Reading - Middle School: Save Rafe!

Middle School: Save Rafe! by James Patterson

After a rough summer, Rafe is heading back to the dreaded Hills Village Middle School, the site of the very worst years of his life. And as if that's not bad enough, he's learned that he's going to be held back a year unless he can prove himself on an outdoor survival excursion--complete with dangerous white-water rafting, dizzying rock climbing, and fanatical counselors. Rafe and the rest of the pack of "delinquent" trainees are forced to cooperate as they prepare for the final test: a solo excursion in the deep woods. Can Rafe come out of the experience in one piece? And if he does, will he go home as the same insecure kid?

Reading - Blood Foam

Blood Foam by Brendan Dubois

A wounded and healing Lewis Cole—retired Department of Defense analyst and magazine columnist—returns to his fire-damaged home on Tyler Beach with two things on his mind: to recover from a bullet wound and to repair his nearly two hundred-year-old home before a hurricane scours his house into the unforgiving ocean.

But just when his work has begun, former lover and journalist Paula Quinn comes to him with an urgent request. Her fiancé, attorney Mark Spencer, has gone missing. Phone calls, e-mails, and text messages have gone unanswered. His car is gone, and his home is empty.

Lewis is Paula’s last hope to find her missing fiancé, and despite his fear for what might happen to his home, Lewis agrees to search for the missing attorney.

But one puzzling aspect of Mark’s life leads to Lewis asking more questions . . . until gunfire suddenly erupts in placid downtown Tyler. And Lewis and Paula find themselves on the run from a deadly gang, who are also searching for Mark Spencer—to find him and kill him for a past betrayal. So Lewis begins a difficult quest while his own world is threatened by ruthless men and gathering storm clouds.

Reading - Death of the Demon

Death of the Demon by Anne Holt

In a foster home outside Oslo, a twelve-year-old boy is causing havoc. The institution’s steely director, Agnes Vestavik, sees something chilling in Olav’s eyes: sheer hatred. When Vestavik is found murdered at her desk, stabbed in the back with an Ikea kitchen knife—with Olav nowhere to be found—the case goes to maverick investigator Hanne Wilhelmsen, recently promoted to chief inspector in the Oslo Police. 

Could the child be a murderer? As police canvass the city for Olav, Hanne, working alongside the foulmouthed detective Billy T., orders an investigation of the home’s employees. But despite her supreme deductive skills, she is hopeless at delegating, hopeless at pooling information, hopeless at sharing responsibilities. Can Hanne learn to trust others before her bullheaded instincts lead her astray—in the workplace and on the home front? 

Meanwhile, Olav makes his way through the city, looking for the mother who was forced to consign him to the state’s care. A dark and captivating new chapter in this brilliant, rollicking series, Death of the Demon examines that murky intersection between crime and justice.

Reading - The New Mrs Clifton

The New Mrs Clifton by Elizabeth Buchan

As the Second World War draws to a close, Intelligence Officer Gus Clifton surprises his sisters at their London home.  But an even greater shock is the woman he brings with him, Krista - the German wife whom he has married secretly in Berlin.

Krista is clearly devastated by her experiences at the hands of the British and their allies - all but broken by horrors she cannot share.  But Gus's sisters can only see the enemy their brother has brought under their roof.  And their friend Bella, Gus's beautiful, loyal fiancee, cannot understand what made Gus change his mind about her.

What hold does Krista have over their  honourable Gus? And how can the three women get her out of their home, their future, their England?

Reading - So Say the Fallen

So Say the Fallen by Stuart Neville

When DCI Serena Flanagan is asked to sign off the suicide of a severely disabled local businessman, she finds herself envying the grieving widow's comfortable life and devoted marriage, until the widow's close relationship with the local rector begins to sound an alarm.  But with a clean crime scene and no evidence to back her up, have Serena's instincts led her down the wrong path?

With her husband struggling to deal with the aftermath of an attack that nearly cost him his life, and her young children anxious and unhappy, Serena's determination to unlock the mystery of what happened in that house may cost her her job - and her family.

Reading - Enchanter

Enchanter by Vladimir Nabokov

A middle-aged, well-off, outwardly respectable man sits on a part bench, contemplating the depths of his 'murky soul' and his obsession with young girls.  When he spies a coltish, russet-haired beauty on a roller skates, he makes it his mission to seduce her, even if he must marry her ailing mother to do so.  Planning his every move with the precision and coolness of a chess player, he ultimately choreographs his own downfall.

Reading - A Second Shot of Coffee with Jesus

A Second Shot of Coffee with Jesus by David Wilkie

A Comic Strip

The wildly popular online comic Coffee with Jesus, described by Library Journal as offering "disarmingly funny reflections on human failings and faith," is back with a venti-sized second volume. Find yourself in your favorite characters, and laugh with Jesus at the absurdities of our world and the ways we walk in it. Follow your favorite characters as they honestly engage with Jesus about their successes and failures and wants and needs, effectively showing what conversation with God―or prayer―might look like. These poignant and pointed visual vignettes are rife with good theology and will have you laughing for days.

