Friday, December 30, 2016

Reading - Go Set a Watchman

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
 
 
 
Maycomb, Alabama. Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch—“Scout”—returns home from New York City to visit her aging father, Atticus. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights tensions and political turmoil that were transforming the South, Jean Louise’s homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truths about her close-knit family, the town, and the people dearest to her. Memories from her childhood flood back, and her values and assumptions are thrown into doubt.
 
Go Set a Watchman perfectly captures a young woman, and a world, in painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past—a journey that can only be guided by one’s own conscience.

Monday, December 26, 2016

Reading - The Liar

The Liar by Nora Roberts
 
 
 
Shelby Foxworth lost her husband. Then she lost her illusions…

The man who took her from Tennessee to an exclusive Philadelphia suburb left her in crippling debt. He was an adulterer and a liar, and when Shelby tracks down his safe-deposit box, she finds multiple IDs. The man she loved wasn’t just dead. He never really existed.

Shelby takes her three-year-old daughter and heads south to seek comfort in her hometown, where she meets someone new: Griff Lott, a successful contractor. But her husband had secrets she has yet to discover. Even in this small town, surrounded by loved ones, danger is closer than she knows—and threatens Griff, as well. And an attempted murder is only the beginning...

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Reading - Vixen in Velvet

Vixen in Velvet by Loretta Chase
 
 
 
 
Lethally charming Simon Blair, Marquess of Lisburne, has reluctantly returned to London for one reason only: a family obligation. Still, he might make time for the seduction of a certain redheaded dressmaker—but Leonie Noirot hasn't time for him. She's obsessed with transforming his cousin, the dowdy Lady Gladys, into a swan.
 
Leonie's skills can coax curves—and profits—from thin air, but his criminally handsome lordship is too busy trying to seduce her to appreciate her genius. He badly needs to learn a lesson, and the wager she provokes ought to teach him, once and for all.
 
A great plan, in theory—but Lisburne's become a serious distraction and Leonie's usual logic is in danger of slipping away as easily as a silk chemise. Could the Season's greatest transformation be her own?

Friday, December 16, 2016

Reading - Blue

Blue by Danielle Steel
 
 
Ginny Carter was once a rising star in TV news, married to a top anchorman, with a three-year-old son and a full and happy life in Beverly Hills—until her whole world dissolved in a single instant on the freeway two days before Christmas. In the aftermath, she pieces her life back together and tries to find meaning in her existence as a human rights worker in the worst areas around the globe.

Then, on the anniversary of the fateful accident—and wrestling with the lure of death herself—she meets a boy who will cause her life to change forever yet again. Thirteen-year-old Blue Williams has been living on the streets, abandoned by his family, rarely attending school, and utterly alone. Following her instincts, Ginny reaches out to him. Leery of everyone, he runs from her again and again. But he always returns, and each time, their friendship grows.

Blue glows with outsized spirit and an irresistible mix of innocence and wisdom beyond his years. Ginny offers him respect as they form an unusual bond and become the family they each lost. But just as Blue is truly beginning to trust her, she learns of a shocking betrayal that he has been hiding. Is it a wound too deep to heal, or will she be able to fight the battle that will make them both whole again?

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Reading - Christmas Stories

Christmas Stories by Michael Morpurgo
 
 
Curl up by the fireside and let Michael Morpurgo envelop you in 5 stories of faraway lands and unexpected adventures.
 
In "The Best Christmas Present in the World," a mysterious letter in a secret drawer brings one night in the Great War vividly to life. Writing home from the front, a soldier has an incredible story to tell.
 
The second tale is "On Angel Wings." A singing of wings, a glorious light, and a sudden beacon of brightness? It can only mean—can it really?—a visit from the Angel Gabriel himself.
 
When the Prince and Princess marry in "The Best of Times," joy rings out across the land. But all too soon it fades away and a shadow hangs over the royal palace. As Christmas approaches, Prince Frederico must find a way to warm his new bride's aching heart.
 
In the new story, "The Goose is Getting Fat," Gertrude the goose is getting bigger by the day, and Charlie is proud to look after her. But as Christmas approaches, the thought of the grizzly fate awaiting her fills him with sadness. Can he save Gertrude from the Christmas dinner table?
 
The last stories, "Mimi and the Mountain Dragon", As soon as the bells stop ringing, I'm going to carry you home to your mother, back up to the Mountain Dragon's castle . . .In her castle lair, high in the mountains of Switzerland, lives a terrible dragon. In the village below lives a little girl called Mimi. When Mimi finds a baby dragon in the woodshed, she makes a brave decision that will bring joy and peace to the village forever. This heartwarming holiday adventure for the whole family is the perfect combination of magic, adventure, and Christmas cheer.

