Living Book Club | February 2025 - - Archived

Funny Story

Funny Story

By Emily Henry

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills) and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?

Senseand Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility: Special Edition (Signature Gilded Editions)

By Jane Austen

Marianne Dashwood can’t understand her sister. How could the attractive, witty, and charming Elinor fall for the quiet, self-effacing, dull Edward Ferrars? And, if the two are in love, why don’t they shout it to the world? Meanwhile, Elinor worries that Marianne’s heart-first approach to life will hurt her, especially regarding the dashing John Willoughby. The two sisters spar good-naturedly over the merits of full-blown emotionalism versus reticence and self-discipline in matters of the heart. Fond as they are of each other, each is certain that hers is the only true path to love.

TableforTwo

Table for Two: Recipes for the Ones You Love

By Bre Graham

From uncomplicated but outstanding in Part I, to over-the-top-but-no-stress cooking in Part II, Table for Two helps you impress at breakfast, lunch, aperitivo, dinner, and dessert. With illustrated essays on topics like the simple pleasure of a delivery pizza, and breathtaking, multi-course menus catering for special occasions, Table for Two guides you through the moments you want to say: “I love you, let me feed you something that will make you feel good.”

Book covers from Funny Story, by Emily Henry (Berkley), Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen (Union Square & Co.), Table for Two: Recipes for the Ones You Love, by Bre Graham (DK), with description excerpts from the publisher. All images are presented for non-commercial illustrative purposes.