Devin

Devin Scott: avid adventurer, aspiring storyteller, absolute bibliophile. My love for books and reading stems from my grandfather. When I was a kid, 10 years old or so, my grandpa would entice my siblings and I to read by paying us a certain amount. The bigger the book, the more money we’d get (the dream job. I’d be a millionaire if the deal was still going). I’ve been a bibliophile ever since. I grew up, went to school, travelled around the country and certain parts of the world, experienced things I’ll never forget, and I never lost my enthusiasm for reading and literature. I’m a fan of all genres, but I’m particularly interested in fantasy and mysteries. I hope these books entertain you and treat you as well as they did me!

Feel free to email me at devin@mcleanandeakin.com for more recommendations!

 

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The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780062315007
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: HarperOne - April 15th, 2014

This is perhaps my favorite book of all time simply because of the level of impact it has made on my life. It’s no surprise to me that millions of copies have been sold worldwide (translated to 71 languages), was at one point an international bestseller, and has inspired generations of people.

Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece centers around a young shepherd boy by the name of Santiago. “The boy”, as he is often called throughout the book, has recurring dreams of visiting the pyramids of Egypt and finding treasure there. He ignores these dreams, deciding to instead focus on his sheep and winning the heart of a local merchant’s daughter, until a gypsy woman tells him that this is a message from the universe and that he should heed this omen. He sells his sheep, heads to Tangier in northern Africa, beginning his quest for worldly treasures.

Santiago’s journey takes him far and wide, leading him to riches of a different kind. Along the way, he meets many interesting people that each teach him different life lessons, such as a crystal merchant that is content with the cards life has dealt him, a seemingly homeless man that is a king in disguise, an Englishman hoping to learn how to turn metals into gold from the famous Alchemist in the oasis of the desert, and the Alchemist himself.

Even though it is a fiction, it almost reads as an inspirational self-help book, similar to ‘The Celestine Prophecy’. I loved this book for all its important messages it has taught me, and there is a reason I give this book as a gift as often as I can to the people I love. And now, after 25 years of being on the market, they offer this story as a graphic novel!


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Narcissus and Goldmund: A Novel By Hermann Hesse, Ursule Molinaro (Translated by) Cover Image
By Hermann Hesse, Ursule Molinaro (Translated by)
$21.00
ISBN: 9780312421670
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Picador - February 1st, 2003

Herman Hesse is in our Classics sections for a reason. He was a German man that was deeply affected by the spiritual thought process of Eastern culture, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946, and wrote novels, stories, and essays that continue to grab the imaginations of readers 55 years after his death.

‘Narcissus & Goldmund’ takes place in Medieval Germany and centers around two young men that are fundamentally different. Yet despite their differences, they form an everlasting friendship. Narcissus is a brilliant, young teacher at a cloister school, pursuing his scholarly and religious goals of becoming an abbot. He becomes rather fond of a student a few years younger than himself, Goldmund, a naturally bright dreamer. Goldmund reciprocates Narcissus’ fondness and really admires him and his brilliance.

While out gathering herbs in a field, Goldmund meets a beautiful Gypsy woman who invites him to make love. That is the moment Goldmund realizes he is not meant for the monk lifestyle, even if it means leaving the monastery and his best friend. With Narcissus’ blessing, Goldmund sets out on an adventure to nowhere, hoping to find the meaning of his life.

As the book continues, Goldmund meets many attractive women, sees the best in humanity through his love of art and sculpting, and witnesses the worst in human existence as the Black Death destroys town after town. Throughout all his travelling, all his trials, all his lessons and lovers, Goldmund never forgets about his best friend Narcissus. As he goes older, he wonders if he will ever see Narcissus again, or if Narcissus was even alive.

The themes of this book revolve around the differences between mind and body, logic versus art, the scholar and the wanderer. I love this book because it shows that friendship can withstand anything.


The Midnight Library: A GMA Book Club Pick (A Novel) By Matt Haig Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9780525559474
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Viking - September 29th, 2020

We all have regrets. We have all made choices that have drastically changed our lives. Some decisions we make are big ones and we know how big they are from the very beginning, while others are small decisions that we don't realize how much they have affected our lives until much later, if ever. While we can wonder what our lives would look like if we had made a different choice or choices, what if you could actually know what your life could have been like? That's where The Midnight Library comes in.
Between the realms of life and death is a library with an infinite amount of books, and each book is about you and the lives you could've lived. What if you took that job offer? What if you started that band back in high school? What if you turned left at the intersection instead of right? Some books are massive while others are just a few pages long. Each book is a different choice made.
Nora Seed, an unhappy woman who believes her life is made up of wrong choices, has many regrets. She never became an olympic swimmer, she quit her brother's band before their big break, she called off her engagement to a loving man, and her career choices have left her living in the same small town she grew up in. Her brother hates her, her cat dies, she is fired from her job, her friend on the other side of the world is ghosting her, and she feels absolutely alone. When she decides to die, she finds herself at the midnight library, the place between life and death. Surprisingly, she is greeted by her former school librarian, Mrs. Elm, who guides her through understanding the library and the rules that must be followed while there.
Was Nora meant to be a researcher on an Arctic island? Was she supposed to be a famous rockstar performing for millions of fans? Was she meant to be a country pub owner with her ex-boyfriend? It's here at the midnight library that she is able to live these lives and explore what truly makes a life happy and worth living. As soon as a particular life starts to disappoint, she is instantly brought back to the library and is able to continue searching for a perfect life. But happiness, like many things in life, can be elusive; and maybe that's not the goal.
This book gripped me from the very first sentence, letting me know that this book was going to be an emotional rollercoaster. Spoiler alert: it certainly is! And well worth the tears!


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Ready Player Two: A Novel By Ernest Cline Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9781524761332
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Ballantine Books - November 24th, 2020

Let the game continue! The sequel to the worldwide bestseller Ready Player One returns with more excitement, higher consequences, and plenty of the nostalgic easter egg references we've come to love from Ernest Cline. Don't be surprised if Steven Spielberg makes a movie of this one in the near future! Ready Player Two picks up days after Wade Watts, a.k.a. Parzival, wins the easter egg contest orchestrated by the OASIS virtual reality creator, James Halliday. Wade inherited the company, special powers only he can use when in OASIS, and more fame and money than he could possibly imagine. Not only that, but he's also won the heart of his love, and is enjoying their time together in the real world.
Everything changes when an avatar of his deceased hero, James Halliday, appears to Wade and presents him with the real James' final gift, a piece of technology that will change the world-- for good or for evil. It is up to Wade to decide if humanity is ready for this new technology.
After some consideration and debate with his friends, Wade releases this technological marvel to the world. Not long after, a mysterious riddle appears to the users of OASIS, an indication that the game is afoot once again! What Wade and the rest of the High Five don't know is that a new rival is waiting, watching, and is willing to kill millions of people to get what they want.
The stakes have never been higher in this amazing sequel! Jam-packed with references to pop culture of the 80's and 90's, this one is a "can't miss" for those that loved Ready Player One!


