Friday, January 7, 2022

January 7, 2022 - Book Club Preview




Welcome back to our book club followers! We've got a great selection for 2022.  Our first pick is Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. The story is also well know for the movie of the same name!



The meeting will be held virtually and in person, pending our current availability to meet, on Thursday January 25, 2022 at 5 pm! We'd love for you to join us.

 
 Images and info are courtesy of Google, Wikipedia, Goodreads, and author webpages.

About the book:

They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A Love Story for this generation and perfect for fans of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart? 



About the author:

Jojo Moyes is a British novelist. Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist.

Moyes' novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004. She is married to journalist Charles Arthur and has three children.

The book is also available from our ebook catalogue on WV Reads! You just need your library card. Check it out below:


Wednesday, January 5, 2022

January 5, 2022 - Staff Reviews



Holiday Rescue
By Rebecca Zanetti
Release Date: August 31, 2021
Ebook Available from WV Reads!


3.5 Stars - This was a great wintery getaway romance that's perfect for fans of the Albertini family and new readers as well. Heather is a sweet heroine who's down on her luck rescued by Quint. He is Anna's clever and brave cousin from the series. The story was an ideal quick read for staying home on a cold night.

Zanetti's Albertini series has eluded me for awhile. I haven't read them yet but have sort of started one or two found something else that better suited my mood. But this little sample has me considering giving it another try. Heather's a bit of a damsel in distress but she's likable in a calm, quiet, and kind way. Quint swoops in to rescue her in the first few pages, and so of course he's instantly likable too. I could have done without his recent exes. But otherwise, he's take charge but sweet. And he's got a way with his family and his trusty rescue dog Zena that's charming.

I was surprised that Zanetti's seemed to be sticking to her truer romantic suspense roots with this plot. It doesn't try too hard to be funny like a cozy mystery or an Evanovich tribute. That was my issue with Anna's books at the start. And it also doesn't try to be a dark and twisty thriller like her Deep Ops series. It's just plain fun with Heather trying to avoid her persistent stalker ex-boyfriend. Again, these two have some relationship baggage but somehow, they plow ahead rather smoothly together. There's a steaminess level here that might not appeal to those who prefer a tamer romance but that's easy to skip for those who prefer lighter romantic fare. I thought this was a novella based on it's 3.5 placement in the series but it's got enough plot to count as a short novel on its own. And there's not a lot spoilers for Anna's books, though you get a fun glimpse of her life and crazy Italian and Irish decendent relatives. Everything has enough Christmas atmosphere here too to appeal to the casual Christmas fiction reader. 

(NS)

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

January 4, 2022 - Snow Stories


Loving this cold weather? Can't get enough snow?

Check out some of titles available from Brooke County Libraries then! We have "snow" many good books! All are available at either location or as ebooks on WV Reads.


Beyond the Great Snow Mountains Louis L'Amour
An anthology of ten adventures stories features L'Amour's trademark colorful characters and historical detail as they chronicle the exploits of men and women who face untold challenges and danger in their lives.


The Boy in the Snow by MJ McGrath
 In M. J. McGrath’s compelling follow-up to White Heat, Edie Kiglatuk, the half-Inuit and half-outsider heroine, prepares to help her ex-husband, Sammy, in his bid to win Alaska’s world-famous Iditarod. But the race turns grim when she stumbles upon body of an infant—its tiny corpse covered in mysterious ceremonial markings—on land belonging to the Old Believers, an exiled Russian Orthodox sect. Meanwhile, it’s election time and the lead candidate for governor of Alaska, Anchorage mayor Chuck Hillingberg, desperately wants to keep Edie’s discovery out of the press. As Sammy mushes his team across frozen wilderness, Edie begins an investigation that leads into a murky world of corrupt politics, religious intolerance, greed, and sex trafficking. But just as she begins to get some answers, Edie finds herself threatened by a painful secret from her past. 


