Recommended Reading: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Book Description:

A. J. Fikry's life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island-from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who's always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.'s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It's a small package, but large in weight. It's that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn't take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J.; or for that determined sales rep, Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light; or for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.'s world; or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn't see coming. As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.

This book is the perfect choice for any book lover, a celebration of all things bookish and quirky. It's fun and funny, full of quotes you'll want to put on mugs, but it's also very touching in some places. The love story is sweet, but also heartfelt. While the plot appears random at first, bordering on magical realism, the ending brings all the little plot threads together... and the books. The literature references are many and varied, always perfect for the occasion. Plus, A.J. Fikry is the NSL Book Club's pick for August! Click here for more information.

Recommended Reading: Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson

Book Description:

As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. DJ's boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond. Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing more than just dangerous flood waters.

While winds howled and Lake Pontchartrain surged, the borders between the modern city and the Otherworld crumbled. Now, the undead and the restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering the soldiers sent to help the city recover. To make it worse, Gerry has gone missing, the wizards’ Elders have assigned a grenade-toting assassin as DJ’s new partner, and undead pirate Jean Lafitte wants to make her walk his plank. 

Local author Suzanne Johnson's "Sookie Stackhouse meets Harry Dresden" series is a perfect choice for urban fantasy fans. Johnson uses the New Orleans setting to great effect, and she's created a realistically complex fantasy world around it. The heroine is more scientifically-minded than most heroines, but she's still fun and sassy. The writing is a little choppy in this first book -- the mystery elements can be overly obvious, and the romantic subplots unwieldy. Still, it's a strong and atmospheric first book, and in the sequel (River Road), those problems are solved!

Recommended Reading: Dramacon by Svetlana Chmakova

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Book Description:

When Christie settles in the Artist Alley of her first ever anime convention, she only sees it as an opportunity to promote the comic she had started with her boyfriend. But conventions are never what you expect. Soon the whirlwind of events sweeps Christie off her feet and changes her life.

This three-volume manga is a cute, funny introduction to the Japanese comic style. It's a simple story about two people meeting at a manga convention, but it manages a good pace with lots of details. The plot is just realistic enough to involve the reader but light enough to keep things fun, and unlike many other manga series, this one finishes off quickly with a satisfying ending in just a few volumes! Plus, the romance is adorable. Find all three Dramacon volumes with the rest of the manga in the YA department!

Recommended Reading: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Book Description:

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home. Yet she spares Cas's life...

This 2011 release is the perfect YA book for anyone who loves the show Supernatural. It's got the ghosts, the creepy houses, the young professional hunter... The plotting is excellent and really manages to fuse a ghost story with a full-length YA novel. Ghost stories are generally a short-story format with very basic characters, so that's no mean feat. The characters are compelling, and it's great to see a YA novel from a boy's point of view. There's some romance, but the focus is on the ghost story. 

The series is complete in two volumes, the sequel being the equally-excellent Girl of Nightmares!

Recommended Reading: That Summer by Lauren Willig

Book Description:

2009: When Julia Conley hears that she has inherited a house outside London from an unknown great-aunt, she assumes it’s a joke. She hasn't been back to England since the car crash that killed her mother when she was six, an event she remembers only in her nightmares. But when she arrives at Herne Hill to sort through the house—with the help of her cousin Natasha and sexy antiques dealer Nicholas—bits of memory start coming back. And then she discovers a pre-Raphaelite painting, hidden behind the false back of an old wardrobe, and a window onto the house's shrouded history begins to open...

1849: Imogen Grantham has spent nearly a decade trapped in a loveless marriage to a much older man, Arthur. The one bright spot in her life is her step-daughter, Evie, a high-spirited sixteen year old who is the closest thing to a child Imogen hopes to have. But everything changes when three young painters come to see Arthur's collection of medieval artifacts, including Gavin Thorne, a quiet man with the unsettling ability to read Imogen better than anyone ever has. When Arthur hires Gavin to paint her portrait, none of them can guess what the hands of fate have set in motion.

Lauren Willig is most known for her Secret History of the Pink Carnation books; a comedic historical-romance series based around Napoleonic-era spies. However, in recent years she's been branching out into standalone novels with much different tones. That Summer still has its share of humor and romance, but on the whole it's a more serious book. It's intense, but it's not a whirlwind of overwrought emotions. Slimmer than the Pink Carnation books, yet with a new layer of complexity. There's something about it that's calculating, which suits its content very well. It's comprehensively researched, you get dropped right into the world of pre-Raphaelite artists, but Willig never allows the research to overwhelm the story itself. The characterization is perfect the whole way through, and you'll still be thinking about these people long after their stories are over... Be warned, the ending is shocking. Not everything turns out well.

Released last June, That Summer isn't your typical light beach read, but it's still a great choice heading into the summer months!

Book Review: Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

I just read Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips and I must say I soooo loved this book. I'm not sure if it is because I'm from a small town in Mississippi or what, but I so knew some of these characters. I was in a group like the Seawillows and I must admit I did one or two of the rituals, I will not say which one but oh did we have fun. It also made me remember what great friendships we had and some of us still have today. If you are in the mood for small town living and great fun this is a must read.
Dee