Waukegan Public Library - fiction

Have You Heard About... Midnight Encounters

Fran J — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 06:49:00 +0000

… the shamelessly sexy and fun story of Maggie Reilly, the woman who thinks she has no time for love? Fans of Fifty Shades of Grey who are hungry for another story of a relatable female protagonist and powerful male hero with a dark side will devour Midnight Encounters by Elle Kennedy.

Maggie is a busy student, waitress and volunteer worker with no time for love; the only concession she makes to her needs is the occasional weekend tryst with her “special friend” Tony. Maggie bounces into a hotel room she believes belongs to Tony only to be shocked by the presence of another man: Ben. Ben is a bad boy Hollywood movie star who thinks that love has no place in his life, just like Maggie. Can you see the writing on the wall? There’s no doubt about the novel’s outcome, but the inevitability doesn’t detract from the fun read. Rather, it gives Midnight Encounters the feel of a fairy tale, modern-style.

Reviewed by Sara (staff)

Have You Heard About... Katie’s Way

Fran J — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 06:46:12 +0000

… the quilt shop that brings trouble to the community? In Katie’s Way, a recent installment of the Pleasant Valley series* by Marta Perry, we meet Katie Miller who has just opened a quilt shop in Pleasant Valley. Katie was jilted by her intended when he married her best friend. Katie can’t face life in her hometown, so she moves to Pleasant Valley to open a quilt shop. It’s a very slow start to get her new business to make money. The Amish make quilts, so they don’t need to buy them, and tourists are few and far between in this small community. Her next door business neighbor, Caleb, has his doubts about a quilt shop being next to his furniture business. Caleb has a secret past.

One of Katie’s younger sisters is in her rumspringa and is causing problems at home, so she is sent to Katie to help out. Caleb has heard of this problem. He has his doubts about Katie and her sister when bad things start to happen in the community. With the Amish and Englisch businesses in the area, Katie and her new friend Lisa hatch a plan to bring more business into the community by sponsoring Pennsylvania Dutch Days. Some people don’t want the hordes of tourists invading even though they want to see their businesses increase in sales. Can a friendship between Katie and Caleb develop when vandalism increases and Caleb thinks the worst of Katie and her sister? This has a somewhat surprise as to the vandalism angle but a very nice, feel good ending.

This is a standalone book with enough backstory into the characters of the previous books. It is the first book that I have read in this series, and I didn’t feel as if I was missing anything, although I do plan to check out the other residents of Pleasant Valley.

* Other books in the series include Leah’s Choice, Rachel’s Garden, Anna’s Return, Sarah’s Gift and Hannah’s Joy.

Reviewed by Terry (staff)

Have You Heard About... Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Fran J — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 07:38:59 +0000

… the all-night bookstore in San Francisco? Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan, tells the story of Clay Jannon and how he stumbles upon a secret society that has been pursuing immortality since the earliest days of the printing press. Along the way, he’ll visit the fabled halls of Google, an underground library in New York, and the California Museum of Knitting Arts and Embroidery Sciences.

I first heard about Mr. Penumbra and Clay Jannon on an Escape Pod podcast, and I recommended it to the library as soon as I learned that it was being published as a book. The book expands considerably on the initial story, taking Clay (and the reader) on a long, somewhat surreal journey to discover the truth behind the origins of the Unbroken Spine. A host of odd characters join Clay — puzzle-obsessed members of the secret society, an old friend who made his fortune designing CGI breasts for videogames, a roommate who is building a miniature city in their living room, and many others. All in all, this is a fun, although utterly bizarre book.

Reviewed by Fran (staff)

Have You Heard About... Ender’s Game

Fran J — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 07:47:10 +0000

… the future of Earth, when children are trained as vicious soldiers? In Ender’s Game*, by Orson Scott Card, children from all over the world are trained at Battle School to fight as soldiers in an upcoming battle with Earth’s mortal alien enemies, the buggers. And Ender Wiggin is hailed as the answer to the military’s prayers – a ten-year-old prodigy trained as a brilliant, creative, and ruthless general. During his time at Battle School, Ender trains using mock battles and computer-simulated games designed to push him to his physical and mental limits. But the longer he’s at Battle School, the more Ender suspects that his training is more than just a game.

