Fall into a Good Book

carolLeave a comment

With the busy holiday season ahead, why not sit down with a quick read and a light romance that will lift your spirits, make you laugh, and help you believe in love.

In Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey, a nearly 30-year-old Theodora “Teddy” Phillips spends her days surrounded by toys, working at a Columbus, Ohio vintage toy store. She is stuck in a rut with her job and now that she’s been dumped by her long-time boyfriend, she feels even more embarrassed about her lack of future plans. Teddy wallows in her misery by eating plenty of ice cream and binge-watching her guilty pleasure: episodes of Everett’s Place, a local children’s show hosted by Everett St. James, the gorgeous guy who has all the right answers for the kids on his TV show.

On impulse, Teddy writes to Everett, asking for advice on her own life, never expecting an answer. Meanwhile, Everett, who indeed feels like he has his own dream job, is still looking for that missing “something.” When Everett gets a letter from Theodora he is drawn to her vulnerability and a delightful correspondence is born between them.

With witty characters and plenty of heart, this novel about love, family and friendship is a sweet story of self discovery that will put a smile on your face. Pick up Very Sincerely Yours for a charming and chaste romance for anyone who (still) doesn’t know what they want to be when they grow up.

~Carol

Review of You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor and Janina Matthewson

ShannonLeave a comment
You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Janina Matthewson and Jeffrey Cranor book cover and RRPL catalog link

Miriam grows up during the Great Reckoning, an apocalyptic war that destroys nations, displaces thousands of people, and kills millions more. Later, when civilization slowly begins to function again, the nascent New Society government concludes that tribal loyalties, including familial bonds, are to blame for the Great Reckoning. As an adult, Miriam perfects a technique that helps children to forget traumatic memories, and the New Society uses it in ways she never intended to create the Age Ten Protocols. The government takes babies from their families and raises them in child care centers, then erases those memories when they turn ten years old, destroying those dangerous family ties. Now an elderly woman, Miriam writes a memoir of her extraordinary life in the new novel You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Janina Matthewson and Jeffrey Cranor.

This book is a companion novel to Within the Wires, an audio drama podcast written by one of the writers of Welcome to Night Vale, Jeffrey Cranor, and writer and voice actor Janina Matthewson. Longtime listeners of Within the Wires will certainly find breadcrumbs of new information to chew over, as this novel provides much backstory to the world of the podcast. As a standalone novel, it is a stark dystopia that may confuse readers not aware of its extensive audio drama roots. I have listened to Within the Wires since its first episode, and as I read, I found myself preferring the podcast and the intimacy with which we get to know the characters. In this novel, the narrator is carefully writing her own memoirs in a New Society that will not publish anything too radical, so there is a substantial distance between Miriam and the reader that means we never really get to know her as a person.

However, the authors explore intriguing philosophical questions throughout the course of the novel: in a post-apocalyptic society, what lengths are too far to go in trying to prevent another worldwide war? Are family ties and tribalism truly the root of all war and conflict? Is it ethical – and if not ethical, then necessary – to erase memories and destroy families in the pursuit of peace? With Miriam as our unreliable narrator versus the New Society’s narrative, who is telling the truth? Fans of Within the Wires and new readers who are intrigued by this unique concept for a dystopian novel should check this one out. If you like the book, make sure to listen to the podcast in your favorite podcast app!

Release date: December 7, 2021

Thanks to NetGalley for the Advance Reader Copy!

Fall into a Good Book

EmmaLeave a comment
God Rest Ye Royal Gentlemen

It’s 1935 when newlyweds Georgie and Darcy O’Mara plan a small gathering of friends and family over the Christmas holidays at their new home. Their plans change when an unexpected invitation arrives from Darcy’s eccentric Aunt Ermintrude. Ermintrude had been a lady-in-waiting for Queen Mary and is living at Wymondham Hall which is on the edge of the royal Sandringham estate. The invitation implies that the Queen would like to visit with Georgie. The O’Mara’s feel they must accept Ermintrude’s invitation. Georgie’s mother, brother Binky and his wife Fig are also invited along with their two children. The Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson are in attendance. The Prince is duty-bound to his family’s holiday traditions especially since the King’s health is failing and this may be his last Christmas. Wallis is unhappy that she is left behind at Wymondham Hall while the Prince is at Sandringham.

