You Love a Series

It’s Sequel Week at What To Read If

Hi friends,

I wrote a few weeks ago about how miserable I think the months of February and March are. During these dark, damp days, I often turn to sequels and book series. There’s something comforting about returning to familiar worlds filled with characters I love.

In that spirit, I’m recommending series that I’ve highlighted previously this week. Each of these series had me counting down the days until the sequel was released. 

I’m curious to know what some of your favorite series are. Let me know.

And, now, what to read if …

You Want a Bear Hug of a Book 

The Brown Sisters by Talia Hibbert

Whenever someone asks me for a romance recommendation, the first author that jumps to mind is Talia Hibbert. Her Brown Sisters series follows Chloe, Dani and Eve Brown as they find love, with each sister starring in her own book. They can be read as a series or individually. 

As I wrote in the intro of my Q&A with Talia Hibbert: “Each of the Brown girls has such a distinct personality — Chloe is a Type A computer programmer, Dani a witchy professor and Eve “a certified hot mess” — but the affection they have for each other feels so real. The sisters’ relationship is just one of a dozen things that make this series a complete and utter delight. They’re the literary equivalent of a bear hug from an old friend — comforting and joyful. I devoured each of the three books in a single sitting, alternating between crying and laughing.” 

If pushed, I would probably say that Get a Life, Chloe Brown is my favorite of the three (if only because I overidentify with Chloe’s obsessive, perfectionist tendencies), but Dani’s book features a romance-novel-obsessed hero I adore and Act Your Age, Eve Brown takes place in an idyllic countryside inn that I would love to visit. So, there’s clearly a lot to like about each installment. 

If you hit the little heart at the top or bottom of this email each week, it makes it easier for people to find What To Read If.

You Love a Grump With a Heart of Gold

Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins

Bruce, the grumpy black bear at the center of the Mother Bruce books, just can’t catch a break. All he wants to do is sit in his home alone and cook himself fancy meals. But, instead, a group of geese imprint on him and Bruce begrudgingly becomes their “mother,” even going so far as to migrate with them to Florida via motorcycle. 

In the subsequent books of the series, Bruce learns to share his home with the goslings and a family of mice who moved into his home while he was in Florida. He’s mistaken for Santa Claus and, craving peace and quiet, tries to run away from his found family. Yet, no matter how crabby Bruce seems, he always pulls through for his friends. 

Here are just a few of my favorite things about the Mother Bruce books:

• Both kids and adults find them fun. Like Pixar movies, they work on multiple levels.

• The art is fantastic. Here are coloring pages of the illustrations you can color with your family.

• There are now board books featuring Bruce for babies and toddlers and a f for kids learning to read independently, so children can grow with him.

You’re an Amateur Sleuth Fan

The Perveen Mistry Mysteries by Sujata Massey

I recommended the first book in this series, The Widows of Malabar Hill, in the first-ever edition of this newsletter in November 2020. Back then, I noted, “The series … follows Perveen Mistry, India’s first female lawyer [in 1920s India]. Perveen is loosely based on Cornelia Sorabji, a Parsi woman who studied at Oxford in the 1890s and practiced law in Bombay [now known as Mumbai]. Perveen is a delightful heroine — smart, kind and itching to do more in a society with strict views of what single women can and cannot do. These mysteries are in the cozy tradition, avoiding graphic descriptions of blood and gore, and feature thoughtful details that really bring the world to life.”

The first two books (The Widows of Malabar Hill and The Satapur Moonstone) were already out when I discovered the series, but I had to wait months to read the third installment, The Bombay Prince. I was thrilled to see that it delivered the same clever mystery and charming characters I’d come to expect. 

Sujata Massey excels at making the book’s historical context part of the plot, rather than just window dressing for a whodunnit. India’s role as a British colony and the country’s independence movement feature heavily. Fans of the Maisie Dobbs books will immediately want to add this series to their TBR. 

One note: While each Perveen Mistry book technically stands alone, I recommend reading them in order. 

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I’m excited this week to have a guest recommendation from Olivia Mardwig, who writes For The Love of Words, a newsletter all about getting kids excited about reading and writing. 

Excuse me for a moment while I gush about this book. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill is a true gem. The story follows a young girl who must learn how to control the powers she is accidentally given. But like any good book, the text reaches far beyond this simple plot. With themes like sorrow and hope, judgment and love, this book is immersive, fantastic and sophisticated enough for a parent and child to enjoy together. Not to mention it’s a Newbery Award winner, so you know you are in good hands. Part fantasy, part fable, this book has a timeless quality that will easily become your child’s favorite…and yours. 

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Thanks for reading! I’ll be back in your inboxes on Thursday with a Q&A featuring author Abby L. Vandiver.

Before I go, I want to quickly encourage you to attend East City Bookshop’s virtual event celebrating the publication of Liz Scheier’s memoir Never Simple on Tuesday, March 1 from 8-9 PM. It’s free to attend, but RSVPs are required. I’m hearing great things about Liz’s book and if you need extra encouragement to attend, she’s a What To Read If subscriber.

Emilie Sommer, East City’s bookbuyer, had this to say about Never Simple:

I loved this book wholly, completely, without reservation. Never Simple is as engrossing as Adrienne Brodeur's Wild Game and as moving as Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle — a compassionate and miraculously funny look at a mother-daughter relationship much more fraught than most. What struck me most was how much there was to appreciate beyond the central mother-daughter relationship —questions of identity, sexuality, marriage, and motherhood -- and for so much of it to take place in a bygone 80s and 90s Manhattan was an extra treat.

I hope to “see” many of you there!

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What to Read If is a free weekly book recommendation newsletter. Need a rec? Want to gush about a book? Reply to this email, leave a comment or find me on Twitter @elizabethheld.

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