Monday, June 30, 2025

New Books for July!

 


Abrams, Stacey Coded Justice (Avery Keene)

Bennett, Michael Carved in Blood

Berry, Steve The List

Cameron, Marc  Dead Line  (Arliss Cutter)

Castillo, Linda  Rage (Kate Burkholder)

Delany, Vicki  Tea with Jam & Dread

Donlea, Charlie  Guess Again

Freeman, Brian  Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Escape

Gilbert, Victoria  Death and the Librarian (Blue Ridge Library)

Griffiths, Elly  The Frozen People

James, Miranda  Something Whiskered

Jones, Stephen Graham  Killer on the Road/The Babysitter Lives

Joyce, Rachel  The Homemade God

Lapena, Shari  She Didn’t See It Coming

McCall Smith, Alexander The Winds from Further West

McFadden, Freida  Do Not Disturb

Mina, Denise  The Good Liar

Miranda, Megan  You Belong Here

Patterson, James  The Hamptons Lawyer (Jane Smith)

Patterson, James  The President’s Shadow (The Shadow)

Peterson, Tracie  Designed with Love (The Hope of Cheyenne)

Robotham, Michael The White Crow (Philomena McCarthy

Scottoline, Lisa  The Unraveling of Julia

Silva, Daniel  An Inside Job

Smith, Martin Cruz  Hotel Ukraine (Renko)

Trigiani, Adriana  The View from Lake Como

Walker, Martin  An Enemy in the Village (Bruno, Chief of Police)

Ware, Ruth  The Woman in Suite 11

White, Karen  That Last Carolina Summer

Wiggs, Susan  Wayward Girls

Williams, Beatriz  Under the Stars



Non-Fiction

Elmhirst, Sophie  A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck

Hogan, Chuck  The Carpool Detectives:  A True Story of Four Moms, Two Bodies, and One Mysterious Cold Case

Olson, Lynne  The Sisterhood of RavensbrΓΌck: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler’s All-Female Concentration Camp

Patterson, James  The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy

Taraborrelli, Randy  JFK: Public, Private, Secret

Willner, Nina  The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood


Friday, June 27, 2025

Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen

 



Reviewed by Jeanne

Olivia “Liv” Huang Christenson is a mixed race Chinese American who is poised to take over Lunar Love, a matchmaking business started by her immigrant grandmother back in 1970.  Lunar Love helps people find their soul mates by using the Chinese zodiac signs.  Like the Western zodiac, some signs are considered to be more compatible than others and each has its own characteristics.  After a disastrous romance, Liv is devoted to the idea that only compatible matches can lead to true love and she feels the personal touch from Lunar Love is the only way to make those matches.

Enter Bennett O’Brien, also half Chinese, who has developed ZodiaCupid, a dating app also based on making matches using the Chinese zodiac. Liv is incensed that he thinks an algorithm can take the place of a real matchmaker.  Things come to a head on a panel discussion which ends up with Lunar Love and ZodiaCupid in a competition. Whichever company makes the first true love match will not only get some high-profile publicity but new clients as well.

Liv is desperately determined to win the contest and bring in a much needed infusion of cash to her company, no matter how attractive she finds Bennett.  And she does find him VERY attractive. The problem is that not only is he a rival, but their signs are not compatible so there’s no way this can be a true love match. . . right?

Romance is not one of my usual genres but it’s Book Bingo time.  I did enjoy this book in large part because of the information about Chinese culture.  Because both Liv and Bennett are only half Chinese, they have gaps in their understanding.  Liv’s grandmother has given her a solid grounding in the Chinese zodiac and in some customs but she doesn’t really speak Chinese so the books written in Mandarin don’t help. Bennett’s Chinese mother died when he was very young so much of what he knows he’s learned by research.  It makes explanations for various customs seem natural, not forced.  They also discuss the problems of being mixed race, of feeling that you don’t really belong, and even bring up cultural appropriation. There are no easy answers but I like that the questions were even asked.

