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The good liar by Catherine McKenzieCecily's husband is killed when a building explodes in downtown Chicago. Franny lost her birth mother in the blast shortly after the two met. They team up to help others deal with the losses they experienced that day. But the alliance rapidly becomes an uneasy one. A thousand miles away in Montreal, Kate attempts to reinvent herself. But what led her to leave Chicago in the first place? Genre: Canadian fiction; Psychological thriller Themes: Unreliable narrator Storyline: Intricately plotted Tone: Suspenseful; Thought-provoking Writing Style: Compelling
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Broken ice by Matt GoldmanThe disappearance of two teens from a hockey community becomes more urgent when one of the girls is found dead, pitting Minneapolis private detective Nils Shapiro against dangerous small-town secrets.Genre: Hardboiled fiction; MysteriesCharacter: Brooding; Likeable; SnarkyStoryline: Intricately plottedTone: Strong sense of placeWriting Style: Compelling; Witty
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The Fleur de Sel murdersby Jean-Luc BannalecCommissaire Dupin is attacked while on vacation in the “white country” during harvest time on the salt marshes and investigates after a journalist friend goes missing. Genre: Mysteries; Police procedurals; Translations Themes: Small town police Tone: Strong sense of place Writing Style: Richly detailed
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Beneath a prairie moonby Kim Vogel SawyerCast out of society for her father's crimes, Abigail Brantley takes work tutoring Kansas ranchers to prepare them for their more refined mail-order brides, where she faces skeptical Mack Cleveland, who has reason to distrust the scheme.Genre: Christian historical romancesThemes: Test of faithPace: Fast-pacedTone: AtmosphericWriting Style: Engaging
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Ocean light by Nalini SinghNew York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into the mysterious, haunting world of the deep and into the heart of a love story that will change two peoples forever in this new novel of the Psy-Changeling Trinity series. This series is best read in order. Start with: Silver SilenceGenre: Paranormal romancesStoryline: World-buildingTone: SteamyWriting Style: Engaging
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On love's gentle shoreby Liz JohnsonWhen Natalie O'Ryan returns to Prince Edward Island to plan her wedding, she runs into her childhood best friend--and discovers that the love she's been looking for is right where she left it.Genre: Christian romancesThemes: Childhood sweethearts; Friends to lovers; Home againCharacter: Well-developedTone: Atmospheric; Heartwarming
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The life Lucy knew by Karma BrownAfter hitting her head, Lucy Sparks awakens in the hospital to a shocking revelation: she has created false memories of her life over the past four years, and she must make a difficult choice about which life she wants to lead, and who she really is.Genre: Women's lives and relationships, Love storiesTone: BittersweetWriting Style: Engaging
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Dreams of falling by Karen WhiteSet in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, this story does what Southern fiction does best: family, lies, and secrets. For fans of Patti Callahan Henry and Mary Alice Monroe. Genre: Women's lives and relationshipsThemes: Home againCharacter: AuthenticStoryline: Character-driven; NonlinearPace: Leisurely pacedTone: Moving; Strong sense of placeWriting Style: Descriptive
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How hard can it be? by Allison PearsonKate is holding it all together, unemployed husband, kids, and parents. So, she reinvents herself as someone younger to secure a job with the hedge fund. Genre: Chick lit; Diary novels; First person narrativesPace: Fast-pacedTone: Irreverent; MovingWriting Style: Richly detailed; Witty
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Furybornby Claire LegrandRielle may prove to be one of the Prophesized Queens, if she survives the trials, and a thousand years later bounty hunter Eliana helps a girl who could be the answer to the prophecy.Genre: Young Adult novels; Fantasy fiction; High fantasyThemes: For the resistance; Women of steelCharacter: Brooding; Strong femaleStoryline: Intricately plotted; World-buildingTone: Angst-filledWriting Style: Compelling
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Semiosis by Sue BurkeHuman colonists are forced to survive on limited resources on a planet with an inexplicable environment, where trees offer deliciously addictive fruit one day and poison the next and the ruins of an alien race are discovered within plant roots.Genre: Hard science fiction; Science fictionThemes: First contact; Space colonizationCharacter: Well-developedStoryline: World-buildingTone: DramaticWriting Style: Compelling; Descriptive; Richly detailed
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Alliances by Timothy Zahn"I have sensed a disturbance in the Force." Ominous words under any circumstances, but all the more so when uttered by Emperor Palpatine. This novel presents a sequel to Thrawn that traces the rise of Grand Admiral Thrawn to the heights of Imperial power while exploring his past encounters with a fledgling Darth Vader.Genre: Franchise books; Science fiction; Space opera; Storyline: Action-packed
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Exhibit Alexandra by Natasha BellAn abducted woman held against her will in a room suffers tortuous worries about her husband and children, who, in the wake of unsettling evidence, are led to believe she has been killed.Genre: First person narratives; Psychological suspenseThemes: Unreliable narratorCharacter: ComplexStoryline: Intricately plottedTone: Disturbing; SuspensefulWriting Style: Compelling
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Frankenstein in Baghdadby Amad Sa'dwFrom the rubble-strewn streets of U.S.-occupied Baghdad, Hadi—a scavenger and an oddball fixture at a local café—collects human body parts and stitches them together to create a corpse. His goal, he claims, is for the government to recognize the parts as people and to give them proper burial. But when the corpse goes missing, a wave of eerie murders sweeps the city, and reports stream in of a horrendous-looking criminal who, though shot, cannot be killed.Genre: Horror; Literary fiction; TranslationsTone: Darkly humorous; Gruesome; Haunting; Writing Style: Compelling
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The woman in the woodsby John ConnollyWhen the body of a woman--who apparently died in childbirth--is discovered, Parker is hired to track down both her identity and her missing child. In the beautiful Maine woods, a partly preserved body is discovered. Investigators realize that the dead young woman gave birth shortly before her death. But there is no sign of a baby.Genre: Supernatural mysteriesCharacter: BroodingStoryline: Intricately plottedTone: Disturbing; Haunting; Moody; SuspensefulWriting Style: Descriptive; Richly detailed
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The Tuscan child by Rhys BowenThirty years after her British bomber pilot father parachuted from his stricken plane into German-occupied Tuscany, Joanna embarks on a healing journey to learn about her father's hidden wartime past.Genre: Historical fiction; Parallel narrativesCharacter: SympatheticStoryline: Character-drivenTone: Moving; RomanticWriting Style: Descriptive; Engaging
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The lost family by Jenna BlumResigning himself to solitude, chef and Auschwitz survivor, Peter Rashkin, in 1965 Manhattan, devotes himself to running Masha’s restaurant, until he meets and marries June, but the horrors of his past soon overshadow him, June and their daughter.Genre: Historical fiction; Literary fictionThemes: Suburban malaise; Unhappy familiesCharacter: Flawed; Introspective; SympatheticStoryline: Character-drivenTone: Strong sense of placeWriting Style: Richly detailed
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An onshore stormby Dewey LambdinThree mismatched troop transports, lots of 29-foot barges, and an under-strength regiment of foot—a waste of Royal Navy money, a doomed experiment, or a new way to bedevil Napoleon’s army in Italy? Either way, it’s Capt. Sir Alan Lewrie’s idea, and it seems to be working, with successful raids all along the coast of Calabria.Genre: Adventure stories; Historical fiction; Sea storiesCharacter: Likeable; Well-developedStoryline: Action-packed; Plot-drivenPace: Fast-pacedTone: Atmospheric; Racy humorWriting Style: Dialect-filled; Jargon-filled; Richly detailed
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