Every Man a King (King Oliver, #2) by Walter Mosley

Every Man a King by Walter Mosley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This 2nd book in the King Oliver series was so suspenseful as King tries to find out if a white nationalist is guilty. He does this at the behest of his mother's "friend" a very rich white man. And what unwinds really has King and his other helpers in danger trying to get to the truth. Can't wait for the next one in the series!!!

View all my reviews

City of the Dead (City Spies, Book 4) by James Ponti

City of the Dead by James Ponti
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

this 4th in the City Spies Book was so awesome with the team inching ever closer to Clementine but Mother's son now becomes a part of the team (?!?), with their latest mission taking place in the City of the Dead in Egypt. I love how they work together but are still individuals with quirks, strengths, and allegiance to one another!

View all my reviews

Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni

Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OMG, this latest Robert Dugoni detective and courtroom mystery was so suspenseful! I loved Keera Duggan, her dysfunctional family which has been forever altered due to her father's life long alcoholism. Keera catches a case where she represents the husband who is accused of killing his wife. I loved the way Dugoni unfolded the story through the chess game, the mysterious Mr. Worth who leads her to many people who grew up/knew the accused who is a multi-millionaire investment advisor, her father's missteps, and her ambition to show up the prosecutor. It definitely was like a game of chess with each move calculated keeping the reader on pins and needles. You never meet the murdered wife, but the title, Her Deadly Game was perfect in so many ways. Readers will enjoy wading into this juicy mystery. An awesome crime thriller!

View all my reviews

No Matter the Distance by Cindy Baldwin

No Matter the Distance by Cindy Baldwin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this fiction novel in verse based on the author's cystic fibrosis and her life in middle school. Penny Rooney is a 6th grader with a supportive best friend and family. I learned so much about cystic fibrosis both from Penny's perspective, her parents, and also the dolphin who meanders into her creek. Immediately Penny can relate to this dolphin which she names Rose while her father contacts a friend who is a biologist and brings her team to the creek. As time passes, Penny and Rose forge a bond/friendship and as Rose battles a lung infection & Penny battles CF, it becomes critical to get meds into Rose & help her out to the ocean. I just loved so much about this book! Penny is so strong but the pain of CF is a daily, weekly, life long disability that she and her family deal with; the words Cindy Baldwin uses in this novel in verse sing to me, and the beauty in her words open a new world of Penny's life with this special dolphin in her life.

View all my reviews

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Cara McBrien for lending me this gut wrenching, awesome read about teens falling in love, reality and the truth come crashing in and someone is dead! Lily and Olivia are the main characters telling the story from their viewpoint, before and after. It is a look at Olivia's son's Asher's romance with Lily, and Olivia's abusive marital relationship until she ran with Asher to a normal life of beekeeping, until it wasn't. I loved the courtroom scenes with Olivia's brother as a brilliant lawyer working with his wife as investigator to prove Asher innocent. There was so much to take in, but I have read many LGBTQ books also transgender books as a YA librarian and I just keep reading them because they are a must read and each book is more enlightening, engrossing, and relatable. There was so much suspense I could not put this book down!

View all my reviews

Last Violent Call by Chloe Gong

Last Violent Call by Chloe Gong
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved these two novellas with the reappearance of Roma and Juliette and tying Foul Lady Fortune with the original Chloe Gong books, The Violent Delights & Our Violent Ends! I can't wait to read the next book, Foul Heart Huntsman because the suspense is killing me about this dangerous chemical weapon that Orion's mother created---and how it manipulates people to follow commands, even killing themselves! I love the romance, horror, and sinister evil these characters fight! You will too!

View all my reviews

Spying on the South: Tavels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land by Tony Horwitz

Spying on the South: Travels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land by Tony Horwitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Since I read and Loved Horse by Geraldine Brooks, I decided to read one of her husband's books that he was researching at same time as she was writing Horse. I loved his dedication to Geraldine and this book was a compare/contrast to Frederick Olmsted travels through the South, his beliefs, and his life of abolition and change in career to land planner (as well as other changes in his beliefs, etc). I highly recommend this audiobook narrated by Mark Deakins and Tony Horwitz as it also compares our current political conflicts with Olmsted's time period.

View all my reviews

Down the River Unto the Sea (King Oliver, #1) by Walter Mosley

Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A great new series by Walter Mosley introduces the reader to disgraced police officer wrongly accused and jailed. Fast forward and Joe King Oliver is now a private investigator and readers learn how he was freed from jail but not really why. As he plods along with his daughter as his secretary, he takes a case while also investigating who in police force framed him. I could not stop turning listening, I loved narrator, Dion Graham's taut rendition of this suspenseful mystery where Joe and his family are in danger as a result of his cases. What will he learn and will he live? Highly recommended!

