The Ministry of Time

by Kaliane Bradley

Mercury

by Amy Jo Burns

Seventeen-year-old Marley drives into the tiny town of Mercury with her mother, who never lets them settle into a new place for long. But Marley immediately falls in with the Joseph family, as the girlfriend to first one brother, then another, and as a sort of surrogate mother to the whole family. Circumstances keep Marley tied to the town and the Josephs, as everyone simultaneously depends on her for nearly everything in their lives and takes it for granted she’ll always be there. When the Joseph boys’ mother comes to her for help, Marley has to weigh family obligations with what is morally right. It’s a heartbreaking yet also uplifting story of families, love, betrayal, and how we can love people even though we don’t understand their choices.

The Hunter

by Tana French

The Husbands

by Holly Gramazio

The Examiner

by Janice Hallett

Six students of various ages and backgrounds all sign up for a new master's level art class at a university in England. The senior art tutor needs this class to work so it can be added to the university's curriculum going forward. But frictions arise almost right away, and we soon realize there's an undercurrent of...something...but we don't know what. Hallett's novels are always told through snippets of emails, texts, instant messages, etc., which slowly reveal that not everyone or everything is as it seems. I loved two of her previous books, The Appeal and The Mysterious Case of the Apperton Angels, so I assumed I would like this one as well, but I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the ending, and how Hallett managed to weave together all the different threads. I'm pretty sure I scared my cats when I loudly exclaimed as the endgame was finally revealed. As a master of misdirection, this is Hallett’s best book yet.

Soldier Sailor

by Claire Kilroy

For every mother everywhere, this book is a primal scream of new motherhood. The schizophrenic nature of those early days—when you're bursting with love for this little creature, but also dying inside from exhaustion and trying to figure out who you are in the world now—is brought to acute life as a mother recounts those early years as a bedtime story for her son. With a strained marriage to a clueless husband who doesn’t understand what his wife now does all day, her inability to concentrate on work, a lack of people she feels she can connect with, and the feeling that anyone—literally ANYONE—would be a better mother than her, every mother I know will feel SEEN by this novel.

When the World Tips Over

by Jandy Nelson

I didn’t realize this was a Young Adult novel when I first picked it up, but I was immediately sucked into this gorgeous, multi-generational tale of a Northern California family that has more than its share of secrets. Told in fairy tales, diary entries, notes, and straight prose from each character’s point of view, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever read. The three children in the Fall family—19-year-old violin virtuoso and human wrecking ball Wynton; heartbreakingly gorgeous and seemingly perfect 17-year-old Miles; and ghost-seeing 12-year-old Dizzy, who sees only the best in everyone—have all been lost since their father left when their mother was pregnant with Dizzy. When they each have an encounter with a mysterious, rainbow-haired young woman, they think that somehow she’s the key to their happiness. But first there is A LOT of complicated family history to unpack. As a reminder that we never truly know everything our loved ones have gone through, this novel will almost certainly be in my Top 10 this year.

We Solve Murders

by Richard Osman

Table for Two: Fictions

by Amor Towles

I loved The Lincoln Highway and adored A Gentleman in Moscow, so when the advance copy of Amor Towles’ new Table for Two, consisting of six short stories and one novella, arrived in the bookstore, I snatched it up before anyone else could. Once again, I found myself in love with his writing. Towles is so good at making you care deeply about people doing the tiniest of everyday things: standing in a line, casually chatting with others at the airport or in a bar, the quiet moments that make up a marriage. If I told you that a 37-page story about a man waiting in line was one of the most deeply human and touching things I’ve ever read, would you believe me? If you’ve read Towles’ previous books, you would. Before reading the novella "Eve in Hollywood," I first had to read his debut novel, Rules of Civility, which I had somehow neglected to do. Towles had previously written a short story based on Evelyn Ross (Eve to her friends), a major character from that book, but so many people clamored for more that he finally expanded it to more than 200 pages. Eve is the strongest of women who shows up for her friends when they need her most, and I dearly hope that Towles will find more to say about her in the years to come.

Husbands and Lovers

by Beatriz Williams

My favorite historical fiction author, Beatriz Williams, is back with her 16th book (not counting her collaborations with fellow authors Karen White and Lauren Willig), all but one of which have interconnected storylines (although you don’t have to have read any of her other books to read this one). A minor character in one book will become a main character in a later book; settings may pop up more than once but separated by decades. Husbands & Lovers is the third book set on New York’s Winthrop Island, this time focusing on Mallory and her teenage son, who needs a new kidney. Mallory reconnects with her former best friend Monk, now a world-famous musician, after ghosting him years before. Alternating chapters introduce us to Hannah, a Hungarian immigrant with a tragic past who becomes a British diplomat's wife in 1950s Cairo. As the connective threads between the two timelines slowly unfurl, we understand how both Mallory and Hannah did what they felt they had to do to save the people they loved the most.