To Steal a Heart

To Steal a Heart 

By Jen Turano

Bethany House, 2020. 361 pgs. Romance

Gabriella Goodhue had put her past as a thief behind her, until a woman in her boardinghouse is unjustly accused and she is caught gathering evidence by Nicholas Quinn, a fellow street urchin against whom she holds a grudge. Nicholas refuses to lose her twice and insists they join forces-but their feelings are tested when danger follows their every step.

This was a fun change from the normal Regency romance. Both of the main characters were not born into high society, and it was refreshing to have a different point of view. It was also interesting to consider how society didn't take women seriously and that there was a need for an investigation agency made up of women so that someone would actually listen to them and help them. This was my first time reading anything by Jen Turano. I loved how she weaved humor, mystery and romance into a very engaging story. 

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The Gentleman and the Thief

By Sarah M. Eden

Shadow Mountain,  2020. 356 pgs. Romance

Ana Newport, ostensibly a music tutor, leads a secret life as a petty burglar, but then meets Hollis Darby, a gentleman who secretly writes penny dreadfuls. Can they successfully lead double lives and still find love together?

At Love's Command

By Karen Witemeyer

Bethany House, 2020. 377 pgs. Romance

Ex-cavalry officer Matthew Hanger leads a band of mercenaries who defend the innocent, but when a rustler's bullet leaves one of them at death's door, they seek out help from Dr. Josephine Burkett. When Josephine's brother is abducted and she is caught in the crossfire, Matthew may have to sacrifice everything--even his team--to save her.

The Secret of the India Orchid

By Nancy Campbell Allen

Shadow Mountain, 2017. 314 pgs. 

Abandoning his courtship of his best friend’s sister, Anthony Blake continues his role as a spy for the British Crown, leaving a heartbroken Sophia Elliot to distract herself in India where she becomes enmeshed in a plot that could involve the prince.

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The Inspired Houseplant

The Inspired Houseplant: Transform Your Home With Indoor Plants

By Jen Stearns

Sasquatch Books, 2019. 192 pages. Nonfiction

The ultimate go-to guide for aspiring indoor gardeners, this book offers inspiration and instruction to envision and create your own gorgeous in-home garden spaces. With plentiful images and a distinctly modern and sophisticated feel, this book imparts both easy-to-follow advice and creative garden-design inspiration. Whether you are looking to pick a statement plant for your living room, create a terrarium centerpiece, or arrange an artful display of air plants, this book will provide the tools you need. 

I'll be honest, one of the main reasons I picked up this book was because it is so pretty. It has great graphic, type, and color schemes which make the book very readable. In addition, the author seems to really understand people like me whose plants might need some extra help. I love all the helpful pictures and charts because they are so simple and clear. We'll see in a few months if the changes I made to my houseplants pay off, but so far, I'm feeling pretty confident! 

If you like The Inspired Houseplant, you might also like: 

Decorating With Plants

By Baylor Chapman

Workman Publishing Co., 2019. 272 pages. Nonfiction

This book walks readers through everything they need to know to bring houseplants into their home from assessing light conditions to tricks for keeping plants alive while on vacation. 

How To Grow Your Dinner Without Leaving The House

By Claire Ratinon

Laurence King Publishing, 2020. 128 pages. Nonfiction

A vegetable garden is not an option for everyone, and so container growing has become desirable for people with little outside space. The book covers all the essentials of growing a range of edible plants in pots and meeting each crop's specific needs.

Plant Parenting 

By Leslie Halleck

Timber Press, 2019. 255 pages. Nonfiction

In this beginner-friendly introduction to plant propagation, Halleck details the basic tools necessary, demystifies seed starting and saving, and shares easy-to-follow instructions for the most practical techniques for cutting, layering, dividing, and more. She also provides information on controlling pests and diseases, and transplanting seedlings and cuttings. 

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Instructions for Dancing

 Instructions for Dancing 

by Nicola Yoon 

Delacorte Press, 2021. 285 pages. Young Adult Fiction 

After picking up a book, Instructions for Dancing, from a local little library, high school senior, Evie--who has given up on love--gains the ability to see how other people's romantic relationships will end. When a couple kisses, she can see how the relationship began, how it is going now, and how it will eventually end. At first these visions just solidify Evie’s resolve to not believe in love. Then, in an attempt to understand the visions, she follows the address in the book she picked up from the library. The address leads to a dance school. And suddenly Evie is enrolled in dance classes with a charming and handsome boy. Will dancing lead her to her happy ever after? 

