Lakeland Public Library discussion

Happy Women’s History Month! During March, we celebrate women’s accomplishments and contributions, both past and present. Check out this article from BookPage magazine highlighting 10 women on the rise. These books are forthcoming, but in the meantime and between time, check out one of these fresh reads:

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
This science fiction domestic thriller follows a famed geneticist whose husband uses her methods to clone her — and has an affair with the clone. When he's murdered, the two women must figure out what to do next.

The Removed by Brandon Hobson
The Removed explores Cherokee mythology and history and tells the story of the Echota family and their attempt to reclaim the memory of their teenage son, Ray-Ray, who was killed in a police shooting. As the Echotas prepare to gather in a shared ritual of memory-making each family member carefully attempts to unpack the trauma of Ray-Ray's loss. They walk both a spiritual world of Cherokee folklore and meaning, and a world outside that culture and tradition.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Klara is an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities. From her place in the store, she carefully watches the behaviors of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator and explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

A Pairing to Die For by Kate Lansing
Parker, owner of Vino Valentine, is finally settling into her winery and her new relationship with Reid, a local chef. But their delicate pairing is endangered when Reid's estranged family comes into town to celebrate the opening of his new restaurant. Parker wants to make a good first impression, but her efforts might be in vain when Reid's sous chef is found dead in the alley behind the restaurant, and Reid is implicated in the murder. In order to save Reid, Parker will have to find the real killer, even if the truth is difficult to swallow. (This is the second book in the Colorado Wine Mystery series.)

My Year Abroad by Chang-rea Lee
Tiller is an average American college student with a good heart but minimal aspirations. Pong Lou is a larger-than-life, wildly creative Chinese American entrepreneur who sees something intriguing in Tiller beyond his bored exterior and takes him under his wing. When Pong brings him along on a boisterous trip across Asia, Tiller is catapulted from ordinary young man to talented protégé, and pulled into a series of ever more extreme and eye-opening experiences that transform his view of the world, of Pong, and of himself.

The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The Committed follows the unnamed Sympathizer as he arrives in Paris in the early 1980s with his blood brother Bon. The pair try to overcome their pasts and ensure their futures by engaging in capitalism in one of its purest forms: drug dealing.Traumatized by his reeducation at the hands of his former best friend, Man, and struggling to assimilate into French culture, the Sympathizer finds Paris both seductive and disturbing. (Check out The Sympathizer to learn about his life before arriving in Paris.)

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
In eighteen-century London, a secret apothecary caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary's fate is jeopardized when its newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries. In present-day London, aspiring historian, Caroline, spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, running from her own demons. When she stumbles upon a clue to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London two hundred years ago, her life collides with the apothecary's in a stunning twist of fate — and not everyone will survive.

First Comes Like by Alisha Rai
Beauty influencer Jia takes a bold step — crashing an L.A. party to meet the man who has been wooing her via Instagram DMs, only to discover that he doesn’t know who she is. Jia is humiliated, and to make matters worse, her family insists on traveling to California to meet her new beau after the paparazzi publish a picture of them from their one conversation at the party. Jia asks Dev to pretend to date her during the visit so that she doesn’t have to tell her family she was catfished. But in the process of learning enough about each other to be convincing as a couple, they develop a true fondness for each other. (This is the third book in the Modern Love series.)

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor
A dark history lingers in Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, Protestant martyrs were betrayed—then burned. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And a few weeks ago, the vicar of the local parish hanged himself in the nave of the church. Reverend Jack Brooks and his fourteen-year-old daughter arrive in the village hoping for a fresh start. Instead, Jack finds a town rife with conspiracies and secrets. The more Jack and Flo explore the town and get to know its strange residents, the deeper they are drawn into the age-old rifts, mysteries, and suspicions.