It's TV Time; Readers Tune In
This past week brought a flurry of exciting TV announcements. While most across the country settled back into work (and a post Fourth of July stupor), the internet (read as: #realnews) gave us a lot to look forward to. The longgg-awaited season nine of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” finally has a release date --- October 1st --- and until then, we’ll be dreaming about comedic genius Larry David getting into all sorts of ridiculous situations. Click here to watch the trailer. Also of note, Netflix’s millennial-beloved “Stranger Things” got a new season two release date --- October 27th --- along with a trailer of its own. We’ve had the show's Spotify playlist on perpetual repeat since last fall, so we’re really gearing up for this one --- ‘80s soundtrack, the magnetic youthful cast, Eggos and all.
Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” returns to Starz on September 10th for season three. The last time we saw studmuffin, heartthrob, and all around perfect human Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe steam up the screen with their explosive chemistry was a little over a year ago, July 2016, to be exact, which seems like lifetimes ago. Thus far, the TV show has coincided with Gabaldon’s series, which means Jamie and Claire are stuck on opposite sides of the stone in this upcoming season. Jamie’s living in the 1700s and Claire has returned to the 1960s to her husband Frank. If we know anything, it’s that intense longing sets the heart on fire, so there’s no doubt we’re in for an extraordinary finger-biting season.
The most notable TV news this week is the return of HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” Season seven premieres this coming Sunday at 9pm ET; it will be the second to last season of the series. If you remember correctly, the TV show outran the books starting with season five and since then has followed its own path. With the end in sight (read as: winter finally arriving), there’s been a larger discussion about how the show will conclude and if it will live up to George R.R. Martin’s ideas for an ending. Martin has been an ongoing consult on the show, and word on the street is that even though there’s a lot of potential the series will end before the next book comes out, the endings will most likely be different. Readers and watchers alike can rejoice! You can read more about writing for season seven and eight here. With that said, it’s no surprise that fans will continue to ride out the GOT hype for as long as they possibly can. If you live in DC or a surrounding area, you can celebrate in true style at a new pop-up bar that is entirely GOT-themed. The bar is complete with aptly-name drinks, incredible decor and of course, a throne where you and your friends can stage a casual photoshoot for your Tinder profile. If only Kit Harrington was whipping them up himself...swooooooon.
If you love young adult books, then be sure to check out BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO HATE ME, a collection of 13 short stories edited by Ameriie (maybe you’ll recognize one of her famous songs, “1 Thing”, from 2005). In these 13 short stories written by 13 amazing young adult authors, readers get to see the villain's side of every story --- for better or for worse. One of the Teenreads.com Teen Board members loved it so much, she put together a playlist featured on our blog. Click here to check it out.
If YA isn’t really your thing, don’t worry, we have you covered. Here’s some top picks of the week to check out:
In Fiona Barton’s THE CHILD, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton in an old house that is being demolished in a gentrifying section of London. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby? As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn --- house by house --- into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery.
Mary Kubica’s latest is EVERY LAST LIE. Clara Solberg's world shatters when her husband and their four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed. The crash is ruled an accident…until the coming days, when Maisie starts having night terrors that make Clara question what really happened on that fateful afternoon. Tormented by grief and her obsession that Nick's death was far more than just an accident, Clara is plunged into a desperate hunt for the truth. Who would have wanted Nick dead? And, more important, why? Clara will stop at nothing to find out --- and the truth is only the beginning of this twisted tale of secrets and deceit.
ANOTHER KIND OF MADNESS: A Journey Through the Stigma and Hope of Mental Illness by Stephen P. Hinshaw is a compelling look inside mental illness. Hinshaw never imagined that a profound secret was kept under lock and key for 18 years within his family --- that his father’s mysterious absences resulted from serious mental illness and involuntary hospitalizations. After years of experiencing the ups and downs of his father’s illness without knowing it existed, Hinshaw began to piece together the silent, often terrifying history of his father’s life. This exploration led to larger discoveries about the family saga, to Hinshaw’s correctly diagnosing his father with bipolar disorder, and to his full-fledged career as a clinical and developmental psychologist and professor.
5 Things To Obsess About This Very Moment, in no particular order:
1. Millennials love the public library the most
2. Margaret Atwood wants Drake for "The Handmaid's Tale"
3. Daniel Craig and Adele will return for next Bond flick
4. Jay-Z's 4:44 and Blue Ivy's verse
5. The cast for Book Club
--- Nicole Sherman
Beach Bag of Books 2017 Feature + Contest
Now that it's summer, there's more time than ever to read. The way we see it, it wouldn't be summer without sun, surf and great reading. You supply the beach chair, and we'll provide the fantastic book ideas in our Sixth Annual Beach Bag of Books Feature and Contest. Enter now through Monday, August 7th at noon ET for your chance to be one of five lucky readers who will win a copy of each of the books listed below.
This year's featured titles include:
Take a Quick Thriller Book Cover Survey and Enter to Win a Prize!
In this Thriller Book Club Survey, we are looking for your thoughts on two potential book covers for MISTER TENDER'S GIRL by Carter Wilson, a psychological thriller that will be released in February 2018. Once you’ve completed the survey, you’ll be eligible to enter to win one of 15 copies of a book and a tote bag from the survey's sponsor. Please note that only U.S. residents are eligible to win. The survey is quick --- it should take you only 10 minutes, and your feedback would be greatly appreciated. We love offering opportunities like this to our readers to actively participate in getting books you want to read in your hands. The survey is open until Friday, July 14th at noon ET.
MISTER TENDER'S GIRL by Carter Wilson (Psychological Thriller)
At 14, Alice Hill was viciously attacked by two of her classmates and left to die. The teens claim she was a sacrifice for a man called Mister Tender, but that could never be true: Mister Tender doesn't exist. His sinister character is pop-culture fiction, nothing more.
Over a decade later, Alice has changed her name and is trying to heal. But someone is watching her. They know more about Alice than any stranger: her scars, her fears and the secrets she keeps locked away. She can try to escape her past, but he is never far behind.
Addictive and chillingly surprising, this ripped-from-the-headlines thriller will have you transfixed until the very last page.
Featured Title: IT HAPPENS IN THE HAMPTONS by Holly Peterson
IT HAPPENS IN THE HAMPTONS by Holly Peterson (Women's Fiction)
In the Hamptons, everyday people are as complicated and fascinating as millionaires.
When Katie Doyle moves across the country to the Hamptons, she is hoping to find summer employment, new friends for her young son, and a chance to explore a new love affair with George, a dazzling investor. What she finds is a strange cocktail of classes, where society’s one-percenters vacation alongside local, hardworking people who’ve lived in the Hamptons for generations. Though she’s looking forward to her move, Katie is wary about mingling in her boyfriend’s East Coast elite circles. She soon discovers Southampton isn’t all that it seems to be on the surface --- and neither are the people who live there.
As George takes Katie on a whirlwind tour of country clubs, haute couture and lavish events, Katie is amazed to witness sudden whims becoming dire needs, extramarital affairs blossoming right and left, and people purchasing friends and loyalties like a pair of shoes. Even the middle-class townspeople maintain determined façades while maneuvering like sharks among the wealthy summer invaders.
The more Katie becomes immersed, the more she learns the stories of both the upstairs and downstairs, the upper crust and middle of the road. The combustion between classes becomes explosive as the summer tears on. Betrayals, a sexual predator and a missing person lost in murky waves drive the reader on a racing Learjet through impossible twists and turns before landing at the shocking conclusion. When Katie meets Luke, a marine biologist and teacher, he makes her realize what it is she really wants, as she understands the life she’s begun for herself is built on shifting Hamptons’ dunes.
PSA: We're giving away five copies of IT HAPPENS IN THE HAMPTONS next week, as a part of the Bookreporter.com Summer Reading feature. Click here to stay tuned and watch for when the contest goes live. You'll only have 24 hours to enter so you'll have to act quickly!
