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A Getaway Winter Reading List with BookSparks

Nothing feels better than escaping into the worlds of our favorite books – especially this year. We reached out to our friends at BookSparks to hear about the books they’re most looking forward to reading in the coming months, so we an all find some new favorites.

Chasing North Star by Heidi McCrary 

In 1940s Germany, a young girl named Didi escaped her orphanage. In the 1970s, another young girl reads about Didi’s story through an old journal, and how her heroic escape did not turn out the way she had planned. The stories of their lives eventually collide when a grown-up Didi remembers a long-buried secret on Christmas night. 

Tinderbox: Soldier of Indira by Lou Diamond Phillips 

Being stranded on an enemy planet is not what Everson had planned. On his way to retrieve the Tinderbox and overthrow the king, he finds the king’s daughter Allegra, and a spark between the two forms. However, their forbidden love could cause the downfall and destruction of everyone on the planet. 

The Peculiar Fate of Holly Banks by Julie Valerie

Holly Banks wants to appear as perfect as her put-together neighbors in Primm. This proves difficult due to family problems, and her dog digging of an old artifact that causes national media attention. All the spotlight makes it hard for her to maintain her facade of perfection, but fate will have it otherwise, and change her life and the village of Primm forever. 

The Cul De Sac War by Melissa Ferguson 

Bree Leake is about to leave her current life behind when her parents present her with a tricky proposition. If Bree can stay in one spot for a year, her parents will give her grandmother’s house; the house she’s always wanted. However, when her stubborn and attractive neighbor Chip McBride begins to drive her crazy, she stages a mission to drive him out of the neighborhood. Soon, their rivalry and prank war turn to romance.

Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe

Henri Haltiwanger is the popular kid at school with exceptional debate skills, a yearning to attend Columbia University, and a sharp tongue that can just about charm anyone. That is, except for his socially awkward classmate, Corinne Troy, who recently discovered that he operates a shady dog walking business. In exchange for keeping his secret, Corinne asks Troy to help her change her image at school. What started as a mutual agreement soon becomes more than they bargained for.

Memories in the Drift by Melissa Payne 

After a heartrending tragedy, Claire lost all that was important to her, leaving her with fractioned memories and a traumatic past. She’s able to survive each day with confidence thanks to the help of her father and friends in her small Alaskan town. Claire is forced to relive her past when the mother who abandoned her and her ex-boyfriend resurfaces. This twist of fate is a chance for Claire to learn forgiveness and to finally move on and past her memories. 

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Even in a diverse art school, sixteen-year-old artist and poet Amal Shahid is seen as unmotivated and disruptive. Things only manage to get worse when one night an altercation in a gentrified neighborhood with some white boys ends up in tragedy. Suddenly, Amal’s world is turned upside down as he is convicted and sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. Rage and desperation almost sink him, but he soon finds refuge in his art, his poetry.

Black Canary by Alexandra Monir 

In the origin story of Black Canary, Dinah Lance is in a near-future world where women are stripped of their rights, such as working, singing, and learning. When she was eight, Dinah first heard a woman sing. Now at age seventeen, she must avoid death while she uses her song to save women in Gotham. 

Malcolm and Me by Robin Farmer 

Roberta Forest is a bright and rebellious Black thirteen-year-old living in Philadelphia at the height of the Watergate scandal. After a nun at her school makes a racist remark after Roberta criticizes Jefferson for being a slaveholder, she spirals into doubt about her religion and the adults in her life. Roberta copes with life’s difficulties and her parent’s struggling marriage through her poetry, writing, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. When disappointment with her ineligibility in her school’s essay contest puts Roberta into an enraged confrontation with her mother, family secrets are revealed. 

Goodbye, Orchid by Carol Van Den Hende

Phoenix Walker is struggling to maintain a balance between his love for Orchid Paige, and his professional relationship with her. Matters only become more complicated when an accident changes his life forever. Now the benevolent hero faces the decision of leaving his true love behind and without explanation. 

Ready to curl up in nature with a new book? Book your Getaway today.