CHARLESTON, S.C. - No one knows books and gives better recommendations than librarians. That's one of our favorite things to do, and we spend a lot of time researching and reading new books and old ones to keep our recommendations fresh.
But it's 2020 and we've spent the year wrestling with a pandemic and public health concerns. That means having those conversations has been a lot more difficult. But it's not impossible! And that's why CCPL's librarians have been digging through our digital resources to build list upon list of digital recommendations.
For people who don't want to venture into a library branch yet, every title is germ-free because it's downloadable!
This week's book list is designed for those readers who love out home here in the Lowcountry. West Ashley Library branch manager Beth Bell is a big fan of books set here in the Charleston area and put together this recommendations list for fellow fans.
Let's jump into this list of books that will transport you out of the house to someplace with pluff mud between your toes or a warm ocean breeze blowing through your hair!
Forever my Baby by Jacquelin Thomas
Back in college, Garland Warner developed feelings for her older brother's best friend, Ryker Dugrandpre. But she soon learned the attraction wasn't mutual when he left school and married someone else. In time, Garland moved on and even had a baby of her own. She and little Amya now have a great life together, just the two of them. Yet that may be about to change when a guilt-ridden nurse reveals that Amya might have been switched at birth with another infant girl--Ryker's.
His wife died the same day she delivered little Kai, so Kai is all Ryker has left. Both Garland and Ryker want what is best--both for their biological child and the daughter of their hearts. The solution is as obvious as it is crazy--move in with each other and raise the girls as sisters. Ryker still thinks of the sensational beauty as his friend's kid sister, but the passionate glances and smoldering kisses they now share heat up the distance between them. Will they be able to let go of the past in order to finally build a bright future and family together?
The Backup Plan by Sheryl Woods
It's finally time for Dinah Davis to go home. The world-weary correspondent wants to settle down with the sweet guy she left behind in South Carolina's Low Country. Instead, she's confronted by his black-sheep brother, and--despite her longing for serenity--sparks fly.
How can she possibly trade her perfectly safe backup plan for a risk-taking guy like Cordell Beaufort after all the dangers she's already faced? But to Dinah's dismay--backup plan or not--her heart has its own ideas.
Murder on Edisto by C. Hope Clark
A big city detective. A low country murder. Peace, safety, a place to grieve and heal. After her husband is murdered by the Russian mob, Boston detective Callie Jean Morgan comes home to her family's cottage in South Carolina. There, she can keep their teenage son, Jeb, away from further threats. But the day they arrive in Edisto Beach, Callie finds her childhood mentor and elderly neighbor murdered. Taunted by the killer, who repeatedly violates her home and threatens others in the community, Callie finds her new sanctuary has become her old nightmare. Despite warnings from the town's handsome police chief, Callie plunges back into detective work, pursuing a sinister stranger who may have ties to her past. He's turning a quiet paradise into a paranoid patch of sand where nobody's safe. She'll do whatever it takes to stop him.
Love, Charleston by Beth W Hart
Charleston's past is full of romance. Does Anne's future hold the same? Charleston's Anne Brumley has long dreamed of love while ringing the bells at St. Michael's, but those dreams are beginning to fade. Her sister Alisha and cousin Della encourage the thirty–six year old to move somewhere new for a fresh start. Widower Roy Summerall has happily ministered to the country folks of Church of the Good Shepherd for years. So why would the Lord call him and his daughter away to Charleston––the city that Roy remembers from his childhood as pretentious and superficial? Surely the refined congregation of St. Michael's won't accept a reverend with a red neck and a simple faith. Meanwhile, Anne's sister, Alisha, struggles with her husband's ambition, which seems to be taking him further from their dreams of a happy family. And Cousin Della's former fiance has returned to Charleston, making her wonder if she chose the wrong path when she married her gifted but unemployed–artist husband. Family, friendship, and faith converge in a beautiful story about how God's transforming love works in the Holy City of Charleston.
Death by Darjeeling: A Tea Shop Mystery by Laura Childs
When a man is poisoned by tea, Charleston shop owner Theodosia Browning must prove her innocence and track down the real killer...before someone else takes their last sip.
Meet Theodosia Browning, owner of Charleston's beloved Indigo Tea Shop. Patrons love her blend of delicious tea tastings and Southern hospitality. And Theo enjoys the full-bodied flavor of a town steeped in history—and mystery.
