Heather Webber

Deeply, Desperately by Heather Webber
A cross-genre series that combines romance, humor, and intrigue with quirky family members and close-knit friends.  Lucy Valentine uses her psychic abilities to help find missing people – often lost loves.  But she also uses good old-fashioned amateur detection.  Throw in a love story with a hot private investigator whose cardiac health is uncertain, and you have a purely entertaining read that manages to avoid many of the cliches of chick lit or amateur sleuth novels.  A fast read.

–Chris / Griffith

Beth Hoffman

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
By Beth Hoffman
“This audiobook has a fantastic narrator!  The Southern voices especially ring true in this touching story of a young girl who comes under the care of a great-aunt, moving from Ohio to Savannah, Georgia.  CeeCee is damaged from her mother’s mental illness and her father’s inability to cope but she finds love and acceptance among her aunt’s friends and beloved housekeeper.  Some parts of he story are overly dramatic but a nice, heart-warming, funny read nonetheless.”  (Audio version available as a download.)
–Chris, Griffith

Mary McDonagh Murphy

Scout, Atticus and Boo
By Mary McDonagh Murphy
“If you love To Kill a Mockingbird, you should read this.  The author interviewed all sorts of people about the book and the movie plus includes behind-the-scenes stuff about the making of the movie.”
–Julie, Reference

Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants
“My coworkers kept telling me to read this book and I finally got around to it when I heard it was being made into a movie.  Wish I had read it sooner because I loved it!!”
–Jessy May, Dyer-Schererville

Tracey Enright

Claire Fontaine, Crime Fighter
“Entertaining chick lit/ mystery. Imagine Legally Blonde meets a detective novel.”
–Nicole, Central Library

Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Crazy Beautiful
By Lauren Baratz-Logsted
“Interesting and satisfying variation of Beauty and the Beast.  Some unanswered back story questions – possibly unnecessary, though.  Aurora Belle was too perfect but then, she was the beauty after all.”
–Linda, Cedar Lake

Ruth Reichl

Tender at the Bone: Growing up at the Table
“Reichl grew up in New York learning to cope with the wild swings in her mother’s moods and protecting her friends from her mother’s lethal cooking. The barely edible food Mrs. Reichl prepared stimulated Ruth’s interest in food preparation and a wide variety of foods. She developed an educated palate and good cooking skills at the hands of family friends and her interest in food helped her through some stressful experiences. Reichl’s story is full of angst, warmth, and humor and is available in large print and audio tape narrated by the author.”
Sharon/Systems

Imre Kertesz

Detective Story by Imre Kertesz
This Kafkaesque story of an unnamed police state is chillingly told as a memoir of how the authorities manipulated and trapped a father and son in a supposed revolutionary plot. The subsequent jailing of the policeman narrator himself reveals the never-ending web of control by this type of regime.”
–DB/Reference Emerita

Ann Packer

Songs Without Words
By Ann Packer
“Liz and Sarabeth have been close friends since childhood. A crisis in Liz’s family life strains their relationship to the breaking point as each woman reassesses her own self-image and the meaning of their friendship. The author skillfully explores the combination of appealing qualities and flaws that all must come to terms with in loving relationships.”
–Sharon/Systems

Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

“An enjoyable book in letter form with a bit of history thrown in. A correspondence between a young author at the end of WWII and inhabitants of the channel island of Guernsey, which was occupied by Germany. The characters are interesting and fun.”
–VE/Circulation”

“After author Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a farmer who lives on the Island of Guernsey near England, she discovers her next subject for a book. Through her correspondence, she learns a book club the “Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” was created as an alibi after its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans during World War II. This thought provoking book is told through a series of letters between Juliet, her publisher and the residents of Guernsey. Read this charming story to find out why a Potato Peel Pie was invented and how the inhabitants survived the occupation of their island by the Germans.”
–DW/St. John Branch

“I have recommended this book to many of the same people that have liked cozy reads like The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. The historical background was an eye-opener for those of us who may not have known of the German occupation of some of the English Channel Islands. The book discussion group members are gems. I wonder how many of us would have the fortitude to live through such times and still meet to discuss the limited variety of titles which they had done, and done with such panache.”
–DB/Reference Emerita