Chelsea

After three years away, selling books at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Washington, I am back at home doing what I love in my favorite bookstore. When I'm not trying to formulate an event schedule and market the hell out of it, I am reading a mixed bag of genres and titles. I tend to prefer fiction with a thread of mystical realism or full blown surrealism. I also enjoy reading history, psychology, autobiographies and occasionally new age and graphic novels.
 
I am a poor cook, a terrible gardener and I rarely can identify what sport someone is referring to when they mention a team name and am very little help in those sections, but I am proficient in google and will try all I can.
 
When I'm not reading or trying to convince you to read The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac (which you really should, it's FANTASTIC) I am hanging out with my Corgi-mutt Gideon trying to convince him that there is nothing intrinsically evil about white trucks and white vans.

 

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Beach Read By Emily Henry Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781984806734
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Berkley - May 19th, 2020

January Andrews has always believed in happily ever afters. Between her parent’s perfect marriage and her adventure-seeking-doctor dream boyfriend, she has never had a reason not to believe in love and happy endings. That is until her father dies unexpectedly. January meets his mistress at the funeral, inherits his secret beach house on the shores of Lake Michigan, and her dream boyfriend dumps her soon after because he realizes he doesn’t like her if she isn’t her normally bubbly, fun-loving self. As a semi-famous romance author, this is not a great position to be in, with your publisher demanding you deliver your next romcom. Homeless and overwhelmed, January packs her car with her few belongings and a box of gin and heads to her father’s beach house to try to write a romance novel and try to learn a little more about the parts of her father she never knew existed.
Upon arriving, January discovers that her new neighbor is none other than her college rival, Augustus Everett, famed literary fiction writer and pretentious snob who too often scoffed at her fairy tale outlook when they were in school together. After much bickering and bookish name calling the two enter into a bet that is the crux of this book. To prove their writing chops once and for all, Gus will have to write a romance and January will have to write literary fiction and whoever’s book is picked up by a publisher first will win. The loser will have to publicly endorse the other’s book. A fate neither wants to concede to.
Beach Read follows their story as each attempts to teach the other about what they write. January takes Gus to a Meg Ryan movie marathon at the local drive-in, Gus takes January to interview former cult members (romantic, right?). Before they realize it, they have become close friends rapidly building to something more. All the while, the story of January’s father’s secret life is unfolding, and January learns that while love isn’t always perfect, that doesn’t mean it isn’t real.
I loved this book. It was equal parts funny, heartwarming, heart wrenching and lovely. A beautiful reminder that no one and nothing is perfect and that stories go much deeper than what you see on the surface. 10 out of 10.


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Sin Eater: A Novel By Megan Campisi Cover Image
$27.00
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ISBN: 9781982124106
Published: Atria Books - April 7th, 2020

This is the story of a young woman named May whose life is forever changed by a decision to steal a loaf of bread. While someone surely needs to do a research project on why terrible things happen to people who steal loaves of bread, that is not the point of this book so bear with me here. May is sentenced to life as a Sin Eater (again seems a bit much for bread) for her crimes and is thus forced into a life altering path of isolation.
While this book is decidedly not Tudor England, it does run parallel featuring a Virgin Queen whose older sister was nicknamed “bloody,” and  whose father had a notorious problem with his multiple wives dying. In this alternate reality, Sin Eaters are always women and a necessary part of daily life following the word of the Maker. At a person’s passing, a Sin Eater will come and hear the confessions of the dying and recite the corresponding foods to each of the individual’s sins. The Sin Eater then eats the foods thereby absolving the dying person of their moral baggage (or any responsibility for their terrible misdeeds, but who am I to judge) and takes it on themselves. If Sin Eaters live a pious life, following the rules of the Maker and eating all of the "pennance" foods, the Maker will forgive the weight of their sins as well as those they’ve eaten. If they are not pious, they will not be forgiven and all of that added sin will count heavily against them in the afterlife. Sin Eaters are the unseen and unheard, no one will talk with one, touch one, care for or love one. They are a curse on society until the day they are needed.
May does not go quietly into this life, despite the frustrations of others. She fumbles, makes mistakes, often lacks good judgment, and longs for companionship. Her saving grace is the other town Sin Eater who does not speak to her, but shows her some kindness and teaches her what her life is now destined for.
The plot takes off with a call for a recitation for one of the Queen’s closest companions, both Sin Eaters hear the recitation and call for the foods but when it is time for the eating, atop the woman’s coffin is an unrecited  food, the heart of a stag, the food for the murder of a royal. If they eat this heart it will be confirmation to the crowd of witnesses that the dying woman murdered a royal, if they don’t eat it, it will be a sign of treason that is punishable by death, if they try to tell someone of their dilemma no one will listen and they will be drowned out by prayer. The older Sin Eater refuses to eat the heart and is taken away by palace guards. Knowing the penalty for treason, May decides to eat the heart, but is then haunted by the implications. As the mystery gets deeper and more involved, there is clearly some sort of conspiracy and danger lurking in the Queen’s castle, but May is uncertain on how to bring it to light while she is unseen and unheard.
If you like historical fiction and mystery you will love this book. Full of intrigue, suspense, and fascinating detail this book was wonderful and so refreshing. Check out this link for information on the history of real-life Sin Eaters.


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A Queen in Hiding (The Nine Realms #1) By Sarah Kozloff Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781250168542
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Tor Books - January 21st, 2020