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Anxious People: A Novel By Fredrik Backman Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9781501160837
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Atria Books - September 8th, 2020

This was my first time reading Fredrik Backman (I know what you’re saying to yourself and I’m hitting myself over the head for not reading him sooner). For those of you who have heard of him but haven’t read any of his work before, I highly recommend giving him the chance to amaze you! Having only read Anxious People, I can’t speak for his other novels, but Backman seems to be the type of writer that really adds depth to his characters and gives them a human nature that is not only relatable but entertaining. In a nutshell, this is the charming, witty story of a bank robbery gone awry, an escalating hostage situation, and a group of idiots trying to make sense of it all.
An amateur bank robber attempts to live up to their title but doesn’t know that the bank they decided to stick-up is, in fact, a cashless bank. Meanwhile, an apartment open house is happening nearby, with intriguing people coming to look at the place. A retired couple that attend apartment viewings almost religiously are there, distracting themselves from the problems of their marriage. A wealthy yet lonely bank director is looking at the apartment because she needs a hobby. A young couple, expecting their first child, is looking for a place to raise their little one. And did I mention the flustered yet ambitious real estate agent, the eighty-seven-year-old woman that is afraid of nothing, and a naked man hiding somewhere in the apartment wearing only a rabbit mask are there too? I didn’t? Well they are all shocked when the failed bank robber, seeking a way to escape, bursts in and takes them all as captives.
Anxious People is so well done. It gives you the excitement that only a failed bank robbery turned hostage situation can, providing backstories of the characters and what brought them to this point, while adding layers of the aftermath when a father-and-son police duo investigate what happened and how the bank robber got away. If you’re looking for something lighthearted to distract you over the coming week, go with Backman. With messages of hope, friendship, and most of all, forgiveness, you’re going to want to cozy up with this one.


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Moonflower Murders: A Novel By Anthony Horowitz Cover Image
$28.99
ISBN: 9780062955456
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harper - November 10th, 2020

Atticus Pünd and Susan Ryeland are back! The structure is a little different than the first novel of the pair, but I actually liked it more this way. And here’s why: because Alan Conway is a tricky dirtbag! If you read Magpie Murders, you know that Alan Conway loved writing people in his life into the Atticus Pünd books, and you also know that he was rarely kind about it. I’ll get more into that in a second.
Two years have passed, and Susan is still trying to come to terms with her new life in Crete. Her relationship with Andreas is getting rocky, the hotel they own always seems to need some renovation, and they are on the brink of bankruptcy. Not only that, but Susan is missing her London life and her work as an editor. Needless to say, she is having a bit of an existential crisis.
Enter Lawrence and Pauline Treherne, owners of a high-end hotel in Suffolk, who have come all the way to Crete in search of Susan’s help. Eight years ago, at their fancy hotel, they were hosting the wedding of their daughter, Cecily Treherne, to her now husband Aiden MacNeil. On the day of their wedding, a well-known advertising executive from Australia and guest of the hotel, Frank Parris, was found murdered in his hotel room. All of the evidence pointed to a hotel worker, a Romanian immigrant with a criminal history, so they arrested him and that was that.
Six weeks after the wedding/murder, Susan’s former client, Alan Conway, stayed at the Treherne’s hotel with the “intent” of learning more about what happened to his friend, Frank Parris. What the owners and staff didn’t know was that Alan used that real-life murder as the premise of his third Atticus Pünd novel, Atticus Pünd Takes the Case. In his usual fashion, Alan twisted the people he had interviewed and made cruel caricatures of them for characters in his book. But he may have noticed something the police investigating the murder didn’t.
Fast forward eight years, and Cecily has decided to start reading the Atticus Pünd series. When she realizes that the wrong man was arrested all those years ago, the Treherne parents don’t think much of it, they are on vacation after all, but things change when Cecily goes missing the next day. They read the book but don’t see how it convinced Cecily that the wrong man was found guilty, or how it is connected to her disappearance. Knowing that Susan worked with Alan Conway and understood the writer's mind, they fly to Crete in the hopes that she will come back to Suffolk with them. If she can provide answers about what happened to their daughter, and determine if there is a connection to the previous murder, they will give her $10,000. Desperately needing the money, Susan decides to take the case.
Only the word brilliant can describe Anothony Horowitz properly. As I said before, if you enjoyed Magpie Murders, you need to follow it up with Moonflower Murders.


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Magpie Murders: A Novel By Anthony Horowitz Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780062645234
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial - March 27th, 2018

Magpie Murders was floating around different book clubs in the area and, after reading his novels The Word is Murder and The Sentence is Death, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed, I figured I would give it a shot and see what all of the fuss was about. To use just three words, IT IS AMAZING.
When Susan Ryeland, an editor for a small publishing company in modern-day London, is given the manuscript for the latest Alan Conway novel, Magpie Murders, she thinks it will be just like the rest of the cozy, post-WWII mysteries that she has edited for Conway. The author may be a pompous jerk who thinks he’s better than most everyone, but since his books have sold millions of copies and are international hits, Susan has to tolerate the man’s arrogance and his need to have things a specific way.
The ninth novel in the series, Magpie Murders centers around Atticus Pünd, a German detective and sole survivor of his family to the holocaust, as he investigates two curious deaths in a small English countryside village. It is an incredibly clever and charming whodunnit, just like the other books in the series. But as Susan reads on, and real-world events start to unfold, she begins to think that Alan Conway may be concealing another story within the pages; a hidden story that may lead her to an actual murder.
There were times when my jaw was on the ground, and I spent many nights staying up way too late reading this gem. Just as I had wrapped it up and was thoroughly satisfied with its conclusions, I received an advanced copy of the second novel of the series. It is not often that a sequel can live up to the original, so I went into it with some reservations, but let me use five words this time: IT WAS JUST AS AMAZING!
Did you like Magpie Murders? Click here to get a glimpse of what the second book has to offer! A review within a review about a book within a book. See what I did there?


