Lake Bluff Library Adult Reading Lists

Reeling in the wake of a brutal battle and the truths exposed, Isla needs to understand the oracle's prophecy and change her fate as the survival of two warring kingdoms hinge on her shattered heart.--Description from NoveList

On an isolated Scottish island, a present-day discovery intimately connects three people and unveils a web of secrets and lies.
(Description from NoveList)

Inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties of Ancient China, A Song to Drown Rivers is an epic historical fantasy about womanhood, war, sacrifice, and love against all odds as the fate of two kingdoms hangs in a delicate balance.--Description from NoveList

In this dark comedy, a woman accepts a housesitting job with her husband and children while hoping to finish her latest novel, but her plans go awry when she begins to hear the siren call of Hollywood.--Description from NoveList

In 1950s Hollywood, when an unknown Mexican ingenue is cast as Salome, a star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary heroine, she becomes the object of envy of Nancy Hartley, a bit player who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.--Description from NoveList

Meeting “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, who’s sent back to earth due to an error, Delphie, offered a second chance at life and love if she can find this dreamy stranger on earth in ten days, must listen to her heart to make her greatest wish come true.--Description by NoveList

When her beloved grandmother passes away, 14-year-old Lulu is drawn to the glamorous stranger who crashed the funeral and their unexpected kinship picks at the secrets of Lulu's family and a curse that reverberates across generation as one woman must make peace with the past and one girl must embrace her future.--Description by NoveList

A time travel romance, a spy thriller, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all.--Description by NoveList

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.
(Description from catalog)

"What would you do if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thinks so too? What if the truth doesn't matter? As Lucy Chase's Texas hometown begins to tell versions of what happened and who Lucy is to a nationwide, true crime obsessed audience, at the bequest of her grandmother, she returns to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend's murder, even if she is the one that did it"-- Provided by publisher.

It's 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. But Millie's starry-eyed hustle becomes jeopardized by odd new friends, vengeful dorm pranks, and illicit intrigue.
(Description from NoveList)

A Malayan mother becomes an unlikely spy for the invading Japanese forces during WWII—causing shocking consequences to rain upon her community and family.
(Description from NoveList)

Maine, 1789: The Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice. Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As the local midwife and healer, Martha is good at keeping secrets. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, every murder and debacle that unfolds in the town of Hallowell. In that diary she also documented the details of an alleged rape that occurred four months earlier. Now, one of the men accused of that heinous attack has been found dead in the ice.
(Description from Amazon)

When Stephanie Land set out to write her memoir Maid, she never could have imagined what was to come. Maid was a story about a housecleaner, but it was also a story about a woman with a dream. In Class, Land takes us with her as she finishes college and pursues her writing career, painting an intimate and heartbreaking portrait of motherhood as it converges and often conflicts with personal desire and professional ambition.--Description by NoveList

A high-profile female journalist's world is upended when her fiancé's name turns up in a viral social media post-a nuanced, daring, and timely exploration of the real-world impact of online life.
(Description from catalog)

Mia, the irreverent, hyper-analytical twenty-year-old daughter, has an explanation for everything—which is why she isn’t initially concerned when her father and younger brother Eugene don’t return from a walk in a nearby park. They must have lost their phone. Or stopped for an errand somewhere. But by the time Mia’s brother runs through the front door bloody and alone, it becomes clear that the father in this tight-knit family is missing and the only witness is Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome and cannot speak.
(Description from Amazon)

Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake—a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led—her sisters are surprised. Has Flor foreseen her own death, or someone else’s? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila. But Flor isn’t the only person with secrets: her sisters are hiding things, too. And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own.
(Description from Amazon)

Kathleen Deane moves to a small beach town looking for peace, only to find herself in an all-out war with her neighbors.--Description by NoveList

"Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a hand­some husband; a palatial house in the heart of glittering Lagos, Nigeria; and a glamorous group of friends. She left gloomy London and a troubled family past behind for sunny, moneyed Lagos, becoming partof the Nigerwives--a com­munity of foreign women married to Nigerian men. But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her auntie Claudine decides to take matters into her own hands. Armed with only a cell phone and a plane ticket to Nigeria, she digs into her niece's life and uncov­ers a hidden side filled with dark secrets, isolation, and even violence. But the more she discovers about Nicole, the more Claudine's own buried history threatens to come to light"--Description by NoveList

Ciara Dunphy has it all—a loving husband, well-behaved children, and a beautiful home. Her circle of friends in their small Irish village go to her for tips about mothering, style, and influencer success. But behind the filters, reality is less polished. Mishti Guha is Ciara's best friend. Ciara welcomed Mishti into her inner circle for being unlike the other mothers in the group. Discontent in an arranged marriage by her parents, Mishti now raises her young daughter in a country that is too cold, among children who look nothing like her. She wants what Ciara has and, in that sense, Mishti might be exactly like the other mothers.
(Description from catalog)

Darley, the eldest daughter in the Stockton family, has never worried about money. The product of generational wealth and capitalist success, Darley renounced her inheritance when she married Malcolm, a first generation Korean American with a lucrative job in banking. Sasha, Darley's new sister-in-law, has come from more humble origins, and her hesitancy about signing a pre-nup has everyone worried about her intentions.
(Description from catalog)

A 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. 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.
(Description from catalog)

Deftly shifting through time and perspective in contemporary India, Age of Vice is an epic action-packed story propelled by the seductive wealth, startling corruption, and bloodthirsty violence of the Wadia family--loved by some, loathed by others, feared by all.
(Description from catalog)

Two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family's library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection--a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power.--Description by NoveList

As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels wreak gradual havoc on the state's infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker for the local utility municipality, his pregnant wife, Frida, and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds in search of his children. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.
(Description from catalog)

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.
(Description from catalog)

It started with their ancestor, Oanh, who dared to leave her marriage for true love—so a fearsome Vietnamese witch cursed Oanh and her descendants so that they would never find love or happiness, and the Duong women would give birth to daughters, never sons.​

At thirty-five, Mika Suzuki’s life is a mess. Her last relationship ended in flames. Her roommate-slash-best friend might be a hoarder. She’s a perpetual disappointment to her traditional Japanese parents. And, most recently, she’s been fired from her latest dead-end job. Mika is at her lowest point when she receives a phone call from Penny—the daughter she placed for adoption sixteen years ago. Penny is determined to forge a relationship with her birth mother, and in turn, Mika longs to be someone Penny is proud of.
(Description from Amazon)

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won't give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
(Description from Amazon)

An evocative drama follows a woman caught leading a double life after one husband murders the other, and the true-crime writer who becomes obsessed with telling her story. --Description by NoveList

Three women whose midlife crisis brings unexpected new powers are put on a collision course with the evil that lurks in their wealthy beach town. --Description by NoveList

Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact Elizabeth would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the 1960s and despite the fact that she is a scientist, her peers are very unscientific when it comes to equality. The only good thing to happen to her on the road to professional fulfillment is a run-in with her super-star colleague Calvin Evans. The only man who ever treated her-and her ideas-as equal, Calvin is already a legend and Nobel nominee. He's also awkward, kind and tenacious. Theirs is true chemistry.
(Description from catalog)

Emma loves her husband Leo and their young daughter Ruby: she'd do anything for them. But almost everything she's told them about herself is a lie. And she might just have got away with it, if it weren't for her husband's job. Leo is an obituary writer; Emma a well-known marine biologist. When she suffers a serious illness, Leo copes by doing what he knows best - researching and writing about his wife's life. But as he starts to unravel the truth, he discovers the woman he loves doesn't really exist.
(Description from catalog)

Ray McMillian loves playing the violin more than anything, and nothing will stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a professional musician. Not his mother, who thinks he should get a real job, not the fact that he can't afford a high-caliber violin, not the racism inherent in the classical music world. And when he makes the startling discovery that his great-grandfather's fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, his star begins to rise.
(Description from catalog)

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by. Since Gran died a few months ago, Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. She throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job.
(Description from Amazon)

Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English soldier, Ulysses Temper, finds himself in the wine cellar of a deserted villa. There, he has a chance encounter with Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art historian who has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the ruins and recall long-forgotten memories of her own youth. In each other, Ulysses and Evelyn find a kindred spirit amidst the rubble of war-torn Italy, and set off on a course of events that will shape Ulysses's life for the next four decades.
(Description from Amazon)

Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia. But the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen's husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager.
(Description from catalog)

When his consciousness is uploaded into his company’s internal Slack channels, boosting his productivity, Gerald, who works for a PR firm, as his reality becomes more absurd, enlists the help of a co-worker to help him escape—and to find out what happened to his body. --Description by NoveList

When Nora meets a group of high-powered women whose husbands' are supportive unlike her own, she discovers that the women use an unorthodox method of couples' therapy that has transformed their lives -- one that is worth killing for. --Description by NoveList

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. Pierpont Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture on the New York society scene and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps build a world-class collection. But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and well-known advocate for equality.
(Description from catalog)

Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she's thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. When a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust, the notes begin to appear on Nella's desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW. It's hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there's a lot more at stake than just her career.
(Description from catalog)

In present-day Miami, Jeanette is battling addiction. Daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to learn more about her family history from her reticent mother and makes the snap decision to take in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE. Carmen, still wrestling with the trauma of displacement, must process her difficult relationship with her own mother while trying to raise a wayward Jeanette.
(Description from catalog)

From her place in the store that sells artificial friends, Klara--an artificial friend with outstanding observational qualities--watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara she is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans.
(Description from catalog)

Lala must deal with a chain of events that have terrible consequences when her petty criminal husband is interrupted in his attempt to rob one of the mansions in their "paradise" home of Baxter Beach, Barbados.
(Description from catalog)

A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family, about a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for--and everything she feared.
(Description from catalog)

Their lives began together, but their worlds couldn't be more different. After thirty years of missed connections, they're about to meet again...
(Description from catalog)

A rom-com novel about two young people at a crossroads in their relationship.
(Description from catalog)

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
(Description from catalog)

Abandoned by a mother who instructs her never to fight or ask questions, an illegitimate child of mixed heritage in 1948 Kyoto forges a powerful bond with her older half-brother against the wishes of their formidable grandparents. (Description from NoveList)

It's 1913, and on the surface, Laura Lyons couldn't ask for more out of life-her husband is the superintendent of the New York Public Library, allowing their family to live in an apartment within the grand building, and they are blessed with two children. But headstrong, passionate Laura wants more, and when she takes a leap of faith and applies to the Columbia Journalism School, her world is cracked wide open.
(Description from catalog)

When George, the man with whom she had brief fling several years earlier, unexpectedly appears in East Hampton, newly engaged Lucie Churchill is drawn to him again and spins a web of deceit in an attempt to block him from her life – and her heart. (Description from NoveList.)

Twin sisters, inseparable as children, ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white. (Description from NoveLIst.)

A striking, powerful, and moving love story following an ambitious lawyer who experiences an astonishing vision that could change her life forever. (Description from catalog.)

A suspense novel that also looks at the anatomy of a Philadelphia family rocked by the opioid crisis and the relationship between two sisters--one, suffering from addiction, who has suddenly gone missing amid a series of mysterious murders; the other a police officer who patrols the neighborhood from which she disappeared: a story about the formidable ties between place, family, and fate. (Description from NoveList.)

"An epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland"-- Provided by publisher.

After Zelie and Amari bring magic back to the land of Orisha, the monarchy and military unite to keep control of Orisha, forcing Zelie to fight to secure Amari's right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy's wrath. --Description from NoveList

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she's been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am. She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London's fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions.
(Description from catalog)

The award-winning author of Soledad draws on her mother's story in a tale set in a turbulent 1960s Dominican Republic, where a young teen agrees to marry a man twice her age to help her family's immigration to America. (Description from NoveList.)

An epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland.
(Description from Amazon)