I also liked the characters a lot, especially PoPo, Liv’s grandmother.  She’s a force of nature and stole every scene she was in. 

For romance readers, there was plenty of romantic angst, longing, misunderstandings, heart to heart talks, stubbornness, and electricity. Bennett is an appropriately hunky hero who likes to lead with his head while Liv is focused on emotions—just not her own when it comes to personal romance.

Thank you, Lauren Kung Jessen, for writing a romance I enjoyed reading!

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Nevermore: Where'd You Go Bernadette, Face of Battle, How They Croaked

 

Nevermore 6-3-25

Reported by Rita

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

When her daughter Bee claims a family trip to Antarctica as a reward for perfect grades, Bernadette, a fiercely intelligent shut-in, throws herself into preparations for the trip. But worn down by years of trying to live the Seattle life she never wanted, Ms. Fox is on the brink of a meltdown. And after a school fundraiser goes disastrously awry at her hands, she disappears, leaving her family to pick up the pieces--which is exactly what Bee does, weaving together an elaborate web of emails, invoices, and school memos that reveals a secret past Bernadette has been hiding for decades.

Fun and very clever.    - MH    5 stars

 


The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme by John Keegan

The Face of Battle is military history from the battlefield: a look at the direct experience of individuals at 'the point of maximum danger'. It examines the physical conditions of fighting, the particular emotions and behavior generated by battle, as well as the motives that impel soldiers to stand and fight rather than run away.

The writer was very knowledgeable, and the book was highly illuminating. Very good.     -RR     5 stars

 


How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg

Over the course of history, men and women have lived and died. In fact, getting sick and dying can be a big, ugly mess-especially before the modern medical care that we all enjoy today. How They Croaked relays all the gory details of how nineteen world figures gave up the ghost.

Full of fascinating facts and interesting illustrations. I loved it!     - CD     5 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned 

Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy

Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese

The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol

Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg & Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

The Seamstress by Allison Pittman

Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

The Geographer's Map to Romance by India Holton

 

New Books

On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us by Bonnie Tsui

Bright Circle: Five Remarkable Women in the Age of Transcendentalism by Randall Fuller

Monday, June 23, 2025

Book Bingo!

 




I was really excited to find out we were doing Book Bingo this year.  The first year I wasn’t quite sure about it, but signed up to be a good sport.  I ended up reading a lot of books I would not have read otherwise, and enjoyed them thoroughly.  Some were books I had meant to read but hadn’t until that “Read a Classic” square inspired me to pick up Emma by Jane Austen; other squares encouraged me to read outside my usual genres; and still others had me looking for debut novels or books set in exotic locales.  Even the ones I didn’t think I’d enjoy ended up being memorable in a good way. 

For those unfamiliar with the concept, it’s pretty straight forward.  Participants get a bingo like sheet except that instead of numbers, there are reading prompts, such as “read a translated book” or “read a book set in space.”  A few squares are somewhat specific to us (“read a book from the BPL gift shop”) but nothing that can’t be worked around.

While we do offer prizes to those who can come by the library to pick them up (our budget not extending to mailing things off), it’s not the prizes that attract me.  In fact, I’m not putting my name in for any of the big prizes at all. I won’t turn down getting a cute sticker for signing up, though! The satisfaction and enjoyment out of being encouraged to step outside of my comfortable reading niche is reward enough.

This year we have two different Bingo sheets.  I picked one and am already planning what titles to read to fit the squares.  The categories are broad enough to give me many choices, but also force me to take a look at what I’m reading.  It also gives me a good excuse to jump ahead and read something I really wanted to read but felt obligated to wait for one reason or another. I also am strangely excited about re-reading Jenny and the Cat Club for the “Read a book you loved as a child” square.  I own a copy of this book.  I can re-read this book at any time, but I often feel I should not re-read. There are too many books I’ve yet to read so I should only read something new.   

