Summer Lovin'

One Summer by Elin Hiderbrand

One Summer collects two beloved Elin Hilderbrand classics, filled with double the sun, sand, drama and romance that fans love. The Blue Bistro and The Love Season. (Publisher Summary)

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

In 1962, a young Italian innkeeper meets an American starlet in a little drama engineered by her conniving publicist. Fifty years later, the innkeeper follows his heart to Hollywood to find her. (Library Journal Reviews)

The Summer Wind by Mary Alice Monroe

Raising her autistic child alone after being abandoned by her husband, Dora, who for years played the role of a perfect wife in a loveless marriage, spends a stormy summer of healing and self-discovery with her half-sisters and grandmother. (Publisher Summary)

On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

Stranded on an uninhabited island after their private plane crashes, thirty-year-old Anna Emerson and sixteen-year-old T.J. Callahan, her tutee, struggle to survive and, as the months pass, slowly fall in love. (Publisher Summary)

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

Her teenage life turned upside-down by her parents' divorce and her father's relocation out of state, Ronnie Miller remains bitter three years later when her mother urges her to spend a summer with her father. (Publisher Summary)

The Reef by Nora Roberts

Tate Beaumont, a beautiful student of marine archaeology, finds adventure, danger, and passion when she reluctantly joins forces with diver Matthew Lassiter and his uncle to find a legendary jeweled amulet said to be lost at the bottom of the sea. (Publisher Summary)

New Series Starter for Catherine Anderson

After years of living in fear of her husband, Amanda Banning has left him and moved to Mystic Creek, Oregon, for a fresh start in Catherine Anderson's newest novel Silver Thaw, the first in her new Mystic Creek series.

Amanda is having a tough time providing for herself and her six-year-old daughter. Writing her secret yearnings on slips of paper and sending them into the wind helps her cling to the hope that things will get better and that she can find happiness again.

When Jeb Sterling comes to her rescue after a cold snap leaves her and her daughter temporary homeless, Amanda has no idea just how much this kind and compassionate man will change her life.

Silver Thaw received a *Starred Review* from Booklist Reviews: "Master storyteller Anderson (Walking on Air, 2014) has skillfully penned the heart-wrenching story of domestic abuse and its aftermath, taking readers on an emotional roller-coaster ride and making the terror, dread, distrust, and, eventually, tenuous hope of a battered woman palpable. This compelling first book in the Mystic Creek series will make an excellent book-discussion group selection."

Click here to place a hold on a copy today.

Sequel Alert - The Rosie Effect

In The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion, Don and Rosie are happily married and living in New York. But they’re about to face a new challenge because - surprise! - Rosie is pregnant. 

Don sets about learning the protocols of becoming a father, but his unusual research style gets him into trouble with the law. Fortunately his best friend Gene is on hand to offer advice. As Don tries to schedule time for pregnancy research, getting Gene and Claudia to reconcile, servicing the industrial refrigeration unit that occupies half his apartment, helping Dave the Baseball Fan save his business, and staying on the right side of Lydia the social worker, he almost misses the biggest problem of all: he might lose Rosie when she needs him the most. 

"Many sequels falter, but this one is pitch-perfect. It’s cute, but it isn’t cheesy. It’s extremely funny and clever, but not at the expense of the characters or as an insult to the reader. The unexpected twist in The Rosie Effect is the way Simsion manages to make marriage romantic. This book isn’t really about pregnancy or living with autism or moving to a new city. It’s about having your world rocked when you really, truly have to compromise with another person. It’s about how tricky that is, how hilarious that can be, and how beautiful it is when you pull it off."  - BookPage Review

Waiting for your chance to read this charming sequel? Why not re-read (or read for the first time) The Rosie Project and get to know how Don, a socially awkward genetics professor who had never been on a second date, set out to find the perfect wife, but instead found Rosie Jarman, a fiercely independent barmaid who was on a quest to find her biological father.

Goodreads Choice Awards: Winners Announced!

The winners of the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards were announced yesterday! 

Goodreads readers cast 3,317,504 votes this year to decide the winners; these are the ONLY major awards that are decided by readers votes.

Click here to view the winners and nominees in all categories. How many of the books have you read?

Congratulations to all the winners!

