Author: Kibler, Julie
Call #: FIC Kibler, J 2013
Summary: Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler is a soaring debut interweaving the story of a heartbreaking, forbidden love in 1930s Kentucky with an unlikely modern-day friendship.
Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis. It's a big one. Isabelle wants Dorrie, a black single mom in her thirties, to drop everything to drive her from her home in Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati. With no clear explanation why. Tomorrow.
Dorrie, fleeing problems of her own and curious whether she can unlock the secrets of Isabelle's guarded past, scarcely hesitates before agreeing, not knowing it will be a journey that changes both their lives.
Over the years, Dorrie and Isabelle have developed more than just a business relationship. They are friends. But Dorrie, fretting over the new man in her life and her teenage son’s irresponsible choices, still wonders why Isabelle chose her.
Isabelle confesses that, as a willful teen in 1930s Kentucky, she fell deeply in love with Robert Prewitt, a would-be doctor and the black son of her family's housekeeper—in a town where blacks weren’t allowed after dark. The tale of their forbidden relationship and its tragic consequences makes it clear Dorrie and Isabelle are headed for a gathering of the utmost importance and that the history of Isabelle's first and greatest love just might help Dorrie find her own way.--summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: This books reminds me of many books I have read and enjoyed including, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman, Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall and Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. For people who love those books, this will be a good choice. I enjoyed the relationship that was building between the two main characters, 89 year-old Isabell and her hairdresser Dorrie. I loved the flashbacks to the late 1930s and early 1940s when Isabelle described growing up and falling in love. The book even included a road trip. Overall this was an enjoyable book. (Melissa, South Branch)
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Author: Green, Jane
Call #: FIC Green, J 2014
Summary: Grace and Ted Chapman are widely regarded as the perfect literary power couple. Ted is a successful novelist and Grace, his wife of twenty years, is beautiful, stylish, carefree, and a wonderful homemaker. But what no one sees, what is churning under the surface, is Ted’s rages. His mood swings. And the precarious house of cards that their lifestyle is built upon. When Ted’s longtime assistant and mainstay leaves, the house of cards begins to crumble and Grace, with dark secrets in her past, is most vulnerable. She finds herself in need of help but with no one to turn to…until the perfect new assistant shows up out of the blue. To the rescue comes Beth, a competent young woman who can handle Ted and has the calm efficiency to weather the storms that threaten to engulf the Chapman household. Soon, though, it’s clear to Grace that Beth might be too good to be true. This new interloper might be the biggest threat of all, one that could cost Grace her marriage, her reputation, and even her sanity. With everything at stake and no one to confide in, Grace must find a way to save herself before it is too late.--summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: Wow! What a mixed up book with abuse and recipes? I was just confused enough to finish the book. You never know what is going behind closed doors! (Mary, Genealogy Department)
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Author: Delinsky, Barbara
Call #: ROM Delinsky, B 2015
Summary: Caroline and Jamie McAfee are close. Not only do they enjoy their relationship as mother and daughter, they're in business together as the team that fronts the popular home renovation show Gut It! All is well with these two strong women, but when the network tells Caroline that Jamie is to replace her as host, Caroline feels betrayed by her daughter and old in the eyes of the world.
Jamie is unsettled by the cast change and devastated by her mother's anger, but she has little time to brood when a tragic accident leaves her two-year-old half-brother in her care. Accustomed to a life of order and precision, Jamie suddenly finds herself out of her depth, grappling with a toddler who misses his parents and a fiancé who doesn't want the child.
Amid such devastation, Caroline and Jamie find themselves revising the blueprints they've built their lives around. With loyalties shifting and decisions looming, mother and daughter need each other; but the rift between them is proving difficult to mend. As the women try to remake themselves and rebuild their relationship with each other, they discover that strength and even passion can come from the unlikeliest places. For Caroline, it's an old friend, whose efforts to seduce her awaken desires that have been dormant for so long that she feels foreign to herself. For Jamie, it's a staggering new attraction that allows her to breathe again-and breathe deeply-for the first time in forever.--summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: This is a mother daughter story and a bit of a slow start for a Barbara Delinsky book. If you like HGTV you will like this book. I found the story entertaining and enjoyable. (Mary, Genealogy Department)
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Author: Mafi, Tahereh
Call #: YA FIC Mafi, T 2014
Summary: Perfect for fans of Tahereh Mafi’s New York Times bestselling Shatter Me trilogy, this book collects her two companion novellas, Fracture Me and Destroy Me, in print for the first time ever. It also features an exclusive look into Juliette’s journal and a preview of Ignite Me, the hotly anticipated final novel of the series.
