Romance

Getting Cozy With Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

MeganLeave a comment

Viv is ready to hang up her sword and quit the mercenary life for something quieter-and sweeter. Armed with a legend, an artifact, and a little known Gnomish beverage, Viv sets about opening her coffee shop on a ley line in Thune. Her new venture attracts a motley cast of characters, including a baker, a business-minded succubus, and the head of the local mob.

This book is as comforting as a latte and a warm cinnamon roll on a wintery day. Having spent nearly a decade working in coffee shops myself, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Viv’s shop open and evolve. I savored the pages dedicated to the pure joy of a cinnamon roll. I laughed each time Thandri had to change the chalkboard menu and delighted in meeting their customers. While this does take the better half of the book, it’s not all coffee and sweets. As Viv and her crew learn the ropes of the business, trouble is quietly brewing. But Viv isn’t just building a business-she’s building a community and family who have her back when tragedy strikes.

I cannot stress enough how absolutely charming and delightful this book is. If you enjoy a good slice of life story with quirky characters and happy ending, this one is for you. I recommend taking this book to a local coffee shop to be enjoyed with a latte.

Happy Reading!

Megan

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

Here are some of the new books coming to our shelves this week for you to add to your book list!

Wyoming Homecoming

Returning to Catelow, Wyoming, for her great-uncle’s funeral, Abbie Brennan, raising her young niece and keeping her own family legacy alive, tries to avoid Sheriff Cody Banks, who had once blamed her for his wife’s death, until circumstances throw them together, giving them a second chance. 

Jujutsu Kaisen. 18, Fever

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about. Should any demon consume Sukuna’s body parts, the power they gain could destroy the world as we know it. Fortunately, there exists a mysterious school of jujutsu sorcerers who exist to protect the precarious existence of the living from the supernatural!

Queen of Myth and Monsters

Uncertain who her allies are in the vampire stronghold of Revekka, Isolde, the newly coronated queen, contends with courtly intrigue while a deadly blood mist threatens all of Cordova and her trust in Adrian when troubling information about his complicated past comes to light.

100 Plants to Feed the Birds

An award-winning birder and science editor offers an easy-reference guide profiling the planting and care of the 100 best native plants for providing food and homes to local and migrating birds.

Fodor’s Essential Italy

An updated guide to Italy includes maps, suggested itineraries, excursions and recommendations from locals to fit every budget and see it all, from designer shopping in Milan to visiting the Colosseum in Rome or hiking the Cinque Terre.

Rick Steves Germany

From fairy tale castles and alpine forests to quaint villages and modern cities, this exciting passport to Germany provides strategic advice, vital trip-planning tools, detailed maps and a wealth of information on what to see and do.

Moon Alaska

Provides the inspiration for planning an unforgettable Alaskan adventure with the help of strategic itineraries, which include unique experiences, honest advice and background information on culture, weather, wildlife, local laws and history.

~Semanur

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

There are many exciting new book releases coming and you don’t want to miss it…

The Choice

When the enemy’s witches, traitorous and power-mad, appear to her in a dream, practicing black magick and sacrificing the innocent, Breen, united with Keegan and all of Talamh, must save those in need of rescue and, with every weapon she has, confront the darkness once and for all.

The Whittiers

When a devastating tragedy takes their parents from them, the eldest four adult Whittier children must put aside their personal issues and grief to keep the family together and support each other and their two youngest siblings.

Hunting Time

A wealthy entrepreneur hires Colter Shaw to track down and protect his employee, Allison Parker, a brilliant engineer, who is on the run from her ex-husband with her teenage daughter, in the fourth novel of the series following Hunting Time.

A Christmas Memory

Reeling from the loss of his brother in Vietnam, Richard moves with his family from California to his grandmother’s abandoned house in Utah where he finds the holiday spirit with the help of an elderly neighbor and his dog.