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Antiracist Baby Board Book By Ibram X. Kendi, Ashley Lukashevsky (Illustrator) Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9780593110416
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Kokila - June 16th, 2020

The children are our future, and this book gives me such hope for what our world can become. Even though this is a board book meant for kids, there are a lot of adults that could learn a few things from this important read.
“Antiracist baby is bred, not born”; just like racism is not something a person is born with, it is something that is taught. Antiracist Baby highlights nine fundamental steps to make equity a reality, a few steps being:
•Open your eyes to all skin colors. If you claim to be color-blind, you deny what’s right in front of you.
•Use your words to talk about race. No one will see racism if we only stay silent.
•Point at policies as the problem, not people. Policies don’t always grant equal access.
•Confess when being racist. Nothing disrupts racism like when we confess the racist ideas that we sometimes express.
The illustrations are wonderful and complement Kendi’s text so well by showing a world populated by people of various skin tones, identities, orientations, religions, and abilities. Publishers Weekly summarized this beautiful book: “Though the advanced diction gears the volume more toward caretakes than infants themselves, the book will nonetheless serve as a mindful companion for families striving together toward a more equitable future.”


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Barn 8: A Novel By Deb Olin Unferth Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781644450154
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Graywolf Press - March 3rd, 2020

In this whimsical, philosophical, and unusual heist book, two auditors for the U.S. egg industry go rogue and devise a scheme to steal a million chickens in the middle of the night.
Unferth does a superb job of taking the reader into the minds of this troublesome team of renegades, while also putting a lens on this harrowing and ever-growing agricultural empire. Full of entertaining yet precarious characters that have been recruited for this mission, and a series of catastrophes that you cannot help but read intently, Barn 8 taught me a lot and made me really question the industry while never feeling patronizing.
Entertaining and heartbreaking, all in one great novel! Who knew a chicken heist could be such a rollercoaster ride of emotions?


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Eight Perfect Murders: A Novel By Peter Swanson Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9780062838209
Availability: Backordered
Published: William Morrow - March 3rd, 2020

Malcolm Kershaw is the owner of Old Devil’s Bookshop, a Boston bookstore that focuses on everything crime, both true and fictional books. To generate some customer attention, Malcolm starts a blog for the store’s website, and one of his very first posts on the blog is titled Eight Perfect Murders. These were not necessarily Mal’s favorite mystery books, but they were, in his opinion, pieces of fiction that best encapsulated the “perfect crime”. The list of mysteries ranges from classics to contemporary, including: Agatha Christie’s A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin’s play Deathtrap, A. A. Milne's Red House Mystery (who knew A.A. Milne wrote a murder mystery??), Anthony Berkeley Cox's Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain's Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald's The Drowner, and Donna Tartt's The Secret History.
Nearly a decade passes and Mal forgets all about his silly list of perfect fictional murders, but when an FBI agent comes knocking on the door of the Old Devil’s Bookshop, he is surprised to learn that someone may be taking his list and making fiction become reality. With his blog being the only connection between these seemingly random killings, it certainly paints a suspicion on Malcolm. And when more people turn up dead, people linked to a past that Malcolm refuses to talk about, he suspects that the FBI are not the only ones keeping an eye on him, and that the killer may have a personal connection to his past.
This novel is a great choice for those that also enjoyed The Silent Patient or Woman in the Window. Eight Perfect Murders is surprising and clever, with a brilliant yet unreliable protagonist and plenty of suspenseful twists and turns. It is perfect for mystery fans looking for something unique that will keep you up late as you keep turning pages.


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Burn the Dark: Malus Domestica #1 By S. A. Hunt Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781250306432
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Tor Books - January 14th, 2020

S.A. Hunt, Petoskey resident and friend of McLean & Eakin, has created something utterly unique and spine-chilling with Burn the Dark, the first of a series that revolves around an amateur YouTuber who gives her viewers a taste of the supernatural. What her millions of subscribers don’t know is that all her action-packed videos are real.
Robin Martine, also known as Malus to her followers, has spent the majority of her adult life training to kill witches. After a traumatizing incident she experienced as a child, resulting in the death of her mother, Robin wants nothing but vengeance on the witches responsible. She spends years training with the best witch hunter out there, and as she begins her quest, she decides that documenting her interactions with the supernatural could provide a form of income. Little does she know that her seemingly unreal videos will make her a YouTube sensation. Now she must gather all of her courage as she returns to where it all began: her hometown of Blackfield, Georgia. But she's not alone. With friends new
and old, she will face the witches that have consumed her life.
I think the publisher marketing did a fantastic job in describing Burn the Dark as “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets Stranger Things”. It isn’t often that I find a horror novel where I’m more captivated by the characters than by the monsters, but S.A. Hunt provides powerful, flawed characters that really draw you in. I highly recommend!


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The Regrets By Amy Bonnaffons Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780316516167
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Little, Brown and Company - February 4th, 2020

Thomas Barrett, a young man who can’t seem to catch a break, dies at the beginning of this exceptional novel by Amy Bonnaffons, author of The Wrong Heaven. Not only does he die, but the system in the afterlife has found an error with his “exit narrative." They don’t know if he was supposed to die that soon, if he was supposed to die a long time ago, or if there is simply an error with his eternal placement. To correct this bureaucratic snafu, the powers that be (whoever that may be) grant Thomas ninety more days on Earth in a semi-ethereal body until they identify the problem.
When Thomas awakens in a familiar-looking apartment back in reality, he starts looking at the world from a different perspective, but with these ninety days of grace come certain guidelines. He is told to avoid falling into the same routines he had when he was actually alive, and to try and steer clear of too much interaction with the living, especially with those who knew him when he was alive, to ensure that he doesn’t come back to the afterlife with “regrets." It is also recommended to him that he use this time to check things off his bucket list, to take up a new hobby or pastime, and to document how he spends his time.
Rachel Starr, a young librarian with an overactive imagination, falls in love with the daydream men in her life, but never the men themselves, leading to disappointment in her actual romantic life. When she starts noticing a sad, electric-looking young man at the bus stop every day, she eventually decides that daydreaming just won’t cut it, and introduces herself to an already-dead Thomas. Their connection is immediate and intimate, but they don’t have long together, and Thomas knows that.

This unique, brilliant novel is equal parts romance, fantasy, and philosophy, as Thomas and Rachel discover the lines of life and death and try to come to terms with the fact that nothing lasts forever. Sometimes the only thing that matters is making the most of the little time given, but are the regrets, and the consequences that come with that time, worth it?


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Strange Planet (Strange Planet Series) By Nathan W. Pyle Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9780062970701
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Morrow Gift - November 19th, 2019

I started reading this book after seeing it on the Publisher's Weekly bestseller list for what seemed like a month. I’m so glad I picked it up, because it is an adorable, peculiar book that most certainly deserves all the buzz it has been receiving!  Strange Planet is a collection of comic strips that center around a family of aliens living a normal human lifestyle. Whether it’s because the parent aliens are teaching their children the importance of “scrubbing their mouth stones” (brushing their teeth) or because they are “rollsucking the foot fabric” (vacuuming the carpet), I was laughing throughout the whole thing!
The illustrations are delightful and the relationship between the aliens is more charming than you could imagine. Strange Planet is a quirky book that seems to be designed to make you smile or chuckle, to look at the things we do every day in a different light, and it would make such a nice gift!


