Valerie Picks
Valerie’s Picks
Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe
by Heather Webber
For some reason I’m always drawn to stories that take place in small Southern towns. It seems I share something, then, with the protagonist of this novel. Inexplicably, Anna Kate is drawn to the quirky town her mother ran away from many years ago. She goes to close up her grandmother’s cafe and settle her estate, but despite all her logical plans, she can’t seem to leave. There’s new family to meet and secrets to discover. Plus, there’s something about this blackbird pie…
Wildwood Whispers
by Willa Reece
This delicious new novel is full of Secrets, Setting, and Strong women.
Mel is drawn to an idyllic Appalachian town and its residents, but a shadow of the sinister haunts her. Will loner Mel learn to trust in her new friends in time to solve the mystery of her foster sister's death? And can she finally feel safe enough to settle in a place she longs to call home after years of running?
Couldn't stop reading it.
Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk
by Sasha taqwsablu LaPointe
In this absorbing memoir, Sasha uncovers her ancestral trauma, making sense of her past choices, grieves losses, and remembers her innate strength so she can move forward wholly. She explores Indigenous healing and personal power, belonging, permanence, and home--but also the power of her ancestors and the defiance of oppression.
The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
At the end of this book, I cried with life-affirming joy. At the end of this book, you will know with certainty that it is good to be alive, and you will know that you make a difference.
Nora Seed is so full of regret and sadness that she wants to end her life. She discovers that between life and death there is the Midnight Library and each book in the library holds a different life.
She tries many of them, trying to learn "What is the best way to live?"
At the end of this book, you will know this, too.
Lucky Red
by Claudia Cravens
Newly orphaned sixteen-year-old Bridget arrives in Dodge City in 1877 and is recruited to work in the town’s only brothel run by women.
A Queer coming-of-age story filled with friendship, first-time love, and freedom, this Western has a disarming voice. I wanted to read it again as soon as I finished it!
Under the Whispering Door
by TJ Klune
Wallace dies before he’s ready (no surprise there) and, at first, he doesn’t quite believe he has. But he soon finds witty and compassionate allies that eventually become friends (and more) by the book’s end. Which is surprising, least of all to Wallace, because when alive he wasn’t well-liked. Maybe death suits him?
This is my favorite Klune novel. His version of the afterlife resonates in a strong way for me. It’s a book about friendship, forgiveness, tea, and atonement. It’s about making space for love and patience and a ghostly dog by the fireplace.