The Snow Angel by Glenn Beck
Snow Angel is the story of two siblings, who yearn for new toys and a fun vacation, but their parents are struggling and cannot give them what they want. Though their disappointment is obvious, their grandmother tells them the story of a young girl whose family also went through hard times. Before her father has to leave to find work, he makes a snow angel, telling his little girl that no matter where he is, there will always be an angel looking out for her and her mother, helping the brother and sister realize the true meaning of family. Ultimately, it's a story of family, resilience, and knowing that the ones you love are never too far away. 


Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
What makes a family? That's what twelve-year-old Nicky Dillon wonders after she and her widowed father discover a wailing abandoned baby in the snow-filled woods near their New Hampshire home. Through the days that follow, the Dillons and an unexpected visitor who soon turns up at their door--a young woman evidently haunted by her own terrible choices--face a thicket of decisions, each seeming to carry equal possibilities of heartbreak and redemption. Writing with all the emotional resonance that has drawn millions of readers around the world to her fiction, Anita Shreve unfolds in Light on Snow a tender and surprising novel about love and its consequences.




The Snow Child by Eown Ivey
 In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone -- but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.

This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.


Dashing through the Snow by Carol Higgins Clark and Mary Higgins Clark
In picturesque Branscombe, New Hampshire, on the night before the village’s first (and many hope annual) Festival of Joy, a group of employees at the local market learn they have won $180 million in the lottery. But the one worker, Duncan, who decided at the last moment not to play, is nowhere to be found. And while a second winning ticket was purchased in the next town, that winner hasn’t come forward. Could Duncan have secretly bought it?



First Snow by Nora Roberts
Two reader-favorite stories about finding romance for the holidays…


Snow Angel Cove by RaeAnne Thayne
A fresh start is all Eliza wants for Christmas…Nothing short of a miracle can restore Eliza Hayward’s Christmas cheer. The job she pinned her dreams on has gone up in smoke and now she's stuck in an unfamiliar little town for Christmas.Enter Aidan Caine. He can help Eliza find the perfect Christmas project – the renovation of his lakeside guest lodge. Soon he sees how quickly he could fall for her. But is he's willing to risk his heart on a festive romance that could lead to forever?


Let It Snow by Nancy Thayer
A Nantucket shopkeeper discovers that Christmas is the perfect occasion to make unexpected friendships. . . to warm the coldest of hearts—and maybe even find love. Christina Antonioni is preparing for the holidays at her Nantucket toy shop, unpacking last-minute shipments and decorating for her loyal Christmas shoppers. But when her Scrooge of a landlord, Oscar Bittlesman, raises her rent, it seems nearly impossible for Christina to continue business on the wharf. Even so, Christina hopes there is a warm heart underneath Oscar’s steely exterior. When she bonds with Wink, his sweet, young granddaughter who frequents the shop, it becomes clear that perhaps he isn’t so cold after all. 


A Fine and Bitter Snow by Dana Stabenow
Change never comes easy, but it comes just the same, and it's on its way to the Park, to Niniltna, in southeast Alaska. This time it concerns the possibility of drilling for oil in a wildlife preserve near there, near Aleutian P.I. Kate Shugak's home territory. Battle lines are drawn across their community, but at least it gives Kate something to do. Still just months after her lover's violent death, though she doesn't know quite how, she is trying to get back into her daily life. First, tensions run high as their resident park ranger, Dan O'Brien, is deemed "too green for them" by management and asked to take early retirement. Kate rallies the troops inside the Park to fight for his job, but before she can really start throwing her weight around, a long-time Park resident is brutally murdered, another stabbed and left for dead as well. Alaska State Trooper Jim Chopin enlists Kate to help investigate, and together they tackle the loose ends: motive, timing, opportunity, means. One thing is for certain-in Dana Stabenow's masterful crime novels about the beauty and the danger of living and dying in Alaska, nothing is as simple as it seems.


Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman
Waking up one wintry morning in her old farmhouse nestled in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, Nora Hamilton instantly knows that something is wrong. When her fog of sleep clears, she finds her world is suddenly, irretrievably shattered: Her husband, Brendan, has committed suicide. The first few hours following Nora’s devastating discovery pass for her in a blur of numbness and disbelief. Then, a disturbing awareness slowly settles in: Brendan left no note and gave no indication that he was contemplating taking his own life. Why would a rock-solid police officer with unwavering affection for his wife, job, and quaint hometown suddenly choose to end it all? Having spent a lifetime avoiding hard truths, Nora must now start facing them.


