New Cozy Mysteries for October 2014

curlThere’s a chill in the air – a great time to curl up with a gentle mystery.  Here are the newest releases of cozy mysteries.  Is your favorite series listed?

Bless Her Dead Little Heart (A Southern Ladies Mystery) by Miranda James

One Potion In The Grave (A Magic Potion Mystery) by Heather Blake

Off Kilter (A Scottish Highlands Mystery) by Hannah Reed

Weave of Absence (A Weaving Mystery) by Carol Ann Martin

A Midwinter’s Tail (A Magical Cats Mystery) by Sofie Kelly

Murder Off The Beaten Path (A Search and Rescue Mystery) by M.L. Rowland

Picked to Die (An Orchard Mystery) by Sheila Connolly

Death of a Christmas Caterer (A Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery) by Lee Hollis

Take Part In Bullying Prevention Month with Books

October is Bullying Prevention Month, which means it is important to revisit the damage bullying can cause, how we can stop it, and how we can help the people on all sides of the problem. One way to help ourselves understand, and help young adults deal with bullying related issues, is to read about it. Here are some young adult novels that deal with bullying and the aftermath of what pain it can cause on all sides.

If you or someone you know needs help now, or more solace than a great read can offer then please check out the official website StopBulling.gov, StompOutBullying.org, or the Nation Education Association’s Bully Free page for information, resources, and assistance.

The Bully by Paul Langan

A new life. An new school. A new bully. That’s what Darrell Mercer faces when he and his mother move from Philadelphia to California. After spending months living in fear, Darrell is faced with a big decision. He can either keep running from this bully–or find some way to fight back.

Brutal by Michael Harmon
After being left by her mother to live with a father she hardly knows in the middle of suburbia, Poe is happy to have found a few new friends at her new school, but when her new friends become the target of dangerous pranks by the popular jocks, Poe is determined to take down the group’s egomaniacal leader and put an end to his mean games.
 
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jane Asher
When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah’s voice recounting the events leading up to her death.
 
By The Time You Read This I’ll Be Dead by Julie Annie Peters. High school student Daelyn Rice, who has been bullied throughout her school career and has more than once attempted suicide, again makes plans to kill herself, despite the persistent attempts of an unusual boy named Santana to draw her out.
 
Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
Regina Afton, a high school senior in the popular–and feared–crowd, suddenly falls out of favor and becomes the object of the same sort of vicious bullying that she used to inflict on others, until she finds solace through Michael Hayden, one of her former victims.
 
Hate List by Jennifer Brown
After her boyfriend goes on a shooting rampage at school, Valerie is implicated because of her involvement in writing the list of names and so now must come to terms with what has happened, her feelings for the boy she once loved, and the part she played that resulted in such tragic events.

 

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga
A fifteen-year-old “geek” who keeps a list of the high school jocks and others who torment him, and pours his energy into creating a great graphic novel, encounters Kyra, Goth Girl, who helps change his outlook on almost everything, including himself.

As usual, I cannot list all the great books in the post, or I would bored you all. But, I cannot help myself from adding a little bonus list at the end and asking you to comment with any books you would like to recommend. Here are my bonus books; The Misfits by James Howe, The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence, Before, After, and Somebody In Between by Jeannine Garsee, The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, Indigo’s Star by Hilary McKay, Dear Life, You Suck by Scott Blagden,Diary Of A Witness by Catherine Ryan Hyde, The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander, Freak by Marcella Fleischman Pixley, Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson,Darius & Twig by Walter Dean Myers,Cornered: 14 Stories of Bullying and Defiance edited by Rhoda Belleza, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, Drowning Anna by Sue Mayfield, and Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur.

For more books about bullying for all ages, and some non fiction resources, check out some of the books I mentions in these previous posts; 10 Picturebooks that Deal with Bullying, Powerful Fiction Focused on Bullying for Children and Young Adults, and Top 5 Non-Fiction Books about Bullying.

10 Books We’re Looking Forward to in October

The days are getting shorter, the evenings chillier. It’s the perfect time to curl up with a new book. Luckily, there are a lot of great new titles coming to Cheshire Library in October!

