Lewis & Clark Library Blog

Calling all romance readers! If you're a fan of swoon-worthy novels, then you'll appreciate today's recommendations from the Helena Romance Book Club. Longtime friends Allison and Heather founded the club in June 2022 as a way to connect with fellow fans of the genre in the Helena community. A year later, the club is going strong, with monthly meetings and selections that run the gamut from contemporary to historical to paranormal and beyond.

Here are a few of the books the club has read and enjoyed discussing:

 

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

 

"A group favorite, this royal romp is being adapted into a film this August. Join us at our watch party!"

When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast 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? Casey McQuiston's Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn't always diplomatic.

Find Red, White & Royal Blue in the library catalog Here
Also available for digital checkout:
Montana Library2Go/Libby app eBook and audiobook
Hoopla audiobook
Axis 360 eBook and audiobook

Read more about the author Here

 

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

"A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy from across the pond with lots of heat and heart."

Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits--someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom.  When big, brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it's an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and former rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact to him, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Suddenly, half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae--and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. Turns out his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse?  Dani's plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf is secretly a hopeless romantic--and he's determined to corrupt Dani's stone-cold realism. Before long, he's tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his... um, thighs.  The easy lay Dani dreamed of is now more complex than her thesis. Has her wish backfired? Is her focus being tested? Or is the universe just waiting for her to take a hint?  
Find Take a Hint, Dani Brown in the library catalog Here

Also available for digital checkout:
Montana Library2Go/Libby app audiobook
Hoopla eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here

 

Ain't She Sweet? by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

"A time capsule from twenty years ago, this oldie-but-goodie contemporary romance with a reformed mean-girl heroine made for one of our best discussions yet."

The girl everybody loves to hate has returned to the town she'd sworn to leave behind forever. As the rich, spoiled princess of Parrish, Mississippi, Sugar Beth Carey had broken hearts, ruined friendships, and destroyed reputations. But fifteen years have passed, now she's come home -- broke, desperate, and too proud to show it. The people of Parrish don't believe in forgive and forget. When the Seawillows, Sugar Beth's former girlfriends, get the chance to turn the tables on her, they don't hesitate. And Winnie Davis, Sugar Beth's most bitter enemy, intends to humiliate her in the worst possible way. Then there's Colin Byrne...Fifteen years earlier, Sugar Beth had tried to ruin his career. Now he's rich, powerful, and the owner of her old home. Even worse, this modern-day dark prince is planning exactly the sort of revenge best designed to bring a beautiful princess to her knees. But none of them have reckoned on the unexpected strength of a woman who's learned survival the hard way. Ain't She Sweet? is a story of courage and redemption...of friendship and laughter...of love and the possibility of happily-ever-after.
Find it in the library catalog Here
Also available for digital checkout:
Montana Library2Go/Libby app  audiobook
Hoopla eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here

 

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

"A contemporary romance with a paranormal twist. Pick up this debut if “Casper for adults” sounds as fun to you as it did to us."

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead. When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won't give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father. For ten years, she's run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it. Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is. Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.
The Dead Romantics is available for digital checkout
Montana Library2Go/Libby eBook and audiobook
Other more books by Ashley Poston are available on Hoopla and Axis 360  
Read more about the author Here

 

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

"A sweet queer historical romance featuring a trans heroine and an irresistible friends-to-lovers plot."

When Viola Carroll was presumed dead at Waterloo, she took the opportunity to live, at last, as herself. But freedom does not come without a price, and Viola paid for hers with the loss of her wealth, her title, and her closest companion, Justin de Vere, the Duke of Gracewood. Only when their families reconnect, years after the war, does Viola learn how deep that loss truly was. Shattered without her, Gracewood has retreated so far into grief that Viola barely recognizes her old friend in the lonely, brooding man he has become. As Viola strives to bring Gracewood back to himself, fresh desires give new names to old feelings. Feelings that would have been impossible once and may be impossible still, but which Viola cannot deny. Even if they cost her everything, all over again.
A Lady for a Duke is available for digital checkout:
Montana Library2Go/Libby  eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here

     

The Helena Romance Book Club meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 5:30 pm. Meeting location and each month’s book selection can be found on the group's Instagram @HelenaRomanceBookClub, where the group also posts additional recommendations for reading, watching, and listening to all things Romance. This summer's picks will be announced soon, and the group welcomes any and all new members. They’d love to see you at an upcoming meeting.

Do you love bread? Check out these awesome bread making books suggested by Lewis & Clark Library staff. Director John and Public Service Assistant Kelli are both experienced bakers and each have a favorite book to share. Check out these books and get started making bread that will wow your friends and family.

John recommends . . .

Bittman Bread: no-knead whole-grain baking for every day
by Mark Bittman; Kerri Conan

A revolutionary approach to making easy, delicious whole-grain bread and more. This is the best bread you've ever had--best tasting, nourishing, and easy to make right in your own kitchen. Mark Bittman and co-author Kerri Conan have spent years perfecting their delicious, naturally leavened, whole-grain bread. Their discovery? The simplest, least fussy, most flexible way to make bread really is the best. Beginning with a wholesome, flavorful no-knead loaf (that also happens to set you up with a sourdough starter for next time), this book features a bounty of simple, adaptable recipes for every taste, any grain--including baguettes, hearty seeded loaves, sandwich bread, soft pretzels, cinnamon rolls, focaccia, pizza, waffles, and much more. At the foundation, Mark and Kerri offer a method that works with your schedule, a starter that's virtually indestructible, and all the essential information and personal insights you need to make great bread.  

John says, "No Knead bread takes the hard work out of baking a very good loaf. Super easy, and flavorful. Bittman's recipes changed the way I bake at home. Bittman's books are all excellent"
Find Bittman Bread in the library catalog Here
Also find Mark Bittman books for digital checkout:
Montana Library2Go  -  Axis 360  -  Hoopla

 

 

Kelli recommends . . .

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
by Jeff Hertzberg; Zoë François

Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François have proven that people want to bake their own bread, so long as they can do it easily and quickly. Crusty baguettes, mouth-watering pizzas, hearty sandwich loaves, and even buttery pastries can easily become part of your own personal menu, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day will teach you everything you need to know, opening the eyes of any potential baker.
Kelli says,  "I love bread. All the bread. The beautiful sourdough, the elegant baguettes, the whole grain boules, but I do not have the patience to feed and care for the starter that makes these things possible. I discovered this five minute artisan bread book several years ago and have LOVED it ever since. I use it for all of my fancy bread needs. My friends and family think I have mad sourdough skills, but this book is my secret! The authors also have a five minute holiday and celebration recipe book [Holiday and Celebration Bread] that I check out every November. It will serve all of your cinnamon, sugar, enriched, and challah bread needs."
Find Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day in the library catalog Here

 

            

 

 

A hearty thank you to Kelli and John for providing pictures of their delicious, homemade bread.
Are you a bread-making aficionado? Tell us about your favorite homemade bread in the comment section.