Shannon Harris

The long hot summer months are upon us and what better way to spend them than staying inside and reading. It is my job here, at A.K. Smiley Public Library, to order books for the fiction collection, which includes horror, supernatural, and fantasy, some of my favorite genres. Here are some new titles that will be released this summer that will make you want to sleep with the lights on.

Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel is one of the most anticipated books in horror fiction this season. This book will have the reader reconsidering a family reunion with a long lost cousin that may have been involved in a cult in their youth.

Hide by Kiersten White will have the reader rethinking visiting an amusement park any time soon. Fans of the hit Netflix show Squid Game will want to check this title out for sure.

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey shows how, sometimes, home isn’t where the heart is. This book will have the reader reluctant to visit their family home. If you enjoyed the Netflix show The Haunting of Hill House, then this book should be on your summer reading list.

So head on down to A.K. Smiley Public Library to check out these titles today. For more information, please visit our website at www.akspl.org, or call us at 909-798-7565.

Shannon Harris is a lover of all things scary and supernatural. She moonlights as a library specialist at A.K. Smiley Public Library during daytime hours.

Most people have heard the old adage, “Too many books, not enough time.” As of lately, I have been finding myself short on time to read (insert audible gasp here). So, here are a few new titles from the fiction collection that I am looking forward to reading. That is, when I have the time to read.

Sundial, Catriona Ward’s latest horror novel looks like a terrifyingly good read. If her name looks familiar to you, you might have read her previous novel, The Last House on Needless Street.

Young Mungo is Douglas Stuart’s latest novel. Stuart won the 2020 Booker Prize for his beautiful novel Shuggie Bain, one of my favorite books that I have read to date.

Quan Barry’s latest novel, When I’m Gone Look for Me in the East, takes the reader on a spiritual quest through the Mongolian landscape. Barry’s previous novel, We Ride Upon Sticks, took us on a journey through young adulthood with a field hockey team, which I really enjoyed reading a few years ago.

One book I am really looking forward to reading is Simone St. James’ latest novel, The Book of Cold Cases. St. James’ previous novel, The Sun Down Motel, was one of the only books to scare me enough that I didn’t want to turn off the lights.

These are just a few books that are on my never-ending to-be-read list. Come on down to the library, and check out these titles and many more.

 

For more information visit our website at www.akspl.org, or give us a call at 909-798-7565.

 

The beginning of the New Year is usually filled with resolutions of diets and exercise, but here at A.K. Smiley Public Library the only resolution we made is to make sure that our shelves are filled with the latest and greatest titles. Here are some buzz-worthy new titles whose authors are making their fictional debut.

Fiona and Jane is Jean Chen Ho’s debut novel, and it has already been named one of the most anticipated books for 2022. Fiona and Jane is about the experiences of two young Taiwanese American women and the power of their friendship that transcends distance and time. This novel is a reminder of what it feels like to be young and alive.

Frida Liu thought she was a good mother to her only daughter, Harriet, until one day, she wasn’t. The School for Good Mothers is Jessamine Chan’s unsettling debut novel where Frida is at risk of having her daughter taken away from her. She now has to prove to the government that she is indeed a good mother by attending a government-run school where mothers like her will learn to be ‘good.’

How High We Go in the Dark is Sequoia Nagamatsu’s breathtaking debut novel about an ancient deadly virus that has swept Earth and the survivors left behind in its wake. The chapters are told from the perspective of characters that are trying to find beauty, hope, and love even when the world seems like it is at its bleakest.

A.K. Smiley Public Library is closed for in-person services until January 31, so make sure to use our Books-to-Go program to check out these titles and more.

For the past five years or so, I have been reading holiday-themed books to help put me in the mood for the upcoming holiday season. There is something about reading those delightful books that make me want to drink copious amounts of hot chocolate, eat sugar cookies, and wear ridiculous sweaters. What can I say? I am a walking advertisement for a Hallmark movie. If you too want to feel the joy of the holidays through the written word, here are a few titles that are available for check out at A. K. Smiley Public Library. Warning: may induce holiday cheer!

The first book on our holiday tour is “A Holly Jolly Diwali” by Sonya Lilli. Niki Randhawa is a data analyst and is known for being practical and strategic until she is unexpectedly laid off and finds herself questioning everything. Newly unemployed, Niki makes a spur of the moment decision and goes to Mumbai, India for a friend’s wedding, just in time to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, where she meets Sameer Mukherji. Could this be love or is Niki caught up in the holiday spirit of Diwali?

The next book on our holiday tour is “The Matzah Ball” by Jean Meltzer. Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt loves Christmas. She loves it so much that she writes Christmas romance novels, which isn’t a bad thing, except that she is Jewish and has hidden her career from her family for years. Trying to find inspiration for a new novel, a Hanukkah romance, she attends a music festival, The Matzah Ball, where she finds more than inspiration: she finds love from the past and love in Hanukkah.

The last book on our holiday tour is “A Magical New York Christmas” by Anita Hughes. It’s Christmas week in New York City at the infamous Plaza Hotel and journalist Sabrina Post will be staying there as part of her latest writing assignment, ghost writing for a famous art dealer and former employee of the Plaza Hotel. Her week is going as one would expect it to, perfect, until she meets another guest staying at the hotel, Ian Westing, a Brit who may or may not related to the British aristocracy. Ian is also under the guise that Sabrina is someone she isn’t. Will love prevail against the case of mistaken identities? Anything is possible at The Plaza Hotel at Christmas time.

Dash on down to A. K. Smiley Public Library to check out these festive reads and many more.

Are you in need of a new book to read? Well, lucky for you, our shelves are jam-packed with new books! Here are just a few new titles that are being released throughout the month of September. So, if you haven’t already reserved your copy, please do so now.

Fans of the novels, “Big Little Lies” and “The Hypnotist’s Love Story,” by best-selling author Liane Moriarty, will be pleased to know her latest work of fiction, “Apples Never Fall,” a novel about the sudden disappearance of a prominent family’s matriarch, will be released mid-September.

Author of “The Family Upstairs” Lisa Jewell has just released her latest thriller, “The Night She Disappeared,” a novel about a young couple’s mysterious disappearance at a party in the secluded English countryside.

Fans of Sally Rooney, author of “Normal People,” will be happy to know her book, “Beautiful World, Where Are You,” was released September 7.  Her latest novel is about two friends and their desire for love, friendship, and a beautiful world.

“The Last House on Needless Street,” by Catriona Ward, comes out at the end of the month and just in time for frightful October. The residents of the house have secrets, dark secrets that they thought were safe until a new neighbor moves in.

Come in to check out or reserve these titles and more.