Thursday, December 08, 2016

Reading - Juliet, Naked

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
 
 
 
Annie lives in a dull town on England’s bleak east coast and is in a relationship with Duncan that mirrors the place; Tucker, once a brilliant songwriter and performer, has gone into seclusion in rural America—or at least that’s what his fans think. Duncan is obsessed with Tucker’s work to the point of derangement, and when Annie dares to go public on her dislike of his latest album, there are quite unexpected, life-changing consequences for all three.

Sunday, December 04, 2016

Reading - Shades of Gray

Shades of Gray by Kay Hooper
 
 
 
Ruthless, charismatic, and devastatingly handsome, Andres Sereno rules the small South American island of Kadeira with an iron first—and he has abducted the irresistible Sara Marsh to keep her out of harm’s way. Of course, Andres has ulterior motives: He is determined to convince Sara that she cannot live without him. Overwhelmed by his urgent desire, Sara finds Andres hard to resist. But can she trust a man with darkness in his soul and danger in his blood?

Blindsided by a sudden storm with no safe harbor in sight, Sara has no choice but to embrace the fierce warrior who holds her captive. Though Andres tries to shield her from his violent side, Sara knows that she’s tempting fate. Before risking everything, Sara must walk through fire and discover the strength within herself. Only then can she surrender to the primitive force of their desire.

Thursday, December 01, 2016

Reading - Born of Defiance

Born of Defiance by Sherrilyn Kenyon
 
 
Born an Outcast, Talyn Batur has spent the whole of his life fighting against the prejudice of his people. An Andarion without a father is not something anyone wants to be.
 
 But when his companion's brother draws him into a plot against the Andarion crown, he finds himself torn between the loyalty to their planetary government that his mother has beaten into him and his own beliefs of justice and right.

 Now, he must decide for himself to remain a pawn of their government or to defy everything and everyone he's ever known to stand up to tyranny. It's a gamble that will either save his life or end it. And when old enemies align with new ones, it's more than just his own life at risk. And more than just his homeworld that will end should he fail ...

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Reading - Chasing Sunsets

Chasing Sunsets by Karen Kingsbury
 
 
 
Growing up in a comfortable home, Mary Catherine wanted for nothing. Though she loves her wealthy parents, their lifestyle never appealed to her. Instead, Mary Catherine pursues meaning through charity work, giving away a part of herself but never giving away her heart.

Mary Catherine lives in Los Angeles with her roommate, Sami, and volunteers at a local youth center with coach Tyler Ames and LA Dodger Marcus Dillinger. Despite Mary Catherine’s intention to stay single, she finds herself drawing close to Marcus, and their budding romance offers an exciting life she never dreamed of. That is, until she receives devastating news from her doctor. News that alters her future and forces her to make a rash decision.

Inspirational and moving, Chasing Sunsets is the story of one woman’s deep longings of the soul, and the sacrifices she’s willing to make in search of healing.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Reading - Brush of Wings

Brush of Wings by Karen Kingsbury
 
 
 
Despite needing a heart transplant and against the advice of her doctor, Mary Catherine moves to Uganda to work at a new orphanage. Whatever time she has left, Mary Catherine wants to spend it helping children—especially since there will be no children of her own. The only problem is Major League Baseball player Marcus Dillinger, the man she never meant to fall in love with. Neither Marcus nor Mary Catherine’s other friends—Tyler Ames and Sami Dawson—know just how serious her heart condition is.

Still, Marcus is sure in the depths of his soul that something isn’t right. Ultimately his correspondence with Mary Catherine leads him on a desperate life-or-death mission to rescue her and get her to a US hospital before time runs out. Meanwhile, Sami and Tyler struggle with issues of their own. In a season when Tyler plans to ask Sami to marry him, the very core of their relationship is in jeopardy.

The team of angels walking is busier than ever in this epic battle between life and death. Brush of Wings is a poignant tale of love, sacrifice, and the power of faith.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Reading - The Murderer's Daughter

The Murderer's Daughter by Jonathan Kellerman
 
 
 

 A brilliant, deeply dedicated psychologist, Grace Blades has a gift for treating troubled souls and tormented psyches—perhaps because she bears her own invisible scars: Only five years old when she witnessed her parents’ deaths in a bloody murder-suicide, Grace took refuge in her fierce intellect and found comfort in the loving couple who adopted her. But even as an adult with an accomplished professional life, Grace still has a dark, secret side. When her two worlds shockingly converge, Grace’s harrowing past returns with a vengeance.

