Books ordered for February

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Synopsis

A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.

 

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

 

Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.

 

 

Heartwood by Belva Plain

 

Synopsis

Few authors have understood the tender intricacies of relationships better than the incomparable Belva Plain. For three decades her deeply moving epics have captivated the hearts and imaginations of readers everywhere. Now, in her final novel, she comes full circle with the themes she took up in her very first work, Evergreen, bringing us this unforgettable story of family and friendship, love and marriage, the challenges of life and the true secret of happiness.
 
Though Iris Stern considers herself a modern woman, with a successful academic career and a happy marriage, she still holds steadfast to her old-fashioned sensibilities. But as the mother of three adult children, each with their own lives and burdens to bear, she often finds those sensibilities called into question when confronted with the choices her children have made.
 
For one of Iris’s daughters, it’s the choice of a fresh start in New York City—and a last chance to save her troubled marriage. While Laura and Robbie cope with an impending separation and its effect on Iris’s young granddaughter, Iris herself must come to grips with the discovery of a long-held family secret. But it’s an emotional parting of another kind that looms most prominently on Iris’s horizon—as neither her beloved husband, nor the solidity of her own marriage, is immune to the ravages of time.
 
Through separations and reunions, the changes we cannot avoid and the love that sustains, Iris will weather whatever lies ahead with a faith that cannot be shaken. Like the inmost rings of a tree that abide through the generations, she will be as strong as heartwood.
 
 

Angel (Maximum Ride Series #7) by James Patterson

 

Synopsis

In the seventh book in the bestselling series, evil scientists are still trying to convince Max that she needs to save the world, this time by providing the genetic link in speeding up the pace of evolution. Worse, they're trying to convince her that her perfect mate is Dylan, the newest addition to the flock. The problem is that, despite herself, Max is starting to believe it.

 
Fang travels the country collecting his own gang of evolved humans, but the two separate flocks must unite to defeat a frightening doomsday cult whose motto is Save the Planet: Kill the Humans. And this time, the true heroine, for once, might just be little Angel.
 
 
 
 

Think Twice (Rosato and Associates Series #13) by Lisa Scottoline

 

Synopsis

From the blockbuster New York Times bestselling author of Look Again comes a novel that makes you question the nature of evil: is it born in us or is it bred?

Bennie Rosato looks exactly like her identical twin, Alice Connolly, but the darkness in Alice's soul makes them two very different women. Or at least that's what Bennie believes, until she finds herself buried alive at the hands of her twin. Meanwhile, Alice takes over Bennie's life, impersonating her at work and even seducing her boyfriend in order to escape the deadly mess she has made of her own life. But Alice underestimates Bennie and the evil she has unleashed in her twin's psyche, as well as Bennie's determination to stay alive long enough to exact revenge. Bennie must face the twisted truth that she is more like her sister Alice than she could have ever imagined, and by the novel's shocking conclusion, Bennie finds herself engaged in a war she cannot win--with herself.

The Twelfth Insight: The Hour of Decision by James Redfield

Synopsis

James Redfield's prophetic Celestine series continues with a revealing novel about the lifting of tension after a numbing onslaught of religious wars and global conflict. A spiritual message conveyed in a suspenseful tale. Ripe for crossover readers.

The fourth book in the Celestine series is an adventure tale, both suspenseful and contemplative, that builds on the insights introduced in Redfield's previous books. "The Twelfth Insight" describes a new wave of religious tolerance that is now silently arriving, in reaction to watching years of religious warfare and political corruption.

West of Here by Jonathan Evison

Synopsis

An epic western adventure wrapped in the history of one small town, set in two time frames: the past, as the founders rush toward the future, and the present, as their descendants struggle with the past.

A century after the late-19th-century settlers of Olympic Peninsula to the west of Seattle set out to build a dam, their descendants want to demolish it to bring back fish runs, providing one of the many plots in this satisfyingly meaty work from Evison (All About Lulu). The scenes of the early settlers track an expedition into the Olympic wilderness and the evolving relations between settlers and the Klallam tribe, provide insights into early feminism, and outline an entrepreneur's dream to build the all-important dam. By comparison, the contemporary stories are chock-full of modern woe and malaise, including a Bigfoot watcher and seafood plant worker who wishes to relive his glory days as a high school basketball star; an ex-convict who sets out into the wilderness to live off the land; and an environmental scientist who is hit with an unexpected development. Evison does a terrific job at creating a sense of place as he skips back and forth across the century, cutting between short chapters to sustain a propulsive momentum while juggling a sprawling network of plots and a massive cast of characters real enough to walk off the page. A big novel about the discovery and rediscovery of nature, starting over, and the sometimes piercing reverberations of history, this is a damn fine book.

Treachery in Death (In Death Series #32) by J. D. Robb

Synopsis

In a New York City fifty years in the future, Detective Eve Dallas tracks down those who break the law — including the ones sworn to uphold it.

Eve Dallas and her partner, Peabody, are following up on a brutal, senseless crime — an elderly grocery owner killed by three stoned punks for nothing more than kicks and snacks. And for the first time, Peabody is primary detective on the case, which means she has to get used to a new level of authority and responsibility. Good thing she learned the ropes from a master like Eve.

But after rounding up the perps, Peabody stumbles upon a much trickier situation. Determined to start working out as hard as she grills suspects, she chooses to do it at the old, rarely-used gym at Central. After a grueling workout, she squeezes into one of the narrow shower stalls, happy to have the place to herself. Just after she shuts the water off, the gym door clatters open — and while she cringes inside the stall, trying not to make a sound, Peabody overhears two fellow officers, Garnet and Oberman, arguing. References are made to delivering product, and a house in the islands, and someone named Keener who’s supposed to look like an OD. It doesn’t take long for a naked and vulnerable Peabody to realize that both officers are crooked — guilty not just of corruption but of murder as well. Fortunately, the two clear out of the locker room without realizing there was a witness.

