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Book cover for I have loved everything Megan Miranda writes, but this one has been my favorite by far. Miranda really nails the small town with secrets vibe every single time and this is no exception. Following a girl, now woman, who survived a freak storm during childhood, you get to discover with her just how deep some lies go.

Publisher's description:
As a child, Arden Maynor was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm. Found alive days later clinging to a storm drain, the girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden's mother wrote a book. Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. With the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Then Olivia begins sleepwalking again. One night she jolts awake in her yard-- and at her feet is the corpse of a man she knows from her previous life.

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Amazon.com: Where Wolves Don't Die: 9781646143818: Treuer, Anton: BooksAcclaimed Ojibwe author Anton Treuer's (Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask) debut YA novel is both a thriller and Native coming-of-age story. When teenager Ezra Cloud suddenly becomes a prime suspect of an arson case involving a school rival, he is sent away into the Canadian wilderness with his grandpa to learn about the ways of his culture. A meaningful exploration of healing and connection. Filled with cultural teachings, language, light humor, heart, and love.

Publisher’s description:
"Ezra Cloud hates living in Northeast Minneapolis. His father is a professor of their language, Ojibwe, at a local college, so they have to be there. But Ezra hates the dirty, polluted snow around them. He hates being away from the rez at Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation. And he hates the local bully in his neighborhood, Matt Schroeder, who terrorizes Ezra and his friend Nora George. Ezra gets into a terrible fight with Matt at school defending Nora, and that same night, Matt's house burns down. Instantly, Ezra becomes a prime suspect. Knowing he won't get a fair deal, and knowing his innocence, Ezra's family sends him away to run traplines with his grandfather in a remote part of Canada, while the investigation is ongoing. But the Schroeders are looking for him…

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Welcome to Stepford, Connecticut, where the husbands join the men's association, and all the women are satisfied with keeping house. But don't let perfection fool you. This slim novel packs a punch, exploring themes of sexism, patriarchy, societal traditions, conformity, perfectionism, consumerism, and the dark side of suburbia. For fans of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and the inspiration for Jordan Peele's film Get Out. You won't leave Stepford, ladies...because the men won't let you!

Publisher's description:
The internationally bestselling novel by the author of A Kiss Before Dying, The Boys from Brazil, and Rosemary's Baby With an Introduction by Peter Straub For Joanna, her husband, Walter, and their children, the move to beautiful Stepford seems almost too good to be true. It is. For behind the town's idyllic facade lies a terrible secret -- a secret so shattering that no one who encounters it will ever be the same. At once a masterpiece of psychological suspense and a savage commentary on a media-driven society that values the pursuit of youth and beauty at all costs, The Stepford Wives is a novel so frightening in its final implications that the title itself has earned a place in the American lexicon.

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Book CoverWe Were Liars brings the perfect suspenseful, yet exciting summer feels. The story focuses on the Sinclair family through first grandchild, Cadence's, view after a traumatic injury at their beloved summer house in Martha’s Vineyard. Two years later, when she is prepared to go back to Martha’s Vineyard, she notices everything is just a bit off, and their childhood home has been demolished and replaced by an unfriendly, modern house. The book rotates through years of summers spent on the island with her friends--Johnny, Mirren, and Gat--to unlock the mystery of how her injury came to be. Not only is We Were Liars a novel filled with mystery, but also love--romantic love, love for friends, and love for family. It is a perfect coming of age story with humor and an amazing plot (along with shocking plot twists) that will have your mind making all sorts of predictions.

Publisher's description: 

A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends -- the Liars -- whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth. Spending the summers on her family's private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, teenaged Cadence struggles to remember what happened during her fifteenth summer.

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Cover ArtThe Martian, a survival story unlike any other, surprised me because of how entertaining the story could be, intertwined with so much technical and scientific detail. Mark Watney, a 42-year-old man, gets stranded on Mars in a novel set in the near future. His experience with botany and mechanical engineering was all he had to survive on a planet, completely alone. With his humor being his closest friend, he calculates what he needs to survive, which includes many, many days of only eating potatoes. Mark’s creativity and optimism make it possible for him to fight any challenges that Mars throws at him. But will this let him live long enough to be rescued? This sci-fi novel weaves together a story of resilience and humor that keeps you on the edge of your seat, both terrified and amused, rooting for Mark through his journey on Mars.
 
