September 2020 Reviews
Book reviews to be published by on their release date
September 1, 2020
The Radium Girls: The Scary But True Story of the Poison That Made People Glow in the Dark by Kate Moore
Amidst the excitement of the early twentieth century, hundreds of young women spend their days hard at work painting watch dials for troops overseas using glow-in-the-dark paint made with radium. They are well paid and consider themselves lucky—until they begin to fall mysteriously ill. As the corporations try to cover up a shocking secret, these determined shining girls suddenly find themselves at the center of a historic and deadly scandal.
Written with a captivating voice and galloping pace, The Radium Girls illuminates the courage and tenacity of these incredible women, whose determination to fight back led to life-changing regulation, advanced nuclear research, and ultimately saved countless lives. -Synopsis from Goodreads
Genre: Nonfiction, Middle Grade, History, Strong women
Print Length: 432 pages
ISBN: 9781728210346
Publisher: Sourcebooks
September 8, 2020
Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney
When Clemmie goes next door to check on her difficult and unlikeable neighbor Dom, he isn’t there. But something else is. Something stunning, beautiful and inexplicable. Clemmie photographs the wondrous object on her cell phone and makes the irrevocable error of forwarding it. As the picture swirls over the internet, Clemmie tries desperately to keep a grip on her own personal network of secrets. Can fifty years of careful hiding under names not her own be ruined by one careless picture?
And although what Clemmie finds is a work of art, what the police find is a body. . . in a place where Clemmie wasn’t supposed to be, and where she left her fingerprints. Suddenly, the bland, quiet life Clemmie has built for herself in her sleepy South Carolina retirement community comes crashing down as her dark past surges into the present. -Synopsis from Goodreads
Genre: Mystery, Fiction
Print Length: 336 pages
ISBN: 9781728205120
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
September 9, 2020
The Wife by Shalini Boland
Zoe fainted on her wedding day, and she never knew why. She’s always felt sure something bad happened. Ten years later, she’s going to find out what…
It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. Zoe was sitting in her hotel room, in her perfect white dress, looking forward to the moment when she would make kind, handsome Toby her husband.
Then, there was a blank.
They said she must have fainted, overcome with emotion. But nothing felt quite right afterward. Did something happen in that missing time?
Now, Toby and Zoe have two beautiful children and a perfect life. They’re planning their ten-year anniversary party for their family and friends. The invitations have been sent, the food ordered. They’re going back to the grand hotel where they got married.
But as the anniversary gets closer, it becomes clear not everyone is looking forward to celebrating. She catches Toby lying about where he’s been. One of her best friends seems to be ignoring her. And someone is spreading stories that might stop the party from happening at all.
Zoe is increasingly sure that she doesn’t have the full story. But does she want to know the truth, if it will destroy everything? -Synopsis from Goodreads
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Print Length: 292
ISBN: 9781786819338
Publisher: Bookouture
September 15, 2020
60-Second Brain Teasers Pencil-Free Puzzles
Short Head-Scratchers from the Easy to Near Impossible by Nathan Haselbauer
Nathan Haselbauer’s amazingly clever book of 201 pencil-free brain teasers isn’t your typical puzzle book. 60-Second Brain Teasers Pencil-Free Puzzles is the perfect distraction for puzzle lovers with only a few minutes to spare.
Pit your wits against puzzles like:
A car dealer spends $20,000 for some used cars. He sold them for $27,500, making an average of $1,500 on each car. How many cars did he sell?
A single-elimination billiards tournament is held for 100 players. How many matches must be held before a winner is crowned?
If each of Peter’s sons has twice as many sisters as brothers and each of his daughters has just as many sisters as brothers, how many sons and daughters does Peter have?
If Beth is as old as Bill will be when Trish is as old as Beth is now, who is the oldest?
