Hooray, summer is nearly here! While I’m already feeling the heat in the Northeast (A/C save me!), it officially begins this Thursday, June 21st at 6:07am ET, giving us the longest day of the year. You know what this means: frosé, frosé, frosé, beach days, BBQs, and so on and so forth. While you can spend hours upon hours outside frolicking in the summer sun and reading in the park, sometimes it’s too hot to function or a nasty rainstorm rolls in unexpectedly. When that happens, you’ll head indoors, turn on the TV and look for something to watch. Oh, you need a new show? Don’t worry, I got you. Please, read on.
It’s no secret that HBO’s “Big Little Lies” was an incredible success in 2017. What was supposed to be a one-season miniseries was met with such critical acclaim that it was renewed for a second season (rumor is, filming for season two has wrapped!). If you can recall, the show even swooped up a number of awards. According to Wikipedia, “It received 16 Emmy Award nominations and won eight, including Outstanding Limited Series and acting awards for Kidman, Skarsgård and Dern. The trio also won Golden Globe Awards in addition to a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film win for the series. Kidman and Skarsgård also received Screen Actors Guild Award for their performances.”
Kidman and Witherspoon quickly became the faces of the show, with their outstanding performances and unwavering support from the beginning. The show became an instant hit and the two have such clout, they even tapped Meryl Streep to play Kidman’s mother for the second season. Another significant part of its success? Director Jean-Marc Vallée, who already had some experience telling women’s stories of this nature --- he is the director of 2014’s Wild, based on the 2012 memoir of the same name by Cheryl Strayed. Now, Vallée is lending his talent to a new HBO book adaptation that is sure to peak some interest and attention --- “Sharp Objects,” Gillian Flynn’s debut novel from 2006.
You probably remember Flynn’s most notable novel, GONE GIRL, got the screen treatment back in 2014, and it was really well done. So, if there was ever a time to build up your expectation, it’s now. “Sharp Objects” stars one of Hollywood’s most recognizable redheads, Amy Adams, who plays Camille Preaker, a Chicago-based journalist who returns to her hometown in Missouri to investigate the murders of two young girls. Patricia Clarkson will also star --- Vallée is keen on an super hype-worthy female cast, and praise be. Early reviews are in and word is that it’s excellent. Peep the trailer here, and catch the first of the eight hour-long episodes on July 8th at 9pm ET.
In other exciting book to screen news, the trailer for the latest adaptation from the Millennium series is finally here --- David Lagercrantz’s THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB. If you recall, Lagercrantz took over the series after Stieg Larsson’s tragic passing in 2004. The first three books in the five-part series are written by Larsson, and the subsequent two are written by Lagercrantz. The 2011 adaptation of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO starring heartthrob Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, and directed by David Fincher, was pretty incredible and still holds up to this day. Thus, a very high bar is set for The Girl in the Spider's Web, which is directed by Fede Álvarez and stars none other than Claire Foy (everyone’s second favorite Queen Elizabeth II from Netflix’s “The Crown”) as the beloved badass Lisbeth Salander. The movie hits theaters on November 9, 2018, so you have some time to catch up on the series. In the meantime, catch the trailer here.
While October may seem a bit far off at this point, especially in the really throes of summer, it’s never to early to plan ahead. And, if you were on the fence about attending New York Comic Con this October, maybe this bit of news will push you in the right direction. Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, the reigning hotshots from Starz’s “Outlander,” will be in attendance. The fourth season of the show debuts in November, so there’s nothing better to get you hyped up the month leading up than checking out Balfe and Heughan in all their IRL beauty. Neil deGrasse Tyson, the famed American astrophysicist, Jason Momoa, Charlaine Harris, and Danielle Fishel and Ben Savage from “Boy Meets World” will also be there. You can find out more information about the event here, and note: fan verification (i.e. to purchase tickets) is only open until July 8th, so get on it now.
Remember to enter the annual Beach Bag of Books contest by Monday, July 9th at noon ET for your chance to be one of five lucky winners who will receive a copy of each of the featured titles. Scroll down to see the books, or click here to read more and enter now.
Bookreporter.com is hosting a very special contest in collaboration with Talbots, the nationally renowned womenswear retailer. To celebrate their summer-long book club event to get shoppers (and readers!) to share books they love and discover new ones, Bookreporter.com is giving away a fabulous grand prize --- a $250 Talbots gift card and a bundle of books! Click here to read more and enter now through Friday, June 29th at noon ET for your chance to win. Learn more about the Talbots Summer Book Club here.
Need something read now? Look no further. Check these titles out below.
In FLORIDA, Lauren Groff brings readers into a physical world that is at once domestic and wild --- a place where the hazards of the natural world lie waiting to pounce, yet the greatest threats and mysteries are still of an emotional, psychological nature. Among those navigating this place are a resourceful pair of abandoned sisters; a lonely boy, grown up; a restless, childless couple; a searching, homeless woman; and an unforgettable, recurring character --- a steely and conflicted wife and mother. The stories in this collection span characters, towns, decades, even centuries, but Florida becomes its gravitational center: an energy, a mood, as much as a place of residence.
In this highly anticipated sequel to Allison Pearson's I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT, Kate Reddy goes back to work in HOW HARD CAN IT BE? Companies aren’t necessarily keen on hiring 49-year-old mothers, so Kate knocks a few years off her age, hires a trainer, joins a Women Returners group, and prepares a new resume. When Kate manages to secure a job at the very hedge fund she founded, she must prove herself (again) at work while dealing with teen drama and trying to look after increasingly frail parents as she approaches her 50th birthday. Then, of course, an old flame shows up out of the blue, and Kate finds herself facing off with everyone from Russian mobsters to a literal stallion.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA put Lauren Weisberger on the map and her most recent, WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LULULEMONS, is sure to strike again. Welcome to Greenwich, Connecticut, where everyone has something to say about the infamous new neighbor. After leaving Miranda Priestly, Emily Charlton has been working in Hollywood as an image consultant to the stars, but recently, Emily has lost a few clients. She’s hopeless with social media. The new guard is nipping at her heels. She needs a big opportunity, and she needs it now. When Karolina Hartwell, a gorgeous former supermodel, is arrested for a DUI, her fall from grace is merciless. Her senator-husband leaves her, her Beltway friends disappear, and the tabloids pounce. In Karolina, Emily finds her comeback opportunity. But she quickly learns that Greenwich is a world apart and this comeback needs a team approach.
5 Things To Obsess About This Very Moment, in no particular order:
1. Remembering Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain
2. The infamous NYMag's Anna Delvey story is making its way to TV via Shonda Rhimes
3. "Stranger Things" books are coming
4. The "S-Town" podcast is getting the silver screen treatment
5. Margot Robbie will star as Sharon Tate in Tarantino's Charles Manson movie
Happy reading,
Nicole Sherman
Beach Bag of Books 2018 Feature + Contest
It's time to think about summer reading. We're talking about the kinds of books that you're glad you now have time to kick back with and enjoy. 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 Seventh Annual Beach Bag of Books Feature and Contest. Enter now through Monday, July 9th 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:
BROKEN GROUND: A Jay Porter Novel by Joe Clifford (Mystery/Thriller)
At an AA meeting, handyman and part-time investigator Jay Porter meets a recovering addict who needs his help. Amy Lupus’ younger sister, Emily, has gone missing from the Coos County Center, the newly opened rehab run by Jay’s old nemeses, Adam and Michael Lombardi. When Jay learns of a “missing” hard drive, he is flung back to five years ago when his own junkie brother, Chris, found a hard drive belonging to Lombardi Construction. For years, Jay assumed that the much-sought-after hard drive contained incriminating photos of Adam and Michael’s father, which contributed to Chris’ death. But now he believes that hard drive may have harbored a secret far more sinister, which the missing Lupus sister may have unwittingly discovered. Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy.