Every month, librarians from around the country pick the top ten new books they’d most like to share with readers. The results are published on LibraryReads.org. One of the goals of LibraryReads is to highlight the important role public libraries play in building buzz for new books and new authors. Click through to read more about what new and upcoming books librarians consider buzzworthy this month. The top ten titles for October are:

  1. A Sudden Light by Garth Stein
  2. Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
  3. As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
  4. Not My Father’s Son: A Memoir by Alan Cumming
  5. Some Luck by Jane Smiley
  6. The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue
  7. The Life We Bury by Allen Eskins
  8. Reunion by Hannah Pittard
  9. Malice by Keigo Higashino
  10. Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver

Book Club Picks – It’s All About Love

book

 

The hustle and bustle of summer is over.  It’s a great time to settle in with a warm and fuzzy romance.  Here are a few to choose from.

returnReturn to Tradd Street by Karen White –  Struggling to complete renovations on her house before her baby arrives, single mother and psychic realtor Melanie Middleton seeks help from the man who broke her heart when a series of hauntings plaguing her house turn violent.heartbeats

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philip Sendker – When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter has any idea where he might be–until they find a love letter he wrote many years before, to a Burmese woman who is unknown to them.

whiskyWhiskey Beach by Nora Roberts – After suffering through an intense year of public and police scrutiny after being wrongly implicated in his fiancâe’s murder, Boston lawyer Eli Landon takes sanctuary in a centuries-old family home and falls in love with resident housekeeper Abra Walsh, with whom he is entangled in an old, life-threatening mystery.someday

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham – A struggling actress in 1990s New York City searches for work and the perfect hair product while befriending a rival and resisting her father’s pressure to get a “real” job.

sistersThree Sisters by Susan Mallery – Buying one of the famed Three Sisters Queen Anne houses on Blackberry Island, Dr. Andi Gordon, deciding that both her life and home are in need of some major renovations, forms an unbreakable bond with her neighbors–two very different women who are dealing with their own struggles.summer

The Summer Girls by Mary Alice Monroe – Summoned by their Charleston society grandmother to a historic family home on Sullivan’s Island, estranged sisters Carson, Eudora and Harper share a summer of healing and forgiveness while exploring the tenacious complexities of sisterhood and friendship.

hissyHissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews – Calling off her high-society wedding after discovering her fiancâe’s infidelity, Keely Murdock faces financial ruin before receiving assistance–and an opportunity for revenge–from the new owner of a local bra company.inn

The Inn At Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber – Jo Marie Rose opens the Rose Harbor Inn bed and breakfast in Cedar Cove in order to start a new life, but the inn and its first guests bring surprises into Jo’s life.

twelveTwelve Times Blessed by Jacquelyn Mitchard – A year in the life of a fortysomething woman reveals the reflections of widow True Dickinson, who has raised a son and built a successful small business while putting off the kind of romance she desperately desires.war

War Brides by Helen Bryan – Five women form a bond of friendship in the English village of Crowmarch Priors as they find their lives altered by loss and love during World War II.

 

 

 

 

Book Buzz

book buzzAre you looking for something to read and wondering what books other people are talking about?   There’s a lot of buzz about the following books.  Take a look at the list and see if there’s something that interests you!

the good girlThe Good GirlMary Kubica –  Born to a prominent Chicago judge and his stifled socialite wife, Mia Dennett moves against the grain as a young inner-city art teacher. One night, Mia enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn’t show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. With his smooth moves and modest wit, at first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia’s life.summer house

Summer House With A Swimming PoolHerman Koch –  Marc, his wife, and their two beautiful teenage daughters agreed to spend a week at the Meier’s extravagant summer home on the Mediterranean. Joined by Ralph and his striking wife Judith, her mother, and film director Stanley Forbes and his much younger girlfriend, the large group settles in for days of sunshine, wine tasting, and trips to the beach. But when a violent incident disrupts the idyll, darker motivations are revealed, and suddenly no one can be trusted. As the ultimate holiday soon turns into a nightmare, the circumstances surrounding Ralph’s later death begin to reveal the disturbing reality behind that summer’s tragedy.

never coming backNever Coming BackHans Koppel – Mike Zetterberg lives with his wife Ylva and their daughter in a house just outside Helsingborg in Sweden. One evening, Ylva doesn’t come home as expected. Mike passes it off as a drink with a work friend, but when she’s still missing the next day, he starts to worry. As Mike battles suspicion from the police and his own despair, he is unaware that Ylva is still alive, just a stone’s throw from his own home: Ylva has been drawn into a twisted plot of revenge and tragedy that leads back into her and her abductors’ shared past.elizabeth

Elizabeth is Missing Emma Healey – Maud, an aging grandmother, is slowly losing her memory—and her grip on everyday life. Yet she refuses to forget her best friend Elizabeth, whom she is convinced is missing and in terrible danger.  But no one will listen to Maud—not her frustrated daughter, Helen, not her caretakers, not the police, and especially not Elizabeth’s mercurial son, Peter. Armed with handwritten notes she leaves for herself and an overwhelming feeling that Elizabeth needs her help, Maud resolves to discover the truth and save her beloved friend.

everything i never toldEverything I Never Told You Celeste Ny – “Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet. So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue–in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party. When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart.

