Teen Pick of the Week: The Boy Project

The Boy Project (Notes and Observations of Kara Mcallister) by Kami Kinard
I've just had my best idea yet: The Boy Project. These charts, graphs and observations are sure to help me uncover the mysteries of boys. Right? But I never expected where my research might take me. Like to the boys' bathroom. And to the principal's office. Or to facing off against the school's meanest girl and keeping secrets from my BFF. Still, if my project leads me to the right boy, all the craziness might be worth it...I hope!

Click on the title to place it on hold at the Ventress Memorial Library!

Read a great teen book recently? Want to recommend it as Teen Pick of the Week? Email me!

Romance, Suspense and Intrigue

The Pleasure of Your Kiss by Teresa Medeiros
Legendary adventurer Ashton Burke has roamed the globe for ten years trying to forget the spirited woman he left behind in England. His devil-may-care pursuits are interrupted, though, when he reluctantly agrees to retrieve his brother's kidnapped fiancee from a sultan's harem. Too late, he discovers his quarry is none other than Clarinda Cardew, the very same girl who made off with his jaded heart.


Poison Flower: A Jane Whitfield Novel by Thomas Perry
James Shelby has been unjustly convicted of his wife's murder. In order to save him from prison or death, Jane orchestrates his escape from the heavily guarded criminal court building in downtown Los Angeles. But the price of Shelby's freedom is higher than Jane ever could have imagined. Within minutes, imposters posing as police officers shoot Jane, take her away, and tie her to a mattress in a small, dark room. Jane's captors are employees of the true killer, who believes he won't be safe until Shelby is dead.

Another Woman by Penny Vincenzi
The night before her lavish wedding, Cressida Forrest goes to bed serene and happy. By morning she has vanished--without apparent cause, and without a trace. Shocked, anxious, and uncomprehending, the two families face a long day of revelations as a complex, fragile web of sexual, marital, and financial secrets is ripped apart by Cressida's disappearance. And the question they are all forced to ask is who really was the woman they thought they knew--perfect daughter, sister, lover, and wife never to be?

Teen Pick of the Week: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can. She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed. There is. She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong.

Click on the title to place it on hold at the Ventress Memorial Library!

Read a great teen book recently? Want to recommend it as Teen Pick of the Week? Email me!

Fashion, Divas, and Knitting

Roots of Style: Weaving Together Life, Love, and Fashion by Isabel Toledo
This is a rare look into the mind, life, and journey of one of our generation's most coveted fashion designers, Isabel Toledo. From the nostalgic and permanent influence of her upbringing in Cuba and the serendipitous love that materialized her vision and fueled her conviction, to the timeless mark she continues to make on the fashion industry, Isabel weaves together all of her impressions to express her true inspiration and authenticity. Isabel's words -- interpreted by artwork from her husband, one of fashion's most prolific illustrators, Ruben Toledo-- tell an eloquent and visually stunning story about how fashion gave a form of communication to a curious girl who was fascinated by design, craftsmanship, and sewing.

Redefining Diva: Lessons from the Original Dreamgirl by Sheryl Lee Ralph
Sheryl Lee Ralph's superstar performance as the original Deena in Broadway's groundbreaking musical Dreamgirls didn't happen overnight. First came a grueling Hollywood apprenticeship, where roles for young black women at the time were often offensive and demeaning. Sheryl Lee, however, held stubbornly to the values of her mother and grandmother: she wouldn't take any part she couldn't be proud of. Even after joining Dreamgirls--where she helped create a role that grew from her own life story--she wouldn't invest years of sweat and tears before the play finally opened to instant acclaim.

The Knitter's Life List: To Do; To Know; To Explore; To Make by Gwen Steege
Gwen W. Steege has been a fiber fanatic for nearly 50 years, and she hasn't tired yet of spending late nights with her knitting needles and a good ball of yarn, sometimes spun from the fleece of her own sheep. By day, she is an editor who has worked on dozens of books about knitting and other fiber craft. She lives in western Massachusetts.

Teen Pick of the Week: John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Click on the title to place it on hold at the Ventress Memorial Library!

Read a great teen book recently? Want to recommend it as Teen Pick of the Week? Email me!

April Mysteries!

Tying in with my new April display titled "Hide from the April Showers with a Good Mystery," here are some brand new mysteries added to the library collection today!

Buried in a Book by Lucy Arlington
After receiving her first pink slip at the age of forty-five, former newspaper journalist Lila Wilkins is desperate for work, even if it means taking a pay cut. After combing through the classifieds, Lila accepts an internship at A Novel Idea, a thriving literary agency in the utopian town of Inspiration Valley, North Carolina. Lila can't imagine anything better than being paid to read, but with a crew of quirky coworkers and a sky-high stack of query letters, she doesn't exactly have time to discover the next great bestseller--especially when a penniless aspiring author drops dead in the agency's waiting room. No one else seems too concerned about the man's demise, but when Lila uncovers a series of threatening letters, she's determined to uncover who killed the man's dreams of literary stardom.

Face Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Veteran TV reporter Charlotte McNally fights for justice, journalism---and the battle against on-air aging. The good news: she's got explosive evidence to free an innocent woman from prison. The bad news: that makes Charlotte--and someone she loves-- the real killer's next target. Charlotte knows she has what it takes to get the story. Unfortunately, the more Charlotte snoops around, the more people turn up dead.

Deadly Offer by Vicki Doudera
When Darby Farr's assistant, ET, learns that his sister, Selena, has suddenly (and suspiciously) died in her hot tub, Darby and ET travel to Selena's magnificent vineyard estate nestled in the heart of California wine country. There, Darby discovers that Selena was entertaining offers from three different prospective buyers--each one of whom is desperate to be the new owner of the winery. As a saboteur wreaks havoc on the property, Darby risks her life to crack the case and close the sale in a valley ripe with jealousy, greed, and danger.

Teen Pick of the Week: Cinder

Cinder: The Lunar Chronicles Book One by Marissa Meyer
Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being cyborg does have its benefits, though: Cinder's brain interface has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best mechanic in New Beijing. This reputation brings Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls it "a matter of national security," but Cinder suspects it's more serious than he's letting on.

Click on the title to place it on hold at the Ventress Memorial Library!

Read a great teen book recently? Want to recommend it as Teen Pick of the Week? Email me!