A Queen in Hiding and its follow up titles are 100% my favorite reads of 2020. I know, I know, it’s only April! I’m serious; I’m sure. Since starting the first book I have spent more time reading like a responsibility free 16-year-old than I have in years. I spent an entire day reading the third book, my dog barking at me desperate for attention (don’t worry, my husband took care of him), while my peripheral vision barely took in the passing daylight into night. I HAD to know, I needed to know, what would happen to these characters. I have to be honest though, I have no idea how to express how wonderful this book is without overwhelming you. There is a lot here and judging by the way my husband's eyes glaze over when I talk about it, it’s one of those things you just have to read to get. (Click here for all four books in the series at once!)
A Queen in Hiding takes place in a fictional world called Ennea Mon which is made up of many different kingdoms, each ruled first and foremost by a spirit. The story follows the Queens of Weirandale as they fight against corruption in their own kingdom as well as forign threats from the Kingdom of Oromondo and the Pelish Pirates that plague Weir ships in the Green Isles. The Weir Queens are blessed by their nation’s spirit, Nargis, who rules over freshwater, and in exchange for their promise to keep the waters clean and protected, they are blessed with a supernatural gift, different for each Queen.
Queen Cressa was forced to take the throne before she was ready and following in her mother’s strategic, war hungry shadow is difficult for timid and insecure Cressa. Her advisors take advantage of her lack of confidence and ignorance of politics to corrupt the country from her rule for their own greedy devices. When one advisor conspired to assassinate Cressa and kidnap her young daughter, Cerulia, Cressa was forced to flee with Cerulia and launch a public opinion campaign to win back her throne, setting in motion a series of events that would dramatically change Ennea Mon and its future over the next few decades.
While the story follows the Queens it also follows other characters from other kingdoms and circumstances that impact the story, similar in feel to A Game of Thrones. The eight central spirits also play a large role in this story, each with their physical agents, acting out on old rivalries and prejudices. The central characters are often buffeted about by the whims of the spirits, much like in Homer’s Odyssey.
You will meet Thalen of Sutterdam, scholar and hero to the Free States. You will meet General Sumroth of the Ormondian Protectors, trying to win approval from his leaders so he and his beloved wife can be safe and well taken care of in their famine riddled country. Tiklok, the overlooked servant at the Weir Queen’s palace, who acts as an agent for Nargis, the spirit of Fresh Water. Cerulia, the young Princella of Weirendale, who can speak to animals, but no one knows that yet.
This book is a delight. A world to get lost in when, let’s be honest, reality is just too much.


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Lakewood: A Novel By Megan Giddings Cover Image
$26.99
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ISBN: 9780062913197
Published: Amistad - March 24th, 2020

Lena Johnson is a young college student when her grandmother, her family’s rock, passes away leaving behind a weight of debt and responsibility that Lena isn’t fully ready to take on. Her mother has been sick since Lena was a child and between medical bills from her mother, who is unable to work, and her grandmother’s brief and fatal battle with cancer, Lena is desperate for work. When Lena is invited to participate in a confidential research study in a small Michigan town she jumps at the opportunity which will afford her more cash than any of the odd jobs she has considered in her area, setting her on a path that will change everything.
This research project is vaguely described as a memory study, and for the initial two-week period she signs away permissions to every private detail of her life. Her email accounts, her social media accounts, her phone, her medical history, and is tested on a myriad of strange things. She is told to sit in a closet-sized room and draw what someone in a neighboring room is thinking about. She is asked unending questions about what she thinks about anger, race, politics, morality. She is given strange medication and asked to describe her physical and mental state. She is rarely given an answer to any questions she asks and tells herself it is all worth it for the payout.
After her two-week job has ended she is invited to be a permanent test subject for this government research study where she will be given an incomprehensible amount of money, free room and board, total healthcare coverage for her and her family (her mother would finally be able to afford real healthcare and possible answers to her strange condition) and a comprehensive settlement for any life-altering injuries she may incur. Fifty Thousand Dollars for the loss of a limb, Ten Thousand Dollars for the loss of her vision, One Hundred Thousand dollars for the loss of her life and the question becomes one for us all, what would you be willing to risk or sacrifice for your family? For your security? With each test it becomes harder and harder for Lena to convince herself this is all worth it. She repeats, like a mantra, if I can just do this for a year, mom will never have to worry about anything. If I can make it eight more months, I can pay off school. Is it worth it?
Giddings' writing is thought provoking and surreal as she forces you to examine important conversations on race and morality, paired with bizarre and sometimes brutal scenes from Lena’s experiences working for The Lakewood Project. I have a friend who likes to ask “would you rather” questions. Would you rather have a clown follow you at a distance every day of your life OR have that same clown just appear periodically, maybe once a decade,  in your bedroom when you are trying to go to sleep? This book reminds me of him and his questions. Would you rather dress up like a tortilla chip and watch your family slip into poverty OR take a strange pill that could kill you, but would protect your family forever? Lakewood is truly so, so good. I can’t wait to read whatever Megan Giddings writes next.


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Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession By Rachel Monroe Cover Image
$26.00
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ISBN: 9781501188886
Published: Scribner - August 20th, 2019

If you are uncomfortable with true crime this is not your book and you likely won’t be interested in this review, that is okay but this is your warning. If you, like me, do like reading about true crime (or compulsively binge true crime podcasts, no judgement) I think that Savage Appetites: Four Stories of Women, Crime and Obsession is for you.
In this book, Monroe takes a deep dive into the culture, and pop-culture, of crime and why most true crime readers/watchers/listeners/followers are women. She examines this topic through an exploration into four archetypes of the True Crime world: The Detective, the Victim, The Defender, and (most difficult to digest) The Killer.
In each part she looks at a person that fits the archetype and the crime/atmosphere around them.
For the Detective: Frances Glessner Lee, an early 20th century stickler for details and science who built the foundations for our modern criminal forensics as well as a collection of miniature crime scenes, referred to commonly as The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death.  (Click here to view video.)
For the Victim: the family of Sharon Tate, and the radiating levels of victimhood from a violent crime, such as Sharon’s murder. The Victims who claim victimhood who have never met any of the actual victims of the Tate-LaBianca murders down to Doris Tate’s work for victim advocacy running the length from justice to its murky outer limits.
The Defender: the story of Lori Davis, the wife and fierce defender of Damien Echols, one of the West Memphis Three. I have been fascinated with this case for quite a while and it was interesting to hear it from the perspective of Lori, falling in love with a man she had never met who was on death row for a crime he did not commit. This section was a stark contrast to the previous with Doris Tate pushing for a fast track policy of criminal executions against Damien who had been convicted and sentenced to death as a teenager because of a few corrupt officials and Damien’s tendency toward trench coats and wicca. The brutal reminder that innocent people DO get punished for crimes they didn't commit.
The last section, The Killer, was the most difficult to read. Monroe takes a depressing and gut wrenching, but necessary, look at gun violence and school shootings. In this last part Monroe addresses what the first three do not, how our own fascination with crime can be damaging and could cause future crime. She examines the seedy underbelly of the internet, chatrooms and forums for people who are interested, or in the case of the focus of this piece, are obsessed with this type of violent crime. It made me feel sick to slog through this aggressive reminder of the last 21 years since Columbine. News of shootings have been a growing hum in the back of our minds for so long and as hard as it is to revisit these horrible events in this part, it was necessary to get to her point, a point that I can’t give justice to in this review.
Monroe holds up a mirror to the true crime “junkie” world and challenges us to question our motivations and our prejudices. This book was a roller coaster of hard stories and hard truths, of self examination and cultural examination. Ultimately, we all have different motivations, we all have different stories, and as long as you can look at a case the way Frances Glessner Lee wanted you to, without bias or prejudice, you may be able to learn something after all.


