Fiction
Where have all the boys gone? : a novel
Jenny Colgan
FICTION Colgan Jenny
Fiction, Romance, Humor
With more women than men in London, Katie's dating prospects are at an all-time low. She decides to head for the hills-- the Scottish Highlands to be exact. Fairlish is in the middle of nowhere, but the tiny town does have one major draw: men. LOTS of them! Theres plenty of local eye-candy, including gorgeous newshound Iain. But he is at loggerheads with Katie's new boss, Harry, and she can't afford to get on Harry's bad side any more than she already has. -- adapted from back cover
Hell of a book : or the altogether factual, Wholly Bona Fide story of a big dreams, hard luck, American-Made Mad Kid
Jason Mott
FICTION Mott Jason
Fiction
Soot, a young Black boy, lives in a rural town in the recent past. The Kid, a possibly imaginary child appears to a Black author on a cross-country publicity tour. to promote his bestselling novel. As their stories build and converge, they astonish. As the nation reckons with a tragic police shooting playing over and over again on the news, what it can mean to be Black in America? Who has been killed? Who is The Kid? Will the author finish his book tour, and what kind of world will he leave behind? -- adapted from jacket
This tightly-paced narrative follows several characters who all, ultimately, offer reflection upon some very important themes and ideas: love, trauma, the importance of stories, the danger of perceptions (our own, those placed on others), belonging, and safety...just to name a few. The book starts out simply enough, but really picks up pace and intertwines with the different characters so deftly that the reader can really get swept along. The storytelling is energetic here, and the language feels snappy and graceful at the same time. Fresh, timely, important, enjoyable. -Candice
Concrete Rose
Angie Thomas
OverDrive Audiobook
Young Adult, Fiction, Black Lives Matter, Read Woke
International phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood.
Dion Graham breathes life into the characters and setting of Angie Thomas's prequel to The Hate U Give. Don't miss this powerful chapter in Carter family history. -Casey
Cloud cuckoo land : a novel
Anthony Doerr
FICTION Doerr Anthony
Fiction
Constantinople, 1453: Anna lives in a convent where women toil all day embroidering the robes of priests. She learns the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to the paradise of Cloud Cuckoo Land, a better world, and reads it to her sister as the walls of Constantinople are bombarded by armies of Saracens. Lakeport, Idaho, 2020: Seymour, an activist bent on saving the earth, sits in the public library with two homemade bombs in pressure cookers. Upstairs, eighty-five-year old Zeno, a former prisoner-of-war, and an amateur translator, rehearses five children in a play adaptation of Aethon's adventures. The future: On an interstellar ark called The Argos, Konstance, alone in a vault with access to all the information in the world, knows Aethon's story through her father, who has sequestered her to protect her. All are dreamers, misfits on the cusp of adulthood in a world the grown-ups have broken.
I finished reading Cloud Cuckoo Land several weeks ago, but find that my mind keeps drifting back to it, making new connections between the interwoven narratives. The novel’s movement through storylines, seemingly unconnected characters, places and times initially frustrated me, but I came to appreciate the fluidity in the text. Each thread of the narrative built quickly, setting up an image of life in 15th century Constantinople, 21st century Idaho, and a futuristic space mission of 2146. These stories linked in myriad ways: love, loss, war, escape… but I especially appreciated the focus on libraries and the influence that one particular manuscript had on the lives and times it touched. -Becky
Playing the cards you're dealt
Varian Johnson
jFICTION Johnson Varian
Fiction, Read Woke
"Ten-year-old Anthony Joplin has made it to double digits! Which means he's finally old enough to play in the spades tournament every Joplin Man before him seems to have won. So while Ant's friends are stressing about fifth grade homework and girls, Ant only has one thing on his mind: how he'll measure up to his father's expectations at the card table. Then Ant's best friend gets grounded, and he's forced to find another spades partner. "
Playing the Cards You're Dealt is great for readers of all ages. Perfect for card players, fans of realistic fiction, and anyone who enjoys fabulously full characters, I can't wait to reread this one. -Casey
The world played chess : a novel
Robert Dugoni
FICTION Dugoni Robert
Fiction
"In 1979, Vincent Bianco has just graduated high school. His only desire: collect a little beer money and enjoy his final summer before college. So he lands a job as a laborer on a construction crew. Working alongside two Vietnam vets, one suffering from PTSD, Vincent gets the education of a lifetime. Now forty years later, with his own son leaving for college, the lessons of that summer--Vincent's last taste of innocence and first taste of real life--dramatically unfold in a novel about breaking away, shaping a life, and seeking one's own destiny"--
