The Gravity of Us

 By: Phil Stamper   

Location: FIC STA

Genre: LGBGT, Fiction, Young Adult

In this smart, heart-warming YA debut perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera, two teens find love when their lives are uprooted for their parents' involvement in a NASA mission to Mars.

Cal wants to be a journalist, and he's already well underway with almost half a million followers on his FlashFame app and an upcoming internship at Buzzfeed. But his plans are derailed when his pilot father is selected for a highly-publicized NASA mission to Mars. Within days, Cal and his parents leave Brooklyn for hot and humid Houston.

With the entire nation desperate for any new information about the astronauts, Cal finds himself thrust in the middle of a media circus. Suddenly his life is more like a reality TV show, with his constantly bickering parents struggling with their roles as the "perfect American family."

And then Cal meets Leon, whose mother is another astronaut on the mission, and he finds himself falling head over heels - and fast. They become an oasis for each other amid the craziness of this whole experience. As their relationship grows, so does the frenzy surrounding the Mars mission, and when secrets are revealed about ulterior motives of the program, Cal must find a way to get to the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him.

Miss Benson's Beetle

 By: Rachel Joyce  

Location: FIC JOY

Genre: Fiction- Backman,Joyce, Elinor Oliphant, Albom...

I enjoyed this read, I enjoy Joyce books. Her best is her first but this is still a great little read.  I cant decide which female character I would prefer to be?  Perhaps I am one but would not want to be, but be the other one instead..

Margery Benson’s life ended the day her father walked out of his study and never came back. Forty years later, abandoning a dull job, she advertises for an assistant. The successful candidate is to accompany Margery on an expedition to the other side of the world to search for a beetle that may or may not exist. Enid Pretty is not who she had in mind. But together they will find themselves drawn into an adventure that exceeds all Margery’s expectations, eventually finding new life at the top of a red mountain.


This is a story that is less about what can be found than the belief it might be found; it is an intoxicating adventure story and it is also a tender exploration of a friendship between two unforgettable women that defies all boundaries.

"In 1950, 47 year old, frumpy spinster Miss Margery Benson walks out of her job as a domestic science teacher, after being humiliated by her students and decides she is going to follow her childhood dream of finding a rare beetle in the wilds of New Caledonia. Accompanying her, as the most unlikely of companions, is the young and attractive Enid Pretty.

This novel was a delight to read. Rachel Joyce creates such wonderful characters and Margery and Enid are both marvelously human and flawed. Totally unalike, they both experienced difficult upbringings, and are destined to become great friends after they share many adventures and hardships together. While Margery is naive and unaccustomed to dealing with people, she is organised and knowledgeable when it comes to beetles and Enid's street smarts is put to good use to plug any deficiencies in their plans. Over the months they spend together, they will both change, finding strengths they never knew they had. There is much humour in their relationship and exploits but also sadness and a wonderful ending. Highly recommended!"

"Joyce's creation and development of Marjery and Enid is sublime in a narrative stuffed full of misadventures, tragedy and joy, testing times that bring out their resilience and endurance in the face of such challenging experiences. There is a broken former soldier, a POW in Burma, Mundic, delusional, suffering PTSD, suffering huge problematic mental health issues, who becomes obsessed with and stalks Marjery. This is a wonderfully atmospheric, captivating, touching, vibrant, humorous and engaging read of faith, belief and hope which I adored"

The Left Handed Booksellers of London

 By: Garth Nix

Location: FIC NIX

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Historical Fiction

In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met. Crime boss Frank Thringley might be able to help her, but Susan doesn’t get time to ask Frank any questions before he is turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the outrageously attractive Merlin.

Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones). With the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), he belongs to an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.

Susan’s search for her father begins with her mother’s possibly misremembered or misspelled surnames, a reading-room ticket, and a silver cigarette case engraved with something that might be a coat of arms.

Merlin has a quest of his own: to find the Old World entity who used ordinary criminals to kill his mother. As he and his sister, a right-handed bookseller named Vivien, tread in the path of a botched or covered-up police investigation from years past, they find their quest strangely overlaps with Susan’s. Who or what was her father? Susan, Merlin, and Vivien must find out, as the Old World erupts dangerously into the New.

"Garth Nix's The Left-Handed Booksellers of London is one of those young adult novels that easily makes the crossing to adult reading. Set in a version of 1983 London, where the worlds of the ordinary and the magical, the present and ages past, overlap. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London follows the journey of Susan Arkshaw, 18 and about to begin art school, on a hunt for a father she's never known, as she's flung into the dangers of that magical world in the space of a few hours.