Fiction
Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Recognizing that her marriage is in deep trouble in spite of her abiding and mutual love for her husband, television writer Georgie excludes herself from a Christmas family visit before discovering a way to reconnect with the man her husband used to be. By the award-winning author of Fangirl. (Publisher Summary)

Mystery and Thriller
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
Months after a crazed hit-and-run driver kills several attendees at a Midwestern job fair, a depressed retired cop and two unlikely allies join forces to find and stop the killer, who has sent a letter threatening another attack. (Publisher Summary)

Historical Fiction

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned-Resistance tracker struggle with their respective beliefs after meeting on the Brittany coast. By the award-winning author of About Grace. (Publisher Summary)

Fantasy
Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

Historian and witch Diana Bishop and her vampire scientist husband Matthew Clairmont return from a trip to the past still searching for the elusive alchemy tome Ashmole 782 in the final installment of the best-selling trilogy following Shadow of Night. (Publisher Summary)

Romance
Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon
After being presumed dead, Jamie Fraser returns to find that his best friend has married his wife, his illegitimate son has discovered who is father is, and his nephew has decided to marry a Quaker. (Publisher Summary)

Science Fiction
The Martian by Andy Weir
Stranded on Mars by a dust storm that compromised his space suit and forced his crew to leave him behind, astronaut Watney struggles to survive in spite of minimal supplies and harsh environmental challenges that test his ingenuity in unique ways. (Publisher Summary)

Horror

Prince Lestat by Anne Rice

A tale spanning periods from the ancient to the modern world reunites fans with beloved characters, from Louis de Pointe Lac and the eternally young Armand to David Talbot and Marius, who hear a mysterious voice urging ancients to destroy increasing populations of maverick vampires. (Publisher Summary)

Humor

Yes, Please by Amy Poehler

A first-person account by the Golden Globe-winning actress best known for her work on Parks and Recreation and Saturday Night Live includes coverage of such topics as her relationships with caregivers and her friendship with Tina Fey. (Publisher Summary)

Nonfiction

Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan

This hope-filled posthumous collection of essays and stories from the talented young Yale graduate who died tragically five days after graduation details the struggle that we all face as we figure out what we want to be and how we can positively impact the world. (Publisher Summary)

History and Biography

The Romanov Sisters: the Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport

Draws on personal writings and private sources to illuminate the daily lives of the four Russian Grand Duchesses from their own perspectives, revealing their awareness of family turmoil and the approach of the Russian Revolution. (Publisher Summary)

Business

#Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso

The founder of "Nasty Gal" fashion shares a manifesto for ambitious young women that explains how to channel personal passion and energy while overcoming insecurities, outlining advice on doing work and garnering recognition. (Publisher Summary)

Food and Cookbooks

Make it Ahead: a Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten

The Emmy Award-winning celebrity chef shares favorite make-ahead recipes and meal-planning tips for a variety of occasions, suggesting preparation options for low-stress dishes that improve if prepared in advance. By the #1 best-selling author of Barefoot Contessa Foolproof. (Publisher Summary)

Best Debut Goodreads Author

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

A tale set in a bleak future society torn by class divisions follows the experiences of secret revolutionary Darrow, who after witnessing his wife's execution by an oppressive government joins a revolutionary cell and attempts to infiltrate an elite military academy. (Publisher Summary)

The Top Ten . . .

Want to know which new books librarian's across the country love? According to the August issue of Library Journal, here are the top ten:

1. One Kick: A Kick Lannigan Novel by Chelsea Cain (Mystery/Suspense): A debut installment in a new series by the author of the Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell best-sellers introduces Kick Lannigan, a famous kidnapping survivor who as an adult uses her martial-arts mastery and affiliation with a wealthy patron to find and rescue missing children.
2. Lucky Us by Amy Bloom (Historical Fiction): Forging a life together after being abandoned by their parents, half sisters Eva and Iris share decades in and out of the spotlight in golden-era Hollywood and mid-twentieth-century Long Island.
3. Heroes Are My Weakness by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Contemporary Romance): A down-on-her-luck actress reduced to staging kids' puppet shows finds herself trapped on a remote island off the coast of Maine with a sexy horror novelist who knows a dozen ways to kill with his bare hands.
4. Lock In by John Scalzi (Science Fiction): When a new virus causes one percent of the population to become completely paralyzed in body but not in mind, the United States pursues a scientific initiative to develop a virtual-reality world for victims, with unexpected consequences.
5. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton (Historical Fiction): Engaging the services of a miniaturist to furnish a cabinet-sized replica of her hew home, Nella Oortman, the wife of a merchant in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, discovers that the artist's tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways.
6. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (Mystery/Suspense): Follows three mothers, each at a crossroads, and their potential involvement in a riot at a school trivia night that leaves one parent dead in what appears to be a tragic accident, but which evidence shows might have been premeditated.
7. The Truth About Leo by Katie MacAlister (Historical Romance): When she finds English spy Leopold Ernst George Mortimer left for dead and without his memory, Dagmar Marie Sophie, an impoverished Danish princess, marries him in order to escape the country and avoid an arranged marriage.
8. An Unwilling Accomplice by Charles Todd (Mystery/Historical Fiction): While home on leave, World War I battlefield nurse Bess Crawford finds her career, honor, and life in jeopardy when the wounded soldier she is supposed to accompany to Buckingham Palace commits murder and then disappears.
9. The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman (Fantasy Fiction): Visiting his magical college after being cast out of the land of Fillory, Quentin Coldwater, accompanied by Plum, encounters practitioners of gray magic before discovering a spell that could dissolve the boundaries between Fillory and Earth. (Third in the Magician's Trilogy. Start with The Magicians)
10. The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar (Psychological Fiction): Befriending a young Indian woman named Lakshmi--who is suicidal, lonely, and trapped in a loveless marriage--psychologist Maggie finds their relationship warped by conflicting expectations and threatened by the revelation of long-buried secrets.

2014 Romance Award Winners Announced

This past weekend, Romance Writers of America (RWA) announced the winners of the 2014 RITA awards. Here are a few of the winners available at the library:

Best First Book

Erotic Romance

Paranormal Romance

Historical Romance

Best first book:
The Sweet Spot by Laura Drake
Summary: Charla Rae Denny was the perfect wife with a perfect life, content to keep the home fires burning while her husband, JB, competed as a champion bull rider. Then their son died in a tragic accident--and everything fell apart. Divorced and saddled with a hill of bills and a failing ranch, Charla must now cowboy up to put her life back together. JB wants her back. But after so much history and heartbreak, can JB convince Charla to take a risk and give their love a second chance?

Erotic Romance Winner:
Claim Me by J. Kenner
Summary: Billionaire Damien Stark continues his obsessive relationship with Nikki Fairchild, as she tries to discover his darkest secrets and they both confront experiences from their troubled pasts. Second in the Stark trilogy that began with Release Me.

Paramornal Romance Winner:
The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley
Summary: Nicola Marter was born with a gift. When she touches an object, she sometimes glimpses those who have owned it before. When a woman arrives with a small wooden carving at the gallery Nicola works at, she can see the object's history and knows that it was named after the Firebrid—the mythical creature from an old Russian fable. Compelled to know more, Nicola follows a young girl named Anna into the past who leads her on a quest through the glittering backdrops of the Jacobites and Russian courts, unearthing a tale of love, courage, and redemption.

Historical Romance Winner:
No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean
Summary: When her brother gets deep in debt to Temple, a disgraced duke who now owns an exclusive casino, Mara Lowe agrees to come forward and clear Temple, who has been accused of her murder, if he will forgive what her brother owes him. Third in the Rules of Scoundrels series that begins with A Rogue by Any Other Name and One Good Earl Deserves a Lover.

To see the full list of 2014 RITA Award finalists and winners, click here.

Grab and Go

Looking for a book to read but only have a minute to spend at the library? Stop by our Impulse Display conveniently located at the entrance to the library right by the Circulation Desk. On display today:

• Cavendon Hall by Barbara Taylor Bradford: A tale spanning 16 years in Edwardian England finds the centuries-long relationship between the aristocratic Inghams and the Swann family who serves them tested by the outbreak of World War I.
• Wayfaring Stranger by James Lee Burke: A decade after taking a shot at Bonnie and Clyde during one of their notorious armed robberies, Weldon Holland escapes death during the Battle of the Bulge and marries a beautiful young woman with whom he seeks his fortune along the Texas-Louisiana oil coast.
• For All Time by Jude Deveraux: When Graydon meets Toby at his brother's wedding, he becomes enthralled with her, despite his destiny to marry a noble woman, and asks her to help him hide on Nantucket away from his regal responsibilities.
• The Chase by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg: FBI agent Kate O'Hare must once again covertly team up with brilliant con man Nicholas Fox to take down Carter Grove, a former White House chief of staff who has stolen a rare Chinese artifact from the Smithsonian.

