FICTION PICK

The Widow

by Fiona Barton

Following the twists and turns of an unimaginable crime, The Widow is an electrifying debut thriller that will take you into the dark spaces that exist between a husband and a wife.There's a lot Jean hasn't said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment.Now her husband is dead, and there's no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. She can tell them that there were secrets. There always are in a marriage.The truth--that's all anyone wants. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything…

NON-FICTION PICK

Area 51 : An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

by Annie Jacobsen

Located 75 miles outside of Las Vegas, the base has never been acknowledged by the U.S. government--but Area 51 has captivated imaginations. Jacobsen had exclusive access to 19 employees, which makes it the seminal work on the subject.

FAITHPOINT PICK

Driven by Eternity: Make Your Life Count Today and Forever

by John Bevere

One day you will stand before God and give an account of your life. The most important question you can ask yourself now is, will you be ready?Most Christians know their response to the cross determines where they will spend eternity. But did you know that how you’ll spend eternity is determined by what you do in this life?God wants you to discover your calling he’s not trying to keep you in the dark. In fact, He longs for you to find the meaning and purpose that comes with knowing why you’ve been placed on this earth.In Driven by Eternity, best-selling author John Bevere uses an eye-opening allegory and extensive Scripture to unveil how our daily choices shape our eternal existence.Life beyond the final breath is much more than a destination. Don t wait until it’s too late. Discover your God-given destiny and make your life count both today and forever.Includes discussion questions for group study.

TEEN PICK

The Cellar

by Natasha Preston

"Lily?"My stomach dropped as a tall, dark-haired man stepped into view. Had he been hiding between the trees?"No. Sorry." Gulping, I took a step back. "I'm not Lily."He shook his head, a satisfied grin on his face. "No. You are Lily.""I'm Summer. You have the wrong person." You utter freak.I could hear my pulse crashing in my ears. How stupid to give him my real name. He continued to stare at me, smiling. It made me feel sick."You are Lily," he repeated.Before I could blink, he threw his arms forward and grabbed me. I tried to shout, but he clasped his hand over my mouth, muffling my screams. My heart raced. I'm going to die.For months Summer is trapped in a cellar with the man who took her--and three other girls: Rose, Poppy, and Violet. His perfect, pure flowers. His family. But flowers can't survive long cut off from the sun, and time is running out.

KIDS PICK

My Diary from the Edge of the World

by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Told in diary form by an irresistible heroine, this "heartfelt, bittersweet, and ever-so-clever coming-of-age fantasy" (School Library Journal, starred review) named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year from the New York Times bestselling author of the May Bird trilogy sparkles with science, myth, magic, and the strange beauty of the everyday marvels we sometimes forget to notice.Spirited, restless Gracie Lockwood has lived in Cliffden, Maine, her whole life. She's a typical girl in an atypical world: one where sasquatches helped to win the Civil War, where dragons glide over Route 1 on their way south for the winter (sometimes burning down a T.J. Maxx or an Applebee's along the way), where giants hide in caves near LA and mermaids hunt along the beaches, and where Dark Clouds come for people when they die.To Gracie it's all pretty ho-hum...until a Cloud comes looking for her little brother Sam, turning her small-town life upside down. Determined to protect Sam against all odds, her parents pack the family into a used Winnebago and set out on an epic search for a safe place that most people say doesn't exist: The Extraordinary World. It's rumored to lie at the ends of the earth, and no one has ever made it there and lived to tell the tale. To reach it, the Lockwoods will have to learn to believe in each other--and to trust that the world holds more possibilities than they've ever imagined.

LITERARY PICK

The Forgetting Time

by Sharon Guskin

What happens to us after we die? What happens before we are born? At once a riveting mystery and a testament to the profound connection between a child and parent, The Forgetting Time will lead you to reevaluate everything you believe.What would you do if your four-year-old son claimed he had lived another life and that he wants to go back to it? That he wants his other mother?Single mom Janie is trying to figure out what is going on with her beloved son Noah. Noah has never been ordinary. He loves to make up stories, and he is constantly surprising her with random trivia someone his age has no right knowing. She always chalked it up to the fact that Noah was precocious mature beyond his years. But Noah s eccentricities are starting to become worrisome. One afternoon, Noah s preschool teacher calls Janie: Noah has been talking about shooting guns and being held under water until he can’t breathe. Suddenly, Janie can’t pretend anymore. The school orders him to get a psychiatric evaluation. And life as she knows it stops for herself and her darling boy.For Jerome Anderson, life as he knows it has already stopped. Diagnosed with aphasia, his first thought as he approaches the end of his life is, I’m not finished yet. Once an academic star, a graduate of Yale and Harvard, a professor of psychology, he threw everything away to pursue an obsession: the stories of children who remembered past lives. Anderson became the laughing stock of his peers, but he never stopped believing that there was something beyond what anyone could see or comprehend. He spent his life searching for a case that would finally prove it. And with Noah, he thinks he may have found it.Soon, Noah, Janie, and Anderson will find themselves knocking on the door of a mother whose son has been missing for eight years. When that door opens, all of their questions will be answered.Gorgeously written and fearlessly provocative, Sharon Guskin’s debut explores the lengths we will go for our children. It examines what we regret in the end of our lives and hope for in the beginning, and everything in between.