Both Grace and her newest patient are stunned when they recognize each other from a recent encounter. Haunted by his bleak past, mild-mannered Andrew Toner is desperate for Grace’s renowned therapeutic expertise and more than willing to ignore their connection. And while Grace is tempted to explore his case, which seems to eerily echo her grim early years, she refuses—a decision she regrets when a homicide detective appears on her doorstep.

An evil she thought she’d outrun has reared its head again, but Grace fears that a police inquiry will expose her double life. Launching her own personal investigation leads her to a murderously manipulative foe, one whose warped craving for power forces Grace back into the chaos and madness she’d long ago fled.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Reading - A week in Winter

A week in Winter by Maeve Binchy
 
 
 
Stoneybridge is a small town on the west coast of Ireland where all the families know each other. When Chicky Starr decides to take an old, decaying mansion set high on the cliffs overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, everyone thinks she is crazy. Helped by Rigger (a bad boy turned good who is handy around the house) and Orla, her niece (a whiz at business), Stone House is finally ready to welcome its first guests to the big warm kitchen, log fires, and understated elegant bedrooms. Laugh and cry with this unlikely group as they share their secrets and—maybe—even see some of their dreams come true. Full of Maeve’s trademark warmth and humor, once again, she embraces us with her grand storytelling.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Reading - The Woodcutter

The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill
 
 
 
On the surface, Wolf Hadda's life has been a fairytale.  From humble origins as a Cumbrian wooductter's son, he becomes a hugely successful entrepreneur and marries his childhood sweetheart.  But all good things must come to an end .....
 
Wolf is woken on his wedding anniversary by a police raid - and imprisoned for crimes he swears he didn't commit.  His wife abandons him as further evidence hammers nails into his coffin, and he retreats into silence for years.
 
Why would anyone destroy his life so sompletely?   Wolf would kill for an answer to his question.  He is certain of two things : that the truth lies in a lingering mystery from his youth, and that he hasn't committed a crime worth being locked up for - not yet ...

Friday, November 04, 2016

Reading - The Beacon

The Beacon by Susan Hill
 
 
 
Colin. May. Frank. Berenice. The Prime children grew up in a bleak country farm house called The Beacon. Colin and Berenice married locally. May went to university in London, but came home within a year and never left again. Only Frank, quiet, watchful Frank, got away. He left for Fleet Street and a career in journalism but its the publication of a book about his childhood that brings the fame and money he craves - and tears his family apart.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Reading - Beneath the Skin

Beneath the Skin by Nicci French
 
 
 
Zoe, Jennifer and Nadia are three women with nothing in common. Except for the man who wants to kill them.

He sends them terrifying letters, full of the intimate details of their lives - and promises that he will bring those lives to a violent, horrible end. But not before he has enjoyed himself.

Invisible and apparently unstoppable, he delights in watching the women suffer, thrilled by his power to leave them utterly helpless, alone in their terror and confusion.

Except they're not all as helpless as he thinks . . .

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Reading - Prayers for Sale

Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas
 
 
It's 1936 and the Great Depression has taken its toll. Up in the high country of the snow-covered Rocky Mountains, eighty-six-year-old Hennie Comfort has lived in Middle Swan, Colorado, since before it was Colorado. When she first meets seventeen-year-old Nit Spindle, Hennie is drawn to the grieving young girl. Nit and her husband have come to this small mining town in search of work, but the loneliness and loss Nit feels are almost too much to bear. One day she notices an old sign that reads prayers for sale in front of Hennie's house. Hennie doesn't actually take money for her prayers, never has, but she invites the skinny girl in anyway. The harsh conditions of life that each has endured create an instant bond, and a friendship is born, one in which the deepest of hardships are shared and the darkest of secrets are confessed.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Reading - Half Hidden

 
Half Hidden by Emma Blair
 
 
 
The news of her fiance's death was a cruel blow for Holly Morgan. From the grim conditions of the hospital operating theatre where Holly is compelled to work long hours alongside the very people responsible for her grief, unexpected bonds of resilience and tenderness are forged.  When friendship turns to love between Holly and a young German doctor, Peter Schmidt, their forbidden passion finds sanctuary at Half Hidden, a deserted house deep within the island countryside.  A refuge where traditional battle lines recede from view in the face of more powerful emotions, it neverless becomes the focus for the war Holly and Peter must fight together - a war where every friend many be an enemy ...

