“The Sugar Queen” Discussion and Peppermint Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Peppermint Whipped Cream Frosting

Josey Cirrini’s mother is a bitter, wealthy woman who judges her daughter incessantly, demanding to be chauffeured to social events, and in waiting on her, Josey missed having a life of her own. At thirty, Josey spends all of her free time alone, hiding in her secret closet filled with the forbidden sweets and travel…

Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan

Polly and her adorable puffin Neal now live in the lighthouse on the Scottish island of Polbearne with her boyfriend Huckle, the beekeeper. In the mornings, she wakes early and goes down to the cold bakery and starts up the oven for fresh bread and pastries the locals will devour. Christmas is no exception, with…

“The Hideaway” Book Discussion and Strawberry Pie Cupcakes Recipe

The Hideaway by Lauren K. Denton The small town of Sweet Bay, Alabama hides a house where Sara grew up with an embarrassingly eccentric grandmother named Mags, and all of her hippie friends who’d stayed on since the sixties. Sara escaped to a life in New Orleans with a shop of elegant knick-knacks as soon…

The Light in Summer by Mary McNear

Billy Harper is a single mother and the head librarian in the town of Butternut Lake. Merely trying to survive the onset of her son’s adolescence, Billy frequently copes by talking to her labrador, Murphy, on the back porch, with a glass of wine and a Jane Austen novel. Her son Luke has never met…

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Nina was just let go from her job as a librarian in the city, where they want young college grads who know more about marketing than finding the perfect book for readers, as Nina does. So she purchases a decrepit white van from man in a tiny town in Scotland, and discovers that the landscape…

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Garden Spells is a perfect beach-day book that will make you crave the smells and flavors of summertime, and reveals what it means to be part of a family, no matter how eccentric.