Books + Valentine's Day = LOVE

I have not had many opportunities to update my book blog lately, so it's high time I recommend a few books for your 2016 reading list!  Hopefully, you'll see something that catches your interest...something you might "fall in love" with perchance as Valentine's Day nears...

Let me start with The Wrong Side of Right, by Jenn Marie Thorne.  This is a stand-alone realistic fiction novel.  Kate Quinn lost her mother in a car accident a year ago, and her dad was never in the picture.  In fact, Kate never even knew who her father was.  She's been living in South Carolina with her aunt and uncle, and has just finished her junior year when she arrives home to a shock.  Her father is waiting for her there...and he's one of the nominees for U.S. President in the upcoming election.  Kate goes from a quiet life where no one knows her to the center stage in the upcoming political race.  She wants to get to know her father and his family and help him win the election, but her friendship...and budding romance with their opposing candidate's son may not help the campaign.  This book was funny, heart-wrenching, and heart-warming all in one.  I highly recommend this one!  I got my copy from MCPL's Overdrive, or you can find it on their shelves.

If you're more into a suspenseful thriller, you might like The Fixer, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.  This is the first book in the Fixer series.  You might remember that I have a copy of this book and shared it in class...before I actually read it.  Now that I've read it, I can tell you...it's really good!  In this story, Tess Kendrick has been living with her grandfather on his ranch in Montana for the last several years.  For the last few months, her grandfather has been showing signs of developing Alzheimer's Disease, and Tess tries to hide it for as long as possible, but eventually the truth comes out and Tess's older sister shows up.  Tess has no choice but to move to Washington DC with Ivy, who is a powerful "fixer".  If someone in power has a problem, they call Ivy...and she fixes the problem and makes it disappear.  When Tess starts at her new school, her new classmates expect her to follow in her sister's footsteps and fix their problems too.  Eventually the problems Tess is trying to fix collide with problems Ivy is trying to fix, and things turn deadly for both of them.  This was a really fun read.  It kept me guessing and I can't wait to read the second book in the series, The Long Game, due out on June 7th.  You can borrow my copy if you're interested, or get this from MCPL's shelves or Overdrive.

Another recent favorite that I've read is A Step Towards Falling, by Cammie McGovern.  In this story, Emily and Lucas witness a classmate with special needs being assaulted at a football game.  Emily tries to get help, but in the excitement of the game, she gets overlooked.  When she sees that police arrived, she assumes Lucas got someone to help, which wasn't actually the case.  When the incident is investigated, both Emily and Lucas receive consequences for being bystanders who did nothing, and are required to spend several weeks volunteering in a community education class for young adults with special needs.  This story is told alternately in Emily's point of view, and that of Belinda, the girl who was assaulted.  I thought this story was incredibly touching as Emily explores the fact that she didn't act and get help when she knew she should, and as Belinda tries to cope and deal with what happened to her.  This story was really emotionally moving on a lot of levels.  I highly recommend this title!  You can get a copy from MCPL's shelves or Overdrive.

If you're more into a ghost story, you might want to check out Katie Alender's (Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer & Famous Last Words) latest, The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall.  In this stand alone novel, 17-year old Delia inherits her Aunt Cordelia's home.  After Delia makes a really foolish decision, her parents decide that this summer is the perfect time to drive up to Delia's inherited house and get it cleaned up and ready to sell.  As soon as they arrive and Delia learns that the "house" is actually a former mental hospital for troubled girls and all kinds of people have died in the house, she's not so sure staying.  As she explores the house, really strange things happen and Delia thinks they should leave, but her parents aren't for that...I don't want to say much more, or I will give away something that is a huge twist in the storyline.  If you want to find out, you can check this out from MCPL's shelves or Overdrive.

For those of you have enjoyed the Lunar Chronicles series, make sure you check out Winter (#4). This wraps up the story of Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and now Winter.  This story is a fractured fairy tale based off of Snow White.  It was a fantastic ending to an awesome series.  And not only that, you can get Stars Above, a collection of 9 novellas about several of the different characters from the story.  You can borrow Winter from me or find both of these books on MCPL's shelves or Overdrive.

Finally, I'll wrap up with the book I'm currently reading - also #4 and final book in a series.  Manners and Mutiny continues Sophronia Temminick's finishing school education.  She and her classmates are back & ready for even more espionage missions and intrigue as they work through their final year as students at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.  A mystery and plenty of spying are sure to ensue.  If you haven't read the first 3 books in this series - Etiquette & Espionage, Curtsies & Conspiracies, and Waistcoats & Weaponry, you should definitely check them out!  This is a fun series...full of very dry humor!  You can borrow #1 from me, the CMS library has #1 & 2, and of course, MCPL shelves & overdrive contain them all!

Enjoy your 3-day weekend and spend some time reading!