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Editors' Picks

Tara Singh Carlson’s Recommended Fiction

Tara Singh Carlson is an Executive Editor at G.P. Putnam’s Sons where she has published New York Times bestsellers such as Where the Crawdads Sing, The Light We Lost, and We Must Be Brave, among others.

A New York transplant from the Chicago suburbs, she’s a mom to two small, rambunctious boys. When she can find a quiet minute, she loves getting lost in sweeping historical fiction, thought-provoking family stories, and utterly escapist romantic comedies.

Wild (Movie Tie-in Edition)

By Cheryl Strayed
In a time when so many of us are housebound and struggling emotionally, financially, and more, the brutally honest and inspiring voice of Cheryl Strayed might be a salve. I read this book ten years ago, but I think about it often and a copy of it lives on my bookshelf no matter where I am. This memoir reminds us to be kind to ourselves, but also honest, and to grow. If you’ve already Wild and loved it, then you should read Tiny Beautiful Things, which is just as wise.

Paperback   $18.00
November 18, 2014  |  ISBN 9781101873441

Wild (Movie Tie-in Edition)

By Cheryl Strayed
Paperback   $18.00
November 18, 2014  |  ISBN 9781101873441

Atomic Love

By Jennie Fields
I really can’t say more about this novel than Ann Patchett and Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing, have already done. If you are looking to be transported, to fall in love, to be morally challenged, then this is the book. I’m as in love with broken, beautiful Special Agent Charlie Szydlo as I am with Tim Riggins from tv’s Friday Night Lights. Get ready to be completely absorbed!
Paperback   $17.00
November 30, 2021  |  ISBN 9780593085349

Atomic Love

By Jennie Fields
Paperback   $17.00
November 30, 2021  |  ISBN 9780593085349

Anne of Green Gables

By L. M. Montgomery
I reread the entire Anne of Green Gables series at least every five to ten years and learn something new every time. When asked that ice breaker question: who was your role model growing up? I always answer “Anne Shirley.” The whimsy of Anne will never grow old and the red roads of Avonlea will always provide an escape.
Hardcover   $16.00
August 28, 2014  |  ISBN 9780147514004

Anne of Green Gables

By L. M. Montgomery
Hardcover   $16.00
August 28, 2014  |  ISBN 9780147514004

The Kiss Quotient

By Helen Hoang
I went on maternity leave in 2019 and brought home a giant stack of romantic comedies to help pass the many sleepless hours. This book was the best of the bunch and exactly the escape I needed! Sexy, romantic, heartfelt, and utterly absorbing, it’s also a fascinating and sensitive look at an autistic woman finding love. Bonus: the author’s second book, The Bride Test, is just as good!
Paperback   $16.00
June 05, 2018  |  ISBN 9780451490803

The Kiss Quotient

By Helen Hoang
Paperback   $16.00
June 05, 2018  |  ISBN 9780451490803

Outlander (Starz Tie-in Edition)

By Diana Gabaldon
In 1945 Claire Randall falls through time when she encounters a circle of Scottish standing stones. She lands in 1743 where she falls in love with highlander Jaime Fraser. Claire will be torn between two times, two men. What sounds like an outlandish premise is the setup for a truly epic and sweeping love story, and the start of an incredible series of books. Confession: I moved to Scotland after college because of this book with the crazy idea that I might meet the love of my life. I didn’t meet him there, but this love story is that good.
Paperback   $18.00
July 01, 2014  |  ISBN 9780553393705

Outlander (Starz Tie-in Edition)

By Diana Gabaldon
Paperback   $18.00
July 01, 2014  |  ISBN 9780553393705

Evvie Drake Starts Over

By Linda Holmes
This book came out in summer 2019, while I was on maternity leave, and immediately caught my attention. I loved getting to know Evvie and following her hesitant reentry into the world of love was just as charming, conflicted, and ultimately redemptive as I had hoped. For anyone who is housebound, this sleepy seaside Maine town is also the perfect armchair vacation spot.
Paperback   $17.00
June 02, 2020  |  ISBN 9780525619260

Evvie Drake Starts Over

By Linda Holmes
Paperback   $17.00
June 02, 2020  |  ISBN 9780525619260

Beach Read

By Emily Henry
This book is the perfect escapist pandemic read! It’s billed as being about two writers and their summer long challenge, and that’s true, but what I loved about it was that these two writers, January Andrews and Gus Everett, were college rivals years ago who were never sure if they loved or hated each other. In Beach Read, they finally find out, with plenty of laugh-out-loud and heart fluttering moments. I stayed up way too late with a package of oreos to finish this one.
Paperback   $16.00
May 19, 2020  |  ISBN 9781984806734

Beach Read

By Emily Henry
Paperback   $16.00
May 19, 2020  |  ISBN 9781984806734

Everything I Never Told You

By Celeste Ng
You may have heard of Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, which is wonderful and became a TV series starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. But her first novel, Everything I Never Told You, is actually my favorite. It’s the story of a Chinese-American mixed-race family whose favorite child is found dead, and the consequent unravelling of the family and surfacing of secrets. As the child of a mixed-race Indian-American family myself, this novel is the first I had read that felt true to my own experience, and the tensions and pressures such a family can often face.
Paperback   $17.00
May 12, 2015  |  ISBN 9780143127550

Everything I Never Told You

By Celeste Ng
Paperback   $17.00
May 12, 2015  |  ISBN 9780143127550