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Reading - The Sun in Her Eyes

The Sun in Her Eyes by Paige Toon
 
 
 
Amber was three when a car crash stole her mother's life. She doesn't remember the accident, but a stranger at the scene has been unable to forget. Now, almost thirty years later, she's trying to track Amber down.

Amber, meanwhile, is married to Ned and living on the other side of the world in London. When her father has a stroke, she flies straight home to Australia to be with him. Away from her husband, Amber finds comfort in her oldest friends, but her feelings for Ethan, the gorgeous, green-eyed man she once fell for, have never been platonic.

As Ethan and Amber grow closer, married life in London feels far away. Then Amber receives a letter that changes everything. 'Before your mother died, she asked me to tell you something…'

Sunday, October 09, 2016

Reading - The Best of Times

The Best of Times by Penny Vincenzi
 
 
 
On an ordinary London afternoon, a truck swerves across five lanes of traffic and creates a tangle of chaos and confusion. As loved ones wait to hear news and the hospital prepares to receive the injured, a dozen lives hang in the balance. A doctor is torn between helping the injured and hiding his young mistress; a bridegroom hopes to get to the church on time; a widow waiting to reunite with a lost love ponders whether she’ll ever see him again; and the mysterious hitchhiker, the only person who knows what really happened, is nowhere to be found.

Thursday, October 06, 2016

Reading - Before I Go to Sleep

Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson
 
 
 
Christine wakes up every morning in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar man. And every morning that man must explain that he is Ben, he is her husband; she is forty-seven years old; and a terrible accident two decades earlier decimated her ability to form new memories. But it's the phone call from a neurologist named Dr. Nash that directs her to her hidden journal. For the past few weeks, Christine has been recording her activities and rereading past entries, learning the facts of her life as retold by the husband upon whom she is completely dependent. As the entries accumulate, Christine finds herself asking more and more questions-about what she missed and what Ben might not be telling her…

Tuesday, October 04, 2016

Reading - The Best of Me

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks
 
 
 
In the spring of 1984, high school students Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole fell deeply, irrevocably in love. Though they were from opposite sides of the tracks, their love for one another seemed to defy the realities of life in the small town of Oriental, North Carolina. But as the summer of their senior year came to a close, unforeseen events would tear the young couple apart, setting them on radically divergent paths.

Now, twenty-five years later, Amanda and Dawson are summoned back to Oriental for the funeral of Tuck Hostetler, the mentor who once gave shelter to their high school romance. Neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever changed their lives. As Amanda and Dawson carry out the instructions Tuck left behind for them, they realize that everything they thought they knew -- about Tuck, about themselves, and about the dreams they held dear -- was not as it seemed. Forced to confront painful memories, the two former lovers will discover undeniable truths about the choices they have made. And in the course of a single, searing weekend, they will ask of the living, and the dead: Can love truly rewrite the past?

Saturday, October 01, 2016

Reading - Midnight: A Gangster Love Story

Midnight: A Gangster Love Story by Sister Souljah
 
 
 
Raised in a wealthy, influential, Islamic African family, Midnight enjoys a life of comfort, confidence, and protection.  Midnight's father provides him with a veil of privilege and deep, devoted love, but he never hides the truth about the fierce challenges of the world outside of his estate.  So when Midnight's father's empire is attacked, he sends Midnight with his mother to the United States.
 
In the street of Brooklyn, a young Midnight uses his Islamic mind-set and African intelligence to rpotect the ones he loves, build a business, reclaim his wealth and status, and remain true to his beliefs.
 
Midnight, a handsome and passionate young man, attracts many women.  How he interacts and deals with them is a unique adventure.  This is a highly sensual and remendous love story about what a man is willing to risk and give to the women he loves most. 
 

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Reading - Dark Places

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
 
 
 
Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer.

Friday, September 23, 2016

Reading - The Chocolate Jewel Case

The Chocolate Jewel Case by Joanna Carl
 
 
 
 
 
Lee and Joe are newlyweds, in her rare free time, Lee works on TenHuis Chocolade's newest offerings, chocolate jewels.
 
When the houseguests from hell arrive : Lee's boy-crazy stepsister, a salesgirl from the shop, an aunt resuperating from her last divorce, a bird-watching night owl, and an unemployed ex-con.  That's seven people with one bathroom - before the arrival of the man claiming to be Joe's father, who has been presumed dead for thirty years.
 