This book is love note to romance novels, ballroom dance, and complicated family relationships. With engaging and well-crafted dialogue, Yoon weaves a tale of character driven, magical realism that has you rooting for the couple in the end. I was swept away in the romance of the story and left pondering the end for days after I finished it.  

 If you like Instructions for Dancing, you might also like: 

 

I Wanna Be Where You Are 

by Kristina Forest 

When Chloe Pierce's mom forbids her to apply for a spot at the dance conservatory of her dreams, she devises a secret plan to drive two hundred miles to the nearest audition. But Chloe hits her first speed bump when her annoying neighbor Eli insists upon hitching a ride, threatening to tell Chloe's mom if she leaves him and his smelly dog, Geezer, behind. So now Chloe's chasing her ballet dreams down the east coast--two unwanted (but kinda cute) passengers in her car, butterflies in her stomach, and a really dope playlist on repeat. 

Loveboat, Taipei 

by Abigail Hing Wen 

Ever Wong just wants to dance. She has been on dance squad and color guard; she choreographs all their dances, and she lives and breathes ballet. But Ever Wong has very determined parents who have decided that she is going to be a doctor. Her father was a doctor in Taiwan, but his degree didn't carry over when they came to the US. Her parents have scrimped and saved for Ever to get into medical school. And Ever does! She makes it into Northwestern University. But she also makes it into dance school. Ever knows her parents will never approve of her dancing so she ends up declining dance school. Before she can grieve too deeply, her parents send her away to a Taiwanese immersion program that will take up the rest of her summer. While there she discovers that the program is nick-named the Loveboat because everyone hooks up during their stay in Taiwan. Every kid is smart. Almost every kid is rich. And all they want to do is sneak out at night and go to dance parties. Ever thought that she would hate the program, but she soon makes a circle of friends, including several very handsome boys. Normal teenage drama ensues, including the obligatory love triangle, and Ever has to decide how to deal with this drama while also trying to figure out who she really is and wants to become.

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The Only Good Indians

The Only Good Indians  

by Stephen Graham Jones 

Saga Press, 2020. 310 pages. 

Four American Indian men from the Blackfeet Nation, who were childhood friends, find themselves in a desperate struggle for their lives, against an entity that wants to exact revenge upon them for what they did during an elk hunt ten years earlier. 

Stephen Graham Jones’s debut novel is stunning and is a refreshing and unique voice in the horror genre. This is a great read for the Fall season when the Elk can be heard bugling in the mountains and hunting season is under way. If you’re looking for a spooky and unique read for the season, look no further.

If you like The Only Good Indians, you may also like:

Big Little Lies 

by Liane Moriarty

GP Putnam’s Sons, 2014. 460 pages.

This story follows three mothers, each at a crossroads, and their potential involvement in a riot at a school trivia night that leaves one parent dead in what appears to be a tragic accident, but which evidence shows might have been premeditated.

Certain Dark Things 

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Tor Nightfire, 2021. 254 pages.

Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life.

Gathering Moss

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Oregon State University Press: 2002. 168 pages. Nonfiction

 Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering moss is a mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses. In this series of linked personal essays, Robin Kimmerer leads general readers and scientists alike to an understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings. Kimmerer explains the biology of mosses clearly and artfully, while at the same time reflecting on what these fascinating organisms have to teach us. Drawing on her experiences as a scientist, a mother, and a Native American, Kimmerer explains the stories of mosses in scientific terms as well as in the framework of indigenous ways of knowing. In her book, the natural history and cultural relationships of mosses become a powerful metaphor for ways of living in the world.

If you like Gathering Moss you might also like...

The Hidden Life of Trees

by Peter Wholleben

Greystone Books. 2016. 272 pages. Nonfiction

Are trees social beings? In The Hidden Life of Trees forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in his woodland.

