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| Godshot by Chelsea BiekerSet in: Peaches, CA, an isolated town enduring a drought so terrible its residents have turned to a cult for help -- and the leader believes that the only solution involves the mass impregnation of all the teens in town.
Introducing: 14-year-old Lacey May, who is one of these teens; to make things worse, her mother has abandoned her.
Why you should read it: Lacey's an independent-minded young woman who isn't about to go down without a fight.
E-availability: This title is available as an ebook from Hoopla Digital. |
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| Days of Distraction by Alexandra ChangStarring: Chinese American Jing Jing, a tech reporter, who follows her white boyfriend from California to upstate New York, where she begins to more seriously explore her identity as a woman of color and consider their interracial relationship in a white-dominant culture.
Reviewers say: The author's "humorous, timely observations on race, technology, and relationships lend immediacy to the narrator’s chronicle of self-awareness" (Publishers Weekly).
E-availability: This title is available as an ebook from Hoopla Digital. |
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| Master Class by Christina DalcherWhat it is: an imaginative take on a future dystopia in which academic performance literally dictates all aspects of everyone's life.
Starring: teacher Elena Fairchild, whose own daughter receives a low "Q" score and is sent to a state-run boarding school, where Elena learns the students are taught little and mainly exploited or experimented on.
Read it if: you enjoy disquieting reads like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Jennie Melamed's Gather the Daughters, or the author's own debut, Vox. |
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The Other Bennet Sister : a novel
by Janice Hadlow
What it is: A reimagining of the story of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice spinster, Mary Bennet, finds her navigating limited cultural expectations before embracing her intellectual identity and making her own choices about her future.
Book buzz: "Readers with fond but not necessarily exhaustive memories of Pride and Prejudice will love this story, as will historical fiction readers looking for intelligent heroines with agency and heart who belong to their time and place without quite fitting in." -- Library Journal, March 2020
E-availability: This title is available as an ebook from elibraryNJ.
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| The Love Story of Missy Carmichael by Beth MorreyStarring: 79-year-old Missy Carmichael, whose isolated and lonely life has the potential to be changed by unexpected connections with strangers (and a lovable mutt), if only she'll let them.
Want a taste? "Best to end the conversation before I wanted to instead of after she did."
For fans of: Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove or Elizabeth Berg's The Story of Arthur Truluv. |
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| The Coyotes of Carthage by Steven WrightWhat it is: a dark (and darkly humorous) tale of political and financial skulduggery in a small South Carolina town.
What happens: Dispatched to rural Carthage County, SC, by his elite Washington, D.C. firm, black political consultant Andre Ross is determined that nothing is going to stop him from separating the county from its assets by manipulating an upcoming election, no matter how torn about it he is.
Read it if: you enjoy the television show Scandal or are intrigued by "dark money" campaigns. |
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Braised Pork
by An Yu
What happens: Discovering her husband’s dead body beside a pencil sketch of a mysterious figure, Jia Jia launches an odyssey across contemporary Beijing before discovering unexpected love with a jaded bartender.
Book buzz: "An draws Jia Jia with great affection and sympathy as the character grapples with the elusive meaning of her dreams and powerful emotional experiences. Readers will be moved by An’s mature meditation on the often inexplicable forces that shape the trajectory of an individual life." -- Publishers Weekly, February 2020"
E-availability: This title is available as an ebook from Hoopla Digital.
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| LaRose by Louise ErdrichWhat happens: In North Dakota, Landreaux Iron has accidentally killed his friend's five-year-old son. In accordance with Ojibwe tradition, he gives up his own son, LaRose, to his friend's family.
Why you might like it: Tying together Ojibwe beliefs and Catholicism, deep grief and history, this powerful novel centers on LaRose, named after generations of healers and thrust into that role himself.
E-availability: This title is available as a streaming eaudiobook from Hoopla Digital. |
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| Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins ReidWhat it is: the oral narrative of the meteoric rise and catastrophic fall of the hottest (fictional) rock band of the 1970s -- Daisy Jones & The Six.
Behind the scenes: Though they had chemistry on stage, off stage the members of the band clashed; their interviews years later are candid, direct, sometimes pained, and sometimes funny.
Read it if: you loved the '70s or its music; tell-all biographies are your jam; you plan on watching the TV show that Reese Witherspoon is producing for Amazon (featuring Elvis' granddaughter, Riley Keogh).
E-availability: This title is available as an ebook from elibraryNJ |
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| Lily and the Octopus by Steven RowleyStarring: Lily, a short, happy 12-year-old who loves mint chocolate chip ice cream; Ted, a 40-ish writer who's been in therapy since he split with his last boyfriend.
What happens: Ted loves Lily -- his dachshund -- and is unable to bear the brain tumor that is stealing her sight and will eventually take her life.
Why you might like it: By turns heartbreaking and hilarious (Lily's contributions to the conversation are priceless), this debut is both funny and deeply moving in its accounting of the love between humans and their pets. Have tissues handy. |
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| Don't Send Flowers by Martín SolaresStarring: Carlos Treviño, an ex-cop who was run out of his Mexican town four years ago for daring to do his job.
Why he's back: A powerful business magnate has hired Carlos to track down his teenage daughter, who has disappeared without a trace.
Why you might like it: This literary noir has a non-traditional narrative structure, telling the first half of the story from Carlos' perspective and the second half from that of the crooked local police chief who will do anything to destroy him. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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