Book Bingo gives me permission to read this book, and that absolutely delights me.

As I said, we can only give out prizes to our patrons but if Book Bingo sounds fun and you want a sheet of your own, we can email one out to you.

If you are local, stop by the Reference Desk to sign up.  You get a sticker for registering and can choose either a note book (really cute notebook!) or coffee mug (charming mug!) for each bingo up to four.  Filling in the whole bingo card lets you draw for a special prize, and for each bingo and the blackout your name is entered into a drawing for grand prizes. 

Happy reading this summer!

Jeanne

Friday, June 20, 2025

Ornithography: An Illustrated Guide to Bird Lore and Symbolism by Jessica Roux

 



Reviewed by Jeanne

Previously, I reviewed Jessica Roux’s Floriography, which is a beautifully illustrated book about Victorian flower language—a romantic and/or secret way to send messages based on the plants used.  In this book, Roux looks at the folklore associated with birds.  While the text is brief, the glorious illustrations are indeed worth a thousand words. 

Starting with Albatross and continuing through to Woodpecker, Roux gives a meaning associated with a bird as well as some information.  The content varies depending on the bird, naturally.  For example, for Crow Roux notes they symbolize cleverness and retells the Aesop story about how a crow figures out how to get a drink of water from a bottle and refers the reader to the related Raven and Magpie.  While the majority of birds are familiar to North American readers, there are some species native to other continents.  Similarly, the folklore comes from a variety of cultures. 

The artwork is stunning.  The color choices tend to give the pieces an old-fashioned feel but are frequently also dramatic.  This is a splendid browsing book, one in which the illustrations will command as much if not more attention than the text.

I found this another wonderful example of Roux’s artistry and love of folklore.

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Nevermore: Night Watch, Ornithography, Conclave

Reported by Rita


Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips

In 1874, in the wake of the War, erasure, trauma, and namelessness haunt civilians and veterans, renegades and wanderers, freedmen and runaways. Twelve-year-old ConaLee, the adult in her family for as long as she can remember, finds herself on a buckboard journey with her mother, Eliza, who hasn’t spoken in more than a year. They arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, delivered to the hospital’s entrance by a war veteran who has forced himself into their world. There, far from family, a beloved neighbor, and the mountain home they knew, they try to reclaim their lives.

Excellent! Beautifully written with well-formed characters. A real page-turner.     -KN      5 stars


Ornithography: An Illustrated Guide to Bird Lore & Symbolism by Jessica Roux

In Jessica Roux’s Ornithography, each of 100 entries focuses on one bird species, featuring a full-page color illustration in her detailed, darkly romantic style, and the lore behind each bird.

This is an easy read with gorgeous illustrations. I found the mythology of birds very interesting.     - KM      4 stars

 

Conclave by Robert Harris

The Pope is dead. Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election. They are holy men. But they have ambition. And they have rivals. Over the next seventy-two hours, one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.

This was a quick, easy read with a surprise ending. It gave great insight into the Catholic church.     - GP      5 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

 

River of No Return: Tennessee Ernie Ford and the Woman He Loved by Jeffrey Buckner Ford

Stars in Their Courses: The Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863 by Shelby Foote

Life in the Coal Camps of Wise County by Brian D. McKnight

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg

The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young

The Seamstress by Allison Pittman

 

New Books

 

Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson

Change the Recipe by Jose Andres

The Eights by Joanna Miller

Waiting for the Long Night Moon by Amanda Peters

Monday, June 16, 2025

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi

 



Reviewed by Kristin

If we could package John Scalzi’s sense of humor, I think we might solve all world problems.

In this case, the world does have a big problem. Or the moon has a big problem, which is causing humans a big problem. The moon is suddenly larger and brighter in the sky than it should be. Moon rocks in museums and labs all over the world have changed consistency, and the scientists will only say that they appear to be made of some kind of biological matter. Pretty soon someone takes a sniff, then a taste, and finds that the moon is made of . . . cheese.