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Storm Front (Dresden Files #1) By Jim Butcher Cover Image
$10.99
ISBN: 9780451457813
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Ace - April 1st, 2000

This book is a little older than the books we generally review (originally published in 2000), but I was strongly recommended to read this gem, and now I am strongly recommending it! It is the perfect blend of mystery and magic and is another brilliant gift idea for readers of those genres.
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is a private investigator in modern-day Chicago, but he is s0 much more; he is also a wizard for hire. As a professional wizard with adverts in local newspapers, Harry claims to be more adept at understanding the magical oddities of the “normal” world, and sometimes he is the only one that can provide answers for cases both big and small. When the Chicago Police Department hires Harry as a consultant for a double homicide that was clearly committed by someone with black magic, not only does he imagine the big payday this case will bring, he also thinks that it won't be long before the deadly mage strikes again. Harry knows he himself will become a target too, whether by an unidentified killer with unknown power, or by the police who might be looking to pin the double homicide on him if he doesn’t provide answers quickly. It’s a race against the clock to solve the case by any means necessary!
This fast-paced, captivating novel is the first of a series that you will fall in love with. Harry Dresden is a smart, flawed, rough-around-the-edges character that only makes this magical tale feel even more like a classic detective story. A must read!


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Kill the Farm Boy: The Tales of Pell By Kevin Hearne, Delilah S. Dawson Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781524797768
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Del Rey - February 26th, 2019

We are all familiar with the typical fantasy story:  A young person with no potential in life is christened as “The Chosen One,” destined to change the world, bring justice and peace to all, and live happily ever after…. blah blah blah. But what if the hero dies before the quest can even begin?  Would it be ridiculous and anticlimactic to flip the classic epic trope on its head?  Short answer: no way!
This is not your standard fantasy tale.  It's perfect for fans of The Adventure Zone and The Princess Bride. It is hysterical, intelligent, filled with puns, and includes the most entertaining and ragtag group of adventurers you’ll ever come across. Toby the Dark Lord, an almost-wizard with an obsession with cheese and crackers, wants to find a way to gain actual powers, whether that be by growing an impressive sorcerer beard or by making odd animals mate. Fia is a fierce, seven-foot-tall warrior who wants to put away her sword and irritating chainmail bikini for good, so that she may pursue her true passion of horticulture. Argabella is a bard that has been cursed to look like a giant bunny and has been left to guard a frozen-in-time tower. And we can’t forget about Gustave, the witty, cynical, talking goat that is always nervous about people eating him but is never afraid to dish out some sassy remarks.
It’s because of these "heroes" and many other supporting characters and creatures that this one of the most unique fantasies I’ve ever read. The first in the series, Kill the Farm Boy is great for every fantasy nerd out there!


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The Chain By Adrian McKinty Cover Image
$28.00
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9780316531269
Published: Mulholland Books - July 9th, 2019

The Chain is a reality-shattering thriller with ethical dilemmas sprinkled throughout. It is terrifying and makes you question, “What would I do for the person I love most in this world?”
Rachel Klein is a woman trying to get her life back on track. After her divorce, her cancer remission, and finding a new job, she is struggling but manages it all for the sake of her thirteen-year-old daughter Kylie. Rachel would do anything for her daughter, and she unfortunately must prove it. On a seemingly ordinary night, Rachel receives a call from a disgruntled woman claiming that she has kidnapped Kylie and that she must follow her demands if she wishes to see her daughter again.
The first demand is simple: deposit $25,000 of bitcoins into the account specified. But, as the woman says on the phone, “It’s not about the money, it’s about keeping 'The Chain' intact.” For Rachel to save Kylie, she must kidnap someone else. Whether it’s someone’s child, spouse, parent, dog; it doesn’t matter. She will need to research her victim to make sure that they can afford the ransom, that they won’t go to the police, and if they have what it takes to continue the chain of kidnappings.
With the help of her former brother-in-law, a veteran with a heroin addiction, she will have to do the most abhorrent and cruel thing she could do to another human being. But if she does it, how could her daughter ever look at her again?
Adrian McKinty has done such an amazing job. I had a difficult time imagining what I would, or morally could, do in Rachel’s position.


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The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep: A Novel By H. G. Parry Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9780316452717
Availability: Special Order
Published: Redhook - July 23rd, 2019

This highly imaginative and adventurous debut novel will have book lovers shouting from the rooftops with appreciation for this tale. If you’re anything like me, you’ll daydream about what you would do if you were gifted with the abilities that Charley Sutherland possesses.
Before we get to Charley though, let’s talk about his older brother and narrator of the book, Rob Sutherland. Rob is a normal man with an ordinary life, a life that he has worked very hard in normalizing. He has been protecting his little brother for their entire lives, with an earth-shattering secret at the heart of it all. The secret? Ever since he was four years old, Charley has been able to summon characters and items of importance out of the books he reads. Sometimes it’s on purpose, other times it’s accidental. What started with the Cat in the Hat and Sherlock Holmes turned more frightening as Charley’s reading level evolved.
When Charley gets a full ride to a university in London, Rob breathes a bit easier, no longer worrying about what fictional character Charley will pull into reality this week. But Charley returns to New Zealand after school, promising that things will be different this time. When villains and other malicious characters start causing havoc across Wellington, Rob naturally suspects Charley as the source. Charley swears this isn’t his doing, with some of the characters originating from books Charley hasn’t even read before.  There is another summoner, and the characters they call into reality prophesize a “new world is coming."
Together, the Sutherland brothers must protect the future, confront their past, and stand against the forces of evil that are slowly entering this world. This is such a unique piece of fiction. If you feel that there is power hidden in the written word, read this book.


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The Final Act of Conrad North: A Michael Russo Mystery By Peter Marabell Cover Image
$15.95
ISBN: 9780990310464
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Kendall Sheepman Company - April 23rd, 2019

“The case is cold, the leads are dry, the cop in charge cares more about football and the chief suspect has disappeared.”
    Peter Marabell’s fifth installment in the Michael Russo mystery series is now out, which means more trouble is brewing in northern Michigan! This time though, it’s personal for Michael. If you read the most recent novel of the series, Death Lease, then you know how dangerous a man Conrad North is. If you haven’t, I highly recommend grabbing a copy before starting this stellar follow-up to the North story.
    It has been two years, and Conrad North is a free man, a fact that eats at our favorite Petoskey private investigator with guilt. After the events that transpired in Death Lease, Michael and many others wish to see North behind bars, but not only can they not find any evidence to stick, the man himself has now disappeared. Just when Michael thinks that all hope of justice (or perhaps vengeance) is lost, a woman who lives in Traverse City reaches out to him with a cold case to investigate.
    Annie North, first wife of Conrad North, disappeared years ago. Patricia Geary, a very close companion to Annie before she vanished, is convinced that she is dead, and that Conrad North was the man who murdered her. Even though her body was never found and there’s not much to go on from the police report of her disappearance, Michael sees this as an opportunity to finally get Conrad North. As the case takes him from Traverse City to Petoskey, Harbor Springs and Gaylord, Michael realizes that second chances are rare and that he won’t let North slip through his fingers again.
    I absolutely love this series, and especially this latest novel! With its unique cast of characters and settings that are sometimes literally in our backyard, it is such an entertaining read for mystery fans with a love for northern Michigan.


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Fire & Blood: 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones (The Targaryen Dynasty: The House of the Dragon) By George R. R. Martin, Doug Wheatley (Illustrator) Cover Image
$35.00
ISBN: 9781524796280
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Bantam - November 20th, 2018

We all know that the book is always better than the movie, and whether you loved or hated the final seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones, this first volume of the conclusive two-part history of the Targaryens in Westeros is a must-have! As George R.R. Martin gives the history of his world more depth and intrigue, Doug Wheatley provides over eighty stunning illustrations of people and events that formed the Westeros that we have come to know. This is the book to get if you’re a diehard fan of the show looking for a fix, or the perfect gift for the Game of Thrones lovers in your life.
    This tale, fictionally written by one Archmaester Gyldayn, begins with the Targaryen family barely escaping the Doom of Valyria, setting the stage for Aegon’s conquest of Westeros. We learn a lot about Aegon the First as he rides into battle on the back of Balerion the Black Dread (a dragon) with Blackfyre (Valyrian steel sword) in hand, but this book does an excellent job in giving all the characters equal attention. This is quite significant as it discusses the Dance of Dragons, the civil war between the Targaryen family/their dragons. You get a view into all sides of the conflict and see that it wasn’t so black and white.
    As the years of ruling from the Iron Throne continue, and the deliberate inbreeding of the royal family carries on, you really comprehend how the sanity, compassion, and brutality of the Targaryen generations are determined by “a flip of the coin”.
    Martin does such a fantastic job in his storytelling and grips the reader’s attention almost instantly. Through all the battles, the family drama, and the sometimes humorous dialogue, you are always left entertained and wanting more. I’m glad I waited until the television’s series end to read it, just to get the slightly sour taste out of my mouth. As a huge fan of the show as a whole, this satisfied my Game of Thrones appetite.


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Inspection: A Novel By Josh Malerman Cover Image
$27.00
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ISBN: 9781524796990
Published: Del Rey - March 19th, 2019

Josh Malerman has created a brilliantly twisted coming-of-age story, highlighting the importance of truth, at any age, and the devastation that misinformation can cause. From the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box comes a world of secrets, lies, and dangerous revelations.
     In the forests of Northern Michigan stand two towers being operated by an organization of scientists and ex-felons. The Parenthood, as they call themselves, have an underlying theory about the human condition that they are putting to the test. They believe the opposite gender is a distraction from genius, so by separating twenty-six boys and twenty-six girls and raising them in facilities closed off to the outside world, they hope to breed geniuses.
     J studies at the school meant for the boys, the Alphabet Boys, and they have no idea about the school for girls nearby, or the fact that females exist at all. He has spent his entire life at the Turret with the twenty-five other boys he calls his brothers, all of whom think of the founder of the school as their father, or D.A.D. They are all being trained to be prodigies of art, science, math, and athletics, and this is the only life they’ve ever known—and all they are allowed to know.
     But when J suspects that D.A.D. hasn’t been entirely truthful, his ignorant bliss quickly begins to unravel, leaving him with so many questions. What is beyond the pines? What is the purpose of this place? Why can the students never leave? What secrets has their father been hiding from them?
     This novel does an outstanding job of portraying a perspective of the world through characters that are innocent and undeserving of such extreme censorship. Inspection would make a great book club choice, with many social topics worth discussing.


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Golden State By Ben H. Winters Cover Image
$28.00
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ISBN: 9780316505413
Published: Mulholland Books - January 22nd, 2019

From award-winning, New York Times bestselling novelist Ben Winters comes a dystopian story I have never imagined. The Golden State, a country located where California once was, is a society that holds truth above all else, and lying in this new country is the worst offense possible.
    The protagonist, Laszlo Ratesic, is a nineteen-year veteran for the Speculative Service, a part of the government in charge of protecting truth and catching those who would knowingly contradict it. As a part of the Speculative Service, he is one of the few people who CAN express untruths or “speculate” on what could have happened. Laszlo is a capable Speculator who lives in the shadow of his famed brother who was killed in the line of duty. He prefers to work solo and considers himself a lone wolf, but when he is assigned a young, talented rookie for a partner, he finds himself shaken out of his lonely routine and placed on the trail of a suspicious death that leads to a bigger plot of lies and deception.
    In the age of “fake news” and people of power manipulating information for their own gain, this novel’s overall theme has never been more relevant. Exceptional story!


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The Oracle Year: A Novel By Charles Soule Cover Image
$21.99
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ISBN: 9780062686633
Published: Harper Perennial - April 3rd, 2018

Soule's debut novel is a unique prose with a spectacular execution!
Will Dando, a down-on-his-luck musician living in New York City, becomes the most powerful man in the world overnight. When he awakens from a dream with 108 predictions of the future, he decides to change his own destiny. These predictions could be inconsequential; a woman will drink chocolate milk on a certain date, a reverend will pepper his steak, a man will reveal himself in a laundromat, etc. Other predictions have a more catastrophic effect.
Using the help of his closest friend, Hazma, and a highly-secured website that the world branded as “The Site,” Dando can post trivial predictions publicly while selling exclusive access to other prophecies to multibillion-dollar buyers. In doing so, he attracts the attention of dangerous enemies. Religious organizations, a grandmother assassin, journalists looking for a big scoop, and the United States government are after "The Oracle."
The Oracle Year is an exhilarating tale of faith and power, with an ending you couldn't possibly foresee! It reads like a fast-paced action film, and I won’t be surprised if it becomes a movie down the road.
P.S. Everything in this novel is connected, so don’t overlook any of the predictions!


