Life On the Refrigerator Door

Life On the Refrigerator Door

Alice Kuipers

Young Adult / Children's

Life on the Refrigerator Door is a poignant and deeply moving first novel about the bonds of love and frustration that tie mothers and daughters together. Told entirely in a series of notes left on the kitchen fridge-- some casual, some intimate, some funny, some angry-- it is the story of nine months in the life of 15-year-old Claire and her single mother. Preoccupied with their busy separate lives, rarely in the same room at the same time, they talk to each other in a series of short snippets that reflect the daily drama of school, boyfriends, work and chores that make up their days. Yet the mundane soon becomes extraordinary when a crisis overtakes their lives-- a momentous change that will redefine their relationship and unfold in their exchanges on the refrigerator door. Short, powerful and unforgettable, Kuipers' novel looks deep into the complex relationship between mothers and daughters, and the distances that can open up between...
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Under Cover of Darkness

Under Cover of Darkness

James Grippando

Mystery & Thrillers / Young Adult

The youngest lawyer ever to grab the helm of Seattle's most prominent law firm, Gus Wheatley has found success—as well as money, power, and prestige. He thinks nothing can interfere with his meteoric rise to the top. Until his wife, Beth, vanishes. Beth's disappearance coincides with a series of brutal murders the FBI dubs the "bookend killings." They think Beth is the killer's latest victim . . . or his willing accomplice. But Gus knows his wife would never ally herself with a cold–blooded killer. The further he searches, however, the more he discovers that Beth isn't the woman he thought he knew. Beth may be alive. She may or may not be innocent. She may have come up against evil far more reaching than a serial killer. And for Gus and his family, that evil is much too close to home. From Publishers WeeklyA workaholic attorney is forced to examine his priorities when his wife disappears amid a spree of serial killings in the Pacific Northwest. Grippando's fifth thriller (The Pardon; Found Money) springs energetically from the gate, creating tension and pace before a few unbelievable plot twists cause it to lose traction. Attorney Gus Wheatley, general partner of one of Seattle's biggest and most prestigious law firms, is interrupted from his busy schedule by a call from his daughter's dance instructor: his wife, Beth, failed to pick up six-year-old Morgan after class. At first merely annoyed, he next assumes his wife is having an affair (they have been experiencing marital problems) but soon calls police when he realizes Beth has disappeared without a trace. Ambitious FBI agent Andrea "Andie" Henning believes Beth may have fallen victim to a serial killer. In the days following her disappearance, Gus is stunned to learn that his wife suffered from bulimia and kleptomania, conditions pointing to extremely low self-esteem. Her emotional condition and other cluesDstrange phone calls, a tip from a prison inmateDeventually tempt investigators with another theory: Beth may have joined a local cult that includes murder among its group activities. The most successful component of this story is Gus Wheatley's growing awareness of his emotional separation from his family. Former trial lawyer Grippando displays expertise in police and legal procedures, but the connection between the killings and the cult strains credulity. Several key characters are not drawn convincingly, and the finale is more of an ambush than a surprise. (July) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalIn this latest from Grippando (Found Money), the marriage of high-powered attorney Gus Wheatley and his insecure wife, BethDalready unfamiliar terrain to both partnersDis invaded by a serial-killer. Beth seems to have it all: the perfect home and a precious young daughter. Yet she vanishes one afternoon without taking a single piece of her life, including her child, who is left waiting all evening at private school. Rookie FBI agent Andie Henning has recently ditched her loser of a fianc at the altar and welcomes the opportunity to work on what turns out to be a high-profile serial-killer case. Gus's world continues self-destructing, as his daughter, sister, and colleagues judge and reject him, the killer piles up Beth lookalike victims, and eerie telephone clues indicate that she may be alive and in the killer's clutches. In the meantime, Gus learns some rather sad and unsavory things about the wife he thought he knew. Another riveting tale of suspense from Grippando.-DSusan A. Zappia, Paradise Valley Community Coll., Phoenix Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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The Lathe of Heaven

The Lathe of Heaven

Ursula K. Le Guin

Science Fiction & Fantasy / Young Adult / Nonfiction

Amazon.com ReviewUrsula K. Le Guin is one of science fiction's greatest writers. She is also an acclaimed author of powerful and perceptive nonfiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. She has received many honors, including six Nebula and five Hugo Awards, the National Book Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Newbery, the Pilgrim, the Tiptree, and citations by the American Library Association. She has written over a dozen highly regarded novels and story collections. Her SF masterworks are The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), The Dispossessed (1974), and The Lathe of Heaven (1971).George Orr has dreams that come true--dreams that change reality. He dreams that the aunt who is sexually harassing him is killed in a car crash, and wakes to find that she died in a wreck six weeks ago, in another part of the country. But a far darker dream drives George into the care of a psychotherapist--a dream researcher who doesn't share George's ambivalence about altering reality.The Lathe of Heaven is set in the sort of worlds that one would associate with Philip K. Dick, but Ms. Le Guin's treatment of the material, her plot and characterization and concerns, are more akin to the humanistic, ethically engaged, psychologically nuanced fiction of Theodore Sturgeon. The Lathe of Heaven is an insightful and chilling examination of total power, of war and injustice and other age-old problems, of changing the world, of playing God. --Cynthia WardReview"When I read The Lathe of Heaven as a young man, my mind was boggled; now when I read it, more than twenty-five years later, it breaks my heart. Only a great work of literature can bridge - so thrillingly - that impossible span." - Michael Chabon"A rare and powerful synthesis of poetry and science, reason and emotion." -- The New York Times"Gracefully developed...extremely inventive.... What science fiction is supposed to do." -- Newsweek"Profound. Beautifully wrought...[Le Guin's] perceptions of such matters as geopolitics, race, socialized medicine, and the patient-shrink relationship are razor sharp and more than a little cutting." -- National Review
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Amandine

