Great new book recommendations for our Leading Ladies this Summer
The Leading Lady reader type takes center stage in a society where women are celebrated. This summer, we've chosen a wide range of books that honor the Leading Lady's spirit, providing a blend of inspiring stories, fun beach reads, and a fantasy romance that is giving Mulan vibes.
September New Releases
Deaf Girl: A Memoir of Hearing Loss, Hope, and Fighting Against the Odds
by Abigail Heringer
An inspiring story of hearing loss and hope from The Bachelor's first deaf contestant
Abigail Heringer made her television debut as an instant fan-favorite on season 25 of The Bachelor. Stepping out of the limousine, she approached her bachelor with a playful declaration: she would be staring at his lips all night for two compelling reasons--her profound deafness since birth and because he had some nice lips!
But Abigail's journey wasn't always marked by such confidence. Growing up deaf and introverted, she dreaded being the center of attention, fearing her disability would burden those around her. Among her hearing peers, she felt like an outsider, simply labeled as "the deaf girl." And after receiving a cochlear implant at the age of two, she subsequently struggled to find her place in the Deaf community too. Caught in between two worlds and grappling to define her identity as a deaf woman, Abigail felt like she belonged in neither.
Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir
by Kelly Bishop - Amy Sherman-Palladino
"Come for the Gilmore Girls anecdotes, stay for the revealing truths about what it takes to build a lifelong career in and out of Hollywood" (The A.V. Club) in this candid and captivating memoir from award-winning and beloved actress Kelly Bishop, spanning her six decades in show business from A Chorus Line, Dirty Dancing, Gilmore Girls, and much more.
Kelly Bishop's long, storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey's mother in Dirty Dancing. But it is probably her iconic role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy.
Now, Bishop reflects on her remarkable life and looks towards the future with The Third Gilmore Girl. She shares some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she's learned on her journey. From her early transition from dance to drama, to marrying young to a compulsive gambler, to the losses and achievements she experienced--among them marching for women's rights and losing her second husband to cancer--Bishop offers a rich, genuine celebration of her life.
Full of witty insights and featuring a special collection of personal and professional photographs, The Third Gilmore Girlis a warm, unapologetic, and spirited memoir from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades and has no plans on slowing down.
Passions in Death: An Eve Dallas Novel
by J D Robb
Homicide Detective Eve Dallas hunts a killer who turns a wedding party into a murder scene in the next novel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author, J.D. Robb, Passions in Death.
On a hot August night, Lt. Eve Dallas and her husband, Roarke, speed through the streets of Manhattan to the Down and Dirty club, where a joyful, boisterous pre-wedding girls' night out has turned into a murder scene. One of the brides lies in a pool of blood, garroted in a private room where she was preparing a surprise for her fiancée--two scrimped and saved-for tickets to Hawaii.
Ordinary Disasters: How I Stopped Being a Model Minority
by Anne Anlin Cheng
The most personal writing yet to come from a noted scholar of race: a bold and moving look at race, gender, aging, and immigration that examines, through lenses both intimate and political, what it means to be an Asian American woman living in America today.
Part memoir, part cultural criticism, part history, Anne Anlin Cheng's original essays focus on art, politics, and popular culture. Through personal stories woven with a keen eye and an open heart, Cheng summons up the grief, love, anger, and humor in negotiating the realities of being a scholar, an immigrant Asian American woman, a cancer patient, a wife of a white man, and a mother of biracial children . . . all in the midst of the (extra)ordinary stresses of recent years.
Counting Miracles
by Nicholas Sparks
From the acclaimed author of The Longest Ride and The Notebook comes an emotional, powerful novel about wondering if we can change--or even make our peace with--the path we've taken.
Tanner Hughes was raised by his grandparents, following in his grandfather's military footsteps to become an Army Ranger. His whole life has been spent abroad, and he is the proverbial rolling stone: happiest when off on his next adventure, zero desire to settle down. But when his grandmother passes away, her last words to him are find where you belong. She also drops a bombshell, telling him the name of the father he never knew--and where to find him.
Tanner is due at his next posting soon, but his curiosity is piqued, and he sets out for Asheboro, North Carolina, to ask around. He's been in town less than twenty-four hours when he meets Kaitlyn Cooper, a doctor and single mom. They both feel an immediate connection; Tanner knows Kaitlyn has a story to tell, and he wants to hear it. To Kaitlyn, Tanner is mysterious, exciting--and possibly leaving in just a few weeks.
Strive: 8 Steps to Find Your Awesome
by Venus Williams
An inspiring and innovative guide towards living your best life--made easy--from Venus Williams, one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
Throughout Venus Williams' incredible career in tennis, she's been asked almost every question imaginable. What she eats, how she trains, what she does to unwind, and most frequently, how does she manage to do it all?
