Try these books if you're looking for:

• Recent fiction
• Character-driven stories
• Contemporary fiction

State of Wonder
By Ann Patchett
F PATCHETT
Pharmacologist Marina Singh, researcher at a drug company in Minnesota, is sent to the Amazon to investigate the death of a colleague and to check on the progress of Dr. Annick Swenson, a rogue scientist on the cusp of developing a fertility drug that could rock the medical profession.

The Lake of Dreams
By Kim Edwards
F EDWARDS
At a crossroads in her life, Lucy Jarrett returns home, only to find herself haunted by her father's unresolved death a decade before. She discovers some papers in her house that lead her to a mystery that goes back generations and whose resolution will alter long-established family histories and future plans.

Life Sentences
By Laura Lippman
F LIPPMAN
Writer Cassandra Fallows returns to Baltimore and tries to reconnect with three former classmates in an attempt to investigate the case of a mutual friend who has been accused of murder. In the process, she discovers the gulf that separates her memories of events from theirs.

If I Stay
By Gayle Forman
YA F FORMAN
While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weighs whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.

Wolves, Boys, and Other Things that Might Kill Me
By Kristen Chandler
YA F CHANDLER
When wolves are reintroduced to the area near her small Montana town, KJ Carson teams up with the new boy in town, Virgil, to write a column about them for the school newspaper. Her life becomes more complicated as her friendship with Virgil deepens and the townspeople argue about the fate of the wolves.