Staff Recommendations
Daryl M.
Pages
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Oona Out of Order
by Montimore, Margarita
May 11, 2020
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Imagine it is New Year’s Eve, 1982. Oona is 18 years old and will be 19 at midnight as the year changes to 1983. She has her whole life ahead of her, including the type of life altering “big decisions” that face everyone at that age. But, when Oona opens her eyes after the clock strikes 12:00 midnight, she’s not 19 (at least on the outside) but 51. The year is not 1983 but 2015, and she’s in a completely different location. And so begins Oona’s less than linear life in Margarita Montimore’s Oona Out of Order.In her debut novel, Margarita Montimore explores not only how dependent we... Read Full Review
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Heart of Junk
by Geddes, Luke
April 20, 2020
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Hmm, what could the following all have in common: an aging antique mall in Wichita, Kansas, where well established and novice sellers are struggling to keep the doors open in the age of online shopping; a child beauty pageant queen who has mysteriously vanished; and the hosts of a phenomenally popular television show about buying and selling antiques. While seemingly unrelated, all of these individuals and events will collide in surprising and hilarious ways in Luke Geddes’ debut novel Heart of Junk. Geddes, author of the short story collection I Am a Magical Teenage... Read Full Review
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Eight Perfect Murders: A Novel
by Swanson, Peter
March 23, 2020
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The owner of a Boston bookshop specializing in mysteries posts a list of books on the store’s blog. It is entitled “Eight Perfect Murders” and it lists the novels he feels have described unsolvable murders. These are murders in which the killers cannot be connected with their crimes. Years later, he is contacted by an FBI agent. She believes that a series of unsolved murders in the area surrounding Boston are being committed to mimic the deaths in the books on the “Eight Perfect Murders” blog post. As bookshop owner is the person who created the list, she needs his help to determine not only... Read Full Review
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Ormeshadow
by Sharma, Priya
March 9, 2020
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It is often stated that “The meek will inherit the earth.” While that is a nice sentiment, it is not affirmed by history. More often than not, those who hold their tongues and think before speaking, as well as those who avoid confrontation and violence to resolve conflict are the ones overrun by their more vocal, physical, and aggressive counterparts. However, every now and again a story is told about someone who, while meek, succeeds against those who would threaten them. That is the person who holds to their ideals, and ultimately benefits. If there are dragons involved, could it get... Read Full Review
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The Secret Life of Sam Holloway
by Thomas, Rhys
February 18, 2020
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Sam Holloway is a good guy, who is kind and thoughtful, with a stable, but not terribly exciting, job with an electronic parts distributor. He meets up with a couple of friends several nights a week at a local pub, where they talk about comics, movies, videogames and what it might be like to meet a nice woman. Yes, Sam is a bit of a geek, but he is also a nice guy, and everyone seems to know that. What no one knows though, is that on nights when Sam isn’t at the pub with his friends, he dons a homemade superhero costume (You can order pretty much anything off of the Internet!), and patrols... Read Full Review
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Made things
by Tchaikovsky, Adrian, 1972-
January 27, 2020
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Coppelia is not quite a thief and not quite a con-artist. What she is, or could be if she were living a different life, is an artist. A builder who could create function and beauty from raw materials, but only in a different life. A life where her parents hadn’t been taken to a workhouse, leaving Coppelia to be sent to an orphanage. A life where she hadn’t fled that orphanage with only the clothes on her back, left to scrape out a living on the streets of the Barrio in Fountains Parish. But living on the street has made Coppelia both a thief and a con-artist, and it has also given her one... Read Full Review
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Riot Baby
by Onyebuchi, Tochi
January 13, 2020
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Ella has what she refers to as her Thing. It allows her to see things that have not yet happened. As a young girl growing up in Compton, California, this is more of a curse than a blessing. Ella is rarely happy by the future she sees. And, as she grows older, her Thing will allow her to do more than simply see into the future.Kev is born in the early hours of the riots that erupted in South Central Los Angeles in the spring of 1992. He and Ella are moved to the East Coast and Harlem by their mother after the riots. Life is hard for people of color in Harlem and Kev is no exception. He is... Read Full Review
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Steel Crow Saga
by Krueger, Paul
December 30, 2019
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A prince, a soldier, a detective, and a thief. Four very different people, with very different histories and experiences. There are two things that they all share: they have survived the war that just ended, and during that war they have all suffered significant losses. Over the course of a few days, the prince, the soldier, the detective and the thief will learn, in very real, tangible ways that they are more alike than unalike, and it is a lesson that very well may change their world.Sergeant Tala, of the army of the Republic of Sanbu, is a warrior. She has fought in the war her entire... Read Full Review
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The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl
by Goss, Theodora
December 16, 2019
Call Number: M
In The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, Theodora Goss introduced readers to The Athena Club whose members are Mary Jekyll, Diana Hyde, Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau and Justine Frankenstein. They are the daughters of some of speculative fiction’s maddest scientists. In that novel, The Athena Club assisted with solving a series of murders in Whitechapel. The second novel,... Read Full Review
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The Starless Sea
by Morgenstern, Erin
December 2, 2019
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In 2011, Erin Morgenstern made an unforgettable impression on readers with her debut novel, The Night Circus, which is about a challenge between two ancient beings. Each selects an apprentice, whom they then raise and train to compete. The arena for the competition is the wondrous Night Circus, where each apprentice creates and enhances the shows and performances using magic. As the competition proceeds, something unexpected happens: the apprentices fall in love, but what neither of them knows is at the end of this challenge, there can be only one survivor.The Night... Read Full Review
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The Girl Who Reads on the Metro
by Feret-Fleury, Christine
November 18, 2019
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Juliette lives a quiet life in Paris. She rides the metro every day to her job in a real estate office. She rides the metro home. She spends a quiet evening in her apartment, and then rises to do it all again the next morning. One of the bright spots in her days is observing the other passengers as she rides the metro to and from work. She takes note of what they are reading and constructs elaborate stories about who they are and why they are reading the book they are reading. One morning, Juliette disembarks the train at an earlier station, deciding that she will walk the remainder of her... Read Full Review
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Today We Go Home
by Estes, Kelli
November 4, 2019
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It has only been six years since the US military ended its policy of “no women in units that are tasked with direct combat.” And yet, even though it wasn’t officially sanctioned, women have served and fought, in virtually every conflict in which the US has participated. This has been happening since the founding of our country, when Deborah Samson disguised herself as a man so she could fight against the redcoats in the Revolutionary War. During the Civil War, more than 400 women dressed as men to fight; and 150 years later we are finally beginning to learn about them and their stories. In... Read Full Review