ANOTHER KIND OF MADNESS: A Journey Through the Stigma and Hope of Mental Illness by Stephen P. Hinshaw (Memoir)
Stephen Hinshaw never imagined that a profound secret was kept under lock and key for 18 years within his family --- that his father’s mysterious absences resulted from serious mental illness and involuntary hospitalizations. After years of experiencing the ups and downs of his father’s illness without knowing it existed, Hinshaw began to piece together the silent, often terrifying history of his father’s life. This exploration led to larger discoveries about the family saga, to Hinshaw’s correctly diagnosing his father with bipolar disorder, and to his full-fledged career as a clinical and developmental psychologist and professor. Reviewed by John Bentlyewski.
THE BIRDWATCHER by William Shaw (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Roger Davis
A methodical, diligent and exceptionally bright detective, William South is an avid birdwatcher and trusted figure in his small town on the rugged Kentish coast. He also lives with the deeply buried secret that, as a child in Northern Ireland, he may have killed a man. When a fellow birdwatcher is found murdered in his remote home, South's world flips. The culprit seems to be a drifter from South's childhood; the victim was the only person connecting South to his early crime; and a troubled, vivacious new female sergeant has been relocated from London and assigned to work with South. As our hero investigates, he must work ever-harder to keep his own connections to the victim, and his past, a secret. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE CHILD by Fiona Barton (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Mandy Williams and Rosalyn Landor with a full cast
As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby? As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn --- house by house --- into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
COCOA BEACH by Beatriz Williams (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, performed by Eva Kaminsky and Alex Wyndham
Burdened by a dark family secret, Virginia Fortescue flees her oppressive home in New York City for the battlefields of World War I France. As the war rages, Virginia falls into a passionate affair with the dashing Captain Simon Fitzwilliam, only to discover that his past has its own dark secrets --- secrets that will damage their eventual marriage. Five years later, the newly widowed Virginia Fitzwilliam arrives in Cocoa Beach, Florida, to settle her husband’s estate. Despite the evidence, Virginia does not believe Simon perished in the fire that destroyed the seaside home he built for her and their young daughter. Separated from her husband since the early days of their marriage, the headstrong Virginia plans to uncover the truth, for the sake of the daughter Simon never met. Reviewed by Catherine Rubino.
THE CONFUSION OF LANGUAGES by Siobhan Fallon (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Jorjeana Marie and Lauren Fortgang
Both Cassie Hugo and Margaret Brickshaw dutifully followed their soldier husbands to the U.S. embassy in Jordan, but that’s about all the women have in common. After two years, Cassie has become an expert on the rules, but newly arrived Margaret sees only her chance to explore. So when a fender-bender sends Margaret to the local police station, Cassie reluctantly agrees to watch Margaret’s toddler son. But as the hours pass, Cassie’s boredom and frustration turn to fear: Why isn’t Margaret answering her phone, and why is it taking so long to sort out a routine accident? Snooping around Margaret’s apartment, Cassie begins to question not only her friend’s whereabouts but also her own role in Margaret’s disappearance. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.
DANGEROUS MINDS: A Knight and Moon Novel by Janet Evanovich (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Lorelei King
Buddhist monk Wayan Bagus lost his island of solitude and wants to get it back. The island was about 200 miles northeast of Samoa. It had a mountain, beaches, a rain forest and a volcano. And now it’s gone. Vanished without a trace. Brilliant and boyishly charming Emerson Knight likes nothing better than solving an unsolvable, improbable mystery. When clues lead to a dark and sinister secret that is being guarded by the National Park Service, Emerson will need to assemble a crack team for help. Since a crack team isn’t available, he enlists Riley Moon and his cousin Vernon. Together, this ragtag, mismatched trio will embark on a worldwide investigation that will expose a conspiracy 100 years in the making. Reviewed by Jane Krebs.