Hours of mind-bending entertainment await you in 60-Second Brain Teasers Pencil-Free Puzzles. From math and logic puzzles to word games, it should take you around one minute to solve each puzzle. You don’t need an advanced math degree to solve these ingenious brain teasers—just an inquisitive mind. Try these puzzles today! –Synopsis from Goodreads
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies, Entertainment
Print Length: 128
ISBN: 9781786819338
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group – Fair Winds Press
September 15, 2020
Broken by John Rector
Welcome to Beaumont Cove, a slowly decaying tourist town at the edge of the world, and the place where Maggie James’s worst fears for her estranged twin sister, Lilly, have come true.
Lilly is dead, and Maggie has arrived to identify her body.
Lilly’s husband, Mike, is in custody for her murder. With his long history of abuse, no one in town is surprised at the inevitable end to their stormy marriage, least of all Maggie. All she wants is to clean up her sister’s affairs, see Mike punished, and get out of Beaumont Cove.
With the help of the local sheriff, a retired private investigator, and a strange but friendly carnival psychic, Maggie begins to uncover the truth about what really happened to her sister. But the truth comes at a price, and soon Maggie finds herself walking a dark path toward the same deadly trap that killed Lilly.
The more Maggie discovers about her sister’s final days, the more she realizes that nothing is as it appears in this strange boardwalk town. -Synopsis from Goodreads
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Print Length: 284
ISBN: 9781542091503
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
September 15, 2020
Don’t Look for Me by Wendy Walker
One night, Molly Clarke walked away from her life.
She doesn’t want to be found.
Or at least, that’s the story.
The car abandoned miles from home.
The note found at a nearby hotel.
The shattered family that couldn’t be put back together.
They called it a “walk away.”
It happens all the time.
Women disappear, desperate to leave their lives behind and start over.
But is that what really happened to Molly Clarke? -Synopsis from Goodreads
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Print Length: 352
ISBN: 9781250198709
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
September 15, 2020
The Forgotten Kingdom (The Lost Queen Trilogy #2) by Signe Pike
AD 573. Imprisoned in her chamber, Languoreth awaits news in torment. Her husband and son have ridden off to wage war against her brother, Lailoken. She doesn’t yet know that her young daughter, Angharad, who was training with Lailoken to become a Wisdom Keeper, has been lost in the chaos. As one of the bloodiest battles of early medieval Scottish history scatters its survivors to the wind, Lailoken and his men must flee to exile in the mountains of the Lowlands, while nine-year-old Angharad must summon all Lailoken has taught her and follow her own destiny through the mysterious, mystical land of the Picts.
In the aftermath of the battle, old political alliances unravel, opening the way for the ambitious adherents of the new religion: Christianity. Lailoken is half-mad with battle sickness, and Languoreth must hide her allegiance to the Old Way to survive her marriage to the next Christian king of Strathclyde. Worst yet, the new King of the Angles is bent on expanding his kingdom at any cost. Now the exiled Lailoken, with the help of a young warrior named Artur, maybe the only man who can bring the Christians and the pagans together to defeat the encroaching Angles. But to do so, he must claim the role that will forever transform him. He must become the man known to history as “Myrddin.”
Bitter rivalries are ignited, lost loves are found, new loves are born, and old enemies come face-to-face with their reckoning in this compellingly fresh look at one of the most enduring legends of all time. -Synopsis from Goodreads
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy
Print Length: 496
ISBN: 9781501191459
Publisher: Atria Books
September 15, 2020
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
by Christopher Paolini, Jennifer Hale (Narrator)
It was supposed to be a routine research mission on an uncolonized planet. But when xenobiologist Kira Navárez finds an alien relic beneath the surface of the world, the outcome transforms her forever and will alter the course of human history.
Her journey to discover the truth about the alien civilization will thrust her into the wonders and nightmares of first contact, epic space battles for the fate of humankind, and the farthest reaches of the galaxy. -Synopsis from Goodreads
Genre: SciFi, Fantasy
Run time: 32 hours, 29 minutes
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ISBN: 9781250767547
