The Bookies Bookstore suggests some offbeat tales for all ages

Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from The Bookies Bookstore in Denver recommends an app-based novel, a delicious kids’ tale and a cozy fantasy.

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From the publisher: In an age where online ratings are all-powerful, “Five-Star Stranger” follows the adventures of a top-rated man on the Rental Stranger app — a place where users can hire a pretend fiancé, a wingman, or an extra mourner for a funeral. Referred to only as Stranger, the narrator navigates New York City under the guise of characters he plays, always maintaining a professional distance from his clients.

But, when a nosy patron threatens to upend his long-term role as father to a young girl, Stranger begins to reckon with his attachment to his pretend daughter, her mother, and his own fraught past. Now, he must confront the boundaries he has drawn and explore the legacy of abandonment that shaped his life.

From Bess Maher, event liaison: “Five-Star Stranger” has a unique premise that explores an idea most of us can relate to: being afraid to get close to other people. The narrator of the novel has so perfected his ability to distance himself from others that he makes the perfect “rental stranger”— and has no real-life connections at all. If you can relate, work in the gig economy, or like quick-moving literary fiction, you will love this novel. 

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From the publisher: Twelve-year-old Sonnet’s family has just moved across the country to live with her grandfather after her nana dies. Gramps’s once-impressive apple orchard has been razed for a housing development, with only one heirloom tree left. Sonnet doesn’t want to think about how Gramps and his tree are both growing old — she just wants everything to be OK.

Sonnet is not OK with her neighbor, Zeke, a boy her age who gets on her bad side and stays there when he tries to choose her grandpa to interview for an oral history assignment. Zeke irks Sonnet with his prying questions, bringing out the sad side of Gramps she’d rather not see. Meanwhile, Sonnet joins the Green Club at school and without talking to Zeke about it, she asks his activist father to speak at the Arbor Day assembly — a collision of worlds that Zeke wanted more than anything to avoid. 

From Marilyn Robbins, children’s book buyer and programs manager: “The Last Apple Tree” tells the story of Sonnet, who has just moved from Colorado to the Midwest with her mom and sister to live with her aging grandfather. There, Sonnet discovers her grandpa’s apple orchard only has one tree left. What will this mean to her family, especially her grandfather? This book is perfect for ages nine to 12. It is, by far, my favorite of the year! Grab a piece of apple pie and get ready to settle in for a delicious book.

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From the publisher: All Reyna and Kianthe want is to open a bookshop that serves tea. Worn wooden floors, plants on every table, firelight drifting between the rafters … all complemented by love and good company. Thing is, Reyna works as one of the Queen’s private guards, and Kianthe is the most powerful mage in existence. Leaving their lives isn’t so easy.

But after an assassin takes Reyna hostage, she decides she’s thoroughly done risking her life for a self-centered queen. Meanwhile, Kianthe has been waiting for a chance to flee responsibility — all the better that her girlfriend is on board. Together, they settle in Tawney, a town nestled in the icy tundra near dragon country, and open the shop of their dreams. What follows is a cozy tale of mishaps, mysteries, and a murderous queen throwing the realm’s biggest temper tantrum.

From Krista Carlton, manager: Sometimes you need a break from everything and you just want to run away to some remote town and open a bookstore/tea cafe. This book’s main characters do that exact thing, but one of them is the greatest mage in the region and they do have to fight off dragons at some point. This book was a joy, a release of tension after a long day, and truly a cozy fantasy.

Type of Story: Review

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