Nici

An incredible revenge story with a fast-moving plot that’s packed with visceral action, this book tops my list of recommended books. The strong female lead, Monza, is a vicious and arrogant leader who builds a team of highly skilled killers to commit seven revenge killings. Abercrombie packs her story full of moral relativity and gallows humor, adeptly constructing a memorable tale that keeps you guessing and leaves you very satisfied. —Nici

Many of us have had dreams about creating new living and working situations to match our visions of our “perfect lives.” Author Kilmer-Purcell shares the practical and personal sides of this struggle as he and his partner try to turn a weekend getaway home into a working farm. Filled with humor and very readable, this memoir is really about two people who are trying really hard but are loosing sight of their original goal. The conflict between what we want, what we think we want, and what our partners are trying to get for us is fuel for some wonderful book group discussions. I loved it. —Nici

Funny and touching, this memoir pits Poole’s budding magical talents against his obsessive-compulsive mother and his own social awkwardness. Somewhere in the midst of surviving his zany Midwestern family and accepting his budding homosexuality, Poole learns to embrace the source of his magic—self-confidence. I found it to be completely endearing without ever lapsing into bitterness or cruelty. —Nici

Darkly beautiful and highly emotionally charged, this novel is full of the kind of realism I've come to expect from O'Nan. He conveys the pain, despair, and loss experienced by his characters with incredible authenticity and sympathy leaving them seared into my brain as if their experiences were my own. -Nici

didn’t want to put this book down. A military experiment with an exotic virus turns the subjects into vampire-like killers that overrun the earth. Our only hope is an incredibly special and similarly infected young girl who calls on different people over the subsequent generations of survivors to help her fulfill her destiny. The writing is extremely well done, very literary, and quite frightening. Cronin has created a masterpiece of post-apocalyptic fiction.
—Nici