DOWN AMONG THE STICKS AND BONES by Seanan McGuire (Fantasy)
Audiobook available, read by Seanan McGuire
Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter --- polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline. Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter --- adventurous, thrill-seeking and a bit of a tomboy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got. They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted. They were 12 when they walked down the impossible staircase, and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you for a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
EVERY LAST LIE by Mary Kubica (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Carly Robins and Graham Hamilton
Clara Solberg's world shatters when her husband and their four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed. The crash is ruled an accident…until the coming days, when Maisie starts having night terrors that make Clara question what really happened on that fateful afternoon. Tormented by grief and her obsession that Nick's death was far more than just an accident, Clara is plunged into a desperate hunt for the truth. Who would have wanted Nick dead? And, more important, why? Clara will stop at nothing to find out --- and the truth is only the beginning of this twisted tale of secrets and deceit. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
FATEFUL MORNINGS: A Henry Farrell Novel by Tom Bouman (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Joe Barrett
In Wild Thyme, Pennsylvania, summer has brought Officer Henry Farrell nothing but trouble. Heroin has arrived with a surge in burglaries and other crime. When local carpenter Kevin O’Keeffe admits that he shot a man and that his girlfriend, Penny, is missing, the search leads the small-town cop to an industrial vice district across state lines that has already ensnared more than one of his neighbors. With the patience of a hunter, Farrell ventures into a world of shadow beyond the fields and forests of home. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE FOURTH MONKEY by J. D. Barker (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Edoardo Ballerini and Graham Winton
For over five years, the Four Monkey Killer has terrorized the residents of Chicago. When his body is found, the police quickly realize he was on his way to deliver one final message, one that proves he has taken another victim who may still be alive. When Detective Sam Porter, the lead investigator on the 4MK task force, discovers a personal diary in the jacket pocket of the body, he finds himself caught up in the mind of a psychopath, unraveling a twisted history in hopes of finding one last girl, all while struggling with personal demons of his own. With only a handful of clues, the elusive killer’s identity remains a mystery. Time is running out, and the Four Monkey Killer taunts from beyond the grave. Reviewed by Dunja Bonacci Skenderovic.
A GAME OF GHOSTS: A Charlie Parker Thriller by John Connolly (Supernatural Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Jeff Harding
It is deep winter, and the darkness is unending. A private detective named Jaycob Eklund has vanished, and Charlie Parker is assigned to track him down. Parker’s employer, Edgar Ross, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has his own reasons for wanting Eklund found. Eklund is no ordinary investigator --- he is obsessively tracking a series of homicides and disappearances, each linked to reports of hauntings. Now Parker is drawn into Eklund’s world: a realm in which the monstrous Mother rules a crumbling criminal empire, in which men strike bargains with angels, and in which the innocent and guilty alike are pawns in a game of ghosts. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
HERE AND GONE by Haylen Beck (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Abby Craden
It begins with a woman fleeing through Arizona with her kids in tow, trying to escape an abusive marriage. When she's pulled over by an unsettling local sheriff, things soon go awry and she is taken into custody. But when she gets to the station, her kids are gone. And then the cops start saying they never saw any kids with her; if they're gone, she must have done something with them. Meanwhile, halfway across the country, a man hears the frenzied news reports about the missing kids, which are eerily similar to events in his own past. As the clock ticks down on the search for the lost children, he, too, is drawn into the desperate fight for their return. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
INDECENT EXPOSURE: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller/Adventure)
Audiobook available, read by Tony Roberts
As an eligible bachelor, man-about-town, and mover in the highest social echelons, Stone Barrington has always been the subject of interest and gossip. But when he’s unwittingly thrust into the limelight, he finds himself scrambling to take cover. Before too long, Stone is fending off pesky nuisances left and right, and making personal arrangements so surreptitiously it would take a covert operative to unearth them. Unfortunately, Stone soon discovers that these efforts only increase the persistence of the most troublesome pests…and when he runs afoul of a particularly tenacious lady, he’ll be struggling to protect not just his reputation, but his life. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.
