May 2025 Book Marks
Flowers, picnics, lovers and family, blue skies, birds and books. This month is the official bridge to summer…… and summer is the season of freedom. Here are a few books that can take you out of this world and transport you to the next. Happy reading…
Fiction/Romance:
It’s A Love Storyby Annabel Monaghan
Jane Jackson (aka Poor Janey Jakes) is finally in a place where she’s being taken seriously as a Hollywood studio executive with her first real project. But now she’s concerned she might be out of her depth, when she claimed that she could get mega-pop star Jack Quinlan to score the movie with his musical talent. And here’s the catch — Jack was both her first kiss and her greatest source of shame. But the kicker is that she hasn’t spoken to him in 20 years. In an effort to make it all right, Jane is going to have to face down her past. But like any love story, there just might be something good and true that comes out of her big boast. Leave it to Monaghan to weave a good romance with some snappy dialogue and relatable characters.
Thriller/Suspense:
Marguerite by The Lake by Mary Dixie Carter
For the last few years, Phoenix has been the gardener at Rosecliff, the estate of Marguerite and Geoffrey Gray. She’s the secret sauce behind the success of the lady of the manor, Marguerite, a lifestyle icon known for gorgeous garden parties and successful business ventures. During a launch party for her latest book, Phoenix is the heroine who spots the danger in a falling tree and saves Geoffrey’s life. Grateful to be alive, Marguerite’s husband lavishes attention on Phoenix, which turns into an affair, and that could torpedo her career. When Marguerite dies, in a completely suspicious scenario, Phoenix holds the key to the truth. Torn between competing desires, she must decide what to do with the information.
Thriller/Suspense:
Dying to Meet Youby Sarina Bowen
Rowan Gallagher is a dedicated single mother to a daughter, and a talented architect. She’s been chosen to restore an historic mansion that belongs to one of the most powerful families in Maine. The home had once been a residence for unwed mothers, and there are rumors it is haunted with ghosts. She’s divorced from her husband, who was arrested for a violent act, but she’s unaware that her daughter is secretly back in touch with him now that he’s in town. When the man she had been dating breaks up with her and ghosts her, she later finds him dead in his car outside the mansion where she’s been working. In trying to untangle that mystery, she discovers her ex-boyfriend has been stalking her for information. And when she becomes a murder suspect, she’s pulled further into the mess until she becomes a target. She needs to outwit the killer before she becomes the next victim.
Fiction:
Little Great Island by Kate Woodworth
Mari McGavin has grown up on a small island off the coast of Maine, where the land has always produced for the people and the ocean has provided a life for the lobstermen. A warming climate is vastly affecting the lives on the island and changes are coming. Years ago Mari left her family and joined a cult, and had a baby. When the cult turned against her for being outspoken, she comes back to the island with her child, a place she swore she’d never return. Mari runs into her lifelong friend, Harry Richardson, an island summer resident who is back to sell the family house, and their lives intertwine again. This is a sweet story about loss, forgiveness and second chances in a beautiful and complicated environment.
Non-Fiction:
They Poisoned the World – Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals by Mariah Blake
Sometimes when a concerned group of people get together and decide to organize, they can make a difference. This book is a testament to that and a landmark investigation into the chemical industry’s decades-long campaign to hide the effects of forever chemicals. The story is told from small town families, starting with a father and insurance underwriter in Hoosick Falls, NY, who suspects the water is poisoned. This sets off a chain of events and the realization that the cover-up has resulted in death, illness, impacted fertility and tainted the drinking water of more than 70 million Americans. This book tells the story through the actual human beings, who suffered through horrible things to report on the crimes of large corporations who knew exactly how they were affecting people, and still remained focused on profits. Sometimes it’s painful to read the truth, but it’s also important.
Memoir:
Maya Blue by Brenda Coffee
When author Brenda Coffee tells people the story of her life, some find it fantastical. Reading her memoir, I understand why. Starting with a rough childhood, she had to become mother to her own mother. When she marries the brilliant, powerful, and older Philip, life seemed like a fairy tale at first. But this is a true story of love, cocaine, abduction and survival. In her early marriage, she was determined to do anything to be the woman her husband couldn’t live without, regardless if it was dangerous, illegal, sexual or adventuresome. But when Philip created a cocaine lab in the basement of their Texas home, that was the beginning of the end. And when the brilliant inventor and scientist created a smokeless cigarette, life became dangerous for them both, as the major tobacco companies were threatened by the potential disruption. This thrilling memoir is a look at living on the edge, and a reminder that people can survive more than we imagine.
Memoir:
The River’s Daughter by Bridget Crocker
Outdoorswoman, whitewater rafting guide and travel writer Bridget Crocker has written a memoir that is its own wild ride through the rapids of a troubled childhood and out the other side. Her life began with the trauma of multigenerational cycles of poverty, addiction, violence and abuse. When her parents divorced, she moved in with her mother to a trailer park in Jackson, Wyoming on the banks of the Snake River. The river itself calls to her from an early age. And when her mother undergoes a drastic personality change, she becomes an eco-warrior, hanging out with some suspicious characters. The river becomes a metaphor for her life, navigating the shoals, intense moments of being on the edge and also drawing sustenance and strength from its waters. It’s a fast-paced book about a woman finding the power to confront the past and move forward on her own terms. It’s also a redemptive story, which examines forgiveness and what it means to triumph when life tests you.
These are books I genuinely love and am thrilled to recommend to my friends. These are Bookshop.org affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Alternately, if you prefer to rent books at your local library or buy from your local bookstore, I very much support that!
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