February is the perfect time to read a romance or a love story!
Does it have to be about romantic love? Nope. Can it be about romantic love? Absolutely! Celebrate all kinds of love with our February Year in Reading prompt and be sure to check out the Beanstack challenge to earn virtual badges for your hard work!
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The Princess Bride: An Illustrated Edition
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A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts.
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Book
Call Number:
FIC Gol
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As an expert thief from a minor moon, Cass knows a good mark when she sees one. The emperor’s ball is her chance to steal a fortune for herself, her ailing father, and her scrappy crew of thieves and market vendors. Her plan is simple: 1. Hitch a ride to the planet of Ouris, the dazzling heart of the empire. 2. Sneak onto the imperial palace station to attend the emperor’s ball. 3. Steal from the rich, the royal, and the insufferable. But on the station, things quickly go awry. When the emperor is found dead, everyone in the palace is a suspect--and someone is setting Cass up to take the fall. To clear her name, Cass must work with an unlikely ally: a gorgeous and mysterious rebel with her own reasons for being on the station. Together, they unravel a secret that could change the fate of the empire.
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Book
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YA FIC Bes
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"In the summer of 1925, along Washington, DC's "Black Broadway", a malevolent entity has begun preying on Negro residents. Twenty-three-year-old Clara Johnson is determined to discover what's going on in her community. Using her natural ability to talk with spirits, she begins to investigate, but a powerful spirit tasks her with a difficult quest: steal an ancient, magical ring from the finger of a wealthy socialite. When Clara meets Israel Lee, a supernaturally enhanced jazz musician also vying for the ring, the two decide to work together. They put together an unlikely team including a former circus freak, a pickpocketing Pullman Porter, and an aging vaudeville actor to pull off an impossible heist. But a dangerous spirit interferes at every turn and conflict in the spirit world is leaking out into the human world. With different agendas, even if Clara and Israel pull off the heist, only one of them can truly win" --
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Book
Call Number:
FIC Pen
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"During the snowstorm of the century Levi Cutler is stranded on a ski lift with a beautiful stranger named Jane. After strong winds hurl the gondola in front of them into the ground, Levi calls his parents to prepare them for the worst...but can't bring himself to say goodbye. Instead, wanting to fulfill his mother's lifelong wish, he impulsively tells her he's happily settled and Jane is his girlfriend--right before his phone dies. But Levi and Jane do not. Now Levi's family is desperate to meet "The One." Though Jane agrees to be his pretend girlfriend for just one dinner, she's nervous. After a traumatic childhood, Jane isn't sure she knows how to be around a tight-knit family that cherishes one another. She's terrified, and a little jealous. But an unexpected series of events and a host of new friends soon show Jane that perhaps this is the life she was always meant to have. As Jane and Levi spend more time together, pretend feelings quickly turn into real ones. Now all Jane has to do is admit to herself she can't live without the man she's fallen in love with and the family she has always dreamed of" --Back cover.
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Large Print
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LP FIC Sha
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Everyone expects Billie Bridgerton to marry one of the Rokesby brothers. The two families have been neighbors for centuries, and as a child the tomboyish Billie ran wild with Edward and Andrew. Either one would make a perfect husband... someday. But sometimes fate has a wicked sense of humor. There is only one Rokesby Billie absolutely cannot tolerate, and that is George. He may be the eldest and heir to the earldom, but he's arrogant, annoying, and she's absolutely certain he detests her. Which is perfectly convenient, as she can't stand the sight of him, either. Because when Billie and George are quite literally thrown together, a whole new sort of sparks begins to fly. And when these lifelong adversaries finally kiss, they just might discover that the one person they can't abide is the one person they can't live without.
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Book
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FIC Qui
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Grandma is a little more forgetful than she used to be. She can't remember how the family used to gather for Sunday lunch or how she used to drive to the beach in her sky-blue car. She makes up new rules for old games and often hides Dad's keys. But that's okay--it just means her family has to make new memories for her! An uplifting story about a family bound by love no matter what else might be forgotten.
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Book
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E Rus
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After getting pregnant at sixteen and putting her baby up for adoption, Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, goes looking for her biological family. She finds an older brother and younger sister, but she struggles to find the balance between her cautious joy at discovering two brand-new family members and the gaping loneliness that lingers in the space her daughter once held.
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Audiobook
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YA FIC Ben
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"When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, they find something elusive -- the friendship of two like-minded, pitch-black souls who just happen to enjoy killing other serial killers. From small-town West Virginia to upscale California, and from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country. But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?" --Publisher description.