Venus harnessed a rich blend of hard-won wisdom and core discipline to achieve her goals while keeping a simple promise to herself: to keep things fun. But after being diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disorder that affected her emotional and physical wellness, Venus's vow was put to the test. She came up with the STRIVE strategy--a winning combination of holistic and scientific approaches to wellness and performance that focuses on making self-improvements reachable and sustainable.
august new releases
Men Have Called Her Crazy: A Memoir
by Anna Marie Tendler
A powerful memoir that reckons with mental health as well as the insidious ways men impact the lives of women.
In early 2021, popular artist Anna Marie Tendler checked herself into a psychiatric hospital following a year of crippling anxiety, depression and self-harm. Over two weeks, she underwent myriad psychological tests, participated in numerous therapy sessions, connected with fellow patients and experienced profound breakthroughs, such as when a doctor noted, “There is a you inside that feels invisible to those looking at you from the outside.”
Maria: A Novel of Maria Von Trapp
by Michelle Moran
Maria von Trapp. You know the name and the iconic songs, but do you know her real story? This dramatic novel, based on the woman glamorized in The Sound of Music, brings Maria to life as never before.
In the 1950s, Oscar Hammerstein is asked to write the lyrics to a musical based on the life of a woman named Maria von Trapp. He's intrigued to learn that she was once a novice who hoped to live quietly as an Austrian nun before her abbey sent her away to teach a widowed baron's sickly child. What should have been a ten-month assignment, however, unexpectedly turned into a marriage proposal. And when the family was forced to flee their home to escape the Nazis, it was Maria who instructed them on how to survive using nothing but the power of their voices.
It's an inspirational story, to be sure, and as half of the famous Rodgers & Hammerstein duo, Hammerstein knows it has big Broadway potential.
Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend
by Mj Wassmer
"Worst Vacation Ever--Five Stars, Would Recommend." -- Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House
White Lotus meets Kevin Wilson in this whip-smart social satire about a man who finds himself trapped on an island resort after the sun explodes, and suddenly must choose whether to save himself from the chaos, or help the fellow guests make it off the island alive...
Vacation Checklist: Pack swim trunks. Apply sunscreen. Survive the apocalypse?
Professional underachiever Dan Foster is finally taking a vacation. Sure, his life has been average at best, and yeah, he's never quite lived up to his potential. But after a few Miller Lites in paradise with his girlfriend, Mara, things are starting to look up.
The Wedding People
by Alison Espach
A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick
A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.
It's a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn't here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she's dreamed of coming for years--she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she's here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan--which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can't stop confiding in each other.
And So I Roar
by Abi Daré
A stunning, inspiring new novel from Abi Daré, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl with the Louding Voice
When Tia accidentally overhears a whispered conversation between her mother--terminally ill and lying in a hospital bed in Port Harcourt, Nigeria--and her aunt, the repercussions will send her on a desperate quest to uncover a secret her mother has been hiding for nearly two decades.
Back home in Lagos a few days later, Adunni, a plucky fourteen-year-old runaway, is lying awake in Tia's guest room. Having escaped from her rural village in a desperate bid to seek a better future, she's finally found refuge with Tia, who has helped her enroll in school. It's always been Adunni's dream to get an education, and she's bursting with excitement.
Suddenly, there's a horrible knocking at the front gate. . . .
A Season of Perfect Happiness
by Maribeth Fischer
A Season of Perfect Happiness fundamentally questions what makes a "good" mother, with a propulsive and heartrending portrayal of one woman's efforts to find her voice.
Ten years after an unspeakable tragedy caused Claire to flee her hometown in Delaware, she finally feels content. She has a quiet, tidy life in Wisconsin, a place she picked at random for its shape on a map. Her careful existence centers on a simple plan: keep her social circle small and keep the past a secret.
But when she meets Erik--a lighthearted theater nerd who gives Claire more of a chance than she's given herself in a long time--that plan seems increasingly impossible, especially after she finds herself emotionally entangled not only with Erik, but with his ex-wife, Annabelle; their three young children; and a small set of friends, the kind she'd always wanted to have around her.
By Any Other Name
by Jodi Picoult
From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mad Honey comes an "inspiring" (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart--one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare's plays--who are both forced to hide behind another name.
"You'll fall in love with Emilia Bassano, the unforgettable heroine based on a real woman that Picoult brings vividly to life in her brilliantly researched new novel."--Kristin Hannah, author of The Women
Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn't level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.
In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own.
JULY New Releases
Night Ends with Fire
by K X Song
Infused with magic and romance, this sweeping fantasy adventure inspired by the legend of Mulan follows a young woman determined to choose her own destiny--even if that means going against everyone she loves.