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Year of the Monkey By Patti Smith Cover Image
$24.95
ISBN: 9780525657682
Availability: Special Order
Published: Knopf - September 24th, 2019

I’m convinced that Patti Smith is the reincarnation of some spiritual mystic. Someone like Joan of Arc or Hildegard von Bingen. At this point I am committed to only listening to her audiobooks because her words are even more powerful in her own dreamy cadence. I sound like a school girl mooning over her first loved celebrity, but I can’t say it's different for me. I’ve lived and read enough to know that Patti Smith will forever be a literary icon for me and if you disagree, I maintain that you either haven’t read her yet OR you are wrong (insert tongue sticking out emoji).
Anyway.
I always struggle to review Patti’s books because her dream-like writing style is hard for me to appropriately express. In Year of the Monkey, Patti struggles with two incredible losses of lifelong friends, she struggles with the odd world we all find ourselves living in now, she struggles with dreams. Her prose (as it always seems to, but more so in this book) jumps quickly and fluidly from heady esoteric musings to a fluorescent glimpse into reality. A fever dream of images, are they real or a part of her beautiful mind. Patti is obsessed with a beach covered in candy wrappers, why isn’t this in the news? An out of place conversation with strangers about Robert Bolano. A dreamy vision of discussing Ayers Rock with Sam Shepherd, and the stark reality of his declining health.
If you are unfamiliar with Patti Smith and/or her books, I encourage you wholeheartedly to pick one of them up, get lost in her incredible mind and musings. If not for the sake of understanding this bumbling mess of a review, for yourself so that you too can be drunk on her words and lost for your own.


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The Glass Woman: A Novel By Caroline Lea Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9780062935106
Availability: Special Order
Published: Harper - September 3rd, 2019

The Glass Woman is stunning. Set in Iceland in the late 17th century, The Glass Woman follows Rósa as she navigates her new marriage to a quiet, threatening man. In an effort to keep her mother alive through another harsh Icelandic winter, Rósa agreed to marry Jón without knowing much about him. She had heard rumors, but doubted the truth could really be that terrible.
After her marriage, Jón explains his rules. She is never to speak to the people in the village, or invite anyone into the croft. She is never to go into the loft area upstairs in their home. She is never to talk about his first wife Anna. Jón is an imposing, sinister sort of man, that, while not being outrightly abusive, is a consistent threat. A tight grip of the shoulder and a question, "You are an obedient woman, aren’t you?"  To say the least, he gave me the creeps.
The book blends multiple tones that create an eerie atmosphere perfect for this story. The mysticism and superstition of the Icelanders, struggling to repress their traditions within the onset of an oppressive, puritanical kind of Christianity; the quiet haunting feel of secrets manifesting as something almost tangible; the all-consuming and disconcerting presence of Jón, who is nearly always absent. Slowly, after her continued isolation, Rósa begins to crave information about what happened to Anna. Did she slowly go insane? Did Jón hurt her? Is Rósa losing her mind?
Just when you think you’ve got this book all figured out, everything breaks apart and you need to relearn these characters from the beginning. This is one of those books that's embarrassing to read in public. The kind that has you yelling at the characters or bursting into tears. I am amazed at how she managed to keep so many plot points a secret to the end, much like her characters. Lea does an incredible job of giving you just enough to make you think you’ve got the story figured out and then you turn a page to find you aren’t as smart as you thought.
To put it simply, I loved it and I really think you will too.


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Some Like It Scandalous: The Gilded Age Girls Club By Maya Rodale Cover Image
$7.99
ISBN: 9780062838834
Availability: Special Order
Published: Avon - June 18th, 2019

A while ago I reviewed Rodale’s first book in this series, Duchess by Design, and I was excited to sink my teeth into another good romance. The thing that I love about Maya Rodale’s books, or at least this series, is Rodale’s ability to write strong, independent, somewhat unlikable women who are working to help other women. Hallelujah!  Am I right?! In Some Like it Scandalous, Daisy Swan has been bullied since childhood for being plain, nicknamed “Ugly Duck Daisy” by her nemesis, Theodore Prescott the Third. I mean, obviously they are going to find a middle ground, fall in love, and live happily ever after or whatever, but that’s not what I want to talk about. You knew it was going to happen, you will like it anyway, it’s not really the point.
Daisy is a bluestocking and proud of it. She is studying chemistry at University and intends to start a business selling skin cream. Interestingly at this period cosmetics were considered immoral and an outright affront to God, and skin cream (as innocent as it seems to us) is really playing with the bounds of propriety. After Daisy and Theo’s parents decide that their kids should get married (it just makes good financial sense) Daisy and Theo have to work together to launch Daisy’s business so they can each achieve their own dreams of financial independence from their parents and avoid their impending marriage. With Daisy’s incredible “Miracle Cream,” Theo’s natural inclinations toward marketing, and the help from Daisy’s large group of suffragette rebel women they take New York by storm. Unfortunately for them, along the way they realize that they have more in common than they thought, and, you guessed it, start to actually like each other.
I loved this book. It was fun, witty, sarcastic and for me the romance was really secondary to their friendship and their plot to shake up society in favor of women doing something for themselves. I loved that Theo wasn’t there to save the day, often making things worse. I loved that Daisy rolled her eyes at the expectations of her parents and society, and even her friends' qualms about her radical business plan, and moved forward always trying to achieve her dreams for herself. If you need to smile, or distract yourself for a moment from reality, try this book.


