June Adult Reading Challenge
-
The Dry
After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there’s more to Luke’s death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.
-
The Color of Magic
The well-meaning but spectacularly inept wizard Rincewind encounters something previously unknown in the Discworld: a tourist! Twoflower has arrived to take in the sights. Unfortunately, he's cast his lot with a most inappropriate tour guide--a decision that could result in his becoming not only Discworld's first visitor . . . but quite possibly, its last. And, of course, he's brought Luggage along, a companion with feet--and a mind--of its own. And teeth!
-
Binti
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.
-
Outlander
Scottish Highlands, 1945. Claire Randall, a former British combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding clans in the year of Our Lord 1743. Marooned amid danger, passion, and violence, Claire learns her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives.
-
Dead Man's Walk
As young Texas Rangers, Gus and Call have much to learn about survival in a land fraught with perils: not only the blazing heat and raging tornadoes, roiling rivers and merciless Indians but also the deadly whims of soldiers. On their first expeditions--led by incompetent officers and accompanied by the robust, dauntless whore known as the Great Western--they will face death at the hands of the cunning Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump and the silent Apache Gomez. They will be astonished by the Mexican army. And Gus will meet the love of his life.
-
Dissolution
The year is 1537, and the country is divided between those faithful to the Catholic Church and those loyal to the king and the newly established Church of England. When a royal commissioner is brutally murdered in a monastery on the south coast of England, Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s feared vicar general, summons fellow reformer Matthew Shardlake to lead the inquiry. Shardlake and his young protégé uncover evidence of sexual misconduct, embezzlement, and treason, and when two other murders are revealed, they must move quickly to prevent the killer from striking again.
-
The Shunning
The bestselling story of Katie Lapp, who longs for things forbidden to a young Amish woman. But an unexpected discovery reveals her true past.
-
Heartstopper
Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they've never met ... until one day when they're made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them realised.
-
Dune
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of Paul Atreides—who would become known as Muad'Dib—and of a great family's ambition to bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.
-
My Heart Is a Chainsaw
Jade Daniels is an angry, half-Indian outcast with an abusive father, an absent mother, and an entire town that wants nothing to do with her. She lives in her own world, a world in which protection comes from an unusual source: horror movies…especially the ones where a masked killer seeks revenge on a world that wronged them. And Jade narrates the quirky history of Proofrock as if it is one of those movies. But when blood actually starts to spill into the waters of Indian Lake, she pulls us into her dizzying, encyclopedic mind of blood and masked murderers, and predicts exactly how the plot will unfold.
-
The Fifth Season
A season of endings has begun. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.
-
The Last Kingdom
In the middle years of the ninth-century, the fierce Danes stormed onto British soil, hungry for spoils and conquest. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the ruthless invaders until but one realm remained. And suddenly the fate of all England—and the course of history—depended upon one man, one king.
-
The Bromance Book Club
Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major league trouble. When his wife Thea asks for a divorce, Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him. Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.
-
The Murder at the Vicarage
Colonel Protheroe, local magistrate and overbearing landowner is the most detested man in the village. Everyone--even in the vicar--wishes he were dead. And very soon he is--shot in the head in the vicar's own study. Faced with a surfeit of suspects, only the inscrutable Miss Marple can unravel the tangled web of clues that will lead to the unmasking of the killer.
-
The Fellowship of the Ring
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.
Most Checkouts Last Month - For Adults
-
The Secret History of Audrey James
Northern England, 2010. After a tragic accident upends her life, Kate Mercer leaves London to work at an old guest house near the Scottish border, where she hopes to find a fresh start and heal from her loss. Berlin, 1938. Audrey James is weeks away from graduating from a prestigious music school in Berlin, where she’s been living with her best friend, Ilse Kaplan. As war looms, Ilse’s family disappears and high-ranking Nazi officers confiscate the house. In desperation, Audrey becomes their housekeeper while Ilse is forced into hiding in the attic.
-
Mockingjay
Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Though she's long been a part of the revolution, Katniss hasn't known it. The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must become the rebels' Mockingjay - no matter what the cost.
-
Lethal Prey
Doris Grandfelt, an employee at an accounting firm, was brutally stabbed to death. Her body was found the next night, dumped among a dense thicket of trees along the edge of an urban park, eight miles east of St. Paul, Minnesota. Twenty years later, Doris' twin sister Lara is determined to find Doris’s killer once and for all. She dumps the entire investigative file on every true crime site in the world and offers a $5 million reward for information leading to the killer’s arrest. Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to review anything that might be a new lead. As the nation maneuvers the detectives closer to the truth, Lucas and Virgil will find that digging up Doris’s harrowing past might just get them buried instead.
-
I Would Die for You
California, 2011: Nicole Forbes is not expecting a writer to knock on her door asking for her personal insight into the downfall of the biggest British band of the 1980s. The same day, her daughter goes missing and the school claims her aunt picked her up, but she doesn’t have an aunt. London, 1986: Sixteen-year-old Cassie is obsessed with hot band Secret Oktober and harbors an intense crush on the leading man, Ben Edwards. But when Ben discovers her older sister Nicole singing at a local bar one night, he's drawn to her, setting in motion a collision course that could tear their family apart.