Destroy Me tells the events between Shatter Me and Unravel Me from Warner’s point of view. Even though Juliette shot him in order to escape, Warner can’t stop thinking about her—and he’ll do anything to get her back. But when the Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment arrives, he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner cannot allow.
Fracture Me is told from Adam’s perspective and bridges the gap between Unravel Me and Ignite Me. As the Omega Point rebels prepare to fight the Sector 45 soldiers, Adam's more focused on the safety of Juliette, Kenji, and his brother. The Reestablishment will do anything to crush the resistance . . . including killing everyone Adam cares about.
The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Divergent and The Hunger Games. This captivating story, which combines the best of dystopian and paranormal, was praised as “a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love” by Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. --summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book:I am a huge fan of Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me Series, and I am so glad that I finally took the time to read these novellas. You got to see that Warner isn't the bad guy he originally seemed to be (You would also know that if you read the other books). But you also get to see that Adam isn't the nice guy he seems to be either (I learned some things about him that surprised and disappointed me). (Kaitlynne, South Branch)
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Author: Benway, Robin
Call #: YA FIC Benway, R 2015
Summary: Emmy’s best friend, Oliver, reappears after being kidnapped by his father ten years ago. Emmy hopes to pick up their relationship right where it left off. Are they destined to be together? Or has fate irreparably driven them apart?
Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life.
She wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her parents’ relentless worrying. But Emmy’s parents can’t seem to let her grow up—not since the day Oliver disappeared.
Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart.
He’d thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew that it was his father who kidnapped him and kept him on the run. Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at once, has his heart racing and his thoughts swirling.
Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy’s soul, despite the space and time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces of two different puzzles—impossible to fit together?
Readers who love Sarah Dessen will tear through these pages with hearts in throats as Emmy and Oliver struggle to face the messy, confusing consequences of Oliver’s father’s crime. Full of romance, coming-of-age emotion, and heartache, these two equally compelling characters create an unforgettable story.--summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: I really liked Robin Benway's other novels, The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June, and her Also Known As series, so it was no surprise that I fell in love with Emmy & Oliver as well. I liked how Emmy and Oliver got along, and helped each other grow throughout the book. Emmy was there to support Oliver when he got home, and she listened to what he had to say without judging him. And Oliver encouraged Emmy to go after her dreams (even if it meant that it was her turn to leave him). (Kaitlynne, South Branch)
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Author: Ciocca, Gina
Call #: YA FIC Ciocca, G 2016
Summary:
Before:
Kelsey and David became best friends the summer before freshman year and were inseparable ever after. Until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke, and everything around her crumbled—including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey's parents decided to move away, she couldn't wait to start over and leave the past behind. Except, David wasn't ready to let her go...
After:
Now it's senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David's family moves to town and he shakes up everything. Soon old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey's second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never truly let him go. And maybe she never wants to.
Told in alternating sections, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE is a charming and romantic debut about loving, leaving, and letting go.--summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: Have you ever wanted to move somewhere new and just completely reinvent yourself? That's exactly what Kelsey did. She thought she was happy with her new life until David showed up again...
I loved this book, but it broke my heart that Kelsey and David were pulled apart by a few silly misunderstandings. The only thing that I didn't like about this book was the fact that it felt like things were left unresolved with all of Kelsey's "friends" from Connecticut. I was kind of hoping she would get a little more closure. (Kaitlynne, South Branch)
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Author: McLain, Paula
Call #: FIC McLain, P 2011
Summary: A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.
Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.
Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill-prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.
A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley. --summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: The Paris Wife is an enjoyable historical novel about Hemingway and his first wife. The name-dropping is pretty fun--lots of writers and artists who were in Paris at the same time as Ernest and Hadley (Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and several others). (Marsha, Adult and Teen Department)
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Author: Asher, Jay
Call #: YA FIC Asher, J 2007
Summary: Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.
On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.
Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers. --summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: One book leads to another and in this case, the author of this book wrote the Forward to Positive so I wanted to find out about it. Listened to it in audio on the advice of a friend, and found it an engrossing experience. Hannah leaves audio tapes behind after her suicide as a learning experience and blackmail for those who have hurt her, or in some cases tried to help her. It's a story of how a sensitive person is deeply hurt by rumors, teasing, and abuse by friends, both male and female. This has echoes for people of all ages as we all could be better listeners and more compassionate. (Medora, Adult and Teen Department)
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Author: Malkin, Michelle
Call #: 609.22 Malkin, 2015
Summary: Firebrand conservative columnist, commentator, Internet entrepreneur, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Michelle Malkin tells the fascinating, little-known stories of the inventors who have contributed to American exceptionalism and technological progress. In July 2012, President Obama infamously proclaimed: “If you've got a business you didnt build that. Somebody else made that happen.” Malkin takes readers on an eclectic journey of American capitalism, from the colonial period to the Industrial Age to the present, spotlighting awe-inspiring and little-known “tinkerpreneurs” who achieved their dreams of doing well by doing good. You'll learn how famous patent holders Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain championed the nations unique system of intellectual property rights; how glass manufacturing mavericks Edward Libbey and Mike Owens defied naysayers to revolutionize food, beverage, and pharmaceutical packaging; how penniless Croatian immigrant Anthony Maglica started his $400 million Maglite flashlight business in a rented garage; and many more riveting stories that explain our country's fertile climate for scientific advancement and entrepreneurship. To understand who we are as people, we need to first understand what motivates Americas ordinary and extraordinary makers and risk-takers. Driven by her own experience as a second-generation beneficiary of the American Dream, Malkin skillfully and passionately rebuts collectivist orthodoxy to celebrate the engineers, mechanics, designers, artisans, and relentless tinkerers of all backgrounds who embody our nations spirit of self-made entrepreneurialism.--summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: Wow! American Entrepreneurs! This needs to be a required textbook! Do you know how America got the things we use everyday? A great read! You will never look at toilet paper the same again!
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Author: Gaffigan, Jim
Call #: 818.602 Gaffigan, 2014
Summary: “What are my qualifications to write this book? None really. So why should you read it? Here’s why: I’m a little fat. If a thin guy were to write about a love of food and eating I’d highly recommend that you do not read his book.”
Bacon. McDonalds. Cinnabon. Hot Pockets. Kale. Stand-up comedian and author Jim Gaffigan has made his career rhapsodizing over the most treasured dishes of the American diet (“choking on bacon is like getting murdered by your lover”) and decrying the worst offenders (“kale is the early morning of foods”). Fans flocked to his New York Times bestselling book Dad is Fat to hear him riff on fatherhood but now, in his second book, he will give them what they really crave—hundreds of pages of his thoughts on all things culinary(ish). Insights such as: why he believes coconut water was invented to get people to stop drinking coconut water, why pretzel bread is #3 on his most important inventions of humankind (behind the wheel and the computer), and the answer to the age-old question “which animal is more delicious: the pig, the cow, or the bacon cheeseburger?”--summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: Comedian Jim Gaffigan's take on the culture of American food and his likes and dislikes of it. A funny fast moving read for entertainment! (Mary, Genealogy and Local History Department)
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Author: Larson, Erik
Call #: 364.1523 Larson, 2006
Summary: In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men--Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication--whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.
Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners, scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed, and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, "the kindest of men," nearly commits the perfect crime.
With his superb narrative skills, Erik Larson guides these parallel narratives toward a relentlessly suspenseful meeting on the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate. Thunderstruck presents a vibrant portrait of an era of séances, science, and fog, inhabited by inventors, magicians, and Scotland Yard detectives, all presided over by the amiable and fun-loving Edward VII as the world slid inevitably toward the first great war of the twentieth century. Gripping from the first page, and rich with fascinating detail about the time, the people, and the new inventions that connect and divide us, Thunderstruck is splendid narrative history from a master of the form.--summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: Larsen takes non-fiction and turns it into a great read. History, murder, science, and technology, and the beginning of wireless telegraphy which we all use, and take for granted, everyday! The technical history of communication. Find out what happens to Marconi and Crippen in this book. (Mary, Genealogy and Local History Department)
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