Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For December, we’re looking at literary fiction set in North Dakota, Hawaii, and Sarajevo; a delightful cozy women’s fiction series about a librarian set in rural Ireland; dark fantasy; nonfiction about eye-catching charcuterie boards; and a couple of very different series of audiobook historical mysteries.
If you enjoy literary fiction:
Louise Erdrich’s The Mighty Red (2024)*
A love story set in 2008 North Dakota sugar beet farm country, The Mighty Red is Louise Erdrich’s latest book and is more lighthearted than some of her past work. Kismet Poe used to be the weird goth girl in town, but she’s grown into a striking young woman, attracting the attentions of both her mother’s employer’s son, popular football star Gary Geist, and the awkward outsider Hugo. Complications ensue.
Recommended for those who enjoy the work of Annie Dillard, Isabel Allende, and Joy Harjo.
*Ebook and audiobook also available on Libby; physical audiobook also in system.
Jasmin Iolani Hakes’s Hula (2023)**
Hi’i is proud of her distinguished Hawaiian family and their involvement in their hometown of Hilo, but there’s a lot she doesn’t know about her family. For starters, she doesn’t know who her dad is or why she’s never met her grandmother. On top of that, the local community has started to fracture. Hi’i decides to cement her own position in both local and family history by competing in the Miss Aloha Hula contest.
Recommended for those who enjoyed Paul Theroux’s Under the Wave at Waimea.
**Ebook and audiobook also available on Hoopla.
Priscilla Morris’s Black Butterflies (2024)
When war breaks out in 1992, Bosnian artist and teacher Zora doesn’t think it will last long. Nonetheless, she sends her family to England for safety as she remains behind in Sarajevo. The situation soon devolves into a grueling, brutal siege, but she and her friends still manage to find hope and resilience in the most unexpected places. This novel is inspired by the author’s family’s experiences. Her mother’s family are from Sarajevo.
Recommended for those who enjoyed Steven Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo and Kristin Harmel’s The Forest of Vanishing Stars.
If you love cozy women’s fiction:
Felicity Hayes-McCoy’s Finfarran Peninsula series (2017-2020)***
The word cozy usually connotes a mystery series, but this charming series doesn’t feature a sleuth. Instead, it follows Irish librarian Hanna Casey as she returns to her rural hometown on Ireland’s West Coast to rebuild her life after her marriage implodes. As a teenager, she couldn’t wait to flee, and her return is hardly a happy occasion for her, but she starts to realize that maybe you can go home again after all.
***Ebooks and audiobooks also available on Hoopla.
Recommended for those who enjoy the work of Jenny Colgan and Maeve Binchy.
If you prefer dark fantasy:
T. Kingfisher’s A Sorceress Comes to Call (2024)
Based on the Brothers Grimm “The Goose Girl” story, this horror/fantasy novel follows Cordelia. Her abusive, controlling mother is an evil sorceress, and Cordelia herself is barely allowed outside the house. When her mother relocates them to the manor house of a wealthy squire, Cordelia knows the gentleman and his sister are to be her mother’s latest victims. But they have treated her far more kindly than anyone, and Cordelia is determined to protect them. You can see where this is headed.
Recommended for those who enjoy the work of Kelly Link and Edgar Allan Poe and Grimm retellings in general.
Jared Pechaček’s The West Passage (2024)
If you like quirky medieval fantasy, give this book a try. The mysterious women of Grey Tower do not bother to replace the Guardian of the West Passage when she dies. They have chores to do! But the consequences of that decision have far-reaching effects that cause the palace they live in, which is the size of a large city, to unravel. Amid the crop failures and other calamities, a fierce beast also threatens everyone’s lives. The Guardian’s apprentice takes it upon himself to fix the situation, even if it means crossing the treacherous, dangerous West Passage to reach the clannish, insular other Towers to seek their help.
Recommended for those who enjoy the work of T. Kingfisher, Jo Walton, and M.T. Anderson.
If you want nonfiction:
Lea Dixon’s Show Boards: Next-Level Platters & Boards That Win the Party (2024)
If you’re in a party planning rut, look no further. Food stylist Lea Dixon highlights 50 imaginative, delicious charcuterie boards with a range of seasonal and holiday themes. The book is chockful of colorful pictures and easy instructions to follow.
Recommended for those who want to jazz up their charcuterie game.
If you adore historical mystery audiobooks:
Catherine Lloyd’s Miss Morton series****
This cozy series pitches itself as Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie and Downton Abbey. Lady Caroline Morton is of noble birth, the daughter of an earl, but hard times mean she must–gasp!–seek employment. As is true of many impoverished women of high birth during Regency times, she makes her living working as a professional companion to a wealthy widow. And in this capacity, she keeps getting drawn into solving murders.
Recommended for fans of Claudia Gray’s Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney series and cozy Regency mysteries in general.
****Select audiobooks and ebooks in both Libby and Hoopla. Physical copies also in system.
Ruth Downie’s Gaius Petreius Ruso series*****
I’ve never done this before, but I wanted to highlight a mystery series that we only have available as e-audiobooks on Hoopla. I’ve been reading this series, and it so entertaining that I just couldn’t keep it to myself.
The books chronicle the adventures and misadventures of a snarky but hapless Roman legion doctor named Gaius Petreius Ruso. He’s stationed in Britain during Hadrian’s reign, and he’s really only there because he desperately needs money for his complicated, unruly family back home in Southern Gaul and has nothing better to do after his acrimonious divorce. Along the way, he acquires a headstrong British female slave he finds as intriguing as he does frustrating and a recurring habit of being inserted into murder investigations very much against his will.
Recommended for fans of Jane Finnis’s Aurelia Marcella series, Steven Saylor’s Roma Sub Rosa series, Lindsey Davis’s Marcus Didius Falco series, Rosemary Rowe’s Libertus series, and David Wishart’s Marcus Corvinus series. [These are only available on Hoopla or via ILL in our system.]
*****Only available on Hoopla (or via ILL request if you prefer physical copies.)
P.S. I’ve also added a fresh batch of readalike lists to the blog. Whether you’re looking for readalikes for specific authors (Colleen Hoover, Freida McFadden) or specific genres (reads about books, manuscripts, libraries, archives, and art history; complex, atmospheric, thought-provoking, disturbing mysteries with a strong sense of place; grittier upmarket fiction and nonfiction; or clean rom coms/funny women’s fiction with romance), you can find recommended reads for your taste.
You can also check out all the readalike lists I’ve uploaded to over the years by clicking on the Readers’ and Viewers’ Advisory sidebar. You’ll find lists for all sorts of genres, whether you’re in search of romance, mystery, historical fiction, horror, YA reads, or more.
If you’re a patron, you can also always request a personalized reading recommendation list, tailor-made just for you. Stop by the library or call us at 870-423-2323 or email us at info@berryvillelibrary.org to request one or to get more information on them.
Psst—if you want to read more in 2025, this is a great head start on that goal. 🙂
What’s your favorite new-ish books? What books are you buzzing about? Have you read any of these books? Tell us in the comments! As always, please follow this link to our online library catalog for more information on any of these items or to place them on hold.
Berryville Book Buzz 