Eve Dallas may have trained Peabody well — but this is too dangerous for one person to take on alone. Now Peabody, Eve, and her husband, Roarke, must try to get the hard evidence they need to bring the dirty cops down — knowing all the while that the two have already killed to keep their secret, and are no doubt willing to do it again.

Snow Secrets by Lynn Levine (Junior Fiction)

Synopsis

Sarah and Jasmine, both sixth graders, venture into the woods with Tess, an Abenaki woman, and learn the art of tracking. Mysteries await them at every turn. When they return home, they learn that Boots, Sarah's cat, is missing. On their own, the girls use their recently acquired skills to search for Boots. The girls have very different ways of learning. Sarah is school smart, while Jasmine learns more about the world from the out-of-doors. Sarah has trouble riding horses, while Jasmine excels. Although they are jealous of each other, they must learn to work as a team

Snow Secrets is geared for children ages 8-12

Pujols: More Than the Game by Scott Lamb, Tim Ellsworth

Synopsis

A powerful story of the athleticism and strong faith of Albert Pujols, one of the all-time greatest baseball players.

It is for good reason that Albert Pujols routinely tops the list of the greatest players in modern Major League Baseball. Even before turning thirty, Pujols has accrued batting totals that most players only dream of gaining over the course of an entire career.
Among all Major Leaguers who ever played the game, Pujols already ranks in the top twenty in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and adjusted on-base plus slugging. In simple terms, he is one of the greatest offensive players to in baseball history.

Pujols hit 201 home runs in his first five seasons, placing him in second place all-time for the most homers hit during a player's first five years. Not stopping there, in 2009 he reached the 350-home run mark at a younger age than anyone except Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez. By doing so, he also surpassed the record for most home runs in the first nine years of a career, breaking the mark established by Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner way back in 1954. And speaking of nine seasons, Pujols now stands as the only player ever to begin a career with nine consecutive years of 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in. And that's just for starters.

But when the adulation comes his way, Pujols points people to an even greater hero, directing them to Christ. "At the end of the day," he says, "as long as I glorify him, and those 45,000 people know who I represent out there every time I step out on the field, that's what it's about. It's about representing God." Albert Pujols: Bigger than the Game will satisfy MLB fans who like their baseball slathered in amazing stats, and it will shed light on the faith that Pujols says makes it all possible.

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Synopsis

A thrilling epic about an ancient clash reignited in our time- between a hidden society and heaven's darkest creatures There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Genesis 6:5 Sister Evangeline was just a girl when her father entrusted her to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in upstate New York. Now, at twenty-three, her discovery of a 1943 letter from the famous philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller to the late mother superior of Saint Rose Convent plunges Evangeline into a secret history that stretches back a thousand years: an ancient conflict between the Society of Angelologists and the monstrously beautiful descendants of angels and humans, the Nephilim. For the secrets these letters guard are desperately coveted by the once-powerful Nephilim, who aim to perpetuate war, subvert the good in humanity, and dominate mankind. Generations of angelologists have devoted their lives to stopping them, and their shared mission, which Evangeline has long been destined to join, reaches from her bucolic abbey on the Hudson to the apex of insular wealth in New York, to the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris and the mountains of Bulgaria. Rich in history, full of mesmerizing characters, and wondrously conceived, Angelology blends biblical lore, the myth of Orpheus and the Miltonic visions of Paradise Lost into a riveting tale of ordinary people engaged in a battle that will determine the fate of the world.

Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Synopsis

Introducing Gideon Crew: trickster, prodigy, master thief

GIDEON'S SWORD

 
At twelve, Gideon Crew witnessed his father, a world-class mathematician, accused of treason and gunned down.
 
At twenty-four, summoned to his dying mother's bedside, Gideon learned the truth: His father was framed and deliberately slaughtered. With her last breath, she begged her son to avenge him.
Now, with a new purpose in his life, Gideon crafts a one-time mission of vengeance, aimed at the perpetrator of his father's destruction. His plan is meticulous, spectacular, and successful.
 
But from the shadows, someone is watching. A very powerful someone, who is impressed by Gideon's special skills. Someone who has need of just such a renegade.
 
For Gideon, this operation may be only the beginning . . .
 
 

A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer

 

Synopsis

The New York Times bestselling author and master of suspense delivers another novel at the crossroads of politics and medicine in this shocker of a thriller

 
On the night of the State of the Union address, President James Allaire expects to give the speech of his career. But no one anticipates the terrifying turn of events that forces him to quarantine everyone in the Capitol building. A terrorist group calling itself “Genesis” has unleashed WRX3883, a deadly, highly contagious virus, into the building. No one fully knows the deadly effect of the germ except for the team responsible for its development—a team headed by Allaire, himself. The only one who might be able to help is virologist Griffin Rhodes, currently in solitary confinement in a maximum security federal prison for alleged terrorist acts, including the attempted theft of WRX3883 from the lab where he worked. Rhodes has no idea why he has been arrested, but when Allaire offers to free him in exchange for his help combating the virus, he reluctantly agrees to do what he can to support the government that has imprisoned him without apparent cause.
 
Meanwhile, every single person in line for presidential succession is trapped inside the Capitol—every person except one: the Director of Homeland Security, who is safely at home in Minnesota, having been selected as the “Designated Survivor” for this event. With enemies both named and unnamed closing in, and the security of the nation at stake, Griff must unravel the mysteries of WRX3883 without violating his pledge as a scientist to use no animal testing in his experiments…and time is running out.
 
Tense, thrilling, and entirely plausible, A Heartbeat Away will make you reflect, wonder, and be truly afraid.