NYPD RED 7

When a network of professional assassins, trained by the U.S. military, terrorize New York City, NYPD Red detectives Kylie MacDonald and Zach Jordan must hunt down these elusive mercenaries—the biggest challenge they’ve ever faced, which forever changes their lives.

The Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Book

Hand-picking the keenest insights and funniest exchanges from 84 episodes of the groundbreaking streaming series, this gorgeously designed and carefully curated book collects casual yet intimate conversations with the funniest people alive, becoming the most important historical archive about the art of comedy ever amassed.

Defending Alice: A Novel of Love and Race in the Roaring Twenties

Roaring Twenties New York society is set ablaze when a working-class black woman marries the son of a wealthy, prominent family and makes international headlines after he sues for annulment accusing her of hiding her “Negro blood.”

All the Blood We Share: A Novel of the Bloody Benders of Kansas

The family of a gifted medium who can receive messages from Beyond are welcomed by the town of Cherrvale, but no one knows about their other business, in a novel based on the true story of old West serial killers.

~Semanur

Fall into a Steamy Romance

carolLeave a comment

In Jasmine Guillory’s latest romance, 34-year-old Margot Noble has been too busy proving herself to her brother by running her family’s Napa winery to worry about her love life. The night Margot meets Luke Williams, a younger man who has recently moved back to town, sparks fly. Margot’s bestie encourages her to have a one-night stand with him, and Margot goes out of her comfort zone and does it, literally. She and Luke have an incredible and unforgettable evening and Margot is sure she will never see Luke again–only to discover the following day that her brother has hired him to work at their winery. Now, Margot is Luke’s boss, and though seeing him daily is torture, she knows that he is forbidden fruit.

Meanwhile, Luke has been lying to his mother about why he left his high-powered tech job to return home. To complicate matters further, he’s told his mom that he’s dating his high school girlfriend, even though they are just the best of friends. While Luke doesn’t plan to stay in Napa long, he can’t stop thinking about Margot. The more time he spends working for her, his attraction and respect for her grows. Could this be the start of a beautiful relationship? Or is their attraction doomed to die on the vine?

Pick up this super-steamy, quick read of a romantic comedy that has engaging and well-rounded characters, and prepare to get Drunk On Love.

-Carol

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

Take a look at some of the exciting new releases coming to our shelves in this week…

The Revolutionary Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff – Offers a biography of a noted Founding Father—the one who stood behind the change in thinking that produced the American Revolution.

The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human by Siddhartha Mukherjee – Presenting revelatory and exhilarating stories of scientists, doctors and the patients whose lives may be saved by their work, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, drawing on his own experience as a researcher, doctor and prolific reader, explores medicine and our radical new ability to manipulate cells.

Marmee by Sarah Miller – In 1861, Margaret March, with her husband serving as an army chaplain, finds the comfort and security of her four daughters resting on her shoulders alone as she faces financial hardships, secrets and tragedy, in this revealing retelling of Little Women from the perspective of the beloved matriarch known as Marmee.

Thief of Fate by Jude Deveraux & Tara Sheets – After changing the course of history when he stole Cora McLeod from her destined soulmate, Finley Walsh, in 1844, Liam O’Conner, desperately trying to make amends, has three months to restore the balance by reuniting Cora and Finn or pay the ultimate price.

Livid: A Scarpetta Novel by Patricia Cornwell, Patricia – When the sister of the judge presiding over a sensational murder case is found dead, chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, the reluctant start witness in the trial, investigates and recognizes telltale signs of the unthinkable, pitting her against a powerful force that returns her to the past.

No Plan B: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child, Lee & Andrew Child – Witnessing a woman pushed to her death in front of a bus, Jack Reacher, following the killer on foot, is unaware that this is part of a secret conspiracy with many moving parts with no room for error and any threats will be permanently removed, including Reacher.

The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy – In 1980 Pass Christian, Mississippi, salvage diver Bobby Western, after a plane crash, discovers the pilot’s flight bag, the plane’s black box and the tenth passenger are missing, submerging him in a conspiracy beyond his understanding as he is shadowed in body and spirit by the past and present.

