Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For March, we’re looking at funny Christian romances, an eerie new mystery about family secrets, a series about a young Ojibwe woman who finds herself in the middle of crime cases in the 1970s Midwest, a classic thriller that may be new to you, historical fiction about 1920s carnivals, a Western series that follows a mountain man and his adventures, dragon fantasy horror, and nonfiction that ranges from celebrity memoir to true crime to constitutional history to self-help.
If you love romance:
Pepper Basham’s Some Like it Scot (2025)* and Sense and Suitability (2025)
Pepper Basham writes funny, clean Christian romances, and in these 2 recent novels from her, you can choose between contemporary settings or historical or both.
Some Like It Scot finds a travel writer named Kate attending a 3-week-long Edwardian experience in Scotland. This adventure also finds her meeting brooding, reclusive, and very handsome Scotsman Graeme. You know where this is going. 🙂
Sense and Suitability, meanwhile, is a Regency-set romance. Emmeline has not had success during the social seasons in London, but she has achieved fame and fortune as a writer. Enter Simon, the man who broke her heart and who now is in search of a wife. Emmeline agrees to play matchmaker but nothing more.
Recommended for fans of Jen Turano and Emma St. Clair’s work.
*Ebook and audiobook also available on Hoopla.
If you prefer mystery:
Julie Clark’s The Ghostwriter (2025)**
Horror writer Vincent has never shaken the rumors that he murdered his two siblings, who were found dead in the family home when he was a teenager. His only child, Olivia, found him a distant parent, but as a struggling professional ghostwriter, she is not in a position to turn down the opportunity to help him work on his latest book, his memoirs, where he finally plans to reveal all.
Recommended for fans of A.J. Finn’s End of Story.
**Ebook also available on Hoopla.
Marcie R. Rendon’s Cash Blackbear series (2017-present)***
This unusual, compelling mystery series follows tough Ojibwe teenager Cash Blackbear in the 1970s Midwest. She’s survived the foster system and lives a rough hand-to-mouth existence driving trucks and playing pool and seeing visions that could help solve crimes. That is until her guardian, the local sheriff, asks for her help on a murder case and her visions may lead her to the killer.
Recommended for fans of William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor series and Ramona Emerson’s Rita Todacheene series.
***Audiobooks of Books 1-3 also available on Hoopla.
If you want a classic thriller:
Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal (1971)****
In 1963, disillusioned French military men contract one of the top professional hit men in the world to assassinate President Charles De Gaulle. What ensues is a dangerous race against the clock as security forces around the world but particularly in France try to identify the illusive, clever assassin, known only as the Jackal, and stop him.
Thanks so much to Julie for adding this book! I was surprised last year to discover we no longer had a copy in the system. It’s fifty-five years old but remains a classic thriller for a reason. The Day of the Jackal is a chilling, immersive, and surprisingly frank page-turner.
Recommended for fans of Nelson DeMille, John Le Carré, Jack Higgins, Ken Follett, Christopher Reich, Alex Berenson, Daniel Silva, and Tom Clancy.
****Audiobook also available on both OverDrive and Hoopla.
If you enjoy historical fiction:
Jenni L. Walsh’s Sonora (2025)*****
When feisty teenager Sonora answers an ad for a carnival horse diver in the 1920s, she does so simply because she needs a job. However, she soon finds that she loves the work, which entails diving off a platform astride a horse. It’s a job she strives to continue to do even after a dangerous accident leaves her permanently injured. If the plot of this novel sounds familiar, you might recognize it from the ’90s movie Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken. Both this book and that movie are based on the real life of famous circus horse diver Sonora Webster Carver.
Recommended for fans of Patti Callahan Henry, Kristin Hannah, and Melanie Benjamin.
*****Audiobook also available on Hoopla. The film Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken is also available as a DVD.
If you need Westerns:
John Legg’s Savage Land series (2007-2024)
Author John Legg has a special interest in the Rocky Mountain fur trade and its mountain men and the Native American tribes they encountered. In this long-running series, mountain man Hawley Cooper finds adventure and danger, in equal measure, as he traps and interacts, with varying degrees of success, with the Shoshone, Nez Perce, Blackfeet, and more.