What makes this novel a good adult read, as well as a good YA one?
• A complex ethical substrate that leaves the reader with relatively few fully bad or fully good characters (though there are some) and that poses open-ended questions.
• A playfulness with gender that is both affirming and thought-provoking.
• Characters who know how they want to live their lives and work to build those lives with integrity and imagination.
All that said, this is not a "heavy" read. It's one of those books you'll find yourself staying up late to finish—and not regretting that choice the next morning.

This novel works as a stand-alone, but I'm hoping Nix has some ideas for sequels percolating. I would gladly spend more time in Susan Arkshaw's London."- Sarah Hope

Stop Surviving Start Fighting

 By: Jazz Thornton

Location:  NF 362.28 THO

Genre:Mental Health

Jazz Thornton first attempted to take her own life at the age of 12. Multiple attempts followed and she spent time in psychiatric wards and under medical supervision as she rode the rollercoaster of depression and anxiety through her teenage years – yet the attempts continued.

Find out what Jazz learned about how her negative thought patterns came to be, and how she turned those thoughts – and her life – around. Who and what helped, and what didn't help. The insights she gives will help create a greater understanding of those grappling with mental illness, and those around them who desperately want to help.

Jazz went on to attend film school, and to co-found Voices of Hope, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping those with mental health issues and show them there is a way forward. She creates online content to provide hope and help.

Her first video Dear Suicidal Me has had over 80 million views all around the world. She went on to create Jessica's Tree, a web series that follows the 24 hours between a friend, Jess, going missing and the discovery of her body. It provides insights into Jessica's strug­gles, to help people better understand those suffering from depression. https-//www.youtube­.com/watch?v=7QFU_qg­7Msk Jessica's Tree was viewed more than 230,000 times in the two months following its release in March 2019 and immediately began winning international recognition and awards, including the Huawei Mate30 Pro New Zealand Television Awards 2019 Best Web Series.
The process and the delicate decisions that had to be made to create Jessica's Tree have themselves been documented in a film about Jazz called The Girl on the Bridge, due for release early in 2020

"If I could give this book a million stars on here, I would! When I say that this book is amazing, I mean it. I don’t think I’ve cried so much at a non-fiction book. I cried tears of joy. Tears of sadness. Tears of hope. Most importantly, tears of realisation. Realisation that no matter how bad your mental health may be, things can and will get better and that change is possible. As I’ve struggled with my mental health before, more so over the last 7 months, this was quite a hard read but it’s also helped me realise that I can’t keep bottling things up and pushing people away and that I can’t listen to people when they tell me I can’t have mental health struggles because I’m a student nurse. I’d highly recommend this book if you have struggled or are struggling with mental health, if you know someone who is struggling, if you want to go into the health and social care profession (particular social work, mental health nursing, psychiatry etc.) or if you just want an insight into how ill mental health can affect someone. This book has a massive trigger warning for mention of suicide, self harm, eating disorders, PTSD, intrusive thoughts, psychiatric wards amongst quite a few others so please be careful going into the book if any of those things may trigger you. Remember that it is okay to not be okay and that “Hope is real and change is possible” - Jazz Thornton.- Chloe

A Good Girls's Guide to Murder

By: Holly Jackson 

Location: FIC JAC

Genre: Mystery, Young Adult, Thriller

“The people you love weren’t algebra: to be calculated, subtracted, or held at arm’s length across a decimal point.” 

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?
 

"If you enjoy a grounded, engaging mystery that features a diverse cast, discussions surrounding racial injustice, and the importance of found family, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Whether you are aged 13 or 102, this book is for you!" Nulifer

"I loved this book! It's a fast paced, addictive, smartly layered and twisty murder mystery. All the mixed media was such a treat - maps, journal entries, diagrams, police reports, etc. It made reading the book feel interactive. I found myself taking notes to see if I could figure out the whodunnit before the big reveal.

I heard this is set to be a series and I am so in for more! A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is a well crafted debut that was a highly enjoyable read -" Burn
 

The End of The World is Bigger than Love

By: Davina Bell

Location: FIC BEL

Genre: Sci Fi, Dystopia

“We live on a blue planet that circles around a ball of fire next to a moon that moves the sea, and you don’t believe in miracles?”

She said we didn’t know what the world out there had become. We had been alone there so long on that tiny island, in that tiny church.
But in the night, I couldn’t bear it.
My chest beat like wings.

Identical twin sisters Summer and Winter live alone on a remote island, sheltered from a destroyed world. They survive on rations stockpiled by their father and spend their days deep in their mother’s collection of classic literature—until a mysterious stranger upends their carefully constructed reality.

At first, Edward is a welcome distraction. But who is he really, and why has he come? As love blooms and the world stops spinning, the secrets of the girls’ past begin to unravel and escape is the only option.

