No Pressure Book Club

 

Behind Enemy Bylines by Kathleen Fuller

Opposites attract in this newsworthy romance. Two rivals, a journalist for a small-town newspaper and a marketing executive, must learn to play nice amidst major shifts in the newspaper industry during the mid-2000s.

 

 

The Cul-de-Sac War by Melissa Ferguson

Love might be just next door – if you don’t go crazy first. In this charming romance, two neighbors who do not like one another find themselves in a prank competition, each trying to be the first to push the other over the edge. But as the pranks escalate, so does the attraction.

 

 

Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin

Hana Khan's family-run halal restaurant is on the verge of closing, especially when a flashy competitor—owned by an attractive young man—readies to open nearby. Seeking advice, she turns to her anonymously hosted podcast, and her close relationship with one of the listeners, who might be the last person she’d want to confide in. Inspired by the movie You’ve Got Mail; this romance adds complexity with the heroine and hero handling prejudice as well as their competing restaurants.

 

 

Me for You by Lolly Winston

Widower Rudy is struggling with the death of his beloved wife. 10 months after the incident, he’s only just beginning to find joy as a piano player for Nordstrom. When Sasha catches his eye, he’s struck with the possibility of love, but new details surrounding his wife’s death, problems within his daughter’s marriage, and the reappearance of Sasha’s husband might complicate things.

 

 

Next Time Will Be Our Turn by Jesse Q. Sutanto

All at once a coming-of-age tale, romance, and family epic, this novel centers on Magnolia as she tells her granddaughter Izzy all about moving to a new country, growing up feeling different, being at odds with her family and culture, and ultimately falling in love with the “wrong” person. Seeing parallels between herself and her grandmother, Izzy slowly finds the confidence to live and love authentically.

 

 

Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams

It’s hard finding love in a small town where you know everyone, and harder still when your last date called you “boring.” Fake dating takes a turn for something real in this sweet romance about a young woman determined to change and the bad-boy she enlists to help make her romance dreams come true.

 

 

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

An aspiring writer jumps at the chance to rewrite a rom-com movie script with a famous screenwriter. But he doesn't care about the script except as a means to greenlight another project, and thinks love is a big scheme. She’s determined to prove him wrong, and they might just end up writing more than just a fictional love story.

 

 

Rules for Ruin by Mimi Matthews

For those who want something a little more exciting, this historical romantic suspense novel brings an edge of danger to an otherwise swoon-worthy romance. Miss Euphemia Flite has a mission: infiltrate the inner circle of a nasty viscount and bring him down. Criminal Gabriel Royce needs the viscount to secure his underworld empire, and he won’t let anyone disrupt his plans, no matter how alluring he finds them.

 

 

The Second Story Bookshop by Denise Hunter

A beyond-the-grave romance scheme only a grandmother could concoct. Gram has left her charming bookshop to her granddaughter, Shelby, but also the man who broke Shelby’s heart years ago. Forced to work together, old feelings begin to resurface, and long-held grudges are challenged in this second-chance romance.

 

 

Wyoming Wild by Sarah M. Eden

A U.S. Marshall goes undercover in a small town to learn more about threats made to his life—and teams up with the sheriff’s beautiful daughter in the process—in this western romance. Liesl is desperate to save her family and town. With no one else to turn to, she puts her life and her heart in the hands of Hawk, undertaking a dangerous plan in hopes of putting criminals away for good.

 

 

All the Lives We Never Lived by Anuradha Roy

In a dangerous era, Freedom and artistic expression are worth everything. Myshkin is determined to understand why his mother left India, and him, for Dutch-held Bali during the 1930s. This enthralling book offers a new perspective on a familiar time.

 

 

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman

In Regency London, Lady Augusta Colebrook, “Gus”, is determinedly unmarried and bored. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. Saving a young woman from her violent husband, and clearing the name of a handsome comrade, should do the trick!

 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

In 1939 Nazi Germany, Liesel is one of many children taken from her parents and sent to live with a “proper” German family, losing her brother and gaining a love of reading along the way. Encouraged by her foster father, she steals books from the mayor and from the piles left burning by soldiers. When her family makes the dangerous decision to hide someone in their basement, her life and everything she knows is turned upside down.

 

The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker

Drawing from the Icelandic Sagas, The Half-Drowned King takes inspiration from the true story of Ragnvald of Maer, the right hand man of King Harald Fairhair, first king of all Norway, and his sister, Svanhild, as she tries to find freedom in a society where the higher her brother rises, the greater her worth as a political pawn.

 

 

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

On the Korean island of Jeju, Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls from very different backgrounds, begin working with their village’s all-female diving collective. Over many decades—through the Japanese colonialism of the 1930s and 1940s, World War II, the Korean War, and the era of cellphones and wet suits for the women divers—Mi-ja and Young-sook develop the closest of bonds. Nevertheless, their differences are impossible to ignore, and forces outside their control will push their relationship to the breaking point.

 

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

Two sisters in a remarkable period of time. Nefertiti, ambitious and charismatic, is beloved by the common people along with her heretical husband, Pharoah Amunhotep, but that may not be enough with powerful priests and others plotting against them.  Mutnodjmet has never shared her sister's desire for power and yearns for a quiet existence. But her independence might come at the cost of defying her powerful sister.

 

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

An elderly widower, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, travels through north Texas in the wake of the Civil War, giving live readings from newspapers to audiences hungry for news of the world. That is until he is offered $50 to escort a young orphan, raised by Native Americans, to San Antonio. They don’t see eye-to-eye, and the 400-mile journey tests both of their spirits, but the two eventually forge a bond that cannot be broken, even in the face of the law.

 

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Set in 12th century England, this epic tale details the stories of five very different characters: a master builder, a noblewoman, a prior, an artist, and a sorceress. Their lives intertwine around the building of the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known, and are colored by love, betrayal, and revenge. It starts with the execution of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.

 

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Her name is Dinah. Her story begins with the story of her mothers—Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah—the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. This novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood—weaving betrayal, loss, hope, and perseverance in the face of neglect and disregard.

 

Violeta by Isabel Allende

Born in South America during a stormy day in 1920, Violeta has lived a long life. In a final letter, she’ll tell every detail, from poverty to wealth, from joy to sorrow, women’s rights, the rise and fall of tyrants, pandemics, from love to heartbreak. Her life has been shaped by some of the most extraordinary and tragic events of the last 100 years.