NBS recommends fun fiction reads
Dead Or Alive
By Tom Clancy
P299
MANILA, Philippines - It is The Campus. Secretly created under the administration of President Jack Ryan, its sole purpose is to hunt down, locate, and eliminate terrorists and those who protect them at will, without sanction or oversight. A self-sufficient entity, it has no official connection to the American government, a necessity in a time when those in power consider themselves above such arcane ideals as loyalty, justice, and right or wrong. Covert intelligence expert Jack Ryan Jr. and his compatriots at The Campus have waged this silent war in every corner of the world. Now joined by two of his father’s closest allies — black ops warriors John Clark and “Ding” Chavez, as well as Brian and Dominic Caruso and Mary Pat Foley — The Campus has come up against its greatest foe: a sadistic killer known as the Emir. On the trail of the Emir, Jack Ryan Jr. will find himself following in his legendary father’s footsteps on a deadly manhunt that will take him and his allies across the globe, into the shadowy arenas of political gamesmanship, and back onto US soil in a battle to prevent the fall of the West.
Fateful
By Claudia Gray
P349
Its 1912, 18-year-old maid Tess Davies has been trapped in the employ of the Lisle family for years, amid painful memories and twisted secrets. But now the Lisles are headed to America, with Tess in tow. Once the ship they’re sailing on the RMS Titanic reaches its destination, Tess plans to strike out create a new life for herself. Her single-minded focus shatters when she meets Alec, a handsome first class passenger who captivates her instantly. But Alec has secrets of his own, and soon Tess will be caught up in his dark past. The danger they face is no ordinary enemy: werewolves exist and are stalking him and now her, too. Her growing love for Alec will put Tess in mortal peril, and fate will do the same before their journey on the titanic is over.
I Don’t Know How She Does It
By Allison Pearson
P485
Hedge-fund manager, wife, and mother of two, Kate Reddy manages to juggle nine currencies in five time zones and keep in step with the Teletubbies. But when she finds herself awake at 1:37 a.m. in a panic over the need to produce a homemade pie for her daughter’s school, she has to admit her life has become unrecognizable. With panache, wisdom, and uproarious wit, I Don’t Know How She Does It brilliantly dramatizes the dilemma of every working mom.
Liesl & Po
By Lauren Oliver
P419
Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice — until one night when a ghost named Po appears from darkness. That same evening, an alchemist’s apprentice, Will, makes an innocent mistake that has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey.
Wildwood
By Collin Meloy
P625
Prue McKeel’s life is ordinary. At least until her baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows. And then things get really weird. You see, on every map of Portland, Oregon, there is a big splotch of green on the edge of the city labeled “I.W.” This stands for “Impassable Wilderness.” No one’s ever gone in or at least returned to tell of it. And this is where the crows take her brother. So begins an adventure that will take Prue and her friend Curtis deep into the Impassable Wilderness. There they uncover a secret world in the midst of violent upheaval, a world full of warring creatures, peaceable mystics, and powerful figures with the darkest intentions. And what begins as a rescue mission becomes something much bigger as the two friends find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness. A wilderness the locals call Wildwood.
