Recommendations based on "WTF (Geek Actually Season 1 Episode 1)"

From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mad Honey comes an “inspiring” (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.“You’ll fall in love with Emilia Bassano, the unforgettable heroine based on a real woman that Picoult brings vividly to life in her brilliantly researched new novel.”—Kristin Hannah, author of The WomenYoung playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.

The provocative and hilarious summer read that will have book lovers cheering and everyone talking! Kirsten Miller, author of The Change, brings us a bracing, wildly entertaining satire about a small Southern town, a pitched battle over banned books, and a little lending library that changes everything.Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read. To replace the “pornographic” books she’s challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she’s sure the town’s readers need.But Beverly’s daughter Lindsay sneaks in by night and secretly fills Lula Dean’s little free library with banned books wrapped in “wholesome” dust jackets. The Girl’s Guide to the Revolution is wrapped in the cover of The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette. A jacket that belongs to Our Confederate Heroes ends up on Beloved. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean’s library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean’s enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town’s disgraced mayor.That’s when all the townspeople who’ve been borrowing from Lula’s library begin to reveal themselves. It’s a diverse and surprising bunch—including the local postman, the prom queen, housewives, a farmer, and the former DA—all of whom have been changed by what they’ve read. When Lindsay is forced to own up to what she’s done, the showdown that’s been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town...and change it forever.

The satisfying conclusion to the sizzling Dirty Diana series, in which Diana says yes to what she truly wants and sees just how hard she’ll have to fight for it—based on the #1 fiction podcastDiana Wood’s escape to Paris has ended. She’s traded her international sexual escapades for sharing a couch in therapy with her husband, Oliver. Dedicated to rekindling the spark they lost, Diana and Oliver are determined to follow whatever directives their therapist issues. But then they’re told, “absolutely no sex.”Diana begins dating the man who was once her husband. Much to her surprise, the therapist’s advice seems to be working: The emotional connection between Diana and Oliver deepens and their physical attraction becomes all-consuming. But Diana’s marriage isn’t the only thing in her life entering a new phase. Dirty Diana—the website she built in secret to celebrate women’s fantasies—has begun to attract celebrity attention. Soon enough, Hollywood is calling.Diana and Oliver set off for Los Angeles, where they indulge in room service and experiment with reconnecting. At a lavish beach-front party, Oliver is finally ready to make his true desires clear, and Diana is ready to satisfy them. But then Jasper, the man who has always lurked on the edges of Diana’s past, walks through the door. Diana finally seems to have everything she’s always wanted: true intimacy with her husband, a growing business, and maybe even space for an old flame to become a friend. But can she keep it all together when she returns to Dallas? Will the community that’s always wanted her to be just one thing ever embrace the multidimensional woman she really is?

New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey presents one of his most intimate and emotionally resonant novels—a story about marriage, infidelity, and sweet and savage revenge.She works nights. He works days. Their sex is routine. Their conversations are empty. Something’s got to give. It does, when she discovers her husband’s affair. The delicate fabric of their increasingly tenuous marriage is torn asunder—but neither is prepared for what happens next. An unforgivable betrayal is about to yield the most unexpected surprises, as a husband and wife face a challenge of trust, faith, and the staying power of love....“Dickey has developed a knack for creating characters who elicit both rage and sympathy…The nameless narrator, a routine-bound suburban Californian, learns of her husband's philandering ways. But this dame is no hapless victim of infidelity: She takes charge…Dickey taps the intimate emotions of a woman whose hurt we feel viscerally.”—Entertainment Weekly

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From Danielle Steel comes a heartwarming and inspirational novel about a mother and daughter who face challenges, cope with celebrity, and overcome tragedy while maintaining the outward appearance of . . . a perfect life The epitome of intelligence, high-powered energy, and grace, Blaise McCarthy is an icon in the world of television news, asking the tough questions and taking on the emotionally charged issues of world affairs and politics with courage and insight. A single mother, she manages her well-ordered career meticulously, always prepared on the air or interviewing world-renowned figures and heads of state. To her audience, Blaise seems to have it all. But privately, and off the set, there is another untold story she has kept hidden for years.   Blaise’s teenage daughter, Salima, was blinded by Type 1 diabetes in childhood, and her needs have kept her away in a year-round boarding school with full-time medical care and assistance ever since. When Salima’s school closes after a tragedy, Salima returns to her mother’s New York City apartment, and suddenly they face challenges they’ve never had to deal with before, and that Blaise feels ill-equipped to handle. A new caretaker provided by Salima’s school creates as many problems as he solves. Handsome, accomplished, thirty-two-year-old Simon Ward, with strong opinions on every topic, questions how mother and daughter view themselves and each other. Simon opens new doors for both of them and refuses to accept Salima’s physical limitations. He turns their world upside down, and the three become friends.   Then everything starts to unravel and Blaise can’t keep her two worlds separate anymore. A beautiful young anchorwoman is hired at the network; it is no secret that she is being groomed to take Blaise’s place. Her career as she has known it is threatened, and her previously well-ordered life feels totally out of control. For the first time, Blaise’s life is not perfect, but real.   In this unforgettable tale, the incomparable Danielle Steel has written a novel that pulsates with emotion and honesty as three people face the truth about themselves. A Perfect Life is about what we do when facades fall away and we can no longer run from the truth. As old ideas fail, everything changes, and life is suddenly brand-new.

