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If you like true crime podcasts and vulnerable romance stories, this is for you!
Jess has raised her younger sister Tegan since she was 8, but now Tegan has discovered that their mom actually ran away with notorious conman Lynton Baltimore. They go on a reluctant cross country road trip to try and find their mother and Baltimore. Joining them is a pair of podcast hosts, nosy Salem and handsome Adam. Along the way Jess starts to find out new things about their mom, but also about how to tear down all the walls she's built.- Katelyn T. (Glen Burnie Library)
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Castle Knoll files volume 1
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Frances is seventeen years old when her murder is predicted by a fortune teller at a country fair. She spends the rest of her life trying to prevent this from coming to pass, but 60 years later, she is indeed murdered. Her great niece, Annie, is on the case. But this little village, Castle Knoll, is not as it seems, and Annie might end up meeting a similar fate. I really enjoyed this mystery. It's not my normal genre, but I liked the cozy, yet slightly sinister vibes. Two points of view, Annie and Frances, help the reader untangle the knot and solve the mystery. I was struck by how this is really a tale of obsession and how it ruins everything it touches. If you like cozy mysteries, quaint English country settings, themes of obsession and friendship, and dual narratives, you might like this book. - Abigail W. (Broadneck Library)
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This story follows two young women from different decades. Anita is a Cuban born artist who is becoming successful in the early 1980s while Raquel is a working class, first-generation, Puerto Rican third-year art history major at Brown who is working on formulating her senior thesis. Both have relationships with white men who are successful artists and they both struggle with power imbalances. Anita has the task of working as an artist in a world traditionally dominated by white men. Raquel, while over a decade later, is still dealing with the same issues that Anita has struggled with.
I found this book brilliant; beautifully written and so witty. It was also very interesting to get a look into the high-end art world. If you enjoy a book that delves into social criticism and personal awakenings, you should like this book. The two female characters are young and passionate and the male characters are products of the world they live in. Gonzalez is so good at getting into everyone's heads. You really feel like you understand what they are going through.- Betsy D. (Brooklyn Park Library)
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Mélanie Claux Diore has always known she belongs in the spotlight. After a failed reality TV career, she shifts her hunt for stardom to a different medium: family YouTube channels. After successfully making a career as an influencer through her YouTube channel “Happy Recess” that stars her children Kimmy and Sammy, Mélanie and her family are *** even further into the limelight when Kimmy goes missing while playing with her brother. Investigator Clara Roussel is put on the case, and while investigating the Diore family and the strange digital world they operate in, she finds something more dark and sinister at the core than they portray on social media.
This is the English translation of a book originally written in French. It was really interesting to read about the digital revolution and its effects through a French lens. While this book is predominantly a thriller, it spends a good amount of time psychoanalyzing the characters within and the different approaches they have taken in regards to the ever oppressing digital age.
For fans of Gillian Flynn and Lucy Foley or anyone looking for a psychological thriller from a different perspective. - Crista F. (Severn Library)
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5) Spell bound
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Rook is a non-magical apprentice to the most powerful sorceress, Antonia Hex, helping manage calls for her magical-emergency business. He takes business calls, fixes her computer, and makes coffee runs. When Rook starts helping Antonia on magical missions, he meets Sun. Sun is the grumpy, cute, magical apprentice to one of Antonia's rivals. When the magical government learns that Antonia has a non-magical apprentice, both of their mentors end up taken. Rook and Sun team up to get everyone back before they are sentenced to lose their magic forever.
This book was SO fun, a true magical adventure with found family. Imagine the apprentice from Howl's Moving Castle, going on shenanigan adventures with the apprentice of a rival wizard, and that's this book! - Katelyn T. (Glen Burnie Library)
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6) Still life
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In 1944, young English soldier, Uysses Temper, takes shelter in a Tuscan wine cellar as enemy bombs fall. There he meets Evelyn Skinne, an art historian who has come to rescue artistic masterpieces stolen and damaged during the War. In each other, Ulysses and Evelyn find a kindred spirit amidst the rubble of war-torn Italy, and set off on a course of events that will shape Ulysses's life for the next four decades. A sweet, gentle tale about found family and savoring the beauty in life's everyday moments. For readers who enjoy historical fiction, art, and feeling immersed in faraway settings. - Erin H. (Discoveries: The Library at the Mall)
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Into the drowning deep volume 1
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Imagine Entertainment sends a ship to the Mariana Trench to film a mockumentary about mermaids. But several weeks later, the ship is found adrift with no survivors—only footage showing crew members being attacked by mermaid-like creatures. The public is skeptical, assuming it's all a publicity stunt, since the project was supposed to be a mockumentary. However, Tory Steward, the sister of one of the missing actresses and an ocean acoustician, is convinced the footage is real. She knows mermaids killed her sister. So, when Imagine Entertainment contacts her seven years later to repeat the expedition—this time for a documentary to prove mermaids are real—Tory agrees. A group of top scientists is assembled for the voyage, determined to confirm the existence of these creatures once and for all.
This novel is fast-paced and thrilling, with believable science that makes the mermaids feel chillingly real. It reads like an early 2000s creature feature, similar to "Deep Blue Sea", "Splinter", "The Mist", "Alien", or "Event Horizon". It also reminded me a lot of "The Meg" and the 2020 movie "Underwater".
If you enjoyed "The Luminous Dead" by Caitlin Starling, "Annihilation" by Jeff VanderMeer, or "The Twisted Ones" by T. Kingfisher, you'll love "Into the Drowning Deep". - Mackenzie N. (Library Headquarters)
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In Victorian England, Jane is on the brink of adulthood and faces two choices: stay with her adoptive family as they move to the city or find a husband of convenience to secure her independence and avoid becoming a burden. She quickly sets her sights on the town doctor, a quiet and shy man, and proposes a marriage of convenience—offering to serve primarily as his accountant. After some hesitation, he agrees, but only on the condition that she never visit his crumbling manor, Lindridge Hall, and remains at the surgery instead. However, after a misstep and a stormy night, Jane finds herself stranded at the manor, where she uncovers her new husband's disturbing secrets.
In this gothic horror, heavily inspired by Crimson Peak, Jane begins to doubt the trustworthiness and safety of her husband, as she confronts the haunting ghosts of his past within Lindridge Hall.
The Death of Jane Lawrence weaves together the romanticism of a classic gothic tale with elements of ghosts, death, body horror, occultism, and an unexpected romance. Fans of Guillermo del Toro's "Crimson Peak", "House of Hunger" by Alexis Henderson, "What Moves the Dead" by T. Kingfisher, "A Dowry of Blood" by S.T. Gibson, any Edgar Allan Poe tales, specifically "The Fall of the House of Usher", or other modern and classic gothic stories will enjoy this haunting novel. - Mackenzie N. (Library Headquarters)
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