Check It Out Category: Romance

If You Like Bridgerton: Staff Picks

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Check out these reads and watches that will give you the same Bridgerton vibes, enthusiastically provided by our resident regency romance expert Liz, Fiction-AV-Teen Librarian.

emma DVD cover

Emma (DVD)

If you like the costumes in Bridgerton, the beautiful and authentic regency dresses in Emma will be right up your alley! 

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The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare

The Duchess Deal, the first installment in the Girl Meet Duke series features both the romance as well as the lovely wit and humor of the books and show.  

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My Lady’s Choosing by Kitty Curan

A fun take on a romance novel that allows the readers to choose their own path for the main character. 

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Belle (DVD)

Inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate daughter of a Royal Navy captain, this period drama features Belle whose lineage affords her certain privileges, yet the color of her skin prevents her from fully participating in society and leaves her left wondering if she will ever find love.

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Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean

Available in Large Type!

Three different brothers find love in London.  If that was one of your favorite aspects of the Bridgerton series, you will find that same appeal here.

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Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas

Available in Large Type!

With the same high society London setting as Bridgerton, readers will enjoy Kleypas’ characters and strong writing.  

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Mary Queen of Scots (DVD)

A period drama that focuses on the relationships between women, featuring powerful, headstrong, complicated characters just like Bridgerton.

Teen Winter Reading: Swoonworthy Reads

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Winter Reading is in its final weeks for adults and teens! Try one of these titles just in time for Valentine’s Day to give you all the swoony feels. For more options, check out our extended list.

Remember, anything you read, including books, graphic novels, or even audiobooks can be logged from January 1 – February 28 via Beanstack. Visit mppl.org/winterreading to sign up or to log your books today.

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Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant

Romantic Comedy

Sixteen-year-old Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. She’s rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. The only place she’s a true leading lady is in her own writing, in the swoony love stories she shares only with Caroline, her best friend and #1 devoted reader. When Tessa is accepted into the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, she’s excited to finally let her stories shine. But when she goes to her first workshop, the words are just…gone. Fortunately, Caroline has a solution: Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in a real-life love story of her own.

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XOXO by Axie Oh

Fling with Someone Famous

Jenny never had much time for boys, K-pop, or really anything besides her dream of being a professional cellist. But when she finds herself falling for a K-pop idol, she has to decide whether their love is worth the risk.

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Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin van Whye

Secret Relationship

Accepting a dare to date a new person every week, a popular teen is unexpectedly asked out by a boy and agrees to a secret five-day relationship that quickly becomes more real than he anticipated.

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The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus

Love When Facing a Fatal Illness

Told in two voices, sixteen-year-old Audre and Mabel, both young women of color from different backgrounds, fall in love and figure out how to care for each other as one of them faces a fatal illness.

Like These Authors? Try Talia Hibbert

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The Rom-Com Renaissance in book publishing is still going strong, and readers who are in the mood for meet-cutes, fake relationships, hating-to-dating, and all the accompanying feels have more meant-to-be possibilities than ever before! If you recognize your soul mate in any of the popular authors below, be sure you join us for a live virtual conversation on Saturday, July 17 to hear from Talia Hibbert in an MPPL-exclusive Meet the Author program.

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The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai
Modern Love series

Cynical dating app creator Rhiannon Hunter must decide whether or not to give former pro-football player Samson Lima, who wooed her during one magical night and then disappeared, a second chance despite the fact that his in league with a business rival.

What do the stories have in common?
contemporary issues, passionate sensuality, complex and resilient heroine

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The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

A 30-year-old math whiz with Asperger’s tries to make her love life as rich as her career by hiring an escort to help her with her lack of knowledge and experience in the dating department.

What do the stories have in common?
ability-diverse heroine, steamy encounters, compulsively readable

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The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

A wedding planner left at the altar? Yeah, the irony isn’t lost on Carolina Santos, either. But despite that embarrassing blip from her past, Lina’s offered an opportunity that could change her life. There’s just one hitch: she has to collaborate with the best (make that worst) man from her own failed nuptials.

What do the stories have in common?
enemies-to-lovers theme, culturally diverse couple, both comic and spicy

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Headliners by Lucy Parker
London Celebrities series

For years, rival TV presenters Sabrina Carlton and Nick Davenport have traded barbs on their respective shows. The public can’t get enough of their feud, but after Nick airs Sabrina’s family scandals to all of Britain, the gloves are off. They can barely be in the same room together–but these longtime enemies are about to become the unlikeliest of cohosts.

What do the stories have in common?
hating-to-dating theme, banter-filled dialogue, both sweet and saucy

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Grin & Beard It by Penny Reid
Winston Brothers series

When a new role takes Hollywood comic actress Sienna to the Great Smoky Mountains but she finds herself continually lost, she’s rescued by handsome, charming, and cheeky Park Ranger Jethro. Can she traverse the tenuous trails of Tennessee without losing her heart?

