River Lady by Jude Deveraux

River Lady by Jude Deveraux

Wesley Stanford can remember Leah Simmons, an impoverished young girl who helped him out of a tight spot years ago. After an encounter on a Virginia riverfront, Wesley is forced to become Leah's unwilling groom. In the hopes of finally breaking out of his older brother's shadow, Wesley heads to the wilds of Kentucky, where he finds his new bride isn't the woman he thought.

James River Trilogy #3. 320 pages.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Details the lives of the March sisters as they navigate the passage from adolescence to womanhood.

Parts 1 and 2. 777 pages.

Bridging Two Eras: The Autobiography of Emily Newell Blair, 1877-1951, Edited by Virginia Laas

Bridging Two Eras: The Autobiography of Emily Newell Blair, 1877-1951, Edited by Virginia Laas

Emily Newell Blair, having lived through the end of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth, viewed herself as a bridge builder. A dedicated feminist who successfully managed to be both a Midwestern housewife and an outspoken suffragist on the national scale, Emily wanted to give others a glimpse into life during the upheaval of transition. Emily's autobiography, written in 1939 and published in 1999, provides insight into her life in southwest Missouri, her career as a writer, and her progression through American politics.

382 pages. 

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Oregon City, 1851. The Commodore has ordered that Hermann Kermit Warm must die and if the Commodore has ordered it, it must be so. And the Commodore has the perfect men in mind for the job---brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters, two assassins known to never miss the mark. Though Eli doesn't share Charlie's love of whiskey and killing, he can't conceive of a life without it. However, Warm and his comrade Morris aren't about to make things easy on the Sisters brothers, and the journey from Oregon City to Sacramento leaves Eli questioning not just his way of living, but his association with the Commodore. 

328 pages.

Ella Ewing: The Missouri Giantess by Jason Offutt

Ella Ewing: The Missouri Giantess by Jason Offutt

Part of the Notable Missourians series aimed at young readers, Ella Ewing: The Missouri Giantess details the life of Ella Ewing, a woman born in La Grange, Missouri in 1872. By the time she was in her 20s, Ella had reached 8'4". She would go on to travel the nation with the circus, including Barnum & Bailey and the Ringling Brothers, as well as Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. But no matter where her travels took her, Ella always called Missouri home.

48 pages.

These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas

Summary: "In 1882 England when her beloved sister Rose vanishes, Evelyn, bored with society and its expectations, embarks on a search for Rose, encountering the reclusive, young gentleman Sebastian Braddock, who is also looking for Rose and claiming that both sisters have special healing powers."

I wanted to love this book. I started out loving it, as it was a mysterious take on a Jane Austen-type setting, filled with good humor and fun. But then it spiraled into confusion and lost its spunk.  

298 pages

The Titled Americans by Elisabeth Kehoe

The Titled Americans by Elisabeth Kehoe

The Titled Americans offers a glimpse into the lives of three privileged and glamorous sisters who married into the British aristocracy. When Leonard Jerome arrived in New York in 1850, he would go on to become a successful Wall Street speculator, whose fortunes rose and fell throughout his life. When his wife, Clarissa, took their three daughters, Jennie, Clara, and Leonie, to Europe in the 1860s, the girls would make quite a splash within the British upper class. Jennie married Lord Randolph Churchill, becoming the mother of Winston and the most famous of the three Jerome daughters. Jennie's marriage would launch her sisters into the highest circles of society, resulting in marriages for both. Titles do not guarantee happiness, however, but deep affection united the Jerome sisters so that they could weather life's sorrows and joys, in a bond only broken in death.

452 pages. 

The Valiant Women by Jeanne Williams

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

A romantic saga set in Arizona territory with action featuring Apache, Mexico, and Texas territory before the Civil War and many families and plots. 

Audio:  15 hrs. 55 min.

