Book Brunch - March Madness 2024 - Chelmsford Public Library

Book Brunch - March Madness 2024

March 20, 2024 Book Groups, Reading Room Library Staff

March Madness is in the air, whether you are into college basketball or reading! Last Friday, Julie and I shared many, many books with our book brunch friends. We usually share up to 10 new books each, but I added the "madness" this month by adding 3-4 read-alikes for each book we highlighted. This seemed like a great idea, until I put together this mega- list of books in different genres- and realized that I have provided 2+ years of reading in one list. I'm sharing the mega-list (every title is a hyper-link to our catalog, for you to put the books on hold), as well as the visual list with covers (if you like to "browse by book covers"). Our next book brunch will be Friday, May 17th (and I promise to make the list more manageable!).

Julie’s picks: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride Read-alikes: historical fiction, race relations, community secrets Decent People - De'Shawn Charles Winslow Before all the world / Moriel Rothman-Zecher Moon lake : an East Texas gothic / Joe R. Lansdale Another Brooklyn : a novel / Jacqueline Woodson The Clinic – Cate Quinn Read-alikes: psychological thriller, unreliable narrator, creepy setting, estranged siblings The Shining- Stephen King The Institution – Helen Fields (coming out April 2024) The Resort- Sarah Ochs I’ll Be You – Janelle Brown The Warm Hands of Ghosts-Katherine Arden Read-alikes: historical fiction, bond between siblings, war nurses, magic/supernatural London Séance Society – Sarah Penner The Dutch House – Ann Patchett Held – Anne Michaels A Deadly Education – Naomi Novak Family, Family - Laurie Frankel Read-alikes: found family, adoption stories Three Junes – Julia Glass Commonwealth – Ann Patchett We are all Completely Besides Ourselves – Karen Joy Fowler The Last Romantics – Tara Conklin

The Fox Wife – Yangsze Choo Read-alikes: historical fiction, magical realism Unraveling – Karen Lord Curse of Saints – Kate Dramis The Fervor – Alma Katsu The Bone Roots – Gabriella Houston Everyone on this Train is a Suspect – Benjamin Stevenson Read-alikes: locked-room mystery, Agatha Christie fans There Should Have Been Eight – Nalini Singh Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie Mother-Daughter Murder Night – Nina Simon The Golden Spoon – Jessa Maxwell Three-Inch Teeth – C.J.Box Read-alikes: atmospheric landscape, lots of animals, honorable main character The Poacher’s Son – Paul Doiron Tamarack County – William Kent Krueger Cold Hearted River – Keith McCafferty Boar Island – Nevada Barr The Ascent- Adam Plantinga Read-alikes: Thriller, crime novel, locked-room setting I will Find You – Harlan Coben Kingdom of Bones – James Rollins November Road – Lou Berney Device Free Weekend – Sean Doolittle

Bride – Ali Hazelwood Read-alikes: paranormal romance, vampires, werewolves, fated mates Wolf Gone Wild – Juliette Cross Lover Reborn – J.R. Ward Not the Witch You Wed – April Acher Overbite – Meg Cabot The Women – Kristin Hannah Read-alikes: historical fiction, Vietnam, female friendships, war nurses The Lotus Eaters – Emily Clements (not out yet) The World Played Chess- Robert Dugoni Dust Child – Mai Phan Que Nguyen Absolution – Alice McDermott Jill's Picks

The Fury – Alex Michaelides Read-alikes: locked-room mystery, theatrical, false pretenses, atomospheric Here in the Dark – Alexis Soloski The Night of the Storm – Nishita Parekh The Guest List – Lucy Foley The Chateau – Jacklyn Goldis Behind You is the Sea – Susan Muaddi Darraj Read-alikes: Palestinian-American culture, immigrants Evil Eye – Etaf Rum Her First Palestinian – Saeed Teebi (on order) Only if You’re Lucky – Stacy Willingham Read-alikes: dark academia, psychological thriller, toxic relationships The IT Girl – Ruth Ware Before We Were Innocent – Ella Berman The Girls Are All So Nice Here – Laurie Elizabeth Flynn The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai Read-alikes: cozy mystery, food-related, overwhelming emotional resonance The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World – Laura Imai Messina Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune – Roselle Lim Before the Coffee Gets Cold – Tosikazu Kawaguchi Days at the Morisaki Bookshop – Satoshi Yagisawa

The Fortune Seller – Rachel Kapelke-Dale Read-alikes: dark academia, tarot readings, twisty suspense The Book of Love – Kelly Link The Rachel Incident – Caroline O’Donoghue The Maidens – Alex Michaelides The Moorings of Mackerel Sky – MZ Read-alikes: magical realism, mermaids, atmospheric, local myths Shark Heart – Emily Habeck Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E. Harrow American Mermaid – Julia Langbein Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice – Elle Cosimano Read-alikes: humorous mystery, women sleuths, action-packed fun Play the Fool – Lina Chern Racing the Light – Robert Crais A Good Day to Pie – Misha Popp End of Story – A.J. Finn Read-alikes: literary mystery, psychological suspense, puzzles The Mystery Writer – Sulari Gentill Augusta Hawke – G.M. Malliet The Last Word – Taylor Adams

Leave No Trace – A.J. Landau Read-alikes: thriller, action-packed, National Parks, conspiracies Wolf Trap – Connor Sullivan Perfect Shot – Steve Urszenyi The Switch – Joseph Finder The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard – Natasha Lester Read-alikes: historical fiction, haute-couture, Gilded age, Paris/NYC, families The Winthrop Agreement – Alice Sherman Simpson Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl – Renee Rosen The Address – Fiona Davis The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre – Natasha Lester What the Book Brunch attendees are reading: