Before we jump into sharing info about this month’s book, we’re here to remind you that we’re also still raising money to fund book-hiding in 2025! Will you help us get 2025 started off right and consider a donation to help us meet our $10K goal? ❤ Once we hit our goal, anyone who donated $100 or more to the fundraiser will be entered to win a fun Tome Gnome tote full of goodies (including some signed books from one of TTG’s founding board members) 😉 You can donate at the link below:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/hiding-books-in-2025

And we’re super excited to announce that this year we’re launching a new monthly “Community Kindness Sponsorship,” which helps offset the cost of the extra 15 books we hide after scavenger hunt weekend every month (the “random act of kindness” books!). And even more exciting is that we’re kicking off this program with a sponsorship from our phenomenal friends at Stacks Book Club🥰♥️📚 We are so grateful to Lizzy and Crispin for their support in creating a bookish community rooted in kindness – and creating a beautiful and welcoming space for readers in NW Tucson. So, please send some gratitude their way as they are helping make this month’s book-hiding adventure possible!

Do you know someone who might be interested in partnering with us as a Community Kindness Sponsor in 2025 ($250)? Please send us an email (tucsontomegnome[at]gmail.com)! We have a few months still available!

AND NOW, for what you’ve been waiting for: all about this month’s hidden book – the first hidden book of 2025!

About the book, from Harper Collins:

“In the Long Island oceanfront community of Mattauk, three different women discover that midlife changes bring a whole new type of empowerment…

After Nessa James’s husband dies and her twin daughters leave for college, she’s left all alone in a trim white house not far from the ocean. In the quiet of her late forties, the former nurse begins to hear voices. It doesn’t take long for Nessa to realize that the voices calling out to her belong to the dead—a gift she’s inherited from her grandmother, which comes with special responsibilities.

On the cusp of 50, suave advertising director Harriett Osborne has just witnessed the implosion of her lucrative career and her marriage. She hasn’t left her house in months, and from the outside, it appears as if she and her garden have both gone to seed. But Harriett’s life is far from over—in fact, she’s undergone a stunning and very welcome metamorphosis.

Ambitious former executive Jo Levison has spent thirty long years at war with her body. The free-floating rage and hot flashes that arrive with the beginning of menopause feel like the very last straw—until she realizes she has the ability to channel them, and finally comes into her power.

Guided by voices only Nessa can hear, the trio of women discover a teenage girl whose body was abandoned beside a remote beach. The police have written the victim off as a drug-addicted sex worker, but the women refuse to buy into the official narrative. Their investigation into the girl’s murder leads to more bodies, and to the town’s most exclusive and isolated enclave, a world of stupendous wealth where the rules don’t apply. With their newfound powers, Jo, Nessa, and Harriett will take matters into their own hands…”

About the author, Kirsten Miller (in her own words from her website!):

“I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina. After high school, I moved to New York City to attend Barnard College. Though I will always consider myself a Southerner, I reside in Brooklyn now with my kid and my cat. There are five bagel shops within a two-block radius of our house, which makes it pretty damn close to heaven.

I wanted to go into publishing after college, but I needed to eat, so I took a job in advertising instead. I spent my first few years in advertising working for a brilliant woman at an agency I adored. I was well into my career when I left that agency and discovered the ad world was rarely a warm and welcoming place for women.

Around 2004, I started writing about a band of six delinquent girl scouts who discover a secret city beneath Manhattan and end up saving the world. That was how I amused myself back then. I had no idea I was writing a book. Several bizarre strokes of luck later (thank you, Chris Upton), Kiki Strike was published. One early reader, who’s now all grown up, called it her “first feminist handbook.” I must say, that made me very happy.

Since Kiki, I’ve written over fifteen books. About half of them were co-authored with Jason Segel, one of the finest, funniest, and most talented human beings I’ve ever known. After the last book in our second series was published, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. So I sat down and started writing to amuse myself. That’s how I ended up with The Change.

The Change was not my first foray into the seriously dark and disturbing. (That would be How to Lead a Life of Crime.) But it was, technically, my first novel for adults. And yes, the title does indeed refer to menopause. (Say it loud and proud, ladies.) I’ve heard The Change described as a feel-good feminist revenge fantasy. That sounds about right. As any woman my age will understand, I had a lot to get off my chest. And believe you me, I had a damn good time doing it. The Change came out in May, 2022. I hope it’s as fun to read as it was to write.”

Why I selected The Change for the January 2025 Giveaway:

• This book is the perfect read for January – especially at this moment when so much is about to change in our broader culture and reality…We’ll let these snippets from reviews give you a hint for the “vibe” of this book:
  • In one review of this book, author Tammy Cohen wrote, “Part crime thriller, part extended howl of pure rage, The Change takes a scalpel to the cancer of misogyny that infects every cell of western culture, with biting wit and a burning, righteous anger that never lets up. Powerful and original.”
  • In their review, Publisher’s Weekly noted, “Filled with disgust for men who slack, cheat, lie, grope, and appropriate women’s accomplishments, The Change has been described as Big Little Lies meets The Witches of Eastwick, and it combines dark humor, mystery, and magical realism to express the rage that can burn particularly hot for women in midlife.”
  • Finally, Kirkus Reviews said, “The novel takes on serious issues but doesn’t take itself too seriously; there’s plenty of mordant humor, a suspenseful plot, and brisk pacing. Crime fiction, superpower fantasy, and sharp satire about sexism and ageism mesh for a satisfying read.”
• And finally, as icing on the cake, you’ll be able to meet Kirsten in person at the Tucson Festival of Books in March!!!