Welcome back!

A nice variety in today’s post! There’s a YA holiday anthology, crafty non-fiction, a monster romance, and some saintly history.

What recommendations would you like to share? Let us know in the comments!

For the Rest of Us

A YA anthology edited by Dahlia Adler, who runs our monthly queer romance posts. If you’re always searching for other representations of cultural holidays, this is a great collection of authors.

Fourteen acclaimed authors showcase the beautiful and diverse ways holidays are observed in this festive anthology. Keep the celebrations going all year long with this captivating and joyful read!

From Lunar New Year to Solstice, Día de Los Muertos to Juneteenth, and all the incredible days in between, it’s clear that Americans don’t just have one holiday. Edited by the esteemed Dahlia Adler and authored by creators who have lived these festive experiences firsthand, this joyful collection of stories shows that there isn’t one way to experience a holiday.

With stories

Dahlia Adler, Sydney Taylor Honor winner of Going Bicoastal

Candace Buford, author of Good as Gold

A. R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy, authors of the Once & Future series

Preeti Chhibber, author of Payal Mehta’s Romance Revenge Plot

Natasha Díaz, award-winning author of Color Me In

Kelly Loy Gilbert, Stonewall Book Award winning author of Picture Us in the Light

Kosoko Jackson, USA Today bestselling author of The Forest Demands Its Due

Aditi Khorana, award-winning author of Mirror in the Sky

Katherine Locke, award-winning author of This Rebel Heart

Abdi Nazemian, Stonewall Book Award–winning author of Only This Beautiful Moment

Laura Pohl, New York Times bestselling author of The Grimrose Girls

Sonora Reyes, Pura Belpré Honor winner of The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School

Karuna Riazi, contributor to The Grimoire of Grim Fates

[Add to Goodreads To-Read List →](http://www.goodreads.com/search?q=For the Rest of Us Dahlia Adler)

How to Be a Saint

I’m a Last Podcast on the Left listener and one of my favorite series they did was on the lives and deaths of saints. If you like wild, religious history, this is a worth a look.

Part history lesson. Part sacrilege. An entirely good time.

Think you have what it takes to be a saint? Lucky for you, thousands of souls have paved the way to heaven—creating a clear formula for getting the job done while also leaving a rich, disturbing history behind them. And in just five easy-ish steps, you can learn how to secure your own halo!

But even if the whole “dying and becoming a saint” thing doesn’t appeal to you, the bizarrely bureaucratic process of canonization is still guaranteed to delight and entertain. How to Be Saint is a compulsively readable and endlessly entertaining ride through Catholicism for anyone who enjoys their history with a side of comedy. From flying friars to severed heads, this book explores the wild lives (and deaths) of saints and pulls the curtain back on the oddest quirks of religious doctrine.

Whether you’re a lifelong Catholic or a weird-history enthusiast, How to Be a Saint is your ultimate guide to understanding the hilarious, fascinating, and shockingly true history of sainthood.

[Add to Goodreads To-Read List →](http://www.goodreads.com/search?q=How to Be a Saint Katie Sidley)

Little Woodchucks

Looking to pick up a hobby and increase family bonding time? Nick Offerman and Lee Buchanan have put together a primer on woodworking with some family friendly projects.

From New York Times bestselling author, Emmy-winning actor, and charismatically carnivorous woodworker Nick Offerman and his fellow champion creator Lee Buchanan (who is also not averse to delicious meats), an illustrated woodworking guide with projects for the whole family

Are you a parent or an otherwise amply sized Woodchuck interested in making projects with, or for, your kids? Or are you an aspiring small Woodchuck ready to get into some quality mischief that involves a hammer, nails, and your very own pocketknife? Well, do we have a guide for you!

Offerman Woodshop is opening its avuncular doors to woodworkers of all ages in the form of twelve brand-new, family-friendly undertakings perfect for kids, from beginner offerings like a handmade box kite to more challenging structures like a garden planter.

All projects are achievable and fun and encourage eye contact, giggles, handshakes, and other old-fashioned familial engagements, while introducing young woodworkers-to-be to the satisfaction and good clean fun of hands-on crafting.

[Add to Goodreads To-Read List →](http://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Little Woodchucks Nick Offerman)

No Planning for Love

For all my cozy monster romance lovers. I will say that the gargoyle on the cover gives me *Mass Effect *Asari vibes.

Welcome to Monstera Bluff, a quaint, coastal small town with a monstrously big secret.

After Cara Bishop’s terrible year of heartache and upheaval, she finally lands her dream job as a city planner… in a place that just so happens to be inhabited by monsters and witches she never knew existed. Go figure they’d grapple with the same urban planning issues as everyone else! As the shock of their existence wears off, she’s determined to land on her feet once and for all in this unusual yet charming place that feels so far away from everything she’s trying to escape. Except, a brooding gargoyle named Ben—who is frustratingly unavoidable both at work and outside of it—as well as some odious local power brokers seem quite unhappy with her sudden appearance in their hidden, magickal town.

Ben Garde-Pierre thought his humdrum road construction project for the town would proceed like any other. That is, until Cara—a human uninitiated with his world— arrives with a shiny new job at town hall, shaking up his entire life. Her presence proves to be an unexpected though not unwelcome complication. Ben soon recognizes he must protect her from a series of escalating forces that would drive her away, including his own burgeoning attraction to her.

Despite these obstacles, will Cara reclaim her career and make a life for herself in Monstera Bluff? Or will this be yet another mistake in her rollercoaster of a year?

[Add to Goodreads To-Read List →](http://www.goodreads.com/search?q=No Planning for Love Katie Haypenny)

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