River Readers

Maggie Walther feels like her world is imploding. Publicly humiliated after her husband, a local councilman, is arrested for bigamy and her subsequent divorce, she has isolated herself from the world. When her only friend insists that Maggie climb out of her hole and embrace the season to get her out of her funk, Maggie decides to put up a Christmas tree and heads off to buy one--albeit reluctantly. She is immediately taken by Andrew, the kind, handsome man who owns the Christmas tree lot and delivers her tree.

"Chi Chi Donatelli and Saverio Armandonada meet one summer on the Jersey shore before World War II. Chi Chi is a talented and ambitious singer-songwriter working in a local blouse factory looking for her big break, while Saverio, a singer already on the rise, is fronting a touring band and has the good looks and smooth vocals that make success seem assured. It isn't long before Saverio becomes Tony Arma and he and Chi Chi form a duo; together they navigate the glamorous worlds of nightclubs, radio, and television.

From the internationally bestselling author Pam Jenoff, The Lost Girls of Paris is an emotional and powerful journey through friendship and betrayal during the second world war, inspired by true events.

1940s. With the world at war, Eleanor Trigg leads a mysterious ring of female secret agents in London. Twelve of these women are sent to aid the resistance.

They never return home.

1946. Passing through Grand Central Station, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. The case is filled with a dozen photographs, each of a different woman.

Willa Doon has always been shy. Her quiet demeanor was something she’s always embraced. That is, until Jackson Page moves to town. The one man she desperately wants to take notice struggles to remember her name.

Year after year, Willa stands by, watching as the bartender slash playboy drowns his demons in beer and sex. Then one night, he shows up at her door, suddenly aware that the girl he’s seen around Lark Cove is now a beautiful woman.

FINALIST FOR THE 2018 NEW ENGLAND BOOK AWARD

"Both timelessly beautiful and unbelievably timely."--Chris Bohjalian, New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant

A captivating novel of family, fame, and religion that tells the story of the seventeen-year-old daughter of an evangelical preacher, star of the family's hit reality show, and the secret pregnancy that threatens to blow their entire world apart.

Tim Johnston, whose breakout debut Descent was called "astonishing," "dazzling," and "unforgettable" by critics, returns with The Current, a tour de force about the indelible impact of a crime on the lives of innocent people.

In the dead of winter, outside a small Minnesota town, state troopers pull two young women and their car from the icy Black Root River. One is found downriver, drowned, while the other is found at the scene--half frozen but alive.

Glen Hirshberg is an award winning author. He won the Shirley Jackson Award for the “Janus Tree” collection of stories in 2011 and earned the International Horror Guild Award for “The Two Sams,” which also won best book of the year by Publisher’s Weekly in 2003. Hirshberg’s latest books are a trilogy, beginning with “Motherless Child,” followed by “Good Girls” and “Nothing to Devour.”

Jenson dreams of being an astronaut and saving the world. He is a dreamer. Middle school is hard though and Jenson is no exception to that rule. Sometimes the kids say things to him or make jokes at his expense but they're his friends and they're just kidding....right? RIGHT?

This second book in the Awkward series focuses on the bullying climate in the school and what it might take to change it.

The third book in the Awkward series focuses on Jorge. Jorge is a big guy with a lot of strength so he is the unofficial protector in the school. He tries to always do what's right and hold others to that as well. Middle school is tough for kids but it becomes much tougher for Jorge when her realizes he has a crush.

This is cute, realistic graphic novel about the realities of middle school and how to navigate them, or at least try to.

Yale Tishman is a young professional gay man in 1980's Chicago just as the AIDS epidemic starts its ravaging path. The book opens at a memorial party for Yale's good friend, Nico, the first of his group to die. Nico's story is a familiar tale of parental betrayal because of his sexuality but the central figure of his story is his sister, Fiona. She was his caregiver, his protector and his stanchest ally through his life.

When local rock climbers stumble upon abandoned human bones in a remote Texas gorge, Sara Lockhart is the first to get the call. She has a reputation as one of the nation’s top forensic anthropologists, and police detective Nolan Hess knows she is just the expert he needs to help unravel this case. Although evidence is scarce, Nolan suspects the bones belong to a teenage climber who vanished last summer.

Every year Pipi McGee starts school thinking it is going to be a great year and every year some great humiliation happens. Well 8th grade is going to be the year she resolves all those past humiliations. She creates of list of each year's tragedy and starts working through them. There is of course the self portrait she drew in kindergarten that showed her future self as bacon...with boobs. There is the vomitathon, the pants peeing episode, the school picture with her finger up her nose, and so many more.

Aru is back for another quest and this time another Pandava joins her and Mini. Brynne is a bit hostile at first but that could be because she was just battling Aru's doppleganger for a stolen bow and arrow in the midst of a zombie hoard. Of course the Pandavas are blamed for the theft and the creation of the Heartless zombies. They are tasked with finding the soul song of the person who stole the bow and arrow, learning their name and returning the stolen goods. And they only have 8 days to do it.

Trent accidently killed his classmate and now has a feeling of rage that doesn't go away. He is angry and afraid all the time. He is estranged from his friends, mad at his dad and lost and alone. He does make friends with Fallon who has her own story to tell. 

Thea Landry has always known her place in modern-day society. It’s somewhere just above the trash can her mother dumped her in as a newborn but below the class where much comes easy. With her tattered shoes and bargain-bin clothes, her life has never been full of glamour.

So when a rich and charismatic man takes interest, she doesn’t fool herself into thinking their encounter is anything more than a one-night stand. Months later, she’s kicking herself for not getting his phone number. Or his last name. She’s given up hope of seeing him ever again.