River Readers

Candice finds a letter in her grandmother's things. The letter leads to a treasure hunt through the history of Lambert, South Carolina and what happened to the Washington family in the 1950s. Candice is helped along the way by her new friend Brandon as they discover the dark history of racism in their town. 

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping young-adult novel about one girl's struggle for justice.

Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed. -Fantastic Fiction

This Promise of Change is the story of Jo Ann Allen Boyce who was one of the Clinton 12 who fought for the right to be allowed to go to the same high school as the white students in Clinton, Tennessee. It takes place right after the Brown vs. The Board of Education decision by the Supreme Court. The school district made the decision to desegregate and follow the letter of the law. Things start with just a few minor protests but as word gets out and outsiders come in the protests grow and become violent. Jo Ann becomes the unwitting spokesperson of the students involved.

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to 12 years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit.

This book was not what I was expecting. I knew there was a murder and a mystery about why, but this family's issues went far farther than I expected. I was very uncomfortable with the detail of Pete's time in the Philippines as a P.O.W. and as a guerrilla fighter. I was not familiar with this part of WWII, but I am well versed in military trials. While I know this information was important to the main plot, I think there was too much time spent on this part. I never saw the true reason as it turned out, but it did make sense. Grisham did a good job of describing Mississip in the 1940's.

October 1946, Clanton, Mississippi

I chose this audio-book because the plot seemed very similar to hometown story of Coach Pete Adkins and his Jefferson City Jays football team. I lived through much of this man's famous winning streak, was in high school when part of it ended. My husband played for Coach Pete. Many of the stories I heard during this tribute and I'm sure much of this will be similar to the tributes our players will give in the end. Right or wrong, football coaches play a very important part of the lives of young men - some good, some bad, but a fact of life.

Candice was spending a few months in her grandmother's home town of Lambert, South Carolina. She was going there with her mom while their house in Atlanta was being renovated for sale. A lot had been going on in Candice's life. Her parents were divorcing and she had lost her grandmother to a heart attack. Candice did not want to go to Lambert and be uprooted from her friends and father. Yet, there was an even bigger reason. Her grandmother had been fired from her job as city administrator for digging up the tennis courts for no apparent reason and then left town in shame.

While the graphics and color was wonderful, this story was not what I expected. It was much more violent and hard to follow. Not much background on each of the three women, so I found it hard to keep them separated.

Sounder is a loyal family dog, determined to help his owners through thick and thin. This is the story of a great coon dog and the poor sharecroppers who own him, and of the courage and love that bind a black family together in the face of extreme prejudice from the outside world. -Fantastic Fiction

This was an amazing book to listen to mainly because the guy reading had the most sexy British accent that it was easy to picture Monty the rogue. The story is very much how I imagine life in Europe during this very prim and proper time would look and sound like. I had to laugh when they encountered the "pirates" who were much nicer than most of the courtly people they had met. I am now ready to follow Felicity's adventures in the next book.

Alice isn't happy to leave Ohio and move to Rainbow, Georgia to help take care of her ailing grandmother. It doesn't help that when they get there grandma is worse than they thought she was. Alice just wants her absentee dad to come and take them back home. She wants her brother Eddie to be back in Ohio where he can go to the school for the deaf and not public school. She meets her grandma's neighbor Miss Millie and starts walking her dog Clarence. Unfortunately, Clarence won't walk with anyone other than Miss Millie, so Alice actually walks Clarence and Miss Millie.

This story was not what I was expecting. I was much more confused than I like to be. It took me longer to figure out the twist than I liked. I understand how we got to the end, but I'm still not sure I liked it.

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

Izzy is the daughter of divorced parents and spends alternating weeks with each parent. Both parents are in new relationships, but they do not get along with each other. Her mom is white and her dad is black so Izzy is a blend of the two of them. The story is told as Izzy alternates her weeks between mom and dad, prepares for a piano recital and hangs out with her friends. 

In an enthralling new historical novel from national best-selling author Kate Quinn, two women - a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947 - are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.