The decades since someone landed on the moon have been frustrating, and astronauts have been preparing a trip back to the lunar surface. But if it’s cheese, is it safe? Is it gooey or stringy or shredded or grated?

This tale takes us through exactly one lunar cycle, told through many characters’ points of view. Scientists, kids, billionaires, college students, and politicians all have their opinions and intentions when it comes to finding out exactly what has happened to the moon. From hijacking a rocket to literally howling curses at the moon, this wild romp kept me turning pages long after I should have been asleep.

I guess Scalzi’s books are little packages of his humor, and I know that I can always count on them to make me smile. Scalzi writes space epochs, private investigators, pop culture satires, scathing political commentaries, and so much more. Plus, he loves cats. That is all I really need to know.

Friday, June 13, 2025

The #1 Dad Book: Be the Best Dad You Can Be—in 1 Hour by James Patterson

 



Reviewed by Jeanne

Just in time for Father’s Day, which is probably NOT a coincidence, James Patterson has a little book of advice about how to, well, be the best dad you can be.  It’s both a light-hearted and serious look at the best way to parent.  Patterson says not every suggestion will work for every parent, but he does give easy tips and things to think about.  It’s like having a nice chat with someone whose been there, done that, and here are the highlights of what he’s learned.

One tip I thought was interesting was the suggestion to talk to male friends about being a dad.  Patterson points out that men talk about all sorts of things from business to sports when they get together, but it’s also good to be able to talk about parenting—even if it’s just to vent.  There might be a new perspective from other fathers dealing with the same thing.

Another one I liked was about choosing a name for offspring which involved saying the name out loud many times to decide if it’s really a name that you like, day in and day out, in joy and in frustration. 

He also lists books on parenting and explains why he chose these particular titles.

The book is sprinkled with quotes from fathers, mostly not famous ones, which give insights or tips. 

Finally, he has 17 items on a checklist of things to look at and think about, distilled from the book.  He doesn’t expect everything will work for every dad, but if even a few of these resonate then the time spent with this book will be worth it.

I liked the friendly tone of the book and the simple suggestions.  There were a number of things worth thinking about and not just for parents: some of them are just ideas for human beings.

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Nevermore: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Ride of Her Life, Desert Rose

 Nevermore 5/13/25

Reported by Rita

 

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

This 1969 autobiography captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right.

The audiobook read by Maya Angelou is phenomenal! While parts of her story are painful to hear, her words and voice are powerful.   - HM    5 stars

 

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts

The incredible true story of a woman who rode her horse across America in the 1950s, fulfilling her dying wish to see the Pacific Ocean.

It was amazing the amount of help she received from strangers along the way. A really interesting story.     - MH     4 stars

 

Desert Rose: The Life and Legacy of Coretta Scott King by Edythe Scott Bagley

Desert Rose details Coretta Scott King's upbringing in a family of proud, land-owning African Americans with a profound devotion to the ideals of social equality and the values of education, as well as her later role as her husband's most trusted confidant and advisor.

Filled with moving photos and stories. Worth reading.    AH   - 5 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned:

 

Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age by Kurt W. Beyer

Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Sunpath by Michael Maryk

Cats of the World by Hannah RenΓ’e Shaw

The Easiest Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for Seniors by Mary Ellsworth

Ellis Island & Other Stories by Mark Helprin

Phantom Islands of the Atlantic: The Legends of Seven Lands That Never Were by Donald S. Johnson

The Cartographers: A Novel by Peng Shepherd

My Name is Eva by Suzanne Goldring

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Black Spectacles by John Dickson Carr

Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q Sutanto

The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium, an Englishman's World by Robert Lacey

 

New Books:

 

Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Ornithography: An Illustrated Guide to Bird Lore & Symbolism by Jessica Roux

TVA Photography, 1963-2008: Challenges and Changes in the Tennessee Valley by Patricia Bernard Ezzell

Monday, June 9, 2025

The Paranormal Ranger: A Navajo Investigator’s Search for the Unexplained by Stanley Milford, Jr.

