Science Fiction – Read it or Weep

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

April 8, 2025April 7, 2025semanurLeave a comment

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

Head maid Molly Gray’s discovery of a priceless artifact sparks a media frenzy, a daring heist, and revelations from her grandmother’s hidden diary, intertwining a present-day mystery with a long-lost tale of forbidden love and family secrets.

THE GRIFFIN SISTERS’ GREATEST HITS

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner comes The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits, a deeply moving novel set against the glitz and chaos of early 2000s pop stardom. Equal parts heartfelt family saga and behind-the-scenes look at fame, this is a story about sisters, secrets, and the power of second chances.

HAPPY LAND

When Nikki visits her estranged grandmother in North Carolina, she uncovers a hidden legacy tied to a forgotten kingdom of freed people, unraveling her family’s secrets and her own identity while fighting to protect their endangered heritage.

FLIRTING LESSONS

When shy, newly single Avery enlists flirty heartbreaker Taylor for flirting lessons, their playful arrangement ignites undeniable chemistry, forcing both women to confront their feelings and risk everything for the chance at something real.

THE CAT WHO SAVED THE LIBRARY

The long-awaited sequel to the #1 international bestseller The Cat Who Saved Books—an uplifting tale from Japan about a talking cat, a book-loving girl and the power of books to make a difference in the world.

THE BOOK THAT HELD HER HEART

As an infinite library teeters on destruction, Livira must mend fragile bonds with Evar and reunite scattered allies across time and space to confront an unresolvable conflict threatening the very fabric of existence.

COLD ETERNITY

Cold Eternity is the newest action-packed space horror from S.A. Barnes perfect for fans of Severance, where desperation for eternal life leads to a fate worse than death… Halley is on the run from an interplanetary political scandal that has put a huge target on her back. She heads for what seems like the perfect place to lay low: a gigantic space barge storing the cryogenically frozen bodies of Earth’s most fortunate citizens from more than a century ago…

~Semanur

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

February 25, 2025November 26, 2025semanurLeave a comment

These are the books we are adding to our collection this week…

BATTLE MOUNTAIN

Nate Romanowski seeks vengeance after a devastating attack, while Joe Pickett teams up with a rookie game warden setting both on separate paths destined to collide at Battle Mountain, in the latest addition to the series following Three-Inch Teeth.

CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COUNT TO 10

A single mother joins a deadly island game set up by a charismatic daredevil and extreme adventurer, but a monstrous storm and an unseen menace transform the social media stunt into a ruthless fight for survival.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

Returning to work, new mom Camilla’s life is upended when she learns her husband is the gunman in a London hostage crisis, leaving her to decipher his cryptic goodbye note and make a critical choice.

BACK AFTER THIS

Podcast producer Cecily Foster reluctantly agrees to host a show documenting her dating life under the guidance of an influencer coach and must reconcile her growing feelings for a kind photographer with her coach’s conflicting advice.

SHOW DON’T TELL

Stories of complex, realistic characters confronting transformative moments, including a divorced woman reconnecting with friends, an artist challenging gender norms, and a reunion with a beloved character from the novel Prep, all woven with humor, insight, and an intimate portrayal of personal growth.

THE STRANGE CASE OF JANE O.

After giving birth, Jane experiences amnesia, hallucinations, and premonitions, leading to her sudden disappearance and a subsequent episode of dissociative fugue; her psychiatrist investigates the links between her struggles and a traumatic past, he grapples with questions of memory and reality, while a ghostly figure warns of impending disaster.

I’LL HAVE WHAT SHE’S HAVING

In hilarious and tender essays, #1 New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Handler shares her unforgettable story of becoming the woman she always wanted to be.

There’s a woman I want to become, Chelsea Handler thought as a child. She’ll be strong and confident. She’ll light up a room and spread that light to make others feel better. She’ll make a living being herself. She’ll be a survivor.

NOT WHO WE EXPECTED

Rock star Billy Diamond enlists crime experts Ellie Carr and Rachael Davies to find his missing daughter, Devon, whose boyfriend Carlos was found dead near the Nevada ranch retreat they were attending; Devon is thriving at the ranch but follows leader Galen slavishly, and Rachael wonders why Billy knows her late sister, Isis, whose son she’s raising.

THE BLANKET CATS

In a quirky Tokyo pet shop, seven struggling customers take home “blanket cats” for three days, hoping these temporary companions will help them escape their realities, including a couple facing infertility and a woman on the run, but the cats challenge their expectations and perceptions of happiness.

