The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce evangelical Baptist minister who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. Soon after arriving they discovered that what supplies they brought from home will not last long in the Congo. As they try to convert the men, women and children of the village they meet much resistance because of the villagers long held beliefs in nature and their own gods. However, they are prepared to help the family survive their surroundings with meal preparations, food supplies, and planting of crops despite not accepting the Baptist religion.

This story can be quite sad at times when you read of the political warfare going on in Africa at the time and the political games that all the big governments play in trying to secure their "pot of gold" in the Congo's resources, especially the diamond trade.
The Poisonwood Bible spans three generations. The Price family faces many obstacles from the death of one of the children, to one daughter's refusal to leave Africa and marry a much older man, to another daughter's illness that forced her to stay behind and then decide not to return to the United States, and then the mother's return to the United States leaving her husband to remain in the Congo.
Although a long story, it is well worth reading and you may decide you can't put this book down until the last page has been turned.

The Touch a novella by Randall Wallace

Andrew Jones has a special gift-he is an extremely talented surgeon. Following a deadly accident years ago when his fiance Faith died, he no longer practices surgery. He teaches and still treats patients, but he leaves the surgical procedures to his fellow colleagues.

Lara Blair is the CEO of Blair Bio-Medical Engineering. When her father died he left her in charge of the company. Her father was a pioneer in "the development of machines that would make impossible surgeries not only possible but practical."Lara has been attempting to perfect one such surgical procedure and meets with one failure after another. Blair Bio-Medical recruiters present Lara with a microscopic sculpture of Abraham Lincoln standing instead of sitting at the Lincoln Memorial. The miraculous beauty of this carving is that it could easily fit inside the eye of a needle! Andrew Jones is the sculptor! Problem is, Andrew is not interested in performing surgery in any capacity, even in a laboratory.

Lara is confident she can convince Andrew to help them. She reaches out to Andrew to work with her and Blair Bio-Medical to perfect these new and vital surgical procedures to help save lives. Andrew and Lara both struggle with past personal experiences and learn to share their troubles and trust again. When Lara needs Andrew to save her life will he have the confidence he needs and be able to put the demons that trouble him behind him and come to her rescue?

Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

Set in Ireland, this is the story of a young woman who loses her father to suicide, her mother to mental illness, and eventually has to leave her home. Destitute, Tamara Goodwin and her mother must move to the country to live with her uncle and aunt, Arthur and Rosaleen. Rosaleen's controlling ways make Tamara edgy, so she begins to explore the area. She discovers a beautiful castle and meets two interesting locals; a fiesty nun and a good looking guy who drives a traveling library bus. Tamara checks out a book with empty pages and notices that the pages start to fill up with her thoughts from the following day. Hmmm.

Listen to the book on CD if you happen to like Irish brogues.

Split Second

It's finally here, Split Second by Catherine Coulter! It was well worth the wait too.
In this newest installment of Catherine Coulter's FBI series, Savich is caught in the middle of a shoot out at a local convenience store where he went to to pick up a few items. The owner Mr. Patil, is shot and injured. One of the shooters is apprehended while the other got away.
Meanwhile, Agent Lucy Caryle is dealing with the recent death of her father. Shortly before Joshua Acker Caryle's death he proclaimed that Lucy's grandmother stabbed her husband to death. Lucy and the rest of her extended family were lead to believe that her grandfather had just up and left one day without any warning or future communication. One day shortly after her father's death, Lucy is summoned to the family's attorneys' office and given a ring and a letter from her long lost grandfather. This leads her to discover the real truth behind her father's well kept secret and the reason her grandfather left her the ring.
To add even more adventure to this mystery, Savich and Sherlock are dealing with a female serial killer who they discovered is the daughter of Ted Bundy! Kristen Bolger has been murdering young women for quite some years. She disguises herself as a young man, hangs out at local bars, drugs a young woman, and then "escorts her home" where she murders them. Savich and Sherlock certainly have their hands full with this killer!
You won't want to put this book down. Cuddle up in a big comfy chair, grab this book and indulge yourself with a great page turner! Let us know what you think!

Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies

Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies is a must read for any woman who has ever gone through a heart breaker relationship! This is the personal story of Isabel's love affair with her husband Josiah, their marriage, the birth of their two beautiful sons, and their unfortunate divorce.

