MLA - Main Librarians' Picks 2023 Q3

"In her first book, interior designer Betsy Wentz shares 13 fabulous family homes. The book is really a practical design guide for anyone who may not want— or simply cannot afford— to hire an interior designer. The story of each home includes color studies, design lessons, and pro tips, plus plenty of practical advice for anyone who might face similar challenges." --

Lively widow Varina Paladino has lived in the same house in Wyldale, New Jersey, her entire life. The town might be slightly stuck in the 1960s when small businesses thrived and most residents were Italian, but its population is getting younger and the Paladinos are embracing the change. What Varina's not embracing, much to her ninety-two-year-old mother's dismay is dating. Running Paladino's Italian Specialties grocery, caring for her mother, and...

"Told through interview with more than 150 people, including bands, producers, managers and fans, a music journalist offers an authoritative, impassioned and occasionally absurd account of the turn-of-the-millennium emo subculture that took over the American music scene from 1999 to 2008"--

Living in fear of their father, six cursed sisters sneak out to visit Full Moon Fayre, but when Grace, the oldest sister, goes missing, they must battle inner doubts and the legends that have haunted their family to save her.

"Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life-living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher-was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father's beekeeping business. Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she...

"In Wildlife Anatomy, the latest entry in Julia Rothman's series of Anatomy books, Rothman captures the excitement and distinctive attributes of wild animals around the world. The book is packed with hundreds of her charming, original illustrations, detailing the unique features of animals of the rainforest, desert, grasslands, oceans, and much more. From lions, bears, and zebras to monkeys, mongoose, bats, elephants, giraffes, hippos, and much more,...

"Two estranged half sisters tasked with guarding their family's library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection--a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power"--

"At seventeen, Lenora Hope / Hung her sister with a rope-- Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope's End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred."...

"As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters--her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead. Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago. Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch...

"Felicity 'Fizzy' Chen is lost. Sure, she's got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she's asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn't been practicing what she's preached. Fizzy hasn't ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can't-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she's spent...