Here's a sample of the books that have recently come in for review. Check them out and then stop by our site in a few weeks to read the reviews. Enjoy!
Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms, and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself
by Bob Pflugfelder Nick and Tesla are bright 11-year-old siblings with a knack for science, electronics, and getting into trouble. When their parents mysteriously vanish, they’re sent to live with their Uncle Newt, a brilliant inventor who engineers top-secret gadgets for a classified government agency. It’s not long before Nick and Tesla are embarking on adventures of their own—engineering all kinds of outrageous MacGyverish contraptions to save their skin: 9-volt burglar alarms, electromagnets, mobile tracking devices, and more. Readers are invited to join in the fun as each story contains instructions and blueprints for five different projects.
Colette by Michelina Vinter In 1938, Colette, an eighteen-year-old Parisian girl, falls for American professor Adam Walker. Within weeks, the young couple married and moving back to the United States, and Colette must say goodbye to the only home she’s ever known. After traveling to New York and eventually to her new home in Berkeley, Colette discovers that she’s expecting, and life doesn’t seem like it could get any better. Colette soon discovers, however, that Adam isn’t the man she thinks. Forced to endure an abusive husband and a lonely pregnancy, the only solace she can find is with her neighbor, John Wu. A devoted friend, John proves to be the shoulder she can cry on, and the man she can depend on to take care of her. But as time goes by and war draws nearer, life begins to take a dramatic turn. As the world begins to change around her, Colette’s fantastic story will take her around the world and back in defense of her family, her child, and her love. Packed to the brim with dramatic twists and turns, this exhilarating story follows one woman’s incredible journey through life, love, and war. Colette is an exciting new romantic thriller by Michelina Vinter filled with fast-paced emotions and gripping suspense. Exploring the constraints of life and family, this captivating novel uses romance, action, and intrigue to draw readers in while showing them something more. An enthralling romantic thriller, the novel is a perfect read for anyone who enjoys leisurely reading. From action aficionados to romance junkies, this book is perfect for readers of all backgrounds and interests and will keep them hooked until the very last word. A delicious blend of action, adventure, and romance, Colette is a one-of-a-kind story that follows one woman’s fantastic journey through life. Encountering everything from first love and domestic abuse to the Gestapo and even a kidnapping plot, Colette’s life proves to be as exciting as it is dramatic and a truly remarkable story to experience. Keeping readers guessing until the last sentence, this tremendous novel will stick with readers long after they’ve put the book down.
Cold Tuscan Stone: A Rick Montoya Italian Mystery by David Wagner Rick Montoya has just moved from Santa Fe to Rome, embracing the life of a translator. He’s beginning to embrace la dolce vita when school friend Beppo, now senior in the Italian Art Squad, recruits Rick for an unofficial undercover role. Armed with a list of galleries, suspects, and an expense account, Rick would arrive in Tuscany posing as a buyer for a Santa Fe gallery and flush out traffickers in priceless burial urns. But, before sunset on his first day in Volterra, the challenge intensifies. Rick has one quick conversation with a gallery employee who dies minutes later in a brutal fall from a high cliff. Has the trade in fraudulent artifacts upgraded to murder? Are the traffickers already on to Rick? The local Commissario and his team consider Rick an amateur, and worse, a foreigner. Plus Rick is a suspect in what proves to be the dead man’s murder. While the Volterra squad pursues its leads, Rick and the Volterra museum director continue to interview his list: a top gallery owner, a low-profile import/export businessman and his enterprising color-coordinated assistant, a sensuous heiress with a private art specialty and clientele. When Rick’s lover Erica, an art history professor, arrives from Rome to visit him, she rekindles a friendship with an alluring, maybe dangerous, heiress. Has Rick’s role made him the target of both cops and criminals?
Volcano Rising by Elizabeth Rusch Simple science text geared toward young children introduces the parts of a volcano and explains the ways in which volcanoes create new land, mountains, and islands where none existed before. An informational second layer provides specific examples, featuring volcanoes found in the United States and other parts of the world.
Alphabet Trucks by Samantha Vamos An alphabetical treat for truck lovers. Readers encounter familiar and unusual trucks, learning about where they work and what they do. Each letter of the alphabet plays a supporting role in the accompanying art.
A Commonplace Killing by Siân Busby The police assume that Lil must have been the victim of a vicious sexual assault; but the autopsy finds no evidence of rape, and Divisional Detective Inspector Jim Cooper turns his attention to her private life. How did Lil come to be in the bomb site – a well-known lovers’ haunt? If she had consensual sex, why was she strangled? Why was her husband seemingly unaware that she had failed to come home on the night she was killed?