The Secret Life of Lobsters

by Trevor Corson

Harper Collins. 2004. 289 pages. Nonfiction

In this intimate portrait of an island lobstering community and an eccentric band of renegade biologists, journalist Trevor Corson escorts the reader onto the slippery decks of fishing boats, through danger-filled scuba dives, and deep into the churning currents of the Gulf of Maine to learn about the secret undersea lives of lobsters.

The World in a Grain

by Vince Beiser

Riverhead Books. 2018. 294 pages. Nonfiction

The gripping story of the most important overlooked commodity in the world -- sand -- and the crucial role it plays in our lives. After water and air, sand is the natural resource that we consume more than any other -- even more than oil. Every concrete building and paved road on Earth, every computer screen and silicon chip, is made from sand. From Egypt's pyramids to the Hubble telescope, from the world's tallest skyscraper to the sidewalk below it, from Chartres' stained-glass windows to the smartphone in your hand, sand shelters us, connects us, and inspires us. It's the ingredient that makes possible our cities, our science, our lives -- and our future. And, incredibly, we're running out of it. 

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Second First Impressions

Second First Impressions: a Novel
by Sally Thorne
William Morrow, 2021. 336 pages. Romance

Young and beautiful Ruthie, the retirement villa’s manager, is an old soul looking for a man who wants to snuggle up on the couch and watch her favorite shows. Despite her coworker’s pleas to set her up, Ruthie’s demanding job and trauma over her previous relationship make her reluctant to seek out love. When the CEO of the company that has acquired the retirement community coerces his carefree son, Teddy, to work for Ruthie while living on the property, she finds that maybe love is just next door.

This fun and quirky romance between two unlikely people is a lot of fun to read. Complete with a cast of characters that deserve their own book, Second First Impressions will have you laughing and rooting for Ruthie and Teddy the whole way through.

If you like Second First Impressions, then you might like:

Evvie Drake Starts Over
by Linda Holmes
Ballantine Books, 2019. 293 pages. Fiction

Evvie Drake has spent her whole life in Calcasset, Maine, and doesn’t feel as sad about her widowhood as she believes she should—possibly because she was packing up to leave her husband when she got the call about his deadly car accident. Then Dean Tenney, a former New York Yankees pitcher who has inexplicably lost his amazing pitching ability, comes to Maine to retreat from the media. 

People We Meet on Vacation
by Emily Henry
Jove, 2021. 364 pages. Romance

Poppy Wright met Alex Nilsen 12 years ago on the first day of college orientation, and they never got along—until a road trip from Chicago back to their neighboring Ohio towns, which sparked a deep friendship and a tradition of taking a yearly summer vacation together. But Poppy and Alex haven’t spoken much since a disastrous trip two summers ago, and the details of what triggered their falling out are teased maddeningly slowly. When Poppy realizes that what she wants most in the world is to have Alex back in her life, she arranges a shoestring-budget vacation to Palm Springs that she hopes will fix everything.

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The Rabbit Effect

The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness
By Kelli Harding
Simon & Schuster Audio, 2019. 288 pages. Nonfiction 

In 1978, a seemingly straightforward experiment designed to establish the relationship between high blood cholesterol and heart health in rabbits discovered that kindness—in the form of a particularly nurturing post-doc who pet and spoke to the lab rabbits as she fed them—made the difference between a heart attack and a healthy heart. As Dr. Kelli Harding reveals in this eye-opening book, the rabbits were just the beginning of a much larger story. Groundbreaking new research shows that love, friendship, community, and our environment can have a greater impact on our health than anything that happens in the doctor's office. 

This was a fascinating read, focusing on how the treatment of those around us can have a significant impact on health. Is surrounding yourself with a loving support system going to cure all your ills? No, of course not, but this book suggests it can provide health benefits that can’t be replicated by modern medicine. I found this book inspiring, heartwarming, and every time I think about it I want to be a better person and surround myself with good people. That definitely improves my life. 

If you liked The Rabbit Effect, you might also like: 

Radical Kindness: The Life-Changing Power of Giving and Receiving
By Angela C. Santomero
Harper Audio, 2019. 240 pages. Nonfiction 

Angela C. Santomero, the creator, executive producer, and head writer of many of today's most popular educational children's shows believes in the radical power of kindness, on her shows, and in her life. From the true meaning of self-care and the gift of vulnerability to the importance of active listening or the magic of asking for help, this audiobook goes beyond The Golden Rule and entreaties to 'be nice,' contending that kindness is the key to recognizing love and understanding. 