Awful accidents happen at Sandringham, and the Queen wants Georgie (along with security and the police) to figure out what is going on. She feels that the estate is cursed. The Prince is shot at. An equerry (an officer of the household of a prince or noble who had charge over the stables) died last Christmas and another died this Christmas. Wallis Simpson is left unconscious when a collapsible staircase falls and hits her on the head at Wymondham Hall.

I won’t give away any more of the plot and invite you read the novel. I thoroughly enjoy the Royal Spyness series and recommend that the books be read in order. The stories and characters build on each other.

  1. Her Royal Spyness – 2007
  2. A Royal Pain – 2008
  3. Royal Flush – 2009
  4. Royal Blood – 2010
  5. Naughty in Nice – 2011
  6. The Twelve Clues of Christmas – 2012
  7. Heirs and Graces – 2013
  8. Queen of Hearts – 2014
  9. Malice at the Palace – 2015
  10. Crowned and Dangerous – 2016
  11. On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service – 2017
  12. Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding – 2018
  13. Love and Death Among the Cheetahs – 2019
  14. The Last Mrs. Summers – 2020
  15. God Rest Ye Royal Gentlemen – 2021

~Emma

Cookbooks for Thanksgiving Inspiration

NicoleLeave a comment

Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday (Halloween will always hold that title) but I do rather love an excuse to consume copious amounts of food, try out new recipes, and acceptably nap on the couch in the middle of a family gathering.

If you are in need of some Thanksgiving kitchen inspiration, take a look below at some of my recommended titles for creating and sharing a delicious feast with your friends and family. Whether you are hosting a large group, people with special diets, or perhaps you are attending an intimate gathering, there is something for everyone in this curated collection.

Request one of these fabulous cookbooks today or stop in and see us at the library. What are some of your favorite cookbooks to break out for the holidays? Share in the comments!

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

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

Will by Will Smith with Mark Manson – A product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, and a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind, in this memoir, one of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich – The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author presents this unusual novel in which a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store’s most annoying customer.

A Christmas Legacy by Anne Perry – After her friend gets unceremoniously fired with no references right before the holidays, Gracie takes the recently-vacated job herself to try and figure out what happened in the latest novel of the series following A Christmas Resolution.

The Dark Hours  by Michael Connelly – LAPD Detective Reneé Ballard, investigating a New Year’s Eve murder along with an unsolved murder, teams up Detective Harry Bosch once again when their two cases—one old and one new—intersect, while an undetected killer watches their every move.

Dark Tarot by Christine Feehan – An ancient Carpathian, Sandu Berdardi, finally finds his life-mate when Adalasia explodes into his mind seamlessly and guides him on a dangerous quest while consulting her deck of cards in the latest addition to the series following Dark Song.

Heard It in a Love Song  by Tracey Garvis Graves – Newly divorced and lonely, Layla Hilding cautiously gets to know a newly-separated dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where she teaches music in the new novel from the best-selling author of The Girl He Used to Know.

Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King – A collection of short stories from the best-selling author of Writers & Lovers explores desire, heartache, loss and love in tales about a neglected teenage boy befriended by housesitting college students and a booksellers unspoken love for his employee.

Never by Ken Follett – Navigating terrorist attacks, illegal arms trading and smear campaigns, Pauline Green, the country’s first women president, is caught in a complex web of alliances with the most powerful counties that are being orchestrated by the enemy, and only those the most elite skills can stop the inevitable.

Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution by H. W. Brands – A best-selling historian presents a dramatic narrative of the American Revolution that reminds us that before America could win its revolution against Britain, the Patriots had to win a bitter civil war against family, neighbors and friends.