BUM DEAL by Paul Levine (Legal Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Luke Daniels
Second-string linebacker turned disillusioned defense attorney Jake Lassiter finally switches teams. Appointed special prosecutor in a high-profile murder case, Lassiter vows to take down a prominent surgeon accused of killing his wife. But there is no evidence, no witness and no body. And standing in Lassiter’s way are the defense lawyers: slick-talking Steve Solomon and blueblood Victoria Lord, who have their own complicated history with the defendant. Not to mention the specter of CTE, the lethal brain disease Lassiter may have contracted banging heads in the NFL. Drained of his mental edge just when he needs it most, Lassiter must do whatever it takes to win this case --- even if it costs him his life. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
DREAMS OF FALLING by Karen White (Mystery)
Audiobook available; read by Shannon McManus, Cassandra Campbell and Susan Larkin
Nine years ago, a humiliated Larkin Lanier fled Georgetown, South Carolina, knowing she could never go back. But when she finds out that her mother has disappeared, she realizes she has no choice but to return to the place she both loves and dreads --- and to the family and friends who never stopped wishing for her to come home. Ivy, Larkin's mother, is discovered badly injured and unconscious in the burned-out wreckage of her ancestral plantation home. No one knows why Ivy was there, but as Larkin digs for answers, she uncovers secrets kept for nearly 50 years --- whispers of love, sacrifice and betrayal --- that lead back to three girls on the brink of womanhood who found their friendship tested in the most heartbreaking ways. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.
THE EVER AFTER by Sarah Pekkanen (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Joy Osmanski
Josie and Frank Moore are happy…at least Josie thinks they are. Frank is a phenomenal father and still looks at his wife like she’s the beautiful woman he married more than a decade ago. Josie isn’t just happy, she’s lucky. Until one Saturday morning when Josie borrows her husband’s phone to make a quick call --- and sees nine words that shatter her world. Now Josie feels as if she is standing at the edge of a sharp precipice. As she looks back at pivotal moments in the relationship she believed would last forever, she is also plunging ahead, surprising everyone (especially herself) with how far she will go to uncover the extent of her husband’s devastating secret. Reviewed by Leah DeCesare (www.leahdecesare.com).
FIGHT NO MORE: Stories by Lydia Millet (Fiction/Short Stories)
Audiobook available, read by Madeleine Lambert
In her first story collection since LOVE IN INFANT MONKEYS, which became a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Lydia Millet explores what it means to be home. Nina, a lonely real-estate broker estranged from her only relative, is at the center of a web of stories connecting fractured communities and families. She moves through the houses of L.A.’s wealthy elite and finds men and women both crass and tender, vicious and desperate. With wit and intellect, Millet offers profound insight into human behavior from the ordinary to the bizarre: strong-minded girls are beset by the helpless, myopic executives are tormented by their employees, and beastly men do beastly things. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
FLORIDA by Lauren Groff (Fiction/Short Stories)
Audiobook available, read by Lauren Groff
Lauren Groff brings readers into a physical world that is at once domestic and wild --- a place where the hazards of the natural world lie waiting to pounce, yet the greatest threats and mysteries are still of an emotional, psychological nature. Among those navigating this place are a resourceful pair of abandoned sisters; a lonely boy, grown up; a restless, childless couple; a searching, homeless woman; and an unforgettable, recurring character --- a steely and conflicted wife and mother. The stories in this collection span characters, towns, decades, even centuries, but Florida becomes its gravitational center: an energy, a mood, as much as a place of residence. Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller.
THE GOOD SON by You-Jeong Jeong (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Johnathan McClain and Elizabeth Liang
Early one morning, 26-year-old Yu-jin wakes up to a strange metallic smell, and a phone call from his brother asking if everything's all right at home --- he missed a call from their mother in the middle of the night. Yu-jin soon discovers her murdered body, lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs of their stylish Seoul duplex. He can't remember much about the night before; having suffered from seizures for most of his life, Yu-jin often has trouble with his memory. All he has is a faint impression of his mother calling his name. But was she calling for help? Or begging for her life? Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
HOW HARD CAN IT BE? by Allison Pearson (Fiction/Humor)
Audiobook available, read by Poppy Miller
In this highly anticipated sequel to I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT, Kate Reddy goes back to work. Companies aren’t necessarily keen on hiring 49-year-old mothers, so Kate knocks a few years off her age, hires a trainer, joins a Women Returners group, and prepares a new resume. When Kate manages to secure a job at the very hedge fund she founded, she must prove herself (again) at work while dealing with teen drama and trying to look after increasingly frail parents as she approaches her 50th birthday. Then, of course, an old flame shows up out of the blue, and Kate finds herself facing off with everyone from Russian mobsters to a literal stallion. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
LYING IN WAIT by Liz Nugent (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available; read by Caoilfhionn Dunne, David McFetridge and Lesley McGuire
On the surface, Lydia Fitzsimons has the perfect life --- wife of a respected, successful judge, mother to a beloved son, mistress of a beautiful house in Dublin. That beautiful house, however, holds a secret. And when Lydia’s son, Laurence, discovers its secret, wheels are set in motion that lead to an increasingly claustrophobic and devastatingly dark climax. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
NEVER ANYONE BUT YOU by Rupert Thomson (Historical Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Kate Reading
In the years preceding World War I, two young women meet in a provincial town in France. Suzanne Malherbe, a shy 17-year-old with a talent for drawing, is completely entranced by the brilliant but troubled Lucie Schwob, who comes from a family of wealthy Jewish intellectuals. They embark on a clandestine love affair, but then, in an astonishing twist of fate, the mother of one marries the father of the other. As “sisters” they are finally free of suspicion and move to Paris at a moment when art, literature and politics blend in an explosive cocktail. In the 1930s, with the rise of anti-Semitism and threat of fascism, they leave Paris for Jersey, creating a campaign of propaganda against Hitler’s occupying forces that will put their lives in jeopardy. Reviewed by Amy Gwiazdowski.
NIGHT-GAUNTS AND OTHER TALES OF SUSPENSE by Joyce Carol Oates (Mystery/Short Stories)
Audiobook available, read by Sands Xe and Timothy John Campbell
Joyce Carol Oates’ new fiction collection opens with a woman, naked except for her high-heeled shoes, seated in front of the window in an apartment she cannot afford on her own. In this exquisitely tense narrative reimagining of Edward Hopper’s Eleven A.M., 1926, the reader enters the minds of both the woman and her married lover, each consumed by alternating thoughts of disgust and arousal, as he rushes --- amorously, murderously --- to her door. NIGHT-GAUNTS AND OTHER TALES OF SUSPENSE stands at the crossroads of sex, violence and longing --- and asks us to interrogate the intersection of these impulses within ourselves. Reviewed by John Bentlyewski.
THE PHARAOH KEY by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by David W. Collins
Gideon Crew --- brilliant scientist, master thief, intrepid adventurer --- is shocked when his former employer, Eli Glinn, vanishes without a trace, and Glinn's high-tech lab Effective Engineering Solutions shuts down seemingly overnight. Fresh off a diagnosis that gives him only months to live, Crew is contacted by one of his former coworkers at EES, Manuel Garza, who has a bead on one final treasure hinted at in EES's final case, the long-awaited translation of a centuries-old stone tablet of a previously undiscovered civilization: The Phaistos Disc. What lies at the end of the trail will either save Gideon's life or bring it to a sudden, shocking close. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
THE PRESIDENT IS MISSING by Bill Clinton and James Patterson (Political Thriller)
Audiobook available; read by Dennis Quaid with January LaVoy, Peter Ganim, Jeremy Davidson and Mozhan Marnò
THE PRESIDENT IS MISSING confronts a threat so huge that it jeopardizes not just Pennsylvania Avenue and Wall Street, but all of America. Uncertainty and fear grip the nation. There are whispers of cyberterror and espionage and a traitor in the Cabinet. Even the President himself becomes a suspect, and then he disappears from public view. Set over the course of three days, Bill Clinton and James Patterson's political thriller sheds a stunning light upon the inner workings and vulnerabilities of our nation. Reviewed by Melanie Reynolds.
ROUGH BEAUTY: Forty Seasons of Mountain Living by Karen Auvinen (Memoir)
Audiobook available, read by Jayme Mattler
During a difficult time, Karen Auvinen flees to a primitive cabin in the Rockies to live in solitude as a writer and to embrace all the beauty and brutality nature has to offer. When a fire incinerates every word she has ever written and all of her possessions --- except for her beloved dog Elvis, her truck and a few singed artifacts --- Karen embarks on a heroic journey to reconcile her desire to be alone with her need for community. Reviewed by Benny Regalbuto.
