Wow! Lots of interesting books have come in during the last week. We're going to be very busy! Here's a sample of the books. Check them out and then stop by in a few weeks to read the reviews. Enjoy!
The Pipers: and the First Phase by Kuir ë Garang Little Michael, Christopher Fox and Isaac Burns don’t know that their paths will cross and their lives changed in a cruel manner that sees them through the intricate web of Africa’s political heartache, manifested in a well-orchestrated coup attempt in the African country of Sivals. Little witnesses an overnight success of his business only to see the building burnt down in a calculated sabotage. Chris sees his life changed from prominence to near pauperism. Isaac Burns thinks, with blunt self-righteousness, that his philanthropic work is enough an effort to win the hearts of his fellow countrymen in Panda, and the whole of the African continent. He’d soon learn the bitter reality of his capitalist life. The problem though is the three men don’t know that someone is watching every single step they take in their lives. Will they learn the bitter truth? The truth will first taste bitter before the end of their nightmares.
The Silver Sphere: The Kin Chronicles by Michael Dadich Shelby Pardow never imagined she could kill someone. All she wants to do is hide from her troubled father... when she is teleported to awaiting soldiers on the planet Azimuth. Here she is not a child, but Kin to one of the six Aulic Assembly members whom Malefic Cacoethes has drugged and imprisoned. He seeks to become dictator of this world (and then Earth by proxy). His father, Biskara, is an evil celestial entity, tracked by the Assembly with an armillary device, The Silver Sphere. With the Assembly now deposed, Biskara directs Malefic and the Nightlanders to their strategic targets. Unless.... Can Shelby find the other Kin, and develop courage and combat skills? Can the Kin reassemble in time to release or replace the Assembly, overthrowing Malefic and restraining Biskara?
Plum Deadly by Ellie Grant Unjustly accused of cooking the books, Maggie Grady is forced to retreat from her high-flying New York financial career to the town where she grew up. Her aunt Clara greets her with open arms and a job at the family-owned business that has baked the best pies in the South for over forty years. Unfortunately, while Maggie is determined to return to banking, her reputation there seems permanently in the pits. That is, until her old boss, Lou, visits with news that he’s found the real crook. Before he can reveal the details, though, Maggie finds his body right behind the pie shop.
Dark, Love, and Light: A 21st Century Play with Shakespeare-style Language by Marcus Brady
From the Author: either 1997 or 1998 (I remember I was seventeen), I
was lying in bed one night, and I got the idea of a girl on a beach.
Soon after this, I got the idea of a title for a book – Dark and Light. I
joined the two ideas together and this was the start of my play Dark,
Love, and Light, its first scene, and its lead character, Annabel. I
conceived Dark and Light as a novel at first, but whilst I was reading
Shakespeare’s complete works, the novel became a play. Dark and Light
was the title of my book until 2008, when I was on the Internet one day,
and came across information pertaining to a video game called Dark and
Light.
Wild Nights by Mary Ellen Courtney Age 32 is when a woman figures it out. At least that was true for Hannah Spring. Her job as a production designer was going great in Los Angeles. Her mostly crazy family was at a safe distance in San Diego. And after a rather lengthy run of bad ideas made more interesting than they deserved to be by her vivid imagination, she was dating a man with only one name. Her last man had needed an alias. Life was good. Her hope, like a promise-filled seed that drifts to earth in search of safe nurturing soil, was that it would just keep getting better. Then her beloved grandmother died and bequeathed the poet Emily Dickinson to Hannah as well as, well, a dead bird. Dead or alive, Grandma made sure Hannah knew about "Wild Nights." At least that's what Hannah thought a year later, after many miles and men and coconuts. By then she knew she'd never figure it all out, but knew she could figure out a lot as she went along. Which was even better.
