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In Dear Committee Members, Schumacher puts a delightful twist on the epistolary novel. The story is told completely through LORs (Letters of Recommendation) written by a washed-up professor still teaching in “the wake of the deliberate gutting of the liberal arts, English in particular, in favor of the technological sciences…which the faceless gremlins…have condemned to indigence and ruin.”

Totally one-sided, Shumacher still paints a vivid picture of both the personal and professional life of Jason Fitger. With an ex-wife, ex-lover and trail of irritated colleagues in his wake, Fitger reveals

The two narrators alternate chapters telling the story of the splinters of their individual families melding into a new one. Eighth-grader Stewart and Ninth-grader Ashley are on their way to becoming step-siblings, with Stewart and his widower dad moving in with Ashley and her divorced mom--though Ashley's recently out-of-the-closet dad is still living in their backyard laneway house. They are a complete contrast of personalities and styles. As Stewart describes:

Our house--I mean, the house where I lived until today--was old. It was built in the 1940s, and it was a bungalow, and the rooms

Sensible young widow Martha Russell is all set to cede her late husband’s estate to his younger brother, until she learns of his past villainy towards the housemaids. As a champion of the weak and the poor, Mrs. Russell decides to cast propriety aside and take matters into her own hands. She looks to her new neighbor Theophilus Mirkwood, banished to the countryside for his spendthrift ways, for his assistance in getting her with child. She does not respect him, he does not understand her. Can mutual esteem grow from such a cold bargain?

So begins Cecilia Grant’s explosive debut on the romance

Welcome to Blessings, Georgia!

If you head over to The Curl Up and Dye, Ruby, Vest, and Vera will freshen up your 'do while you catch up on the latest gossip. Did you hear about LilyAnn Bronte? It looks like she's ready to move on after the loss of her fiance. Is it possible the newcomer to town, T.J. Lachlan has sparked her interest? Or, has she finally noticed the boy next door, Mike Dalton?

The Curl Up & Dye is a Southern romance. While generally a sweet romance about a woman rediscovering herself, there are a few instances of violence that are a little unexpected. If you enjoy your time

“Oh, calamity!”  This phrase is used often in response to the various annoyances, surprises and disasters that happen to the parents of the Pirriwee Public School kindergarten class.  Something horrible happens during the parent trivia night event at the school, and Moriarty keeps this information secret right up until the end.  Each chapter brings the reader another step closer to finding out who was killed and how, and there are plenty of suspects.  In fact, there are several characters you will probably wish will be killed in some gruesome way!   Big Little Lies really is a clever title, as

The America that we know is gone - destroyed by war and a biological disaster.  The country is split in two. The dangerous East is full of human survivors riddled by mutation. Lane has always lived in the West, behind a giant wall meant to keep her safe from the feral, mutated creatures of the East. She soon learns that her father is a fetch -- hired to travel into the Feral Zone and retrieve valuable art. When he doesn't return she is forced to go into the feral zone to save him and also finish his mission -- retrieve something of value for a high-ranking official. If she fails, her father

What happens when you wake up in the middle of a park, with no memories, surrounded by bodies?  If you're Myfanwy (rhymes with Tiffany) Thomas, you find a letter in your pocket written by the person you used to be and take over her life.

The previous Myfanwy was a high-ranking agent in a secret society that protects the world from supernatural dangers.  The previous Myfanwy was also a shy clerk, terrified of her own abilities, and unable to ferret out the traitors in her ranks after discovering them through accounting discrepancies. New Myfanwy may not know what's going on, but that's not

This novel reminds me of early LeCarre, which is a good thing, because that is when he did his best work. Philip Mangan, a British journalist working in China, is approached by a man who tells him, "the night heron is hunting." Mangan mentions this encounter to a “friend” who works in the British Embassy.  The “friend” then communicates this to his bosses in London who are definitely interested in pursuing contact. Mangan then becomes the contact for British Intelligence to the man who approached him. Everything goes nicely and then everything goes wrong. This is Brookes’ first novel and I

The dedication:

For Steve, who sees.
And for Anne, who believes.

At its core, this is a book about perception. About seeing who a person really is at his or her core and believing in them. Most of the time when we look at others, we see a blurry picture of a person based on surface appearances and casual observations, then bring them into focus with our own assumptions and prejudices, largely defining them based on who we are, not who they are. It's a rare and valuable thing to look and really see, to let a person fully define him or herself to us without our faulty interpretations.

I immediately fell for Denton Little. Born at a time when people know the date they will die, Denton knows his funeral is today. No surprise. Tomorrow is his death date. No big deal. But waking up in the bed with his best friend's sister? Now that is a surprise.  And a big deal.

