2025 Reading Challenge Crossover Books

Book Summary

Revisit the glittering Jazz age with this atmospheric novel that reimagines The Great Gatsby from the perspective of three alternating female voices. When Jay Gatsby was found shot dead in his swimming pool in August of 1922, and a local mechanic was found dead in the woods nearby, the police viewed it as an open-and-shut case of murder/suicide. 

But then a diamond hairpin is found in the bushes around the pool, and three women suddenly become suspects – Daisy Buchanan, who once thought she’d marry Gatsby; Jordan Baker, who has a secret that could derail both her golf career and her friendship with Daisy; and Catherine McCoy, a suffragette who’s fighting for women’s rights and to protect her own sister from a terrible marriage.

This is a tale of money and power, marriage and friendship, love and desire, and ultimately murder.

Book Summary

Twenty-seven-year-old Ayesha lives with her boisterous Muslim family in Toronto and dreams of being a poet. For now, however, she needs her teaching job in order to pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle.

She’s lonely, and it doesn’t help that her family is constantly reminding her that her younger cousin has received closet to one hundred marriage proposals. Nonetheless, she doesn’t want an arranged marriage. Then she meets Khalid, who is the opposite of everything she thinks she’s looking for. Despite being handsome and smart, he’s also conservative, judgmental, and dresses like he’s straight out of the seventh century.

When a surprise engagement is announced between her cousin and Khalid, Ayesha is forced to confont her irritating attraction to him. Things are further complicated when she hears some unsettling new gossip about his family.

Book Summary

Funke had a happy childhood growing up in Nigeria with her art teacher mother, and professor father. But following a tragedy, she’s sent to England – a place she only knows from her mother’s stories. The much-lauded estate she’s heard so much about is now dilapidated, and both the weather and the food leave a lot to be desired.

The only member of her mother’s family that doesn’t act cold and distant is her free-spirited cousin, Liv. Filled with warmth and kindness, Liv helps Funke heal. As the two girls grow into women, they become close friends and Funke feels fiercely protective of Liv until another tragedy tears them apart.

In the shadow of their shared family history, each woman will struggle to find her way forward. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, and Somerset, England, over the course of two decades, the cousins – separated by country, misunderstanding, and ambition – will have to determine whether a family’s generational wrongs can ever be righted.

Book Summary

Twenty-three-year-old Jane is new to town. Working as a broke dog-walker in a fancy, gated neighborhood in Birmingham, Alabama, she can hide her real identity while lifting tchotchkes and jewelry right out from under the bored housewives who employ her without them even noticing.

But then she meets the most mysterious resident in Thornfield Estates. Eddie recently lost his wife, Bea, who drowned in a boating accident with her best friend. Jane doesn’t just see a grieving widower; she sees an opportunity. Eddie is rich and handsome and could offer her the protection she’s yearned for.

As Jane and Eddie begin to fall for one another, Jane feels increasingly haunted by the legacy of Bea. How can she live up to Eddie’s first wife with her rags-to-riches origin story and the wildly successful southern lifestyle brand that she built? And how long will Jane be able to hide her real identity?

This suspenseful novel is a twist on the Gothic classic Jane Eyre, which flips the script and shifts the power dynamic.

Book Summary

For 23 years, Emma has led a comfortable life on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. However, when she plays matchmaker for her sister, Margo, it results in a wedding, and Margo relocates downtown. Simultaneously, Emma’s friends seem to be traveling constantly, leaving her feeling bored and alone as her final year of graduate school looms.

Fortunately, she finds a potential new friend in Nadine, a newcomer to the city from Ohio. Emma is thrilled to give Nadine an NYC-style makeover as their friendship blossoms. Meanwhile, her childhood friend and neighbor, George Knightly, continues to dampen her spirits with his lectures on adulthood. Little does she know, this renewed attention from Knightly is because he can’t seem to get her off his mind.

Book Summary

The Hours is a modern retelling of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway that incorporates Woolf as one of three characters in an overlapping story.

