★★★★★ It's not going to be easy, and I need to start with an apology. Because over the years I've told you many times that there's no such thing as monsters. I'm sorry that I lied. Tom arrives at Featherbank with seven-year-old Jake in tow to escape the memories of their recently deceased wife and mother. And… Continue reading The Whisper Man – Alex North

★★★ ½ "The witches have us surrounded." Mrs. Astley blinked..."How very inconvenient, I've just made a pot of tea." After barely surviving his most recent battle, George "Hunter" Astley must contend with a myriad of problems.  His body is in shambles and his heart in pieces. No, it had been worse. The woman he loved had turned… Continue reading The Shadow Reigns – K.S. Marsden

★★★ ½ "Me? I'm fit for nothing." "You're a girl. You just need to get married." "Don't be stupid." Roxanne Granville is the darling heir of Empire Pictures. She's spent her life in the lap of luxury - rubbing elbows with all the stars and starlets thanks to her grandparent's booming movie business. But with… Continue reading The Great Pretenders – Laura Kalpakian

★★★★★ “Don't try to make me grow up before my time…” The March sisters may be radically different but they all have one thing in common - love. Their love for their mother and father, their love for adventure and for each other unites them in this troubled time. The Civil War is afoot and all… Continue reading Little Women – Louisa May Alcott

★★★★★ "It's all right, my dear," I tell her. "It's all right. I'm dying, too." Elise Sontag lives with her mother, father and younger brother in Iowa. Her parents are from Germany and as the 1940s roll through, the witch hunt for the Nazi's is under way. No one said anything to one another. We were tired.… Continue reading The Last Year of the War – Susan Meissner

★★★★ Never do anything you can pay someone else to do Patricia Marx's mother has always had advice aplenty to pass along to her daughter...and luckily, Patricia kept all of it. Her mother has saying for every situation - from the mundane to the highly specific - and all were absolutely hilarious. If you feel guilty about throwing out… Continue reading Why Don’t You Write My Eulogy Now So I Can Correct It? – Patricia Marx & Roz Chast

★★★★ ½ Population decline isn't a good thing or a bad thing. But it is a big thing. Throughout my childhood, I've heard time and time again about the rise and fall of human population.  Well, for the past few decades, we saw a rise like no other but soon (very soon) that will reverse. And the… Continue reading Empty Planet – Darrell Bricker & John Ibbitson

★★★★ ½ Val looked at me and said, "This would never happen back home." Keith and Val, two Americans, have fallen in love with France. After all, who hasn't? Magic seems to happen to us in France. What began as a semi-annual adventure has turned it a three-month-per-year commitment. Are We French Yet? is a collection of… Continue reading Are We French Yet? – Keith Van Sickle

“Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.” Every year, Panem (post-apacolyptic North America) hosts a Hunger Games involving one female and one male representative from each of its twelve districts to fight to the death.  All of the Districts of Panem must watch the Games as a form of yearly "entertainment"… Continue reading The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins