New Titles in the Adult Fiction Collection

 

Co-author of the Dune sequels, Kevin J. Anderson's Gods and Dragons marks his triumphant return to epic fantasy, featuring a politically charged adventure of swords, sorcery, vengeance, and the awakening of sleeping giants. Two continents at war: the Three Kingdoms and Ishara have been in conflict for a thousand years. But when an outside threat arises--the reawakening of a powerful ancient race that wants to remake the world--the two warring nations must somehow set aside generations of hatred to form an alliance against a far more deadly enemy. (from Goodreads.com)

The School for Good Mothers is a taut and explosive debut novel by Jessamine Chan. One lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance. Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. What’s worse is she can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with their angelic daughter Harriet does Frida finally feel she’s attained the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she’s just enough. Until Frida has a horrible day. The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida — ones who check their phones while their kids are on the playground; who let their children walk home alone; in other words, mothers who only have one lapse of judgement. Now, a host of government officials will determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion. Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that she can live up to the standards set for mothers — that she can learn to be good. This propulsive, witty page-turner explores the perils of “perfect” upper-middle-class parenting, the violence enacted upon women by the state and each other, and the boundless love a mother has for her daughter. (from Goodreads.com)

The Nobel Prize-winner's richest, most sweeping and ambitious novel yet follows the comet-like rise and fall of a mysterious, messianic religious leader as he blazes his way across eighteenth-century Europe in The Books of Jacob. In the mid-eighteenth century, as new ideas--and a new unrest--begin to sweep the Continent, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Before long, he has changed not only his name but his persona; visited by what seem to be ecstatic experiences, Jacob Frank casts a charismatic spell that attracts an increasingly fervent following. In the decade to come, Frank will traverse the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires with throngs of disciples in his thrall as he reinvents himself again and again, converts to Islam and then Catholicism, is pilloried as a heretic and revered as the Messiah, and wreaks havoc on the conventional order, Jewish and Christian alike, with scandalous rumors of his sect's secret rituals and the spread of his increasingly iconoclastic beliefs. The story of Frank--a real historical figure around whom mystery and controversy swirl to this day--is the perfect canvas for the genius and unparalleled reach of Olga Tokarczuk. Narrated through the perspectives of his contemporaries--those who revere him, those who revile him, the friend who betrays him, the lone woman who sees him for what he is--The Books of Jacob captures a world on the cusp of precipitous change, searching for certainty and longing for transcendence. (from Goodreads.com)

He holds her fate in his hands—she holds his heart in hers. In The Rebel and the Rake (League of Scoundrels #2) by Emily Sullivan, Rafe Davies might seem like just another charismatic rake, but in reality, he is one of the crown’s most valuable agents. As relentless as he is reckless, Rafe has never come upon a mission he couldn’t complete. But when he encounters the intriguing-yet-prickly lady’s companion Miss Sylvia Sparrow while on assignment at a Scottish house party, he finds himself thoroughly distracted by the secretive beauty. Though most women would be thrilled to catch the eye of a tall, dark, and dangerously handsome man, Sylvia is through with that sort of adventure. She trusted the wrong man once and paid for it dearly. The fiery bluestocking is resolved to avoid Rafe, until a chance encounter between them reveals the normally irreverent man’s unexpected depths—and an attraction that’s impossible to ignore. But when Sylvia begins to suspect she isn’t the only one harboring a few secrets, she realizes that Rafe may pose a risk to far more than her heart . . .

New Adult Fiction: Fantasy/Sci-Fi

The Harp of Kings is a Warrior Bards Novel by Juliet Marillier. Liobhan is a powerful singer and an expert whistle player and, at eighteen, she is eager to join the elite warrior band on Swan Island. Her brother has a voice that can melt the coldest of hearts and he has a rare talent for the harp. The siblings train together and compete for their place on the elite fighting force. Their unusual skills make them ideal for undercover work as traveling minstrels. Liobhan and her brother are tasked with finding and retrieving a precious harp that symbolizes kingship. If the instrument is not played during the next coronation, then the heir will not be accepted, and the kingdom will be thrown into disarray. Faced with plotting courtiers, tight-lipped druids, an insightful storyteller, and a vulgar crown prince, Liobhan begins to suspect otherworldly forces meddling in human affairs.

Fortuna is the first in a new space opera trilogy by Kristyn Merbeth. Scorpia Kaiser seems to be living in her brother Corvus’ shadow until the day he abandons their family to participate in a profitless war. However, becoming the heir to her mother’s smuggling operation is not an easy transition for the rebellious, usually reckless, and sometime drunk pilot of the Fortuna. The aging cargo ship is the only home Scorpia has ever known, but her plans for taking over the family business is interrupted when Corvus returns from the war and a deal goes south. Now, the Kaiser siblings are forced to make a choice: take responsibility for their family’s involvement in a massacre or lie low and hope it all blows over. Too bad Scorpia doesn’t back down from a fight.