But soon the town of Warner Pier has its very own jewel heist, and then a body is found in the lake. Lee can't help but wonder if the crimes are related. Maybe if she digs up some dirt, she'll hit the mother lode.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Reading - Blue Skies

Blue Skies by Robyn Carr
 
 
 
Nikki Burgess survived a terrible marriage and a worse divorce. She's just about given up hope of ever finding happiness. But when her ex-husband suddenly dies, she gets custody of her kids again—and a chance to start over.

Dixie McPherson, on the other hand, has had way too much love. She has eleven tennis bracelets, dozens of trinkets, piles of sexy lingerie and a tarnished reputation when all she ever wanted was true love, a partner and a family.

Carlisle Bartlett is loyal, kindhearted and the funniest guy slinging drinks in the back of an airplane. But he has an ugly little secret. The only kind of love he's used to comes with bruises.

When Nikki, Dixie and Carlisle are offered the chance to join a new airline in Las Vegas, they don't hesitate. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, these three friends are going in search of their own blue skies.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Reading - Secrets She Left Behind

Secrets She Left Behind by Diane Chamberlain
 
 
 
One afternoon, single mother Sara Weston says that she's going to the store—and never returns. In her absence, she leaves her teenage son alone with his damaged past and a legacy of secrets.

Keith Weston nearly lost his life in an act of arson. He survived—but with devastating physical and emotional scars. Without his mother, he has no one to help him heal, no money, nothing to live for but the medications that numb his pain. Isolated and angry, his hatred has one tight focus: his half sister, Maggie Lockwood.

Nineteen-year-old Maggie Lockwood spent a year in prison for the acts that led up to the fire. Now she's back home. But her release cannot free her from the burden of guilt she carries. She grew up with Keith Weston, played with him as a child…and recently learned they share the same father.

Now the person Keith despises most is the closest thing he has to family—until Sara returns. If Sara returns….

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Reading - Black Beauty

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
 
A Junior Fiction
 
 
 
 
When his beloved owners are forced to sell him, Black Beauty leaves his life as a young, care-free colt behind him and embarks on a working life of misery.  Curelly treated by his new masters.
 
.... we call them dumb aminals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Reading - The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
 
A Junior Fiction
 
 
 
When newly orphaned Mary Lennor arrives from India, everyone at Misselthwaite Manor thinks her a most disagreeable child.  Then one day she finds a garden that has mysteriously been kept locked and hidden for ten years and, with the help of Dickon and her spoilt, invalid cousin Colin, brings the secret garden back to life.

Thursday, September 08, 2016

Reading - Al Capone Does My Shirts

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
 
A Junior Fiction

 
 
 
 
Today I moved to a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water.
 
I'm not the only kid who lives here. There's my sister, Natalie, except she doesn't count. And there are twenty-three other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards or cook's or doctors or electricians for the prison, like my dad does. Plus, there are a ton of murderers, rapists, hit men, con men, stickup men, embezzlers, connivers, burglars, kidnappers and maybe even an innocent man or two, though I doubt it.
 
The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don't want. I never knew prisons could be picky, but I guess they can. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst.
 
Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to.

Monday, September 05, 2016

Reading - The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
 
 
 
On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein bites into her mother's homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the slice. To her horror, she finds that her cheerful mother tastes of despair. Soon, she’s privy to the secret knowledge that most families keep hidden: her father’s detachment, her mother’s transgression, her brother’s increasing retreat from the world. But there are some family secrets that even her cursed taste buds can’t discern.

Thursday, September 01, 2016

Reading - Why Is Brian So Fat?

Why Is Brian So Fat? by Gary Solomon
 
A Junior Fiction
 
 
 
A poignant story of Brian, a twelve-year-old boy who eats instead of feeling to avoid the reality of living with his dysfunctional family.

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Reading - Let the Bells Ring

Let the Bells Ring by Anne Baker
 
 
 
Hannah and her mother Esme are lucky to escape when their home is destroyed during a bombing raid. Forced to move in with Esme's difficult sister-in-law, they make the best of things, and soon Hannah falls for the boy next door, Eric Goodwin. But Esme's worried; she's always been afraid of Eric's father Arnold, and she suspects that Eric is a chip off the old block, full of charm but up to no good. Is innocent Hannah being drawn into an unpredictable and dangerous world of crime?

