Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal centers around the life of a young chef, Eva Thorvald. Through shifting narratives we follow Eva as a young girl growing exotic habaneros, see her struggle to support her father while interning at a restaurant, fall foolishly in love and finally start her own exclusive dinner club.
Maggie is a military canine who is injured and loses her handler in combat. Scott is a cop in Los Angeles who is injured and loses his partner in an unexpected shooting. Both are struggling with the trauma they have experienced and are working together to overcome these past tragedies. Suspect is told using multiple perspectives, which sometimes bothers me, but it’s well done here.
Growing up in a rural British Columbia is difficult enough for Jess, Courtney and Dani Campbell before their mother dies. But after their mother passes things really get difficult. One night things get really bad; Jess grabs the shotgun and accidentally shoots and kills their dad. Afraid of what will happen, the girls hide the body and take off for Vancouver before anyone can realize what has happened.
At sixteen, Letty Espinosa has everything going for her – she’s young, pretty and smart with a handsome boyfriend who loves her. Only the sky is the limit. When she discovers she is pregnant, all her hopes and dreams are suddenly dashed. Now a 33-year old single mother of two, working several menial jobs to bring in money for her family, she has been living somewhat irresponsibly while her mother has been raising her two children.
Imagine a land far, far away where an evil Wood marks the boundaries around small towns. This Wood is a constant reminder to the citizens of Dvernik and other towns that they need the wizard called Dragon to protect them from its powers. In exchange for protecting them, he comes every ten years and selects a young girl to live with him and those girls never return to live in the valley. So it is not surprising that the girls up for the choosing do not want to leave their families and their lives, both of which they hold dear.
Having had 3 children graduate high school and then college, I’ve read and gifted my share of “go out there and do great things” type of inspirational books. A few that have earned my readership and admiration are Dr.
On the surface, Tell the Wolves I’m Home, is about June Elbus, a young girl whose favorite uncle dies of AIDS in 1987. It’s the early days, when misinformation, fear, and hate rule the day. With a 2012 publication date (and a 2015 reading) I read of June’s experience with a perspective that time, distance and education afford.
David Gordon gives us a new twist on the serial killer novel and it’s a welcome addition. The Serialist is his first novel and was nominated for the 2011 Edgar Mystery Award.
Serial killer Darian Clay hires Harry Bloch to visit the women who send him letters and write stories about them. In exchange, Clay promises the inside story on the women he has killed (like where their heads are), guaranteeing a bestseller.
I was lucky enough to hear A.S. King speak when she visited our Library in August 2015. Eventually, after much fascinating talk, one of the moderators got around to asking her about her newest book, I Crawl Through It. "What's it about?" We all laughed, as we had earlier established how difficult it can be to neatly summarize a King novel.
