The 2022 novel Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson follows protagonist Phoebe Walsh as she returns to her childhood home after her father’s death and meets his neighbor Sam. Phoebe initially suspects that Sam may be a serial killer but as she gets to know him, she realizes that he’s a genuinely nice guy. A romance blooms, but Phoebe is still reeling from a difficult adolescence and struggles to form meaningful... Read Love in the Time of Serial Killers Summary

Lovely One is a 2024 memoir by Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson first takes the reader on a journey through her life, from her birth in Washington, DC, to her childhood in Miami, Florida, and education at Harvard University. Jackson then recounts her career and how she came to make history as the first Black woman to serve as a US Supreme Court justice. Through anecdotes, she also offers a glimpse into her... Read Lovely One Summary

American author Louise Erdrich’s debut novel, Love Medicine, was first published in 1984 to critical acclaim. A bestseller and winner of the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the novel follows three generations of members from five Ojibwe families in Minnesota and North Dakota. Lyrical, metaphorical, and a complex exploration of oppression, joy, and family, the novel is both a record of history and an analysis of love. Blending the genres of historical... Read Love Medicine Summary

Love, Mom (2024) is the debut novel by American author Iliana Xander. The novel is a psychological thriller that follows Mackenzie Casper, a college student living in the shadow of her mother, world-renowned thriller writer E. V. Renge. When Mackenzie’s mother dies suddenly, Mackenzie receives a series of letters that lead her to uncover a decades-long conspiracy that challenges everything she knows about her mother and her family. Major themes in the novel include The... Read Love, Mom Summary

Love Redesigned (2023) is a contemporary romance novel by Lauren Asher and the first story in her Lakefront Billionaires series. Love Redesigned centers on the contentious relationship between childhood rivals Dahlia and Julian as they work together to renovate a historic house. Throughout the novel, Julian and Dahlia must navigate their changing relationship and their own insecurities, while also dealing with their two families scheming to get them married. By employing many classic tropes of... Read Love Redesigned Summary

Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles is a novel that follows the life and growth of nine-year-old Ruby during the summer following an accident that killed her grandfather and the father of Ruby’s adversary, Melba Jane Latham. Set in the close-knit small town of Halleluia, Mississippi in the mid-20th century, the text highlights the love between Ruby and her grandmother, the different ways people respond to grief and loss, and how life is neither wholly... Read Love, Ruby Lavender Summary

Love Song (2026) is an new adult romance by Elle Kennedy. It is a standalone novel set in the author’s popular Briar universe, which began with the Off-Campus series. This book focuses on the next generation of characters: Its female protagonist Blake Logan is the daughter of John Logan from The Mistake, and its male protagonist Wyatt Graham is the son of Garrett Graham from The Deal. After a public and humiliating breakup, Blake escapes... Read Love Song Summary

Loving Frank is a 2007 historical fiction novel by Nancy Horan exploring real-life architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s relationship with translator Mamah Bouton Borthwick from 1903 to 1914. Their affair drew public attention in the early 20th century, and Horan’s novel explores this fame and its effect on public figures, the role of art in self-expression, and society’s treatment of women. Horan has also written the novels Under the Wide and Starry Sky (2014) and The... Read Loving Frank Summary

Lu is a 2019 novel written by American author Jason Reynolds and published by Simon & Schuster. Lu is the fourth and final installment in the New York Times bestselling Track series, in which each volume follows a different member of an elite middle-school track team. This book for young adults follows Lu Richardson as he learns to have integrity, jump hurdles without fear of messing up, and be the big brother he wants to... Read Lu Summary

Lucky by Marissa Stapley was originally published in 2021. Lucky is a Reese’s Book Club Pick and a New York Times bestseller. It is a thriller mostly set in 2008 during the financial crash. The book delves into Luciana Armstrong’s past as a grifter. She travels extensively, staying in places such as New York City, Las Vegas, and Seattle. Thematically, the novel explores The Power of Luck and Hope, Familial and Romantic Influences, and Performance... Read Lucky Summary

