Author: Jennifer Vance

Calling all Shania Twain fans: The Canadian country-pop star’s first album in six years, Queen of Me, is coming out Feb. 3! To get us prepared, we’re stocking up on books inspired by some of our fav Shania songs. Once you’ve settled in with some of these books, queue up our Shania Twain-inspired playlist and stream Queen of Me.

Man! I Feel Like a Woman

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

When it comes to the trials and triumphs of becoming an adult, journalist and former Sunday Times columnist Dolly Alderton has seen and tried it all. In her memoir, she vividly recounts falling in love, finding a job, getting drunk, getting dumped, realizing that Ivan from the corner shop might just be the only reliable man in her life, and that absolutely no one can ever compare to her best girlfriends. Glittering with wit and insight, heart and humor, Alderton’s unforgettable debut weaves together personal stories, satirical observations, a series of lists, recipes, and other vignettes that will strike a chord of recognition with women of every age — making you want to pick up the phone and tell your best friends all about it. Everything I Know About Love is about bad dates, good friends and — above all else — realizing that you are enough.

Honey, I’m Home

After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid

When Lauren and Ryan’s marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes. Lauren embarks on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage. These influences, as well as her own healing process and the challenges of living apart from Ryan, begin to change Lauren’s ideas about monogamy and marriage. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?

I’m Gonna Getcha Good!

Along for the Ride by Mimi Grace

Former hot mess Jolene Baxter is committed to doing better. It’s why she offered to help her sister and brother-in-law move across the country. However, her goodwill is tested when last minute changes-mainly her father ditching her for an all-expenses paid vacation-forces her to make the journey with a man who is the human version of a pebble in her shoe. Jason Akana operates on lists and bitter coffee, but none of those things will help him on a 16-hour trip with the most infuriating woman. Maybe they can get along and forget their heated confrontation five years ago at his best friend’s wedding…when pigs fly.

But the addition of vehicle problems, an unplanned pit stop in a small town, and chemistry that inconveniently tags along, shifts their perspectives. And once the dust settles after their trip, a tentative friendship emerges. Will these two stubborn people successfully navigate the unexpected feelings that follow close behind? Or will they hit a roadblock before reaching happily ever after?

Any Man of Mine

A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy

Emmett Maguire wants to be country music’s biggest gay superstar — a far reach when you’re 17 and living in Illinois. But for now, he’s happy to do the next best thing: Stay with his aunt in Jackson Hollow, Tennessee, for the summer and perform at the amusement park owned by his idol, country legend Wanda Jean Stubbs. Luke Barnes hates country music. As the grandson of Verna Rose, the disgraced singer who had a famous falling out with Wanda Jean, Luke knows how much pain country music has brought his family.

But when his mom’s medical bills start piling up, he takes a job at the last place he wants: a restaurant at Wanda World. Neither boy is looking for romance, but sparks fly when they meet — and soon they’re inseparable. Until a long-lost secret about Verna and Wanda comes to light, threatening to unravel everything. Will Emmett and Luke be able get past the truths they discover…or will their relationship go down in history as just another Sad Country Love Song?

Forever and for Always

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation — awkward but electrifying — something life changing begins. A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together.

And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other. Normal People is the story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t.

From This Moment On

P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

Some people wait their whole lives to find their soul mates. But not Holly and Gerry. Childhood sweethearts, they could finish each other’s sentences and even when they fought, they laughed. No one could imagine Holly and Gerry without each other. Until the unthinkable happens. Gerry’s death devastates Holly. But as her 30th birthday looms, Gerry comes back to her. He’s left her a bundle of notes, one for each of the months after his death, gently guiding Holly into her new life without him, each note signed “PS, I Love You.”

As the notes are gradually opened, and as the year unfolds, Holly is both cheered up and challenged. The man who knows her better than anyone sets out to teach her that life goes on. With some help from her friends, and her noisy and loving family, Holly finds herself laughing, crying, singing, dancing — and being braver than ever before. Life is for living, she realises — but it always helps if there’s an angel watching over you.