Print:  516 pages

"Between States" Trilogy by J.M. Snyder

This was an unusual set of novellas that feature two men who are bobcat shifters during the time of the Civil War.  Brance is a northerner, and Caleb is a southerner, but neither of them wants to be a soldier.  When they discover that they have the same involuntary ability to shift into bobcats during the full moon, they run away together and try their best to live as hermits knowing that their secret will cost them their lives if they are caught.

"Under a Confederate Moon" (Book 1):  This book details how the two men meet when Brance is captured by Confederate soldiers and how he and Caleb eventually desert their regiments.  49 pages (Kindle edition).

"Beneath a Yankee Sky" (Book 2):  This one describes a bit of Brance's background growing up as the eldest son of a cold Amish preacher as well as how he and Caleb escape to Pennsylvania but run into dangerous fur trappers.  50 pages (Kindle edition).

"A More Perfect Union" (Book 3):  Brance and Caleb are discovered by another shifter - a female who is pregnant and won't leave them in peace.  67 pages (Kindle edition).

"Widdershins" by Jordan L. Hawk

Percival Endicott Whyborne is a young philologist who speaks 13 languages (but reads more) and studies ancient texts at the Ladysmith Museum in Widdershins, MA, during the end of the 19th century.  He tries to keep to himself as he is shy and feels homely and clumsy, but when his skills are required to help an ex-Pinkerton detective with a murder investigation, he must leave his office and his comfort zone to do so.  However, this turns into a much bigger and more dangerous case involving a cult stretching back centuries.  Griffin Flaherty, the detective, must convince Whyborne to overcome his many fears to help him defeat the evil sorcerer and the monsters he has created.  Whyborne's best (and only) friend is fellow scholar Dr. Christine Putnam, a strong and likable woman who helps the men with their investigation at crucial times.

This is an exciting, original, and imaginative story with adventure, romance, action, and more.  Both Whyborne and Griffin have interesting back stories that are pertinent to the story and make them richer characters.  The descriptions of the monsters that the cult creates are effective but not overly gross or disgusting.  I really enjoyed the story and hope to read more in the "Whyborne & Griffin" series.  There is also a kitty.  226 (Kindle edition).

St. Louis: An Illustrated Timeline by Carol Ferring Shepley

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Home of the World Series St. Louis Cardinals, Art Museum, Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, recording artist Nelly, Opera Theatre of St. Louis founded in 1976.  In 1958, the St. Louis Hawks beat the Boston Celtics for their only championship and later moved to Atlanta.  In 1954, St. Louis school board prepares for Brown vs. Board of Education.  Charles Lindberg crosses the Atlantic Ocean in the airplane named the Spirit of St. Louis.  213 pages.

Once a Ranger by Dusty Richards

Posted for Paul Mathews

Former Texas Ranger with a good crew and a very loving wife. This man can keep a secret. He goes long and far to catch the bad guys. There is a Friday night dance and a second gang of outlaws later in this book. 

Audio:  8 hrs. 30 min.

Print:  272 pages

Jefferson City 150: 150 Years of Jefferson City Through the Eyes of the News Tribune and Its Readers by News Tribune Staff, et al.

Posted for Paul Mathews

Jefferson city ensured its future as the state capital, when a statewide vote held in 1896 defeated a measure to move the capital to Sedalia. The Millbottom was littered with bars until 1920 and now only Paddy Malone’s remains. Being on the river Jefferson has a few floods. A prison riot occurred on Sept. 22, 1954. Jefferson City  and country lives on past Jan.1, 2000 (Y2K).  144 pages.

Available in our catalog here.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Posted for Andrea Dennis

I have decided to read/listen to a list of 100 books to read before you die. And this was #1. I am pretty sure I am like the only person left on the planet who has not read/listened this book. But it was very good. I loved the drama!