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Truly Devious: A Mystery By Maureen Johnson Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9780062338068
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Katherine Tegen Books - December 4th, 2018

Maureen Johnson’s new-to-paperback young adult novel is a mystery that any age will devour with enthusiasm. It is the story of a madman and the effects of the crime he committed eighty years ago.
Stevie Bell, an ambitious young sleuth, is obsessed with mystery novels and true crimes. As she goes into her junior year of high school, she hopes to become an FBI agent when she grows up. To impress her future interviewers for the position, she gets accepted to the prestigious Ellingham Academy where she intends to solve a cold case that has haunted the nation and this small Vermont region for the past eighty years. The founder of Ellingham Academy, Mr. Albert Ellingham, was a rich, eccentric philanthropist that thought of learning as a fun experience. He wanted a school that portrayed that belief and so he created Ellingham Academy, a school for incredibly gifted kis.  A school with secret passages, doors that lead nowhere, and an elaborate curriculum that focused on each child’s passion. But when a student was found dead on campus, and the wife and daughter of Mr. Ellingham were kidnapped by a shadowy figure calling himself "Truly Devious," Albert’s hope started to crumble. Then when the body of Mrs. Ellingham was found in a nearby lake days later, with no sign of the daughter, Mr. Ellingham was never the same.
Eighty years later, no one knows what happened to the Ellingham daughter, or who Truly Devious was. That’s where Stevie Bell comes into play. She plans to solve that case and make a name for herself, but there are dangers along the path she is walking- because Truly Devious may not be done tormenting Ellingham Academy.


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An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good By Helene Tursten, Marlaine Delargy (Translated by) Cover Image
By Helene Tursten, Marlaine Delargy (Translated by)
$13.99
ISBN: 9781641290111
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Soho Crime - November 6th, 2018

This is a collection of five short stories filled with mischief and murder, the main character of which being an elderly lady who is most definitely up to no good!
Maud is by no means “sweet” while she hides behind the fake persona of a confused, elderly woman. She is 88 years old, has never been married, lives alone, travels alone, and enjoys her solitary existence. She may not have any friends or family, but she does have a stellar living situation. Due to a clause her deceased father threw into an old contract, she has been living rent-free in her large apartment in downtown Gothenburg for over seventy years.
In the story “An Elderly Lady Has Accommodation Problems,” a local celebrity who recently moved into the building starts eyeing Maud’s spacious apartment, and Maud believes she plans to take her apartment out from beneath her. What her new neighbor doesn’t know is that Maud will do anything to protect what is hers, including murder.
Maud doesn't stop there. In "An Elderly Lady on Her Travels," she learns that her ex-fiancé, Lt. Gustaf Adelsiöö, is marrying a former student of hers. This woman is not only thirty-five years younger than Gustaf, but is also known as a porn star in the soft-core porn industry, which leads Maud to believe that she is trying to take control of her past lover's estate. It is up to Maud to make sure the wedding never happens.
And then, in "An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime," Maud takes it upon herself to solve “the problem” in the apartment above hers.
All of Maud’s murders have a taste of senior justice to them, and each story takes its sweet time developing something realistic and shocking. You will love Maud, so long as you keep your distance.


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Lethal White (A Cormoran Strike Novel #4) By Robert Galbraith Cover Image
$29.00
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ISBN: 9780316422734
Published: Mulholland Books - September 18th, 2018

“I seen a kid killed,” said the stranger. “Strangled.”
International bestseller Robert Gailbraith, a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, gives us the exhilarating fourth book of the
Cormoran Strike mystery series.
Billy, a disturbed young man with a nervous tick, comes to private investigator Cormoran Strike’s office, claiming that he witnessed a crime when he was a child. There are many holes in his story, because he is mentally troubled, but there are specific details within it that leave Strike wondering if this is more than just the delusions of a madman. Before Strike can properly question him, Billy panics and runs out of the office.
Hoping to get to the bottom of Billy’s story, Strike and his former assistant (now partner) Robin Ellacott follow a trail that leads through the backstreets of London, to an anti-Olympics political group, and into an enigmatic inner sanctum within Parliament.
This book picks up where the
Career of Evil left off, at the wedding of Robin and Matthew. Feelings with Robin are tense after Strike firing her, and the newfound fame that he has inherited after catching the Shacklewell Ripper has shattered his anonymity; he wonders if anything will be ‘normal’ again.
The most striking Robert Gailbraith novel yet, Lethal White is an enthralling mystery that only makes the Cormoran Strike series that much better!  My only complaint is that it was only 650 pages long.


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This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us: A Novel By Edgar Cantero Cover Image
$25.95
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ISBN: 9780385543965
Published: Doubleday - July 31st, 2018

In a side-splittingly vulgar detective story that breaks all the mystery genres clichés with protagonists unlike any other, Edgar Cantero has twisted something truly original.

Danny Mojave, an officer for the San Francisco Police Department, has been undercover for the past eighteen months, slowly infiltrating and climbing the ladder of an infamous drug cartel in San Carnal, California. When Mikey Lyon, the hot-tempered, irrational son of the cartel boss is found murdered with signs pointing to a nearby Japanese cartel as the culprits, Danny knows that a gang war is imminent. There is only one man he hopes to prevent it, even if “man” isn’t necessarily the right noun to use.

Adrian and Zooey Kimrean are twins that share everything; an office, a desk- and the same body. Adrian is “the internet with Asperger’s”. He is logical, brilliant, yet apathetic to nearly everything and everyone. He is the left side of the brain. Zooey is creative, emotional, impulsive, and depraved to her core. She is the right side of the brain. These siblings are in constant battle, each trying to control their body and struggling to subdue their counterpart. 

Danny must rely on A.Z. Kimrean, or particularly Adrian, to prevent a gang war that will sweep through the San Carnal area before it even starts. 


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The City of Brass: A Novel (The Daevabad Trilogy) By S. A. Chakraborty Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780062678119
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Published: Harper Voyager - July 3rd, 2018

S.A Chakraborty’s first novel is a historical fiction that is guaranteed to captivate the fans of fantasy novels and mythology. Nahri, a young con-artist that uses her special gifts of seeing illness in others to swindle the gullible people of eighteenth century Cairo, unknowingly summons an immortal djinn warrior that was forced into slavery over a thousand years ago. As the last living descendant of a powerful djinn healer, it is up to her, the djinn warrior Dara, and a rebellious prince named Ali to prevent a war that threatens to destroy Daevabad, the City of Brass.


