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Fiction |
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Everything You Want Me to Be
by Mindy Mejia
Mindy Mejia’s Everything You Want Me to Be is a fast-paced thriller that will enthrall readers. The town of Pine Valley is shocked when high school senior Hattie Hoffman is found brutally murdered. Hattie was known as a good student, daughter, and friend. Sherriff Del Goodman is a friend of the Hoffman family, and he has known her since she was a baby. Now, he is investigating her murder. Peter Lund is the town’s new English teacher. His marriage is on the rocks, and he has a secret to keep. The story is told from all three characters’ perspectives, piecing together both the last year of Hattie’s life and the aftermath of her murder. From the first page, it's clear that nothing is exactly as it appears to be. Mejia has created a compelling story filled with plot twists and turns.
—Beth Reinker, MSLS, Collection Development Librarian
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Lucky Boy
by Shanthi Sekaran
Lucky Boy is the story of Kavya Reddy and Solimar Valdez. Kavya, child of privilege, serves as the house chef for a sorority and enjoys her sophisticated life. After a perilous journey from Mexico, during which she gets pregnant, Soli arrives in California and cleans homes. All is going well, but Soli is stopped in a traffic incident; she is separated from her son, and sent to an immigration detention center. Meanwhile, Kavya and Rishi have decided to foster a child, a young boy named Ignacio, Soli’s son. They finally have the family they’ve longed for. However, Soli manages to escape her captors, searches the child out, and takes him in the night. After desperately trying to locate their boy, Kavya and Rishi are unsuccessful and learn to live with the pain. This novel humanizes the immigration issue, playfully pokes fun at Silicon Valley and Berkley culture, examines the bonds between a mother and her son, and reminds the reader that real life doesn’t have bright moral and ethical lines.
—Benjamin Whisenant, Reviewer
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Girl in Disguise
by Greer Macallister
Kyra Winthrop is a marine biologist recovering from a head injury sustained during a dive. As she recuperates on a secluded island with her husband she tries desperately to regain the four years of memories she lost as a result of the accident. She worries that her husband’s patience is wearing thin as she faces challenges retaining new memories as well. But Jacob seems to be devoted to her recovery, even if he is a bit overprotective. Kyra begins to venture out on her own, down to the shore and into town, hoping that something or someone she sees will trigger her brain to recall what she’s lost. And slowly as she starts to recover memories she begins to fear that her dreams as well as her nightmares might actually be glimpses into her past. She begins fear that her life now may be what it appears. A.J. Banner is the author of The Good Neighbor, and in The Twilight Wife she brings us another psychological thriller with twists and turns to rival Gone Girl. I couldn’t put it down!
—Rachel Rich, MLS, Collection Development Librarian
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Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
by Gail Honeyman
Eleanor Oliphant, perhaps one of the most obliviously awkward yet likeable characters of all time, finds her almost obsessively boring life disrupted as she gets to know Raymond, her “deeply unhygienic” IT coworker. The author writes in Eleanor’s clueless voice, setting up humorous contrasts when she says something horrifying and then reflects pityingly that other people have no social graces when they react with horror or sympathetic silence instead of the expected happy chit-chat. Gradually, we grow to understand Eleanor through the author’s gentle treatment of a harsh reality as Eleanor begins to accept herself and face her experiences. Funny, smart, compassionate, and full of hope, this well-written debut rings true and is recommended for all public libraries.
—Ann Lehue, MSIS, Collection Development Librarian
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Nonfiction |
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The Case Against Sugar
by Gary Taubes
With rates of obesity and diabetes skyrocketing in America, health and science journalist Gary Taubes presents his case against sugar, the thing that he explains is both far more pervasive and more dangerous than we realize. Drawing comparisons between sugar and tobacco, Taubes investigates the increasing amount of sugar in our foods including many foods that most Americans consider healthy. He also explores the political and economic reasons that sugar has become ubiquitous in American food and culture. Taubes argues his damning case against sugar as if he is presenting it to a jury, leaving readers to come to their own verdicts. Like Salt Sugar Fat and Fat Chance, this is a nutrition book that will interest a wide variety of readers beyond those looking to overhaul their diet in the new year. Recommended.
—Beth Reinker, MSLS, Collection Development Librarian
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Life as Jamie Knows It: An Exceptional Child Grows Up
by Michael Bérubé
In 1996, Life as We Know It by Michael Bérubé was published, a chronicle of the author’s experiences as the father of Jamie, a small boy with Down syndrome. Twenty years later, Life as Jamie Knows It: An Exceptional Child Grows Up describes Jamie’s progression into young adulthood and gives the reader an update as to how Jamie and his family have fared. Bérubé recounts Jamie’s triumphs and challenges in areas such as his health care, education, employment, his participation in the Special Olympics as a swimmer, and uses these anecdotes as jumping-off points to explore issues of disability in a larger context. In a warmly personal and engaging voice, the author examines the role of people with disabilities in our society, and the ways our society cares for them (or not), while offering practical advice and encouragement for parents of children with Down syndrome.
—Shannan Rosa, MSLS, Collection Development Librarian
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