~Semanur

Stacey’s Selected Titles -2024 edition

December 12, 2024December 9, 2024staceyLeave a comment

Are you as exhausted by 2024 as I am? How about a book to help soothe the soul, or make you laugh, or give you a reason to read more on a topic? Here are twenty options that made my list (and more available upon request- heh heh!):

Actual Facts (aka Nonfiction)
The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl
This is a beautifully crafted book, both the art work and the sharing of the author’s life experience in monthly chapters. If you’re looking for a gift for a nature loving friend -this might be worth checking out.

Generations by Jean Twenge
This book plus The Coddling of the American Mind have answered a lot of questions for me I didn’t know I had.

Something Cozy
Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
Short in length, long on happiness impact. Take an afternoon and enjoy!

A New Lease On Death by Olivia Blacke
Looking for a cozy mystery? Here you go!

How to Age Disgracefully by Claire Pooley
Zesty characters and a cute dog. Do I need to say more?

The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley
Welcome back to Patrick O’Hara -everyone’s favorite Guncle!

Something a Little Different
Tilda is Visible by Jane Tara
What if you felt invisible because you’re a woman who’s getting older, and then your physical body actually started disappearing? And the medical community even had a name for the phenomenon?!

The Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
If you’re willing to read a fantasy book in which charming characters have magical gifts, this is also a locked room mystery that will keep you guessing until the end.

The Failures by Benjamin Liar
A chonky science fiction story with multiple storylines that come together in a pretty satisfying way to end the first in a trilogy.

After Annie by Anna Quindlen
When Annie unexpectedly passes away, we are given the opportunity to know her better through the lives she touched.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Margo is used to people thinking she makes bad choices, the current bad choice would be sleeping with her married college professor. When she discovers she’s pregnant and decides to keep the baby, Margo feels overwhelmed and determined to succeed.

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
When a woman on a plane starts predicting when and how other passengers will die, the first response was to brush it off. After the first prediction comes true, the rest of the group begins to bond and a search begins to find the mysterious lady.

Something a Little Dark
Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond
First in a new series, this is another short in length but long on impact book. You’ll be amazed at the world building the author is able to accomplish in only 167 pages!

The Haters by Robyn Harding
Camryn Hart went from celebrating her first published book to trying to figure out who’s making damaging false accusations about her online. The longer the attacks go on, the less trust Camryn has in the people surrounding her. What a wild ride!

Diavola by Jennifer Thorne
Creepy, creepy, creepy… So good!

Something Old (aka Historical)
Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate
Set in Oklahoma, with storylines in 1909 and 1990s, this book is filled with young women fighting for survival and for acceptance.

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
I had no idea who Martha Ballard was before reading this book and now I know why her legend lives on. Fascinating details on midwifery and all the additional jobs that were attached to that title.

The Mesmerist by Caroline Woods
Using some factual happenings and some fictional characters, this is another story of women fighting to have control over their own lives.

The Wealth of Shadows by Graham Moore
Just when you think there’s nothing new to learn about World War II, you read a book like this. Also, I’m a little sorry I didn’t pay more attention in my Macro Economics course…

Hopefully one of these books is just what you were looking for, and I’m *always* interested in hearing what you thought after reading! []~(￣▽￣)~*

Enjoy!
Stacey

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

October 29, 2024October 28, 2024semanurLeave a comment

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

THE GREY WOLF

A missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note for Chief Inspector Gamache reading “this might interest you,” a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list, and then a murder all propel Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization: something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching.

THE BLUE HOUR

On an isolated Scottish island, a present-day discovery intimately connects three people and unveils a web of secrets and lies. By the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train.

MY THREE DOGS

A new novel from the #1 bestselling author of A Dog’s Purpose looks features humankind’s best, most loyal friends, and a wonderful adventure of love and finding home.

THIS MOTHERLESS LAND

From the acclaimed author of Wahala, comes a retelling of Mansfield Park, exploring identity, culture, race and love.

BLOOD OVER BRIGHT HAVEN

After achieving her dream of becoming the first female highmage, Sciona faces hostility from her colleagues and an unexpected alliance with her janitor, a former nomadic hunter, as they uncover a secret that could revolutionize magic.

THE GIRL’S A KILLER

Cordelia is a serial killer who kills unscrupulous men, and she never had a problem with it, until she starts to become not so sure about the new man her best friend, Diane, is dating.

MY MEXICAN KITCHEN

An award-winning actor, director, producer and cookbook author, Eva’s genuine love for cooking and culinary-related history, along with her pride for her Mexican heritage, shine on every page of this meaningful and delectable cookbook.

