The first mystery in King's 19-book series builds an irresistibly layered professional partnership and personal, friends-like-family bond between Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. The story's detail, pacing, plot, and character development are all fantastic. I look forward to reading more titles in this series. It's 1915 and Sherlock Holmes is bored out of his mind and languishing in retirement...until he happens to meet 15-year-old Mary Russell on the Sussex Downs. She's cur

In this perfect summer read, Harrison explores 1950s life for three women facing complicated personal challenges. Tennis brings them together, and they use their inner strength and smarts to fight through troubles as they rely on each other. I recently gave a talk about newish books I recommend for spring and summer reading (stay tuned for the full post), and I also mentioned that I was in the middle of reading this one. Luckily, The Island Club stood up to its entertaining,

Quindlen's key characters find themselves in messy situations whose resolutions are all but assured. The small moments between characters bring them to life (and link them inextricably together), and while their heartwarming, heartbreaking paths are not all smooth, More Than Enough offers a version of a happy ending. I loved this. Polly is a high school English teacher who leans on her close-knit, longtime book club for support, reason, venting, and laughter. Along with her

I liked the unlikely modern-day friendship and depth of connection, and I love a best-friend story, but the past timeline and immense,...

Ocean Vuong's literary fiction offers unexpected bonds between characters coping with desperation, addiction, lies, hunger, and past...

I was taken with the main characters of the past storyline here: a young boy at a children's home and his unlikely best friend. When his...

Sutanto's Vera Wong is playful, brusque, bossy, and connects an unlikely cast of characters, all murder suspects, into a heartwarming...

Chambers's slim book explores a man's search for meaning--and how a robot's simple questions about maintaining the status quo might open...