What do the stories have in common?
opposites attract theme, culturally diverse couple, folksiness but with heat

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The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

Stranded together in an elevator during a power outage, Drew and Alexa agree to pose as a couple at an ex’s wedding and discover afterwards that they are unable to forget each other.

What do the stories have in common?
snappy dialogue, dynamic characters, interracial romance

Why MPPL Staff Love Talia Hibbert

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Zoom Program: Meet the author Talia Hibbert, Saturday, July 17 at 11 a.m.

What is it about Talia Hibbert’s books that has won the hearts of our readers’ advisors? Peek over the shoulders of MPPL staff to learn six reasons why they are infatuated, and join us for a live virtual conversation on Saturday, July 17 to hear from the author herself. Can’t wait? Try a reading date with Get a Life, Chloe Brown, the first of the Brown Sisters trilogy, as ebook or e-audio on Hoopla.

Real and Relatable Characters

“I enjoy how real both her male and female characters are. They have many facets to them and they are normal people with things like tough pasts, mental health issues, and/or disabilities, and I find that so refreshing and relatable.”

What We Already Love but More

“I love that the sisters make reappearances throughout the whole trilogy and that there is overall a general kindness to these books even in the enemies-to-lovers trope. Speaking of tropes: Hibbert covers a bunch of them (fake dating, enemies to lovers, person teaching other person to LIVE), but because she has such superb character development and banter between characters it feels like fresh takes on the tropes.”

Ultramodern with Ease

“I liked that the writing was effortlessly contemporary. There are references to social media and other bits of modern life that don’t feel clunky like they sometimes do when an author is trying to seem ‘with it.’ It feels like the author could be writing about her own life — that’s how real the characters, places, and social media bits feel.”

Accessibility and Tone

“A way in for me was when I was trying to stretch my reading, and I was able to do so easily  thanks to the humor and not-often-talked-about issues. I’d probably recommend to a reader looking for a more contemporary/real-life (right now) romance with a bit of humor. I’d definitely mention the fun back and forth/quirkiness between the characters. So romantical!”

Inclusivity

“The book I read had two Black main characters, a bisexual lead, two non-Christian religions, and a mental health subplot, and still managed to be funny and fun to read.”

Delicious Audio Productions

“I love the snappy dialogue, and the audiobooks’ narrators are fabulous!! Yes, I’m swooning!”

Added note: Steamy Encounters 

Talia is renown for romance with lots of sizzle. Whether you are looking for more stories with equal heat or some that lean into slow-burn simmer instead, we can suggest just the right recipe!

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

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Hispanic Heritage Month September 15 through October 15

“Hispanic Heritage Month recognizes and celebrates the contributions Americans tracing their roots to Spain, Mexico, Central America, South American and the Spanish-speaking nations of the Caribbean have made to American society and culture” – United States Census Bureau

Whether you are in the mood for quiet and thoughtful, tense and unnerving, heartfelt and sweet, or sincere and compelling, exciting reads by Hispanic American authors are yours for the taking. The contributions from writers of Hispanic descent are monumental, and one of the ways we are honoring Hispanic Heritage Month is to share suggestions that celebrate the authentic experience in great storytelling.

Check out a fresh list of rich reads for Hispanic Heritage Month 2020 or browse a sample below. For information on national events and much more, visit the Library of Congress website.

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Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia  

A reimagining of the classic gothic suspense novel follows the experiences of a courageous socialite in 1950s Mexico who is drawn into the treacherous secrets of an isolated mansion.

Gothic Fiction; Horror

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You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria

Rendered the subject of tabloid gossip by a messy public breakup, soap star Jasmine takes a part in a new bilingual comedy at the side of a telenovela costar who would revitalize his career.

Romantic Comedy

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A Long Petal Of The Sea by Isabel Allende  

Sponsored by the poet Pablo Neruda to flee the violence of the Spanish Civil War, a pregnant widow and an army doctor unite in an arranged marriage, only to be swept up by the early days of World War II.

Historical Fiction

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Once I Was You by Maria Hinojosa

Maria Hinojosa is an award-winning journalist who has collaborated with the most respected networks and is known for bringing humanity to her reporting. In this beautifully-rendered memoir, she relates the history of US immigration policy that has brought us to where we are today, as she shares her deeply personal story. Once I Was You is an urgent call to fellow Americans to open their eyes to the immigration crisis and understand that it affects us all. 

Memoir; Global Affairs

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Afterlife by Julia Alvarez

Reeling from her beloved husband’s sudden death in the wake of her retirement, an immigrant writer is further derailed by the reappearance of her unstable sister and an entreaty for help by a pregnant undocumented teen.

Domestic Fiction

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Everything Inside: Stories by Edwidge Danticat

A single-volume collection of short stories by the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author is set in such locales as Miami, Port-au-Prince and the Caribbean and poignantly explores the forces that unite and divide.

Authentic Short Stories

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Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis

Enduring the rampant violence against women and the LGBTQ community in the decades of the Uruguayan dictatorship, five women heartbreakingly unite as lovers, friends and family.

Historical Fiction