5339 books

The leavers by Lisa Ko (2014)

"One morning, Deming Guo's mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant named Polly, goes to her job at the nail salon and never comes home. With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left with no one to care for him. He is eventually adopted by two white college professors who move him from the Bronx to a small town upstate. Set in New York and China, the Leavers is the story of how one boy comes into his own when everything he's loved has been taken away--and how a mother learns to live with the mistakes of her past"--

Conviction by Denise Mina (2019)

An upper-class Edinburgh housewife who enjoys listening to the sordid details of true-crime podcasts has her world turned upside down when a new podcast turns out to have connections to her own dark past.

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (2019)

With her daughter to care for and her abuela to help support, high school senior Emoni Santiago has to make the tough decisions, and do what must be done. The one place she can let her responsibilities go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness. Still, she knows she doesn’t have enough time for her school’s new culinary arts class, doesn’t have the money for the class’s trip to Spain — and shouldn’t still be dreaming of someday working in a real kitchen. But even with all the rules she has for her life — and all the rules everyone expects her to play by — once Emoni starts cooking, her only real choice is to let her talent break free

Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson (2019)

Henrietta and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Hen is an illustrator, works nearby, and has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. When they meet the neighbors next door, she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband's office shelf: a sports trophy exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen has long had been obsessed with this unsolved murder. Could her neighbor, Matthew, be a killer? Or is this the beginning of another psychotic episode like the one she suffered back in college, when she became so consumed with proving a fellow student guilty that she ended up hurting a classmate? The more Hen observes Matthew, the more she suspects he's planning something truly terrifying. Yet no one will believe her. Then one night, when she comes face to face with Matthew in a dark parking lot, she realizes that he knows she's been watching him, that she's really on to him. And that this is the beginning of a horrifying nightmare she may not live to escape. . . -- adapted from jacket.

A twist of the knife by Becky Masterman (2016)

"Ex-FBI agent Brigid Quinn, now happily settled in Tucson, doesn't visit her family in Florida much. But her former partner on the force, Laura Coleman--a woman whose life she has saved and who has saved her life in turn--is living there now. So when Laura calls about a case that is not going well, Brigid doesn't hesitate to get on a plane. On leave from the Bureau, Laura has been volunteering for a legal group trying to prove the innocence of a man who is on death row for killing his family. Laura is firmly convinced that he didn't do it, while Brigid isn't so sure--but the date for his execution is coming up so quickly that they'll have to act fast to find any evidence that may absolve him before it's too late...Edgar Award and CWA Gold Dagger finalist Becky Masterman's third Brigid Quinn novel is the masterful follow-up to Fear the Darkness and Rage Against the Dying. "--

The devil and Webster by Jean Hanff Korelitz (2017)

The first woman president of an elite progressive college responds to student protests about a popular professor's tenure denial before the group's controversial leader emerges and shocking acts of vandalism begin to destabilize the campus.

Erotic stories for Punjabi widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal (2017)

After her father's death, Nikki, who has spent most of her life distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community, takes a job teaching a creative writing course in the heart of the Punjabi community. Nikki has spent most of her life distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community. After her father's death she takes a job teaching a creative writing course in the heart of the Punjabi community. When one of the women students brings a book of erotica to class, Nicki use it as the basis for helping these modest women unleash creativity by telling their own stories.

Skeleton for dinner by Margery Cuyler (2013)

Big Witch and Little Witch have made stew and want to invite their friends to eat with them, but Skeleton mistakes the guest list for a menu and takes off to warn Ghost and Ghoul, who hide with him in the haunted forest.

The engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan (2013)

From the bestselling author of Maine and Commencement comes a big, sprawling novel about marriage - about those who marry in a white heat of passion, those who marry for partnership and comfort, and those who live together, love each other, and have absolutely no intention of ruining it with a wedding. Weaving them all together, Sullivan gives us a sharply observed, witty, irresistible portrait of the thorny, joyful and complicated union that is marriage.

Beguiled by Heather Graham (2006)

Ally Grayson never wanted to be a heroine—she dreamed of writing great stories, not living in a fairy tale. But when she's abducted by a charming highwayman right out of a novel, Ally finds herself thoroughly enchanted. No matter that she's betrothed to another—or that she has no intention of binding herself in an arranged marriage anyway. But when Mark, her burdensome fiancé, is revealed to be none other than the rogue of her dreams, Ally must make a choice: plunge into a world of murder and deceit without a protector, or place her trust in the man who lies to her but makes her heart sing. Regency Trilogy: Wicked (Regency Trilogy, #1) Reckless (Regency Trilogy, #2) Beguiled (Regency Trilogy, #3)

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (2006)

From the back cover: World famous poet Robert Gu missed twenty years of progress while he nearly died from Alzheimer's. Now, when he awakens in San Diego, in the year 2025, with his mind and health restored, reality's a shock. Books are just about gone. Computers are old news, replaced by "smart" contact lenses that connect him to the Internet via his clothes and wireless nodes just about everywhere. Buildings look low rent -- unless you're wearing. Then, they look like whatever you want. Even he is different. He's seventy-five, but his treatment has made him look almost a teen. And that's just the tip of the iceberg in the new Digital Age. As Gu tries to catch up with his future, a mysterious stranger draws him and other innocents into a conspiracy that could have disastrous consequences. Before he knows it, he's in so deep that even his high-ranking military son and daughter-in-law are clueless. His only hope -- the world's only hope -- is that his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Miri and her secret friend, Mr. Rabbit, might be able to keep the worst from happening....

Unbelievably boring Bart by James Patterson (2018)

Brainy twelve-year-old Bart attracts little attention at his new middle school near Hollywood, California, but whenever he can get around his gym-coach father, he secretly hunts electricity-guzzling aliens.

Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco (2018)

In 1889, the ship Etruria departs Liverpool, England, for New York carrying Audrey Rose Wadsworth and her crime-solving partner, Thomas, a famous escape artist, and a cold-blooded killer.-- 1889. Audrey Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell, are en route to New York on the opulent RMS Etruria. When young women begin to go missing, a series of brutal slayings shocks the entire ship. As Audrey Rose and Thomas begin to piece together the gruesome investigation, the clues to the next victim point to someone she loves. Can Audrey Rose unravel the mystery before the killer's horrifying finale? -- adapted from jacket.

The valley of amazement by Amy Tan (2013)

Violet Minturn, a half-Chinese/half-American courtesan who deals in seduction and illusion in Shanghai, struggles to find her place in the world, while her mother, Lucia, tries to make sense of the choices she has made and the men who have shaped her.