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The Turn of the Key By Ruth Ware Cover Image
$27.99
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ISBN: 9781501188770
Published: Gallery/Scout Press - August 6th, 2019

This is my first Ruth Ware. I know, I know, "What about The Woman in Cabin 10 or In a Dark, Dark Wood?" I can’t read everything! Anyway, Turn of the Key was a fun little thriller set in the Scottish Highlands in what feels like a gothic haunting story but with a smart home twist.
Rowan is working a dead end childcare job at a nursery and ready for a big change. When she stumbles upon a too good to be true want ad for a live-in nanny in Scotland she can’t believe her luck. 50K a year to live in a mansion in the Highlands taking care of three young children, all food and board covered? Yes, please. But there is a catch, the ad specifically mentions that the superstitious need not apply. Rowan quickly learns that the string of previous nannies have all left quickly after starting after reporting paranormal activity in the home. Unwilling to let a ghost take away this amazing opportunity, Rowan quickly gets the job and finds herself moving to Scotland and into a state of the art Smart Home. Everything is controlled by the central computer, “Happy.” There are no light switches. Only one of the back doors actually has an old fashioned key, no controls on sinks and cameras in every room. When odd things start to happen she finds herself wondering if the other nannies had it right, or if there is something more sinister at play here.
The big twist here is that the whole book is written in letters from prison where Rowan is trying to plead her case to any lawyer that may take on her claim and help her get released. Her message:  "I need you to understand why I did it."  Clearly something very terrible is happening at the home but you’ll have to read it to find out. This will be the perfect spooky thriller to launch you into fall. Break out the sweaters and pumpkin spice, the ghosts are coming.


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Into the Jungle By Erica Ferencik Cover Image
$27.00
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ISBN: 9781501168925
Published: Gallery/Scout Press - May 28th, 2019

I am in love with this book. I anticipated an action/thriller type of story when I started Into the Jungle but that isn’t at all what I got. Put yourself in the mindset that you were in when you read Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder or Lily King’s Euphoria; that hot/sticky/I’m covered in bug bites, what the hell am I doing here mindset that comes with fiction set in the Amazon and settle into a winding story of a girl out of her element and the unforgiving way that nature exists outside of whether or not you are prepared for it.
Into the Jungle follows the story of Lily Bushwold, a former foster kid from Boston, who by a series of unfortunate events finds herself stranded in Bolivia with no cash and nowhere to go. By chance Lily meets Omar, a man from deep in the jungles of Bolivia, who really gives her no choice but to fall in love with him. He is charming, kind, generous and patient with her crude, carefree personality. Their love is that first, all consuming, irrational kind of love, so when Omar’s brother comes to bring him home after tragedy strikes his village, Lily decides to forsake all good judgement and sense and follow him into the jungle. A man she’s barely known two months to a place that has no roads, so many rivers she could never find her way out, jaguars who steal children, disease-carrying insects, electric eels, violent drunk poachers, judgmental missionaries and Shaman who might want to kill her. Alone most of the time while Omar is gone on long hunting trips, Lily has to learn how to become a part of the community of Ayachero and how to survive her own stubbornness.
Written beautifully, Ferencik’s Into the Jungle absorbed my attention fully, and I fell in love with the characters. I fell in love with the way Ferencik describes the jungle, the animals, the smell of sage from the Shaman’s hut in the humid air, the way Omar teaches Lily to love the jungle, the way Omar loves Lily. This book made my cry like no book has made me cry since the death of Sirius Black in 2003. There is nothing I can say to capture the book correctly so I will leave it at this: If you are looking to get truly lost in a book, give this one a try. It doesn’t disappoint.


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Gingerbread: A Novel By Helen Oyeyemi Cover Image
$27.00
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ISBN: 9781594634659
Published: Riverhead Books - March 5th, 2019

I love Helen Oyeyemi. The first of her books I read was White is for Witching, and I’ve been in love ever since. If you, like me, love her too, skip the time to read this review and just get your hands on a copy now; you won’t be disappointed. If you have never read Helen’s work let me attempt to convince you:
Helen writes in a way that is pure magic. Every sentence flows together seamlessly; A dance between what is real and what is dream like.
"Harriet Lee’s gingerbread is not comfort food. There’s no nostalgia baked into it, no hearkening back to innocent indulgences and jolly times at nursery. It is not humble, nor is it dusty in the crumb. If Harriet is courting you or is worried that hate her, she’ll hand you a battered biscuit tin full of gingerbread, and then she’ll back away, nodding and smiling and asking that you return the tin whenever convenient. She doesn’t say she hopes you enjoy it; you will enjoy it. You may think you don’t like gingerbread. Well...just try it. If you live low-carb, she can make it with almond or coconut flour, and if you can’t have gluten, she’ll use buckwheat or millet flour.  No problem. A gingerbread addict once told Harriet that eating her gingerbread is like eating revenge.” - The first page of Gingerbread.
Gingerbread follows three generations of women whose lives revolve around this gingerbread. They are from the mysterious country of Druhastrana, which may or may not exist, and their gingerbread recipe has saved their family from all manner of strife, from famine to PTA problems. Helen is the mother of this Maiden/Mother/Crone dynamic and is struggling to raise her teenage daughter in London while being an active member of her community. She is struggling, because despite all her best efforts and attempts, she, like her daughter, often feels invisible, unremarkable.
I don’t want to tell you too much about this book, I want you to read it. I want you to savor each word and to follow the threads that pull this story apart. Imagine a dream you once had of sitting in your house, and even though you knew it was your house, it was nothing like it. This book, and frankly all of her writing, will leave you with the same sense of that dream - disoriented but peaceful.