THE LAKE: A Konrad Simonsen Thriller by Lotte and Søren Hammer (Mystery/Thriller)
The remains of a young woman are discovered in a lake north of Copenhagen. Her identity is a mystery and no one, it appears, has reported her missing. After months of fruitless investigation by the local police, the case is handed over to Konrad Simonsen. It soon becomes clear to Simonsen and his team that this unknown woman is the key to a world of trafficking, prostitution and violence. A world where everything comes with a price, no mistake goes unpunished and everyone knows how to keep a secret. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
LOVE LIKE BLOOD: A Tom Thorne Novel by Mark Billingham (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available; read by Mark Billingham, Sagar Arya and Avita Jay
DI Nicola Tanner needs Tom Thorne’s help. Her partner, Susan, has been brutally murdered, and Tanner is convinced that it was a case of mistaken identity --- that she was the real target. The murderer’s motive might have something to do with Tanner’s recent work on a string of cold-case honor killings she believes to be related. Tanner is now on compassionate leave but insists on pursuing the case off the books and knows Thorne is just the man to jump into the fire with her. He agrees but quickly finds that working in such controversial territory is dangerous in more ways than one. And when a young couple goes missing, they have a chance to investigate a case that is anything but cold. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
MURDER GAMES by James Patterson and Howard Roughan (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Edoardo Ballerini
Dr. Dylan Reinhart is a renowned, bestselling Ivy League expert on criminal behavior. When a copy of his book turns up at a gruesome murder scene --- along with a threatening message from the killer --- it looks like someone has been taking notes. Elizabeth Needham is the headstrong and brilliant NYPD detective in charge of the case who recruits Dylan to help investigate another souvenir left at the scene --- a playing card. Only someone with Dylan's expertise can hope to go inside the mind of a criminal and convince The Dealer to lay down his cards. But after thinking like a criminal, could Dylan become one? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
PLAYED! by Michael A. Kahn (Legal Thriller)
Every law firm has its backroom bench of brilliant workaholic nerds ferocious in their commitment to the law and to their clients. Such a player is Milton Bernstein of Abbott & Windsor. He's highly valued by the partners for his skills, but untested in the courtroom. Milton's younger brother, Hal, is his polar opposite --- strikingly handsome, a high school baseball legend in St. Louis who was on his way to the major leagues until he destroyed his prospects in a motorcycle accident. Neither brilliant nor driven, Hal has to face up to earning a living. For now he's killing time as a lifeguard at an exclusive country club. But the lives of both brothers are about to change. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
THE REASON YOU'RE ALIVE by Matthew Quick (Fiction)
Audiobook available, performed by R.C. Bray
After 68-year-old David Granger crashes his BMW, medical tests reveal a brain tumor that he readily attributes to his wartime Agent Orange exposure. He wakes up from surgery repeating a name no one in his civilian life has ever heard --- that of a Native American soldier whom he was once ordered to discipline. David decides to return something precious he long ago stole from the man he now calls Clayton Fire Bear. It may be the only way to find closure in a world increasingly at odds with the one he served to protect. It may also help him to finally recover from his wife’s untimely demise. Reviewed by Sarah Jackman.
THE RIGHT SIDE by Spencer Quinn (Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by Susan Bennett
LeAnne Hogan went to Afghanistan as a rising star in the military and came back a much lesser person, with a missing eye and half her face badly scarred. Shattered by one last blow --- the sudden death of her hospital roommate, Marci --- LeAnne finds herself on a fateful drive across the country, reflecting on her past and seeing no future. Arriving in the rain-soaked small town in Washington state that Marci had called home, she makes a troubling discovery: Marci’s eight-year-old daughter has vanished. As she becomes obsessed with finding the little girl, LeAnne and a new canine companion of hers are drawn into danger as dark and menacing as her last Afghan mission. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
SMALL HOURS by Jennifer Kitses (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Tanya Eby and Dan John Miller
In the vein of Richard Russo and Tom Perrotta, SMALL HOURS is a gripping and suspenseful debut novel --- told hour-by-hour over the course of a single day --- in which a husband and wife try to outrun long-buried secrets, sending their lives spiraling into chaos. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.
