Landry’s Back in Town (Rocky Ridge Romance #1). By Marjery Scott.

Landry’s Back in Town (Rocky Ridge Romance #1). By Marjery Scott. 2016. Margery Scott. ASIN: B01BNNFEXA (Kindle).

The story of Landry Mitchell and Olivia Harding begins when Landry steps in to thwart an attack on Olivia in a dusty alley of Rocky Ridge, a frontier town in Colorado. The two are instantly drawn to each other, but Landry, who has not been warmly welcomed back by the town’s residents after a three-year stint in prison, is hesitant to approach her. Olivia however, who spends her days taking care of children at the orphanage, sees a man who deserves a second chance. As Landry begins to open up to Olivia and the young orphan Daniel, his bank-robbing brother Tobias re-enters his life….and Tobias does not come to Rocky Ridge alone.

Margery Scott tells a hopeful story about three lonely people building a family and a brother’s love and loyalty bringing redemption. This historical western romance is a short, sweet read.

164 pages

The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō, Buson, & Issa. Edited and with Verse Translations by Robert Hass.

The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō, Buson, & Issa. Edited and with Verse Translations by Robert Hass. 1994. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN-13 9780880013512 (Paperback).

    A cicada shell;
it sang itself
    utterly away.
- Matsuo Bashō

The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō, Buson & Issa presents the essential poems of three masters of the haiku form: Bashō (1644-1694), Buson (1716-1783) and Issa (1763-1827). In addition to haikus (numbering roughly 100 per poet); long poems, diary entries, and Issa’s artwork are also included. American poet and translator, Robert Hass, helps to set the stage for each poet by providing biographical introductions and useful annotated notes to the poems. Whether you are a seasoned reader of haikus or just discovering the form, this book will surely satisfy with its range of inspiring, humorous and somber offerings.

352 pages

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An Event in Autumn (A Kurt Wallander Mystery). By Henning Mankell, English translation by Laurie Thompson.

An Event in Autumn (A Kurt Wallander Mystery). By Henning Mankell, English translation by Laurie Thompson. 2014. Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. ISBN 9780804170642 (paperback).

Yearning for a dog and a place by the sea, the story begins with Ystad police detective Kurt Wallander prospecting a farmhouse in late October, only to stumble upon a skeletal hand protruding from the garden. The discovery turns into a case of two bodies, decades old, and Kurt teams with his colleagues, Lindman and Martinson, to doggedly investigate the property’s history in order to identify the dead.

An Event in Autumn is not a complex mystery plot. Rather, it showcases Kurt’s thoughts on retirement, his relationship with his daughter Linda (now a rookie police officer at the Ystad station), and the societal changes that Kurt has seen over time in southern Sweden.

Translated in 2014, it is the last Wallander mystery to be published in English. Its placement in the series’ timeline however, is as the penultimate, leaving the novel, The Troubled Man, as the bookend for the Swedish police detective. Readers of the series will find this novella a relaxed lead-in for Kurt’s final story.

176 pages.

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A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons--Cressida Cowell (Read by David Tennant)

 Toothless, as always is hilarious and super snarky.
I may or may not have been mildly concerned when one of the main settings for the book was a library....
Should I be insulted that the villain may or may not be the Hairy Scary Librarian... Because reputations are nice...and I'm not a librarian...
272 Pages

The Fates Divide--Veronica Roth

Y'all I have so many feelings... So many. I loved it! I loved the plot twists (which I guessed were coming, but I loved how they were revealed). I loved playing out all of the possibilities of how certain scenes that I knew were coming. I loved thinking how conversations could play out, and then finding out that what I imagined wasn't close to what actually happened. I loved getting into Cyra and Ako's heads and feeling what they felt. I loved being them while I read it, because I love becoming someone else when I'm reading, completely forgetting about myself for a moment (I swear it's not an unhealthy coping mechanism) It had the rush of the amazing YA, and I loved the ending.

480 Pages

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

I love Cyra and how she sees herself, because I understand it so deeply. She is me and I am her. I see myself the way she sees herself, or at least I used to (and I still do sometimes). She is fierce and I love her. I love the chemistry between Akos and Cyra.

Honestly Akos is husband goals... Gentlemen, take notes. I am not kidding. There are passages I want you to repeat back to me.

I didn't expect myself to love this book, and I actually listened to it first in my pile of audiobooks because I wanted to get it out of the way... ha ha. But my heart. I can't even right now. I have so many feelings...And I feel like I can't trust Veronica Roth for reasons which will not be named (as in I'm afraid something is going to happen, not that something has happened--because no spoilers).
I may or may not have texted my Hufflepuff at least twenty text messages detailing my feelings in both word and gif form...

As a side note, Austin Butler's voice is beautiful, and I would marry it.

512 Pages

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

I love fact that these originally were broadcast as talks over the radio, and they were only later compiled into a book. The chapters about chastity and christian marriage were amazing, and I wanted to send them to my best friend right away, because she would relate to them. I might have snapped my fingers at some of his lines and made some mic drop motions while I was driving... I must look so funny.

227 pages

How to Twist A Dragon's Tale by Cressida Cowell

It was even funnier than the previous book, and it had me in stitches while I was driving. I loved being able to guess the plot twists...I wasn't crying at the epilogue... It's September, I have allergies...