It's tea for two hundred or so at the annual historical homes garden party. Theodosia, as event caterer, is busy serving steaming teas and blackberry scones while guests sing her praises. But the sweet smell of success turns to suspense when an esteemed guest is found dead—his hand clutching an empty teacup. Trouble is brewing, and all eyes are on Theo....
The House on Tradd Street by Karen White
The brilliant, chilling debut of Karen White's New York Times bestselling Tradd Street series, featuring a Charleston real estate agent who loves old houses—and the secret histories inside them.
Practical Melanie Middleton hates to admit she can see ghosts. But she's going to have to accept it. An old man she recently met has died, leaving her his historic Tradd Street home, complete with housekeeper, dog—and a family of ghosts anxious to tell her their secrets.
Enter Jack Trenholm, a gorgeous writer obsessed with unsolved mysteries. He has reason to believe that diamonds from the Confederate Treasury are hidden in the house. So he turns the charm on with Melanie, only to discover he's the smitten one...
It turns out Jack's search has caught the attention of a malevolent ghost. Now, Jack and Melanie must unravel a mystery of passion, heartbreak—and even murder.
The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe
Caretta Rutledge thought she'd left her Southern roots and troubled family far behind. But an unusual request from her mother--coming just as her own life is spinning out of control--has Cara heading back to the scenic Lowcountry of her childhood summers. Before long, the rhythms of the island open her heart in wonderful ways as she repairs the family beach house, becomes a bona fide "turtle lady" and renews old acquaintances long thought lost. But it is in reconnecting with her mother that she will learn life's most precious lessons--true love involves sacrifice, family is forever and the mistakes of the past can be forgiven.
The Great Santini by Pat Conroy
Marine Col. Bull Meecham commands his home like a soldiers' barracks. Cold and controlling, but also loving, Bull has complicated relationships with each member of his family—in particular, his eldest son, Ben.
A born athlete who desperately seeks his father's approval, Ben is determined to break out from the colonel's shadow. With guidance from teachers at his new school, he strives to find the courage to stand up to his father once and for all.
Inspired by Pat Conroy's own difficult relationship with his father, The Great Santini is a captivating and unflinching portrayal of modern family, and a moving novel of a son determined to become his own man.
All Summer Long by Dorothea Benton Frank
All Summer Long follows one charming New York couple – prominent interior designer Olivia Ritchie and her husband Nicholas Seymour, an English professor and true southern gentleman. They are seemingly polar opposites, yet magnetically drawn together and in love for more than fourteen years.
As they prepare to relocate to Charleston, S.C., Olivia, the ultimate New Yorker, has reservations about the promise she made to retire in the Lowcountry, where Nick wants to return home and lead a more peaceful life. They are moving north to south, fast pace versus slow pace and downsizing. Nick is ecstatic. Olivia is not. She can't let Nick know that their finances are not what he thought. Her client list is evaporating, their monetary reserves are dwindling and maybe that house she picked out on Sullivans Island needs too much work. Thank God, for her assistant, Roni Larini, her right (and sometimes left) hand.
As they find themselves pondering the next step of their lives, Olivia and Nick travel with her billionaire clients and their friends and are swept up into the world of the ultra-rich and explore the globe with a cast of zany eccentrics over one tumultuous, hot summer. All as Olivia grapples with what lies ahead for her and Nick.
Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow
Gwen Bristow's New York Times-bestselling novel tells the spellbinding story of a dressmaker who spies for the rebel cause in Revolutionary-era Charleston. A bustling port city, Charleston, South Carolina, is the crossroads of the American Revolution where supplies and weapons for the rebel army must be unloaded and smuggled north. From the window of the dressmaker's shop where she works, lovely Celia Garth, recently engaged to the heir to a magnificent plantation, watches all of this thrilling activity. When the unthinkable occurs and the British capture and occupy Charleston, bringing fiery retribution to the surrounding countryside, Celia sees her world destroyed. The rebel cause seems lost until the Swamp Fox, American General Francis Marion, takes the fight to the British - and one of his daring young soldiers recruits Celia to spy on the rebels' behalf. From the ashes of Charleston and the Carolina countryside will rise a new nation - and a love that will change Celia Garth forever.