The Best Medicine

Tracy Brogan brings readers to Bell Harbor in her new contemporary romance novel The Best Medicine.

Everyone in Bell Harbor thinks career-minded plastic surgeon Evelyn Rhoades needs a husband. Everyone, that is, except for Evelyn…sort of. Even if she did want a husband (which she doesn’t…most of the time), she’d never let something as intangible as fate determine who she marries. No, if she’s going to find someone to spend her life with, she’ll do it scientifically: with a carefully crafted list of criteria and an Internet dating site.

But when intoxicated, law-breaking Tyler Connelly crashes into her life by way of a stolen Jet Ski, unruly emotions defy common sense. Sure, he’s sexy, charming, and determined to win Evelyn’s affection, but all evidence points to him being the worst possible choice. He’s too young for her. Too irresponsible. Too underemployed. And, oh yeah, he’s her patient.

But Tyler knows firsthand how the best-laid plans can crumble under the weight of destiny. Now all he needs to do is to teach Evelyn that, in matters of the heart, love often supersedes logic.

For Horse Racing Fans

Are you a fan of the Kentucky Derby and looking for books featuring horse racing? Check out these titles available at the library:

Secretariat Reborn by Susan Klaus (Suspense)

Christian Roberts has the good life, renting out small sailboats on Sarasota Bay, but his peaceful life is shattered when he accepts a thoroughbred colt from his estranged, dying father, an Ocala horse trainer. "Klaus crams a lot into her debut thriller, which combines thoroughbred horse breeding, mob skullduggery, and a love-crazed stalker." (Publishers Weekly Reviews)

Dick Francis's Refusal by Felix Francis (Mystery)

Retired investigator Sid Halley is lured back into the game exploring alleged race-fixing after the suspicious death of the chairman of the racing authority. "In the steeplechase world, "refusal" means that a horse will not take a jump. Dick Francis' son Felix, collaborator with his father on several novels and now the heir to his father's line of mysteries, extends the equestrian definition to the massively banged-up (physically and emotionally) Sid Halley, who stars in a Francis novel for the first time since 2006." (Booklist Reviews) 

Derby Day by D.J. Taylor (Historical Fiction)

As the shadows lengthen over the June grass, all England is heading for Epsom Downs - high life and low life, society beauties and Whitechapel street girls, bookmakers and gypsies, hawkers and acrobats, punters and thieves. Whole families stream along the Surrey back-roads, towards the greatest race of the year. Hopes are high, nerves are taut, hats are tossed in the air - this is Derby Day.

Let Love Find You by Johanna Lindsey (Romance)

Hiring professional matchmaker Devin Baldwin to help her secure a husband after two unsuccessful seasons on the marriage mart, Lady Amanda takes riding lessons from Devin to secure the interests of a titled horseracing fan, a situation that is complicated when Amanda and Devin fall in love.

Sweet Treats

Looking for a sweet romance novel to get you in the mood for Valentine's Day? Look no further than our "Sweet Treats" book display located on the bottom floor of the library for your next love story!

Sugar Rush (the first book in the Cupcake Club series) is a love story about baker Lellani Trusdale and her move from bustling New York City to sleepy Sugarberry Island in Georgia. When Lellaini moves she's expecting new beginnings, however the story really heats up when Lellani's former boss (aka Chef Hot Cakes) decides to follow her south to film his hit cooking show in her cupcake shop.

 

Lizzie Bea Carpenter knows better than to wish for a knight in shining armor. She's a single mom who waitresses at the local diner to make ends meet and has a circle of friends who pride themselves on being independent..but then Lizzie does meet a man who seems to opening her heart up to the possibility of love.  Read How Sweet It Is to see if Lizzie lets herself fall into sweet love.

 Sweet Revenge brings the reader to gritty London in 1886. Jack Dalton has  escaped from prison with the intention to avenge his sister's murder by hunting  down her killer, Lord Rockley, but when he arrives at his target's hiding place  he encounters members of Nemesis, Unlimited, a vigilante justice organization  who want Jack to work with them to bring down Rockley. Jack complies, but  has no intentions of staying with the organization until he becomes entranced  with member Eva Warrick, who is as fierce as she is stunningly beautiful.

Charlotte and Nicole were the best of friends when they were children. After many years the old friends meet up for a final summer together where they grew up, not realizing that they are both harboring secrets that could change each other's lives forever.  Sweet Salt Air promises a tale full of friendship and romance.