Friendshipping: The Art of Finding Friends, Being Friends, and Keeping Friends
By Jenn Bane and Trin Garritano
Workman Publishing, 2020. 211 pages. Nonfiction 

Jenn Bane and Trin Garritano, hosts of the feel-good podcast Friendshipping, know how hard it can be to make and keep great friends. They’ve distilled the heart of their show into this book to help provide tips and tools readers need to make new pals and improve the quality of existing friendships. Insightful, empathetic, and just a touch irreverent, the advice stresses practicality, self-forgiveness, and inclusivity to help you make friendships that are fulfilling, accepting, and lasting. 

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When the Stars Go Dark

When the Stars Go Dark

by Paula McLain

Ballantine Books, 2021. 370 pages. Mystery/Thriller

Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in 1990s San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When unspeakable tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the place where she once was the happiest: the Northern California village of Mendocino. Yet the day she arrives, she learns a local teenage girl has gone missing. Anna is in no condition to become involved with the search, but she feels drawn to the case. The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna's childhood, when a similar missing persons case touched Mendocino.

On the surface, writing a thriller might seem like a big departure for McLain, who is known for her historical fiction about the lives of fascinating real-life women. However, McLain has played to her strengths with this book, setting the mystery adjacent to an actual missing persons case; that of Polly Klaas. It’s McLain’s skill at fleshing out both realistic characters and places that helps this thriller come alive.

Anna herself is an interesting character: it’s her own sense of loss and grief, and her compassion for others who might feel the same way, that drives her to help. Readers will follow Anna along every twist and turn of the case, and will feel the same urgency Anna feels to solve it.

If you like When the Stars Go Dark, you might also like:

The Last Thing He Told Me

by Laura Dave

Simon & Shuster, 2021. 306 pages. Mystery/Thriller

When her husband of one year disappears, Hannah Hall’s only warning is a cryptic note stating “Protect her.” Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen's 16-year-old daughter, Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn't who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen's true identity—and why he really disappeared.

The Great Alone

by Kristin Hannah

St Martin’s Press, 2018. 440 pages. Historical Fiction

Those who love McLain's literary yet urgent writing style and detailed sense of place in When the Stars Go Dark will also enjoy this book. Lenora Allbright is 13 when her father, Ernt, convinces her mother, Cora, to forgo their inauspicious existence in Seattle and move to Kaneq, Alaska. It's 1974, and the former Vietnam POW sees a better future away from the noise and nightmares that plague him. But never was a family less prepared for the reality of Alaska: the long, cold winters and isolation. Locals want to help out, but the harsh conditions bring out the worst in Ernt, whose paranoia takes over their lives.

My Story

by Elizabeth Smart

St. Martin’s Press, 2013. 308 pages. Biography

For those who are interested in books about the escape of real-life abducted teenagers, this book, and Jaycee Dugard’s book, are great options. Ten years after her abduction from her Salt Lake City bedroom, Elizabeth Smart reveals how she survived and the secret to forging a new life in the wake of a brutal crime. 

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Ciudad Negra

Ciudad Negra
Por Fernando Gamboa
Ediciones B, 2013. 565 páginas. Fantasía

El profesor Castillo cita con urgencia a Cassandra y a Ulises y les explica, angustiado, que su hija Valeria ha desaparecido misteriosamente en el territorio más remoto y peligroso de la Tierra. Desesperado, el profesor ha resuelto partir en su busca cuanto antes, y les ruega a Ulises y a Cassie que lo acompañen. Incapaces de disuadirlo ni de dejarle ir solo, ambos aceptan a regañadientes ayudar a su viejo amigo en el intento de rescate, y así los tres, una vez más, se embarcarán en una temeraria aventura hacia lo desconocido. Ni el profesor ni Cassandra ni Ulises lo saben aún, pero en el lugar al que se dirigen se encontrarán con una legendaria ciudad que ningún humano ha habitado en miles de años. Una ciudad imposible, colmada de enigmas y maravillas. Una ciudad en la que descubrirán, demasiado tarde, que ... no están solos.