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Book
Call Number:
FIC Wea
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New & Best List
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"Annie is a smart, antisocial lesbian starting her senior year of high school who's under pressure to join the cheerleader squad to make friends and round out her college applications. Her former friend BeeBee is a people-pleaser, a trans girl who must keep her parents happy with her grades and social life in order to maintain their support of her transition. Through the rigors of squad training and amped up social pressures (not to mention micro-aggressions and other queer youth problems), the two girls rekindle a friendship they thought they'd lost and discover there may be other, sweeter feelings springing up between them" --Back cover.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Fra
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Praisesong for the kitchen ghosts : stories and recipes from five generations of black country cooks
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"A lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden stories of Black Appalachians through powerful essays and forty comforting recipes from the Poet Laureate of Kentucky. Years ago, when O. Henry Prize-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother's presence. She soon realized that she was not the only cook in her kitchen; There were an abundance of ancestors stirring, measuring, and braising with her. These are her kitchen ghosts, five generations of Black women who arrived in her region of Appalachia and made a life, a legacy, and a cuisine. Part food memoir, part cookbook, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts weaves fiction with historical records, memories, and interviews to present a unique culinary portrait of Black Appalachians. Forty recipes rooted deep in the past yet full of contemporary flavor are brought to vivid life through stunning photography and beautiful illustrations. You'll find delicious favorites such as Corn Pudding, Chicken and Dumplings, Jam Cake, and Praisesong Biscuits woven into the narrative of Crystal's family, portraying the experience and history of Black Appalachians through their voice, spirit, and foodways. As the keeper of her family's stories and treasured dishes, Crystal shares her inheritance in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. She found these stories woven into her apron pockets, floating inside the steam of hot mustard greens, and tucked into the sweet scent of clove and cinnamon in her kitchen. Crystal conjures up her ancestors every time she cooks, honoring the mothers who came before her, the land that housed generations of her family, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia"--
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Book
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"On the verge of realizing her dream of being a doctor, Preeti Patel should be ecstatic. But between the stress of her residency, trying to find a job, and managing her traditional, no-boundaries family, Preeti's anxiety is through the roof. Relationships and love aren't even an option. Fortunately, Preeti's finally found a new place to stay . . . only to discover that her new roommate is her ex. Preeti never quite got over Daniel Thompson. Super-hot, plenty of swagger, amazing cook--the guy is practically perfect. And if it weren't for their families, there might have been a happily ever after. But it's hard to keep her sanity and libido in check when the man of her dreams is sleeping mere feet away. Can Preeti and Daniel find a way to stand up and fight for each other one last time . . . before they lose their second chance?" --Amazon.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Pat
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The house of the spirits : a novel
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The House of the Spirits rings to life the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the Trueba family. The patriarch Esteban is a volatile, proud man whose voracious pursuit of political power is tempered only by his love for his delicate wife Clara, a woman with a mystical connection to the spirit world. When their daughter Blanca embarks on a forbidden love affair in defiance of her implacable father, the result is an unexpected gift to Esteban: his adored granddaughter Alba, a beautiful and strong-willed child who will lead her family and her country into a revolutionary future.
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FIC All
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"Midnight Ruin contains explicit sex, violence, murder, blood, guns, pregnancy (not the heroine), abortion (off-page, not the heroine)."--
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Book
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"Two girls reluctantly bound by fate must weather a dangerous courtship as a prophesied war grows ever closer in this high-stakes, queernormative dark fantasy debut"--
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Book
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YA FIC Sky
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Hanged in an annual sacrificial ritual to Poseidon, seventeen-year-old oracle Leto awakens on an island inhibited by Melantho, a strange immortal girl with oceanic powers, who tells Leto the only way to break Poseidon's curse is to return to Ithaca and kill the prince.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Und
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The very secret society of irregular witches
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"As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules--with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos "pretending" to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously. But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and... Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat. As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Man
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Baba's gift : a Persian father's love of family
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"Baba enchants his six daughters with his stories, transporting them to his childhood in Iran as they play on the flowering vines of the Persian carpet in California. He tells the story of a determined young man who comes to the United States, the challenges of leaving his Persian family, and the unfolding of his new American life"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
E Ami
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I love being my own autistic self!
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Description:
"Funny and upbeat book for autistic people, their families, and others who care about them. Author Landon Bryce uses a colorful cast of cartoon characters to gently introduce neurodiversity, the idea that neurological differences should be respected and valued"--ThAutcast.com.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J 616.85 Bry
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Love your amazing self : joyful verses for young voices
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A collection of poems that encourages kids to affirm the positive in themselves and their lives.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J 811.6 Jon
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Over the top : a raw journey to self-love
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In this memoir, Queer Eye grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness shares never-before-told secrets and reveals sides of himself that the public has never seen.
Format:
Audiobook
Call Number:
B Van
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Charlotte is selling her own unworn bridal gown at a vintage clothing store when she finds a note sewn into another bride's "something old." The note says: Thank you for making all of my dreams come true. The name embossed on the blue stationery: Reed Eastwood, obviously the most romantic man who ever lived-- until Charlotte meets him. He's arrogant, cynical, and demanding. And he's her new boss. Charlotte is determined to discover the story behind his last love letter. As their relationship gets hotter, sweeter, and more surprising than anything she could have imagined, she has no idea how this one is going to end.
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Book
Call Number:
FIC Kee
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Description:
"Iris Collins is the messy one in her family. The "chaos bunny." Her sisters are all wildly successful, while she can't balance her budget for a single month. It's no wonder she's in debt to her roommates. When she unexpectedly inherits a house from her great aunt, her plan to turn it into a B&B fails--as most of her plans do. She winds up renting rooms like a Victorian spinster, collecting other lost souls...and not all of them are "human." Eli Reese grew up as the nerdy outcast in school, but he got rich designing apps. Now he's successful by any standards. But he's never had the same luck in finding a real community or people who understand him. Over the years, he's never forgotten his first crush, so when he spots her at a caf?e, he takes it as a sign. Except then he gets sucked into the Iris-verse and somehow ends up renting one of her B&B rooms. As the days pass, Eli grows enchanted by the misfit boarders staying in the house...and even more so by Iris. Could Eli have finally found a person and a place to call "home"?" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Agu