February recommended lists you don’t want to miss
February is a short but mighty month (happy birthday to all the Leap Year babies!) and it’s an exciting time at the library. We’re celebrating Black History Month, and romance is in the air with Valentine’s Day. Your patrons are probably looking for books for one or both, plus all those great new releases they’ve been waiting for. Below are lists you can shop in OverDrive Marketplace to make sure you have everything your patrons desire.
Celebrate Black History Month
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This giant list has everything you need to celebrate black history. From memoirs and essays to history and sociology, we’ve got you covered with everything your patrons will be asking for.
The theme for Black History Month 2024 focuses on “African Americans and the Arts” so be sure to also shop the list of Black History Month 2024: Art as a Platform for Social Justice here.
Featured Title
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
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From your OverDrive Digital Content Librarian (DCL): What better way to kick off Black History Month than with the first major biography in decades of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. It is also the first to include recently declassified FBI files. Eig blends new research with accessible narrative to paint a picture of King as both a man and a legend, exploring the various angles of his personal life and his work. This critically acclaimed book was named one of the ten best books of 2023 by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and Time, it was one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2023, and it’s recently been announced as a National Book Critics Circle finalist. The critical acclaim continues to grow, so your readers will be looking to get their hands on this one!
You Turn My Pages: Romance Reads
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Romance books are a must-have for readers all year long, but February is really their time to shine! With everything from traditional romance to genre-defying love stories, we have all the romance reads you need to help your patrons find their perfect book in time for Valentine’s Day.
Top Titles of February
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Featured titles
The Women by Kristin Hannah
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From the publisher: Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.
But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.
The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.
Three-Inch Teeth by C.J. Box
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From your OverDrive DCL: Everyone’s favorite Wyoming game warden is back! With the 24th installment in the Joe Pickett series, things are getting personal. A rampaging grizzly bear has killed, among others, the potential fiancé of Joe’s daughter. At the same time, Dallas Cates, who Joe helped lock up years ago, is released from prison looking for revenge on the people who sent him away. Using the grizzly attacks as cover, Cates sets out to methodically take down the six people he blames for ruining his life. This novel is full of action and twists, and Box fans will be delighted to sink their teeth into his latest page turner.
February Blockbusters
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Featured title
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
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From the publisher: Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again…
Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….
Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.
Top Romance of February
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A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
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From the publisher: Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing
Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where they’re long-stemmed roses, she’s a dandelion: an adorable bloom that’s actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her.
When regal nonagenarian, Ms. Della, invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers.
One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.
Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.
Top Mystery/Thriller of February
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The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood
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From your OverDrive DCL: February can feel like the longest short month there is, and sometimes readers want a little comfort and coziness with their mysteries to get them through winter. Look no further than The Kamogawa Food Detectives! This bestseller in Japan celebrates the power of food, asking the question, “What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?”
Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare run a one-of-a-kind restaurant in Kyoto called the Kamogawa Diner. The father-daughter duo specializes in recreating dishes from people’s pasts, investigating as “food detectives” to find lost recipes and track down forgotten ingredients, linking their customers to their most cherished memories with special meals. This book is the first in a cozy, mouth-watering Japanese series, and it received a well-deserved starred review from Library Journal.
Top Sci-Fi of February
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Featured titles
Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice
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From the publisher: In this gripping stand-alone literary thriller set in the world of the award-winning post-apocalyptic novel Moon of the Crusted Snow, a scouting party led by Evan Whitesky ventures into unknown and dangerous territory to find a new home for their close-knit Northern Ontario Indigenous community more than a decade after a world-ending blackout.
For the past twelve years, a community of Anishinaabe people have made the Northern Ontario bush their home in the wake of the power failure that brought about societal collapse. Since then they have survived and thrived the way their ancestors once did, but their natural food resources are dwindling, and the time has come to find a new home.
Evan Whitesky volunteers to lead a mission south to explore the possibility of moving back to their original homeland, the “land where the birch trees grow by the big water” in the Great Lakes region. Accompanied by five others, including his daughter Nangohns, an expert archer, Evan begins a journey that will take him to where the Anishinaabe were once settled, near the devastated city of Gibson, a land now being reclaimed by nature.
But it isn’t just the wilderness that poses a threat: they encounter other survivors. Those who, like the Anishinaabe, live in harmony with the land, and those who use violence.
More lists you don’t want to miss
Top Historical Fiction of February. Shop the list here.
Top Nonfiction of February. Shop the list here.
Top Self-Published of February. Shop the list here.
If you ever need help shopping, you can always email your Digital Content Librarian! Find your DCL in the SUPPORT tab of Marketplace.
About the author: Claire Weibel has worked in publicity for the arts, public libraries, and archives. At OverDrive she helps public libraries manage their collections and creates lists of the hottest titles to help her partners shop and promote their collections to their patrons. When she isn’t reading she loves to run, try new recipes (while listening to an audiobook), plan her next road trip, or hang out with her two dogs and cat. Claire is always excited to talk about a good mystery or spooky books!