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Women Talking By Miriam Toews Cover Image
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ISBN: 9781635572582
Availability: Out of Print
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - April 2nd, 2019

I am overwhelmed by this fictionalized account of real events in a Mennonite Community in Bolivia. Between 2005 and 2009 a group of at least eight men from the community were using a plant-based anesthetic spray (used for livestock) to sedate and sexually assault the women (ages 3-65) of the Manitoba colony. Unwilling to believe the stories of these women, rumors spread through the community that they were plagued by demons until the truth was revealed. To save the attackers from a mob of the victims' family members the men were placed in a nearby Bolivian jail.
Miriam takes this opportunity to tell the story of these women and what their options were. Keeping in mind that the women were raised to be submissive, by demanding justice they are, in their minds, going against God. In her fictional account, Miriam follows a group of about 15 women who are gathering in secret in a hayloft to discuss their three options as they see them:
1.  Forgive and remain in the colony as if nothing has happened.
2.  Demand justice and fight back against the men, ultimately resulting in exile from their community.
3.  Leave the colony and take all children under 15.
The story is told from the perspective of August, a formerly exiled member who has returned home and is the only man who the women can trust who can read and write. August is charged with taking the minutes, and you will find this short book is mostly just what the title suggests, the women talking. The discussions are profound, philosophical, devastating and inspiring. Women Talking is important not only to shine a light on this story, on the sexual assaults that continue to happen in Bolivia, but also it is important because it breaks down the results of this violence in its purest form. How do these women see themselves now? How are they perceived by others? How does this impact their faith?
Are they willing to go against everything they have ever been told and leave their homes, not able to read or write, not knowing where they are in the world or how to read a map, their only language Plautdietsch, or a form of low German spoken by few outside the Mennonite communities and seek a life where they may be safe from the men as well as safe from killing the men themselves? This book is essential for your 2019 reading lists.
To learn more about this community check out this great article from Vice.


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Devotion (Why I Write) By Patti Smith Cover Image
$9.95
ISBN: 9780300240221
Availability: Backordered
Published: Yale University Press - September 4th, 2018

There is reading done for entertainment and there is reading done for art; For the magical way that authors can craft words into a sentence and that sentence sends your brain into a technicolor haze; A closed-eye sigh knowing that the author has bewitched you for a moment and the act of reading becomes almost meditative. Patti Smith has this effect on me with whatever she writes. For you, it may be someone else but Patti?   She is my brain's equivalent of a few soothing breaths and a meditative stroll through some imaginary garden where the ghosts of all my good thoughts linger.
In Devotion, Patti Smith examines the act of writing as an act of devotion. She begins by describing her journey to Paris as an adult to talk to her French publishers about her new book. She tries to write but words escape her and seemingly benign moments turn beautiful. She describes watching figure skating with her father as a child. She describes the eggs she eats over breakfast; about recognizing a bench she once sat at with her sister years earlier. After a time, her reflections and musings transform into a short story about a memorizing young figure skater, alone in the world whose driving passion is to skate and who is pulled in other directions by life and love, but understands only her devotion to the one thing she loves.
Patti makes me want to write; to stroll through old French cemeteries looking for the names of people I admire. If you, like me, have read her and love her, or if you are looking to read her work, I would suggest her work on audio. (Click here for the digital audio book - here for the cds.) Pairing the particular cadence of her slight accent, the way she says "pillah" instead of pillow, "burries" instead of berries only ads magic to her words.
Do not operate machinery or read while under the influence. She will leave you drunk on words and isn't that just a beautiful thing?


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I Wrote This Book Because I Love You: Essays By Tim Kreider Cover Image
$26.00
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ISBN: 9781476738994
Published: Simon & Schuster - February 6th, 2018

If I am being honest, I was not initially interested in this book. The cover didn't really pull me in, the title sounds sappy and a little ridiculous, but I had a free audiobook and I like essays so why not, right? I put on the audio as I cooked dinner and lost myself completely. I don't know what I cooked that night, I do know that this guy is fantastic. Through a series of essays, Kreider examines his different relationships, not necessarily romantic relationships but meaningful ones. From traveling with his hypochondriac friend on a Ringling Brother Circus train to his 19 year relationship with his cat, everything he writes is gold. In a particularly moving essay, he reflects on 9/11 and the Bush years and how the volatile, depressed, and disillusioned nation mirrored his platonic love of his best friend. To grossly paraphrase, because I can't find the line again, he reflects that the most painful part of a relationship ending is the loss of the life you had planned, and finding yourself again in the 'new normal' much like the way we collectively felt in 2001 where we had to reconcile the life and security we all had planned with a new direction and what I think we can collectively agree is the 'new normal.'
Tim's prose is beautiful and frank. He isn't concerned with your feelings or the protective words we shield ourselves with, his honesty is real and moving.


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River of Teeth By Sarah Gailey Cover Image
$13.99
ISBN: 9780765395238
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Tordotcom - May 23rd, 2017

With overwhelming immigration and a serious food shortage in overcrowded cities, the US government needed a solution. It was the turn of the 20th century and while the country began to worry about a meat shortage, the government concocted a plan to resolve it, as well as solving a few other problems in the meantime. What is the solution you ask? Why hippo ranching of course! In an effort to capitalize on largely unusable grazing land as well as control the invasive water hyacinth, Congress introduced a bill to start hippo ranches in swamps and bayous and sell what newspapers would lovingly refer to as, "lake cow bacon."
In her novella, River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey takes this fascinating bit of history and writes a speculative fiction as if all of this had actually happened. River of Teeth follows a band of rough outlaws types, called Hoppers (essentially Hippo Cowboys), tasked with a seemingly impossible mission to thwart a villainous swamp thug and clear an area of the Louisiana bayou of feral hippos that said swamp thug uses as his best line of defense.
This lovely little book is a riot. A fun romp through the bayou with your trusty hippo and rough neck crew. Essentially, it's a wee western story set in an alternate timeline without the standard heteronormative stereotypes. There is love, heartbreak, revenge and best of all, hippos.
For more info. on hippo ranching in American history check out, https://www.wired.com/2013/12/hippopotamus-ranching/


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Duchess by Design: The Gilded Age Girls Club By Maya Rodale Cover Image
$7.99
ISBN: 9780062838803
Availability: Special Order
Published: Avon - October 23rd, 2018

 