My Body by Emily Ratajkowski – In this personal exploration of feminism, sexuality and power, of men’s treatment of women and women’s rationalizations for accepting that treatment, the acclaimed model and actress presents essays that chronicle moments of her life while investigation culture’s fetishization of girls and female beauty.

~Semanur

Fall into a Historical Heist

carolLeave a comment

Colson Whitehead’s latest novel, Harlem Shuffle, probably is already on your to-read list but if it isn’t, place that hold now! This literary blend of historical and crime fiction tells the story of Ray Carney, the son a small-time crook. Carney is proud not be like his Dad and also proud to own a furniture store in Harlem in the early 1960s. Sometimes, though, Carney is forced to accept questionable merchandise for resale just to get ahead and rationalizes that he is a cog in the machine. In order to help his cousin Freddie get out of a jam with some crooks who steal the wrong jewelry from the wrong bad guy, Carney agrees to play the role of “fence.” When things go bad with the heist, however, Carney gets his hands very dirty and the lines between crooked and straight begin to blur.

The magic of Harlem Shuffle, which among other things is about the divide between black and white America, is its humor, attention to characters’ backstory and its heart, all hidden behind a slow-building sense that one wrong move could unravel Carney’s life. This love letter to 1960s New York will have you rooting for even some of the not-so-good-guys, as they each just try to live out the American Dream.

Fall into a Good Book

EmmaLeave a comment

by Suzanne Feldman

It’s 1914 in Baltimore when Ruth and Elise Duncan finally defy their father’s wishes. Ruth wants to become a doctor, but society and her father don’t feel that’s an appropriate career choice for women. Women should be stay-at-home wives and mothers. The sisters volunteer to help the British on the Western Front and head to Ypes, Belgium. There Ruth will work as a nurse and Elise will be an ambulance driver and mechanic. The horrific conditions keep both women too busy. At times Ruth oversteps her nursing duty boundaries and assists in the operating theatre annoying doctors. With the support of John Doweling, who is a doctor with the British, Ruth gains additional knowledge and practice in the operating room. John and Ruth soon fall in love while Elise and Hera, another driver in the all-female Ambulance Corps, also fall in love.

When the war is finally over, John and Ruth plan to marry. Ruth is still determined to become a doctor but medical schools will not accept married women. Elise and Hera plan to stay together and raise a houseful of orphans.

This novel is not meant for anyone with a sensitive stomach. Near the battlefront, there are many life threatening wounds, amputations and deaths. I am guessing a sequel is in the works for this book. There are several loose ends that could be resolved.

~Emma

Fall into a Good Book

carolLeave a comment

The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian is a debut novel that is being compared to the wildly popular bestseller, Where the Crawdads Sing and there are indeed similarities. Both novels are historical fiction, they take place in a swamp setting, and there is a murder and a coming of age. It is also eerily similar, how fast both books will keep you turning their pages.

Set in the 1920’s Mississippi swamp called “The Trace,” The Girls in the Stilt House actually tells the stories of two young women. Ada Morgan is 16 and pregnant and has just returned home to her cruel father, Virgil, after running away the year previously.

Matilda is a 17-year-old sharecropper’s daughter, who has plans to escape the racial oppression around her and move north to Cleveland. She is tired of seeing her own father cowering under the thumb of the local bootlegger and wants to leave the swamp behind, but when Matilda sees Ada’s life being threatened, she intervenes, and Virgil ends up dead. Now, the two girls find that their only chance for survival is to rely on one another.

This suspenseful and sometimes-dark tale of oppression and survival is a captivating and poignant read that surprised and impressed this reader. I’ll be looking forward to the author’s next book!