The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn Rome, 1492. The Holy City is drenched with blood and teeming with secrets. A pope lies dying and the throne of God is left vacant, a prize awarded only to the most virtuous—or the most ruthless. The Borgia family begins its legendary rise, chronicled by an innocent girl who finds herself drawn into their dangerous web…Vivacious Giulia Farnese has floor-length golden hair and the world at her feet: beauty, wealth, and a handsome young husband. But she is stunned to discover that her glittering marriage is a sham, and she is to be given as a concubine to the ruthless, charismatic Cardinal Borgia: Spaniard, sensualist, candidate for Pope—and passionately in love with her. Two trusted companions will follow her into the Pope's shadowy harem: Leonello, a cynical bodyguard bent on bloody revenge against a mysterious killer, and Carmelina, a fiery cook with a past full of secrets. But as corruption thickens in the Vatican and the enemies begin to circle, Giulia and her friends will need all their wits to survive in the world of the Borgias.
The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison Jodi and Todd are at a bad place in their marriage. Much is at stake, including the affluent life they lead in their beautiful waterfront condo in Chicago, as she, the killer, and he, the victim, rush haplessly toward the main event. He is a committed cheater. She lives and breathes denial. He exists in dual worlds. She likes to settle scores. He decides to play for keeps. She has nothing left to lose. Told in alternating voices, The Silent Wife is about a marriage in the throes of dissolution, a couple headed for catastrophe, concessions that can’t be made, and promises that won’t be kept.
Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian Day One-I swam around my bowl. Day Two- I swam around my bowl. Twice. And so it goes in this tell-all tale from a goldfish. With his bowl to himself and his simple routine, Goldfish loves his life…until one day…
When assorted intruders including a hyperactive bubbler, a grime-eating snail, a pair of amorous guppies, and a really crabby crab invade his personal space and bowl, Goldfish is put out, to say the least. He wants none of it, preferring his former peace and quiet and solitude. But time away from his new companions gives him a chance to rethink the pros and cons of a solitary life. And discover what he’s been missing.
Sports Illustrated Kids Big Book of Who: Football From the editors of Sports Illustrated Kids comes The Big Book of Who: Football, a 128-page collection of the brightest stars in America's favorite sport, past and present. Profiles, facts and stats will bring the best players in pro football history to life with all of the classic touches that Sports Illustrated Kids is famous for - terrific, age-appropriate writing and exciting sports photography. Gridiron greats such as, from Sammy Baugh to Cam Newton, Jim Brown to Emmitt Smith, Dick Butkus to Ray Lewis will be profiled.
Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
Fade to Black by Jeffrey Wilson Jack is a young man caught between two terrifying worlds. In one, he is Marine Sergeant Casey Stillmam, locked in combat in the streets of Fallujah, Iraq. He is lying next to his dead and dying friends, bleeding in the street - until he wakes up at home, in bed with his wife. In this other world, Jack is a high school science teacher, husband, and devoted father to his little girl. But the nightmares of war continue to haunt him, and to Jack/Casey they feel in many ways more real than his life at home with his family. When news of killed Marines in Fallujah surface, Jack realizes he knows far more about these men then he should. But, when the dead Marines begin visiting him while he is awake-he realizes he is in serious trouble. Faced with the possibility of losing his mind, or far worse, the nightmares being real, Jack knows he must somehow find a way to bridge the two realities and fight his way back from the nightmares to save his wife and little girl.
Plague in the Mirror by Deborah Noyes It was meant to be a diversion — a summer in Florence with her best friend, Liam, and his travel-writer mom, doing historical research between breaks for gelato. A chance to forget that back in Vermont, May’s parents, and all semblance of safety, were breaking up. But when May wakes one night sensing someone in her room, only to find her ghostly twin staring back at her, normalcy becomes a distant memory. And when later she follows the menacing Cristofana through a portale to fourteenth-century Florence, May never expects to find safety in the eyes of Marco, a soulful painter who awakens in her a burning desire and makes her feel truly seen. The wily Cristofana wants nothing less of May than to inhabit each other’s lives, but with the Black Death ravaging Old Florence, can May’s longing for Marco’s touch be anything but madness? Lush with atmosphere both passionate and eerie, this evocative tale follows a girl on the brink of womanhood as she dares to transcend the familiar — and discovers her sensual power.