So my rampant consumption of romance novels leaves little time for personal taste, as soon as one is done, I pick up another and move on, regardless of whether or not the plot is something I really care about. When I started Duchess by Design I eye-rolled (not a real word but Shakespeare did this all the time, so what’s once for me?) big time. Let's just say The Devil Wears Prada is not my favorite. Despite all of this I actually ended up really enjoying this book, even the fashiony bits!
When the Duke of Kingston, Brandon Fiennes, journeys to New York City he thinks that finding a wealthy heiress bride is going to be a cake walk and, using his new wife's dowry, he can finally do some much needed repairs on his estates and pay off his mother's exorbitant shopping bills. Romantic, right? As luck, or maybe karma, would have it the first woman he meets in New York, the beautiful, elegantly dressed woman of his dreams who runs headlong into him in his hotel lobby isn’t going to be the payday he expected.
Miss Adeline Black, dressed in one of her latest designs, is meeting a new client in an upscale hotel hoping to stock her wardrobe with beautiful new gowns for the season. A struggling seamstress, she has big dreams of taking the fashion world by storm with her unconventional designs featuring more comfortable corsets and, be still my practical heart, pockets. Yes, this woman wants to start a fashion revolution by giving women the ability to carry stuff around. She has no time for the handsome British nobleman who is now following her, but is charmed by it despite that. Think the 2002 Jennifer Lopez movie Maid in Manhattan.
This book was a lot of fun. The characters are flawed, there’s a secret suffragette society, and pockets! What’s not to love?


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The Other Miss Bridgerton: A Bridgerton Prequel By Julia Quinn Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9780062388209
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Avon - July 26th, 2022

Regency romance fans rejoice! The Other Miss Bridgerton is a delight and exactly what we all need to get through the depressing realities of life in 2018. We’ve got pirates, scandal, nobility, and one very stubborn woman to contend with in Quinn’s newest Bridgerton novel.
Poppy Bridgerton, while visiting her friend along the Dorset coast, finds herself kidnapped by pirates and is now helplessly en route to Portugal. Despite her belief that her situation is deplorable and clearly the roguishly handsome captain should just let her go, she is stuck on a two week voyage which is sure to destroy her reputation and any hopes of ever making a good match.
Captain Andrew James Rokesby is trying very hard to ensure that his captive does not find out that he is a Rokesby and by extension nobility and a very close friend to the Bridgerton family. On a secret mission from the crown to smuggle state secrets under the guise of privateering, Andrew cannot simply let this woman go, even if he knows the end result will likely be that he will be forced to marry her to save her reputation. Can he stand to be married to a woman who NEVER stops talking, and can she bear to spend another moment with her handsome but infuriatingly dismissive captor?
This book is fun. The kind of book that makes you laugh and smile like an idiot. The kind of book you never really want to end but you are also okay with ending because, unlike in real life, everything ends well and everyone leaves happy. If I had to translate my feelings of this book into emoji characters it would be nothing but heart eyes.


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Looker: A Novel By Laura Sims Cover Image
$25.00
ISBN: 9781501199110
Availability: Special Order
Published: Scribner - January 8th, 2019

If you are hoping for Looker to be a fast paced thriller, this is not your book.  This book is a slow burning psychological roller coaster (insert all other Hollywood-esque adjectives to describe eerie).  Looker follows the narrator, an unnamed woman who lives in an apartment next door to The Actress and (her) The Husband.  The Actress has everything the narrator has ever wanted.  Professional success, children, a beautiful home and a loving husband.  After countless failed attempts with IVF, the narrator and her husband divorce leaving the narrator alone in the home they had wanted to raise a family in, surrounded by evidence of her inability to get pregnant.  Focusing outside herself at the glowing beacon of celebrity next door, the narrator becomes obsessed with The Actress and her life; the things she doesn't have. In short bursts of thought and moments in time, the story unravels much like the narrator's mind.
If you like twisty, surreal tales of madness and obsession, in the vein of A Separation by Katie Kitamura or The First Bad Man by Miranda July this could be your next favorite.


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Meet Me at the Museum: A Novel By Anne Youngson Cover Image
$23.99
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9781250295163
Published: Flatiron Books - August 7th, 2018

There have been few books that I’ve read that I would describe as delicate, quiet, intimate, but that is how I would have to describe Meet Me at the Museum. Tina Hopgood lives on a rural English farm and, after the passing of her best friend, begins to question how her life has played out to this point. As a girl, she and her friend planned to someday visit the Tollund Man (an Iron Age body found perfectly preserved in a Danish bog), but life always got in the way: unplanned pregnancies, marriages, divorces, children, etc. Tina decides to write the professor who wrote the book on the Tollund Man where she and her friend first read about him. This out of character for Tina decision leads to a relationship in letters between her and Professor Anders Larsen, who has taken over the care of the Tollund Man at the museum where he is kept in Denmark. Anders has led an orderly, slightly predictable life, shaped largely by his work at the museum and his troubled wife who passed shortly before the start of the book under mysterious circumstances. The letters these two strangers share are beautifully written, with a depth and intimacy that quickly shapes their relationship into dear friends. Over the course of the book, both of their lives are shaken by different life events, and you see that what started as a simple interaction has become so vital to them both.
I don’t, as a rule, enjoy books written in letters. My brain does not work that way and I have always had trouble with them, but I could not bring myself to put this down. Youngson’s words were trapped in my head as I went about my day and still I find myself at a loss for how to really describe this lovely little story. Fans of
The Snow Child and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society do yourself a favor and read this.


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Baby Teeth: A Novel By Zoje Stage Cover Image
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781250170750
Availability: Out of Print
Published: St. Martin's Press - July 17th, 2018

Creepy!! I don’t know why I am drawn to creepy kid thrillers, probably exposure to The Good Son (1993 film with Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood) too early in life has left me traumatized and wanting to learn more. Baby Teeth jumps between the perspectives of a seven year old girl and her mother. The daughter, Hanna, is seven and has never spoken aloud.  She is confident she could speak if she wanted to but suspects bad things may happen if she did. Suzette is Hanna’s mother and struggling with her own poor health thanks to her crippling Crohn’s Disease. She doesn’t understand why she can’t connect with her daughter and why she seems to torment her daily. As you read, you learn that Hanna hates her mother and wishes it could just be her and her dad. You will also form an incredible hatred for Hanna’s father/Suzette’s husband for being blind to everything that seems to happen at home. I don’t want to give too much away but if you like creepy psychological thrillers with creepy child antagonists this is probably going to be a great fit for you.


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Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners By Therese Oneill Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780316357906
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Back Bay Books - May 8th, 2018

I brought Unmentionable home as a joke, knowing I needed to spend more time with it, knowing it's been a while since I've forced my husband to listen to me read sections of a book he is not familiar with out loud. This did not disappoint. Sitting on the couch in my dirty yoga pants, a worn old Star Wars tee, my hair up in a greasy bun, I set into a chapter titled "Being a Good Wife: How to Avoid His Eventual Resentment for as Long as Possible" and learned that the first most common path to marital ruin is Being Messy (at least in the Victorian Era). Here we learn about "The Slovenly Wife" from an 1838 edition of The Ladies Garland. This slobby Victorian woman led her marriage and husband to ruin all for her "slovenly" dress and housekeeping. I stop and scoop spilled ice cream off my shirt and continue.
"She makes a halfhearted attempt to clean up her act, but it never sticks. Her husband, too mortified to bring friends home, begins meeting with them at a nearby tavern. 'From that day his flourishing business and his handsome wife become more and more neglected.' Soon the husband becomes a drunkard, though never even having touched a drop before his wife's grotesque appearance drove him to the tavern. Their shop closes and they become destitute. The husband is too miserable to ever feel love for his hideous wife again. Their story closes in shame, wretchedness, and ruin."
I stare up blankly at my own husband, also in sweatpants and an old tee scooping ice cream out of the tub and remind him to tell me if I ever get too slovenly, he laughs and agrees. From here we learn the other things I am doing to drive our marriage to ruin, such as: "Getting Old; Asking for Stuff; Having Opinions, Passions, and Strengths; Being a Bad Cook (sometimes terrible); and of course Getting Mad When He Cheats (Hypothetically).
Now I don't know if it is because I am a sucker for fun history, or if it's that I revel in not measuring up to Victorian standards of womanhood, or maybe it's just because I am human but this book is hilarious. Full of reminders that women have come a long way and there are good reasons to keep moving forward. If you want to laugh or know someone who wants to laugh, and if you are not too sheepish about reading the full breadth of what is expected or natural for a Victorian woman to encounter, do yourself a favor and pick it up. You, like me, will not be disappointed.


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Natural Histories: Stories By Guadalupe Nettel, J. T. Lichtenstein (Translated by) Cover Image
By Guadalupe Nettel, J. T. Lichtenstein (Translated by)
$18.95
ISBN: 9781609805517
Availability: Special Order
Published: Seven Stories Press - June 10th, 2014

Siamese fighting fish, cockroaches, cats, a snake, and a strange fungus all serve here as mirrors that reflect the unconfessable aspects of human nature buried within us.


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The Vanishing By Wendy Webb Cover Image
$21.99
ISBN: 9781401341947
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Hachette Books - January 21st, 2014

What a fun read! A little mystery, a few ghosts, overlapping lives and memories, there is so much happening in this book it should never leave you bored. Julia Bishop is going through a rough patch... to put it lightly. About three months prior to the beginning of our story her late husband is outed as being the "mid-western Bernie Madoff" and after ruining the lives of everyone around them he takes his own life leaving Julia to pick up the pieces. Deep in her well of depression she is surprised when a strange man arrives at her door offering her a job and a new life. With nothing left to lose she is taken away to a remote mansion in northern Minnesota and starts anew as the companion to the famous horror authoress, Amaris Sinclair, one of Julia's literary heroes.
Upon arrival at her new haven in the woods, aptly named Havenwood, Julia finds herself overrun with deja vu and creepy coincidences. Is this all just a side effect from coming off her medication or is there something more sinister at work at the mansion?
With a cast of characters you are dying to love but not sure if you're supposed to, this is a light yet enthralling mystery that blends the old with the new seamlessly and wonderfully.


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The Kept: A Novel By James Scott Cover Image
$25.99
ISBN: 9780062236739
Availability: Special Order
Published: Harper - January 7th, 2014

Wow. There really are no words for The Kept that could really do it justice. It is the most disturbing yet beautiful book I have ever read. Set in the winter of 1897, midwife Elspeth Howell returns home from months away at work to find her husband and four children murdered in their small country home. By some shred of luck, Caleb, her twelve-year-old son survives and the two must endure the most devastating experience of their lives so far and venture out into the world to find their family's murderers. Over the course of the story you learn that Elspeth may not be everything you think she is and Caleb learns more about himself than he would ever bargain for. This is a story of obsession, retribution, redemption, loss and love. Despite all of its rough and disturbing exterior, this book is beautifully written and definitely worth the time.


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Two Old Women [Anniversary Edition]: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival By Velma Wallis Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9780062244987
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harper Perennial - November 5th, 2013

Two Old Women is based on an Athabascan Indian Legend from the upper Yukon River Valley in Alaska. This is the legend of two old women who were abandoned by their tribe in the middle of a desolate winter to die in the cold Alaskan wilderness. The tribe felt the women were slowing The People down in their journey to a new camp. Left to their own devices this is the story of how two women, betrayed by their family and friends  and left in the wilderness to die, decide to live instead. Aged 80 and 75 years old, Ch'idzigyaak and Sa' realize that they may still have the power to survive and do. This legend is a parable for not only respecting the wisdom of your elders but also for elders to respect the young and themselves. Sa' says it perfectly, "Yes, in their own way they have condemned us to die! They think that we are too old and useless. They forget that we, too, have earned the right to live! So I say if we are going to die, my friend, let us die trying, not sitting." It's quick and worth it, read it.


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Margot: a Novel By Jillian Cantor Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781594486432
Availability: Special Order
Published: Riverhead Books - September 3rd, 2013

In the blistering heat of the Philadelphia summer, Margie Franklin works hard to resist the urge to remove her sweater. Her friends try to convince her to come out to a movie, a drink, something, but she declines. A single woman working in a small Jewish law firm in 1959, few of her peers would suspect that quiet Margie from Poland was not what she seemed. The truth of her past, her secret fears and former identity, her everything was hid just under her sleeve in a small sequence of faded numbers. Jillian Cantor, in her historical fiction Margot, tells the story of Margot Frank and her new life in America after escaping her torment in Nazi Germany. Margot, or Margie's, carefully constructed walls to keep her past out of her present are shattered with the publication and movie adaptation of her younger sister Anne's Diary and Margot is forced to face her fears, her resentments and herself. Margot is a beautiful story and a fun yet humbling read. Honestly, I couldn't put it down.


