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Staff Picks August 2026 Reviews and Recommendations from Our Adult and Teen Services Staff |
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.allory recommends: This Summer Will Be Different by Carley FortuneLucy is the tourist vacationing at a beach house on Prince Edward Island. Felix is the local who shows her a very good time. Lucy and Felix's chemistry is unreal, but the list of reasons why they need to stay away from each other is long, and they vow to never repeat that electric night again. It's easier said than done. Each year, Lucy escapes to PEI with her best friend, Bridget, and promises herself she won't wind up in Felix's bed. Again. At least she's always kept her heart out of it. But Felix's sparkling eyes and flirty quips have been replaced with something new, and Lucy's beginning to wonder just how safe her heart truly is. |
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Abby recommends: A Good Person by Kirsten KingLillian and Henry have been enjoying each other's company, particularly in bed. Even though Lillian's best (and only) friend calls it a situationship, Lillian knows better. And she has a plan to lock Henry down. She'll be the best, most accommodating version of herself until he falls in love with her. But when Henry blindsides Lillian with a breakup instead of a love declaration, Lillian is left with no choice but to exact revenge with a hex. Lillian expects Henry to grovel and come crawling back to her. What she doesn't anticipate is becoming a prime suspect in his murder case when he's found dead. |
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Astrid recommends: The Killing Stonesby Ann CleevesIt's been several years since Detective Jimmy Perez left Shetland. He has settled into his new home in Orkney, the group of islands off the northern coast of Scotland, with his partner Willow Reeve and their growing family. One stormy winter night, his oldest and closest friend, Archie Stout, goes missing. Ever the detective, Perez catches a boat to the island of Westray, where Archie worked as a farmer and lived with his wife and children. "The intensely personal nature of the case infuses it with welcome emotional depth, and Cleeves keeps readers guessing until she delivers a gutting climactic reveal that few will see coming" (Publishers Weekly). |
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Meghan recommends: The Martianby Andy WeirStranded on Mars by a dust storm that compromised his space suit and forced his crew to leave him behind, astronaut Watney struggles to survive in spite of minimal supplies and harsh environmental challenges that test his ingenuity in unique ways. "By placing a nail-biting life-and-death situation on Mars and adding a snarky and wise-cracking nerdy hero, Weir has created the perfect mix of action and space adventure. Mark is hilarious, which makes the terror of marooned death on Mars not just bearable but downright fun" (Library Journal). |
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Karen recommends: The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie WoodsThis is the magical tale of Edith Lane, who sets off to find her fortune in the beautiful city of Paris. Fortune, however, is a fickle thing and Edith ends up working in a vintage bakery in the positively antique town of Compiègne. Escaping heartache and singledom in Ireland, Edith discovers that the bakery on Rue De Paris is not exactly what it seems and that some ghosts from the past are harder to escape than others. A heart-warming story that is sure to appeal to all of the senses, The Mysterious Bakery On Rue De Paris is a mouth-watering journey of love, liberty and la vie en rose. |
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Mary recommends: Whistler by Ann PatchettWhen Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather, who had been married to her mother for a little more than year when Daphne was nine. Now fifty-three, Daphne hasn't seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. Meeting again, time falls away; while their relationship was brief, it had a profound impact on them both, and now that they are reunited, they have no intention of ever being separated again. "Like many of Patchett’s works, this beautiful and generous novel feels effortless, never straining for effect. It’s one of her best" (Publishers Weekly). |
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Carly recommends: Last Summer on State Street by Toya WolfeSummer, 1999. Felicia Fe Fe Stevens lives with her mother and older teenaged brother in building 4950 of Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes. The high-rise is next in line to be torn down by the Chicago Housing Authority, and the neighborhood is beginning to fall down around them. Fe Fe is friends with Precious and Stacia, but when Fe Fe welcomes Tonya into their fold, the dynamics shift. Their friendships fray, as do the structures of the four girls' families. Fe Fe must make the painful decision: whom she can trust and whom she must let go. Decades later, remembering that fateful summer, Fe Fe tries to make sense of the grief and fraught bonds that still haunt her and attempts to reclaim the love that never left. |
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Kristin recommends: Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder by Bellamy RoseWhen the grandmother of spoiled heiress Pomona Afton is murdered, she learns that her grandmother's will specifies that if she dies an unnatural death, the family assets get frozen until the mystery is solved. Locked out of her penthouse, Pomona is forced to room with Gabe, the son of her former nanny. Pom needs this murder solved so she can get her trust fund back. And Gabe needs this murder solved because that’s the only way his mother, who toiled for the family for years, will get the retirement money she deserves. Pom quickly realizes that if she wants her glamorous life back, she’s going to have to do it herself…with the help of Gabe, who she’s falling for more and more by the day. |
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Roseanne recommends: Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney In 1977 Rochester, NY, Nina Larkin begins questioning her stagnant marriage after a friend gives her a copy of The Joy of Sex. As her daughter Clara experiences first love, Nina embarks on a passionate affair with a prominent neighbor, risking both families' reputations and disrupting Clara's path to adulthood. Years later, Clara is a successful food stylist in New York City but remains haunted by the scandal. Returning home for a family wedding, she faces unresolved grief and makes a life-changing choice. "A story of desire, jealousy, fragile family bonds, and choices both freeing and haunting, this is a gift from Sweeney (The Nest)" (Library Journal). |
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Batavia Public Library
10 S. Batavia Ave., Batavia, Illinois 60510
630-879-1393bataviapl.org |
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