Skip to Main Content

Staff Picks

Showing 10 of 27 Results

Cover ArtAcclaimed horror writer Grady Hendrix delivers another tale in which dark supernatural forces invade the suburbs of the '80s and '90s. This time, Hendrix's heroines are a group of stay-at-home moms who steal time for themselves in a true-crime book club. When vulnerable children start going missing after the appearance of a mysterious stranger, they can't help but notice that their genteel Charleston neighborhood is starting to feel a lot like one of their book selections--but what can this unlikely group of "bored housewives" possibly do to defeat otherworldly evil? More than you might think, as Hendrix's richly-drawn characters illustrate the resourcefulness, strength, and struggle of overlooked and underappreciated women. Featuring Hendrix's trademark wry humor and visceral gore, this book is sure to delight established fans as well as create new ones.
 
Publisher description: 
South Carolina in the '90s: a women's book club must protect its suburban community from a mysterious stranger who turns out to be a real monster.
 
Cover ArtRed Queen is a dystopian/fantasy novel telling the story of a woman named Mare Barrow who is among the red-blooded. Those who are red serve the silver-blooded, but Mare slowly becomes part of the silvers when she discovers she has her own ability. However, Mare is pretending to be someone she is not, and disobeying the king can get her killed. She learns the hard way to stand up for who you truly are and that not everyone can be trusted. The novel doesn't have too much violence and is full of action. If you like to read fantasy and dystopian books, this book is for you! Content warning: Some violence and language.
- Anonymous, 9th grade teen volunteer
Publisher's description:
Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood -- those with common, Red blood serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own. To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard -- a growing Red rebellion -- even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.
 
08/29/2021
Boulder Library
Cover ArtAn Illusion of Thieves (Book One of the Chimera series) follows a band of magical heroes in a Italian-Renaissance-esque setting. Romy is intelligent, sassy, curious, and overall a delightful main character. There's thievery, and espionage, and wit, and romance. The world-building and magic system especially are elaborate, believable, and unique. The world-building and characters feel flawed but relatable and real. The real plot takes a little while to get going, but I was never bored. The spiderweb of plans and trickery and twists will keep you on the edge of your seat.
- Kylie, 10th grade teen volunteer
 
Publisher's description:
Romy escapes her hardscrabble upbringing when she becomes courtesan to the Shadow Lord, a revolutionary noble who brings laws and comforts once reserved for the wealthy to all. When her brother, Neri, is caught thieving with the aid of magic, Romy's aristocratic influence is the only thing that can spare his life--and the price is her banishment. Now back in Beggar's Ring, she has just her wits and her own long-hidden sorcery to help her and Neri survive. But when a plot to overthrow the Shadow Lord and incite civil war is uncovered, only Romy knows how to stop it. To do so, she'll have to rely on newfound allies--a swordmaster, a silversmith, and her own thieving brother. And they'll need the very thing that could condemn them all: magic.
Cover ArtThis novel tells the fraught, layered tale of Patsy, a Jamaican woman who leaves her young daughter behind for the chance to immigrate to America and to reunite with her oldest friend and secret love, Cicely. Expecting a new life with new freedoms in the states, Patsy instead has to learn to accept less than ideal circumstances, working as a nanny despite being without her daughter, Tru, and coming to terms with her sexuality. As Tru struggles to understand why she was left behind and who she will become, Patsy gradually evolves her own sense of self, bridging the chasms between her identities as a mother, an immigrant, and a woman. If you have a chance to check out the audiobook, it really enriches the narrative to hear some lyrical patois spoken aloud.
 
Publisher description:
Heralded for writing “deeply memorable character[s]” (Jennifer Senior, New York Times), Nicole Dennis-Benn introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine for our times: the eponymous Patsy, who leaves her young daughter behind in Jamaica to follow Cicely, her oldest friend, to New York. Beating with the pulse of a long-withheld confession and peppered with lilting patois, Patsy gives voice to a woman who looks to America for the opportunity to love whomever she chooses, bravely putting herself first. But to survive as an undocumented immigrant, Patsy is forced to work, ironically, as a nanny, while back in Jamaica her daughter, Tru, struggles to understand why she was left behind. Greeted with international critical acclaim from readers who, at last, saw themselves represented in Patsy, this astonishing novel “fills a literary void with compassion, complexity and tenderness” (Joshunda Sanders, Time), offering up a vital portrait of the chasms between selfhood and motherhood, the American dream and reality
 
Cover ArtA fast read about a rock band in the 1970s. The story of the band's break up at the height of their success is written in interview format, which allows the voice of every band member to be heard. It is a very engaging way to write the story of the band and hear different perspectives on what was happening. It was fun to also take breaks from reading to listen to the album Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, since it seems there is so much of Stevie Nicks in the main character.
 
