River Readers

Aisulu lives in with her family in a ger in the Kazakh mountains. They are nomadic people who move with the seasons as their herds need. Aisulu dreams of being more than a dutiful daughter. Her brother Serik is the prince of the family, destined to oversee the family one day as their uncle has no children. Tragedy strikes one spring day when Aisulu and Serik are caught in the mountains during a summer blizzard. Aisulu finds out that Serik has a lame leg and he believes it will cause him to lose his place in the family. Then they see an eagle and Serik sees a way to redeem himself.

Deception picks up right where Contagion left off. Shay is convinced she is the cause of the epidemic, not realizing it is really Callie. So Shay has turned herself in to the Army who of course want to whisk her away to do secret research on her. So Kai and Callie are on their own and Kai of course can't see or hear Callie. Callie knows she is the true cause of the epidemic. It is following in her wake and millions are dying around her. So what does she do? Of course, follow Kai to heavily populated areas. 

A ghost, a girl with supernatural powers and a hot guy battle their way through an epidemic. Of course they did not start out that way (except the hot guy). Callie is our young ghost. She was part of an experiment in a facility on Shetland Island. She was cured of the plague but didn't survive the cure by fire they treated her with. After the facility is overrun by the deadly contagion she escapes to the mainland of Scotland. There she tries to find her family. 

Nahid has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given six months to live. During her final days, she reflects on her life, her mistakes and her regrets. She and her husband, Masood, fled their native Iran during the revolution in the '80's with their young daughter. Filled with rage and resentment at the hand her fate has dealt her, Nahid tries to come to terms with her life and find some of the happiness that has alluded her all her life.

In The Language of Fire, Stephanie Hemphill has"reimagined" Joan of Arc's tale and told it not only in verse but in Joan's own voice. She elects to refer to Joan as Jehanne, which is how Joan referred to herself in documentation of the time.

There was so much about Joan of Arc I didn't know and this book really enlightened me as to her journey, how she became a soldier and led the French Army and of her downfall and ultimate execution. It is not light reading but well worth the time to read.
 

In 1942, Europe remains in the relentless grip of war. Just beyond the tents of the Russian refugee camp she calls home, a young woman speaks her wedding vows. It's a decision that will alter her destiny...and it's a lie that will remain buried until the next century.

When Connell picks his mom up from her job as his classmate Marianne's family's housekeeper, he and Marianne discover an unusual connection. Though Connell is a well-liked athlete and Marianne is seen as an antisocial outsider, they're both known as their high school's brightest: their first, and lasting, bond. The secrecy of their relationship creates a shelter in which to explore their intense chemistry, both intellectual and sexual, before Connell blithely betrays Marianne, and they both leave their small town for Dublin's Trinity College.

This sequel to Mad Wolf's Daughter finds Drest running for her life. Having been given the dreaded label of "wolf's head" Drest is in dire danger. Sir Oswyn has lied about her having killed the true heir to Faintree Castle so he can assume the title of Lord. Having the "wolf's head" label thrust upon her means that there is a sizable ransom for her head to be brought back to Sir Oswyn. Desperate to find a way to restore Lord Faintree to his castle and his rightful title, Drest, Tig and Emerick along with Drest's father and brothers find danger, adventure and treachery.

CIA agent Sam Capra receives a frantic call from his wife to leave the office, and escapes moments before there is an explosion killing everyone. He see his pregnant wife Lucy being taken from the scene -- and then becomes the focus of the investigation. Was Lucy kidnapped, or has she turned traitor? Sam is determined to find his wife and their baby, but in order to track her he must go rogue and rely on his history, CIA experience, his athletics skills in parkour and some unlikely allies in order to clear her name and find out who is responsible in the first of six titles.

In the tradition of The Paris Wife and Mrs. Poe, The Other Einstein offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein's enormous shadow. This is the story of Einstein's wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated and may have been inspired by her own profound and very personal insight.

"The Tattooist of Auschwitz is an extraordinary document, a story about the extremes of human behavior existing side by side: calculated brutality alongside impulsive and selfless acts of love. I find it hard to imagine anyone who would not be drawn in, confronted and moved. I would recommend it unreservedly to anyone, whether they'd read a hundred Holocaust stories or none." - Graeme Simsion, internationally-bestselling author of The Rosie Project

As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong twenty-one-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage.

It is 1914, and the world has been on the brink of war so often, many New Yorkers treat the subject with only passing interest. Eliza Ferriday is thrilled to be traveling to St. Petersburg with Sofya Streshnayva, a cousin of the Romanovs. The two met years ago one summer in Paris and became close confidantes. Now, Eliza embarks on the trip of a lifetime, home with Sofya to see the splendors of Russia: the church with the interior covered in jeweled mosaics, the Rembrandts at the tsar's Winter Palace, the famous ballet.

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor on the banks of the Upper Thames. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing; and Edward Radcliffe’s life is in ruins.

Lord Henry “Monty” Montague, young, handsome, and charming, has one last year of fun and freedom, before his father expects him to settle down and help run the family estate. Monty along with his best friend and secret crush Percy, are to have a Grand Tour of Europe. They are to drop Monty’s sister, Felicity, off at a finishing school along the way. Though bred to be a gentleman, Monty escapes these strictures by flinging himself into hedonistic pleasure, excessive drinking, bedding women and men, and flouting social expectations where he can.