Reading - My Not So Perfect Life

My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella

Everywhere Katie Brenner looks, someone else is living the life she longs for, particularly her boss, Demeter Farlowe. Demeter is brilliant and creative, lives with her perfect family in a posh townhouse, and wears the coolest clothes. Katie’s life, meanwhile, is a daily struggle—from her dismal rental to her oddball flatmates to the tense office politics she’s trying to negotiate. No wonder Katie takes refuge in not-quite-true Instagram posts, especially as she's desperate to make her dad proud.

Then, just as she’s finding her feet—not to mention a possible new romance—the worst happens. Demeter fires Katie. Shattered but determined to stay positive, Katie retreats to her family’s farm in Somerset to help them set up a vacation business. London has never seemed so far away—until Demeter unexpectedly turns up as a guest. Secrets are spilled and relationships rejiggered, and as the stakes for Katie’s future get higher, she must question her own assumptions about what makes for a truly meaningful life.

Reading - The Final Word

The Final Word by Liza Marklund

As a journalist, she's always been at the front line of criminal reporting, alongside the investigating officers.  And now a court case that she's been reporting on - the savage murder of a homeless man - has begun to attract a lot of attention.  With the stakes rising by the day, Annika is once again flung to the heart of a complex case.

But nagging at the back of her mind is her siste's mysterious absence.  After a series of anxious text messages, she's not heard another word.  In the midst of a tense public situation, Annika's own complicated past looks set to rear its head.

Reading - Summer on the River

Summer on the River by Marcia Willett

Evie loved the house. The bright, sunny rooms looking across the river. The terraced gardens with fruit trees growing against the high stone walls. The scent of lavender at the end of a hot day. 

It was a family house. 

As summer beckons, Evie’s family gathers once more at the beautiful old riverside house they all adore. But when Evie discovers a secret that threatens their future, a shadow falls over them all: this summer by the river could be their last together . . .

For Charlie, a visit home to see stepmother Evie is an escape from his unhappy marriage in London. Until a chance encounter changes everything: in the space of a moment, he meets a woman by the river, falls in love, and his two worlds collide.

As Evie and Charlie struggle to keep their secrets safe, they long for the summer to never end . . . Can the happiness of one summer last for ever?

Reading - The Falls

The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates

It is 1950 and, after a disastrous honeymoon night, Ariah Erskine's young husband throws himself into the roaring waters of Niagara Falls. Ariah, "the Widow Bride of the Falls," begins a relentless seven-day vigil in the mist, waiting for his body to be found. At her side is confirmed bachelor and pillar of the community Dirk Burnaby, who is unexpectedly drawn to her. What follows is a passionate love affair, marriage, and family -- a seemingly perfect existence. But tragedy soon takes over their lives, poisoning their halcyon years with distrust, greed, and murder.

Reading - The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror

The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror by Joyce Carol Oates

Bold and haunting, The Doll-Master and Other Tales is a collection of six psychologically daring stories from Joyce Carol Oates. 

In the title story, a boy becomes obsessed with his cousin’s doll after she tragically passes away, and as he grows older, he begins to collect “found dolls” from surrounding neighborhoods. But just what kind of dolls are they? 

In “Gun Accident,” a teenage girl is delighted to house-sit for her favorite teacher, until an intruder forces his way inside the old Colonial—changing more than one life forever. 

A white man shoots dead an unarmed black youth creating a media frenzy.  But could it have been self-defense as he claims ?

A nervous woman tries to escape her husband.  He says he loves her, but she's convinced he wants to kill her ...

These quietly lethal stories reveal the horrors that dwell within us all. 

Reading - Moon Bear

Moon Bear by Gill Lewis

A Junior Fiction

Twelve-year-old Tam, on a dare, ventures into a moon bear den in the mountains of Northern Laos. His goal is to steal the cub and sell it, making a fortune for his family. But the mother bear’s unexpected return upends Tam’s plan, and he barely escapes with his life. And then his life implodes anyway: his entire mountain village is made to relocate to make room for a new highway. Lured by the promise of electricity, running water, and a television, Tam’s people move to an overcrowded village, where Tam’s father is killed by a stray landmine.

Now the family breadwinner, Tam is forced to work hundreds of miles away in the city of Laos, at a moon bear farm where bile from bear gall bladders is used for medicine. It is a cruel, miserable place, and when a familiar face—the very cub he’d seen in the den in Vietnam—is sold to the bear farm, Tam knows he must save this moon bear, no matter what it takes.

Deeply and powerfully moving, Moon Bear is an unforgettable story of compassion, hope, and bravery against overwhelming odds, and brings to light the real-life, heartwrenching plight of Asia’s endangered moon bears.

