Book Picks for May!

Here are the book picks that have been submitted for May!

Note: I'll update this as new ones come in, so keep submitting. The form won't close until April 20th.

Title: Something Like Normal

Author: Trish Doller

Who Picked It: Kari

Why should we read this?

Bc its one of my most favoritest ever. Also. Travis. Rawr.

(Edit by Jessica: Rawr is right.)

When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again. Travis’s dry sense of humor, and incredible sense of honor, make him an irresistible and eminently lovable hero.

Title: Natural Harmony

Author: Kate Roth

Who Picked It: Tina

Why should we read this?

Cause it's awesome. Haha no really it's a well written book with a strong female lead in the music industry. It is a new adult so you might hate it but I think it would still be fun to discuss.

Ps. There are sex scenes so it may not be for everyone.

Suddenly named the acting president of her uncle’s record label, former pop princess Sabrina Walker is finally ready to grow up. While her professional life moves forward, she still clings to the last fragment of her past life in the form of an uncertain relationship with her manager, Beau.

When Sabrina hires handsome, young assistant, Wade Lawson, he awakens in her the hidden confidence she’s always desired. What starts as a casual affair quickly intensifies to something much more.

Sabrina must decide—return to the familiar life of an insecure one-hit-wonder, or embrace Wade and the woman his passion has helped reveal.

Title: Soy Sauce for Beginners

Author: Kristin Chen

Who Picked It: Keri

Why should we read this?

I kind of typed in "Book club books" into amazon, and scrolled looking at 2 things: the price and the cover. When I had about 20 tabs up I went through the selection, and looked for something that wasn't a book that was typically something I would read on my own. This was one of the 2 I settled on.

Gretchen Lin, adrift at the age of thirty, leaves her floundering marriage in San Francisco to move back to her childhood home in Singapore and immediately finds herself face-to-face with the twin headaches she’s avoided her entire adult life: her mother’s drinking problem and the machinations of her father’s artisanal soy sauce business.

Surrounded by family, Gretchen struggles with the tension between personal ambition and filial duty, but still finds time to explore a new romance with the son of a client, an attractive man of few words. When an old American friend comes to town, the two of them are pulled into the controversy surrounding Gretchen’s cousin, the only male grandchild and the heir apparent to Lin’s Soy Sauce. In the midst of increasing pressure from her father to remain permanently in Singapore—and pressure from her mother to do just the opposite—Gretchen must decide whether she will return to her marriage and her graduate studies at the San Francisco Conservatory, or sacrifice everything and join her family’s crusade to spread artisanal soy sauce to the world.

Soy Sauce for Beginners reveals the triumphs and sacrifices that shape one woman’s search for a place to call home, and the unexpected art and tradition behind the brewing of a much-used but unsung condiment. The result is a foodie love story that will give readers a hearty appreciation for family loyalty and fresh starts.

Title: The War Bride Club

Author: Soraya Lane

Who Picked It: Keri

Why should we read this?

Same reason as my other submission. Looking at cover and price, and trying to pick a book that I wouldn't usually go for. Expand my horizons, I guess. :)

When Betty, Madeline, Alice and June depart London for New York at the end of 1945 they are complete strangers. But along with hundreds of other war brides, they are leaving home to be with their American husbands now the war is over. In the days they spend at sea, the four young women become firm friends, and vow to stay in touch no matter what their new lives bring.

But life in a new country comes with many challenges…
Betty has no family, and she has no intention of being alone in her final stage of pregnancy. Her dashing pilot husband is the man of her dreams, and she can’t wait to be reunited with him, but tragedy awaits her in America.

Madeline never wanted to leave her family, but she was also in love. She is excited about the ranch her new husband has told her so much about, but the reality of life with his family is nothing like she could ever have imagined.

Alice fell in love with her soldier husband while she was nursing him in London, but the strong, capable man who returned to sweep her off her feet seems to have disappeared. In his place is a man so haunted by what used to be before the war, that she has doubts their marriage will last.

It seems that June is the only one of the four friends to find happiness in America. Her husband and his family welcome her with open arms, but her inability to get pregnant makes her feel like a failure.

The only thing these four brave women can count on is their friendship, but Betty, Madeline, Alice and June didn’t move half way across the world to give up without a fight.

Title: I Hunt Killers (Jasper Dent #1)

Author: Barry Lyga

Who Picked It: Jessica

Why should we read this?

It's about serial killers, but not in the way you might think! It's dark, and intriguing, and will make you want more. I think it'll break some of you into young adult reads!

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?
Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

Title: Clockwise (Clockwise #1)

Author: Elle Strauss

Who Picked It: Tina

Why should we read this?

This is a series which I thought might be fun for a few months or we could just discuss the first book. It's a great YA series which includes self discovery, friendship and a bit of intrigue.

Casey Donovan has issues: hair, height and uncontrollable trips to the 19th century! And now this --she's accidentally taken Nate Mackenzie, the cutest boy in the school, back in time. Awkward. Protocol pressures her to tell their 1860 hosts that he is her brother and when Casey finds she has a handsome, wealthy (and unwanted) suitor, something changes in Nate. Are those romantic sparks or is it just "brotherly" protectiveness? When they return to the present, things go back to the way they were before: Casey parked on the bottom of the rung of the social ladder and Nate perched high on the very the top. Except this time her heart is broken. Plus, her best friend is mad, her parents are split up, and her younger brother gets escorted home by the police. The only thing that could make life worse is if, by some strange twist of fate, she took Nate back to the past again. Which of course, she does.