This is a book about plagues. More surprisingly, it’s a humorous book about plagues. Jennifer Wright, author of It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History, manages to balance being informative about a very depressing topic while maintaining a witty, upbeat writing style. The book progresses chronologically from ancient and medieval plagues into the modern day, with each chapter covering one plague (such as the dancing plague, leprosy, the Black Death, polio, etc.).
Interestingly, Wright not only covers the effects of each plague, but also critiques how it was handled at the time. In each case, brave people work hard to combat the terrifying diseases. Sometimes, these heroes are doctors and scientists researching and tracking the disease. Other times, they are individuals and communities rallying around the afflicted.
It’s a bittersweet book. Some chapters are hopeful and inspiring, while others serve as chilling examples of how mishandling a situation can turn it into a catastrophe. The book does a surprisingly good job of keeping up its cheery tone, while still showing sympathy and regret for those affected by the plagues. It’s informative and highly readable without being dense, and the author has some insights for modern audiences to heed.
Lee McKinney is starting a new chapter in her life. She has moved in with her Aunt Nettie and has started helping with the bookkeeping for her Aunt’s business, TenHuis Chocolade, a popular chocolate shop in Warner Pier, MI. The high profile defense lawyer, Clementine Ripley, particularly loves the shop’s Amaretto truffles. In fact, she ordered those and a number of other chocolates from TenHuis for a party. While Clementine favors the shop’s chocolates, its owner, Aunt Nettie, doesn’t care for Clementine one bit. She is not the only one in town who has a poor opinion of the defense lawyer. Unfortunately, it was an Amaretto truffle spiked with cyanide that Clementine was eating when she dropped dead. All signs point to Aunt Nettie and Lee as those responsible for Clementine’s death. Can Lee find the real killer and clear herself and her aunt of a potential murder charge?
The Chocolate Cat Caper is a mystery that will leave you guessing who the murderer is until the end. This is the first in the "Chocoholic Mystery" series, and while the murder case is nicely concluded, there are opportunities left open for future developments for Lee and her aunt. The first three "Chocoholic Mystery" stories, including The Chocolate Cat Caper, are compiled in Crime de Cocoa.
Have you ever left the kitchen sink dishes for another day? Do you have an extra room at home or a basement that's storage for stuff you rarely use but don't have the heart to discard? And do you feel guilty about it? That's nothing compared to Coming Clean.
Kim Miller is your average girl growing up in what appears to be an average family to Kim's friends and teachers, but her parents are hoarders, whose tendencies to keep every little thing escalates as Kim grows older. The Millers' hoarding gets so bad, they won't allow cleaners, repairmen, or anyone into their home. The bathroom is filled with junk and becomes nonfunctional, forcing Kim to shower away from home. The furnace breaks but isn't fixed, making for some chilly winters. Meanwhile, rats scurry through discarded belongings and a derelict kitchen, and the floor slowly disintegrates. As an adult, Kim becomes a neat-freak, obsessed with her clean and tidy apartment. Yet her parents' troubles plague Kim, as she takes on forced purges of their home and the insurmountable task of cleaning and packing required for each move her parents make.
While recounting her traumatizing childhood, readers may recoil at the horrors Kim's parents unwittingly bestowed, but Kim manages to balance her disturbing tale with compassionate pictures of her parents' kindness and the history that led to their hoarding tendencies.
Afraid he will succumb to his family’s history of insanity, Lawrence Browne, the Earl of Radnor, lives like a hermit at his crumbling family estate Penkellis. Concerned for Lawrence’s well-being, the local vicar recruits a secretary to manage the earl’s affairs. Georgie Turner has spent his life swindling people out of their money, but guilt causes him to abandon his latest con. Georgie’s partners are bent on revenge, so he escapes to Penkellis, reinventing himself as a respectable secretary. Initially annoyed by the intrusion, Lawrence grudgingly comes to depend on Georgie, who readily adapts to the eccentric scientist and his odd habits. Their professional camaraderie gives way to an intense love affair, but both men believe they are unworthy of such a gift. Both are also deeply flawed as a result of their respective childhoods, but their willingness to accommodate each other’s deficits and accept one another unconditionally is what will have readers falling in love with them.
Verdict Sebastian has crafted an epic romance in which Lawrence and Georgie share incredible chemistry. Although the book is not listed as part of a series, Georgie is the brother to Jack Turner, the rogue in Sebastian’s debut novel, The Soldier’s Scoundrel. Profoundly romantic and highly recommended.
This review was originally published in Library Journal Xpress Reviews: E-Originals, January 19, 2017.
Adrienne Ashe never wanted to be a princess. Fancy dinners and lavish dresses were bad enough, but on the night of her 16th birthday her parents lock her away in a tower guarded by a dragon to await the rescue of some handsome prince. But Adrienne decides to take matters into her own hands!
Funny and full of action, and adventure, Princeless is perfect for readers of all ages who are tired of waiting to be rescued and ready to save themselves! Want to read more? Save Yourself is the first in the "Princeless" series.
Helen works at Juliana’s in South Florida. It’s a job with absolutely no prospects, but it’s the type of job that Helen wants and needs. She had to quickly leave her old life behind in St. Louis, and now she is stuck taking sub-par jobs to avoid her past catching up with her. In spite of terrible customers, a boss with questionable morals, and poor pay, Helen makes it work until the day a dead body is found in a barrel in Biscayne Bay. When the police start to investigate, the clues lead to Juliana’s and its staff. Helen is suspected of murder. In order to clear her name, she starts her own investigation.
With a quirky cast of characters, Shop Till You Drop draws the reader in. There are enough suspects to keep you guessing until the closing chapters of the book, and the novel concludes nicely with an epilogue that explains what happens to all the players involved. This is the first book in the "Dead-End Job Mystery" series, so there are plenty more dead-end jobs for Helen if you are interested in reading more.
Melissa "Bernie" Bernard can't help but feel that love has passed her by, and she'll happily complain about it to any who will listen. Though she enjoys her work as a college librarian in San Francisco, deep down she wonders if there could be more. So when a video of a marriage proposal at the library catches Bernie rolling her eyes, Bernie is shocked to find that she's become a viral sensation. Just as she's ready to go into hiding and permanently bury her nose in a book, a handsome reporter appears with a proposal of his own - he will find dates for the undateable. Bernie must go on 30 different dates in 30 days. With one disastrous date after another, she's ready to give up, until the reporter proves he'll do anything to find her the perfect match, even if it means putting himself up for the role.
Funny, and adorable, The Undateable is perfect for readers who like their romance light and fluffy. The characters have a nice chemistry, especially if you enjoy clever banter, and the friends-to-lovers trope. This is the first in the "Librarians in Love" series, and is even written by an actual librarian.