Deborah Hewitt delivers a magical romp with The Nightjar. Alice seems to be haunted by visions of birds. These have been with her all her life, but one day a mysterious stranger named Crowley appears at her door. He tells her that she is seeing nightjars—the miraculous birds that guard our souls. It turns out that a shadowy faction wants to use Alice’s gift to seek out those who are magically gifted. Now on the run, Alice follows Crowley into an incredible alternate London that exists alongside her own modern city. There she learns to hone her talents, but she cannot be sure that Crowley is trustworthy. She will risk everything to navigate the dangerous world of magic, marvels, and death cults.

 

The Nothing Within by Andy Giesler is a rural dystopian novel exploring post-apocalyptic Amish country. Would you commit an unforgivable sin to save the world? In the year 2161, the first chimera arose. A year later, twelve billion people are dead and the few who survived called it the Reckoning. Their descendants hide within the walls of small, rustic villages, hiding in fear from the chimeras. They revere tradition and eschew innovation. They especially mistrust anything that is different. Root couldn’t be more different and, although, she is frustrated with wall-bound life, she grudgingly accepts it—until she hears a voice that no one else can hear. This is where Root’s journey will take her into the wilds to discover the truth: that her world has been twisted by the very people trying to save it.

Melinda Rucker Haynes delivers rip-roaring novel with Bitten: Confessions of a Menopausal Vampire. Kristen’s fiancé, Rick pulls a Houdini and disappears. Years later, her husband deserts her for a younger woman. Kristen is disgusted with life itself and is menopausal to boot. When Rick comes sweeping back into her life still young and handsome, she accepts a date with him. Blame it on the raging hormones, but she wakes up in the morgue as an illegally made vampire. Now, Rick must hide his mistake, or everyone dies. Kristen refuses to go quietly into the dark and undead underground. Because of her age, lack of estrogen, and other physical and mental anomalies, she is an unusually powerful vampire with none of the normal limitations. Time to take on that bucket list of people who have done her wrong...

 

Realm of Ash is a fantasy novel by Tasha Suri. The Ambhan Empire is crumbling, and a terrible war of succession lingers on the horizon. The only hope lies in the realm of ash, where mortals can find what they seek in the echoes of their ancestors’ dreams. But the price to be paid when walking there is a steep one. Arwa is determined to make the journey. Widowed by a brutal massacre, she has pledged allegiance to the royal family and is determined to see the pledge through. She is joined by Zahir, the disgraced, illegitimate prince who has turned to forbidden magic in his desperate struggle to save his loved ones. Their shared past lies along a bloody path and it will call into question all they believe—including whether the Empire is worth saving at all.

Download Audio Books to Your Personal Device or Computer.

Our library patrons can now download audio books to their personal devices and computers through OneClickdigital. The OneClickdigital app can be found for both Apple and Android devices.

Just click on the link and sign up for your account using your library card number for access to thousands of books, both new and classics - http://warrenms.oneclickdigital.com/

Need help getting started? There is as step-by-step tutorial at http://warrenms.oneclickdigital.com/#help

Once in, you can choose titles from twenty-seven different genres, listed below :

1. Arts and Entertainment
2. Biographies, Autobiographies and Memoirs
3. Business and Economics
4. Classics
5. Comics and Graphic Novels
6. Fantasy
7. General Fiction
8. General Non-Fiction
9. Historical Fiction
10. History
11. Humor
12. Juvenile Fiction
13. Language
14. Literary Fiction
15. Mystery
16. Poetry
17. Politics and Current Events
18. Religion
19. Romanace
20. Science
21. Sci-Fi
22. Self-Help
23. Short Stories
24. Sports
25. Suspense and Thrillers
26. Western
27. Women's Fiction

From the Written Word to the Television Screen

Last summer, CBS decided to run a thirteen episode television series based upon Stephen King's book, Under the Dome. In both the book and the t.v. series, the small town of Chester's Mill, Maine finds itself trapped under an invisible dome. Iraq veteran Dale Barbara and several other townspeople find themselves at odds with the ambitious and murderous Big Jim Rennie and his son. There seems to be a secret lurking around every corner and under every rock. The television show is about the characters and how they react to being trapped under this mysterious dome and how they interact with one another. Everyone must learn to survive, scrounge supplies, and keep everything from falling apart.

The key cast members--Dale "Barbie" Barbara, Julia Shumway, and others--try to figure out what the dome is, who built it, and why was Chester's Mill chosen to be covered? The first season and the book can be found here at the library. The second season of the television series just aired on CBS.

This summer, ABC aired the television series Resurrection. This story is based on the book The Returned by Jason Mott. Both the DVD of the first season of Resurrection and The Returned can be checked out at the library. A mysterious young boy wakes up in a rice patty in China. It turns out that the boy is from Arcadia, Missouri and he died over thirty years ago. He is reunited with his parents who are--understandably--bewildered, scared, and overjoyed. The little boy is just the first, soon, others return. As they do, the people of Arcadia are thrown into chaos. Is this really the miracle that some think, or is there a more sinister purpose to the return of dead loved ones? A local doctor teams with an ICE agent and they try to discover what is going on and why, but they run into trouble when word gets out that the dead have come back.The first season of this series only has eight episodes and the ending leaves you wanting more.

While I have not read the two books mentioned here, they have definitely gone onto my "Must Read" list. When the producers, writers, directors, and actors do a superb job of staying close to the source material and do some spectacular storytelling, you can appreciate the synthesis of literature and film-making.