Fall into a Good Book

EmmaLeave a comment
Yours Cheerfully
by A.J. Pearce

In this sequel to Dear Mrs. Bird, its 1941 when Emmeline Lake is hired as the wartime advice columnist for “Woman’s Friend” magazine. Along with her publisher, Emmy attends the Ministry of Information meetings where the need for women wartime workers is stressed. The British magazines are asked by the Ministry to do their part to help recruit more women. Emmy is up to the challenge and expands her role at “Women’s Friend”. She is allowed to visit a munitions factory to see firsthand women workers at their jobs and write a series of articles for the magazine. She is allowed to interview women who face the difficulty of being wartime workers, wives and mothers. With their long workdays and odd hours, these women need government-sponsored nurseries for daycare. Emmy and her best friend Bunty help take up the cause for nurseries, equal pay for equal work, and the ability for women to join the union.

The second entry in the Emmeline Lake Chronicles series is a heartwarming novel with a little romance. Emmy gets married just as her husband joins the fight.

~Emma

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

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

Better Off Dead by Andrew Child & Lee Child – Jack Reacher doesn’t back down and doesn’t hesitate to teach someone a lesson when a shadowy crew picks a fight with the former US Army military police major in the latest novel of the series following The Sentinel.

Down the Hatch by M.C. Beaton & R. W. Green – Private detective Agatha Raisin, having recently taken up power-walking, is striding along a path in Mircester Park during her lunch break when she hears a cry for help. Rushing over, she finds an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Swinburn, in the middle of the green with the body of an old man lying at their feet.

Forgiving Paris by Karen Kingsbury – The #1 New York Times bestselling author of life-changing fiction brings her signature emotional, heart-tugging (Woman’s World) prose to this wise and worldly novel of forgiveness and hope in the City of Lights.

The Nameless Ones by John Connolly – From the international and instant New York Times bestselling author of The Dirty South, the white-knuckled Charlie Parker series returns with this heart-pounding race to hunt down the deadliest of war criminals. In Amsterdam, four bodies, violently butchered, are discovered in a canal house, the remains of friends and confidantes of the assassin known only as Louis.

Going There by Katie Couric – Heartbreaking, hilarious, and brutally honest, Going There is the deeply personal life story of a girl next door turned household name. The iconic media star discusses her professional and personal life, including losing her husband at a young age, her historic turn as anchor of the CBS Evening News, and experiences dealing with gender inequality.

As the Wicked Watch by Tamron Hall – The first in a thrilling new series from Emmy Award-winning TV Host and Journalist Tamron Hall, As The Wicked Watch follows a reporter as she unravels the disturbing mystery around the deaths of two Black girls the work of a serial killer terrorizing Chicago.

The Unheard by Nicci French – In this new heart-pounding standalone from the internationally bestselling author that People calls “razor sharp,” a single mother suspects her young daughter has witnessed a horrible crime when she draws a disturbing picture but the deadly path to unravel the truth could cost her everything.

Renegades: Born in the USA by Barack Obama& Bruce Springsteen – Two longtime friends share an intimate and urgent conversation about life, music, and their enduring love of America, with all its challenges and contradictions, in this stunningly produced expansion of their groundbreaking Higher Ground podcast, featuring more than 350 photographs, exclusive bonus content, and never-before-seen archival material.

The Wicked Widow by Beatriz Williams – While digging up dirt on a Presidential candidate at the behest of her 90-something society queen aunt, pregnant Ella Dommerich, with the help of her mysterious connection to a certain redheaded flapper, stands between a ruthless family and the prize it’s sought for generations.

The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan – Perfect for the holidays! A brand-new heartwarming Christmas novel from the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshop on the Corner and Christmas at the Island Hotel. 

Gated Prey by Lee Goldberg – A simple sting operation takes a violent and unexpected turn for Detective Eve Ronin in a gripping thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg.

The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller – The captivating and powerful story of one man who banishes himself to a solitary life in the Arctic Circle, and is saved by good friends, a loyal dog, and a surprise visit that changes everything, in a novel that is both ceaselessly brilliant and pure delight.

~Semanur