~Semanur

New Books Tuesday @RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

Here some of the new exciting releases for you to take a look at this week!

Poster Girl by Veronica Roth, Veronica – After the collapse of the Delegation, an oppressive dystopian regime, Sonya, a poster girl imprisoned for her involvement, is offered a chance at freedom if she finds a missing girl stolen from her parents by the old regime, forcing her to confront a past rife with lies and dark secrets.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver – The son of an Appalachian teenager uses his good looks, wit and instincts to survive foster care, child labor, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses in the new novel from the best-selling author of Unsheltered.

The Favor by Nicci French – When she agrees to pick up an ex-boyfriend at the train station, Jude is shocked when the police show up instead of him and, realizing she knows nothing about the man he’s become, becomes entangled in his life as she tries to uncover the truth.

And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham – The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer examines life and moral evolution of Abraham Lincoln and how he navigated the crises of slavery, secession and war by both marshaling the power of the presidency while recognizing its limitations.

A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin – Fresh off of helping his daughter Samantha find her missing husband, Inspector John Rebus investigates another surprising crime in the latest addition to the long-running thriller series following A Song for the Dark Times.

 The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man by Paul Newman – Culled from thousands of pages of transcripts, this raw, candid, unvarnished memoir of the greatest movie star of the past 75 years, told with searing honesty, covers everything: his traumatic childhood, his career, his drinking, his intimate life with Joanne Woodward and his innermost fears and passions and joys.

Robert Ludlum’s The Blackbriar Genesis by Simon Gervais – When an undercover Treadstone agent is murdered in Prague, but none of his superiors know what he was doing there, Blackbriar operatives Helen Jouvert and Donovan Wade are sent to investigate, drawing them into a world of conspiracy and fake news.

The Last Chairlift by John Irving – Growing up in a family that defies conventions and evades questions concerning the eventful past, Adam goes to Aspen, where he was conceived, to learn the truth about his mother, a former slalom skier and ski instructor, and meets some ghosts, which aren’t the first or the last ones he sees.

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro – When the Shenkmans arrive on Division Street, their brilliant, lonely son Waldo, who has a native ability to find connections in everything, befriends Dr. Wilf, who is harboring a dark secret, setting in motion a chain of events that cause the past to come back with a vengeance.

The Christmas Spirit by Debbie Macomber – When Pete, a local pastor, and his best friend, Hank, a bartender, decide to switch jobs until Christmas Eve, they begin to see each other’s lives in a new light as they each discover a new love to cherish, forever changing their lives.

Liberation Day by George Saunders – This brilliant collection of stories, written with the author’s trademark prose – wickedly funny, unsentimental and perfectly tuned, encompass joy and despair, oppression and revolution, bizarre fantasy and brutal reality.

The Boys from Biloxi by John Grisham – The #1 New York Times best-selling author sets the stage for his most gripping thriller yet as he returns to Mississippi where his page-turning twists and turns lead to a stunning conclusion.

~Semanur

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

Here some of the new exciting releases for you to take a look at this week!

Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder by William Shatner & Joshua Brandon – The beloved star of Star Trek and recent space traveler reflects on the interconnectivity of all things, our fragile bond with nature and the joy that comes from exploration.

Daughter of Darkness by Terry Brooks – After accepting her Fae heritage and escaping the sinister Goblin prison, Auris tries to live happily with her lover, Harlow, until the Goblin attacks begin again and she must uncover her still-shrouded past for answers and solutions.

The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken – After her mother’s death, the narrator, a writer, recalls all that made her complicated mother extraordinary and even though she wants to respect her mother’s nearly pathological sense of privacy, must decide whether chronicling this remarkable life is an act of love or betrayal.

