The Au Pair by Emma Rous

After the death of her father, Seraphine Mayes is going through his belongings when she comes across a photo taken on the day that she and her twin brother, Danny, were born. The photo shows their older brother, father, and mother, who is holding one baby in her arms and looks happy…. which is odd, because their mother committed suicide the day they were born. And why is there only one baby in the photograph? Which twin is in the photo, and where is the other one? Unable to get answers from her grandmother, Vera, Seraphine is determined to track down the only other person who was there that day—the au pair who disappeared after her mother’s tragic death.

Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak

Staying at your parents’ home for an extended Christmas visit can be stressful, particularly if you haven’t spent the holidays with them in years. Can you imagine how much harder it would be if your family were under quarantine?

Little Gray Dress by Aimee Brown

Emi Harrison is a hot mess, trying so hard to gracefully deal with seeing her ex-fiancé, Jack, again, but everything that can go wrong, does—usually in the most humiliating way. Her twin brother Evan is marrying Jack’s sister, Hannah—and he chose Jack to be his Best Man. Emi tries to settle her nerves over seeing Jack again with several drinks too many, and the first of many pre-wedding disasters strikes.

Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed

Gather the Daughters is the story of a group of people living on an isolated island. The story goes that just before the country went up in flames, a small group of men and women brought their families to the island, thus escaping the fate of what would later come to be known as “the wastelands.” The founders formed an entire civilization based around ancestor worship, adhering to the rules set forth by the original inhabitants of the island, such as: limiting the number of children each family is allowed to have, and the declaration that a person may live only so long as they are useful.  Knowledge about the wastelands is practically non-existent, and only an elite group of men known as “the Wanderers” are allowed to go there in order to scavenge for supplies.

If The Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss

Life is hard in Baines Creek, an impoverished town in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. For Sadie Blue, it’s made even harder by an unplanned pregnancy that led to her marriage to Roy Tupkin—a mean-spirited moonshiner who began beating her days after their marriage. Her story of hardship is just one of many in the small town that lost hope long ago. The arrival of the new school teacher, Kate Shaw, is met with suspicion and gossip from some, but is a source of inspiration and hope for others in the town.