The World Played Chess is is a hauntingly beautiful story of growing from boy to man. Well written and a moving story line makes this a great read. -Angie
No One Goes Alone: A Novel
Erik Larson
OverDrive Audiobook
Suspense, Fiction, Historical Fiction
A group of researchers sets sail for the Isle of Dorn in the North Atlantic in 1905 to explore the cause of several mysterious disappearances, most notably a family of four who vanished without a trace after a week-long holiday on the island. Led by Professor James, a prominent member of the Society for Psychical Research, they begin to explore the island’s sole cottage and surrounding landscape in search of a logical explanation. The idyllic setting belies an undercurrent of danger and treachery, with raging storms and unnerving discoveries adding to the sense of menace. As increasingly unexplainable events unfold, the now-stranded investigators are unsure whether they can trust their own eyes, their instincts, one another—or even themselves. Erik Larson has written a terrifying tale of suspense, underpinned with actual people and events. Created specifically to entertain audio listeners, this eerie blend of the ghostly and the real will keep listeners captivated till the blood-chilling end.
Need a good story for a dark winter's night? Here is one. Erik Larson's latest, only available in audiobook is worth the listen. The premise is familiar, a group of individuals stay at an old manor in an isolated place. Strange events occur, suspicions arise, and everyone is afraid. However, this group of individuals expected came here for exactly this purpose. They are a group of 19th century scientists, experts, and scholars there to prove--or more likely disprove--that the house is haunted. But can they? I love Erik Larson's histories. All of his skills as a writer: ability to tell a story, have you deeply care about the individual's involved, and keep you rapt as the events unfold, translated easily to fiction. -Anne M
The silent patient
Michaelides, Alex, 1977- author.
FICTION Michaelides, Alex
Fiction
Alicia Berenson's life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London's most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia's refusal to talk or give any kind of explanation turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the spotlight of the tabloids at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His search for the truth leads him down a terrifying path and threatens to consume him.
Added by Beth
Tampa
Nutting, Alissa.
FICTION Nutting Alissa
Fiction
In Alissa Nutting's novel Tampa, Celeste Price, a smoldering 26-year-old middle-school teacher in Florida, unrepentantly recounts her elaborate and sociopathically determined seduction of a 14-year-old student. In slaking her sexual thirst, Celeste is remorseless and deviously free of hesitation. She deceives everyone, is close to no one, and cares little for anything but her own pleasure. T
Added by Beth
Intensity
Koontz, Dean R. (Dean Ray), 1945-
FICTION Koontz, Dean R.
Fiction
Past midnight, Chyna Shepard, twenty-six, gazes out a moonlit window, unable to sleep on her first night in the Napa Valley home of her best friend's family. Instinct proves reliable. A murderous sociopath, Edgler Foreman Vess, has entered the house, intent on killing everyone inside. A self-proclaimed "homicidal adventurer," Vess lives only to satisfy all appetites as they arise, to immerse himself in sensation, to live without fear, remorse or limits, to live with "intensity." Chyna is trapped in his deadly orbit. Chyna is a survivor, toughened by a lifelong struggle for safety and self-respect. Now she will be tested as never before. At first her sole aim is to get out alive--until, by chance, she learns the identity of Vess's next intended victim, a faraway innocent only she can save. Driven by a newly discovered thirst for meaning beyond mere self-preservation, Chyna musters every inner resource she has to save an endangered girl...as moment by moment, the terrifying threat of Edgler Foreman Vess intensifies.
Added by Beth
I will read pretty much anything Jenny Colgan writes. She crafts relatable characters and places them in remote settings that let their minds be free to experience themselves anew. This book is no different. I'm not finished yet, but I love the pickle the protagonist is in--forced to do a PR job for a grumpy forester who just wants to save the trees in the Highlands of Scotland. My favorite way to eat up a Jenny Colgan story is through audiobooks, and we have this one on hoopla. https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/12586888 The accents the narrator performs instantly transport the listener to the Highlands. Take me away, Calgon! -Melody