The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson (The Remnant Chronicles Book 1)

Lia does not want to marry a man that she doesn't know, and certainly doesn't love.  As preparations are being made for her wedding day, she and her servant run away.   She knows that running away from her wedding will anger her father and create havoc as this was not only a wedding, but an agreement between two nations.  Lia doesn't care for any of these things as she decides to make a new life for herself.

Once she is settled in her new home, two strangers come to town.  Little does she know, one is the prince she has snubbed, who is planning on killing her, and the other is a paid assassin who is also going to kill her.  Not only are these two men after her, but her angry father has sent bounty hunters after her to take her life.  

Lia is also supposed to have the a gift.  She knows she doesn't have the gift, so there is no reason to marry a man she doesn't love and be miserable all of her life.  However, as time passes, and the bounty hunters close in, she realizes that she might have more of the gift than she realizes.  

Lia also finds herself falling in love.  But who is she falling in love with?  Her spurned prince?  Or the Assassin?  Will love win in the end?

This book is an Eliot Rosewater 2016-2017 choice.  

The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts by KC Tansley

Kat Preston doesn't believe in ghosts.  She absolutely does NOT believe in ghosts!  She keeps repeating this over and over to protect herself from what she knows are the "Unbelievables."  When Kat was eight, an "unbelievable" tried to inhabit her body, and she never wants another experience like that again!

Kat is offered the scholarship of a lifetime with Dr. Astor and his team.  What Kat doesn't realize when she accepts the scholarship is that the summer research class she is taking with Dr. Astor involves researching family curses and hauntings.  She is also expected to spend at least two weeks at the Castle Creighton off the coast of Connecticut.  The castle is owned by the Radcliffe family, and a terrible tragedy occurred on the island in the 1800's.  Ever since that tragedy, the first born son of the Radcliffe family meets a tragic death at the age of twenty-three.

It is up to Kat and her team to break the curse and save the life of the current owner, Joshua Radcliffe.  They must learn the terrible secrets of the castle before Joshua turns twenty-three - which is in three weeks.

This was a free download from Amazon, and I read it on a whim.  I liked it....a lot.  This is a Young Adult novel with great character development, and plot.  I had the culprit figured out, but I didn't have a clue how the plot would be resolved.

This is Book 1 in a series that I will continue to read.  I hope you take a chance on it as well.

Night by Elie Wiesel

In order to honor a man whose words have changed my life and outlook, I am going to write about Elie Wiesel's Nobel Prize winning book, Night.

The freshman curriculum at MHS needed another book added for all levels of freshman English.  It wasn't much of a choice, really.  Night had been chosen a couple of years before to be added to the Eliot Rosewater reading list, and I had read this powerful book then.  We wanted something that would bring about awareness, and we also wanted a voice in which the students could relate.  Night was the best choice by far. 

Elie Wiesel is only fifteen when he and his family are sent to the concentration camps.  "Men to the left.  Women to the right."  Those eight words caused the family to be separated, and Elie never saw his mother or his sister again.  

Elie and his father are sent to Auschwitz, and Elie promises to take care of his father.  He questions God and the reasons for all of the inhumanities that he has to endure.  He questions humanity, and he wonders why the world is standing by not getting involved when men, women, and children are being burned.  

This book was one I taught to many, many students.  I shall never forget the day that one of the toughest girls I had ever had in class broke down in tears and asked me how people could be so awful to each other?  I had no answer to that question as I ponder the same thing every time I hear about a mass shooting, a car bomb, a crime against a man, woman, or child, or any act of terrorism. 

I often wonder how many incidents will it take before we stand up and say that we have had enough.  I often feel powerless, but I do have a voice on social media, and I intend to use this voice as I can to bring as much awareness as I can from my little space in the world.  

Elie didn't understand how he survived, and he really doesn't know how he did.  What he did know is that he was the voice for his tortured generation, and he felt that he must speak out for those who couldn't.  

"We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe."  Elie Wiesel

Thank you, Elie, for making me wonder what I can do differently each day to make this world a little better.  

Summer Girls by Mary Alice Monroe

Marietta Muir knows she needs to get the "Summer Girls" back together.  The girls were in their early teens when they last spent their summers together on Sullivan Island, and now the sisters are located in different parts of the country.  Marietta has to get them back together because she is celebrating her 80th birthday, and her wish is to have the girls become as close as they once were.

Carson, the middle sister, lives in Los Angeles, but travels wherever her jobs take her.  She is a photographer, and is currently looking for a job.  Dora is in the midst of a horrible divorce, and Harper feels threatened by her mother.  All three girls share the same father, but all have different mothers.  Mamaw (Marietta) knows there are a lot of wounds that need healing.