The satisfying conclusion to the sizzling Dirty Diana series, in which Diana says yes to what she truly wants and sees just how hard she’ll have to fight for it—based on the #1 fiction podcast Diana Wood’s escape to Paris has ended. She’s traded her international sexual escapades for sharing a couch in therapy with her husband, Oliver. Dedicated to rekindling the spark they lost, Diana and Oliver are determined to follow whatever directives their therapist issues. But then they’re told, “absolutely no sex.” Diana begins dating the man who was once her husband. Much to her surprise, the therapist’s advice seems to be working: The emotional connection between Diana and Oliver deepens and their physical attraction becomes all-consuming. But Diana’s marriage isn’t the only thing in her life entering a new phase. Dirty Diana—the website she built in secret to celebrate women’s fantasies—has begun to attract celebrity attention. Soon enough, Hollywood is calling. Diana and Oliver set off for Los Angeles, where they indulge in room service and experiment with reconnecting. At a lavish beach-front party, Oliver is finally ready to make his true desires clear, and Diana is ready to satisfy them. But then Jasper, the man who has always lurked on the edges of Diana’s past, walks through the door. Diana finally seems to have everything she’s always wanted: true intimacy with her husband, a growing business, and maybe even space for an old flame to become a friend. But can she keep it all together when she returns to Dallas? Will the community that’s always wanted her to be just one thing ever embrace the multidimensional woman she really is?

On the fast track to a partnership with her accountancy firm, Kate is stunned when she is fired for suspected embezzlement.Forced to cope with the sudden reversal of fortune, Kate returns to Pretenses, the exquisite boutique run by her friend Margo and sister Laura.But when persistent, persuasive Byron de Witt enters her life, the flames of passion he ignites begin to burn as brightly as her all-consuming career ambitions...

In Girl Trouble, acclaimed writer Holly Goddard Jones examines small-town Southerners aching to be good, even as they live in doubt about what goodness is.A high school basketball coach learns that his star player is pregnant--with his child. A lonely woman refIects on her failed marriage and the single act of violence, years buried, that brought about its destruction. In these eight beautifully written, achingly poignant, and occasionally heartbreaking stories, the fine line between right and wrong, good and bad, love and violence is walked over and over again.In "Good Girl," a depressed widower is forced to decide between the love of a good woman and the love of his own deeply flawed son. In another part of town and another time, thirteen-year-old Ellen, the central figure of "Theory of Realty," is discovering the menaces of being "at that age": too old for the dolls of her girlhood, too young to understand the weaknesses of the adults who surround her. The linked stories "Parts" and "Proof of God" offer distinct but equally correct versions of a brutal crime--one from the perspective of the victim's mother, one from the killer's.

Trophy wife Celeste Beard wasn't satisfied with a luxurious lifestyle and her rich Austin media mogul husband's devotion -- so she took his life! The wife: She wanted everything, but her husband stood in the way. The lesbian lover: A love-struck, middle-aged woman with a history of mental illness, she would do anything to set Celeste free. The beauty salon receptionist: Celeste hired her to tie up the loose ends ... in a second conspiracy to commit murder.

"Audrey Jones wants to be friends with the new girl at school, Mailee, but she can't tell if Mailee feels the same about her. So she decides to starts a slam book to get the scoop. Slam books are against school rules, but with pages to write about everyone in the sixth grade, and a code to see who wrote what, Audrey can find out what Mailee really thinks about her. The book is a huge hit--everyone is excited to write (and read!) about everyone else. But does Audrey really want to know the truth?"--P. [4] of cover.