Unwrap the 8 Best Books of December to End Your Year Right

Watch out, Indy because these archeologists are way better at romance. Dr. Corrie is looking for the long-lost remains of her ancestors in Aztec ruins but her handsome nemesis has joined her expedition. They must work together to defeat thieves on their trail if they want to find the treasure.

A theater critic turns detective when a fellow journalist goes missing; she is the last person to see him alive. Not only is this a thrilling page-turner, but thanks to Soloski’s background as a theater critic, it takes you behind the scenes of the glamorous and sometimes gritty world of New York theater.

Tash infiltrates a sophisticated group of local moms after a nanny in the neighborhood is found dead. Her goals are twofold: launch her career as a journalist and make new friends. She enjoys living in their fancy orbit, so different from her own humble existence, until another nanny is found dead. When Tash investigates, she realizes her new friends may be responsible.

When Gemma gets dumped, she and her friends perform a love-cleansing spell, sealed with a kiss from her platonic friend Dax. Her ex has been erased from her memory, but Dax doesn’t remember her now. To undo the spell, Gemma must convince Dax, who thinks she’s a stranger, to kiss her again. But she suddenly has feelings for him, and maybe a fake kiss isn’t so fake after all.

Gabby takes a genealogy test as part of a research project for work and discovers she has a sister. Isabella is missing the sister who disappeared from San Juan 25 years ago and has been searching for her. The two meet but with little in common, they wonder if their reunion was a mistake. They forge ahead into the unknown together, risking it all and discovering many surprises in the process.

In post-war Paris, Delphine longs to find her father, whom she has grown up without. She travels from Paris to New York, Havana and Key West to find Ernest Hemingway, the famed writer and man she believes is her father. He is elusive, but if she does find him and discovers she is wrong, will her identity as a daughter and a writer fall apart?

In 1789 Maine, a frozen river traps a body below the surface. As the local midwife and healer, Martha knows everything that happens in town and recognizes the body as that of a man recently accused of rape. When the authorities disagree there’s been foul play, Martha investigates herself. Soon, her diary is at the center of a trial, threatening to expose the secrets of the whole town in this ripped-from-the-headlines case.

Ethan and Rebecca were once confidants and each other’s first kisses, until his mother took him away. He’s since become the caretaker for his mother as she struggles with addiction. Ethan doesn’t know that Rebecca had an accident (one that killed her father) and she’s now a wheelchair user. Can the two find their way back to each other when they need each other the most?