Isabel starts at the beginning of her and Josiah's relationship; where they met, and how they fell in love (he was previously married and had a young son). Her style of writing describes to the reader the little details of their lives; where they lived, what they ate, what they did for fun, their jobs, friends they hung out with, their parents and so much more. In essence you followed their relationship from meeting each other to becoming friends, lovers, husband and wife, and ultimately becoming the parents of two boys all in a relatively short period of time. Josiah was a university professor and Isabel was an actress on the prime time television series; Law and Order-Special Victims Unit where she played Detective Stabler's wife Cathy. They lived in New York City and loved it. When Josiah was offered a teaching position in Ohio they decided to relocate so Isabel pretty much gave up her acting career to become a full time wife and mother.

Moving all their belongings, two young boys, and a dog proved to be quite the undertaking. Josiah and Isabel had fallen in love with a beautiful old home and quickly went on to renovate a number of the rooms. Their hard work and tireless effort paid off, for both of them loved the results. Josiah started teaching and Isabel kept herself and the boys busy with vegetable gardens and farmer's markets. There were faculty parties, neighborhood bar-b-ques, and many more local events to attend, so the family quickly acclimated themselves to their new home and community. Isabel herself starting teaching a drama class at the university too. Life was really, really good- or so it seemed.

Welcome Sylvia, a new temporary faculty member; young and beautiful and supposedly engaged to be married. Isabel quickly takes her "under her wing" and they become fast friends. However, in time it seems that Sylvia is spending more and more time with Josiah. Of course Isabel doesn't think much about this, Sylvia is almost a member of her family. Besides, Sylvia is now married but why is her husband still out East instead of living here in Ohio with his new bride? Hmmmmmm.

Heartbreak happens, without any real warning or any real problems to speak of, Josiah wants out of their marriage. Of course he doesn't admit to his love affair with Sylvia but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together.

Isabel fights the fights and loses. She loses the love of her life, Josiah (at least at this point in her life), her marriage, and the family life she has cherished. However, she stands tall and picks up the pieces of her life and with the two boys moves back to New York. She and Josiah divorce and eventually he marries Sylvia.

You will especially love the fact that Isabel herself narrates this story. She does an absolutely wonderful job too. Any woman who has gone through a heart breaker break up, divorce, amicable or not will relate to this story. Break ups and divorces happen every day. Grab the audio book and enjoy. Of, if you prefer, grab the book. Once you start reading it you won't be able to put this book down!

P.S. Isabel Gillies has written a sequel to "Happens Every Day," the title is "A Year and Six Seconds." It is available in our library system!

Close Your Eyes by Amanda Eyre Ward

Author: Ward, Amanda Eyre

Title: Close Your Eyes

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Publication Date: July 26, 2011

Number of Pages: 249 (also available on audio)

Geographical Setting: Austin, Texas and New York

Time Period: 2000s

Other Works by this Author: How to Stay Lost

Lauren Mahdian lives a happy existence as a real estate agent. She's living with her dog and her long-time boyfriend, Jerry. She seems like she's got it all, but the outside doesn't necessarily reflect the inside. When Lauren and her brother Alex were young children, they were home when their mother was murdered. They didn't see it happen, but they know who did it: their father. It had to be their father because he was the only person in the house with their mother at that time...or was he? He was tried and convicted to live a life sentence in Attica Prison, his children sent away and cutting ties with him. Both Lauren and Alex have moved on since their childhood tragedies into adult lives that are acceptable and functional, but there is a big difference between the two of them. Alex has maintained communication with his imprisoned father and clung fast to the idea of his father's innocence. When Alex is tragically killed in a bombing in Iraq, Lauren is faced with the responsibility of finishing what her brother has started and deciding: Can she forgive her father? Can she let go of the belief in her father's guilt? More importantly, can she get over the past?

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter Morgan walks a fine line between what's right and what's primal. He appears to be a mile mannered blood spatter anaylst. He blends because that's what his dearly-departed former cop father, Harry, taught him to be when he was young. But both Dexter and Harry knew what Dexter was: a serial killer. Dexter channels his tendencies (aka "the Dark Passenger") and only uses them to murder crminals of the lowest caliber. But, then a slasher begins to challenge Dexter's expertise. As the case starts to hit closer and closer to home, Dexter feels, for the first time, that he might lose his control, his cover, before the case is through.
Told in the same style as the famous HBO TV show, this book is bloody, speculative and suspenseful until the end. The details of Dexter's job are crisp and vivid. Lindsay's Dexter quickly becomes an endearing character with a heart of gold and the mind of a serial killer.

This is the first in the Dexter Morgan series and is available from the library in print, ebook and as a Playaway. Stop into Adult Services to find more like it!