Monday, August 22, 2016

Reading - No Place Like Home

No Place Like Home  by Mary Higgins Clark
 
 
 
A young woman is ensnared into returning to a place she had wanted to leave behind forever -- her childhood home. There, at the age of ten, Liza Barton had shot her mother, trying desperately to protect her from her estranged step-father, Ted Cartwright. Despite his claim that the shooting was a deliberate act, the Juvenile Court ruled the death an accident. Many people, however, agreed with Cartwright, and the tabloids compared her to the infamous murderess Lizzie Borden, pointing even to the similarity of their names.

To erase Liza's past, her adoptive parents change her name to Celia. At age twenty-eight, a successful interior designer in Manhattan, she marries a childless sixty-year-old widower, Laurence Foster, and they have a son. Before their marriage, she reveals to him her true identity. Two years later, on his deathbed, he makes her swear never to tell anyone so that their son, Jack, will not carry the stigma of her past.

Two years later, Celia is happily remarried. Her peace of mind is shattered when her new husband, Alex Nolan, surprises her with a gift -- the house in Mendham, New Jersey, where she killed her mother. On the day they move in, they find the words little lizzie's place -- beware painted on the lawn, splotches of red paint all over the house, and a skull and crossbones carved into the door.
More and more, there are signs that someone in the community knows Celia's true identity. When Georgette Grove, the real estate agent who sold the house to Alex, is brutally murdered and Celia is the first on the crime scene, she becomes a suspect.
As Celia fights to prove her innocence, she is not aware that she and her son, Jack, are now the targets of a killer.

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Reading - One Summer

One Summer by David Baldacci
 
 
 
It's almost Christmas, but there is no joy in the house of terminally ill Jack and his family. With only a short time left to live, he spends his last days preparing to say goodbye to his devoted wife, Lizzie, and their three children. Then, unthinkably, tragedy strikes again: Lizzie is killed in a car accident. With no one able to care for them, the children are separated from each other and sent to live with family members around the country.
 
Just when all seems lost, Jack begins to recover in a miraculous turn of events. He rises from what should have been his deathbed, determined to bring his fractured family back together. Struggling to rebuild their lives after Lizzie's death, he reunites everyone at Lizzie's childhood home on the oceanfront in South Carolina. And there, over one unforgettable summer, Jack will begin to learn to love again, and he and his children will learn how to become a family once more.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Reading - Silent Night

Silent Night by Mary Higgins Clark
 
 
 
In Silent Night, Brian, a seven-year-old boy, is in New York City at Christmas with his mother and ten-year-old brother to visit his father, critically ill in the hospital. They plan to give him a St. Christopher medal, in the belief that it will make him well. When Brian sees a woman steal his mother's wallet, with the medal in it, he embarks on a dangerous journey that changes the life of his mother and that of the thief.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Reading - Constable & Toop

Constable & Toop by Gareth P. Jones
 
 
 
Something mysterious and terrible is happening throughout Victorian London: Ghosts are disap­pearing. When this reaches the attention of the Ghost Bureau, the diligent but clueless Mr. Lapsewood, a paranormal paper-pusher, is sent to investigate, and what he discovers is grave. The Black Rot has arrived—a voracious spiritual infestation whereby empty haunted houses suck in unsuspecting ghosts and imprison them. Lapsewood’s investigation weaves through the plotlines of several other memorable characters—both living and dead—including an undertaker’s son who can see ghosts, a serial throat-slasher reminiscent of Jack the Ripper, an evangelical exorcist, and many more. The living and dead must work together if they hope to destroy the Black Rot—before it destroys both the ghost and human worlds.

Monday, August 08, 2016

Reading - Twisted Creek

Twisted Creek by Jodi Thomas
 
 
 
Bad luck has been biting at Allie Daniel's heels all her life, so when she inherits a café in a small Texas lake community she's sure there's a catch. But Allie decides to move and brings her grandmother along, since the café gives Nana a chance to do what she loves best-cook. As Allie settles in, she soon discovers that she's not alone anymore-and that sometimes, the only cure for bad luck is gaining the courage to love.

Tuesday, August 02, 2016

Reading - In the Bleak Midwinter

In the Bleak Midwinter by Carol Rivers
 
 
 
Winter 1919. Two months after the Armistice that ended the Great War, and life in London's East End is slowly returning to normal. But for 25-year-old Birdie Connor the battle is only just beginning.

