Reading Ahead: May 2017, part 4

Historical fiction across a variety of backdrops is the name of the game in today's post!

The Stars Are Fire, by Anita Shreve. This got a last minute publishing date change and is available to readers today! Based on the true story of the largest fire in Maine history, Shreve's new novel begins in October 1947, when after a summer long drought, fires break out all along the Maine coast from Bar Harbor to Kittery and are soon racing out of control from town to village. Five months pregnant, Grace Holland is left alone to protect her two toddlers when her husband, Gene, joins the volunteer firefighters. Along with her best friend, Rosie, and Rosie's two young children, Grace watches helplessly as their houses burn to the ground, the flames finally forcing them all into the ocean as a last resort. The women spend the night frantically protecting each other and the children only to come ashore at dawn to a world changed beyond recognizing. Shreve (The Pilot's Wife, The Weight of Water, etc.) is always a favorite. Also available in Large Print.

New Boy, by Tracy Chevalier. This modern retelling of Shakespeare's Othello is part of the ongoing Hogarth Shakespeare series following other retellings like Margaret Atwood's Hag-seed, 2016 (The Tempest), etc. Here, Othello is retold against the backdrop of a 1970s suburban Washington schoolyard. Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, diplomat’s son Osei Kokote knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day – so he’s lucky to hit it off with Dee, the most popular girl in school. But one student can’t stand to witness this budding relationship: Ian decides to destroy the friendship between the black boy and the golden girl. By the end of the day, the school and its key players – teachers and pupils alike – will never be the same again. Also available in Large Print.

Saints for All Occasions, by J. Courtney Sullivan. Nora and Theresa Flynn are twenty-one and seventeen when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan—a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand. The story then shifts forward fifty years, and finds the sisters in very different circumstances. Told in Sullivan's (The Engagements, Maine, etc.) unique style. Also available in Large Print. 

Reading Ahead: May 2017, part 3

Mysteries abound in the books coming out next month. Missing people, long-held secrets and murders most foul...

Heat Storm, by Richard Castle. Nikki Heat and Derrick Storm, New York Times bestselling author Richard Castle's most enduring and beloved characters, team up for the first time to save Nikki's mother, Cynthia, who has been in hiding (and presumed dead) for 17 years. Standing in their way is a nefarious group of Chinese businessmen known as the Shanghai Seven, who have the resources-and ruthlessness-to stop them.

You Will Pay, by Lisa Jackson. It starts as a prank—a way to blow off steam after a long summer at Camp Horseshoe. Among the teen counselors, tensions and hormones are running high. No wonder the others agree when Jo-Beth Chancellor suggests they scare Monica O’Neal a little . . . or a lot. Monica has it coming, and no one will really get hurt. What could go wrong? Everything. Now twenty years later, seven former counselors reunite. Each of them knows something that happened that night, something they swore not to tell. But now they are receiving threatening texts: YOU WILL PAY. And then the murders begin...

Full Wolf Moon, by Lincoln Child. Legends, no matter how outlandish, are often grounded in reality. This has been the guiding principle behind the exhilarating career of Jeremy Logan, the "enigmologist"—an investigator who specializes in analyzing phenomena that have no obvious explanation—previously seen in The Forgotten Room, The Third Gate, and Deep Storm. Logan has often found himself in situations where keeping an open mind could mean the difference between life and death, and that has never been more true than now. Here, he travels to a writers retreat in the Adirondacks but finds himself drawn into a local murder investigation, a murder which no human or animal could have perpetrated...

Reading Ahead: May 2017, part 2

I have an assortment of titles for you today, so no matter your mood next month, you're just about guaranteed to find something to add to your reading list!

Against All Odds, by Danielle Steel. Taking chances is part of life, but when you bet your future against the odds, it’s a high-risk game. Kate Madison’s stylish resale shop has been a big SoHo success, supporting her and her four kids since her husband’s untimely death. Now they are grown and ready to forge lives of their own. And they all choose to play against the odds, to their mother’s dismay. Kate can't keep her children from playing the odds, in love, career, and family matters. She knows that they must make, and learn from, their own mistakes. Billed as touching and wise. Fans won't want to miss out. Also available in Large Print.

16^th Seduction, by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro. Fifteen months ago, Detective Lindsay Boxer's life was perfect--she had a beautiful child and a doting husband, Joe, who helped her catch a criminal who'd brazenly detonated a bomb in downtown San Francisco, killing twenty-five people. But Joe wasn't everything that Lindsay thought he was, and she's still reeling from his betrayal as a wave of mysterious, and possibly unnatural, heart attacks claims seemingly unrelated victims across San Francisco. As if that weren't enough, the bomber she and Joe captured is about to go on trial, and his defense raises damning questions about Lindsay and Joe's investigation. Not knowing whom to trust, and struggling to accept the truth about the man she thought she knew, Lindsay must connect the dots of a deadly conspiracy before a brilliant criminal puts her on trial. Patterson's long-running Women's Murder Club series has been a fan favorite for years. Also available in Large Print.

Gwendy’s Button Box, by Stephen King & Richard Chizmar. King's new novella takes readers back to the little town of Castle Rock, Maine, where strange things happen. There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974 twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong (if time-rusted) iron bolts and zig-zag up the cliffside. It is here, at the top of the world that Gwendy meets a mysterious man and their chance encounter will give her nightmares for years to come. I have chills just thinking about it.

Nighthawk, by Clive Cussler & Graham Brown. When the most advanced aircraft ever designed vanishes over the South Pacific, NUMA crew leaders Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala are drawn into a deadly contest to locate the fallen machine. Russia and China covet the radical technology, but the United States worries about a darker problem. They know what others don’t—that the X-37 is carrying a dangerous secret, a payload of exotic matter, extracted from the upper reaches of the atmosphere and stored at a temperature near absolute zero. As long as it remains frozen, the cargo is inert, but if it thaws, it will unleash a catastrophe of nearly unthinkable proportions...