Publisher description: 
Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go-Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it's the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she's twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things. Another band getting noticed is The Six, led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she's pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road. Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.
 
Cover ArtA Cinderella story with body positivity, reality TV, and the perfect pair of shoes. Cindy takes a journey from New York to Los Angeles and learns that choosing joy, choosing yourself, is the best kind of happy ending. Her Prince Charming is the icing on the cake (or the tassel on the shoe).
 
Publisher description:
In this modern-retelling of Cinderella, plus-size Cindy dreams of becoming a shoe designer. But when a spot opens up on her stepmother's famous reality dating TV competition, Cindy is thrust into the spotlight in ways she never thought possible
 
Cover Art
 
This penguin loves to complain! They are annoyed with their life--the cold, the dark, the snow, the freezing water, the fact that it's impossible to tell all the other penguins apart. A walrus has some sage advice for the penguin on how to enjoy every day for what it is--but will the advice help? As someone who loves a good kvetch, I really identified with this penguin, and I found myself laughing out loud at some of their complaints. A great book on many levels!
 
Publisher description: 
A penguin whines about the uncontrollable problems in his life.
 

 

Cover ArtThe Island Child is a story of secrets. Oona, a Canadian mother, is afraid of the Irish island she grew up on, or more specifically, her past on the island. But when Oona's secrets come back to chase her daughter away, she must search for her daughter, for forgiveness, for truth, and consider the moments on the island that led her to her present state, and the lives of the people who made these moments. The Island Child is a story about those who want to escape. Content warning: Sex, Abuse.
- Natasha, 8th grade teen volunteer
Publisher's description:
Oona grew up on the island of Inis: a wind-blasted rock off the coast of Ireland where the men went out on fishing boats and the women tended sheep; where the only book was the Bible; and where girls stayed at home until they became mothers themselves. Even as a child, Oona knew she wanted to leave, but she never could have anticipated the tumultuous turn of events that would ultimately compel her to flee. Now, after twenty years--Oona having forged a new life for herself--her daughter vanishes, forcing Oona to face her past in order, finally, to be free of it.
 
 
Cover ArtQueer romance and sci-fi superhero adventure merge to create the genre crossover of the century in this explosive YA debut. Nick Bell is a fan-fiction writer obsessed with the elusive Extraordinary named Shadow Star. But what will happen when Nick runs into Shadow Star on the street? Certainly not Nick vowing to somehow become an Extraordinary with the reluctant help of his spunky group of friends. Featuring laugh-out-loud comedy, plenty of secondhand embarrassment, secret identities, captivating superhero action, and an occasionally oblivious protagonist who will steal your heart from page one, The Extraordinaries is a must-read YA book for anyone who needs a pick-me-up in the form of a good laugh. Also be sure to read the incredible sequel, Flash Fire, of which I was lucky enough to get an advanced reader’s copy! Content warning: Drugs.
- Mary, 9th grade teen volunteer 
 
Publisher's description:

Nick would rather write fanfiction about the feats of heroism and romantic entanglements he imagines for the very real superheroes who inhabit his city. When he meets Nova City's biggest hero (and his biggest crush) Shadow Star, however, he resolves to become a superhero himself. And he’ll do it with or without the reluctant help of Seth Gray, Nick's best friend (and maybe the love of his life).

Find The Extraordinaries in our online catalog.

Cover ArtTired of reading about the U.S.-Mexican border in books, Francisco Cantú, the grandson of a Mexican immigrant, decides the best way to understand what's really happening is to join the Border Patrol himself. What we get is a strange narrative where men are trained against the threat of violent drug cartel, but arrest mostly the "little people," or migrants, "people looking for a better life." As he battles bad dreams and personal guilt, Cantú takes you through a casually harsh system, revealing deeply tragic stories of migrants and bizarre scenes of the agents who track them.
 
Publisher description:
For Francisco Cantú the border is in the blood: his mother, a park ranger and daughter of a Mexican immigrant, raised him in the scrublands of the Southwest. Haunted by the landscape of his youth, Cantú joins the Border Patrol. He and his partners are posted to remote regions crisscrossed by drug routes and smuggling corridors, where they learn to track other humans under blistering sun and through frigid nights. They haul in the dead and deliver to detention those they find alive. Cantú tries not to think where the stories go from there. Plagued by nightmares, he abandons the Patrol for civilian life. But when an immigrant friend travels to Mexico to visit his dying mother and does not return, Cantú discovers that the border has migrated with him, and now he must know the whole story
 
Field is required.