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE MOTHER

Populated by unforgettable, complex characters, a novel about three generations of strong-willed women shaped by the secrets buried in their family’s past is a portrait of family, marriage, ambition, power, the stories we inherit and the lies we tell to become the people we believe we’re meant to be.

~Semanur

New Books Tuesday @RRPL

August 20, 2024February 24, 2025semanurLeave a comment

These are the books we are adding to our collection this week…

BY ANY OTHER NAME

Across centuries two women, Melina Green and Emilia Bassano, one a modern playwright and the other her Elizabethan ancestor, each fight societal expectations to have their voices heard on the stage in a world that silences female playwrights.

THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY

Sweeping across centuries, and stretching from Mesopotamia to London, this stunning novel follows a trio of characters living in the shadows of one of the greatest epic poems of all time. Nineveh and its Remains as they become entwined by a single drop of water.

THIS IS WHY WE LIED

While on their honeymoon at McAlpine Lodge, GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton must solve a murder when the Lodge’s manager is found dead, and investigating the McAlpine family and other guests, they realize everyone here is lying about their past, lying to their family, lying to themselves.

SPIRIT CROSSING

As a huge manhunt is launched to find a local politician’s daughter, Cork O’Connor. and the newly formed Iron Lake Ojibwe Tribal Police, when the body of a young Ojibwe woman is found, uncover a connection to the missing teenager one that places his own grandson in the crosshairs of a killer.

BACKWATER JUSTICE

Bound by friendship and a quest for justice, the members of the Sisterhood investigate when two young women go missing in Mountain Valley, Oregon, in the latest addition to the long-running series following Rock Bottom.

SHADOW STATE

Cut off from his comrades at The Campus just when he needs them most, Jack Ryan, Jr. finds himself in the middle of an international conspiracy that may be too much for even him to handle.

CITY OF SECRETS

LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan investigates what appears to be a fatal car-jacking, but uncovers details about the victim that suggests there’s more going on, in the fourth novel of the series following The Devil You Know.

SHE WHO KNOWS

When she receives The Call, which has never happened to a female in the history of her village, 13-year-old Najeeba must journey with her father and brothers to mine salt at the Dead Lake where her presence changes everything and her family will never be the same.

~Semanur

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

July 23, 2024July 18, 2024semanurLeave a comment

There’s an abundance of exciting new book releases on the horizon, and you won’t want to miss them…

CALDER COUNTRY

Making a deal to keep her smuggler father out of prison, Ruby Weaver agrees to help the Feds break up a bootlegging ring in 1920s Blue Moon, Montana, in the third novel of the series following A Calder at Heart.

THE HAUNTING OF HECATE CAVENDISH

In 1881 England, assistant librarian for the Hereford cathedral, Hecate Cavendish, who can see ghosts, guards an ancient chained library where some lost souls become her dearest friends, others seek her helping in finding peace and others threaten the lives of everyone she loves.

A HUNGER TO KILL

Describes the true story of Ashland, Ohio detective Kim Mager who used psychological expertise to unravel the crimes of serial killer Shawn Grate, known as “The Ladykiller,” through a series of high-stakes interviews during which he confessed.

THE WRONG HANDS

While dealing with his dead wife’s yet-to-be-solved murder and a briefcase containing a pair of severed hands, unconventional Detective Declan Miller finally has leverage against Wayne Cutler, whom he suspects killed his wife, which lands him in a mess he might not be able to dance his way out of.

THE BOOK OF ELSEWHERE

A warrior who cannot be killed, known simply as “B,” wants to die and a U.S. black-ops group has promised they can help with that if he helps them in return, but when an all-too-mortal soldier comes back to life, the impossible event points to a force even more mysterious than B himself.

THE BEST LIES

Diagnosed a pathological liar with unimaginable skeletons in his family’s closet, crusading attorney Leo Balanoff, when his fingerprints show up on the murder weapon used to kill a ruthless drug dealer, is forced to go undercover for the FBI, finding himself backed into a corner, but has a few more cards left to play.

BAD RIVER

While investigating his brother’s mysterious death in South Dakota, Arliss Cutter returns to Alaska after the discovery of a woman’s body in the permafrost indicates the two have things in common in the sixth novel of the series following Breakneck.

WHAT WE’LL BURN LAST

Sixteen years after the disappearance of her sister, Grace, and Grace’s boyfriend Adam, Leyna, when something strange happens, returns home to find answers, and as a wildfire sparks, tempers flare and intentions turn deadly because someone knows what really happened that night?—?and how good the forest is at keeping its secrets.