Lucky Broken Girl is a middle-grade historical novel by Ruth Behar. Main character Ruthie Mizrahi, an immigrant from Cuba, lives with her parents and brother in 1966 Queens. Together they try to quell their homesickness for Cuba while seeking new opportunities in America. When a car accident injures Ruthie, she becomes bedridden in a full body cast for over a year; during that time, challenges and fears she never anticipated give her a new perspective... Read Lucky Broken Girl Summary

Lucy by the Sea (Random House, 2022) is by American novelist Elizabeth Strout. It is the fifth in the Amgash, Illinois series, which follows Lucy Barton, a writer herself, throughout her life.Strout began her writing career with Amy and Isabelle (1998), which garnered immediate critical praise, and was adapted into a film starring Elisabeth Shue. Strout also authored Olive Kitteridge (2008), which brought her to the general public’s attention. This book of interconnected short stories... Read Lucy by the Sea Summary

In 1981, Patricia Beatty originally published the young adult novel Lupita Mañana about the difficulties faced by two teenage Mexican siblings who immigrate to Southern California to locate their aunt and find dependable jobs. The book has remained popular and in print throughout the years that have followed. The version summarized here is the 2000 Harper Trophy reprint. Though a perennial bestseller that has been exhaustively reviewed, commented upon, and nominated for the Jane Adams... Read Lupita Manana Summary

Lyddie is a 1996 novel written by Katherine Paterson, winner of the National Book Award, the Newbury Medal, the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the Astrid Lindgren Award, the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal. Lyddie was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an ALA Notable Children’s Book, and an Honor Book of the International Board on Books for Young People. Some of her notable books include Bridge... Read Lyddie Summary

Maame is a contemporary fiction novel written by debut novelist Jessica George and published by St. Martin’s Press in 2023. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young woman named Maddie who navigates career struggles, family drama, multicultural identity, and her own desires. Inspired by George’s own life as a Ghanaian British woman and a former editor in the publishing world, Maame incorporates contemporary cultural and romantic tropes to tell the story of a woman... Read Maame Summary

Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan, published in 2019, is set in the 1980s in a dystopian/alternative history in which Alan Turing is still alive and robotics technology has progressed to the point that artificial humans are on the consumer market for purchase. The protagonist and narrator, Charlie Friend, purchases Adam, one of the first generation of artificial humans. Both Charlie and Adam fall in love with Miranda, and their ensuing differences in moral relativism... Read Machines Like Me Summary

Margaret Atwood’s novel MaddAddam, published in 2013, completes her post-apocalyptic MaddAddam trilogy that begins with Oryx and Crake (2003) and continues with The Year of the Flood (2009). The trilogy takes place in the aftermath of a destroyed technological dystopia, a world in which corporations have totalitarian control. Atwood, an award-winning Canadian author, has been a prolific writer of poetry, short stories, novels, and many other forms since the early 1960s. She is known for... Read MaddAddam Summary

Mad Honey (2022) is a novel co-written by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. The story follows the case of 18-year-old Asher Fields, who is charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Lily Campanello. Although initially convinced of his innocence, his mother, Olivia McAfee, can’t help being reminded of the similarities between Asher and her abusive ex-husband, Asher’s father. Through the story’s characters, Mad Honey explores themes of violence and abuse in relationships as well... Read Mad Honey Summary

Sally Hepworth’s 2026 novel, Mad Mabel, is a domestic-suspense thriller that centers on Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, an 81-year-old woman living a quiet, anonymous life in Melbourne, Australia. Her world is upended when the death of a neighbor resurrects her notorious past as “Mad Mabel,” the youngest person in Australian history to be convicted of murder. As a media circus descends on her small street, Elsie recounts the story of her traumatic childhood for a pair... Read Mad Mabel Summary

Madwoman (2024) by American author Chelsea Bieker tells the story of Clove, a woman who can no longer keep the demons of her past locked away after she receives a letter from her estranged mother, who has spent decades in prison for killing Clove’s father. It explores themes including Intergenerational Patterns of Female Survival, The Struggle for Personal Identity Amid Trauma, and The Commodification of Safety.This guide refers to the 2024 Kindle edition.Content Warning: The... Read Madwoman Summary