The next day, his death date, strange things start happening. Sure he's going to die, but what is this huge bluish-purple bruise on his leg? And the little red pulsing lights within it? Denton's decided since he's going to die tomorrow anyway, he might as well not worry his mom or dad. However, this only works for so

Tish is writing journal entries as an assignment for her English teacher, Mrs. Dunphrey. She has promised not to read any entries marked "Don't read this" and that is exactly what Tish writes before almost every entry. As Tish struggles with her abusive father and neglectful mother, she writes about those struggles in the journal. Dunphrey comments positively about how much she is writing, asks her to write some entries she can actually read, and also scolds her for not turning her journal in on time and for not completing other homework assignments.

The contrast between Mrs. Dunphrey's

John Darnielle’s second book is about the space between two separate worlds – the one we live in and the one we think we live in. It’s a place where aspirations are born, where imagination develops . . . also where great loneliness lives.

We follow Sean Philips, who has been in an accident, a bad one, and he’s tracing his way backwards to his younger self to make sense out of it. Sean also follows himself forward from the accident, describing how he designs a game he titles Trace Italian for which players mail him their move and he replies with the next turn. Trace Italian advances

Hardboiled has been transported to Ireland and the result is thoroughly enjoyable! 

Kerrigan writes with a spare, bare bones style that packs a punch. At a bar in Dublin, the path of ex-con Danny Callaghan crosses with small-time crook Walter Bennett. Bennett is the target of murder attempt gone wrong, and Callaghan is inadvertently involved. The criminal kingpin who ordered the hit decides to use him for his own purposes. Why Callaghan is being used isn’t immediately apparent but he has ended up in the middle of a gang war. Callaghan must now walk a tightrope between the criminals and the

I picked up a book of C. S. Lewis’s short stories for a staff exercise in genres with Faith-Based and Inspirational Fiction. The Dark Tower and Other Stories contains some of his science fiction as well as faith-based works, so as a sci-fi fan I was eager to combine the two. Then I started reading, and my hopes swiftly plummeted. The first story is “The Man Born Blind,” a heavy-handed tale of religious allegory. Our main character has been blind all his life and has recently undergone an operation to cure it, but remains puzzled and frustrated afterwards by his inability and others’ inability

Bill Klein and Jen Arnold are little people with their own show called The Little Couple on TLC. When the show began, they'd already established themselves in their careers and were about to get married. Life is Short covers the early years leading up to the show, addressing the unique challenges they individually faced being small, as well as the challenges common to many of us. Chapters alternate between Jen and Bill, beginning with their early childhood years. Both are very open about painful experiences, but also focus on how important attitude, love, support, and hard work are in

Part Fatal Attraction part Great Expectations, this a new mystery/thriller for teens filled with plot twists and intrigue.

Vivian Foster was raised for one purpose…to destroy men. Specifically Ben. Years ago, Ben’s father broke up with Vivian’s mother, leaving her heart-broken and alone. She swore to get revenge, and Vivian is the sword she has forged to claim her pound of flesh.

She is sent to Madigan, the boarding school on the moors of Ireland where her mother and Ben’s father fell in love, and ultimately fell out of love. Her mission is to seduce Ben, get him to fall in love with her and

It’s a shame that Me and Earl and the Dying Girl gets lumped in with John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. Even though both are excellent novels involving a person dying of cancer, both are about vastly different things. Both have a vastly different tone, too - instead of Green’s warmth and earnestness, here life is more confused and bitter and darkly funny and deeply personal, which is more like how I remember high school. An unmotivated senior, Greg Gaines tries to stay under the radar and just survive the day unscathed. His goal is to drift through the year and deliberately keeps himself

Sixteenth in the Puzzle Lady series, Hall’s Puzzled Indemnity is still as funny as ever! Cora Felton, the famous puzzle lady has a secret; she can’t solve crossword puzzles. But she can solve a mystery. Cora is just your typical grouchy lady trying to quit smoking without help, and she’s got too many ex-husbands to count.

Cora is asked to protect Brittney from a husband who wants to kill her for the insurance money, but it’s his car that blows up in front of the police station. Right in front of Cora and Brittney, leaving them with too many unanswered questions. Was he in the car? How did the

Pamela Morsi used to write wonderful Americana romances in the 90s, and I’m glad to see that her humor and poignant understanding of human behavior is still very much in evidence with her shift to contemporaries. The Bikini Car Wash feels a lot like her older historicals because of the small town setting and the ensemble cast. There have never been a ton of authors that wrote good Americana or Frontier Western romances, but Morsi is one of the best because of the way she portrays small town life with a realistic and sympathetic hand. Her characters are always drawn with lots of affectionate

I used to read dystopian novels regularly believing they gave insight into the problems of our current world as well as hints of a difficult future if we didn’t pay attention.  Ready Player One also fills this role but makes it all so much more fun than the average tale of dystopian hardships.  Ernest Cline’s novel is set in a dismal future that has turned the global population toward a virtual computer-generated OASIS to escape the filth, crowding and poverty of reality.  When the creator of this online universe dies, his will offers his entire fortune to the online player who can solve his

Trickster. Father of Lies. Wildfire. Lucky. He goes by many names, but we probably best know him as Loki. Before he was an Avengers fan favorite, Loki was playing tricks on the Norse gods of Asgard, sometimes as a tenuous ally, other times as the villain, but if Joanne Harris’s The Gospel of Loki is to be believed, always a bit misunderstood.

The tricky part about novelizations of mythology is that readers know, more or less, how the story is going to end; the journey there must be an entertaining one, and The Gospel of Loki certainly is. Everyone loves a trickster, and Loki is in fine form

A plumber and hockey player fall in love. I'm sure that would make a perfectly good romance novel, but in the case of Beast Behaving Badly, there is so much more going on. Bo Novikov is a professional hockey player for the New York Carnivores and just happens to be a shape-shifter. Half polar bear and half lion, Bo is very detail-oriented and has his day planned by the minute. Blayne Thorpe is a plumber by trade and a wild dog/wolf mix by birth. She is anything but punctual, but they say opposites attract.

Beast Behaving Badly is the fifth book in Shelly Laurenston's Pride series. Each book

In the latter half of the 19th century, many scientists believed that there was an Open Polar Sea that could be reached by ship once they had pushed past the outer ring of ice.  A race between many of the wealthier countries began to see who could claim the route for both trade purposes and bragging rights.  The U.S.S. Jeannette expedition was a joint venture between eccentric newspaper publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr. and the U.S. Navy.  Consisting of 31 officers and crew, the Jeannette aimed for the North Pole but was quickly locked in shifting ice floes, dragging them far off course for

Bullying is a sad fact of many children’s lives. Some adults like to dismiss school bullying as kids just being kids, a normal part of growing up. For those who are bullied, life is anything but normal—becoming a tortuous, unbearable place with no one and nowhere to turn to for relief.

Jodee Blanco writes an unflinching account of her middle- and high-school years, replete with heartbreaking tales of assault, both verbal and physical. While wanting the best for her, Jodee’s parents added to her distress. They, along with teachers, principals, and counselors, placed the blame for Jodee’s

I have tried, and failed spectacularly, to write a concise recommendation of  We Have Always Lived in the Castle. So here is the short version: This book is an actual masterpiece written by a true literary genius. Go read it. Now.

Here's the long version. 

Eighteen-year-old Mary Katherine (Merricat) Blackwood, her sister Constance, and their Uncle Julian have lived a deeply isolated life ever since the rest of their family died from arsenic poisoning six years ago. That night Merricat had been sent to bed early for misbehavior, Constance did not take sugar on her blackberries like the rest

The Martian follows an American Mars astronaut who is mistakenly left for dead on the red planet after an abnormally bad sandstorm causes NASA to scrub a month long mission after six days. The extremely long flight, preparation time and resources required by NASA for such a voyage means this astronaut’s life depends on some creative means of seriously extending his supplies until the next mission is sent—and that means lots of math! 

Originally self-published, The Martian retains some hallmarks of a text that doesn’t conform to more traditional edits which is a nice change of pace in my view

Kinsey Millhone has been hired by Lorna Kepler's mother to investigate her death. Mrs. Kepler is convinced Lorna was murdered, but it's been 10 months, and no proof or substantial information has ever been found. How will Kinsey be able to find what the police couldn't? But of course, she finds little clues that lead her forward in her investigation. Following the footsteps of a serious night owl turns Kinsey's world upside down and throws off her game. As in all of the Alphabet Series books so far, Kinsey puts herself in danger and suffers the consequence. She also makes a bad decision that

Ben Goldacre is a British doctor who has a major bone to pick with science done badly, and with the media that often misuses, misunderstands, or distorts scientific concepts (intentionally or not). His catchphrase is the pithy, "I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that." In his book Bad Science, he takes on multiple cases of ideas and practices that have, he argues, been propped up either by bad science or bad communication about science, such as homeopathy and the anti-vaccine movement. Lest you think he's a paid shill for the pharmaceutical industry, as he is often accused

If you’re expecting something akin to Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid, you will be in for a disappointment. Lydia Millet’s Mermaids in Paradise is both hilarious and heart-wrenching. Narrator Deb has just gotten married to Chip, her positive, gregarious partner. They are on their honeymoon in the Caribbean when they become involved in a mermaid sighting, a questionable death, corporate greed, a kidnapping, and a myriad of other activities. The supporting cast of characters includes best friend Gina (“Everything’s performance art with her, she lives in a world of irony”), a hipster

Beg: a Radical New Way of Regarding Animals, with its sweet-faced dog peering at me from a soft, sage green background, imploring me to “regard him in a new way” didn’t prepare me for the most heavy-handed, condescending book I’ve ever experienced. Freedman doesn’t actually present “a radical new way of regarding animals” so much as beat readers over the head with how perfectly enlightened she’s become and then shame us into submitting to her will.

After about page 50, I had a hard time imagining who Freedman’s target audience could possibly be. Readers already involved in rescue won’t learn