Frank, Birdie's older brother, has been sent to prison for deserting his army post whilst fighting in Belgium, and the shame heaped on the Connor family by their neighbours is unrelenting. Wilfred, Birdie's widowed father, has disowned Frank and vows that he will never set eyes on his son again, but Birdie cannot believe that her brother is guilty

So when Frank escapes from prison and comes to find Birdie in secret, she promises to help him and is determined to prove his innocence. But little does she realise that she is exposing herself to danger as Frank gets himself deeper and deeper into trouble with the so-called friends he met in prison.

Helped by the Connors' lodger, the handsome Harry Chambers, will Birdie be able to find the proof that Frank needs in time to reconcile him to their frail father before it is too late? And can she build a future to keep herself and her younger brother, Patrick, safe?

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Reading - Be Careful What You Wish For

Be Careful What You Wish For by Jeffrey Archer
 
 
 
For opens with Harry Clifton and his wife Emma rushing to hospital to learn the fate of their son Sebastian, who has been involved in a fatal car accident. But who died, Sebastian or his best friend Bruno?
 
 
When Ross Buchanan is forced to resign as chairman of the Barrington Shipping Company, Emma Clifton wants to replace him. But Don Pedro Martinez intends to install his puppet, the egregious Major Alex Fisher, in order to destroy the Barrington family firm just as the company plans to build its new luxury liner, the MV Buckingham.
 
 
Back in London, Harry and Emma's adopted daughter wins a scholarship to the Slade Academy of Art where she falls in love with a fellow student, Clive Bingham, who asks her to marry him. Both families are delighted until Priscilla Bingham, Jessica's future mother-in-law, has a visit from an old friend, Lady Virginia Fenwick, who drops her particular brand of poison into the wedding chalice.
 
 
Then, without warning, Cedric Hardcastle, a bluff Yorkshireman who no one has come across before, takes his place on the board of Barringtons. This causes an upheaval that none of them could have anticipated, and will change the lives of every member of the Clifton and Barrington families. Hardcastle's first decision is who to support to become the next chairman of the board: Emma Clifton or Major Alex Fisher? And with that decision, the story takes yet another twist that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Reading - Lola Rose

Lola Rose by Jacqueline Wilson
 
A Junior Fiction
 
 
My name is Lola Rose.
 
That wasn't always my name.  I used to be plain old Jayni - until my dad lost his temper, and things became really scary at home.
 
We had to run away in the middle of the night - me, my mum and my little brother Kenny.
 
Now we're starting again in London - new names, new identities, a brand-new life.  But escaping the past isn't as easy as I thought.  And Dad might find us one day ....
 
 
 
 

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Reading - Together for Christmas

Together for Christmas by Carol Rivers
 
 
 
August 1914, London. Britain has just declared war on Germany, and the whole country seems to be in uproar. Flora, Hilda and Will, who grew up together in St Boniface orphanage sit in the sunshine in Hyde Park on a rare day off, discussing the impending war and the changes it will bring to their lives. Will means to go off to fight, Hilda hopes to better her current lot in life as a maid at the charitable institute, Hailing House, but Flora is content with her job as assistant to the Isle of Dogs' kindly Doctor Tapper. Taking a vow, they pledge to always be there for each other, come what may.

It soon becomes clear that the war will not be over by Christmas, as so many thought, and the first zeppelin raids bring casualties flooding into the surgery where Flora works. Tragedy strikes in the trenches, too, and Will returns home with physical and mental wounds too deep for Flora to be able to nurse back to health.

In the meantime, Hilda has taken herself away from London to work as a maid at the sumptuous house of Adelphi. But it is not long before she finds herself out of her depth. And the consequences of her choices will lead to a shocking discovery that will change the course of the three orphans lives forever.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Reading - Rooftoppers

 
Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
 
A Junior Fiction
 
 
Everyone tells Sophie that she was orphaned in a shipwreck,  but Sophie is convinced her mother also survived.  When no one believes her, Sophie sets out to prove them wrong.
 
On the run from the authorities, Sophie finds Matteo - a boy walks tightropes and lives in the sky ....  In a race across the rooftops of Paris, will they be able to find her mother, before it's too late ?

Monday, July 18, 2016

Reading - The Wyrm King (Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 3)

The Wyrm King (Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 3)
by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black
A Junior Fiction
 
 
 
In the final installment of Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Nick and Laurie had thought they solved their giant problems when they drove all the giants into the sea. But now, the Grace kids have come back to tell them they may have more trouble coming their way!

It turns out the giants control the population of Hydra, a dragon like creature that is creating sinkholes all over Florida. But with the mermaids refusing to return the giants to the shore, the nixie's still missing and the threat of a destroyed Florida drawing closer, the kids have to take matters in their own hands.