Audio: 10 hours 23 mins

Pgs: 279

Freeman by Leonard Pitts

Have you ever wondered exactly how average people responded to emancipation when the American Civil War ended?  Slavery was an inherently American institution, which was so firmly interwoven within the economy, the society, the psychology as well as religious, philosophical, and ethical mores of the country, and was suddenly it was over.  It must have been overwhelming in many ways! Indeed, scholars have and can continue to spend their entire careers examining the period, its impact then, and the continued effect upon this country.
It is well known that many of the formerly enslaved hit the road  -- everywhere in land, all manner of black folks set out trying to find lost mothers, fathers, children, siblings -- lost lives.  It is also well known that this is the period wherein many schools sprang up throughout the South to educate the formerly enslaved, which delighted the knowledge starved blacks and inflamed those who felt this upset the natural order of things. Leonard Pitts, Jr., a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Miami Herald, has taken these two elements and fashioned a remarkably powerful piece of historical fiction that depicts just how it must have been for some.
Sam Freeman sets out from Philadelphia, where he has been working in a library since his discharge from the Union army, and begins walking to Mississippi to find his wife, Tilda.  He has not seen her in 15 years, and like most on similar searches, he has no idea if she is alive or dead, if she has taken another husband, been sold elsewhere.  He knows only that he loves her and must be with her, if it is at all possible.
Prudence Cafferty Kent, a white widow from Boston, along with her black foster sister Bonnie, head to Buford, Mississippi to open a school.  These are the main characters, and their story -- their quest for redemption, will capture you and keep you enthralled until the novel concludes.  Hopefully, it will keep its readers thinking about the damage of America's peculiar institution long after completion.   

432 pages, 15 hours, 46 minutes

"Rules for a Proper Governess" by Jennifer Ashley

Book seven in the Mackenzies & McBrides series centers on Sinclair McBride, a tough, Scottish barrister working and living in London with his two motherless children.  Sinclair's wife, Daisy, died seven years ago, and his daughter and son have run off every governess he has ever hired.  But when East Ender Bertie Frasier picks his pocket of the watch his late wife had given him, Sinclair meets the woman who will change his life forever.  Bertie becomes the children's governess even though she hasn't had much formal education; the kids like and mind her, which is what Sinclair needs immediately.  There is also the mystery of the sinister letters that he continues to receive from an unknown enemy threatening to expose Daisy's past and put his kids' futures in jeopardy.  Is the author someone he has successfully prosecuted or Daisy's own brother, who hates Sinclair and wants to take away the children?  Or could Bertie's abusive father be behind the threats?

This was another winner from Ashley, whose descriptions of London, Scotland, and the book's many characters were vivid and realistic.  Sinclair is a broken, depressed man who continues to mourn his late wife at the expense of everyone and everything else in his life except his work.  Bertie is a strong, forthright, and honest heroine even though she has been forced into crime by her awful father and his cronies.  The mystery added a nice touch, and it was great to see the many Mackenzies and McBrides from the previous books.  306 pages.

The Secrets of Mary Bowser: A Novel by Lois Leveen

This novel is based on the remarkable true story of Mary Bowser, a young woman who was enslaved in antebellum Richmond, Virginia by the wealthy Van Lew family.  Bet Van Lew, the headstrong daughter of the family had strong abolitionist sentiments, which led her to emancipate Mary and her mother but the law forbade emancipated slaves to live within the state.  Mary traveled to Philadelphia to be educated, and her mother, wishing to remain with her still enslaved "husband" pretended to still be in bondage.  During the period of her life in Philadelphia, her mother passed away, which led Mary to feel a higher calling than that of the bourgeois free blacks she saw around her in Philadelphia.  With the aid of friends who worked with the Underground Railroad, Mary returned to Richmond to pose as an enslaved house girl in order to spy in the home of none other than Confederate States president, Jefferson Davis.  A memorable story of a brave woman history had forgotten.   496 pages

The Undaunted: The Miracle of the Hole-in-the-Rock Pioneers by Gerald N. Lund

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

The journey was long and dangerous. The pioneers were answering the Call, it was to create a buffer between hostile natives, the lawlessness and civilization. This is the story of the Hole in the Rock Pioneers.  816 pages.