Since things in general cost a little more right now (not a political comment, I am way too tired for that), I declared this a paperback Christmas. I like paperbacks anyway because they’re easy to slip into a purse, they help keep an author’s sales going, and it feels less tragic when I drop them in the bathwater.
So, without further ado…some paperback recs for 2022.
- For your favorite suspense/ thriller fan – The March King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne. I read this recently. Don’t know how I missed it back in 2018 because it has all the things I love: unique setting, great storyline, good writing.
- For your college-age relative who worked to get out the vote this fall and has watched every episode of The Handmaid’s Tale – When She Woke by Hillary Jordan. A modern retelling of The Scarlet Letter that leaves you thinking long after you finish reading.
- For your favorite historical fiction fan – The Woman With Two Shadows by Sarah James. There’s so much World War II fiction out there, but very little that explores the US communities where top-secret atomic research was going on. What was it like to live in a place that didn’t (officially) exist?
- For the kid who hasn’t found a favorite book yet – Who Would Win? by Jerry Pallotta. Both avid and reluctant readers love this series. That’s a rare achievement.
- For the romance reader you don’t know quite well enough to recommend things with a lot of heat on the page. (Side note: When I’m writing I frequently think of the elderly relative who once told me that I read a lot and I should try to write books. But not the Harlequins she loved because they had *dropped voice to a whisper* sex in them. I was married and had two children at the time.) – Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan is a great book for these folks. It’s a twist on all your favorite romance tropes, and still ends happily-ever-after.