Category: Upcoming Events

If you have not heard, there is a solar eclipse happening on August 21, 2017!

This is the first full solar eclipse that will be visible here in the United States since the 1970s.  People are being warned that you are not supposed to look directly into the sun while the eclipse is happening because of the possibility of loss of eyesight.

One way to experience the eclipse is with solar eclipse glasses!  Many stores and businesses have completely sold out.  Lines have formed outside stores when they open.  Derby eye doctors have purchased some for students at all the Derby schools.  However, there is still a shortage.  People are scrambling to get their hands on the glasses before Monday’s big event.

Good news!  On Monday, at 9:00 a.m., we will have a LIMITED amount of solar glasses available.  They will be given out on a first come first serve basis and be limited to ONE per person (they must be present).  We will also have donuts available for library patrons and eclipse viewers alike.

This is a very monumental event and we are happy to help our community.  Remember to be safe when viewing the eclipse on Monday.

Ash and Quill (The Great Library #3)
by Rachel Caine

First line: Books burned so easily.

Summary: This series is a fun alternate-reality take on the world, if the Great Library of Alexandria had survived and ended up ruling the world. As a book-lover, it’s interesting to read about a world where ownership of original printed books is against the law. The story line moves along at a great pace in this book, with lots of twists and turns and surprises along the way. Jess, Thomas and his friends find themselves in the Burner city of Philadelphia, as prisoners. Thomas’s skills are quickly drawn upon by Willinger Beck, who runs the city, which has been under siege by the High Garda of the Great Library for about a century. Santi and Wolfe, Khalila and Dario, Glain, Morgan are all there, and each plays a role in the events that take place.

Highlights: I love the pace of the action in this book. I felt like the series had a little bit of a slow start, at least in the adventure/danger/thrilling area. However, by now, things are really ramping up. This is a book that lets me live inside it and see everything that is happening. The characters’ personalities are continuing to be developed and while there are some surprises, I felt that they were all absolutely true to the characters’ personalities that have been developed so far.

Lowlights (or what could have been better): I have seen in some reviews complaints that this series was bumped from an expected trilogy to a 5-book series. Honestly, after reading the first two books, I can’t imagine how the series could have been finished satisfactorily in one more book. This book does end at a total cliffhanger, so now I am just dying for book 4 and don’t want to wait a whole year!

FYI: If you have already read the first two books in this series, nothing in this book will be a shock to you. If you haven’t read the first two, DON’T start here! You must read the first two. There is a gay relationship in the storyline.

Final Girls by Riley Sager

First line: “The forest had claws and teeth.”

Summary: Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie–scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to—a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout’s knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them, and, with that, one another. Despite the media’s attempts, they never meet.

Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past.

That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy’s doorstep. Blowing through Quincy’s life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa’s death come to light, Quincy’s life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam’s truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished.

Highlights: Once you’re hooked you can’t put it down. It had lots of twists and turns and you’ll never guess how it ends.

Lowlights: It really took me longer to get into then I thought it would.

FYI: Lots of graphic violence.

Gilded Cage by Vic James

First Line: She heard the motorbike first, then the galloping horse—two distant points of noise in the darkness, converging on her as she ran.

Summary: England is being ruled by the Equals, people with powers called Skill.  They overthrew King Charles and have ruled ever since.  When the Equals took power they invoked new laws including the 10-year period of slavery for all the commoners.  When the Hadley family decides to start their slave days they are hoping to all be sent to the manor house of Kyneston to work for one of the leading Skilled families.  However, Luke, the teenage son, is sent to a slave town instead.  As each member of the family works their slave days, they each begin to learn about the Skilled and the world that they live in.

Highlights: Good dystopian storyline.  I still cannot figure out what to make of the Jardine brothers.  The Hadley family is the straightforward characters of dystopian fiction but the brothers are a little more complex.  Are they good?  Are they bad?  I cannot wait to find out.

Lowlights: Nothing to complain about except that it ended at a cliffhanger.  What is going to happen?  How are they going to continue?

FYI: Great for readers of Hunger Games and Harry Potter!

If you like classic Gothic novels/ghost stories and haven’t read anything by Wendy Webb, you should! Here is a review of her latest novel, “The End of Temperance Dare.”

First line: They gave her the bed by the window, the one closest to the toy box.

Summary: Former reporter Eleanor Harper becomes the director of a famous artists’ retreat near Lake Superior, Cliffside Manor. Not long after Eleanor’s arrival, she finds the kindly old woman who is the daughter of the founder and who has been director of the retreat dead in her room. Lots of wonderful spookiness ensues. Strange things happen to the artists in residence, and Eleanor herself finds that she has experiences that she can’t explain. Not all those who live at the retreat are as they seem as this story unfolds.

Highlights: Wendy Webb is a master at setting a scene, and creating a wonderful Gothic atmosphere, and she is as good at doing so for Cliffside Manor as in any of her other novels. I love the way she develops her characters in this book, making it difficult to discern a person’s true character. As I was reading I thought I knew exactly what was happening, then she would reveal some small nugget of information and I would begins to second-guess myself. A few or a few dozen pages later the story would take a new twist that would leave me guessing again. I really enjoyed the suspense and the mystery of the characters in this book.

Lowlights (or what could have been better): To be honest, I pretty much never read a book looking for holes, problems or other weaknesses, and I didn’t find any in this book. My greatest critique would be in the setting in the actual building. I could clearly see in my mind the grounds around the building, and the outside of the building, but I had a difficult time imagining what the interior of the building looked like.

FYI: I don’t think there’s anything significant to be aware of about this book. It’s a slightly different feel than Webb’s other books, but I found it satisfying. It has a classic Gothic ghost story feel, but doesn’t cross the line to horror (at least by my definition).