Last Snow by Eric Van Lustbader
An American senator, supposedly on a political trip to the Ukraine, turns up dead on the island of Capri. When the President asks him to find out how and why, Jack sets out from Moscow across Eastern Europe, following a perilous trail of diplomats, criminals, and corrupt politicians. Thrust into the midst of a global jigsaw puzzle, Jack’s unique dyslexic mind allows him to put together the pieces that others can’t even see.

Didn't see some of your favorite snow reads? Let us know in the comment section or on any of our social media pages!

Images and info courtesy of Google, Goodreads, and WV Reads.

 

Monday, January 3, 2022

January 3, 2022 - New Arrivals

Adult Fiction

The Midnight Lock by Jeffery Deaver.

A woman awakes in the morning to find that someone has picked her apartment's supposedly impregnable door lock and rearranged personal items, even sitting beside her while she slept. The intrusion, the police learn, is a message to the entire city of carnage to come. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are brought in to investigate and soon learn that the sociopathic intruder, who calls himself "the Locksmith," can break through any lock or security system ever devised. With more victims on the horizon, Rhyme, Sachs and their stable of associates must follow the evidence to the man's lair... and discover his true mission. Their hunt is interrupted when an internal investigation in the police force uncovers what seems to be a crucial mistake in one of Rhyme's previous cases. He's fired as a consultant for the NYPD and must risk jail if he investigates the Locksmith case in secret.

 

Down the Hatch by M. C. Beaton.

Private detective Agatha Raisin, having recently taken up power-walking, is striding along a path in Mircester Park during her lunch break when she hears a cry for help. Rushing over, she finds an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Swinburn, in the middle of the green--with the body of an old man lying at their feet. The man, who the coroner determines died by poisoning, was known as "the Admiral," a gardener notorious for his heavy drinking, and Chief Inspector Wilkes writes the death off as an accident caused by the consumption of weedkiller stored in a rum bottle. Agatha is not convinced that anyone would mistake weedkiller for rum but carries on with her work at Raisin Investigations, until she receives an anonymous tip that the Admiral's death was no accident. Local gossip points to the Swinburns themselves as the killers, spurred by a feud at the club where they, as well as the Admiral, were members. Distraught at this accusation, they turn to Agatha to clear their name, and she takes the case--despite the warnings of Chief Inspector Wilkes. Agatha encounters one suspicious character after another, becoming further enmeshed in the Admiral's own dark and shady past. And when she's run off the road, narrowly escaping with her life, and then another attack occurs, it becomes clear that someone doesn't want the case closed--and will stop at nothing to prevent Agatha from solving it.

 

Waiting on Love by Tracie Peterson.

Crisscrossing the Great Lakes onboard her father's freighter ship, the Mary Elise, Elise Wright has grown up cooking and caring for the crew. It is a life she loves. Unlike her estranged sister, Elise has turned down numerous opportunities for a "respectable life" with their wealthy relatives. And now, because of promises she made to her dying mother, she's bound to the ship and her deeply grieving father more than ever. Nick Clark is grateful to be hired on as the Mary Elise's first mate as he works to overcome his own guilt and others' censure for a fatal decision he made captaining another ship. He feels protective of the Wrights and their generous natures, especially when a rough new sailor seems intent on causing serious trouble. As the sailor's misdeeds grow, tragedy swells up from another corner. Left to pick up the pieces of the commitments they've made to themselves and to each other, Nick and Elise will have to rely on their faith to see them through.

 

Adult Non-Fiction

An American Phoenix by Dawne Raines Burke.