~Semanur

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

April 23, 2024April 22, 2024semanurLeave a comment

There’s an abundance of exciting new book releases on the horizon, and you won’t want to miss them…

FUNNY STORY

After being dumped for her boyfriend’s lifelong best friend, Petra, Daphne agrees to room with Petra’s freshly heartbroken ex until she can figure things out, in the new novel from the New York Times best-selling author of Happy Place.

THE SUMMER WE STARTED OVER

Returning to Nantucket to help her younger sister with the grand opening of her gift shop, Eddie Grant must face all she left behind: her father’s increased eccentricities; her sister’s resentment of her leaving; and a past love connection, discovering a long-buried family secret that will change them all forever.

EXTINCTION

Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash investigates after a billionaire’s son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered by a gang of eco-terrorists at a park where extinct animals are brought back through genetic manipulation.

DARLING GIRLS

Two women who escaped an overly-strict home with a foster mother on a farm are called back to their childhood home and into the orbit of their former guardian when human bones are discovered beneath the farmhouse.

LOST BIRDS

Retired from the Navajo Tribal Police, P.I. Joe Leaphorn is hired to find the birth parents of a woman raised by a bilagaana family, which unexpectedly turns into a complicated case, while Officer Bernadette Manuelito investigates an explosion linked his investigation.

THE PARIS NOVEL

Resigning herself to honor her mother’s last wishes, Stella travels to Paris where she meets an octogenarian art collector who introduces her to the who’s who of the 1980’s Paris literary, art and culinary worlds, helping her understand what it might mean to live a larger life.

THE LAST WORD

Hired by the daughters of local writer Melody Chambers to investigate her death, believing she was murdered, Natalka and Edwin go undercover at a creative writing weekend at isolated Battle House where another murder occurs and by the time Edwin infiltrates a sinister book group, he finds himself in danger.

~Semanur

Stacey says, “It’s time for the Top Ten of 2023!”

December 12, 2023staceyLeave a comment

This year I’m really leaning into the popular saying, “So many books, so little time!” My list of possibilities for a Top Ten is longer than usual thanks to my participation on American Library Association’s The Reading List committee. The Reading List is focused on finding great reads in the genres of Adrenaline, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Relationship Fiction, Romance, and Science Fiction -some of these categories aren’t ones I naturally gravitate toward but I’ve enjoyed the entire experience! (Plus -now I have bonus books for this list!)

As always, the books are in alphabetical order in each genre. I’m attempting a three emoji description -🤞 I can make it work. The link will take you to our digital collection but there are print books as well, just give us a call!

General Fiction:

Half-Life of a Stolen Sister by Rachel Cantor 🤔 👀 🔎

Late Bloomers by Deepa Varadarajan 👪🏽 🤐 🎉

Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes 🏫 🕵🏼 👫🏽

Maame by Jessica George 👪🏾 🏠 🏋🏾‍♀️

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim 🏡 🤫 🔍

Adrenaline:

Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose 🤐 😮 🪤

A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing 🕵🏼‍♀️ 👩‍❤️‍👨☠️

Historical Fiction:

Ghost Girl, Banana by Wiz Wharton 🇭🇰 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧

The Beach at Summerly by Beatriz Williams ⚔️ 💘 🏡

The House is on Fire by Rachel Beanland 🎭 🔥 💔

Mystery:

The Appeal by Janice Hallett 🤫 🔍 🥸

Better the Blood by Michael Bennett ☠️ 😰 🇳🇿

Killing Me by Michelle Gogan 🙅 😳 🤥

The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann 👵 🐢 🪤

Horror:

The September House by Carissa Orlando 🔥 🫠 😵

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix 👻 😱 🥴

Fantasy or Science Fiction:

The Books of Babel series by Josiah Bancroft series ☠️ ⛓️‍💥

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett 🧚 ✨ 📚

The Meister of Decimen City by Brianna 🐉 🦸‍♀️ ⚡

The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis 🗺️ 🛸 😉

and Nonfiction:

Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott 🧒🏾 🏫 💡

The Hospital by Brian Alexander 🏥 🤕 🩺

📚 💖 😊

– Stacey

World Space Week

October 5, 2023LinneaLeave a comment

The week of October 4-10 is World Space Week, an international celebration of science and technology, and how those have contributed to the betterment of humanity. The dates were chosen to commemorate the anniversary of the launch of the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, and the signing of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies on October 10, 1967.

To celebrate, enjoy this list of space themed books, whether you like true accounts or imaginative tales, hopefully you find something that sparks a sense of wonder.

Nonfiction