The F’s Have It: Ten Titles Starting With F

Happy Tuesday, y’all! This week, Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl is asking us to share our bookish wishes. The problem is that I have some basic bookish wishes (more time to read, more money to buy books, etc). So, this week, I’m continuing to work my way through the alphabet. Previously, I shared a list of ten books starting with the letters A (here), B (here), C (here), D (here), and E (here). This week, the F’s have it!

Ten book titles starting with the letter F! You would think this would be an easy challenge, right? Of course, I had to make it a bit more difficult on myself! I am not including any books that are part of a series. Usually, I make this a bit harder on myself by only listing books I’ve read and enjoyed. I had to add some books I haven’t read yet, but they are on my TBR.

All titles will lead to Goodreads.

Now, let’s see if the Fs have it!

F.A.R.M System by Rich Koslowski

They’re super strong, but are they powerful enough for the big leagues? If superheroes were real, they’d be a lot like pro athletes. In this quirky graphic novel, go behind the scenes with all the heroes waiting for their big breaks.

For every hero who saves the galaxy and makes the front page, there are a dozen staffers working behind the scenes…and a hundred up-and-comers hoping to take his place. F.A.R.M. System is your ticket to the hidden world of superpowered individuals hoping to “make the Big Leagues.”

In the Farm System, having an incredible and unique power is only the first step. Guided by an army of agents, managers, and experts, recruits must undergo rigorous psychological evaluations, harassment and sensitivity seminars, marketing and endorsement workshops, and costume design meetings, all to boost their chances of recruitment into an A-list superhero team.

Some recruits make “the Bigs.” Some have fleeting moments of glory, then lose it all. Some take “Blue Cowl” gigs as superpowered bodyguards for famous actors or powerful CEOs. Some flounder in the System for years, never getting “the call.” And some find success by joining teams of a…less reputable ilk.

Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley

Jada Townsend-Matthews is the most reviled woman in America after turning down a proposal on a reality dating show. When she comes home to lick her wounds, Jada finds herself working at San Diego’s newest cupcake bakery, Sugar Blitz, alongside the uptight owner and professional football player Donovan Dell.

When a reporter mistakenly believes Jada and Donovan are an item, they realize they can use the misunderstanding to their advantage to help the struggling bakery and rehabilitate Jada’s image. Faking a relationship should be simple, but sometimes love is the most unexpected ingredient.

Fan Fiction by Brent Spiner

From Brent Spiner, who played the beloved Lieutenant Commander Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation, comes this hilarious autobiographical novel, a personal look at the slightly askew relationship between a celebrity and his fans. If the Coen brothers were to make a Star Trek movie about the complexity of fan obsession and sci-fi, this dark comedy might be the result.

In 1991, just as Star Trek: The Next Generation has rocketed the cast to global fame, the young and impressionable Brent Spiner receives a mysterious package and a series of disturbing letters, sending him on a terrifying and bizarre journey. Paramount Security, the LAPD, and even the FBI were eventually involved in ending the danger that has his life and career hanging in the balance.

Farm to Trouble by Amanda Flower

Shiloh Bellamy cashed in her big city job and 401K to return home to Michigan to save the family farm, but turning Bellamy Farms into a sustainable, organic operation – complete with a farm-to-table café – is no small feat. Especially when her new investor is found dead among the flowers just hours after the contract is signed. Everyone knows her father had a grudge against the investor, and word travels fast in a small town…

Now, Shiloh must clear her family’s name and track down the real killer before her organic farm dreams wilt before her very eyes. But with her father trying to stop any progress on his land, her cousin belittling her every effort, the farmhouse falling down around her, and the whole town believing her family at fault, Shiloh’s small-town troubles are growing much faster than her crops. She’ll have to trust her own investigation or risk all her dreams drying up before they begin.

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, Afro-punk, before that term existed. Coming of age in Detroit, she can’t imagine settling for a 9-to-5 job—despite her unusual looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her at a bar’s amateur night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together for the fledgling Rivington Records.

In early seventies New York City, just as she’s finding her niche as part of a flamboyant and funky creative scene, a rival band signed to her label brandishes a Confederate flag at a promotional concert. Opal’s bold protest and the violence that ensues set off a chain of events that will not only change the lives of those she loves but also be a deadly reminder that repercussions are always harsher for women, especially black women, who dare to speak their truth.

Decades later, as Opal considers a 2016 reunion with Nev, music journalist S. Sunny Shelton seizes the chance to curate an oral history about her idols. Sunny thought she knew most of the stories leading up to the cult duo’s most politicized chapter. But as her interviews dig deeper, a nasty new allegation from an unexpected source threatens to blow up everything.