THE SHADOW KILLER by Arnaldur Indridason (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, narrated by George Guidall
A man is found murdered in a small apartment in Reykjavík, shot in the head with a pistol. The police’s attention is immediately drawn to the foreign soldiers who are on every street corner in the summer of 1941. So begins officers Flóvent and Thorson’s investigation, which will lead them down a path darker than either of them expected, and force them to reckon with their own demons. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
SOUTHERNMOST by Silas House (Fiction)
In the aftermath of a flood that washes away much of a small Tennessee town, evangelical preacher Asher Sharp offers shelter to two gay men. In doing so, he starts to see his life anew --- and risks losing everything. With no way out but ahead, Asher takes his son, Justin, and flees to Key West, where he hopes to find his brother, Luke, whom he’d turned against years ago after Luke came out. And it is there, at the southernmost point of the country, that Asher and Justin discover a new way of thinking about the world, and a new way of understanding love. Reviewed by Sarah Jackman.
THERE THERE by Tommy Orange (Fiction)
Audiobook available; read by Darrell Dennis, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Alma Ceurvo and Kyla Garcia
THERE THERE tells the story of 12 characters, each of whom has private reasons for traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow. Jacquie Red Feather is newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind in shame. Dene Oxendene is pulling his life back together after his uncle’s death and has come to work at the powwow to honor his uncle’s memory. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield has come to watch her nephew Orvil, who has taught himself traditional Indian dance through YouTube videos and has come to the powwow to dance in public for the very first time. There will be glorious communion, and a spectacle of sacred tradition and pageantry. And there will be sacrifice, and heroism, and unspeakable loss. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE TRUTH ABOUT PARALLEL LINES by Jill D. Block (Fiction)
It is 1981 in New York City. While celebrating her 18th birthday, Jenna Kessler tells a story that stays with her for the rest of her life. Growing up in the shadow of an over-protective mother, Chloe Toberman finds freedom in the secrets that she keeps. Deirdre Schein is a doctor, struggling to find her place in her family. Her quiet and stable life is both challenged and made richer by the demands of her flamboyant and unpredictable twin brother. THE TRUTH ABOUT PARALLEL LINES takes place over more than 30 years. It is the story of three women, love after loss, triumph over tragedy, and the friendships that sustain them. Reviewed by Tom Callahan.
US AGAINST YOU by Fredrik Backman (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Marin Ireland
Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don’t expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they’ve always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it’s a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown ice hockey might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team, take in that fact. But then a newcomer arrives who gives Beartown hockey a surprising new coach and a chance at a comeback. As the big game approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt intensifies. By the time the last goal is scored, a resident of Beartown will be dead. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT by Sandra Block (Psychological Thriller)
She doesn't remember that night. But she will never be the same. One moment, Dahlia is a successful Harvard student; the next, she wakes up from a party, the victim of a brutal assault. Her life veers into a tailspin, and what's worse, her memory of the attack has been ripped away, leaving a cold rage in its wake. Now, years later, Dahlia is a tattooed paralegal suffering from PTSD and still haunted by that night. Until one day, a video surfaces online, and Dahlia sees her attack for the first time. Now she knows what happened to her. And she knows who is to blame. Her rage is no longer cold, but burning, red hot. And she is about to make everyone pay. Reviewed by Sonia Chopra.
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LULULEMONS by Lauren Weisberger (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Laura Benanti
Welcome to Greenwich, Connecticut, where everyone has something to say about the infamous new neighbor. After leaving Miranda Priestly, Emily Charlton has been working in Hollywood as an image consultant to the stars, but recently, Emily has lost a few clients. She’s hopeless with social media. The new guard is nipping at her heels. She needs a big opportunity, and she needs it now. When Karolina Hartwell, a gorgeous former supermodel, is arrested for a DUI, her fall from grace is merciless. Her senator-husband leaves her, her Beltway friends disappear, and the tabloids pounce. In Karolina, Emily finds her comeback opportunity. But she quickly learns that Greenwich is a world apart and this comeback needs a team approach. Reviewed by Sonia Chopra.