The Fortune HunterDaisy Goodwin – “Empress Elizabeth of Austria, known as “Sisi,” is the Princess Diana of nineteenth-fortune huntercentury Europe. Famously beautiful, as captured in a portrait with diamond stars in her hair, she is unfulfilled in her marriage to the older Emperor Franz Joseph. Sisi has spent years evading the stifling formality of royal life on her private train or yacht or, whenever she can, on the back of a horse. Captain Bay Middleton is dashing, young, and the finest horseman in England. He is also impoverished, with no hope of buying the horse needed to win the Grand National–until he meets Charlotte Baird. A clever, plainspoken heiress whose money gives her a choice among suitors, Charlotte falls in love with Bay, the first man to really notice her, for his vulnerability as well as his glamour. When Sisi joins the legendary hunt organized by Earl Spencer in England, Bay is asked to guide her on the treacherous course. Their shared passion for riding leads to an infatuation that threatens the growing bond between Bay and Charlotte, and all of their futures.

bittersweetBittersweet Miranda Beverly-Whittemore – On scholarship at a prestigious East Coast college, ordinary Mabel Dagmar is surprised to befriend her roommate, the beautiful, wild, blue-blooded Genevra Winslow. Ev invites Mabel to spend the summer at Bittersweet, her cottage on the Vermont estate where her family has been holding court for more than a century; it’s the kind of place where children twirl sparklers across the lawn during cocktail hour. Mabel falls in love with midnight skinny-dipping, the wet dog smell that lingers near the yachts, and the moneyed laughter that carries across the still lake while fireworks burst overhead. Before she knows it, she has everything she’s ever wanted: friendship, a boyfriend, access to wealth, and, most of all, for the first time in her life, the sense that she belongs.
But as Mabel becomes an insider, a terrible discovery leads to shocking violence and reveals what the Winslows may have done to keep their power intact – and what they might do to anyone who threatens them. Mabel must choose: either expose the ugliness surrounding her and face expulsion from paradise, or keep the family’s dark secrets and make Ev’s world her own.those who wish me dead

Those Who Wish Me DeadMichael Koryta – When fourteen-year-old Jace Wilson witnesses a brutal murder, he’s plunged into a new life, issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for troubled teens. The plan is to get Jace off the grid while police find the two killers. The result is the start of a nightmare. The killers, known as the Blackwell Brothers, are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a methodical quest to reach him. Now all that remains between them and the boy are Ethan and Allison Serbin, who run the wilderness survival program; Hannah Faber, who occupies a lonely fire lookout tower; and endless miles of desolate Montana mountains.

bone dust whiteBone Dust WhiteKarin Salvalaggio –  “Someone is knocking at the door to Grace Adams’ house, and he won’t stop. Grace thinks she knows who it is, but when she goes to her second floor window for a look she sees a woman she doesn’t recognize. The woman isn’t alone for long before a man emerges from the dark of the surrounding woods, stabs her, and leaves her for dead. Trying to help, Grace goes to the woman and is shocked to find that it’s her mother Leanne–a woman who abandoned her 11 years before. There’s nothing she can do, and Leanne is already past the point where she can tell Grace what happened all those years ago or why she came back now. While Grace was only a child when Leanne left her, Detective Macy Greeley has been waiting for Leanne ever since she disappeared from Collier, MT. She’s looking to close a case that has been haunting the town for far too long, but Collier is a hard-bitten place where the people are fierce when it comes to keeping their feuds between themselves and keeping secrets hidden in the past.the book of you

The Book of You –  Claire Kendal –  His name is Rafe, and he is everywhere Clarissa turns. At the university where she works. Her favorite sewing shop. The train station. Outside her apartment. His messages choke her voice mail; his gifts litter her mailbox. Since that one regrettable night, his obsession with her has grown, becoming more terrifying with each passing day. And as Rafe has made clear, he will never let her go.