Reviews

Teen Review

The Strange Maid

By Tessa Gratton
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Jennifer R.
May 1, 2015

Signy Valborn  was only seven when she climbed the New World Tree and Odin declared she would be one of his Valkyrie. Since then, the Child Valkyrie has grown to be a disappointment. She has failed to solve the riddle given to her by Odin, and thus has been isolated from the other Valkyrie for three years now. Then, Signy meets the mysterious and somewhat alluring Ned Unferth, a troll hunter who claims he has the answer to her riddle. Signy then embarks on a journey to seek out her destiny, even if it's not the one she anticipated.

 

Staff Review

The Third Bullet

By Stephen Hunter

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
May 1, 2015

I have read many books about the Kennedy assassination, and found Stephen Hunter’s telling from a sniper’s point of view an interesting perspective I hadn’t seen before. Hunter, a retired journalist and creator of the Bob Lee Swagger series, constructs a thought provoking scenario explaining how Lee Harvey Oswald was, in fact, a patsy for the real assassin.

Teen Review

Cruel Beauty

By Rosamund Hodge
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Jennifer R.
Apr 29, 2015

Before she was even born, Nyx was sold by her brutish father to the demon Gentle Lord that rules over Arcadia. He made a bet with the Gentle Lord, and lost, like many other foolish people in Arcadia. It has suffered for almost 1000 years under the Gentle Lord's rule and the demons that escape his castle from time to time. When a person lays eyes on a demon they either die or go insane. So things don't look too good for Nyx. She arrives at his castle, ready to kill him, as she has been trained, but things of course don't go according to plan.



Staff Review

A Fine Romance - Falling in Love with the English Countryside

By Susan Branch
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Sarah As
Apr 29, 2015

Anglophiles listen up – this book is for you! Talented artist, writer, and blogger Susan Branch has put together a charming travel journal of her two month long trip to England. A Fine Romance is chock full of wonderful photos she and her husband took on their trip interspersed with the colorful drawings and lettering that have set apart her work and style as distinctly her own.

Teen Review

The Girl From the Well

By Rin Chupeco
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Jennifer R.
Apr 27, 2015

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. 



Staff Review

Here Burns My Candle

By Liz Curtis Higgs

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Apr 27, 2015

Lady Elisabeth Kerr, a Highlander and sympathetic of the Jacobite cause, has not hidden her support of Prince Charles and his rebel army.  Now her husband, Lord Donald Kerr, has decided the cause is a worthy one and he and his brother have both decided to back the prince.  Lady Elisabeth’s widowed mother-in-law, Lady Marjory, is not at all excited about her two sons going into battle, but is caught up in the excitement the prince has stirred within their town of Edinburgh.  Lady Marjory makes no secret that she has switched her loyalty and has even financially backed the prin

Staff Review

The Language of Flowers

By Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Hannah Jane W.
Apr 25, 2015

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. 

Staff Review

Festive in Death

By J. D. Robb

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Apr 24, 2015

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.