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. Meaning she sees dead people. Really. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less-than-ideal circumstances (like murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an entity who has been following her all her life…and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely. But what does he want with Charley? And why can’t she seem to resist him? And what does she have to lose by giving in?

The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews

After her boss in a high-powered Washington public relations firm is caught in a political scandal, fledgling lobbyist Dempsey Jo Killebrew is left almost broke, unemployed, and homeless. Out of options, she reluctantly accepts her father’s offer to help refurbish Birdsong, the old family place he recently inherited in Guthrie, Georgia. All it will take, he tells her, is a little paint and some TLC to turn the fading Victorian mansion into a real-estate cash cow.

But, oh, is Dempsey in for a surprise when she arrives in Guthrie. “Bird Droppings” would more aptly describe the moldering Pepto Bismol–pink dump with duct-taped windows and a driveway full of junk. There’s also a murderously grumpy old lady, one of Dempsey’s distant relations, who has claimed squatter’s rights and isn’t moving out. Ever.

Furthermore, everyone in Guthrie seems to know Dempsey’s business, from a smooth-talking real-estate agent to a cute lawyer who owns the local newspaper. It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the pesky FBI agents who show up on Dempsey’s doorstep, hoping to pry information about her ex-boss from her.

All Dempsey can do is roll up her sleeves and get to work. And before long, what started as a job of necessity somehow becomes a labor of love and, ultimately, a journey that takes her to a place she never expected—back home again.

For Butter or Worse by Erin La Rosa

All chef Nina Lyon wants is to make a name for herself in the culinary world and inspire young women everywhere to do the same. For too long, she’s been held back and underestimated by the male-dominated sphere of professional kitchens, and she’s had enough. Now, as co-host of the competitive reality TV series The Next Cooking Champ!, she finally has a real shot at being top tier in the foodie scene.
Too bad her co-host happens to be Hollywood’s smarmiest jerk.

Restaurateur Leo O’Donnell never means to get under Nina’s skin. It just seems to happen, especially when the cameras are rolling. It’s part of the anxiety and stress he has come to know all too well in this line of work. So nothing prepares him for the fallout after he takes one joke a smidge too far and Nina up and quits—on live TV.

To make matters worse, the two are caught in what looks like a compromising situation by the paparazzi…and fans of the show go absolutely nuts. Turns out, a “secret romance” between Nina and Leo may just be what their careers need most.

Now all they have to do is play along, without killing each other…and without catching feelings. Easy as artisanal shepherd’s pie. Right? 

The Free by Willy Vlautin

Leroy Kervin is a 31-year-old Iraqi War veteran living with a traumatic brain injury. Unable to dress or feed himself or cope with his emotions, he has spent the last seven years in a group home. There he spends his days watching old sci-fi movies until he awakens one night with a clear mind and memories of his girlfriend. Realizing what his life has been he decides it would be better to die than to go on living this way. A failed suicide attempt leaves Leroy hospitalized, where he retreats further into his mind in order to make sense of his existence.

Freddie McCall is a middle aged father working two jobs. He’s lost his wife and kids and is close to losing his house. He’s buried in debt, unable to pay the medical bills from his daughter’s childhood illness. As Freddie’s situation becomes more desperate, he undertakes a risky endeavor he hopes will solve his problems but could possibly end in disaster. Just as Freddie is about to lose it all, he is faced with the possibility of getting his kids back.

Pauline Hawkins takes care of everyone else around her. She cares for her mentally ill father out of a deep sense of obligation. As a nurse at the local hospital, she treats her patients and their families with a familiar warmth and tenderness. When Pauline becomes attached to a young runaway, she learns the difficult lesson that you can’t help someone who doesn’t help themselves.

The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge by Charlie Lovett

On a hot summer day some twenty years after he was famously converted to kindness, Ebenezer Scrooge still roams the streets of London, spreading Christmas cheer, much to the annoyance of his creditors, nephew, and his employee Bob Cratchit. However, when Scrooge decides to help his old friend and former partner Jacob Marley, as well as other inhabitants of the city, he will need the assistance of the very people he’s annoyed. He’ll also have to call on the three ghosts that visited him two decades earlier. By the time they’re done, they’ve convinced everyone to celebrate Christmas all year long by opening their wallets, arms, and hearts to those around them.

That is a list of ten book titles starting with the letter F. Have you read any of these? Do you think the F’s have it? Are there any you think I should read? Should I do another post like this with other letters of the alphabet?

Are you looking for some more books to read? Check out my other bookish lists, book reviews, and monthly reading wrap-ups.