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan – Her life upended when her husband revealed a darker side, Olivia MacAfee and her teenage son Asher move back to her New Hampshire hometown for a new beginning until Asher is implicated in the death of his girlfriend and she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng – In a society consumed by fear, 12-year-old Bird Gardner, after receiving a mysterious letter, sets out on a quest to find his mother – a Chinese American poet who left when he was nine years old, leading him to NYC where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.

The Twelve Long, Hard, Topsy-turvy, Very Messy Days of Christmas by James Patterson & Tad Safran – During the holiday season, a family of three, missing someone very dear to them, find their house filling up with unexpected guests, making Christmas memories to last a lifetime.

Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman – The Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times reporter chronicles the rise of our 45th president, from his days as a New York City real estate developer to vanguard of a new norm-shattering era in American political history.

Home Sweet Christmas by Susan Mallery – Excited to regain her independence after sending her sisters off to college, Camryn Neff is not thrilled when a client tries to set her up with her son in the second novel of the series following The Christmas Wedding Guest.

Endless Summer by Elin Hilderbrand – Nine stories set in the universe of the best-selling author’s previous romance novels includes a visit with friends of Mallory Blessing three years after her death and Margot Carmichael encouraging her husband to reunite with his ex.

Righteous Prey by John Sandford – When a mysterious vigilante group known only as “The Five” starts targeting the very worst of society, using their unlimited resources to offset the damage done by those they’ve killed, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to investigate – and destroy – this virtually untraceable group.

~semanur

Fall into New Fiction

carolLeave a comment
Flying Solo
by Linda Holmes 

When Laurie Sassalyn’s cherished Aunt Dot dies at the age of 93, Laurie returns to her hometown of Calcasset, Maine to settle her estate. Laurie is also licking her wounds after calling off her wedding, having decided that like Dot, she never wants to marry. Dot’s house is filled with mementos from her adventure-filled life, and while Laurie was young, it helped provide Laurie with a retreat from her own home that she shared with four brothers and never-ending chaos. Now that Laurie is almost 40, she’s built a life and home like Dot’s for herself in Seattle, where she lives in peace as a freelance nature writer with a busy social life with friends.

Laurie believes that Dot’s things deserve respect and intends to go through each item before returning to Seattle. She has hired a professional declutterer to help her with the valuables. This man takes a keen interest in a wooden duck that Laurie uncovered hidden in Dot’s cedar chest. Laurie knows that this duck was somehow important to Dot, and isn’t sure she wants to part with it, but the declutterer insists it is worthless. Laurie lets the duck go, but cannot stop thinking about it, and when she enlists the help of her life-long friend June and her high school boyfriend Nick Cooper – now the (divorced) town librarian, the two encourage her to dig into the duck’s history.

The more time Laurie spends in Maine, the more she begins to doubt her life choices. She is drawn to Nick, but knows she will be leaving soon. She misses her hometown and friends there, but isn’t willing to sacrifice her independence. Laurie has some choices to make -but first, she has a duck to recapture.

Flying Solo by Linda Holmes is a warm and funny, cozy romantic read, perfect for these early Autumn days. With likeable, atypical characters who have real-world problems and no easy solutions, this novel is about being comfortable in one’s own skin, celebrating one’s independence and ability to compromise, and the road not taken.

-Carol

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

Here we have some new exciting releases for you to take a look at this week! 

Less Is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer – In this highly anticipated follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Less: A Novel, Arthur Less, after the death of an old lover and a sudden financial crisis, sets out on a literary adventure across the U.S. during which he must finally face his personal demons.

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout – Former married couple now lifelong friends, New Yorkers Lucy Barton and William, as a panicked world goes into lockdown, hunker down in a little house in Maine on the edge of the sea where they are faced with fear, struggles and isolation as well as hope, peace and possibilities.

The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman – While Elizabeth is presented with a deadly mission—kill or be killed—the Thursday Murder Club and their unlikely new friends, including TV stars, money launderers and ex-KGB colonels, investigate two murders, 10 years apart, and must catch the culprit and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again.

