It’s hard to believe that 2016 is almost over. Time sure did fly this year and it must have been because we were so busy exploring all the amazing books that were released. To celebrate what a great year it was for readers, let’s take a look at our picks for the Best Books of 2016. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
The Best Books of 2016
The Nest
Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
Release Date: March 22, 2016
The Nest is D’Aprix Sweeney’s debut novel, and it has been delighting readers everywhere since its release. The Plumb family is startlingly dysfunctional, and their story is one to which many people can relate. Each member of the family is dealing with their own issues, and it all comes to a head in a stunning turn of events. PopSugar referred to The Nest as “a compulsively readable novel that will keep you thinking about how expectations can shape our lives.”
Buy on AmazonBuy Nook BookBuy iBookThe Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead
Release Date: August 2, 2016
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.
Buy on AmazonBuy Nook BookBuy iBookSmall Great Things
Jodie Picoult
Release Date: October 11, 2016
When labor and delivery nurse Ruth Jefferson is reassigned to another patient, she doesn’t think much of it. When she’s told it’s because the parents are white supremacists and don’t want Ruth, an African-American, touching their child, she thinks a lot of it. The hospital and Ruth comply with the request but when the baby goes into cardiac distress and Ruth is the only one in the nursery, does she obey orders to stay away from the child, or does she honor her oath to save lives? That hesitation leads to her being charged with a serious crime.
Buy on AmazonBuy Nook BookBuy iBookHarry Potter and the Cursed Child
J.K. Rowling
Release Date: July 31, 2016
It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children. While Harry must face a buried past that keeps resurfacing, his youngest son Albus struggles with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As the past and present fuse together, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.
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Stephen King
Release Date: June 7, 2016
The finale to the Bill Hodges Trilogy, sees the return of the retired police detective running his own detective agency with his partner, Holly Gibney. The perpetrator of the deadly Mercedes Massacre, Brady Hartsfield has been in a vegetative state for the past five years. Doctors say that a complete recovery is unlikely. But behind the drool and stare, Brady is awake, and in possession of deadly new powers that allow him to wreak havoc without even leaving his hospital room.
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The Black Widow
Daniel Silva
Release Date: July 12, 2016
Continuing Daniel Silva’s action-packed Gabriel Allon series, The Black Widow takes the beloved protagonist across the ocean to Europe. Gabriel was about to leave his life in the field for a position as the chief of Israel’s secret intelligence service. Nevertheless, he goes out once more to find the man who is responsible for setting off a massive bomb in Paris. In hopes of infiltrating ISIS, Gabriel instructs a young agent to pose as a new recruit to one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist organizations.
Buy on AmazonBuy Nook BookBuy iBookIt Ends With Us
Colleen Hoover
Release Date: August 2, 2016
Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.
Buy on AmazonBuy Nook BookBuy iBookThe Trespasser
Tana French
Release Date: Ocotber 4, 2016
The Murder squad wasn’t anything like Detective Antoinette Conway imagined it would be. Her job is just a series of thankless cases, vicious pranks and harassment. Antoinette is tough, but when the only person that seems happy she’s there is her partner, Stephen Moran, she is close to breaking. Her new case seems like just another ordinary lovers quarrel turned bad. Aislinn Murray is found dead in her living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner. There’s nothing unusual about her—except that Antoinette’s seen her somewhere before. And everything they find out about Aislinn leads them to believe that she was not what she seemed.
Buy on AmazonBuy Nook BookBuy iBookSweet Tomorrows
Debbie Macomber
Release Date: August 2, 2016
The much-anticipated conclusion to Debbie Macomber’s beloved Rose Harbor series, set in the picturesque town of Cedar Cove,Sweet Tomorrows is a vibrant and poignant novel of letting go of fear, following your heart, and embracing the future—come what may. Nine months ago, Mark Taylor abruptly left Cedar Cove on a perilous mission to right a wrong from his past. Though Mark finally confessed his love for her, innkeeper Jo Marie Rose is unsure if he’s ever coming back. The Rose Harbor Inn barely seems the same without Mark, but Jo Marie can’t bear to lose herself in grief once more. Determined to move forward, she begins dating again, and finds companionship when she takes on a boarder who is starting a new chapter herself.
Buy on AmazonBuy NookBuy iBookCommonwealth
Ann Patchett
Release Date: September 13, 2016
One action sets in motion a series of events that reverberates through the lives of four parents and their six children. With grace and emotionality, Patchett weaves a domestic tale spanning five decades shedding light on secrets, relationships and tragedies. The children of Franny Keating and Bert Cousins forge a lasting bond with a genuine affection growing from their shared disillusionment with their parents.
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