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Okiku is a vengeance spirit. Her story is the one that inspired countless Japanese films and horror stories, and now it's her turn to tell it. Okiku spends her days traveling the world seeking out child-murders and giving them her form of justice (often involving drowning and/or the ripping off of heads). She's content with this existence until she meets Tark. The boy with the strange tattoos and the demon on his back. Tark ignites feelings that Okiku hasn't experienced in over 300 years, and she's not about to let some demon take them away so easily. 

I loved the Japanese folklore and the

While the protagonist, Victoria, is incredibly flawed in The Language of Flowers, it is unlikely you will ever feel anger towards her.  Trapped in the uncaring hands of foster care her entire life, she is socially inept, volatile and completely mired in grief and rage. 

After being booted out of foster care at the age of eighteen, Victoria struggles to find a foothold in adult life.  Thanks to a florist, Renata, and a flower vendor, Grant, Victoria finds anchor in her passion, the language of flowers.  While she is busy healing the lives of others through her remarkable talent of arranging

Festive in Death is the 39th book in J.D. Robb’s In Death series. Thirty-nine books! Seriously? Yes. Thirty-nine.  Not many authors could keep my interest in the same group of characters over the years, but Nora Roberts (writing as J. D. Robb) has again written a book I will be recommending to friends. In a futuristic New York, Lieutenant  Eve Dallas is the top murder cop in the city. She is revered by her aide, Delia Peabody, adored by her husband, Rourke, and shares a mutual disdain with Rourke’s Major-domo, Summerset.  Eve is not afraid to take on the worst of New York’s bad guys. The only

Blue Lily, Lily Blue takes place shortly after the events of The Dream Thieves, with the characters recovering from their fight against Kavinsky. Summer is over and school is starting, but the raven boys and Blue have many other things on their minds, particularly Blue who has been searching for her mother lost in the tunnels following the ley line. Unlike The Dream Thieves, which was a heavily focused Ronan novel, Blue Lily, Lily Blue focuses on all the raven boys and Blue. They are closer than ever to finding Glendower, now the only questions are, who will survive and what will they wish for

Before heading to the self-help books looking for psychological insight, be aware that reading fiction can also have strong therapeutic benefits. One example is local author Laura Moriarty’s The Rest of Her Life. Moriarty received a degree in social work from KU, which is excellent training for the themes she explores in her novel: social status and crime, parent/child relationships, and cyclical family dynamics. Moriarty’s prose is not clinical or didactic but flows as well as any good fiction storyteller.

Protagonist Leigh Churchill is a junior high English teacher who fights to keep The

Michael Haller is starting back to work as a lawyer, after taking a year off. A year spent in recovery from an injury, as an addict, and then in rehab. Mickey's ready to take on a couple of cases, and get his feet wet again when a long-time friend is killed, leaving Haller & Associates his business and current caseload. Among the 31 cases Mickey inherits is a high profile murder case. Archway Studios owner and movie mogul, Walter Elliot is accused of murdering his wife and her boyfriend. While trying to reconstruct his predecessors' defense strategy, Mickey must also be on alert for whoever

Grace has a problem, well several problems to be exact. She’s a liar and she can’t stop lying not only to herself but also to the people with whom she surrounds herself. She’s a thief but again doesn’t see herself as one, at least not at first. She can never be normal, not after what she has put everyone else through. And she is terrified that two men who are about to be set free on parole for robbing a historic mansion back in Garland, Tennessee are going to find her.

Rebecca Scherm writes a fantastic novel about a girl who spins a web of lies in hopes of becoming a better person, the person

On a day like any other day, the Others arrived. Their mothership lit up the sky and the human race was forever changed. The Others came in waves taking away electricity, bringing upon the world a plague, sending out evil drones to take care of the survivors, and now, they have taken on the form of humans. The idea of trust (or lack thereof) and the depths that humans will sink to survive are constantly replayed over and over through the actions of the multiple protagonists that Yancey introduces in the story. We meet the main protagonist, Cassiopeia “Cassie” Sullivan when she is at her lowest

Mare Barrow's fate is sealed. She is a lowly red, born to work hard and serve the ruling silvers. With her birthday approaching and no job prospects, Mare will be conscripted in to the army like her older brothers. Fighting in an endless war, Mare will surely die on the battlefield. Desperate and out of options, Mare takes a big risk to sneak into the castle for a chance to pick pocket from the rich and powerful silvers that hold her fate in their hands. Stealing from silvers isn't as easy as it sounds as each is gifted with an ability due to their silver blood. Some can read minds, some

I know this is a somewhat older title with a copyright of 2006, but I missed it back then and every year since. Why? Why did I wait SO long to read it? And why can I only give it five stars? I want to give it ten on scale of one to five!

Taylor Markham lives at the Jellicoe boarding school in Australia. She was abandoned in a Seven Eleven on Jellicoe Road by her mother when she was 5. She never knew her father. Five minutes after her mother left, a woman named Hannah who lived by the Jellicoe school and sometimes took the students under her wing, came by and picked her up. Taylor and Hannah

Combining world travel, video games, puzzles, archaeology, advanced technology, mysterious parents, growing danger, and a group of ambitious teenagers, this is quite the adventure.

Ben's drill sergeant, never impressed Uncle Henry scoffs at his ambitions of becoming a basketball star, saying if Ben really wants to do something worthwhile with his time he should solve the video game Henry gives him. If Ben can do so in a week, Henry says, he'll get to join his uncle and parents on one of their expeditions as reward. Ben's parents are irate--about both the game and the promise--but Henry says

“Even scientists fall in love, and it is said that some even talk to their dogs.”

Not memoir, not a training manual, not quite a call to arms, Bones Would Rain From the Sky is a combination of all of these. And more. Clothier examines her own journey from a child who longed to be an animal to a person who helps people like you and me connect deeply with, and better understand, our pets.

She points out that connection is “quite literally, a matter of life and death. The leading cause of death in dogs in Western countries is behavior – unacceptable, uncontrollable, inappropriate behavior.” She

While steampunk as a subculture may be best known for corsets, goggles, and extraneous decorative gears, beneath those trappings is rich fodder for fiction often featuring plucky female protagonists--and publishers have certainly been taking note. Beth Cato's The Clockwork Dagger is one such tale, complex enough to entice existing steampunk fans but approachable enough to those new to the genre.

All the requisite trappings are present here—a spunky heroine, airships, an alternate universe where scientific progress exists alongside older magic. Heroine Octavia is a "medician," a Druidic doctor

Camp Merrie-Seymour for Boys is the home to Ariel and Max for the summer. Six weeks without technology, living in the Jupiter cabin (all the cabins are named for planets) they quickly realize they are different from everyone else at camp. Sent there not to overcome their addiction to technology (the advertise goal of the camp) Max and Ariel are there because their father works for Merrie-Seymour and camp tuition is free for employees. The only ones not obsessed with getting a sweet taste of the internet, the boys of Jupiter quickly begin to win the cabin competition. But when the boys of

In short, this book is about dying. Yes it is sad, but also eye opening in showing how doctors are poorly equipped to deal effectively with the natural process of dying and the limits of medicine. Dr. Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital who also teaches at Harvard Medical School. In this insightful and worthwhile book, Dr. Gawande wonderfully tackles the question of whether the objective of medicine should be pure survival at any cost, including more pain and suffering, or about the quality of life and what it means to die with dignity and control. Gawande examines the

Riley MacPherson's older sister, Lisa, committed suicide when Riley was just 2 years old, leaving her family changed forever. Now Riley has returned to her father's home shortly after his death to settle his estate and check on her angry, mentally ill brother. She soon finds evidence that much of her life has been a lie when an acquaintance suggests Riley was adopted. Then she finds evidence that Lisa may have faked her death at age 17 to escape a murder charge. Riley sets out to find the truth, and her sister if she is indeed alive, uncovering more secrets than she could have imagined.

This

Vampires in Saint Louis? Yes, and they need help. Guilty Pleasures is the first of the Laurell K. Hamilton’s wildly popular Vampire Hunter stories. Anita Blake is a necromancer, with an affinity for the dead in all their guises, but that doesn’t mean she wants to work for them. When the Master Vampire of Saint Louis sends sexy Jean Paul to procure Anita’s help her main response is, “I don’t date vampires. I kill them.”

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Anita Blake. In this narrative told entirely from her point of view, Anita comes across as a sharp, strong woman with a biting sense of humor and a

Don’t let the 2001 publication date of Jezebel scare you (it was written even earlier in 1992.) Because however alarming you may find life with no cell phone, it’s not the really scary thing here. Animal Control Officer Tony Parker has serious trouble. Beloved family pets are unpredictably, and without provocation, turning on their owners. Most alarming, Jezebel, the first dog to “turn” is on the loose. It’s up to Parker to find her, stop the emerging trend, protect his family . . . and keep his job.

Not a dog lover? Jezebel will confirm your suspicions. Dog lover? That’s OK too. You’ll read

This was one of the shortest and most fun books I’ve read in a long while. The pictures of the frogs and toads are gorgeous. The pictures are why I picked up the book in the first place.

While I can’t pretend that I’ll remember all the facts (the Latin names have already slipped through my mind), I doubt I’ll forget the wide variety, rich colors, and sheer awesomeness of the amphibians on display throughout the book. Weird Frogs reminded me of Rebecca Johnson’s science books for kids, such as When Lunch Fights Back, Zombie Makers, and Chernobyl’s Wild Kingdom. All these books impart

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is a fast-paced murder mystery with lots of twists and turns throughout. It is July 2013 and Rachel, a middle-aged single woman, commutes by train to London every day. She has memorized everything about the trip, from the stops to the landscape, and has become particularly fascinated by a happy couple she sees almost everyday. But then one day she sees something new and she cannot let it go. And then the rug is pulled out from underneath her when her dreamy couple becomes one of London's most intriguing headlines.

The similarities between this novel to

This novel is classified as high fantasy, but don't go in looking for another Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson clone. Award-winning author Ken Liu gives us a novel as sweeping and epic as you could possibly look for in fantasy's leading lights, but with a much different tone and flavor than you might be used to. Liu's world is based on Asian myth, specifically the Chinese Han dynasty, and Liu's writing marries the old to the new to become something altogether fresh and original.

Grace of Kings centers around two characters. One, Mata Zyndu, is a brilliant and overly passionate warrior, a

The Fairyland series is whimsical - its language has both beauty and humor, and its content is a knowing, friendly wink to fellow lovers of fairy stories. There aren't just inventive "turns of phrase" - the phrases do more than turn - they galumph riotously across the page. But lest you think it's all play: moments of surprising clarity and gravitas can be found throughout the each book in the series. They come at you unexpectedly, and are all the more powerful for it. The fourth wall is often broken by the charming narrator and every character will seem both familiar and surprising as readers lose themselves in this unruly and deliciously wild tale.

Roland Nair is a NATO operative traveling in Africa. He’s assigned to follow Michael Adriko, a Congolese who happens to be his close friend.  Michael has a plan that involves a rock disguised as processed uranium, and Nair is both horrified at the madness of the idea and attracted to the cash it might promise.

Africa isn’t good to either of these men, and they’re not especially good to each other or even anybody else. They’re struggling with something none of us could get right – a malaise so deep that their judgment is wrecked in every direction.  If anyone has low standards, it’s these guys

Wow. There is no other word for this book but wow.

This is an incredibly powerful work of art that combines nude photos of women of all ages, ethnicity and body shape with short essays written by the woman posing, describing who they are and how they feel about their body. Each picture is uniquely crafted to be simple yet exquisitely beautiful by merely depicting women in a raw, honest way. 

While the pictures may be what initially attract readers (it’s hard not to be intrigued by a book with a naked woman on the cover), it is the stories that truly make This Is Who I Am so moving. There is

After reading The Big Tiny, I am certain I could live happily, just like Dee Williams, in a tiny house. I’m equally certain someone else will have to build it for me.

One day she “had been a normal, middle-class, middle-of-the-road woman with a mortgage and a job and friends, who went running and climbing and paddling, racing in a thousand different directions at a thousand miles per hour.” Then suddenly she was a woman with ventricular tachycardia with torsades, an uncertain future, and follow up appointments with her cardiologist. It was at one such appointment that Williams’ doctor was

There is no delicate way to tell a person that he is holding a container full of the incinerated remains of his own body.

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"Grow apart." So often, when two people are asked to explain why their relationship has changed and isn't working out, at least one of them will say that they have simply grown apart. They have grown in different ways so that they have less connection and less in common than they once did. Sometimes it's not so much a matter of growing in different directions as growing at different rates.

Noggin is the ultimate tale of growing at different rates. Travis was dying

Eighty years after German super-soldiers crushed the Allied forces in World War II, Zara works as a maid at a Nazi cadet academy in the Easter American Territories. Zara can't escape the Nazi's constant obsession with the Aryan ideal, with a Japanese father and American mother she doesn't fit in with the occupying forces. Although she can't hide her lineage she can hide another genetic gift from her father, the ability to control wind. If the Fuhrer knew about her ability, she would be eradicated. 

Hiding in the shadows, Zara longs to join the Resistance, and push the Nazis out of her country

Scott Smith’s The Ruins is a calm and harmless enough story at the beginning. Four kids, just out of college, take a trip to Mexico to do nothing more than lounge on the beach and drink tequila. Shortly after arriving they make some new friends and decide to tag along with them on a day trip to the Mayan ruins. Their new friends are searching for a guy who went to the ruins the previous day, but never returned. Armed with not much more than youthful defiance and a sense of adventure, the group heads out, ignoring numerous warning signs to stay away.

As you can guess, they are anything but

Now Charlie’s dead and I’m here in the kitchen—on my way to school, and then to work. It’s my senior year and I still have no idea what I want to do with my life. I am motherless, and in the last year, I lost my best friend twice, fell in love with a guy I shouldn’t have (twice), got beat up by a skinhead Nazi, and had things thrown at me, including beer cans, money, and dog shit.

These elegies aren’t just for the brokenhearted. They are heartbreaking, and they’re really for Mary Murphy. In introducing those who have left, Mary explores her sad, troubled and unforgiving life. She’s sad. She's confused. And she's surrounded by sad and confused people.

The remarkable thing about Mary Murphy is that, in the end, she lives very hopefully. Making these elegies not just for the brokenhearted, not just for her, but for anyone who has struggled and lost. Or struggled and overcome.

Elegies for the Brokenhearted drew me in from the first sentence: “Every family had one and you