 



Reviewed by Jeanne

Stanley Milford, Jr. was born to a Navajo father and Cherokee mother who divorced when he was a child.  Growing up, his life was divided between living with his mother in Oklahoma and with his father’s family on the Navajo Reservation.  He never learned to speak Navajo but learned the traditional stories, folklore, and beliefs.  He had an interest in law enforcement from a young age, so becoming a Navajo Ranger was in many ways a dream come true. 

Navajo Rangers aren’t strictly law enforcement; their duties are wide-ranging and may include anything from inspecting stock to joining a manhunt to investigating reports of unusual creatures or activity.  The latter investigations increasingly fell to Milford and his fellow Navajo Ranger, Jon Dover.  Many such reports were dismissed by the police and other authorities, but Milford had a commanding officer who felt even these seemingly off-kilter cases should be examined to show the community that their concerns were being taken seriously.

That is one of the major themes running through the book: treating people with respect and not belittling their experiences or accounts. Sometimes the things they investigated could be proved to have a non-supernatural explanation, such as a woman who kept hearing odd noises and finding strange bundles of twigs around her home; others were much more elusive.  Milford himself had some inexplicable experiences, so he has a great deal of empathy for victims.  He also set high standards for the investigations, laying out procedures to be followed just as he would for a more mundane investigation. He also began working with others who had experience in the paranormal world, such as MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) in order to get more expertise.

The book is as much about life on the reservation as it is about the paranormal, which is a plus as far as I’m concerned.  As someone who read all the Tony Hillerman books, I was aware of some of the tribes’ beliefs (the area is also home to other tribes, such as Hopi and Zuni) as well as conditions, but Milford’s vivid accounts made it all feel very real. There are few Rangers in a vast area; the terrain can be difficult to travel; and people often live isolated lives.  Milford also retells some of the Navajo stories about creation and explains a bit of their belief system about skinwalkers, ghosts, and other beings.  Some of these more or less fit into Navajo traditions; others less so. 

I liked Milford’s measured approach to the unknown.  He sometimes speculates about some of the phenomena for which he has no explanation but doesn’t try to come to definitive conclusions.  His approach is open but with a healthy dose of skepticism, though no matter what he concludes, he respects those who tell the stories.  I also like the way his descriptions make the reader feel as if they are right there with him in the heat and the scratchy vegetation.

In short, I quite enjoyed this account.

Friday, June 6, 2025

What Does It Feel Like? By Sophie Kinsella

 



Reviewed by Jeanne

Evie Monroe is a best-selling novelist who has it all, including a case of writer’s block. She’s bored with the book she’s writing when all at once she decides to take her own advice to would-be authors:  write what you know, and write the book you want to read. Immediately she knows what she wants to write and the words just burst forth into her biggest selling novel yet, one optioned for a movie.  It’s a dream.

And then Eve wakes up in a hospital, not sure why she’s there or how long she’s been there.  Her devoted husband Nick is there and says he has been all along. Her children are being taken care of by their grandparents. There was an operation for a brain tumor.  Eve is going to have to relearn a lot of things, and Nick will be by her side.

The advice Eve gives is also the advice Sophie Kinsella takes in this short novel. In 2022, Kinsella was diagnosed with a stage four glioblastoma. She underwent surgery to remove the tumor and has since been undergoing treatment. As she explains in the afterward, this is not her memoir but it is her story. And what a story it is:  courageous, tender, loving, and against the odds, hopeful.  I found it to be both moving and uplifting; treating the story as fictional allows a distance for author and reader to connect in a way that’s personal but not intrusive. It’s very much a love story, but not really a tearjerker. It’s gently amusing, and gently thoughtful, dealing with questions we tend to avoid. 

This was a lovely book and deserves the accolades it has received. I know I will be recommending it to others.

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Nevermore: Black Bird Oracle, Happy-Go-Lucky, Chicken Soup for the Soul

 Nevermore 4-29-25  Reported by Rita

 


The Black Bird Oracle: A Novel (#5 in All Souls Series) by Deborah Harkness

When the Congregation demands she and Matthew test the magic of their 7-year-old twins, Oxford scholar and witch Diana Bishop forges a different path. She confronts her family's dark past and reckons with her desire for even greater power—if she can let go of her fear of wielding it.

Not my favorite book in the series, but it ties up loose ends. It's a really good read.     - MH     4 stars


Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris

The best-selling author offers a new collection of satirical and humorous essays that chronicle his own life and ordinary moments that turn beautifully absurd, including how he coped with the pandemic, his thoughts on becoming an orphan in his seventh decade, and the battle-scared America he discovered when he resumed touri

9 out of 5 stars! This was touching and funny. Absolutely great!     - CD     5 stars  


Chicken Soup for the Soul: Laughter's Always the Best Medicine: 101 Feel-Good Stories by Amy Newmark

Chicken Soup for the Soul's first-ever humor collection, including stories from spouses to parents to children to colleagues and friends that tell about their own mishaps and those most embarrassing moments.

The stories are very happy, funny, and good, but some felt a little repetitive.     - MS     4 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

 

Make Me by Lee Child

A Woman Who Went to Alaska by May Kellogg Sullivan

Moment in Peking by Yutang Lin

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

Boom!: Talking About the Sixties: What Happened, How it Shaped Today, Lessons for Tomorrow by Tom Brokaw

Ernie's War: The Best of Ernie Pyle's World War II Dispatches by Ernie Pyle

Sunpath by Michael Maryk

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage

Living in the Light by Deepak Chopra

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do by Amy Morin

Against the Wind by J. F. Freeman

 

New Books

 

Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More by Jefferson Fisher

King of the North: Martin Luther King's Life of Struggle Outside the South by Jeanne Theoharis

Monday, June 2, 2025

New Books for June!




June

Abbot, Megan  El Dorado Drive

Armstrong, Kelley  Writing Mr. Wrong

Battles, Brett  Stuart Woods’ Finders Keepers

Brennan, Allison  Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds

Burke, James Lee  Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie

Carr, Jack  Cry Havoc

Castle, Jayne  It Takes a Psychic



Coble, Colleen  Where Secrets Lie

Constantine, Liv  Don’t Open Your Eyes

Cosby, S.A.  King of Ashes

Freeman, Dianne  A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder

Harmel, Kristin  The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau

Housewright, David  Them Bones

Jackson, Lisa  It Happened on the Lake

Jewell, Lisa  Don’t Let Him In

Johansen, Iris  Death Mask (Eve Duncan)

Khavari, Kate  A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge

King, Laurie   Knave of Diamonds (Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes)

Lamb, Wally  The River is Waiting

Lippman, Laura  Murder Takes a Vacation



Novak, Brenda  The Summer That Changed Everything

Patterson, James & Clinton, Bill The First Gentleman

Preston & Child  Badlands (Nora Kelly)

Reid, Taylor Jenkins Atmosphere:  A Love Story

Rosnay, Tatiana De  Blonde Dust

Sager, Riley  With a Vengeance

Schellman, Katharine  Last Dance Before Dawn

Shalvis, Jill  The Love Fix

Smith, Martin Cruz  Hotel Ukraine (Renko)

Steel, Danielle  A Mother’s Love

Stiefvater, Maggie The Listeners

Swanson, Peter  Kill Your Darlings

Thayne, RaeAnne  The Lost Book of First Loves

Weaver, Ashley  One Final Turn  (Electra McDonnell)

White, Randy Wayne  Tomlinson’s Wake  (Doc Ford)