Si le gusta «Ciudad Negra» le recomendamos:

La Red de Alice
Por Kate Quinn

Suma de letras, 2020. 573 páginas. Ficción

1947. La joven americana Charlie St. Clair está embarazada, soltera y a punto de ser expulsada de su muy decente familia. Mientras su mundo se viene abajo, su única ilusión es la débil esperanza de que su amada prima Rose, que desapareció en la Francia ocupada por los nazis durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, siga viva. 

1915. Un año después del estallido de la Gran Guerra, Eve Gardiner está deseando unirse a la lucha contra los alemanes, así que no duda un instante cuando es reclutada como espía de la organización clandestina conocida como «la red de Alice». Tres décadas más tarde, obsesionada por la traición que destruyó la red, Eve pasa sus días entre botellas de alcohol encerrada en su ruinosa casa de Londres. Hasta que una joven americana aparece en su puerta pronunciando un nombre que Eve no ha escuchado desde hace décadas y embarcada en una misión: averiguar la verdad sin importar a dónde conduzca. Heroísmo, amor y suspense en una apasionante novela inspirada en el episodio histórico real de la red de mujeres espías que salvó a más de mil soldados de la muerte.

La Chica Nueva
Por Daniel Silva
HarperCollinsEspañol, 2020. 432 páginas. Ficción

Un aire de misterio envuelve a una de las nuevas alumnas de un exclusivo colegio privado en Suiza. Se trata de una hermosa chica de lustrosa melena azabache que llega todas las mañas escoltada por una caravana digna de un jefe de estado. Se dice que es hija de un poderoso empresario, pero es en realidad hija del príncipe heredero de Arabia Saudí. Cuando la joven es despiadadamente secuestrada, el príncipe acude al único capaz de rescatarla antes de que sea demasiado tarde: Gabriel Allon. Llena de trampas y sorpresas, La chica nueva es una cautivadora novela de espionaje en la que Daniel Silva hace un retrato magistral a la vez que un agudo repaso al volátil escenario de las relaciones internacionales.

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Etiquetas: Español, Ficción, Fantasía, Ficción Juvenil, Ficción Histórico, Audio Libro 

One of Us is Lying

One of Us is Lying 

by Karen M. McManus 

Delacorte Press, 2017. 360 pages. Young Adult Fiction 

Pay close attention and you might solve this. On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. 

Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. 

Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. 

Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. 

Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. 

And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app. 

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose? Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them. 

Although this book had a lot of stereotypes when it came to characters it was still fast-paced and engaging. It switches perspectives from all four characters letting you get to know them and their lives. It was so interesting to read from so many viewpoints and yet still not trust them since even from the reader they were keeping secrets. If you are a fan of mysteries then you will enjoy this book. 

 If you like One of Us is Lying, you might also like: 

Truly Devious

by Marueen Johnson

Katherine Tegen Books, 2018. 420 pages. Young Adult Fiction 

When Stevie Bell, an amateur detective, begins her first year at a famous private school in Vermont, she sets a plan to solve the cold case involving the kidnapping of the founder's wife and daughter shortly after the school opened. 

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs 

by Caitlin Doughty 

Norton & Company, 2019. 222 pages. Nonfiction 

Best-selling author and mortician Caitlin Doughty answers real questions from kids about death, dead bodies, and decomposition. Every day, funeral director Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death. The best questions come from kids. What would happen to an astronaut's body if it were pushed out of a space shuttle? Do people poop when they die? Can Grandma have a Viking funeral? In Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, Doughty blends her mortician's knowledge of the body and the intriguing history behind common misconceptions about corpses to offer factual, hilarious, and candid answers to thirty-five distinctive questions posed by her youngest fans. In her inimitable voice, Doughty details lore and science of what happens to, and inside, our bodies after we die. Why do corpses groan? What causes bodies to turn colors during decomposition? And why do hair and nails appear longer after death? Readers will learn the best soil for mummifying your body, whether you can preserve your best friend's skull as a keepsake, and what happens when you die on a plane. 

The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & the Trial of the Century 

by Sarah Miller 

Schwarts & Wade Books, 2016. 288 pages. Young Adult Nonfiction 

Examine the Borden murders, using newspaper articles to recreate the events and the trial and acquittal of Lizzie Borden while exploring Lizzie's story to theorize on what may have happened. 

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