Reading - The Puzzling World of Winston Breen

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin

 

A Junior Fiction

 

 

 

Winston Breen says the only thing better than discovering a puzzle is stumping someone else with it. But when his sister uncovers mysterious strips of wood with words and letters on them, even Winston himself is stumped. Soon the whole family (and some friends) are caught up in the mystery and off on a scavenger hunt that just may lead to a ring worth thousands of dollars! Chock-full of puzzles to solve, some tied to the mystery and some not, this treasure hunt will keep readers' brains teased right up to the exciting ending!

Reading - Breaking Stalin's Nose

Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin

 

A Junior Fiction

 

 

 

Sasha Zaichik has known the laws of the Soviet Young Pioneers since the age of six:
The Young Pioneer is devoted to Comrade Stalin, the Communist Party, and Communism.
A Young Pioneer is a reliable comrade and always acts according to conscience.
A Young Pioneer has a right to criticize shortcomings.

But now that it is finally time to join the Young Pioneers, the day Sasha has awaited for so long, everything seems to go awry. He breaks a classmate's glasses with a snowball. He accidentally damages a bust of Stalin in the school hallway. And worst of all, his father, the best Communist he knows, was arrested just last night.

Eugene Yelchin's moving story of a ten-year-old boy's world shattering is masterful in its simplicity, powerful in its message, and heartbreaking in its plausibility.

Reading - White Cat

White Cat by Holly Black

A Junior Fiction

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers—people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, all by the slightest touch of their hands. Since curse work is illegal, they’re all criminals. But not Cassel. He hasn’t got the magic touch, so he’s an outsider—the straight kid in a crooked family—as long as you ignore one small detail: He killed his best friend, Lila. Now he is sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat. He also notices that his brothers are keeping secrets from him. As Cassel begins to suspect he’s part of one huge con game, he must unravel his past and his memories. To find out the truth, Cassel will have to outcon the conmen.

Reading - The Gift

The Gift by Cecelia Ahern

 

 

 

Lou Suffern is a busy man, and his family's growing weary of constantly taking the backseat to his career. On a whim, he offers Gabe, a homeless man he meets outside his office, a low-level job, and the uncharacteristically kind gesture plays out in a very unexpected way when Lou learns that Gabe has the power to be in two places at once. As the holidays draw nearer, Gabe tries to make Lou realize the importance of his family, but slow-to-change Lou might not come around to Gabe's way of thinking until it's too late.

Reading - Love, Rosie

Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern

 

 

 

Rosie and Alex are destined for each other, and everyone seems to know it but them. Best friends since childhood, they are separated as teenagers when Alex and his family relocate from Dublin to Boston. Like two ships always passing in the night, Rosie and Alex stay friends, and though years pass, the two remain firmly attached via emails and letters. Heartbroken, they learn to live without each other. But destiny is a funny thing, and in this novel o f several missed opportunities, Rosie and Alex learn that fate isn't quite done with them yet.

Reading - The Book of Tomorrow

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

 

 

 

Tamara Goodwin always had everything she wanted.  Why would she ever give a thought to tomorrow?

 

But suddenly life takes a difficult turn, and Tamara faces the hard decision to swap her glamorous town living for life in the country.  However, Tamara is soon lonely and longing for her old life.

 

Then a travelling library arrives in the village, bringing with it a mysterious leather-bound book locked with a gold clasp and padlock,  What Tamara discovers within its pages takes her breath away and shakes her world forever.

 

An unforgettable story about how tomorrow can change what happens today ...

Reading - PS, I Love You

PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

 

 

Gerry's death devastates Holly. But as her 30th birthday looms, Gerry comes back to her. He's left her a bundle of notes, one for each of the months after his death, gently guiding Holly into her new life without him, each note signed 'PS, I Love You'. As the notes are gradually opened, and as the year unfolds, Holly is both cheered up and challenged. The man who knows her better than anyone sets out to teach her that life goes on.

With some help from her friends, and her noisy and loving family, Holly finds herself laughing, crying, singing, dancing--and being braver than ever before. Life is for living, she realises--but it always helps if there's an angel watching over you.

Reading - Getting Personal

Getting Personal by Chris Manby

 

 

 

Ruby, Martin and Lou are three old friends who have spent too much time talking about the ones that got away. Facing another summer without love, they decide to approach the dating dilemma in the way they approached finding flatmates. They're going to place personal ads. For one another.

Will it tempt their dream date/soul mate? Or is it a recipe for romantic disaster?

Reading - Sweet Salt Air

Sweet Salt Air by Barbara Delinsky

 

On Quinnipeague, hearts open under the summer stars and secrets float in the Sweet Salt Air...

 

Charlotte and Nicole were once the best of friends, spending summers together in Nicole's coastal island house off of Maine. But many years, and many secrets, have kept the women apart. A successful travel writer, single Charlotte lives on the road, while Nicole, a food blogger, keeps house in Philadelphia with her surgeon-husband, Julian. When Nicole is commissioned to write a book about island food, she invites her old friend Charlotte back to Quinnipeague, for a final summer, to help. Outgoing and passionate, Charlotte has a gift for talking to people and making friends, and Nicole could use her expertise for interviews with locals. Missing a genuine connection, Charlotte agrees.

 

But what both women don't know is that they are each holding something back that may change their lives forever. For Nicole, what comes to light could destroy her marriage, but it could also save her husband. For Charlotte, the truth could cost her Nicole's friendship, but could also free her to love again. And her chance may lie with a reclusive local man, with a heart to soothe and troubles of his own.