SOUTH POLE STATION by Ashley Shelby (Fiction)
Unmoored by a recent family tragedy and on the verge of sinking her career, Cooper Gosling accepts her place in the National Science Foundation’s Artists & Writers Program and flees to Antarctica, where she encounters a group of misfits motivated by desires as ambiguous as her own. The only thing the Polies have in common is the conviction that they don’t belong anywhere else. Then a fringe scientist arrives, claiming climate change is a hoax. His presence will rattle this already-imbalanced community, bringing Cooper and the Polies to the center of a global controversy and threatening the ancient ice chip they call home. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
SWELL by Jill Eisenstadt (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Courtney Patterson
When Sue Glassman's family needs a new home, Sue relents and agrees to convert to Judaism. In return, Sue's father-in-law, Sy, buys the family a capacious but ramshackle beachfront house in Rockaway, Queens. The catch? Sy is moving in, too. And the house is haunted. On the weekend of Sue's conversion party, 90-year-old Rose, who (literally) got away with murder on the premises years earlier, shows up uninvited and seems intent on moving back in. Enter neighbor Tim --- a former lifeguard, former firefighter and reformed alcoholic --- who feels, for reasons even he can't explain, inordinately protective of the Glassmans. Reviewed by Megan Elliott.
UNSUB by Meg Gardiner (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Hillary Huber
Caitlin Hendrix has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB --- what the FBI calls an unknown subject --- the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case. Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin has never escaped the shadow of her father’s failure to protect their city. But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her, threatening to undermine the fragile barrier she rigidly maintains for her own protection, between relentless pursuit and dangerous obsession. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO HATE ME: 13 Tales of Villainy edited by Ameriie (Anthology)
Leave it to the heroes to save the world --- villains just want to rule the world. In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view. These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again! Reviewed by Reanna H., Teen Board Member.
THE DISAPPEARANCES by Emily Bain Murphy (Mystery)
Audiobook available, narrated by Devon Sorvari
Aila Quinn’s mother, Juliet, has always been a mystery. When Juliet dies, Aila and her younger brother Miles are sent to live in Sterling, a rural town with mysteries of its own. A place where the experiences that weave life together vanish every seven years. No one knows what caused these “Disappearances” or what will slip away next. But Sterling always suspected that Juliet Quinn was somehow responsible --- and Aila must bear the brunt of their blame while she tries to solve the mysteries around her. Reviewed by Rachel R., Teen Board Member.
THE GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE by Mackenzi Lee (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Christian Coulson
Henry “Monty” Montague doesn’t care that his roguish passions are far from suitable for the gentleman he was born to be. But as Monty embarks on his grand tour of Europe, his quests for pleasure and vice are in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores. Reviewed by Grace P., Teen Board Member.
GIRL by Blake Nelson (Historical Fiction)
Meet Andrea Marr: straight-A high school student, thrift-store addict and princess of the downtown music scene. In the midst of the '90s, where the music scene was experiencing the deep impact of the grunge movement, Andrea’s passion for music merges together with first love to lead her down a unique yet universally relatable coming-of-age road. Reviewed by Alyssa Cami.
HERE LIES DANIEL TATE by Cristin Terrill (Mystery)
It seems too good to be true when Daniel Tate, missing since he was abducted from one of California’s most elite private enclaves at the age of 10, turns up on a snowy street in Vancouver six years later. Except that boy isn’t Daniel Tate. A young con artist who’s been taking on false identities for years, this impostor has stumbled onto the scam of a lifetime. Now that he’s finally found a place to belong, he doesn’t question his luck. Until he realizes that maybe Daniel isn’t missing at all. Maybe someone knows what really happened to the boy he’s pretending to be…and if he can’t uncover the truth, he could be next the next Daniel Tate to disappear. Reviewed by Maggie L., Teen Board Member.
AN UNINTERRUPTED VIEW OF THE SKY by Melanie Crowder (Historical Fiction)
It's 1999 in Bolivia and Francisco's life consists of school, soccer, and trying to find space for himself in his family's cramped yet boisterous home. But when his father is arrested on false charges and sent to prison by a corrupt system that targets the uneducated, the poor, and the indigenous majority, Francisco and his sister must move into prison with their father. With their lives upended, Francisco faces an impossible decision: Break up the family and take his sister to their grandparents in the Andean highlands, fleeing the city and the future within his grasp, or remain together in the increasingly dangerous prison. Reviewed by Caitlyn K., Teen Board Member.
WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI by Sandhya Menon (Contemporary Romance)
Audiobook available, narrated by Sneha Mathan and Vikas Adam
Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right? Reviewed by Rachel R., Teen Board Member.
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