A sumptuously written novel of love and grief; of sisterly affection and the ultimate sacrifice; of technological progress and climate catastrophe; of an enigmatic bear and a talking whale—The End of the World Is Bigger than Love is unlike anything you’ve read before.
 

"Deposited on an island, twins Summer and Winter try to survive and make sense of their world. Fast talking Summer's narration pulls you through the constantly shifting story, but perhaps it is Winter's tale all along.

Is it a treatise on love? Is it a Big Tech dystopia? Is it a survival story? Or is it an ode to the materially wealthy but terribly lonely child of professional parents? Definitely worth a read, make of it what you will."Maria

Behind Every Lie

 

By: Christina McDonald

Location: FIC MCD

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction

"An emotionally charged & intriguing storyline, realistic & believable familial dynamics, and a well-crafted & intense mystery. Would highly recommend!" Norma

“We aren’t defined by our tragedies, by our history, by our mistakes, but by pieces of love and sadness and happiness, and the whole range of human emotions we feel.” 

If you can’t remember it, how do you prove you didn’t do it?

Eva Hansen wakes in the hospital after being struck by lightning and discovers her mother, Kat, has been murdered. Eva was found unconscious down the street. She can’t remember what happened but the police are highly suspicious of her.

Determined to clear her name, Eva heads from Seattle to London—Kat’s former home—for answers. But as she unravels her mother’s carefully held secrets, Eva soon realizes that someone doesn’t want her to know the truth. And with violent memories beginning to emerge, Eva doesn’t know who to trust. Least of all herself.

Told in alternating perspectives from Eva’s search for answers and Kat’s mysterious past, Christina McDonald has crafted another “complex, emotionally intense” (Publishers Weekly) domestic thriller. Behind Every Lie explores the complicated nature of mother-daughter relationships, family trauma, and the danger behind long-held secrets. 

"Eva Hansen has been struck by lightning and wakes up covered in blood. Her mother was murdered, and Eva has no idea what happened, and why is she covered in blood?

Behind Every Lie is filled with twists and turns, and it kept me guessing and on my toes throughout. What’s most special about it, though, is the emotional mother-daughter relationship between Eva and Kat. I actually had to put the book aside because of the place I was in emotionally at the time - it was that visceral, powerful, authentic. I picked the book back up when I was ready, and I hugged it at the end. If you haven’t experienced Christina McDonald’s storytelling, you simply have to. Another five stars for her from me."- Jennifer- Goodreads

Truly Devious

 By: Maureen Johnson

Location: FIC JOH

Genre: Thriller

Series: Truly Devious #1

"Basically I solidly loved this. It just felt really refreshing and the writing was addictive and funny and had so much voice." Drew

New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson weaves a delicate tale of murder and mystery in the first book of a striking new series, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and E. Lockhart.

Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place,” he said, “where learning is a game.”

Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.” It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.

True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder. 

The two interwoven mysteries of this first book in the Truly Devious series dovetail brilliantly, and Stevie Bell will continue her relentless quest for the murderers in books two and three.

Mexican Gothic

 By: Silvia Moreno Garcia

Location: FIC MOR

Genre: Horror, Historical Fiction

"A little bit H. P. Lovecraft.
A little bit Alfred Hitchcock.
A lotta bit creepy old house.

Mexican Gothic is nonetheless a terrific read. I loved it. And I highly recommend it."- Melissa

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets

After receiving a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find - her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.

Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.

The Name Of All Things

 By: Jenn Lyons

Location: FIC LYO

Genre: Epic  Fantasy, Dragons

Series: A Chorus of Dragons #2

Prophesy and magic combine in The Name of All Things, Jenn Lyons' powerful epic of imperial politics, dragons, gods and demons.

You can have everything you want. If you sacrifice everything you believe . . .

Kihrin D’Mon is a wanted man after killing the Emperor of Quur – and not in a good way. So he heads for Jorat, to find the fourth person named in prophesy, who will either save or damn the world.

He meets Janel Theranon, who claims she already knows him. And she wants Kihrin’s help in saving Jorat’s capital from a dragon, who can only be slain with his sword’s magic. Unwittingly, Kirin also finds himself at the centre of a rebellion. One which puts him in direct opposition to Relos Var, his old enemy.

For too long, Janel’s battled the wizard alone – even betraying her ideals to bring him down. However, Var owns one of the world’s most powerful artefacts: the Name of All Things. It bestows knowledge, which Var uses to gain what he wants most. This is now Kihrin D’Mon – and the world may not survive the consequences.

The Name of All Things is book two in Jenn Lyons' thrilling epic fantasy series, A Chorus of Dragons, which began with The Ruin of Kings.

'What an extraordinary book . . . everything epic fantasy should be: rich, cruel, gorgeous, brilliant, enthralling and deeply deeply satisfying. I loved it' – Lev Grossman on The Ruin of Kings