Loan Stars is the readers’ advisory tool that allows library staff across Canada to collaboratively select their favourite forthcoming titles. Using CataList, the online catalogue service and order management tool available for free to libraries, library staff can endorse the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Juvenile, and Young Adult titles they want to recommend to their patrons. The titles with the most recommendations become Loan Stars picks!

But who are the authors and illustrators behind these great Loan Stars reads?

We find out in our series Meet the Loan Stars.

Meet Darby Kane

Photo by Charissa McAfee

Darby Kane is a former trial attorney and #1 international bestseller of domestic suspense. Her debut book, Pretty Little Wife, was featured in numerous venues, including Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post, The Toronto Star, Popsugar, Refinery29, Goodreads, The Skimm, and Huffington Post. A native of Pennsylvania, Darby now lives in California and runs from the cold. When she’s not writing suspense, she can be found watching suspense, thrillers, and mysteries.

You can find Darby’s novel The Replacement Wife on the December 2021 Loan Stars Adult list.

Without further ado, our interview with Darby!

If you could visit any library in the world, where would you go?

I got the chance to visit the Trinity College Library in Dublin a few years ago. Being there left me breathless. It felt like a sacred place. That was my first choice. Now, it's a tie between two very different libraries — the stark white Stuttgart City Library in Germany and the historic Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading in Rio. Each has a distinct look. I see the latter in photos on social media and am always in awe of the grandeur of the room.

Do you have a favourite librarian, real or fictional?

My junior high school librarian. She let me hide in the library and read during lunch to escape a group of mean girls. I am eternally grateful. When I say librarians save lives, I say it from experience. The hours in that library reinforced my love of reading and the love of just looking at books. After that year, the library became synonymous with safety and happiness for me, and that continues to this day.

Which book would you choose to recommend to library patrons?

Reading is so subjective. It would depend on what they love to read because I think you must match books to the individual. If they want to try a thriller, I'd show them books by S. A. Cosby and Lucy Foley. If they wanted to try romance, I'd show them books by Jill Shalvis and Farrah Rochon. The great news is there's a book out there for everyone ... and it's equally important to know not every book works for everyone. Don't give up after one or two because when you connect to a book and both want to race through it and slow down to savour it, it's a beautiful thing.

What does being a Loan Stars pick mean to you?

This is such a huge honour. I am humbled and incredibly grateful. Libraries are a gateway to a lifetime love of reading. As a reader, as an author, and as someone who benefitted from the kindness of a librarian as a gawky, insecure pre-teen, I thank you for all your hard work and your book recommendations. Truly, thank you.

And thank you, Darby!

Are you a Loan Stars-recommended author or illustrator who wants to be featured on our blog? Get in touch!

Until next time.