Lima Public Library Book Reviews

FICTION

The Deepest of Secrets by Kelley Armstrong

It’s not always easy to live in the hidden town of Rockton, something Detective Casey Duncan knows firsthand. Tucked away in the Yukon wilderness, the community survives―and thrives―because the residents’ many secrets stay just that―secret. But what happens when these secrets start to come out? Overnight, no one is safe. It’s not a question of if your secret will come out―but when.

A Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande

The year is 1846. The U.S. Army marches south to provoke war with México over the disputed Río Grande boundary. Ximena Salomé is a gifted Mexican healer who dreams of building a family with the man she loves on the coveted land she calls home. But when Texas Rangers storm her ranch and shoot her husband dead, her dreams are burned to ashes. Vowing to honor her husband’s memory and defend her country, Ximena uses her healing skills as an army nurse on the frontlines of the ravaging war.

Monument by Howard Owen

Richmond is shut down and masked up amid the COVID pandemic. Then, Black Lives Matter outrage evolves into an attack on the Confederate monuments that have long been despised by much of the city population. What else could happen? Willie Black, night police reporter for the local daily, knows there’s always something.

The Great Witch of Brittany by Louisa Morgan

Brittany, 1762. There hasn’t been a witch born in the Orchière clan for generations. According to the elders, that line is dead, leaving the clan vulnerable to the whims of superstitious villagers and the prejudices of fearmongering bishops. Ursule Orchière has been raised on stories of the great witches of the past. But the only magic she knows is the false spells her mother weaves over the gullible women who visit their fortune-telling caravan.

NONFICTION

Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine by Anna Della Subin

Ever since 1492, when Christopher Columbus made landfall in the New World and was hailed as a heavenly being, the accidental god has haunted the modern age. From Haile Selassie, acclaimed as the Living God in Jamaica, to Britain’s Prince Philip, who became the unlikely center of a new religion on a South Pacific island, men made divine―always men―have appeared on every continent. And because these deifications always emerge at moments of turbulence―civil wars, imperial conquest, revolutions―they have much to teach us.

Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them by Dan Saladino

The numbers are stark: Of the roughly six thousand different plants once consumed by human beings, only nine remain major staples today. Just three of these―rice, wheat, and corn―now provide fifty percent of all our calories. The source of much of the world’s food―seeds―is mostly in the control of just four corporations. Ninety-five percent of milk consumed in the United States comes from a single breed of cow. Half of all the world’s cheese is made with bacteria or enzymes made by one company.

Little Sister: My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood by Lana Wood

On the night of November 29, 1981, Natalie Wood disappeared from her yacht, the Splendour, while visiting Catalina Island with her husband, Robert “R.J.” Wagner and their friend, Christopher Walken. The beloved movie star’s tragic drowning shook America, inspiring troves of magazine covers and media pieces. What was originally believed to be an open-and-shut case of accidental drowning has been called into question over the years, and in 2011 the investigation was reopened. In 2018, at the urging of the public, it was reclassified as “suspicious.”

Bully of Asia: Why China’s Dream is the New Threat to World Order by Steven W. Mosher

Steven Mosher exposes the resurgent aspirations of the would-be hegemon—and the roots of China’s will to dominate in its 5,000-year history of ruthless conquest and assimilation of other nations, brutal repression of its own people, and belligerence toward any civilization that challenges its claim to superiority.

CHILDREN’S

Captain Tom Moore (Little People, Big Dreams series) by Maria Vegara

In 2020, at the age of 99, retired British Army Captain Tom Moore decided that he was going to walk 100 laps of his backyard in England before his upcoming 100th birthday to raise money for the doctors and nurses of the National Health Service battling the Covid-19 pandemic. Captain Tom was impressed by the care he had received while in the hospital following surgery and wanted to do something to help. Even though he had to use a walker, Captain Tom reached his goal of 100 laps in only two weeks, raising 30 million pounds ($40 million) to support British health care workers. For his efforts, Captain Tom was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, the highest honor for a British citizen. He proved that one person can make a huge difference, even when he or she has challenges that make it seem impossible.

Ages: 4 –8


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