This is a mere sampling of the hundreds of novels the library offers its readers each year, including contemporary fiction, mystery, historical fiction, horror, and dystopian fiction… and there’s more on the shelves.

BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall tells two stories of the teenaged Beth Kennedy from fifteen years ago and the older, married Beth Johnson who has found herself face-to-face with her old love interest, Gabriel, and his 10 year-old son. Although she is happily married, she recalls her teen years with Gabriel in alternating chapters. Beth is also dealing with the death of her only son, Bobby, while spending time after school with 10 year-old Leo. Is she blurring the lines between her family and Gabriel’s? The consequences will result in tragedy and courtroom drama, before Beth’s life can once again find balance.

THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER by Stephen Graham Jones begins with the discovery of a hundred-year-old manuscript dug up at a construction site in Montana. Etsy Beaucarne, communications professor and writer, is notified that the document was written by her great-great-great-grandfather, a Lutheran pastor in the old west. This could be just the story she’s been looking for because she won’t get tenure at the university until she publishes something. What starts as historical fiction soon twists into a story of horror, centered on the 1870 Marais Massacre in which Native Americans were brutally killed by the U.S. Cavalry. Etsy realizes this dark story is bigger than her tenure and sets out to end a long-standing curse. Readers can taste the suspense!

THE DOLLHOUSE ACADEMY by Margarita Montimore begins with an ominous entry from Ivy Gordon’s diary, as she reveals a glimpse of her glamorous life as television superstar of “In the Dollhouse.” Where do actors go to become famous? They are selected to train at the Dollhouse Academy, where Ramona and Grace would give anything to be. As it turns out, the two girls are chosen and can’t pack up fast enough, despite warnings from their showbiz uncles that the academy was based on the pattern of old Hollywood when the studios controlled the creative lives of their actors and producers. Ramona periodically receives anonymous warning notes about the academy from someone who knows her every move, but she’s swept up in a whirlwind of classes and auditions. Grace is excelling, landing a signature role in two productions, moving out of the dorm, and drifting apart from Ramona, who has finally hit her mark with the help of “supplements” supplied by her advisor. Do the chapters from Ivy Gordon’s diary foreshadow the fate that awaits Ramona and Grace if they stay at The Dollhouse Academy? It’s a page-turner.

SUNRISE ON THE REAPING by Suzanne Collins is a prequel to THE HUNGER GAMES series that defines the character of Haymitch Abernathy, before he won the 50th Panem Hunger Games and became a District 12 mentor for the unfortunate tributes who followed him, especially Katniss Everdeen from the original trilogy. This is the second prequel, following THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES, origin story of the corrupt President Coriolanus Snow. Readers already know that each story revolves around the hunger games, but can’t stop themselves from examining how normal people can be turned into monsters. Follow Haymitch on the train ride to the Capitol, train in the arena, form alliances with other tributes, and compete in the games. Readers already know he’s a rebel and a survivor, but to what lengths will the gamemakers go in order to retain the superiority of the Capitol and repress the districts?

THE TROUBLE UP NORTH by Travis Mulhauser is a Michigan story about the Sawbrooks who own lots of wooded acreage that’s been in their family for two hundred years. Now a resort wants to buy up some of their land, but they value the independence the area gives them. The oldest Sawbrook child, who went to college to become a park ranger, is the only law-abiding sibling in the family. Her alcoholic brother and opportunist sister like to take chances and gamble what they have on greater fortune – which never materializes. She put her share of the land into a conservancy trust, which has her mother in a rage, and also bought out her sister’s share, which is a secret that could change their family relationships. This book is full of rural Michigan adventure, lots of family interactions, and a twist you won’t see coming. It’s just fun.

WE ALL LIVE HERE by JoJo Moyes introduces Lila Kennedy, who thought she had the perfect family and wrote an upbeat self-help book about ‘how to repair a marriage,’ which was published weeks before her husband left her for a younger woman that he got pregnant. Meanwhile, Lila’s house needs repair, her mother just died, her step-father is slowly moving into her house and helping out by cooking. Her rebellious teenaged daughters are not enjoying the lentils that now come with every meal, but they are awed by their estranged biological grandfather, former star of a space TV show, who turns up at the door needing a place to stay for a short while. Miraculously, a love interest enters Lila’s busy life. Make that two love interests; which has her head spinning while questioning the numerical formula that defines a family. Enjoy the perfect balance of drama and humor that we can all relate to.

By Lynette Suckow

Reference Librarian