Ender Wiggin is a really complex and interesting hero. In training, he is wise beyond his years and a brilliant strategist, but in his everyday life, he struggles with issues of friendship, humanity, love, and isolation. He is revered, mocked, and hated for his brilliance, and so he must learn to cope and take care of himself– a lot to ask of someone who begins his training as a soldier at age six.

This is an interesting and compelling book for adults and teenagers alike, and even for people like me who haven’t read much science fiction. And make sure to read the book before the movie comes out at the end of the year!

* Other books in the series include First Meetings, A War of Gifts, Ender in Exile, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind.

Reviewed by Katie (staff)

Have You Heard About... Cherry Blossom Capers

Fran J — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 07:40:30 +0000

…the latest mystery and murder in Washington D.C? Cherry Blossom Capers* by Gina Conroy, Frances Devine, Cara C. Putman and Lynette Sowell has something for everyone in this four-in-one collection of short stories. Each novella is a standalone, but the characters are Tara, an assistant chef at the White House, Susan, who owns a sweetshop, Ciara, an attorney, and Samantha, a budding archeologist. They each show up in other stories and are neighbors.

While mystery and murder are the theme of each novella, romance also plays a big part. The murder of a judge runs through each storyline, making these stories loosely connected. When each story ends, it’s not really the end of the mystery as it’s continued into the next story line, making for some really puzzling red herrings that will keep you reading in large blocks of time to the last page.

*Cherry Blossom Capers is part of the Romancing America series of unconnected inspirational romance novels.

Reviewed by Terry (staff)

Have You Heard About... Paper Valentine

Fran J — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 07:06:08 +0000

…Brenna Yovanoff’s fantastic new spine-tingler? First of all, I love Brenna Yovanoff’s writing. Her first two books, The Replacement and The Space Between, are wonderfully creepy and beautifully sad. Yovanoff writes about teens, but not the way we adults think about teenagers. We think of adolescence as a time of irresponsibility and freedom, but from the perspective of a teen, it’s a time of insecurity, a loss of innocence, and a deep fear of the unknown. Yovanoff captures that sadness like no other writer.

Paper Valentine is Yovanoff’s most poignant work to date. It follows Hannah and her best friend Lillian during a brutally hot summer when a serial killer is striking at the heart of their sleepy town. The complication? Lillian has been dead for six months.

The beauty of Yovanoff’s writing is that as a reader, you hardly notice that Lillian is a ghost. The dialogue is so strikingly honest, I became absorbed in the unique relationship that Hannah and Lillian share. Her characters use the language we really use, and feel emotions that we really feel. Most writers avoid feelings of ambivalence and confusion, but Yovanoff embraces them.

I highly recommend Paper Valentine to teens and adults who are interested in breaking into young adult fiction.

Reviewed by Sara (staff)

Have You Heard About... Leah’s Choice

Fran J — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:01:04 +0000

… the people who are Old Order Amish and Mennonite? Leah Yoder longs to get married and raise a large family. Her Amish roots stress family and community helping each other, something Leah has rarely questioned. Leah’s Choice*, by Emma Miller, finds Leah attending a community lecture given by Mennonite Daniel Brown. Daniel is a missionary and also a nurse. He spreads the word of God while he administers to people in faraway places. Daniel is taken by Leah’s loveliness and wants to get to know her better. Leah is immediately smitten with the way he talks and looks. She knows it is forbidden to mingle with someone who isn’t Amish, but she has not yet been baptized and brought into the church. What she thinks is secretive on her part - seeing Daniel unchaperoned - really isn’t. Her sisters see love in her eyes. It’s against each of their faiths to marry each other. Will these two ever find a common ground? It is a surprise as to how Daniel and Leah conquer all.

