River Readers

Ace Dante tries to hide from the world by vacationing at a beach-lodge (bringing Cat & Shu along). Unfortunately, his enemies find him and drag him back to the Underworld to stand trial for his mother's murder. He gets some surprising help from Cat & Shu (well surprising to Ace, not so much the audience). I'm bummed that the rest of the series is NOT readily available.

This is more than a book about the Los Angeles Public Library fire in 1986. It is a history of libraries and of the LA library in particular. Susan Orlean delves into what makes libraries great, the fascinating collections they contain and the politics that have played a role in their existence. This book is centered around the largest library fire in history. Many people don't know about it because it happened the same day as the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, which overshadowed the story in national news. 

Michael Wolff told us about it, Omarosa flaunted it, and now veteran White House watcher Woodward pounds it home. The wheels have come off the White House bus. Of course, anyone with access to a TV set or a news feed is already aware of the book's juiciest bits: General John Kelly calling President Trump an idiot, or Trump lawyer John Dowd telling his client that a sit-down with Robert Mueller would lead to an orange jumpsuit. It requires the book as a whole, however, to really convey what a dysfunctional environment the Trump landscape has become.

*Starred Review* Following up her hit Small Great Things (2016), Picoult delivers another riveting yarn about a hot-button issue this time, it's abortion rights, with a unique narrative format: the story is told backward chronologically over the hours of a tense hostage situation in a women's clinic.

Save Me a Seat joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!

Joe and Ravi might be from very different places, but they're both stuck in the same place: SCHOOL.

Joe's lived in the same town all his life, and was doing just fine until his best friends moved away and left him on his own.

Ravi's family just moved to America from India, and he's finding it pretty hard to figure out where he fits in.

October 1946, Clanton, Mississippi

When love drives you crazy…

When sexy Joe Malone never calls after their explosive kiss, Kylie shoves him out of her mind. Until she needs a favor, and it’s a doozy. Something precious to her has been stolen and there’s only one person with unique finder-and-fixer skills that can help—Joe. It means swallowing her pride and somehow trying to avoid the temptation to throttle him—or seduce him.

the best thing to do…

Dr. David Lawrence has spent the last two years atoning for his sins and recovering from the devastating breakup with Gansett Island golden girl Janey McCarthy. As the island’s only doctor, he’s had ample opportunity to show his fellow island residents that there’s more to him than the guy who disappointed Janey so profoundly.

In the next sizzling romance in Kristen Proby's New York Times bestselling Fusion series, two celebrity chefs compete in a culinary competition, but resisting each other will prove to be the greater challenge.

Merci Suarez attends Seaward Pines Academy on scholarship. She may not have the fancy houses, cars or go on exotic vacations like the other students at her school but she has her family. Merci, her parents and brother live in one of three houses in a row. The others are occupied by her aunt and twin cousins and her grandparents. They all pitch in and help one another and have each other's backs. When Lolo, Merci's grandfather, starts acting strange and having a lot of mishaps, the family tries to avoid facing the truth.

Nan Sparrow was a "climber" for a heinous chimney sweep named Wilkie Crudd. She had no choice since her mentor and protector "The Sweep" had mysteriously disappeared. All he left her was a chunk of char she kept with her always. When Nan got stuck in a chimney the truth about what the Sweep left her became known.

Jessica Tran resigns herself to a life without superpowers (unlike her parents and older sister). She gets an internship with the villains of the town and discovers that the heroes and villains are decoys to distract the public from the important things that are going on.

Assistant District Attorney Butch Karp attempts to keep a cold blooded serial killer from escaping trial by claiming incompetent to stand trial. But Butch has the indifferent legal system stacked against him. Some overtones of Joseph Wambaugh's The Choirboys.

When Gia gets dumped in the parking lot before prom, she asks the cute boy waiting in the truck to pose as her college boyfriend. Gia journeys from a shallow popular girl, to someone trying to be better. Smart dialogue, characters you care about, this is one of the few romance novels I've enjoyed. Mediocre writers tell you, good writers show you, and West does a great job showing you her characters.

Ace Dante is hired to investigate the killing of witches - who in the past tried to entrap him to tap his magic. Egyptian god Osiris tries to get Ace to fulfill his side of a past bargain and kill the god Thoth. I love this series, and am sad that I can only access 3 via Hoopla. Will I have to resort to actually purchasing titles?