If you’re a book lover, it can be incredibly hard to wait for your favorite author’s next book to make it to your public library’s shelves. Then, things get worse if you find out about the new release a little too late and you have to wait at the end of the line for the book. The wait can feel endless!

The Delaware County District Library wants to help, which is why we have a service called “My Favorite Authors.” This service is made for our book lovers who enjoy reading the most popular books by the most popular authors, but don’t have the time to keep up with placing their holds requests early and often to be at the front of the line for each book.

The robust list currently includes 287 popular authors from A to Z – Albom to Zusak! With just a few quick clicks, you can automatically have these authors’ books placed on hold so you start at the top of the list for writers like Rebecca Yaros, Colson Whitehead and more.

To begin, have your DCDL card number and PIN ready, then head to www.delawarelibrary.org/my-favorite-authors and click “Choose My Favorite Authors.” Select the authors whose new books you don’t want to miss, and DCDL takes it from there. Once you opt in, we’ll automatically put their new books onto your hold list as soon as they’re published. The My Favorite Authors service also allows you to choose large print versions if that’s your reading preference.

This week, we’ll take a look at the “New York Times” best sellers in fiction. Rankings reflect sales for the week ending July 27, and many of these authors are already included in our My Favorite Authors list!

1. “The Women” by Kristin Hannah. In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.

2. “The Book of Elsewhere” by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville. An immortal soldier known as B strikes a deal with a U.S. black-ops group and encounters a mysterious force.

3. “The Duke and I and The Viscount Who Loved Me” by Julia Quinn. The first book in the Bridgerton Collecfor’s Edition series.

4. “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros. Violet Sorrengail is urged by the commanding general, who also is her mother, to become a candidate for the elite dragon riders.

5. “Swan Song” by Elin Hilderbrand. Nantucket residents are alarmed when a home, recently sold at an exorbitant price, goes up in flames and someone goes missing.

6. “Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros. The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training might require her to betray the man she loves.

7. “The Spellshop” by Sarah Beth Durst. When the Great Library of Alyssium is set aflame, Kiela and Caz take the spellbooks and bring magic to Kiela’s childhood home.

8. “All the Colors of the Dark” by Chris Whitaker. Questions arise when a boy saves the daughter of a wealthy family amid a string of disappearances in a Missouri town in 1975.

9. “Eruption” by Michael Crichton and James Patterson. The Big Island of Hawaii comes under threat by a volcano at the same time a secret held by the military comes to light.

10. “The God of the Woods” by Liz Moore. When a 13-year-old girl disappears from an Adirondack summer camp in 1975, secrets kept by the Van Laar family emerge.

11. “A Death in Cornwall” by Daniel Silva. The 24th book in the Gabriel Allon series. Gabriel forges six impressionist canvases and enlists an unlikely team of operatives to go after a new foe.

12. “You Like It Darker: Stories” by Stephen King. A dozen short stories that explore darkness in literal and metaphorical forms.

13. “Camino Ghosts” by John Grisham. The third book in the Camino series. The last living inhabitant of a deserted island gets in the way of a resort developer.

14. “Funny Story” by Emily Henry. After their exes run off together, Daphne and Miles form a friendship and concoct a plan involving misleading photos.

15. “Sandwich” by Catherine Newman. During a summer vacation in Cape Cod, Rocky faces changes with her family, body and life.

If you have a question that you would like to see answered in this column, mail it to Nicole Fowles, Delaware County District Library, 84 E. Winter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740-362-3861. You can also email your questions by visiting the library’s web site at www.delawarelibrary.org or directly to Nicole at [email protected]. No matter how you contact us, we’re always glad you asked!