This is the first book in the series, and it centers around Carson, the middle sister.  Carson is a water bug and avid surfer, and finds herself in the middle of a terrifying situation in which a dolphin comes to her rescue.  Carson also has several issues to deal with as she tries to come to terms with her past and present.

 Monroe takes the time in her book to explain about the plight of the bottlenose dolphin and what we must do to help protect this species.  The Carolina Lowcountry is also described in breathtaking detail.  I must admit that I am once again wanting to visit this area.

This book is a great summer beach read.  Even though each character has her own secrets, the reader is sympathetic and yearns to know more about the Muir family of South Carolina.

Haunted on Bourbon Street by Deanna Chase (Jade Calhoun #1)

Jade Calhoun has just moved to New Orleans.  She lives above a Strip Bar, works in the adjoining coffee shop, and is an empath.  What is an empath?  Jade has the ability to read people's emotions.  Sometimes that can be helpful to see what people are feeling about you, but sometimes is can be very overwhelming.

Jade enjoys meeting her new landlord, Kane, but she is also deeply attracted to him.  Along with his business partner, Pyper, and the ladies who work the bar and coffee shop, Jade is finally realizing that she is starting to fit in and really does have friends.  She also realizes that her apartment is haunted.

Jade's life is spiraling out of control.  She has a very affectionate ghost, a ghost dog, a hunky landlord, a nasty ex who moved to town, and two part time jobs.  How many more strange instances can she take?

I started this book somewhere in Georgia.  I was immediately drawn in by the characters.  It isn't easy to read going through the mountains in Tennessee, but I really wanted to keep reading this book.  It was something out of my normal reading choices, but I am glad I took a chance on the book.  I did lose a bit of steam toward the end of the story as things became convoluted, but I rallied and would be interested in reading another book in the series.  If you decide to join me, let me know how you like the book!

Beach Town by Mary Kay Andrews

Greer Hennessey has been given a task.  That task seems a bit impossible as she drives through the coastal towns near Panama City, Florida.  She is looking for the perfect location for a movie; however, her director/boss wants a certain charm, a certain beach town,  She doesn't want fast food restaurants, Walmart, or anything that resembles a modern town.  She needs a town with Southern charm - with that charm (hopefully) still stuck in the 80s.

As Greer is driving along the coast, she finds the perfect town.  As the drives into Cypress Key, she KNOWS this is the place to make the movie.  Greer's director boss agrees, and now she has been ordered to prepare this town for a movie location and look for a place that can be blown up for the movie's final scene.

There are a few issues with this part of Greer's job, she has to convince the mayor, chief engineer, hotel owner, and grocery store owner to be on board with the movie and all that shooting in that location brings.  Eben Thibadeaux, the mayor, engineer, etc isn't too keen on the idea of changing his town around.  He sees the movie people as an intrusion in the town, and he believes Greer is bringing more than money to his town.  He sees other potential issues - and problems.  He also finds himself attracted to the new gal in town.  

I enjoyed Beach Town.  I connected with the entire idea of the small Florida town as I was in Florida at the time I was reading this book.  I could almost smell the salt of the sea, and I loved reading about the small town of Cypress Key.  I also didn't realize what the job of a movie location manager entails.  One thinks about the actors and of course, the director, but we often don't think about the location manager's job which involves managing everything from catering to nosy and obnoxious neighbors.  

I enjoyed Beach Town for my beach read.  I am missing the sandy toes right now though!

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

What does it mean to do the right thing?  How does know what is the right thing, and how does one go about it?  Werner has a special talent with electronics, especially  with radios and signals.  He and his sister reside at a home for orphans, and he knows he will be sent to the mines when he turns sixteen.  The mines are what caused his father's death, and Werner knows he will die if he goes to the mines.

Werner takes a chance and tries to make something of himself by earning a place at an academy where young boys are trained to become "Hitler's Youth."  Because of Werner's talent for tracking radio signals and his understanding of electronics, he is soon commissioned to travel with a team that tracks illegal radio signals throughout Europe.  Werner is very good at his job, but being good at his job also brings some experiences that a boy of sixteen doesn't understand or expect.

Marie -Laure lives in Paris and loses her sight by the age of six.  Her father works in a museum and is very good at crafting model replicas. It is these replicas that help Marie-Laure learn her way around her neighborhood.  She and her father have to flee Paris when she is twelve because of the German occupation.  They have to leave the city so quickly that she must leave behind her beloved book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.  They travel to a small town in France called Saint-Malo, and that is where the lives of Werner and Marie-Laure intertwine.

When people are dying all around you, and a foreign army is occupying your country, where is the good?  Where is the light?  How can we see the beauty that is around us?  All the Light We Cannot See helps us see that the human spirit can be strong, brave, and compassionate. We can also try to atone for those terrible mistakes that we sometimes make that causes pain to others.

This book is the winner of the Pultizer Prize.  Written over a span of ten years, it has the makings of a masterpiece.