In the first book-length study of Storer College, Dawne Raines Burke tells the story of the historically black institution from its Reconstruction origins to its demise in 1955. Established by Northern Baptists in the abolitionist flashpoint of Harpers Ferry, Storer was the first college open to African Americans in West Virginia, and it played a central role in regional and national history. In addition to educating generations of students of all races, genders, and creeds, Storer served as the second meeting place (and the first on U.S. soil) for the Niagara Movement, a precursor to the NAACP. An American Phoenix provides a comprehensive and extensively illustrated history of this historically black college, bringing to life not just the institution but many of the individuals who taught or were educated there. It fills a significant gap in our knowledge of African American history and the struggle for rights in West Virginia and the wider world.

 

Guinness World Records 2022.

Despite the challenges of the past year, it’s been business as usual at Guinness World Records, and our researchers continue to field thousands of applications a month. Expect that unique mix of remarkable humans, talented pets, incredible vehicles and impressive sporting legends.

 

Easy/Juvenile/Young Adult/Graphic Novel

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot by Jeff Kinney.  J

After a disastrous field day competition at school, Greg decides that when it comes to his athletic career, he's officially retired. But after his mom urges him to give sports one more chance, he reluctantly agrees to sign up for basketball. Tryouts are a mess, and Greg is sure he won't make the cut. But he unexpectedly lands a spot on the worst team. As Greg and his new teammates start the season, their chances of winning even a single game look slim. But in sports, anything can happen. When everything is on the line and the ball is in Greg's hands, will he rise to the occasion? Or will he blow his big shot?

 

Motor Mouse & Valentino by Cynthia Rylant & Arthur Howard.  E

Motor Mouse, a cab-driving mouse on the go, and his dear brother, Valentino, take to the skies, trade motor vehicles, and go to the fair in these new stories! In "The Flight of Uncertainty," Motor Mouse is invited to take a ride in a hot air balloon. He isn't too sure about it until he asks his brother, Valentino, to come along. He always feels braver with Valentino along. So they climb into the balloon basket and away...they...go! In "A Scooter of One's Own," Motor Mouse thinks it's time for Valentino to learn to drive a car. Valentino doesn't see the point, since he loves to ride his trusty scooter everywhere. But Motor Mouse convinces him to get behind the wheel. Will Valentino like driving? In "Assorted Amusements and Prizes," Motor Mouse and Valentino wake up early for a full day at the Funfair. They play game after game but can't seem to win any prizes. What to do? Luckily, there are lots of fun rides and yummy treats in store for them!


Brooke County Public Libraries    Wellsburg (304) 737-1551    Follansbee (304) 527-0860

Thursday, December 30, 2021

December 30, 2021 - Staff Reviews


Image courtesy of WV Reads

All American Boys
By: Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely
BCPL Book Club September 2021 Book
YA Fiction

A great book that touches upon, unfortunately, a still relevant topic. The book was written by two authors. And the structure of it is seamless in my opinion. I would highly recommend this book as the authors paint a very vivid and relevant picture in to the differences yet connection that people in society have. I also thought the characters were well rounded enough to understand their stances and decisions. They were very likable and very relatable at the same time. Their families characters were also solid in knowing more of what had shaped these two young men. I listened to this book as an audiobook and enjoyed that they had two actors reading the differing main characters (two main young males), and the life that they brought to the characters was something that pulled you in. They slanged the words at the right time, and made you think you were listening to the two young adult men themselves tell their stories. A relatable read would most definitely be "The Hate U Give."

(AS)
 

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

December 29, 2021 - WV Author of the Month



Hello, readers! Brooke County Libraries are excited to present our last West Virginia Author of the Month. For December 2021, we are featuring prolific writer Denise Giardina.

Denise Giardina´s novels have won the American Book Award, the Lillian Smith Award for fiction, and the Boston Book Review fiction prize. Her roots run deep in the coal mines of Appalachia and stories about coal miners, companies and unions are at the center of two of her books. Her words may be fiction, but they describe the true experiences of underground coal mining in West Virginia.