Recommended for fans of immersive, compelling Westerns.
If you prefer audiobook:
Joe Hill’s King Sorrow (2025)******
Dragon fantasy is a big trend now, but horror author Joe Hill turns it on its head with his latest book, his first novel in several years. Studious college student Arthur Oakes runs afoul of some local punks who try to bully him into stealing rare books from the university library. (Please don’t steal books from the library.) Arthur and his friends reason that summoning a dragon with one of those rare books couldn’t hurt, but when they do, they unleash forces they couldn’t possibly control or understand. Namely, King Sorrow requires a yearly sacrifice in perpetuity. Complications ensue.
When Joe Hill launched his career years ago, comparisons to the work of his father, Stephen King, were inevitable. But with King Sorrow, critics are now saying that the always talented Joe may well have finally surpassed his father in his own right with this tale of dark fantasy/horror.
Recommended for fans of Lilith Saintcrow’s Spring’s Arcana.
******Ebook also available on Hoopla and physical copy in the system.
Charlie Sheen’s The Book of Sheen (2025)*******
Charlie Sheen has been famous (and infamous) for decades now, and his bestselling memoir, narrated by himself, chronicles his life. It spans his early years growing up on his father Martin’s film sets to his work on acclaimed hits like Platoon and Wall Street to his descent into debilitating and all-consuming addiction, which cost him his show Two and a Half Men and made him the laughingstock of late night TV and tabloids. Sober now for nearly a decade, Sheen delivers a compelling, thoughtful, and raw account of his life, warts and all.
Recommended for fans of candid celebrity memoirs.
*******Physical copy also available in the system.
Jordan LaHaye Fontenot’s Home of the Happy: A Murder on the Cajun Prairie (2025)********
Part true crime saga and part family and personal memoir, Home of the Happy delves into the tight-knit world of Cajun country. The author comes from a prominent family in rural Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, and the kidnapping and murder of her great-grandfather in 1983 was a devastating blow to the family and the community. Nonetheless, rumors lingered that the man ultimately tried and convicted of the crime was actually innocent.
Recommended for fans of Valerie Bauerlein’s The Devil at his Elbow.
********Ebook and audiobook also available on Hoopla and physical copy in the system.
If you want nonfiction:
Andrew Lownie’s Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York (2025)
A lot has happened to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor since this book was published last summer. He has been stripped of his title of prince and was arrested for suspicion of misconduct in public office. Even though the book has already been rendered slightly dated through current events after the fact, it is a critical and well-researched deep dive into Andrew’s life that focuses heavily on his volatile personality and his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Recommended for fans of well-sourced biographical exposés.
Donald Miller’s Building a StoryBrand 2.0: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen (2025)*********
Donald Miller has updated his modern classic marketing text Building a StoryBrand for the 2020s. Whether you’re trying to market yourself, a business, a nonprofit, or something else, this book will give you the framework and tools for how to craft an appealing and engaging marketing message.
Recommended for anyone creating or refining a brand/marketing campaign.
*********Ebook and audiobook also available on Hoopla.
Jill Lepore’s We The People: A History of the US Constitution (2025)**********
At the library, we’re celebrating America’s Semiquincentennial all year long, and if that leaves you wanting to know more, then look no further than this book. Harvard law and history professor Lepore explores the constitution via its amendments and chronicles both successful and unsuccessful efforts to amend the Constitution in our 250-year history.
Recommended for anyone interested in constitutional history.
**********Audiobook also available on Hoopla.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac 2026 (2025)
You can’t take this book home with you just yet–it is still a reference book while it is current–but you can enjoy thumbing through it in the library itself. The Old Farmer’s Almanac is a yearly tradition for many (since 1792!), and you can help yourself to its trademark blend of technical information on the seasons with practical tips and fascinating trivia.
Recommended for anyone interesting in American agriculture, meteorology, folklore, and more.
What’s your favorite new-ish books? What books are you buzzing about for 2026? 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 