You’re Still the One

The Shaadi Set-Up by Lillie Vale

High school sweethearts Rita Chitniss and Milan Rao were the golden couple, until the day he broke her heart. Now, 6 years later, Rita has turned her passion for furniture restoration into a career and has an almost-perfect boyfriend, Neil. The last thing she needs is for Milan to re-enter her life, but that’s exactly what happens when her mother, an unfailing believer in second chances, sets them up. Milan is just as charming, cocky, and confident as he was back in school. Only this time, he actually needs her business expertise, not her heart, to flip a hard-to-sell house for his realty agency. While Rita begrudgingly agrees to help, she’s not taking any risks.

To prove she’s definitely over him, she signs herself and Neil up on a Desi matchmaking site famous for its success stories. Instead, she’s shocked when the perfect match for her isn’t Neil…it’s Milan. Ignoring the website and her mother is one thing, but ignoring Milan proves much more difficult, especially when she promises to help him renovate the beach house of her dreams. And as the two of them dive deeper into work — and their pasts — Rita begins to wonder if maybe her match wasn’t so wrong after all….

Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin

Tessa Russo is the mother of two young children and the wife of a renowned pediatric surgeon. Despite her own mother’s warnings, Tessa has recently given up her career to focus on her family and the pursuit of domestic happiness. From the outside, she seems destined to live a charmed life. Valerie Anderson is an attorney and single mother to six-year-old Charlie — a boy who has never known his father. After too many disappointments, she has given up on romance — and even to some degree, friendships — believing that it is always safer not to expect too much. Although both women live in the same Boston suburb, the two have relatively little in common aside from a fierce love for their children. But one night, a tragic accident causes their lives to converge in ways no one could have imagined.

That Don’t Impress Me Much

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

When his mother became President, the country promptly cast Alex Claremont-Diaz as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius — his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse. Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals.

What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through?

Up!

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Jennifer Vance

Jennifer Vance is a publicist at Books Forward, an author publicity and book marketing firm committed to promoting voices from a diverse variety of communities. From book reviews and author events, to social media and digital marketing, we help authors find success and connect with readers.

Interested in what’s possible for your book sales and building readership? Check out our services, tell us your goals, and get a customized publicity campaign tailored just for you.

We don’t need a new Dolly Parton album as an excuse to listen to her songs and compile a reading list. But here we are excited for her new greatest hits album. So you know we couldn’t help ourselves. Once you’ve settled in with some of these books, check out our Dolly Parton-inspired playlist. And stream Diamonds & Rhinestones: The Greatest Hits Collection, available now!

I Will Always Love You + The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Achilles, son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods’ wrath. They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.

Eagle When She Flies + Becoming by Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her. From her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private. And she tells her full story as she has lived it — in her own words and on her own terms. Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations.

9 to 5 + Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig

The societies we live in are increasingly making our minds ill. We feel as though the way we live is engineered to make us unhappy. Matt Haig developed panic disorder, anxiety, and depression as an adult. And it took him a long time to work out the ways the external world could impact his mental health in both positive and negative ways. Notes on a Nervous Planet collects his observations. The book takes a look at how the various social, commercial and technological “advancements” that have created the world we now live in can actually hinder our happiness. Haig examines everything from broader phenomena like inequality, social media, and the news; to things closer to our daily lives, like how we sleep, how we exercise, and even the distinction we draw between our minds and our bodies.

Coat of Many Colors + Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward

Joshua and Christophe are twins, raised by a blind grandmother and a large extended family in rural Bois Sauvage, on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. They’ve just finished high school and need to find jobs, but after Katrina, it’s not easy. Joshua gets work on the docks, but Christophe’s not so lucky and starts to sell drugs. Christophe’s downward spiral is accelerated first by crack, then by the reappearance of the twins’ parents: Cille, who left for a better job, and Sandman, a dangerous addict. Sandman taunts Christophe, eventually provoking a shocking confrontation that will ultimately damn or save both twins.

Jolene + My Husband’s Wife by Jane Corry

When young lawyer Lily marries Ed, she’s determined to make a fresh start and leave the secrets of the past behind. But then she takes on her first murder case and meets Joe, a convicted murderer to whom Lily is strangely drawn. And for him she will soon be willing to risk almost anything. But Lily is not the only one with secrets. Her next-door neighbor Carla may be only nine, but she has already learned that secrets are powerful things. That they can get her whatever she wants. Lily finds Carla on her doorstep twelve years later, setting into motion a chain of events that can end only one way.

