Rhody Reads W

Take a trip from your reading nook with these six exciting selections

By Hugh Minor

hether your March plans have you traveling the world, the state, or enjoying a cozy staycation, a good book or two will always keep you company. Without leaving your seat or requiring an outlet, these six picks with local connections are sure to make you feel like you visited some place new, so take time to unwind and dive into an adventure on the page!

In Everybody Needs Someone , Providence born-and-raised author and singer/songwriter Greg Lato weaves a sing-along tale that encourages children to appreciate friendship, family, togetherness, and belonging. Illustrated by Sarah LeighWills, the book includes the title song, which highlights how important it is to love and cherish the folks in our lives.

What happens after a playboy CEO and a career-driven fashion designer try to turn their one-night stand into something more? Escape on a steamy excursion with an opposites attract romance in Stephanie Harrell’s Fake Dating Mr. Prince , part of the Curvy Ever After series. See if Ashlyn and Dean’s make-believe workplace relationship can turn into something real in the light of day. Sometimes you have to break your own rules to find true happiness.

If you love the down-and-dirty real-life politics of the littlest state in the union, you’ll enjoy John Houle’s fictional take on things in his debut novel, The King-Makers of Pro v idence . Campaign consultant Henry Mercurio has to decide how far or low he will go to win an election in a culture embedded in crime and corruption where money talks and morality is tossed out the door.

In Your Kingdom , Eleni Sikelianos explores the natural world through poetry, linking together the past, present, and future. As our world faces environmental disaster, her words connect all living beings in an ecological tapestry, at once celebrating the evolution of the world in which we live and mourning the destruction we have wrought upon it. Sikelianos teaches at Brown and lives with husband, novelist Laird Hunt, in Providence.

The beleaguered stuffed toy Mr. Moofs is back and ready to join you on your adventures in The Tumultuous Travels of Mr. Moofs . In his sequel to The Tragic Tale of Mr. Moofs , Barrington-based writer and illustrator Rick Billings follows his title character and sister Bethany as they run away from home (something we’ve all thought of doing at one time or another). What will they find as they travel the world together? Join them and see!

Explore a disease-ravaged Earth of the future in Winter’s Myths by South County’s Gage Greenwood. As Winter and his daughters search for a safe place to settle and call home, he weaves tales from memories of the past, creating a new mythology for the society to come. As they travel further away from their underground community, they sense danger lurking in this apocalyptic world, threatening to destroy both their future and the past that keeps them alive.

Send your Rhody book recommendations to Hugh at RhodyReads@gmail.com

Shop Indie

A statewide listing of Rhode Island booksellers: Arc{hive} Book + Snackery: Warren, ArchiveBookSnackery.com

Barrington Books: BarringtonBooks.com

Book Nerd: Barrington, Facebook Books on the Square: Providence, BookSq.com

Charter Books: Newport, CharterBookStore.com

Curiosity & Co.: Jamestown, CuriosityAnd.Company/store

Heartleaf Books: Providence, HeartleafBooks.com

Inkfish Books: Warren, InkFishBooks.com

Island Books: Middletown, IslandBooksRI.indielite.org

Island Bound Bookstore: Block Island, IslandBoundBookstore.com

Lovecraft Arts & Sciences: Providence, WeirdProvidence.org

Paper Nautilus Books: Providence, PaperNautilusBooks.com

Rarities Books & Bindery: Wakefield, RaritiesOnline.com

Ri ra Bookstore + Bar: Providence, Ri Ra PVD.com

Savoy Bookshop & Cafe: Westerly, BankSquareBooks.com

Stillwater Books: Pawtucket, StillwaterBooksRI.com

Symposium Books: Providence, SymposiumBooks.com

Twenty Stories: Providence, TwentyStoriesLA.com

Wakefield Books: Wakefield, WakefieldBooks.com

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