272 pages

How to Cheat A Dragon's Curse by Cressida Cowell (Read by David Tennant)

How To Cheat A Dragon's Curse was hilarious!
I've fallen in love with Toothless and all his cowardice and....obnoxiousness..
David Tennant's performance makes it all the more enjoyable with the nasally stuttering of the dragon.
I still laugh about a scene where Toothless is extra ridiculous, acting like a mixture between a dog and a toddler.

272 pages

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

The story of an experienced uncle demon trying to teach his (amateur) nephew how to win souls for hell through letters. We don't get to see what the nephew writes though...
C.S. Lewis made the demon's hatred hilarious and yet undesirable. And I loved how the demons referred to humans as "hairless bipeds," and it made me think of Scar's hatred of Simba in the Lion King..
You almost wonder if the demons are jealous and envious of the humans, even though they're sickened by them.

The last chapter had my eyes watering, and I needed to call my mom and talk about my feelings.


209 pages

Two Kinds of Truth (Harry Bosch Series #20). By Michael Connelly, Narrator: Titus Welliver.

Two Kinds of Truth (Harry Bosch Series #20). By Michael Connelly, Narrator: Titus Welliver. 2017. Hachette Audio. ASIN: B071FJF4S4 (Unabridged audiobook, 9 hrs 54 mins)

When Harry Bosch is asked by the San Fernando Police Department to work an active homicide case involving two murdered pharmacists, he finds himself infiltrating the dangerous world of pill mills. Meanwhile, an old case from Bosch's LAPD days has been resurrected by the newly created Conviction Integrity Unit with the claim that Bosch framed a man who has been on death row for the last 30 years. With his relationship with the LAPD strained, it is up to Harry, with a little help from the Lincoln Lawyer, to clear his name and prevent the release of a killer. By way of the two cases, Bosch discovers that there are two kinds of truths that will forever haunt him. This story can be read as a stand-alone and recommended to readers new to the series.

This engaging thriller is narrated by Titus Welliver, who portrays Bosch in the TV adaptation of Connelly’s series. Not surprisingly, Welliver has no trouble in voicing the hardboiled Harry and setting the tone immediately, but listeners will find he voices the other characters to perfection as well.

417 pages 

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The Rose Princess (Vampire Hunter D Vol. 9). By Hideo Kikuchi, English translation by Kevin Leahy, Illustrator: Yoshitaka Amano.

The Rose Princess (Vampire Hunter D Vol. 9). By Hideo Kikuchi, English translation by Kevin Leahy, Illustrator: Yoshitaka Amano. 2007. Dark Horse Press/Digital Manga Publishing. ISBN 1595821090 (paperback).

Generations ago, the world ended; ravaged by man’s madness. But from the ashes, the surviving humans were privileged to witness the dawn of a new race...a Noble race...Vampires. Very few heroes remain to protect mortals from the Nobility. Hideo Kikuchi’s series chronicles the adventures of possibly the greatest of these heroes; a vampire hunter named D.

Not everything is coming up roses for D as his latest hunt takes him to a village on the far reaches of the Northern Frontier. D’s intent is to rid the village of a vampiric Noblewoman who resides in the nearby ruins and calls herself a princess. The problem is, he’ll first have to defeat her four bodyguards known as the Knights of the Diane Rose, and...the villagers don’t seem too keen on being free from the princess’s ‘protection.’

 
While the approach of D taking on one opponent at a time is becoming lackluster, Kikuchi’s signature blend of horror and apocalyptic science fiction still delivers another enjoyable addition to the series. Initially published in Japan in 1994, this translated work contains the original illustrations by Amano, a 2007 postscript by the author, and a preview of the next translated book.

224 pages

Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive #2.5). By Brandon Sanderson.

Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive #2.5). By Brandon Sanderson. 2017. TOR.

ISBN-13: 9781250166548 (Mini-hardcover)

Edgedancer follows a burgeoning Knight Radiant named Lift as she and her spren Wyndle leave the protection of a boy emperor to travel to the trenched city of Yeddaw--where people are being hunted by the man called Darkness. With the Everstorm and the Assassin in White looming over Yeddaw, will Lift survive Darkness? Well, she is awesome, although poor beleaguered Wyndle might disagree.

Sanderson remains one of my top favorite fantasy writers and his irreverent Lift is not one to let a story linger.

Lift and Wyndle are first introduced in Words of Radiance, but this edition includes Lift’s interlude as a prologue, so you can read all of her story in one place. However, it is suggested to begin with Book One, The Way of Kings, to fully grasp the concepts of surgebinders, spren and stormlight.
 

272 pages

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Missouri’s Mad Doctor McDowell: Confederates, Cadavers and Macabre Medicine. By Victoria Cosner & Lorelei Shannon.

Missouri’s Mad Doctor McDowell: Confederates, Cadavers and Macabre Medicine. By Victoria Cosner & Lorelei Shannon. 2015. The History Press. ISBN-13: 9781467118880 (paperback).

Meet St. Louis’ eccentric surgeon, Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell (1805-1868): A man who held undying grudges and took his medical oath seriously. Warm and kind to his students, the doctor inspired such loyalty among them that they gladly accompanied him in his grave robbing escapades; such activities that would generate angry mobs outside of McDowell Medical College. He once sicced his pet bear on one such mob; the bear yawned and the mob fled.

Enhanced with photographs, illustrations and appendices, readers won’t be able to set down this engaging 144-page narrative about a doctor who sought to preserve his dead loved ones by encasing them in copper-lined cylinders filled with alcohol, and who took to wearing body armor in the streets of St. Louis. This was a great find in Barnes & Noble's regional section and can also be found in our Missouriana collection.

144 pages

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