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The Word Is Murder: A Novel (A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery) By Anthony Horowitz Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780062676788
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Published: Harper - June 5th, 2018

A captivating blend of fiction and nonfiction, The Word is Murder is a murder mystery done in a way that I have never seen done before. Anthony Horowitz, writer of the Alex Rider children's books, wants to branch out into writing adult novels. He has just finished his Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk, and as he ponders what he will write next, disgraced Detective Inspector Hawthorne approaches him with an offer. Hawthorne wants Anthony to write about him and the case he is working on. Anthony is hesitant about the idea of working with the offensive detective until he hears the details of the case. A healthy older woman enters a funeral parlour to plan her own service. Six hours later, she is strangled to death in her own home with her curtain cord. With a past of mistakes and an enigmatic text sent right before her death, the case is riddled with questions that need answering. As Anthony attempts to work in the real world of nonfiction, he quickly realizes that he is at the center of a story that is beyond his control. This is a detective novel that is as unique as it is intriguing!


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Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery (Obama Biden Mysteries #1) By Andrew Shaffer Cover Image
$14.99
ISBN: 9781683690399
Availability: Backordered
Published: Quirk Books - July 10th, 2018

Andrew Shaffer gives us a laugh-out-loud mystery that demonstrates the importance of bromance and the effect we can make on those around us.  He uses two recognizable and respected politicians, Joe Biden and Barack Obama to get his point across.
It’s six months after the 2016 elections, and former VP Joe Biden is working on his bathroom floors, feeling misplaced in a perplexing America, yearning for the time when he helped make a positive impact as Vice President, and jealous that the Barack Obama has been jet skiing around the world with celebrities instead of giving him a call occasionally. But “Uncle” Joe’s feelings of displacement quickly shift to curiosity when one of his favorite Amtrak conductors dies in a suspicious accident with drugs on his person.
Finn Donnelly wouldn’t ever drink, let alone do drugs, so Joe Biden takes it upon himself to find out what really happened to him in the hopes of clearing his name. Although he’s not alone on the case! The 44th President of the United States, code name “Renegade”, and his strict Secret Service agent, Steve is there as back-up.


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The Late Show By Michael Connelly Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9781455524235
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Published: Grand Central Publishing - January 23rd, 2018

Where suspense meets mystery, you get The Late Show! Michael Connelly introduces Detective Renee Ballard, an intelligent, passionate detective of the LAPD. After filing a sexual harassment complaint against one of her superiors, and being ultimately betrayed by her former partner, she is banished to the midnight shift, also called "the late show."
Partnered with a detective who doesn't care for the job as he once did, and who's only want in life is to take care of his dying wife waiting for him at home, they rarely follow through to the end on cases that happen on their watch. They instead pass it off to the day shift detectives that come in after they leave, which irritates the driven Detective Ballard.
That all changes when, on a seemingly ordinary night, two cases leave Ballard wanting justice. A woman is found beaten nearly to death, abandoned in a ditch, and is later revealed to be the victim of a potential hate crime. Not an hour later, a gunfight at a downtown LA club leaves five dead, one victim being an innocent waitress that dies in Ballard's arms as she rushes the bystander to the hospital.
With her new partner not wanting to do more than he needs to, Renee knows that she needs to go off-script with these two cases. After finishing her night shifts, she spends her days tracking down those that are responsible, which leads her into more danger and more conspiracy than she ever could have ever imagined. This is a thrilling, intriguing mystery with a character worthy of being a role model. If you are a Harry Bosch fan, you will not be disappointed with this new Michael Connelly novel!


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Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel #1) By Josiah Bancroft Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780316517911
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Published: Orbit - January 16th, 2018

Thomas Senlin, a brilliant yet cowardly headmaster of a school in a small fishing town, visits the legendary Tower of Babel with his newly wedded wife Marya for their honeymoon. As the couple peruse the shops at the base of the tower, they lose track of each other in the ever-changing marketplace. After days of searching for her, he believes she went to the tower in the hopes of using it as a meeting spot. What Thomas quickly learns is that the guide books he'd read before their trip could never prepare him for the twisted reality of Babel. With an unknown amount of "ringdoms" reaching into the sky, each level more dark and corrupt than the last, Thomas must ascend the tower in order to find and rescue his beloved wife. The man of knowledge must become a man of action, but will he recognize the man the Tower of Babel turns him into?


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Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore: A Novel By Matthew Sullivan Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781501116858
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Published: Scribner - January 9th, 2018

There are a handful of mysteries that spark my curiosity from the very first chapter, captivating my attention, forcing me to stay up reading until 3am for the opportunity to know more. As fellow bibliophiles, I'm sure many of you know exactly what I'm talking about. Maybe you haven't had that feeling in a while or have been searching for such a mystery. If so, this is the book for you.
Meet Lydia Smith, a very shy and secretive 30-year-old working at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, located in the heart of downtown Denver, Colorado. It's a large bookstore with an even bigger following of regular customers, also known as BookFrogs, that spend nearly as much time wandering amongst the shelves as the booksellers working there.
When Lydia finds one of the BookFrogs, Joey Molina, has hung himself in the history section of the store, it leaves her traumatized and disturbed, especially when she finds a photo of herself, blowing out the birthday candles at her 10th birthday party, on Joey's person. She is even more shocked when Joey's meager possessions are bequeathed to Lydia, with secret messages addressing her hidden in the pages of his books.
With these events, and the reappearance of her childhood friend Raj Patel, it forces her to revisit the catastrophic events that happened twenty years ago; to question things she never wanted to think about again; and worst of all for Lydia, confront her father whom she hasn't talked to in years. Lydia must put aside the order and solitude of her life if she wants to find the answers of not only why Joey killed himself, but who is behind the traumas of her childhood. Matthew Sullivan's debut novel is one I won't forget any time soon.


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The Woman in the Window: A Novel By A. J. Finn Cover Image
$26.99
ISBN: 9780062678416
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Published: William Morrow - January 2nd, 2018

Dr. Anna Fox was a children psychiatrist until she developed a severe condition of agoraphobia, the fear of open spaces, leaving her imprisoned in her own home, afraid of leaving and going out into the world. With not a lot to do, she loves spending her days watching noir films, playing games of chess online, and drinking many bottles of wine. To satisfy her want to connect with the outside world, she likes to look at her neighbors through the lens of her camera.


When the Russell family moves in across the street, it reminds Anna of her estranged husband, Ed, and her daughter, Olivia. One night she sees something devastating happen at the Russell’s house, something she shouldn’t have seen, and it leads her to ask the question: “Is it paranoia if it is actually happening?”


A.J. Finn’s debut novel is a thrilling story that gives you something familiar, then throws you a curve ball, with wild twists occurring throughout the book! “The Woman in the Window” is a guarantee to be one of 2018’s best mystery/thriller novels!
 