-
Better Than Friends
When Olive Porter's off-the-grid parents go missing, she reluctantly seeks out NPS special investigator Noah Turner, her ex and the only person she both trusts implicitly and not at all. When Olive shows up looking like a million bucks, Noah has to do a gut and heart check. Because nope, no matter what, he can't fall for her again, the woman who once blew up his entire life and never looked back.
-
The Great Alone
#1 New York Times Instant Bestseller
Alaska, 1974. Ernt Allbright came home from the Vietnam War a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes the impulsive decision to move his wife and daughter north to Alaska. Cora will do anything for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown. Thirteen-year-old Leni has little choice but to go along. But as winter approaches and darkness descends, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. -
Cashing Out
Cashing Out is your roadmap to financial freedom despite the broken system. You don’t have to sacrifice your time and mental health to maximize income. Instead, financial experts Julien and Kiersten Saunders show how to design a life that allows you to enjoy the little things now while setting yourself up for future financial security.
-
Camino Ghosts
Bruce Cable, infamous owner of Bay Books, tells writer Mercer Man that he has stumbled upon an incredible story perfect for her next novel. The story is about Dark Isle, a sliver of a barrier island settled by freed slaves three hundred years ago. Their last descendant is elderly Lovely Jackson, who loves her birthplace. But Tidal Breeze, a huge, ruthless corporate developer, wants to build a resort and casino on the island, which Lovely knows, deep down, is rightfully hers. Mercer befriends Lovely, and they plunge into an enormous fight over who owns Dark Isle, taking on Tidal Breeze Corporation. The deep secrets of Dark Isle's past are about to collide with the enormous ambitions of the present.
-
Triangle
As she approaches the milestone birthday of forty, delicate blond beauty Amanda Delanoe finds joy in running a chic contemporary art gallery in the City of Light. Amanda lives well, but so far the love of her life has eluded her. Then she meets Olivier Saint Albin, a dashing publisher, who turns out to be married. At the same time, she reconnects with Tom Quinlan, an old boyfriend from her days at NYU twenty years ago. Providing counsel and support is her friend and co-owner of the gallery, fun-loving bachelor Pascal Leblanc. When someone breaks into Amanda's apartment on the Left Bank, it’s all too clear she is in real danger. But from whom?
-
South of Nowhere
When a levee collapses in Hinowah, a small town in Northern California, Colter Shaw is brought on by his sister, Dorion, a disaster response specialist, to help locate a family swept away by the raging water, with mere hours to survive. But after a surprise attack along the river obstructs Colter's urgent search, the siblings are forced to consider a new reality: Is the levee at risk of failing from natural causes, or is someone sabotaging it? Colter and Dorion must race against a ticking clock to uncover the truth and save the citizens before the village washes out completely, destroying everything and everyone in its path.
-
Holmes is Missing
Success has come quickly to Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations. The New York City agency led by three detectives--Brendan Holmes, "the brain," Margaret Marple, "the eyes," and Auguste Poe, the "muscle"--with famous names and mysterious pasts is one major case away from cementing its professional reputation. But as a series of child abductions tests the PIs' legendary skills, the cerebral Holmes's absence leaves a gaping hole in the agency roster. Only by closing ranks and solving the mystery within can they recover all that's been lost.
-
2 Sisters Murder Investigations
Rhonda and Barbara "Baby" Bird are half-sisters--and full partners in their Los Angeles detective agency. They agree on nothing. Rhonda, a former attorney, takes a by-the-book approach to solving crimes, while teenage Baby relies on her street smarts. But when they take a controversial case of a loner whose popular wife has gone missing, they're accused of being PIs who can't tell a client from a killer. The Bird sisters share a late father, but not much else...except their willingness to fight for the underdog and the truth. If they can stop fighting each other long enough to work together.
-
The Writer
NYPD Detective Declan Shaw gets a call: How fast can you get to the Beresford building on Central Park West? In the tower apartment, Shaw finds a woman waiting for him. She's covered in blood. A body is lying dead on the floor of the luxurious living room. Every book in the apartment's floor-to-ceiling shelves is by the same author: bestselling true-crime writer Denise Morrow. "This is you?" Shaw asks the woman. "You're a writer?"
-
Strangers in Time
After barely surviving the Blitz, fourteen-year-old Charlie Matters knows there's no telling when a falling bomb might end his life. Fifteen-year-old Molly Wakefield has been evacuated away from her home for nearly five years, but when she returns, neither of her parents are there. Charlie and Molly find an unexpected ally and protector in Ignatius Oliver, and solace at his bookshop, The Book Keep. As bombs continue to bear down on the city, Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius learn that while the perils of war rage on, their coming together and trusting one another may be the only way for them to survive.
-
Nobody's Fool
Sami Kierce, a young college grad, wakes up one morning covered in blood with a knife in his hand. Next to him is the dead body of his girlfriend, Anna. Twenty-two years later, Kierce, now a private investigator, is a new father who's working off his debts by teaching wannabe sleuths at a night school when he recognizes a familiar face at the back of the classroom: Anna. As soon as Kierce makes eye contact with her, she bolts. He knows he must find this woman and solve the impossible mystery that has haunted his every waking moment since that terrible day.