THE WOMAN IN THE WOODS by John Connolly (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Jeff Harding
In the beautiful Maine woods, a partly preserved body is discovered. Investigators realize that the dead young woman gave birth shortly before her death. But there is no sign of a baby. Private detective Charlie Parker is hired by a lawyer to shadow the police investigation and find the infant, but Parker is not the only searcher. Someone else is following the trail left by the woman, someone with an interest in much more than a missing child…someone prepared to leave bodies in his wake. And in a house by the woods, a toy telephone begins to ring and a young boy is about to receive a call from a dead woman. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE WORD IS MURDER by Anthony Horowitz (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Rory Kinnear
Diana Cowper, the wealthy mother of a famous actor, enters a funeral parlor to plan her own service. Six hours later she is found dead, strangled with a curtain cord in her own home. Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric investigator. Hawthorne needs a ghost writer to document his life and chooses Anthony Horowitz. Drawn in against his will, Horowitz soon finds himself at the center of a story he cannot control. Hawthorne is brusque, temperamental and annoying, but his latest case --- with its many twists and turns --- proves irresistible. The writer and the detective form an unusual partnership. At the same time, it soon becomes clear that Hawthorne is hiding some dark secrets of his own. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
THE BIRD AND THE BLADE by Megan Bannen (Fantasy)
Audiobook available narrated by Emily Woo Zeller
Enslaved in Kipchak Khanate, Jinghua has lost everything...until the kingdom is conquered by enemy forces and she finds herself a conspirator in the escape of Prince Khalaf and his father across the vast Mongol Empire. With adversaries on all sides and an endless journey ahead, Jinghua hatches a scheme to return home, a plan that becomes increasingly fraught as her feelings for Khalaf evolve into love. Jinghua’s prospects take a downward turn when Khalaf seeks to restore his kingdom by forging a marriage alliance with the daughter of the Great Khan. Reviewed by Cat Barra.
DEAR RACHEL MADDOW by Adrienne Kisner (Contemporary Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Khristine Hvam
Brynn's life has one constant: Rachel Maddow. After writing to Rachel for a school project and actually getting a response, Brynn starts drafting emails to Rachel but never sending them. Brynn tells Rachel about breaking up with her girlfriend, about her brother's death, about her parents, about how she's considering dropping out. Then Brynn is confronted with a dilemma: one student will be allowed to have a voice among the administration in the selection of a new superintendent. When she runs for the position, the knives are out. So she begins to ask herself: What Would Rachel Maddow Do? Reviewed by Rebecca D., Teen Board Member.
GUARDIAN: A Steeplejack Novel by A.J. Hartley (Science Fiction/Steampunk)
This is what Ang knows: A dear friend is accused of murdering the Prime Minister of Bar-Selehm. A mysterious but fatal illness is infecting the poor. A fanatical politician seizes power, unleashing a wave of violent repression over the city. This is what Ang must do: Protect her family. Solve a murder. RESIST, no matter what, before it’s too late. Reviewed by Matthew Burbridge.
NEVERWORLD WAKE by Marisha Pessl (Psychological Suspense)
Audiobook available, narrated by Phoebe Strole
At Darrow-Harker School, Beatrice Hartley and her best friends were the cool kids. Then the shocking death of her boyfriend Jim changed everything. Now, Beatrice is returning to Wincroft --- the seaside estate where they spent so many nights --- hoping she'll get some answers about Jim's death. As the night plays out, Beatrice senses she's never going to know what really happened. Then a mysterious man knocks on the door and announces the impossible: time for them has become stuck, and it can only resume if the former friends make the harshest of decisions. Now Beatrice has one last shot at answers...and at life. And so begins the Neverworld Wake. Reviewed by Lillian B., Teen Board Member.
UNDEAD GIRL GANG by Lily Anderson (Horror)
Audiobook available, narrated by Rebecca Soler
Meet teenage Wiccan Mila, who truly could not care less what you think about her Doc Martens, her attitude, or her weight because no matter what, she has her BFF Riley. So when Riley and two other girls die under suspicious circumstances, Mila refuses to believe that her BFF was involved in a suicide pact. Instead, armed with lip gloss and an ancient grimoire, Mila brings the girls back to life. Now, with only seven days until the spell wears off, Mila must wrangle the distracted group of undead teens and work fast to discover their murderer...before the killer strikes again. Reviewed by Savana W., Teen Board Member.
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