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The Tea Dragon Society By K. O'Neill Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9781620104415
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Published: Oni Press - October 31st, 2017

The Tea Dragon Society is a beautifully illustrated and well-written graphic novel that follows the story of Greta, a blacksmith apprentice, as she learns the intricacies of the world of tea dragons. Dragons exist- but they are not what you think. There are many kinds of dragons, all of them the size of a small animal, and each having different types of tea leaves growing from their horns. She learns the dying art form of taking care of these dragons from the loving tea shop owners, Hesekiel and Erik, as she tries to befriend their shy and forgetful apprentice, Minette.

Katie O’Neill delivers powerful life lessons about friendship and love in this creative graphic novel! 


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Warcross By Marie Lu Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780399547966
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Published: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers - September 12th, 2017

Marie Lu’s newest novel is an exciting, futuristic adventure that I would describe as “Ready Player One” meets “The Hunger Games”!
    Warcross follows the point of view of Emika Chen, an eighteen-year-old bounty hunter with a knack for hacking and a fascination for the virtual reality game Warcross.  Emika, like millions of others in the world, escapes the struggles of the normal world by enjoying the game that has been sweeping the globe for the past ten years. When Emika hacks into the Warcross Championship Opening Ceremony, accidentally putting her avatar into the game while over half a billion viewers are watching, she becomes a celebrity overnight.
    The next day, Hideo Tanaka, the billionaire creator of Warcross, calls her and offers to fly her to Tokyo for a job opportunity, which Emika sees as a chance to leave the slums of New York City. The job: use her skills as a hacker and her experience as a bounty hunter to find a mysterious hacker going by the name Zero before he can cause any damage to the Warcross enterprise. To keep her mission a secret to the public, Hideo enters her as Wild Card to participate in the Warcross championships, thus hiding her in plain sight.
    With Emika’s attention constantly being pulled from the job at hand, making sure her team stays in the tournament, an unexpected romance that flourishes, and disastrous plots coming to the surface, this science-fiction thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat!


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The Library at Mount Char: A Novel By Scott Hawkins Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9780553418620
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Crown - March 15th, 2016

A friend recently demanded that I read this book, and I’m so glad he forced me to! I finished it in a weekend; I was so enthralled by it. Scott Hawkins’ first novel meshes science-fiction, horror, and dark comedy so brilliantly that if you ever think you know what will happen next, he proves you wrong and throws you a curve ball.

Father, a god in the form of a man, goes missing. The Library, an ancient realm with all the secrets of the universe inside, is unguarded. Twelve people who were forcibly adopted by Father at a young age to study different topics (also known as catalogs) don’t know what to do. Other than bits and pieces of their childhood, the library, their studies, and Father are all they’ve ever known. But some of the twelve know something the others don’t: the one who controls the Library claims power over life, death, and all of creation.

Carolyn, the one who studies and knows every language ever created (and some that haven’t been created yet), has a plan. As a battle for the Library quickly approaches, with competitors that have powers far superior than her own, secret allegiances are revealed.

Where does a duffel bag with $327,000 come into play? What bigger role does Steve the plumber have in Carolyn’s plan? With a cast including a murderous psychopath wearing a tutu, a war hero with the name Erwin, and a lion named after a bomb, this is a novel I demand you to read. You will thank me.


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The Cuckoo's Calling (A Cormoran Strike Novel #1) By Robert Galbraith Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9780316206853
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Published: Mulholland Books - April 29th, 2014

This is the first book of a mystery series that follows the misadventures of Cormoran Strike, a former soldier now private investigator living in downtown London, and his new assistant/secretary Robin, a young girl working for a temp agency.

A famous supermodel named Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, jumps to her death. Being a celebrity, the police take the case very seriously and, after much investigation, conclude that her death was of her own volition.

Months later, her brother John Bristow, still refusing to believe that his sister would commit suicide, comes to Cormoran Strike for help. After losing his leg to a landmine in Afghanistan, Cormoran uses his expertise to become a private detective, but he is now down on his luck. His longstanding girlfriend just dumped him, he is down to one client, and he is not even sure how he’s going to be able to pay for his new secretary. Needing the money, he decides to take the case and look into the death of John’s sister, which leads him into the upper social circles of supermodels, designers, and rock stars.

Robert Galbraith, a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling (author of Harry Potter and Casual Vacancy), does a spectacular job with showing a celebrity-obsessed London, and creates exceptional character depth in this book! You’ll get a real sense of Cormoran’s desperation and loneliness, or Robin’s eagerness to help her boss and learn more about the exciting realm of being a private detective. A must-read mystery series!


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I Am Number Four (Lorien Legacies #1) By Pittacus Lore Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9780061969577
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: HarperCollins - August 23rd, 2011

Imagine a civilization so entuned with their planet that half of the population is gifted with superhuman abilities; flight, invisibility, control over the elements, and so much more. Such a civilization exists, and they live on the planet Lorien.

Or they did, before the Mogadorians race invaded their planet to slaughter them all and deplete Lorien’s natural resources. They succeeded in killing that ancient civilization, except nine Lorien children with nine adult protectors made it out safely and escaped to Earth. The Mogadorians know where they’re headed, and they know that these nine children weren’t chosen at random. They will be the strongest of their kind. They follow the nine Lorien children to Earth to hunt them down. For the children’s safety, their protectors (also known as Cepans) number them 1 through 9 and use a spell that forces them to be killed in order (One, then two, then Three, and so on). Then they disband, one Cepan per child, and travel to different parts of the world to protect them even further.

But the Mogadorians have found numbers One, Two, and Three. The nine children are all connected to each other, so they know those three are dead. This book is the story of John Smith, and he knows he’s the next to die, because he is Number Four. Aliens and superpowers, with Mogadorian hunters close on the hero’s tail! What else could you want from a young adult novel?!


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Black (Circle #1) By Ted Dekker Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781595547309
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Thomas Nelson - July 27th, 2009

Ted Dekker does a fantastic job blending together a suspenseful, action-packed plot with thought-provoking, religious metaphor. Because of that, it’s hard to pinpoint a specific genre for The Circle Series! Its range is guaranteed to satisfy various types of readers.

The novel starts with Thomas Hunter, a man who owes powerful people a lot of money, running through deserted alleyways of Denver, trying to flee from assailants that are there to collect his debt. He barely escapes, until a bullet comes out of nowhere, turning his world black.

He wakes up with a head wound in a world unlike anything he’s ever seen. Good and Evil are clearly represented (a Green Forest and a Black Forest), and a river circles around the entire world separating the two forests. He remembers the alleys of Denver, but it all seems like a foggy dream, despite the fact he has a head wound. When he falls asleep in that world, he awakens in a dumpster in an alleyway. He quickly learns that one he falls asleep in one world, he wakes up in the other, but both worlds present catastrophic problems, some of which are caused by Thomas himself.

Where does reality end, and the dream begins?