View all my reviews

LOVE is a TRUCK by Amy Novesky Pictures by Sara Gillingham

Love Is a Truck by Amy Novesky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Helen Swiski for recommending this board book, since Leo loved it- you knew Crew would too! Crew is in his truck loving phase now (he has been for awhile) & what he loves about this book is the progression from beloved red fire engine then to dump truck, bulldozer, digger, cement mixer, loader, lifter, flatbed trailer, ice cream truck, and then all the ways any child could arrange and play with trucks! Best of all is the truck in bed with the child at night, a smile on his face as mom says good night!!! We read this book over and over throughout the day.

View all my reviews

Hot Dog b y Doug Salati

Hot Dog by Doug Salati
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Mary Alice my book loving librarian friend! This Caldecott Medal winner is perfect for young children through Adults. A little dachshund like dog living in the city is walking on a steaming hot day and all the city noise, clamor, crowds STOP this pup from moving anywhere anymore. Thankfully his astute senior owner knows the perfect place & using all forms of transportation they head toward a beautiful sea and spend a joyful day finding stones & shells by the sea!!! Each page and Illustration by Doug Salati was truly gorgeous, evocative, and best of all celebratory. I loved the city scape and the sea shore adventure, highly recommended!!!

View all my reviews

The Dangerous One (Osborn Brothers #1) by Lori Foster

The Dangerous One by Lori Foster
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I could not put this new book in a series down; Foster introduces the reader to Hunter Osborn & Jodi Bentley but we also are re-acquainted with the MCKENZIE family from another great Foster series,
McKenzies of Ridge Trail! Their first meeting sizzles and the mystery, chemistry, and yearning between the two "neighbors" was palpable! I loved Hunter's dog, while Jodi is a take no prisoners strong woman, she is a goner for this rescued basset hound. Pick this book up now, readers will love this new hot romance!

View all my reviews

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just as I loved all of Geraldine Brooks' books, I never got to read this while being a high school/YA librarian and this novel of Bethia (her father is a minister to the Native American tribe of the Wampanoag) and Caleb, who meet and form a lifelong friendship that is secret until Caleb becomes a member of their family after his family dies. I was gripped by Bethia, her restricted life as a woman, pioneer and Puritan, her thirst for knowledge, and her special friendship with Caleb. So awful were the conditions and privations Caleb and other natives suffered (horrible assumptions, calling them savages & comparing them to animals). Thoroughly researched with authentic characters, the many settings were historically accurate with the beauty of the island and acrid smells of big cities. Highly recommended!

View all my reviews

The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin by Kip Rose

The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin by Kip Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just as I loved Kip Wilson's first book, White Rose, so also did I enjoy Hilde's journey from orphan to friend with Rosa and the family at the queer club where they waitress and sing to earn money as the Hitler regime closes in. This novel in verse was gripping and thoroughly researched (see Notes at the end) with Hilde becoming more and more strengthened by her circumstances and friendships with those at the club. Loved the cover, too. Highly recommended!

View all my reviews

The In-Between: A Memoir in Verse by Katie Van Heidrich

The In-Between: A Memoir in Verse by Katie Van Heidrich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Based on the author's life, this novel in verse details Katie and her siblings constant, surprise moves from place to place by her mother (who has some issues) and how it affects Katie at home, school, and with her visits to her Dad (now remarried to an Asian woman). I was so saddened by Katie's voice- her embarrassment, confusion, longing, and many unanswered questions. But this book also provides hope and determination by Katie and will resonate with middle grade & YA readers! Highly recommended!

View all my reviews

Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug by Jonathan Stutzman

Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug by Jonathan Stutzman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My grandson loves dinosaurs and this book is one of his favorites! How a Tiny T. Rex figures out how to hug his sad best friend is the BEST! We will be reading the other books in this series too!

View all my reviews

When Sea Becomes Sky by Gillian McDunn

When Sea Becomes Sky by Gillian McDunn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved McDunn's book about the special bond between a brother and sister. Bex and Davey love exploring the salt marsh every summer; when they find a hand of a sculpture sticking out of the water mystery abounds as this duo deal with the drought, the purchase of their beloved marsh, and how each strengthens the other. I loved each and every word in this middle grade stunner. Characters were real, the setting--gorgeous even though there is a drought and the plot so strong, magical, beautiful and sad. A must read for all!

View all my reviews

The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Mongtomery

The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved every word & photo in this awesome nonfiction book about the octopuses Sy studied, loved, researched!

View all my reviews