The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin's father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Trapped by his opium addiction, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry. But when Meilin discovers her husband-to-be is another violent, ill-tempered man, she realizes that nothing will change for her unless she takes matters into her own hands.
The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father's place.
Bright Objects
by Ruby Todd
A young widow grapples with the arrival of a once-in-a-lifetime comet and its tumultuous consequences, in a debut novel that blends mystery, astronomy, and romance, perfect for fans of Emma Cline's The Girls and Ottessa Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands.
Sylvia Knight is losing hope that the person who killed her husband will ever face justice. Since the night of the hit-and-run, her world has been shrouded in hazy darkness--until she meets Theo St. John, the discoverer of a rare comet soon to be visible to the naked eye.
Cliffs
by J Courtney Sullivan
A novel of family, secrets, ghosts, and homecoming set on the seaside cliffs of Maine, by the New York Times best-selling author of Friends and Strangers
On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century's worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother.
Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux: A Brand-New for 2024 Evocative and Exhilarating Faux-Memoir That You Will Fall in Love with
by M J Robotham
Everyone knows Ruby Devereaux's books. But no one knows her story... until now.
From a teenager in wartime England to a veteran of modern-day London - via 1950's New York, the Swinging Sixties, Cold War Berlin, Venice and Vietnam - Ruby Devereaux has lived one hell of a life: parties, scandals and conflict zones, meeting men and adventure along the way. In a writing career spanning seven decades and more than twenty books, she's distilled everything into her work. Or has she?
Now beyond her 90th year, Ruby's energy is ebbing and her beloved typewriter put away. Until a call from her publisher presents Ruby with an ultimatum, and the impetus to embark on one last book - "warts and all", as she says. Even in her dotage, Ruby M Devereaux has the power to surprise, because whatever this author does, she does on her own terms. Always.
Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change
by Cady Coleman
In 2010, Cady Coleman boarded a rocket and blasted off into space for her third NASA mission, a six-month expedition to the International Space Station where she was the only woman on her six-person crew. After years spent overcoming obstacles in competitive, high-performance environments, including grappling with her own doubts and training in a spacesuit that was too big, Coleman became a success story in a role that wasn't built with her in mind--an astronaut who is also a mother, Air Force colonel, scientist, and leader. Her determination and amazing experiences give her a unique perspective on how to set yourself up for success, in space and here on Earth.
Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve
by Drew Afualo
The empowering, inspiring, patriarchy-smashing first book by the TikTok and Spotify star Drew Afualo.
Drew Afualo is best known as the internet's "Crusader for Women" and is at the head of a new generation of entertainment's rising stars. Loud is part manual, part manifesto, and part memoir. It makes it clear that behind her fearsome laugh is a mission and a life philosophy, a strategy for self-confidence from the inside out, and a pathway to once and for all remove men from the center of how women and femmes think about themselves.
Woman of Interest: A Memoir
by Tracy O'Neill
MOST ANTICIPATED READ and MUST READ OF 2024: The Millions, LitHub, Esquire, BookRiot, Bustle, Vulture, Boston Globe, Brit & Co, Southern Living
A National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 honoree delivers her first work of nonfiction: a compulsively readable, genre-bending story of finding her missing birth mother and, along the way, learning the priceless power of self-knowledge.
In 2020, Tracy O'Neill began to rethink her ideas of comfort and safety. Just out of a ten-year relationship and thirtysomething, she was driven by an acute awareness that the mysterious mother she'd never met might be dying somewhere in South Korea.
The Summer Pact
by Emily Giffin
In the wake of tragedy, a group of friends makes a pact that will cause them to reunite a decade later and embark upon a life-changing adventure together--from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Meant to Be.
Four freshmen arrive at college from completely different worlds: Lainey, a California party girl with a flair for drama; Tyson, a brilliant scholar and aspiring lawyer from Washington, D.C.; Summer, an ambitious, recruited athlete from the Midwest; and Hannah, a mild-mannered southerner who is content to quietly round out the circle of big personalities. Soon after arriving on campus, they strike up a conversation in their shared dorm, and the seeds of friendship are planted.
As their college years fly by, their bond intensifies and the four become inseparable. But as graduation nears, their lives are forever changed after a desperate act leads to tragic consequences. Stunned and heartbroken, they make a pact, promising to always be there for one another, no matter how separated they may become by circumstances or distance.
Ten years later, Hannah is anticipating what should be one of the happiest moments of her life when everything is suddenly turned upside down. Calling on her closest friends, it soon becomes clear that they are all facing their own crossroads. True to their promise, they agree to take a time out from lives headed in wrong directions and embark on a shared journey of self-discovery, forgiveness, and acceptance.
In this tender portrayal of grief, love, and hope, Emily Giffin asks: When things fall apart, who will be at our sides, helping us pick up the pieces?