A Truth to Lie For by Anne Perry – Britain’s MI6 sends Elena Standish on a dangerous mission to smuggle a breakthrough weapon in germ warfare out of Germany before the developers can tell Hitler it exists in the fourth novel of the series following A Darker Reality.

Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks – After his own musical career was tragically roadblocked, Colby Mills meets and falls for a graduate of a prestigious college music program looking to become a star in Nashville, in the new novel from the best-selling author of The Wish.

Drunk on Love by Jasmine Guillory – Accidentally and unknowingly having a one-night stand with her new employee the night before his first day, stressed out Napa Valley winery owner Margot Nobel tries to keep things purely professional, but fails miserably.

Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization by Neil deGrasse Tyson – Bringing his cosmic perspective to civilization on Earth, an astrophysicist discusses the scientific palette that sees and paints the world differently, sharing insights on resolving global conflict to reminders of how precious it is to be alive in a universe stimulating a deeper sense of unity for us all.

Suspect by Scott Turow – Investigating the high-profile case of police chief Lucia Gomez, who is accused of soliciting sex for promotions to higher ranks, P.I. Clarice “Pinky” Granum must unravel the dark secrets of the people closest to Gomez, drawing her into the deepest recesses of the city’s criminal networks.

~Semanur

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

Take a look at some of the exciting new releases coming to our shelves in this week…

Clive Cussler’s Hellburner : When Juan Cabrillo fails to capture the leader of Mexico’s most dangerous drug cartel and loses an Oregon crew member in the process, he’s determined to get revenge. Little does he know that the explosion he just narrowly escaped was merely the latest flash of violence from a machine of war that has existed for decades, dating from the bloodiest episode in Armenia’s history.

All the Women in My Brain: And Other Concerns : Like Jenny Lawson and Caitlin Moran, Emmy-nominated actress and writer Betty Gilpin delivers a lightning-strike dispatch of hilarious, intimate, and luminous essays on how to navigate this weird and wondrous life.

The Wuhan Cover-Up: How US Health Officials Conspired with the Chinese Military to Hide the Origins of COVID-19

The Wuhan Cover-up : From the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly bestselling author of The Real Anthony Fauci comes an explosive exposé of the cover-up behind the true origins of COVID-19.The Wuhan Cover-up unveils a US/Chinese conspiracy of epic proportion and lethal consequence.

The Ways We Hide : A sweeping World War II tale of an illusionist whose recruitment by British intelligence sets her on a perilous, heartrending path. Inspired by stunning true accounts, The Ways We Hide is a gripping story of love and loss, the wars we fight—on the battlefields and within ourselves—and the courage found in unexpected places.

The American Roommate Experiment : From the author of the Goodreads Choice Award winner The Spanish Love Deception, the eagerly anticipated follow-up featuring Rosie Graham and Lucas Martín, who are forced to share a New York apartment. Rosie Graham has a problem. A few, actually. She just quit her well paid job to focus on her secret career as a romance writer. She hasn’t told her family and now has terrible writer’s block. Then, the ceiling of her New York apartment literally crumbles on her.

On the Rooftop : A stunning novel about a mother whose dream of musical stardom for her three daughters collides with the daughters’ ambitions for their own lives—set against the backdrop of gentrifying 1950s San Francisco.

The Rising Tide : For fifty years a group of friends have been meeting regularly for reunions on Holy Island, celebrating the school trip where they met, and the friend that they lost to the rising causeway tide five years later.

It’s Not Me, It’s You : Two therapists analyze their own relationship to help untangle the common and frustrating barriers many individuals face on the road to a happy, loving, rewarding partnership.

Court of the Vampire Queen : All Mina ever wanted was to escape her father’s control. Half human, half vampire, she lived eternally torn between two worlds, never fully experiencing the pleasures of either—until her father chose her as the pawn in his latest political move, gifting her to the darkly powerful and dangerously seductive Malachi Zion.

~Semanur