Islands in the Stream + All That’s Left in the World by Erik J. Brown

When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie’s house, he’s injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world’s population, including everyone both boys have ever loved. After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization. But something isn’t adding up about Andrew’s story, and it could cost them everything. And Jamie has a secret, too. He’s starting to feel something more than friendship for Andrew. And that adds another layer of fear and confusion to an already tumultuous journey. The road ahead of them is long. To survive, they’ll have to shed their secrets, face the consequences of their actions, and find the courage to fight for the future they desire, together. Only one thing feels certain: all that’s left in their world is the undeniable pull they have toward each other.

Little Sparrow + Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia

Harlem, 1926. Young Black women like Louise Lloyd are ending up dead. Following a harrowing kidnapping ordeal when she was in her teens, Louise is doing everything she can to maintain a normal life. She spends her days working at Maggie’s Café and her nights at the Zodiac, Harlem’s hottest speakeasy. Louise’s friends, especially her girlfriend, Rosa Maria Moreno, might say she’s running from her past and the notoriety that still stalks her. But don’t tell her that.

When a girl turns up dead in front of the café, Louise is forced to confront something she’s been trying to ignore — two other local Black girls have been murdered in the past few weeks. After an altercation with a police officer gets her arrested, Louise is given an ultimatum. She can either help solve the case or wind up in a jail cell. Louise has no choice but to investigate and soon finds herself toe-to-toe with a murderous mastermind hell-bent on taking more lives, maybe even her own….

My Tennessee Mountain Home + Truth or Beard by Penny Reid (plus all the other books in the Winston Brothers series)

Identical twins Beau and Duane Winston might share the same devastatingly handsome face. But where Beau is outgoing and sociable, Duane is broody and reserved. This is why Jessica James has been in naïve and unhealthy infatuation with Beau Winston for most of her life. His friendly smiles make her tongue-tied and weak-kneed, and she’s never been able to move beyond her childhood crush. Whereas Duane and Jessica have always been adversaries. She can’t stand him, and she’s pretty sure he can’t stand the sight of her…

But after a case of mistaken identity, Jessica finds herself in a massive confusion kerfuffle. Not helping Jessica’s muddled mind and good girl sensibilities, Duane seems to have gotten himself in trouble with the local biker gang. Certainly, Beau’s magic spell is broken. Yet when Jessica finds herself drawn to the man who was always her adversary, now more dangerous than ever, how much of her level-head heart is she willing to risk?

Here You Come Again + Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited. And he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. But she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane. And she is determined to dislike him more than ever. It’s a sparkling comedy of manners that follows. Jane Austen shows us the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.

Hard Candy Christmas + You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky

Matthew Prince is young, rich, thoroughly spoiled and on top of the world. But one major PR misstep later, and Matthew’s family cuts him off. He’s shipped away to spend the holidays in his grandparents’ charming small town hellscape. It’s bad enough he’s stuck in some festive winter wonderland. It’s even worse that he has to share space with Hector Martinez. Hector’s an obnoxiously attractive local who’s unimpressed with anything and everything Matthew does. Just when it looks like the holiday season is bringing nothing but heated squabbles, the charity gala loses its coordinator and Matthew steps in as a saintly act to get home early on good behavior. And Hector is his maddening plus-one.

Jennifer Vance

Jennifer Vance is a publicist at Books Forward, an author publicity and book marketing firm committed to promoting voices from a diverse variety of communities. From book reviews and author events, to social media and digital marketing, we help authors find success and connect with readers.

Interested in what’s possible for your book sales and building readership? Check out our services, tell us your goals, and get a customized publicity campaign tailored just for you.

Class is in session, and your homework? Watch Abbott Elementary.

The new ABC sitcom created by the funny and talented Quinta Brunson is the mockumentary-style comedy we needed. It’s absolutely one of the best sitcoms right now, and with stars like, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, it’s easy to see why.

And reading is fundamental to a great education, so what kind of books would make up these teachers’ TBR stacks?

JANINE

Janine is sweet and a little naive but overall is the epitome of what a teacher should be: Caring, almost to a fault, and ready to do whatever it takes to motivate and educate the young students in her second-grade class. We know she definitely has a TBR stack that’s as inspirational and excitable as she is.

Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

The poetry collection by the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet captures a shipwrecked moment in time and transforms it into a lyric of hope and healing.

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

This is an electric debut about the tension that unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white backdrop of New York City book publishing. It’s a whip-smart and dynamic thriller with sly social commentary that is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened, or overlooked in the workplace.

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Eighteen-year-old Daunis has never quite fit in. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold. The only bright spot is Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother’s hockey team. But as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses he’s hiding something. And everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.

GREG

Oh, Greg. Even though you eat plain boiled chicken and have a hard time opening up not just to your students but to your colleagues, we can’t help but love you and your awkward glances to camera. Greg is a surprise in himself, and the books on his TBR might surprise you as well.

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

This book is a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in the 1960s. It’s a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem.

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

This book is a hilarious, razor-sharp skewering of America’s workforce, a crackling, satirical debut novel about a young man given a shot at stardom as the lone Black salesman at a mysterious, cult-like, and wildly successful startup where nothing is as it seems.

AVA

You either love her or you hate her — and you can trust that she does not care either way. You can count on the fabulously funny principal of Abbott Elementary being up to date with the hottest books of the moment and ready to drop whatever it is she’s doing to talk about them.

Miss Me With That by Rachel Lindsay

Rachel Lindsay rose to prominence as The Bachelor’s first Black Bachelorette and has since become one of the franchise’s most well-known figures — and outspoken critics. But there has always been more to Lindsay than meets the eye, and in this book, she finally tells her own story, in her own words.

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, this book is both an intimate memoir and a galvanizing wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live.

Luster by Raven Leilani

Irresistibly unruly and strikingly beautiful, razor-sharp and slyly comic, sexually charged and utterly absorbing, the book is a portrait of a young woman trying to make sense of her life — her hunger, her anger — in a tumultuous era. It’s also a haunting, aching description of how hard it is to believe in your own talent, and the unexpected influences that bring us into ourselves along the way.

BARBARA

Can we go back to kindergarten and have Barbara be our teacher? (Okay, but really.) This education veteran knows how to dish out tough love but never doubt that she would drop whatever she’s doing to help those she cares for. From faith to fiction, we think Barbara would gravitate toward books that really make you think — and we would happily listen to all her thoughts on them in the break room.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

A stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white. Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise.

Uncommon Ground by Timothy Keller and John Inazu

These two authors bring together a thrilling range of artists, thinkers, and leaders to provide a guide to faithful living in a pluralistic, fractured world. Providing varied and enlightening approaches to reaching faithfully across deep and often painful differences, this book shows us how to live with confidence, joy, and hope in a complex and fragmented age.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

This novel follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. The book illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed — and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation.

MELISSA

From food to family to telling Janine like it, Melissa is down to earth and refreshingly honest. She talks tough, but we know she’s got a heart of gold and is ready to fight — figuratively and literally — for what she believes in. Like her, there’s definitely more to her TBR than meets the eye.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

With humor and heart, Zauner tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

Irby is forty, and increasingly uncomfortable in her own skin despite what Inspirational Instagram Infographics have promised her. The essays in this collection draw on the raw, hilarious particulars of her new life, and this book is Irby at her most unflinching, riotous, and relatable.

Five Families by Selwyn Raab

This is a vivid story of the rise and fall of New York’s premier dons, from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and others. This definitive history brings the reader right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law-enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.

JACOB

As nerdy and awkward as he can be (and as bad as he is at roasting) we’re glad the students at Abbott have Jacob as a teacher. Even though he tries a little too hard to be woke, we know his heart’s in the right place. And the books he’s picking up would go perfectly on any millennial’s shelf.

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

A tour de force of interwoven perspectives and sustained suspense, its action largely unfolding on a single winter day, this is the story of a Midwestern family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis. Franzen’s gift for melding the small picture and the big picture has never been more dazzlingly evident.

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

The Guncle is a warm and deeply funny novel about a once-famous gay sitcom star whose unexpected family tragedy leaves him with his niece and nephew for the summer. It’s a moving tribute to the power of love, patience, and family in even the most trying of times.

The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.

A singular and stunning debut, this novel is about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.

Jennifer Vance

Jennifer Vance is a publicist at Books Forward, an author publicity and book marketing firm committed to promoting voices from a diverse variety of communities. From book reviews and author events, to social media and digital marketing, we help authors find success and connect with readers.

Interested in what’s possible for your book sales and building readership? Check out our services, tell us your goals, and get a customized publicity campaign tailored just for you.