River Readers

Petrel leaned on the rail, watching the ice cave and stamping her feet for warmth. The berg came closer. That's when she saw him. Laid out on the ice like a dead fish, with a scattering of snow covering his face. A boy, where there should have been nothing but the memory of winter. A frozen boy.'

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels offers details about her brief 2006 affair with Donald Trump, but that's not the focus of this conversational, wide-ranging, and forthright account of her life. A bright kid from Louisiana who wanted to be a writer and loved horses, Daniels grew up in a dysfunctional rat- and cockroach-infested house, was sexually abused at age nine by a friend's neighbor, excelled in school, had relationships with various boys (the details of which she candidly describes), and enjoyed horseback riding.

Hey, Kiddo is a graphic memoir from Jarett Krosoczka that tells the tale of his childhood. He was raised by his loud, boisterous grandparents who had a love for stiff drinks, his mother was a heroin addict who was in and out of his life and growing up he never knew who his father was. He states in the book, "When I was a kid, I'd draw to get attention from my family. In junior high, I drew to impress my friends. But now that I am in my teens, I fill sketchbooks just to deal with life. To survive." However, this book is about much more than survival.

Louisiana's grandmother woke her out of the blue and said, "The day of reckoning is coming, we must go" and off they went. Leaving Florida and everything Louisiana knew and loved behind. Granny was vague about their plans but whatever plans she had derailed when she became ill and lands them in Richford, Georgia. It is in Georgia Louisiana begins to unravel the mysteries of her.

5 stars! Robb veered off the cookie cutter path she was starting to take and wrote another great Eve Dallas mystery!

5 stars for filling in many gaps we didn't know we wanted to know about!!

After falling from grace, Tess has tried to be a dutiful daughter to her mother and helpful sister to her twin sister. Still failing miserably to please her mother she strikes out onto the open road. Hartmann does a good job of evoking the feeling of wandering and the healing force of hitting the open road.
I also liked the way Hartmann wove feminist concerns into this adventure story.

Arram is sent to mage school where he outperforms his classmates and quickly advances in his studies. He develops a strong distaste for the way slaves are treated. Even if the stakes aren't high, I enjoyed this read. This is the first in a series of 3 books.

After graduating from Smith College Luma Mufley eventually found herself in the town of Clarkston (just outside Atlanta), where many refugee families had been settled. She decides to organize the refugee boys into soccer teams paired with after-school lessons. You see the prejudice they encounter, (including the major refusing to let them use the city park to practice soccer) and see the long journey these families endured to get here.
Eye-opening, and unlike many sports books, not all teams win in the end.

When highborn entitled royalty are summarily dismissed from the PennyRoyal Academy with no thoughts to unruffling their feathers, you might be generating enemies. Book 2 of this series.

Girls and boys train at the Pennyroyal Academy to become heroines and heroes or princesses and knights.
A nice read.

I was looking to download some audio on astronomy and stumbled across this title. Only when the audio ended much sooner than I expected, did I realize this was a kid's book. It provides a good history of how the planets were discovered and a very clear explanation of why Pluto doesn't fit in as a planet.

Mae was surprised that her younger brother Jamie has magic. Once again she calls on Alan and Nick's help, as Jamie is being recruited to join the evil magicians. She is also dating Sebastian whom she finds out was picking on Jamie.
The humorous banter Jamie, Nick, and Mae really had me laughing. Having read the previous book in this series had me anticipating something tricky from Alan.

Nick and his older brother Alan are constantly moving from place to place, trying to evade the evil magicians and their demons from killing them as their father was killed trying to protect them. Then 2 sibling come asking for helping in removing a third tier demon mark from the brother's leg.
I really enjoyed the unfolding story and some clever banter.

In the year 2066, a chance observation by Americans spots the presence of alien visitors at what appears to be an orbiting station around Saturn. It doesn't take long for the world to spot the presence and it becomes a race between Americans and Chinese to be the first to arrive and acquire technology with global implications. What will be found? Readers who enjoyed the science-driven plot of Andy Weir's "The Martian" will find this story of exploration and discovery compelling, with interesting characters and subplots, with plenty of surprises and a healthy dose of treachery.