Fiction

Description: "Aue" 1. (verb) to cry, howl, groan, wail, bawl. 2. (interjection) expression of astonishment or distress. Taukiri was born into sorrow. Aue can be heard in the sound of the sea he loves and hates, and in the music he draws out of the guitar that was his father's. It spills out of the gang violence that killed his father and sent his mother into hiding, and the shame he feels about abandoning his eight-year-old brother to a violent home. But Taukiri's brother, Arama, is braver than he looks, and he has a friend, and his friend has a dog, and the three of them together might just be strong enough to turn back the tide of sadness.

Description: "After a devastating layoff and sudden breakup, Dominick Gibson flees his life in NYC to try and get back on track in his hometown of Detroit. His one objective--exit the dating pool ASAP and get married by thirty-five. The deadline's approaching fast. Dominick reunites with his best friend, Troy, and meets Remy, a successful real estate agent who's got relationship problems of his own. And when a high-stakes deal threatens to blow up their friendship, the three men have to learn how to navigate life's pitfalls as well as a city that's changing overnight" --Book cover.

Description: In 1919, Mohammed el Adl, the young Egyptian lover of British author E. M. Forster, spent six months in a jail cell. A century later, Kip Starling has locked himself in his Brooklyn basement study with a pistol and twenty-one gallons of Poland Spring to write Mohammed’s story. Kip has only three weeks until his publisher’s deadline to immerse himself in the mind of Mohammed who, like Kip, is Black, queer--an Other. The similarities don't end there. Both of their lives have been deeply affected by their confrontations with Whiteness, homophobia, their upper crust education, and their white romantic partners. As Kip immerses himself in his writing, Mohammed’s story--and then Mohammed himself--begins to speak to him, and his life becomes a Proustian portal into Kip's own memories and psyche. Greenland conjures two distinct yet overlapping worlds where the past mirrors the present, and the artist’s journey transforms into a quest for truth that offers a world of possibility.

Description: "The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult they were raised in. For the past two decades, Maeve has worked hard to build a normal life in New York City, where she keeps everything--and everyone--at a safe distance. When Andrea suddenly reappears, Maeve regains the only true friend she's ever had. Soon she's spending more time at Andrea's remote Catskills estate than in her own cramped apartment. Maeve doesn't even mind that her cousin's wealthy work friends clearly disapprove of her single lifestyle. After all, Andrea has made her fortune in the fertility industry--baby fever comes with the territory. The more Maeve immerses herself in Andrea's world, the more disconnected she feels from her life back in the city; and the cousins' increasing attachment triggers memories Maeve has fought hard to bury. But confronting the terrors of her childhood may be the only way for Maeve to transcend the nightmare still to come" -- Provided by publisher.

Description: Baker extraordinaire Rylee Harris has a recipe for everything--except love. It’s been five years since she lost her husband, but romance is still a struggle for Rylee. In her small hamlet of Honey Hill, North Carolina, Rylee knows she’ll be the talk of the town when she finds someone new. To ease her mother’s worries about her love life, Rylee impulsively invents a fake relationship with the only man who’s caught her eye: the town sheriff, Canten Barnes. It’s supposed to be a secret, but secrets don’t last long in Honey Hill. One bit of gossip leads to another, and soon the whole town thinks Rylee and Canten are an item. As Rylee and Canten embark on a make-believe relationship to save face, they slowly realize that their feelings for each other aren’t fake at all. Can Rylee and Canten keep the charade going--or will the town’s prized baker and respected lawman take a real chance on love?

Description: Emmy is West Texas through and through: she loves the land, she loves her hometown, she loves football, both professional and her town's high school team, the 'Stangs. She also knows she's a lesbian, and in her Southern Baptist evangelical community, that's going to be an issue, both for Emmy and her amicably separated parents, Lucy and Steve. After a disastrous conversation with her dad, Emmy meets Cameron, a whip-smart grad student from Massachusetts with bright eyes and a cute undercut who hates everything Texas. But Texas is in Emmy's blood. Can she build a future with someone who can't accept the things that make Emmy who she is? Steve Quinn has just been offered his dream job as head coach of the struggling 'Stangs. The board's CEO tells him he shouldn't accept the position if he's got any skeletons in his closet. Steve is still wrestling with Emmy's coming out: he just can't reconcile it with his faith. How can God ask him to choose between his dreams and his own daughter?

Description: "In the dead of night, shots ring out over the grounds of a sprawling English estate. The world-weary butler Eustace recognizes the gunman--his longtime employer, Mr. Crowe--and knows he must think and act quickly. Who is the man lying dead on the lawn? Who is the woman in his company? Can he clean up his master's mess like he always has before? Or will this bring a new kind of reckoning? Mr. Crowe was once famed for his gifts--unaccountable gifts, known only to the members of a secretive order. Protected and privileged, he was courted by countesses and great men of letters. But he has long since retreated from that glittering world, living alone but for Eustace and Clara, his mysterious young ward. He has been content to live quietly, his great library gathering dust and his once magnificent gardens growing wild. He has left the past behind. Until now. Because there are rules, even for Mr. Crowe and his kind, that cannot be broken. And this single night of passion and violence will have consequences, stirring shadows from the past and threatening those in his care. He and the faithful Eustace will be tested as never before. So too will Clara, whose own extraordinary gifts remain hidden, even from herself. If she is to save them all, she must learn to use them quickly and unlock the secret of who she is. It is a secret beyond imagining. A secret that will change everything" -- Provided by publisher.