Publisher's Description:
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive -- and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old 'human error' are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills -- and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit -- he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
 
04/17/2025
Boulder Library
Cover ArtIf you like found family, a touch (ok, more than a touch) of weapons, crime, and drama, this is the book for you. While it’s the first of a stunning duology, it has so much packed into it and has really interesting world building based loosely on the real world AND LANGUAGES!!! There’s also a show based on it and another series (same universe, the Grishaverse) that’s really cool and the fandom is very nice. I’ve still yet to find a series or book similar to this but OML, it’s so much fun -- I highly recommend reading it!!
 
Publisher's Description:
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right pric©♭€”and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone. . . . A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction--if they don't kill each other first.
 

 

01/09/2025
Boulder Library
Cover ArtHell Bent is the second book in the Alex Stern series, with the first book being Ninth House. It follows Alex Stern, a girl with a dark background and dangerous ability, when she is given a full-ride scholarship to Yale in order to become part of a mysterious society to monitor the eight secret societies of Yale. It involves secret plots, murder, the occult, and an entire world of magic and mystery. I think this book beautifully elaborates on the plots and concepts of the first book. The novel is well thought out with strong, unique characters and Bardugo’s writing is full of dark mysticism and is wonderfully detailed. I enjoyed seeing Alex’s character development, especially in consideration to her previous character development in Ninth House. I especially enjoyed the character arcs of Dawes and Turner and thought that Darlington’s character and role in the novel were well-designed. This series being Bardugo’s first venture into adult fiction, I think it is a wonderful extension of her young adult writing style. I would recommend it to anyone who has read her other novels (such as Six of Crows or Shadow and Bone) and anyone who enjoys dark, complex fantasy.                                                                                                                                                                          
 
Publisher's Description:
Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale. Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.
 
Cover ArtIt feels as if I just discovered a master novelist. This book was impossible to put down. A murder trial, two jurors having an affair, the trial, the aftermath, the sadness. There is so much emotion in each sentence in this book.
 
Publisher’s description:

The place: central Florida. The situation: a sensational murder trial involving a rich, white teenage girl--a twin--on trial for the horrific murder of her toddler brother, and the sequestered jury deciding her fate. Two of the jurors sequestered (she, Juror C-2; he, F-17), holed up at the Econo-Lodge off I-75. As the shocking and numbing details of the crime and its surrounding facts are revealed during a string of days and seemingly endless court hours, the nights, playing out in a series of court-financed meals Hannah and Graham fall into a furtive affair, keeping their oath, as jurors, never to discuss the trial. During deliberations the lovers learn they are on opposing sides of the case and realize that their fellow jurors are wise to their affair. After the trial's end, as Hannah returns home to her much older, now, suddenly, frail husband (they married when she was 24; he, 58) an exploding media fury involving the case catches them all up in a frenzy of public outrage at a jury that seems to have convicted the wrong twin, and a judge who has received an anonymous handwritten letter about a series of sexual encounters ("I feel it is my duty as a juror and a citizen to report that two of my fellow jurors had sexual contact on more than seven occasions during our nights at the motel..."), calling into question their respective verdicts, and announcing she is releasing the jurors' names to the media.

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07/29/2024
Boulder Library
Cover ArtI couldn't resist this fantasy series starter about a ragtag crew of sky pirates and a job gone horribly wrong. Suspenseful and fast-paced, populated by fascinating characters, and filled with witty banter, this steampunk gem deserves a wide readership.
 
Publisher’s description:
Sky piracy is a bit out of Darian Frey’s league. Fate has not been kind to the captain of the airship Ketty Jay—or his motley crew. They are all running from something. Crake is a daemonist in hiding, traveling with an armored golem and burdened by guilt. Jez is the new navigator, desperate to keep her secret from the rest of the crew. Malvery is a disgraced doctor, drinking himself to death. So when an opportunity arises to steal a chest of gems from a vulnerable airship, Frey can’t pass it up. It’s an easy take—and the payoff will finally make him a rich man. But when the attack goes horribly wrong, Frey suddenly finds himself the most wanted man in Vardia, trailed by bounty hunters, the elite Century Knights, and the dread queen of the skies, Trinica Dracken. Frey realizes that they’ve been set up to take a fall but doesn’t know the endgame. And the ultimate answer for captain and crew may lie in the legendary hidden pirate town of Retribution Falls. That’s if they can get there without getting blown out of the sky.
 
Cover ArtA fast paced mystery thriller, impossible to put down. So many twists and turns in a federal agent's efforts to get to the truth about his childhood friend's alleged murder suicide. Returning to the Australian town that forced him to leave, he faces unanswered questions about his past as well.

Publisher’s description:
After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke’s steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn’t tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead. Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there’s more to Luke’s death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.

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