Amandine

Adele Griffin

Young Adult / Children's

Delia's new friend is not what she seemsEach day of Delia's first week of high school, her parents ask her the same question: Did you make any friends today? Finally, the answer is yes. Her name is Amandine, and she is the most exciting person in town. An artist, a dancer, and a teller of tall tales, she has enough charm to make Delia forget her loneliness. Like Delia, Amandine is an outsider—a city girl with too much personality for a small town.. Delia notices something strange about her friend from the start. Everything she says is a little bit too wild to be true. When the exaggerations get more serious, Delia finds it's too late to escape. Amandine has chosen Delia—and if Delia isn't careful, the vengeful, dangerous Amandine will set her life on fire.  This ebook features a personal history by Adele Griffin including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author's own collection.
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The Silent Sounds of Chaos

The Silent Sounds of Chaos

Kristina Circelli

Literature & Fiction / Young Adult

A silent call for help began the friendship between two children. A bond unlike any other kept them together. Finn was just a kid when he first heard Snow’s voice inside his head, two children in need of a friend and finding one in mysterious strangers. Never meeting in person, the pair grows up as opposites – Finn the boy who loves to get in trouble and works for the toughest drug lord in town, Snow the good, sheltered girl who wants to be a doctor. The bond built upon a strange ability to hear each other’s thoughts is threatened when Snow is abducted, her screams for help consuming Finn’s mind until they disappear completely, submerging him in a terrifying silence he’s never known before. Now it’s up to Finn to save her, led only by Snow’s sporadic thoughts as she floats in and out of consciousness. But the search for Snow leads him to a truth he isn’t prepared to face, a truth that has the power to unravel his entire world. The people he thought he knew, the life he thought he’d made, the best friend he thought he could protect – all point toward a brutal reality should he fail. And as Finn struggles to find Snow before she slips away, he must fight to keep that reality out, lest he let the chaos in. **
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Ascension

Ascension

Natasha Brown

Fantasy / Young Adult / Paranormal

Find out how the series ends with Ascension, book 4 of The Shapeshifter Chronicles.Haunted by nightly terrors, nineteen-year-old Chance Morgan feels the painful scars left behind by the shapeshifter sickness. The unwelcome voices may be gone, but nothing can erase the memories. Ashamed of his actions, he must face the people he hurt most as he struggles to forgive himself.While Chance battles his demons, his fiancée Ana Hughes focuses on his rehabilitation and the disappearance of her friend Ryan. With her attentions elsewhere, she begins to have memories from an ancient time, and she fears their implications.When Ana discovers the source of the visions, she unmasks a primeval enemy and learns that her time in this world is coming to an end. As Chance fights to change her fate, Ana realizes that no matter how hard he tries, her destiny may already be written in the stars.
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The Christmas Pony

The Christmas Pony

Melody Carlson

Literature & Fiction / Young Adult

Eight-year-old Lucy Turnbull knew better than to wish for a pony that Christmas in 1937. Her mother had assured her in no uncertain terms that asking for a pony was the same as asking for the moon. Besides, the only extra mouths they needed at their boarding house were the paying kind. But when an interesting pair of strangers comes to town, Lucy starts to believe her Christmas wishes might just come true after all.The queen of the Christmas novel, Melody Carlson pens another magical tale of expectation and excitement as one little girl dreams big and the impossible becomes possible.
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Summerlost

Summerlost

Ally Condie

Young Adult / Science Fiction & Fantasy

A tender and compelling contemporary novel for young readers about facing loss and finding friendship, from Ally Condie, international bestselling author of the Matched series. "Kids are awesome. And they are diverse. There are children with different abilities and backgrounds and experiences, and every one of them deserves to find themselves in children's literature and to know that they matter." –Ally Condie, on Summerlost Sometimes it takes a new friend to bring you home. It's the first real summer since the accident that killed Cedar's father and younger brother, Ben. Cedar and what's left of her family are returning to the town of Iron Creek for the summer. They're just settling into their new house when a boy named Leo, dressed in costume, rides by on his bike. Intrigued, Cedar follows him to the renowned Summerlost theatre festival. Soon, she not only has a new friend in Leo and a job working concessions at the festival, she finds...
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