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Call Me Zelda By Erika Robuck Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780451239921
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Berkley - May 7th, 2013

There are a lot of books out now about Zelda Fitzgerald and THIS is my favorite. The story is told from the perspective of Zelda's psychiatric nurse while she undergoes treatment for her mental illness. Anna, Zelda's nurse, finds peace and purpose in her work but upon Zelda's admittance to her hospital, Anna's life would change forever. Zelda's larger than life personality is intoxicating and terrifying as she teeters on the edge of sanity. Anna and Zelda become fast friends helping each other cope with their pasts and make the necessary steps toward their futures. If you are looking for a great story of friendship or if you loved The Paris Wife, read this!


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Bloomability By Sharon Creech Cover Image
$7.99
ISBN: 9780064408233
Availability: Special Order
Published: HarperCollins - December 4th, 2012


I first read Bloomability when I was about ten and instantly fell in love. My copy is a tattered wreck from years of re-reading again and again.
Bloomability is the story of Dinnie Doone, a girl who learns about opportunity whether she wants to or not. Taken hostage by her aunt and uncle, or at least that's what she thinks of it as, she is taken to Switzerland to attend a boarding school and learn about all the things her path would have never offered her back home. Dinnie goes fishing in crisp Swiss streams, skiing in the Alps, she learns about life, friendship, and a little about young love. This is a story about a girl coming into her own and seeing the world unfold around her.
In my mind this is just as fantastic as Walk Two Moons (Sharon Creech) if not better.
 


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The Snow Child: A Novel By Eowyn Ivey Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780316175661
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Back Bay Books - November 6th, 2012

The snow child is beautiful. Set in a wild Alaska in the 1920s, this is the story of Jack and Mable and the magic that Alaska offers them. The weight of never having had children weighs heavily on them both, driving them away from the pitying and prying eyes of their friends and family and consequently deeper into despair into the lonely wilderness. In a rare moment of playfulness they decide to build a snow man, or rather a snow girl which helps to bring the distant couple back to one another and helps to set the stage for something a little more mystical.  The next day after discovering their destroyed snow girl the couple notice a stranger in their forest, a young girl and her pet fox.
Filled with such a pure and wild magical realism, this book is nothing but sweetness and wonder.
Eowyn Ivey has created something beautiful in this story and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.


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Damned By Chuck Palahniuk Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780307476531
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Anchor - October 2nd, 2012

Damned tells the story of Madison Spencer, a thirteen year old girl who finds herself in hell. Palahniuk's hell is far more disturbed than any images of hell I could muster, and if you are a sucker for imagery this guy will do the trick. Maddie winds up in some sort of bizarre John Hughes inspired group of friends adventuring around hell before finding herself a job as a telemarketer. Through her position as a telemarketer she is able to increase numbers of damned souls, ensuring the living populace the perks of hell most certainly outweigh those behind the heavenly gates. Damned can be grotesque, perverse and awkward but it is most certainly a fun and unique read.


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Absolutely Normal Chaos (Walk Two Moons #2) By Sharon Creech Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9780064406321
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: HarperCollins - April 24th, 2012

"By turns sarcastic, tender, and irreverent, this will quickly make its way into the hands of readers who loved Walk Two Moons." Kirkus


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The Two Princesses of Bamarre By Gail Carson Levine Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9780064409667
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: HarperCollins - April 24th, 2012

For lovers of Ella Enchanted, PICK ME!!
In a Kingdom far far away a King and Queen have two young daughters. Princess Meryl is fierce, wild and craves adventure, Princess Addie is prim and proper and more than happy to stay in the warm castle where everything is safe and spider free. Despite their differences the sisters are best friends and would do anything for the other.
When the Gray Death sweeps through the Kingdom and Princess Meryl is struck with the illness, it is up to quiet, adventure averting Addie to go out in search of a cure before it's too late. Addie goes up against Dragons, Gryphons and meets a handsome young Wizard with stunning white eyelashes.
This is the best sort of fairy tale, fraught with courage, perseverance, magic, love and girls who can kick butt!
P.S. did I mention there are no spiders...awesome!


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The Transall Saga By Gary Paulsen Cover Image
$9.99
ISBN: 9780375873232
Availability: Special Order
Published: Delacorte Press - March 8th, 2011

For lovers of Gary Paulsen AND lovers of a bit of sci-fi this is it. Transall Saga is a thrilling tale of a boy named Mark who goes out on a solo camping trip in the desert and ends up getting sucked into a mysterious beam of light. Mark is transported to a strange world with a new set of rules and is forced to survive. Mark spends years as a stranger in this world learning about the cultures and creatures that fill it and attempting to find his place as returning to Earth, as he knows it, seems impossible.
Transall Saga is a great story and would be great for boys and girls alike.


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Sing Down the Moon: A Newbery Honor Award Winner By Scott O'Dell Cover Image
$7.99
ISBN: 9780547406329
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Clarion Books - September 13th, 2010

From the author of Island of the Blue Dolphins, this is the story of Bright Morning growing up in her tribe and her resilience in the face of the near apocalyptic encroachment of White Settlers in her region. More than an honest and well written historical fiction, Scott O'Dell gives us a beautiful story and a beautiful heroine with enough spirit and beauty to withstand overwhelming change and still find beauty in the world.

Just read it. Trust me.


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Sunflowers By Sheramy Bundrick Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780061765278
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - October 13th, 2009

This is a book about love, passion, art and madness. Set in the last few years of his life, this is a book about Vincent Van Gogh and a woman who loved him. Told from the perspective of Rachel, a prostitute in Arles, France who imagined something better from her life, Sunflowers tells the story of the two lovers fighting against obsession and oncoming madness. Rachel struggles to keep her love and the hope it has given her afloat as the eccentric artist becomes more engrossed and depressed with his art and lack of success.
Beautifully written and well researched, Sheramy Bundrick does a great job in writing one of my favorite novels. This book would be great for fans of historical fiction similar to The Paris Wife and Call Me Zelda.