This is a quick and very satisfying read. This is book four in the “Hannah’s Daughter’s” series*. While it is not necessary to read the previous books, you might want to give them a try to find out about some of Leah’s other sisters.

* Earlier books in the series include Courting Ruth, Miriam’s Heart and Anna’s Gift.

Reviewed by Terry (staff)

Have You Heard About... Bring on the Night

Fran J — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 07:22:46 +0000

… the vampires who get “stuck” in the time period when they died? Bring on the Night* by Jeri Smith-Ready continues her adrenaline-filled series about Ciara Griffin and the rest of the staff and DJs at WVMP. Ciara becomes an agent for Control, battles zombies and a plague, and makes two of the hardest and most important decisions of her life – all to stay with the vampire she loves. If an obsessive-compulsive vampire can change, so can a con artist.

This series stands out among the modern fantasy crowd in the disadvantages of becoming a vampire. While they can live in normal society, their increasing obsessive-compulsive traits and difficulty adapting to changes beyond the time when they were alive leaves vampires very vulnerable. This helps add to the individuality of the characters and makes some great scenes of people using or trying to overcome these disadvantages. This is a fun series with a good twist.

* The first two books in this series are Wicked Game and Bad to the Bone.

Reviewed by Fran (staff)

Have You Heard About... Kill Me Softly

Fran J — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 07:43:37 +0000

… the people blessed (and cursed) by fairies? Kill Me Softly, by Sarah Cross, tells the story of Mirabelle, raised by her godmothers because her parents were killed when she was an infant. As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Mira becomes increasingly obsessed with her parents’ death and the town where she was born. She plots to go there without her godmothers’ knowledge, needing to find answers about her heritage. However, what she finds will endanger her life and change everything she thought she knew about herself and the world around her.

Ms Cross creates an intriguing world where some people catch the attention of fairies. They become fated to play out roles from various folktales — one girl lives with her stepmother, wondering when the woman will decide she is too beautiful and must be killed, a charming young man waits for the day when he will meet (and save) his princess, and the brothers with blue hair cannot be trusted by the women they love. The stories are varied, although they generally have European roots. More interesting is the question of how much free will an individual has to affect his or her personal version of a traditional role. The reader learns everything along with Mira, who is in more danger than her peers, due to her ignorance, but also has the opportunity to make her own fate.

Reviewed by Fran (staff)

Have You Heard About... Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio

Fran J — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 07:19:28 +0000

… the mysterious stranger in Sugarcreek, Ohio? In Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio, by Serena Miller, Joe Matthews has been accused of murdering his wife in L.A. He and his little boy, Bobby, are on the run and show up in Sugarcreek looking for a temporary place to stay. Rachel Troyer, who is half Amish and half Englisch, is the local cop. She is very protective of her three elderly Amish aunts who run the small inn where Joe and his son seek shelter. Being a good cop, Rachel is very suspicious of Joe as he won’t give her any information on who he really is and why he is in Sugarcreek. He looks and acts too refined to be just a homeless drifter as he proclaims.

The aunts adore Joe and hire him as a handyman until he can get enough money to get back on the road, much to the dismay of Rachel. It isn’t until over halfway through the book that you learn who Joe really is, which keeps the suspense high as Rachel starts to fall in love with Joe. When Joe’s father and brother turn up and a suspicious fire burns down the inn, you’ll be glued to your seat. The twists and turns in this book will keep you hooked to the very end as you laugh, cry and know that there is a happy ending that will surprise everyone.

Sugarcreek, Ohio, also known as “the Little Switzerland of Ohio,” is about an hour’s drive south of Akron, Ohio. Several places mentioned in the book really do exist, and I can highly recommend Beachey’s Country Chalet Restaurant. The food is to die for, but being in Amish country it is not open on Sunday.

*Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio, is part of the Love Finds You series of unconnected inspirational romance novels.

Reviewed by Terry (staff)