Giardina was born October 25, 1951 in Bluefield, West Virginia, and grew up in the small coal mining camp of Black Wolf, located in rural McDowell County, West Virginia, and later in Kanawha County, where she graduated from high school. Like the rest of the community, her family's survival was dependent upon the prosperity of the mine. Giardina's grandfather and uncles worked underground and her father kept the books for Page Coal and Coke. Her mother was a nurse. When the mine closed, her family moved to the state capital of Charleston. As a member of a coal-mining family, and growing up with a 1960s social consciousness, Giardina often found herself in political conflict with the people and culture around her.


Her book Storming Heaven was a Discovery Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and received the 1987 W. D. Weatherford Award for the best published work about the AppalachianSouth. The Unquiet Earth received an American Book Award and the Lillian Smith Book Award for fiction. Her 1998 novel Saints and Villains was awarded the Boston Book Review fiction prize and was semifinalist for the International Dublin Literary Award. Giardina is an ordained Episcopal Church deacon, a community activist, and a former candidate for governor of West Virginia.


Giardina tells her stories using multiple narrators who speak in local dialect and offer different points of view. The Unquiet Earth reveals the blatant disregard of the miners and their families, by the coal companies; black Lung disease and unsafe working conditions play a part in the book.

As well as being a writer, Giardina has been an activist for environmental justice since the 1970s. She made a bid to be governor of West Virginia in 2000 as a third-party candidate, using her campaign to raise awareness about the devastating and toxic effects of mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR). MTR blows off the tops of ancient mountains, exposing layers of coal. It makes mining easier, yet destroys forests and plant life, and pollutes streams. Toxic runoff from the mining process leach into communities (where people have lived for generations), forcing them to leave their homes. West Virginia´s progressive, Mountain Party, affiliated with the Green Party, sprang from Giardina's gubernatorial run.


In 2004 Giardina was the Writer-In-Residence at Hollins University and taught a course in Virginia and West Virginia fiction.

Giardina lives in Charleston and taught at West Virginia State University until 2015. In 2007 she was reinstated as an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church.



Denise Giardina's pride in her Appalachian background informs her writing and helps drive her fight to protect the mountains and people she loves. 

Interested in some of the titles mentioned here? Check out some this author's work in our ebook collection on WV Reads!





Images and info are courtesy of Google, Wikipedia, WV Reads, and author web pages.

 

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

December 28, 2021 - Staff Reviews


 

Engagement and Espionage
By Penny Reid
Release Date: July 14, 2020
Ebook Available from WV Reads!


1.5 Stars - Penny Reid's branching out like many romance authors into the cozy mystery realm but you have to be a fan of hers I think to enjoy this wacky romp. I couldn't say this checked all the book boxes I was hoping for unfortunately. It wasn't particularly sexy, suspenseful, or mysterious enough to grab my attention.

For a short book, this felt very long. Especially for a cozy mystery. Do not make my mistake of thinking this is a standalone cozy mystery. I was completely lost and quite irritated. This book is pretty highly acclaimed but I feel like those awards and reviews came from people who knew a lot more than I did going in. I was intrigued despite the vague and crazy blurb. This was a cozy that's supposed to both romantic and small town country. I've enjoyed plenty of the "sharper" cozy series like Stephanie Plum and Lexi Graves mysteries. Jennifer's a baker with the Southern twang and overbearing mama I can relate to. She's already with Cletus, which is refreshing in a genre filled with endless love triangles. 

Jennifer and Cletus talk to us like we already know them from the jump. (And apparently, Reid fans did, I admit.) But it didn't make me feel like I got them. The two of them aren't exactly romantic nor are they burning up the pages. I can appreciate some sexual tension, something I've heard Reid usually throws out in spades, but these two weren't always clicking. There was also a rambling quality to Reid's writing that I did not get into but others might. I knew I was getting into a book about chicken murders but even the first scene already had me sick of talking about eggs. And the country-ness didn't feel very authentic. It's like the accents, chickens, moonshine, and banjos were all just throw in to complete all the cozy setting requirements. I think unfortunately this made the mistake many authors trying this genre new to them do. This isn't really a cozy mystery. It's not really an exciting romance. Therefore, it runs the risk of disappointing fans of either or both genres. Not saying I won't circle back to Reid's work in the future but it certainly didn't make me a fan.

(NS)