To Read, or Not To Read

Royally Romanov (The Royals #2) by Teri Wilson Pocket Star ebook | 304 pages |  B01M5CMDEN Buy: Amazon
Summary
In this charming modern day retelling of the 1956 classic Anastasia, a museum curator falls for a mysterious man who may or may not be a long lost heir to Russia’s imperial Romanov dynasty.
Finley Abbot is organizing the most prestigious art exhibit of her career at the Louvre museum—a retrospective of art from the House of Romanov. But the sudden appearance of Maxim Romanov threatens to turn her into the biggest laughingstock of the art world. When she finds herself falling in love, she realizes there’s even more at stake than her career. How can she trust a man with her whole world when he can’t remember a thing about his past?
After suffering a violent blow to the head, Maxim’s only clue to his identity is a notebook containing carefully researched documentation in his own handwriting indicating that he is the sole surviving descendant of the Grand Duchess Anastasia, previ…

A new documentary will explore the life and legacy of Ursula K. Le Guin




Also, this is hilarious! 


I loved watching Unforgotten on Masterpiece Mystery! It's kept me enthralled for the last six weeks. I can't wait for season 3.




And last but not least, listen to this recording of Flannery O'Conner reading A Good Man is Hard to Find.

Week 3 of Sync Audiobooks for Teens is live. To download these FREE titles go to https://audiobooksync.com. Titles are delivered through the OverDrive app, which is also free. 


Available: 05/10 - 05/17

Two boys on the run face danger—and
struggle with mistrusting everyone around them.



Johnny Get Your Gun by John Ball | Read by Dion Graham Published by Brilliance Publishing
When a nine-year-old boy shoots an older child, a race war is ignited between militant blacks and racist whites of 1960s Pasadena. Follow black homicide detective Virgil Tibbs as he investigates the scene of the conflict involving riots, brutalities, a chase through Disneyland, and a heartwarming—and heartbreaking—scene that takes place in the baseball stadium of the former Los Angeles Angels. Here you will find childhood gone awry, racism that ought to shock but in context does not (we know it too well), and political conflicts that add fuel to the fire.



On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni | Read by Abbas Kazerooni P…

Leading up to Mother’s Day on May 13, visit Read It Forward to findheartwarming, relatable, and emotional essays. The pieces cover experiences such as a shared Kindle account bringing a parent and child together to a dying mother reading her daughter’s novel, and more. Highlights from Word to Your Mother include: 
Elisabeth Cohen, author of The Glitch, who reminisces about the soundtrack of her childhood—her mother’s audiobooks—and the ways listening to stories brought them together. 
Chloe Esposito, author of Bad, who shares a witty account of adventures in bedtime stories—one of the greatest pleasures she shares with her daughters.

Liam Callanan, author of Paris by the Book, who recalls the lessons that remain with him from reading The Country Bunny with his mother as a child.
On Read it Forward you can also find bookish gift ideas for mom and a reading list of moving “momoirs” that cover loving and losing mothers, and reckoning with complicated relationships.

Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm Hyperion | Ages 12-18 | 320 pages 9781484768174 Amazon
Summary
Someday I want to live in a place where I never hear “You’re Dusty’s sister?” ever again. Life is real enough for Dylan—especially as the ordinary younger sister of Dusty, former Miss Mississippi and the most perfect, popular girl in Tupelo. But when Dusty wins the hand of the handsome Scottish laird-to-be Ronan on the TRC television network’s crown jewel, Prince in Disguise, Dylan has to face a different kind of reality: reality TV.
As the camera crew whisks them off to Scotland to film the lead-up to the wedding, camera-shy Dylan is front and center as Dusty’s maid of honor. The producers are full of surprises—including old family secrets, long-lost relatives, and a hostile future mother-in-law who thinks Dusty and Dylan’s family isn’t good enough for her only son. At least there’s Jamie, an adorably bookish groomsman who might just be the perfect antidote to all Dylan’s stress …

Meet the Author: Stuart Neville


Meet the Author: Imbolo Mbue


What I'm Reading

I'm listening to this on audio. It's powerful, people. Here's the summary:
In this valuable and revealing anthology, cultural critic and best-selling author Roxane Gay collects original and previously published pieces that address what it means to live in a world where women have to measure the harassment, violence, and aggression they face, and where they are "routinely second-guessed, blown off, discredited, denigrated, besmirched, belittled, patronized, mocked, shamed, gaslit, insulted, bullied" for speaking out. Contributions include essays from established and up-and-coming writers, performers, and critics, including actors Ally Sheedy and Gabrielle Union and writers Amy Jo Burns, Lyz Lenz, and Claire Schwartz.
Covering a wide range of topics and experiences, from an exploration of the rape epidemic embedded in the refugee crisis to first-person accounts of child molestation, thi…

Week 2 of Sync Audiobooks for Teens is in full swing. To download these FREE titles go to https://audiobooksync.com. Titles are delivered through the OverDrive app, which is also free. 
Is leaving home to look for something better worth the risks—and the revelations?
Available: 05/03 - 05/10

Solo by Kwame Alexander, Mary Rand Hess Read by Kwame Alexander
New York Times bestseller! Blade never asked for a life of the rich and famous. In fact, he’d give anything not to be the son of Rutherford Morrison, a washed-up rock star and drug addict with delusions of a comeback. Or to no longer be part of a family known most for lost potential, failure, and tragedy, including the loss of his mother. The one true light is his girlfriend, Chapel, but her parents have forbidden their relationship, assuming Blade will become just like his father. In reality, the only thing Blade and Rutherford have in common is the music that lives inside them. And songwriting is all Blade has left after Rutherford, whi…

Holding by Graham Norton Published October 6th 2016 by Hodder & Stoughton Hardcover, 320 pages | 9781444792003 |  Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins | Simon & Schuster Audio
Summary
The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama, and yet its inhabitants are troubled: Sergeant P.J. Collins hasn’t always been this overweight; Brid Riordan, a mother of two, hasn’t always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasn’t always felt that her life was a total waste.
So when human remains—suspected to be those of Tommy Burke, a former lover of both Brid and Evelyn—are discovered on an old farm, the village’s dark past begins to unravel. As a frustrated P.J. struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his professional life, he unearths a community’s worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regrets.
Darkly comic, at times profoundly sad, and “especially inviting because of its tongue-in-cheek wit” (Kirkus Reviews), Holding is a masterful debut. Graham Norton employs …