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Nine Perfect Strangers: Gathering at a remote health resort for a 10-day fitness program, nine strangers and their enigmatic host become subjects of interest to a brokenhearted novelist who develops uncomfortable doubts about the resort's real agenda. |
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Of Blood and Bone: Knowing she will have to reveal her identity as The One, Fallon Swift trains under a centuries-old mentor to hone her magical and fighting abilities to defend their world from violent raiders. |
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Winter in Paradise: A suburban wife confronts the loss of everything at the same time her husband is found dead on the beaches of St. John, where he harbored a secret second family. |
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Past Tense: Detouring to his father's childhood hometown at the beginning of a cross-country hitchhiking tour, Jack uncovers disturbing family revelations at the same time he becomes entangled in a dangerous high-ticket sale. |
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This month's pick comes from our Youth Services Librarian Miss Melissa, and blends historical fiction with Russian folklore and magical realism. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (which begins the Winternight Trilogy) is another great read for this chilly, snowy time of year. Miss Melissa says: Magic and spirits and ghosts all exist...When the inhabitants of a small town in Russia are forced out of their beliefs by a visiting priest, evil begins to seep in. Arden weaves a fairy tale that contains beautiful detail, mythology, and history with an adventurous spirit and a sense of wonder. Household spirits and creatures of evil feel tangible as our strong-willed and clever hero Vasya befriends or battles them to protect her people. The beauty of her village is revisited in descriptive language that encourages readers to picture rippling ponds and deep snow drifts, creating a strong bond between the reader and the little town Vasya calls home. The book shifts from character-driven to plot-driven as conflicting beliefs come to a boiling point and the lush landscape is nothing but bitter frost. Arden's story is captivating throughout with magic first being sprinkled in each chapter until fantasy breaks free and takes the story from a cozy fireside story to a roaring adventure of fate and destiny. |
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In keeping with Pembroke Reads and Women’s History Month, this month’s magazine pick is Rolling Stone, the classic pop culture resource, and its March issue “Women Shaping the Future.” In this in-depth feature, Rolling Stone explores women impacting a range of disciplines across America, including interviews with newly-elected members of the House of Representatives (Ilhan Omar, Jahana Hayes, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), an interview with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and profiles on folk-rock musician Brandi Carlile, the women of NASA’s mission to Mars, songwriter/producer Teddy Geiger, writer/comedian Hannah Gadsby, journalist Jemele Hill, politican Stacey Abrams, model Ashley Graham, youth climate change activist Greta Thunberg, musician Stevie Nicks, the new president of Planned Parenthood Leana Wen, and many others. As always, Rolling Stone honors its roots, providing in-depth coverage of music, film, and popular culture. You’ll find music and movie reviews, a list of new albums to discover, and a TV watchlist. With timely interviews and stunning photojournalism, Rolling Stone will entertain and inform. |
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For our March meeting, the Pembroke Public Library Book Club is reading Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff. This well-researched, epic biography takes an original approach in trying to separate the facts from the legend of the Egyptian queen's life--a difficult task since myths and legend are so central to Cleopatra's story. Many of the things we think we know about her aren't true. (One of the first things we learn is that even her name is a myth; while she has gone down in history as Cleopatra VII, she was in fact only the sixth!) Schiff makes an effort to give Cleopatra a fairer portrayal than she has historically been given, showing her as the intelligent, witty woman she was, powerful and wealthy in her own right rather than merely a temptress or just a character on the sidelines of the stories of some of the most famous men of her age. |
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