Reading - May We Be Forgiven

May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes

Harold Silver has spent a lifetime watching his more successful younger brother, George, acquire a covetable wife, two kids, and a beautiful home in the suburbs of New York City. When George’s murderous temper results in a shocking act of violence, both men are hurled into entirely new lives.May We Be Forgiven digs deeply into the near biblical intensity of fraternal relationships, our need to make sense of things, and our craving for connection. It is an unnerving tale of unexpected intimacies and of how one deeply fractured family might begin to put itself back together.

Reading - Hesitant Heiress

Hesitant Heiress by Dawn Crandall

After being unjustly expelled from the Boston Conservatory of Music, Amaryllis Brigham sees her dreams of founding a music academy in her hometown of Seattle, Washington, disappearing before her very eyes. Now, the only way to achieve her goal comes with high stakes for someone set on avoiding men as much as possible: Marry within the year to inherit the immense fortune of her estranged grandmother. Amaryllis reluctantly moves in to her aunt's Boston home and rubs shoulders with fashionable society. Despite her own misgivings, she soon finds herself quickly falling in love with the most unlikely of men--Nathan Everstone, the envy of every eligible female, whose father has haunted her dreams for the decade following her mother's tragic death. However, Nathan turns out to be much more than he seems...and everything she never knew she wanted. But just as everything Amaryllis has recently hoped for comes to fruition, it all falls apart when she finds that the real culprit who has been managing her life isn't who she thought at all.

Reading - Middle School: Just My Rotten Luck

Middle School: Just My Rotten Luck by James Patterson

A Junior Fiction

In this seventh Middle School episode, Rafe heads back to the place his misadventures began: the dreaded Hills Village Middle School, where he's now being forced to take "special" classes.. He also finds himself joining the school's football team--alongside his main tormenter, Miller the Killer! But Rafe has grand plans for a better year: First, he decides to start a super-secret art project that's sure to rock the school. Then, if Rafe manages to make a play to save his team, he might have to deal with something completely new: popularity!

Reading - Middle School: Dog's Best Friend

Middle School: Dog's Best Friend by James Patterson

A Junior Fiction

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and Rafe Khatchadorian is just trying to live in it. Life in middle school is finally starting to seem bearable-until Rafe spots his grandmother standing on the free-meal line at the local soup kitchen. In order to help bring in more money, Rafe concocts a brilliant plan-a dog-walking business that soon turns into a huge money-making neighborhood empire. He'll even have extra cash to buy his own WormHole Deluxe Multi-Platform GameBox!

That is, until two terrible twins launch the Great Dog War by sabotaging Rafe's flyers and stealing his customers. Plus, his bratty kid sister Georgia has skipped a grade-so now she's in all of Rafe's classes. Throw a kid a bone!

Reading - Big Nate : Lives It Up

Lives It Up by Lincoln Peirce

A Junior Fiction

Principal Nichols wants Nate to be buddies with new kid Breckenridge Puffington III and show him around. But that’s no easy task when Breckenridge is a plant-doodling total fun-sponge. There’s also something strangely familiar about this guy. . . . What in the world could it be? 

Meet BIG NATE, Mr. Big-time Doodler and definitely NOT the teacher’s pet.

Reading - A Flight of Arrows

A Flight of Arrows by Lori Benton

Twenty years past, in 1757, a young Redcoat, Reginald Aubrey stole a newborn boy—the lighter-skinned of Oneida twins— during the devastating fall of Fort William Henry and raised him as his own. 

No one connected to Reginald escaped unscathed from this crime. Not his adopted daughter Anna. Not Stone Thrower, the Native American father determined to get his son back. Not Two Hawks, William’s twin brother separated since birth, living in the shadow of his absence and hoping to build a future with Anna. Nor Lydia, who longs for Reginald to be free from his self-imposed emotional prison and embrace God’s forgiveness— and her love. 

Now William, whose identity has been shattered after discovering the truth of his birth, hides in the ranks of an increasingly aggressive British army. The Redcoats prepare to attack frontier New York and the Continentals, aided by Oneida warriors including Two Hawks, rally to defend it. As the Revolutionary War penetrates the Mohawk Valley, two families separated by culture, united by love and faith, must find a way to reclaim the son marching toward them in the ranks of their enemies. 

Reading - Letters from Paris

 Letters from Paris by Juliet Blackwell

After surviving the accident that took her mother’s life, Claire Broussard has worked hard to escape her small Louisiana hometown. But these days she feels something is lacking. Abruptly leaving her lucrative job in Chicago, Claire returns home to care for her ailing grandmother. There, she unearths a beautiful piece of artwork that her great-grandfather sent home from Paris after World War II. 

At her grandmother’s urging, Claire travels to Paris to track down the century-old mask-making atelier where the object, known only as “L’Inconnue”—or The Unknown Woman—was created. Under the watchful eye of a surly mask-maker, Claire discovers a cache of letters that offers insight into the life of the Belle Epoque woman immortalized in the work of art. As Claire explores the unknown woman’s tragic fate, she begins to unravel deeply buried secrets in her own life.