Will Nick and Laurie be able to stop the destruction they unwittingly caused? Can a new giant hunter help save the day? Can Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide help them out of this or are they on their own?

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Reading - A Giant Problem (Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 2)

A Giant Problem (Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 2)
by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black
A Junior Fiction
 
 
 
Starting where A NIXIE'S SONG ended, the story has Nick and Laurie facing a calamitous invasion of giants. When the giants burn down their housing development, Nick and Laurie turn to the mermaids for advice. The rippling, echoing voices of the cruel mermaids add an exotic element to the audio performance.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Reading - The Wrath of Mulgarath (The Spiderwick Chronicles) - Book 5 of 5

 
The Wrath of Mulgarath (The Spiderwick Chronicles) - Book 5 of 5 by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black
 
A Junior Fiction
 
 
 
Thirteen-year-old Mallory and nine-year-old twins Jared and Simon return to the Spiderwick Estate only to find their home in shambles, with trash and broken furniture scattered across the lawn and Simon's griffin chasing a "goblin" across the roof. The faerie world that the Grace kids have so slowly probed in this series has finally come home to roost.


Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Reading - The Ironwood Tree (The Spiderwick Chronicles) - Book 4 of 5

The Ironwood Tree (The Spiderwick Chronicles) - Book 4 of 5 by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black
 
 A Junior Fiction
 
 
 
The Grace children are back for their fourth adventure in the quest to understand and protect Arthur Spiderwick's guide, a book that offers information about the faerie world. Mallory, the oldest, goes missing from a fencing match. The twins, Jared and Simon, must solve a riddle to save her from evil dwarves who want to create a world totally out of metal with their sister as their queen.
 

Saturday, July 09, 2016

Reading - Lucinda's Secret (The Spiderwick Chronicles) - Book 3 of 5

Lucinda's Secret  (The Spiderwick Chronicles) - Book 3 of 5 by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black
 
A Junior Fiction
 
 
 
The Grace kids--13-year-old Mallory and 9-year-old twins Jared and Simon--get to catch their breath in the third installment of the Spiderwick Chronicles, as they visit their "crazy old" Aunt Lucinda for some help in deciding the fate of the troublesome Field Guide.
 
Fresh from near-fatal goblin and troll attacks in the previous book (The Seeing Stone), the children are torn over whether to hang onto their long-lost great-great-uncle's book or to turn it over to the menacing faeries. Thimbletack--the house brownie who's transmogrified into an angry "boggart"--has lost his patience with the kids, and he starts subjecting Jared to increasingly nasty pranks. Hoping that Lucinda might know something about Uncle Arthur's fate (or at least have some advice on how to fend off the faeries), the three children talk their mom into a trip to the asylum for a visit--but there they learn their situation might be even more dangerous than they imagined. (And, as readers of the series know, the kids already thought they were in hot water.)
 
 
 

Thursday, July 07, 2016

Reading - The Seeing Stone (The Spiderwick Chronicles) - Book 2 of 5

The Seeing Stone (The Spiderwick Chronicles) - Book 2 of 5 by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black
 
A Junior Fiction
 
 
 
After making tentative peace with Thimbletack (a coveralled house brownie who's "the size of a pencil"), Jared chooses to ignore the creature's pleas that he destroy his great-great-uncle's mysterious tome, Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. Thimbletack warns, "You kept the book despite my advice./Sooner or later there'll be a price." Sure enough, the brownie soon sniffs out a "fell smell in the air," and the disappearance of Simon's new cat starts to make sense. And if the chapter titled "IN WHICH Mallory Finally Gets to Put Her Rapier to Good Use" doesn't get your heart racing as fast as the kids', just wait till you get a load of the troll. ("Cooome baaack. I haaave something for youuu.")

Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Reading - The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles) - Book 1 of 5

The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles) - Book 1 of 5 by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black
 
A Junior Fiction
 
 
 
 
 
After finding a mysterious, handmade field guide in the attic of the ramshackle old mansion they’ve just moved into, Jared; his twin brother, Simon; and their older sister, Mallory, discover that there’s a magical and maybe dangerous world existing parallel to our own—the world of faerie.

The Grace children want to share their story, but the faeries will do everything possible to stop them...

Sunday, July 03, 2016

Reading - Doll Bones

Doll Bones by Holly Black
 
A Junior Fiction
 
 
Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they’ve been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her.

But they are in middle school now. Zach’s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she’s been having dreams about the Queen—and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.

Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen’s ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches?