by Bethany & the Mandel Public Library Staff
We know it’s a bit early in the month for a Staff Picks blog post, but it’s been so long we just couldn’t wait any longer! Check out what our staff has been loving lately (spoiler alert: it’s demons). We hope you will find something delightful to refresh your spring reading list.
This book is the sequel to Not the Witch You Wed. One of the reasons I picked it up was that she has great representation of bodies by not making it a big deal but being just a descriptor. I stayed for her magical world and how everything worked, plus it has a mix of family connection, romance, and magical drama. What more could you ask for? And who wouldn't want to read about a demon who is a former bounty hunter turned veterinarian?
This YA novel is the second installment in the Legendborn series, set in a world where a secret society descended from King Arthur and his knights exists to protect humankind from demons. It's great for so many reasons but especially for its amazing BIPOC and LGBTQ+ representation. There's also sorcery and magical armor, tons of action, and important conversations around trauma and injustice. This series deals with death and grief in a really honest and beautiful way, as well. I was hooked from start to finish!
I love this book! One of my absolute favorites! It's a historical romance set in late 1800's Wyoming. The story opens with the heroin, Regan Carmichael, heiress and mail order bride, accidentally shooting her intended husband, Dr. Colton Lee, in the shoulder when she mistakes him for a stagecoach robber.
A great mystery that was a quick listen and had me on the edge of my seat! The story revolved around Jess and her half-brother Ben who has recently moved to Paris as a reporter. Jess has just left an abusive relationship to visit her brother at his very nice apartment. When she arrives, Ben is missing. She soon is thrown into a suspenseful mystery that makes her question Ben's neighbors.
How do you stop a murder that's already happened? When Jen witnesses her son do the unthinkable, she goes to bed understandably distraught. But then she wakes up and it is the day before yesterday - every morning she wakes up earlier with another chance to solve this mystery. What starts as a fairly typical thriller (minus the time-travel stuff) takes a sentimental turn into a heart-wrenching story about what is truly important in life. Sorry not sorry, I'm making everyone read this book!
I read it in a day and it fed my soul. If you love suspenseful doses of real-time hope against insurmountable odds, read this. A personal account of a young man's life sentence to prison and how he turned it around. (I still need to return to the library)
I found His Dark Materials completely binge-worthy! This multiverse, based on Philip Pullman's Series of the same name, is so well developed that I will never think of deamons that same way again. Lyra was abandoned by her parents and left with a university for her protection when she was just a baby. The saga picks up when Lyra is a precocious teen looking for anyway to accompany her uncle on a trip to the North. This fiercely loyal protagonist had no idea how far her adventures would take her or how much is riding on her success.
