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Reviews

Reviews

by Vanessa Manko - Fiction, Historical Fiction

When Austin Voronko is wrongly accused of attending anarchist gatherings, his limited grasp of English condemns him to his fate as a deportee, retreating with his new bride to his home in Russia, where he and his young family become embroiled in the Civil War and must flee once again, to Mexico. While Julia and the children are eventually able to return to the U.S., Austin becomes indefinitely stranded in Mexico City because of the black mark on his record.

by Yannick Murphy - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Suspense

At a swim meet, Annie watches as her daughters glide through the water. However, her thoughts drift lazily to Paul, a swim-team parent who has taken notice of her. When a girl on the team is murdered at a nearby highway rest stop --- the same spot where Paul made a gruesome discovery years ago --- Annie and her fellow swim-parents find themselves adrift. With a serial killer too close for comfort, they must make choices about where their loyalties lie.

by Celeste Ng - Fiction

Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, who are determined that their middle daughter will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. However, when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart.

by Betsy Bird, Julie Danielson, and Peter D. Sieruta - Essays, Literature, Nonfiction, Young Adult 14+

A treasure trove of information for a student, librarian, new parent, or anyone wondering about the post-Harry Potter book biz, WILD THINGS! draws on the combined knowledge and research of three respected and popular librarian-bloggers. It chronicles some of the feuds and fights, errors and secret messages found in children’s books and brings contemporary illumination to the warm-and-fuzzy bunny world we think we know.

by Amy Bloom - Fiction, Historical Fiction

When Eva's mother abandons her on her half-sister Iris's front porch, the girls don't seem to have much in common. Thrown together with no mothers to care for them and a father who could not be considered a parent, Eva and Iris become family. Iris wants to be a movie star, while Eva is her sidekick. The sisters look out for each other through good and bad, until unexpected events send Iris to London, leaving Eva with a responsibility she never could have imagined.

by Mary Kubica - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Mia Dennett is abducted one night by an enigmatic stranger named Colin Thatcher, whose job was to kidnap Mia as part of a wild extortion plot and deliver her to his employers. But the plan takes an unexpected turn when Colin suddenly decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin. Mia's mother and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them, but no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter.

by Kimberly Elkins - Fiction, Historical Fiction

At age two, Laura Bridgman lost four of her five senses to scarlet fever. At age seven, she was taken to Perkins Institute in Boston to determine if a child so terribly afflicted could be taught. At age 12, Charles Dickens declared her his prime interest for visiting America. And by age 20, she was considered the 19th century's second most famous woman, having mastered language and charmed the world with her brilliance.

by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - Fiction, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery, Young Adult 12+

Fifteen-year-old Oscar Drai meets the strange Marina while he's exploring an old quarter of Barcelona. She leads him to a cemetery, where they watch a macabre ritual that occurs on the last Sunday of each month. At exactly 10:00 in the morning, a woman descends from her carriage to place a single rose on an unmarked grave. When Oscar and Marina decide to follow her, they begin a journey that transports them to a forgotten postwar Barcelona and reveals a dark secret that lies waiting in the mysterious labyrinth beneath the city streets.

by Emma Healey - Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

In this darkly riveting debut novel --- a sophisticated psychological mystery that is also a heartbreakingly honest meditation on memory, identity and aging --- an elderly woman descending into dementia embarks on a desperate quest to find the best friend she believes has disappeared. Her search for the truth will go back decades and have shattering consequences.

by Rainbow Rowell - Fiction
After a fishing accident leaves her husband hospitalized across the border in Canada, Jill is left to look after her teenage boys alone. Nothing comes easy in their remote corner of Maine: money is tight; her son Sam is getting into more trouble by the day; her eldest, Charlie, is preoccupied with a new girlfriend; and Jill begins to suspect her marriage isn't as stable as she once believed. As one disaster gives way to the next, she begins to think that it's not enough to be a caring wife and mother anymore. But how to protect this life she loves, this household, this family?