As you read, you’ll travel between Woolf in 1920s London, a mother in 1940s suburban LA trying to fit in time to read Mrs. Dalloway, and Clarissa Vaughan in 1990s Manhattan. Each character struggles to reconcile hope and despair in this moving novel.

Book Summary

Life is tough for single-mom Birdie in her small Alaskan town where she brings her daughter with her to work at a roadside lodge. She’s getting by, but she misses the happier days of her youth when she roamed free in the wilds of nature.

Arthur is known as a recluse. Although he typically only appears in town during the change of the seasons, he brings Birdie’s daughter Emaleen back to safety when she gets lost in the woods. Even though most people avoid Arthur, Birdie finds herself falling for him and the wild land he inhabits.

Despite the warnings from those who car about them, Birdie decides that she and Emaleen will move into Arthur’s isolated mountain cabin. She envisions an idyllic, simple life off the grid, far from roads, telephones, and electricity. But she’ll soon discover that Arthur is something much more mysterious and dangerous than she ever imagined.

Book Summary

Feyre’s once wealthy family now lives in poverty and the 19-year-old hunts in the woods to provide for her family. One day she ventures deeper into the woods than normal and kills a wolf that she suspects might be a faerie in disguise. The following day, she’s confronted by a terrifying creature who demand retribution and drags her off to a treacherous magical land that she knows about only from legends.

In order to save her own life, Feyre agrees to live out the rest of her days in Prythian. As time goes on, her once icy feelings toward her captor, Tamlin, turn into a fiery passion. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is looming, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, otherwise Tamlin – and the faerie world – will be doomed forever.

Book Summary

Catalina “Cat” Capuleta is an ambitious singer living in San Antonio. When she is given the opportunity to join superstar heartthrob Patricio Galán on his seven-week Mariachi concert tour, she knows it’s the chance of a lifetime. Patricio might be a superstar heartthrob, but he also turns out to be demanding and arrogant. He challenges Cat at every turn, but she’s determined to make him feel he’s met his match.

Cat is also determined not to fall for him because her one and only goal is her own success so she can make her family proud. But when the duo hit the road, the chemistry is undeniable – even the audiences can feel it.

Book Summary

Dee settled in Kansas to attend graduate school and live with her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em after her globe-trotting mother passed away. However, now she needs a quick escape after a humiliating public breakup with a faculty member, which felt like a tornado ripped apart her life. The Trinity College writing program is just the fresh start she needs!

In Ireland, she meets three new companions – seemingly brainless (but charming and hot) Sam Clery, heartless Tim Woodman, and fiercely loyal Reeti Kaur. With her new friends and the incredible women mentoring her in the writing program, Dee experiences a year of opportunities and changes. With everyone’s help, she’s ready to face her fears and apply all the lessons she has learned along the way.

Book Summary

This YA fiction set on Long Island in the Roaring Twenties is a jazz age retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. After getting kicked out of boarding school, 17-year-old Beatrice goes to her uncle’s estate on Long Island, where her cousin runs a struggling speakeasy in the basement. Told from multiple points of view, this is the story of six teenagers whose lives intertwine during a summer of romantic misunderstandings and dangerous deals.

Described as “hilariously clever and utterly charming,” this YA novel set in the 1920s is filled with quick and hilarious banter that will keep readers of all ages turning the pages.

Book Summary

Alice Island bookstore owner A.J. Fikry is having a terrible year. His wife has died, the store isn’t making enough sales, and his beloved book of Poe poems has been stolen. As a result, he’s cranky and pushing those around him away more than ever. Luckily he has a few people that look past his curmudgeonly attitude. 

His depression reaches the point that he no longer enjoys books. But, sometimes, life gives you second chances in unexpected ways. For A.J., it’s a small, but heavy, mysterious package that arrives at his shop. As he begins to see the world around him in a new way, those around him can see him in a new way, too.

Book Summary

In this 273-page non-fiction read, you’ll armchair travel to visit independent bookstores and their proprietors on six different continents.

From a tiny shop on a bike to a bookshop on a boat, you’ll fall in love with the quirky stores and their owners. Throughout the pages, you’ll also find lovely bookish quotes, interviews, and trivia.

Book Summary

Looking for an eerie mystery that’s perfect for book lovers? This highly-rated debut novel follows a bookshop employee named Lydia, who ends up investigating the suicide of one of her bookshop regulars.

As Lydia delves into his past, she also uncovers a buried memory from her own violent childhood. This twisty crime thriller with a very creative puzzle element that will keep readers guessing.

Book Summary

When Valentia was a teenager, her mother, Eloise, abandoned her and her father to start a new life in London. Now in her 30s, Val is a librarian and recently divorced. As she reevaluates her life, she realizes that the lack of closure with her mother is still nagging at her. But in a bittersweet twist of fate, Val learns that her mother has passed away before they’ve had a chance to reconcile.

Val is surprised to discover that Eloise left her a Primrose Hill apartment and the deed to a bookshop that Val never knew her mom owned. Determined to piece together a better understanding of Eloise’s life, Val decides to leave Seattle for a fresh start in London. It doesn’t take long for her to fall in love with the pastel-colored flat in a cozy neighborhood, not to mention the quaint bookstore. Unfortunately, she soon learns that The Book Garden is in financial trouble.

Told from a dual-timeline perspective, this book explores Valentia’s new life in London, as well as her mother’s past and what happened when she left her daughter behind.

Book Summary

With WWII war closing in on their city, Jacques’ wife is forced into hiding. Desperate to hold onto something, Jacques focuses all of his effort on saving his beloved bookshop. But when a woman and her child show up at his door one night begging for refuge, he can’t say no.

In present-day Paris, Juliette and her husband are supposed to be on a romantic getaway, but instead, she quickly discovers how far they’ve grown apart. When she comes across an abandoned bookshop with a for-sale sign in the window, she thinks it might just be the new adventure she’s craving. But the bookstore hides a lot more than meets the eye.

Book Summary

Joy’s French husband has passed away, and she has no idea why he has left a valuable painting to a woman named Robyn on the western coast of Ireland. So, she decides to deliver the painting in person.

When she arrives in Ballycove, she finds that Robyn runs a chaotic and unprofitable bookshop and desperately needs assistance. Joy soon becomes entangled not only in the bookshop but also in the town. All the while, she’s still trying to discover the secrets behind her late husband’s painting.

Book Summary

Mercy and her twin-sister Lizzie are the new proprietors of an antique bookshop in the tiny Irish village of Shamrock Cove. However, their new venture takes a dark turn when Mercy finds their neighbor dying on his doorstep. Worse, he accuses her of murder before he dies, and several people hear him!

She has to quickly investigate to try and clear her name. As she looks through the victim’s old books, she finds that the local pub landlord, the kindly cook, and a neighborly knitter all had a reason to want the man dead. But, when Mercy’s top suspect also dies and leaves behind a threatening note typed on paper from Mercy’s new bookstore, things get even more complicated.

Book Summary

Set in post-war London, Bloomsbury Girls focuses on an old-fashioned bookstore that has been run by men for a hundred years. However, by 1950, the world is changing in many ways. 

Three of the shop girls, Vivien, Grace, and Evie, have their own big dreams that are intersected by fascinating interactions with famous literary figures. As they work in the shop, they plot out a future bigger than 1950 society generally allows.

Book Summary

Childhood friends Rachel & Henry grew apart when Rachel moved, and Henry didn’t respond to a confession of her love that she left behind for him in a book.

Now, Rachel has moved back and is struggling with the death of her sister. She gets a job at the bookshop owned by Henry’s family, and is closed off to him as she still feels rejected. What she didn’t know is that Henry’s life is also going through a rough patch – his girlfriend broke up with him, and the bookshop is slipping away as his family breaks apart.

But as Rachel & Henry work together, they begin exchanging letters through the pages of books in the store. Can they find new hope in each other?

Book Summary

Jude is twenty-nine and just graduated, so she can finally be public about her relationship with philosophy professor, Mack. She’s looking forward to their upcoming dream holiday to run a tiny bookshop in the harbor village of Clove Lore.

Two weeks before the non-refundable trip, Jude sees Mack kissing someone else. Luckily, there’s no better place to heal a broken heart than a bookshop. Jude takes the trip and expects to have some peace alone at the store, but finds another vacationing shopkeeper, Elliot, who seems to be hiding something.

Book Summary

By day, Kitty is a single woman who owns a bookstore in Denver with her best friend, Frieda. In 1962, it was unconventional for a woman of her age to be an unmarried business owner, but she enjoyed having complete control over her day-to-day life without a husband to answer to. However, there was a man in her life once that she might have considered marrying—a doctor named Kevin.

But at night, Kitty leads an alternate life in her dreams. In this dream reality, Kitty goes by Katharyn, and the year is 1963. She’s married to the love of her life, a man named Lars. Together they live in an elegant Denver home and have triplets.

This life is everything that she once thought she wanted, and at first, Kitty enjoys her nightly visits to this alternate reality. But soon, Kitty begins to find Katharyn’s life irresistible. As the lines between her real life and her dream life begin to blur, she wonders if she can choose the life she wants – and if so, at what cost?

Book Summary

University student Rachel works at a bookstore, where she meets James, who quickly becomes her new BFF and roommate. The duo runs the streets of Cork, striving for a Bohemian lifestyle but also sharply aware of a looming financial collapse.

When Rachel falls for her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, she plots to seduce him after a reading at her bookstore. However, Fred has other desires that launch a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected wife.

Book Summary

When her estranged mother passed away, Stella received a one-way ticket and a note reading, “Go to Paris.” While she is much more comfortable living within her strict routines, her boss encourages her to go on the trip.

In Paris, Stella continues to live as cautiously and frugally as she does at home until she stumbles upon a Dior dress in a vintage store. When the shopkeeper insists that it was meant for Stella, she impulsively purchases the dress and it launches a new outlook on life.

When Stella meets Jules, an octogenarian art collector, he takes her under his wing and shows her the best of the literary, art, and culinary worlds of 1980s Paris.

Book Summary

Emily is a librarian on Martha’s Vineyard, but her desire for a more adventurous life leads her to Ireland. Her favorite author, Siobhan Riordan, has offered her a job helping her write the long-awaiting final novel in her series.

Things would be great if it wasn’t for Siobhan’s grumpy son, Kieran, who runs her bookstore. Tensions escalated with Kieran after Siobhan’s health declined. How can Emily help fulfill Siobhan’s desire to see her final book completed with Kieran?

Book Summary

In 1996, Hanna, a rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime working on the conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the earliest Jewish manuscripts ever illuminated with illustrations. The priceless book was rescued during the Bosnian War.
When Hanna discovers a series of tiny artifacts in the book’s ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries.

Inspired by a true story, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks has created a novel of sweeping historical grandeur. In Bosnia during WWII, a Muslim risks his life to protect the book from the German army. In turn-of-the-century Vienna, the book has become a pawn in the struggle against the city’s rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves the book from being burned. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah’s extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed.

WARNING: This book includes a scene of graphic rape.

Book Summary

Kit is the head librarian in the town of Riverton, New Hampshire, but for her, the library is more than just a job. It is a place of peace. When she’s there, no one expects her to talk about the calamitous events that have recently turned her settled, suburban life completely upside down. Instead, she can submerge herself in books and forget about her real-life problems for a while.

Kit’s quiet sanctuary changes suddenly, however, when a 15-year-old named Sunny is assigned community service at the library for the whole summer. Sunny was arrested for shoplifting a dictionary, and the judge threw the book at her, quite literally. Sunny is bright, curious, and eager to connect with someone other than the off-the-grid hippie parents who school her at home. She’s determined to coax Kit out of her self-imposed isolation.

Then there’s Rusty. He’s a Wall Street high-flyer who has recently crashed down to Earth. In this small town library, this unlikely trio is drawn together, along with a cast of other quirky regulars. They will be forced to examine how their lives have unraveled, but they’ll also help knit them together again.