

THE HOUSE AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Dean Koontz

 

Soon no one on Earth will have a place to hide in this novel about fears known and unknown by #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz.

 

 

In retreat from a devastating loss and crushing injustice, Katie lives alone in a fortresslike stone house on Jacob’s Ladder island. Once a rising star in the art world, she finds refuge in her painting.

 

 

The neighboring island of Ringrock houses a secret: a government research facility. And now two agents have arrived on Jacob’s Ladder in search of someone—or something—they refuse to identify. Although an air of menace hangs over these men, an infinitely greater threat has arrived, one so strange even the island animals are in a state of high alarm.

 

 

Katie soon finds herself in an epic and terrifying battle with a mysterious enemy. But Katie’s not alone after all: a brave young girl appears out of the violent squall. As Katie and her companion struggle across a dark and eerie landscape, against them is an omnipresent terror that could bring about the end of the world.

 

 

 

NON-FICTION:

 

 

MEMOIR:

 

LOVE, PAMELA by Pamela Anderson (Movies & TV Memoir)

 

TO LIVE

 

AND DREAM

 

IS A WICKED DANCE.

 

MY DREAMS OFTEN COME TRUE—

 

A CURSE,

 

AND A BLESSING.

 

 

PAMELA ANDERSON’s blond bombshell image was ubiquitous in the 1990s. Discovered in the stands during a Canadian football game, she was quickly launched into superstardom, becoming Playboy’s favorite cover girl and an emblem of Hollywood glamour and sex appeal. Yet the Pamela Anderson we think we know was created through happenstance rather than careful cultivation. Love, Pamela brings forth her true story: that of a small-town girl getting tangled up in her own dream.

 

 

Growing up on Vancouver Island, the daughter of young, wild, and unwittingly stylish parents, Pamela lived a hardscrabble childhood but developed a deep love for nature, populating her world with misfits, apparitional friends, and injured animals. Eventually overcoming her natural shyness, Pamela’s restless imagination propelled her into a life few can dream of, from the beaches of Malibu to the coveted scene at the Playboy Mansion. As her star rose, she found herself a fixture of tabloid fodder, at the height of an era when paparazzi tactics were bent on destroying a person’s image and self-esteem.

 

 

Pamela forged ahead with grace, finding sanctuary in her love of art and literature, and emerged a devoted mother and activist. Now, having returned to the island of her childhood, after a memorable run starring as Roxie in Chicago on Broadway, Pamela is telling her story, a story of an irrepressible free spirit coming home and discovering herself anew at every turn. With vivid prose interspersed with bursts of original poetry, Love, Pamela is a pensive, layered, and unforgettable memoir.