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Fiction A to Z January 2021
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| Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi; translated by Geoffrey TrousselotIs time travel possible? It is in a tiny Tokyo café, where one particular chair allows its occupants to visit past experiences (though several rules apply).
Is it for you? The physics of time travel is not addressed here; instead, four characters simply get a second chance to revisit lost loved ones.
Book buzz: This English-language debut by Japanese playwright Toshikazu Kawaguchi was a bestseller in Japan. |
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Whiteout
by Adriana Anders
What happens: With a storm coming and a killer on the loose in the remote region of Antarctica, researcher Angel Smith and glaciologist Ford Cooper begin to forge a connection while just trying to survive.
Reviewers say: Anders launches a new series with a bang, maintaining a furious pace and setting up geographical, criminal, and emotional dangers that force the characters to find their deepest strengths to survive. Heart-pounding sexual, emotional, and physical tension keep the suspense high and the pages turning. -Kirkus Reviews
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The perfect guests
by Emma Rous
What it is: A twisty novel features a grand estate with many secrets, an orphan caught in a web of lies, and a young woman playing a sinister game.
Reviewers say: The reader must carefully shuffle the puzzle pieces into a perfect fit until the very end and one more visit to Raven Hall, when the entire board is undone. This is a party suspense fans are advised to crash. -Booklist.
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Make up break up : a novel
by Lily Menon
What happens: Rendered instantly famous when his break-up app becomes meteorically successful, Hudson Craft moves into a new office adjoining the workspace of a commitment-minded woman with whom he once shared a Las Vegas summer fling.
Is it for you?: This winning romance will especially appeal to fans of The Hating Game written by Sally Thorne.
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| The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi DaréStarring: Adunni, a 14-year-old rural Nigerian girl who longs for an education in a place where girls are meant to marry young and serve their husbands.
What happens: When Adunni flees her marriage and escapes to Lagos, she finds more degradation and abuse, but is just as determined to find her way.
For fans of: compelling, hopeful stories about fearless young women, like Shobha Rao's Girls Burn Brighter. |
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| Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo FordWhat it is: the first collection of stories by Plimpton Prize-winning Cherokee writer Kelli Jo Ford that traces four generations of Cherokee women as they navigate cultural dynamics, disappointing men, and their relationships with each other.
Want a taste? "She’s survived a lifetime of these miracles, which trace back to Daddy emptying the bank account and leaving her with three girls and half an art education degree to pay the bills."
Reviewers say: "a stunner" (Publishers Weekly); "riveting" (Booklist). |
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Godshot
by Chelsea Bieker
Reviewers say: Bieker straddles the line between darkly comic and downright dark, and excels in portraying female friendships—mother-daughter duo Daisy and Florin, who run a phone sex operation and step in to help Lacey, are particularly memorable—and the setting, a town full of abandoned shops and concrete canals and surrounded by dusty fields. Delving into patriarchal religious zealotry, Bieker’s excellent debut plants themes seen in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale into a realistic California setting that will linger with readers. -Publisher's Weekly.
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No bad deed : a novel
by Heather Chavez
What happens: After coming to the rescue of a woman left for dead, veterinarian Cassie Larkin becomes the target of a deadly stalker who knows too much about her own dark family history— and who could be linked to the recent disappearance of her husband.
Reviewers say: In this promising debut—rights have already been sold to six countries—veterinarian Cassie Larkin is driving home on one of those fabled dark and stormy nights when she sees a man assaulting a woman by the roadside and gives chase. The perpetrator circles back to steal her car, her husband disappears the next night while trick-or-treating with their daughter, and Cassie must take control of an upended life. -Library Journal.
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The Chicken Sisters
by KJ Dell'Antonia
What it is about: A more than three-decade feud between two Kansas families implodes when a daughter who left one of the families to marry into the other brings the story of their fried-chicken competition to the attention of a popular reality show.
Reviewers say: A charming and satisfying story about family bonds that will make meat eaters everywhere crave fried chicken. -Kirkus Reviews
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The Kindest Lie
by Nancy E. Johnson
What happens: Needing to reconnect with the baby she gave up for adoption years earlier, an Ivy League-educated Black engineer uncovers devastating family secrets before her bond with a young white misfit scandalizes her racially torn community.
Reviewers say: Through well-developed characters, Johnson provides a realistic portrayal of middle America in the tumultuous era of economic collapse. -Booklist.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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