In the dark I see you. Narayanan, Mallika. New York: Union Square & Co., 2023.

A blind woman stumbles (literally) over a body in her neighbor’s condo, and becomes a suspect in this great psychological thriller.

Audrey is blind, and lives in a lovely condo development in Sleepy Point, a suburb of NYC. Her next-door neighbor is Sarah. Sarah has a baby, Nicole, whom Audrey sometimes babysits, while Sarah goes to the gym or to a class. It’s not immediately clear what Sarah does (or will do after maternity leave), but Audrey works from home as an accountant.

What comes apparent fairly quickly is that Audrey has some secrets and is living in Sleepy Point for a specific reason – to investigate Sarah. When Sarah is found dead in her apartment, and Audrey is the one who finds the body, she becomes a suspect. The police believe that she’s keeping information from them, but would never guess what (and neither will you!).

This story goes back and forth in time and tells the past from both Sarah and Audrey’s points of view. When the twist came, I had just figured it out a few chapters before, but some reviewers say it caught them completely by surprise.

This is Narayanan’s fiction debut, and in some ways, it shows. There are a few characters that don’t get enough “page time,” and I would have liked to known more about them. But overall, I loved the character development and how she wrote a complex story that slowly unfurls. It is the type of story that after you know the twist, you want to go back and reread the story with the knowledge you now have.

If you like psychological thrillers and slow burn stories, then you’ll love In The Dark I See You.

Mary Beth Adams is the Community Engagement Librarian for Alamance County Public Libraries. She can be reached at madams@alamancelibraries.org.

Speak Your Truth with Love and Listen Deeply. Sofer, Oren Jay. Sounds True; 2022.

During the height of COVID, I started studying communication with Oren Jay Sofer, a certified trainer in Nonviolent Communication or NVC.  I recently discovered that one of his titles Speak Your Truth with Love and Listen Deeply is available as an audiobook on our library’s digital platform Hoopla.  The book covers many of the topics we discuss in his classes, and I think that people looking to improve their communication skills in the new year will find the information helpful. 

The audiobook is read by the author, and the narration is both soothing and engaging.  The book is laid out as if it were an eight-session course, with a different topic highlighted each session.  Some of the topics include intentions and needs, handling our emotions, the power of empathy, finding your voice, and difficult conversations.

The author provides clear and accessible instruction, using stories from his own life and his students’ lives to illustrate how NVC tools can be useful in conversation.  He also offers reflection exercises and guided meditations as a way to practice with each topic.

In addition to being an NVC trainer, the author is also a meditation teacher and Somatic Experiencing (SE) practitioner.  His teachings include tools from each philosophy, which I find adds a level of depth and breadth I have not received from other communication trainings.  If you are looking for ways to be more mindful in your relationships and specifically with your communication, I highly recommend this audiobook and the author’s teachings.

Amy Kendrick is the Branch Manager for May Memorial Library. You can reach her at akendrick@alamancelibraries.org.

New to Hoopla? You’ll find instructions on our Downloadable Resources page!

The princess of Thornwood Drive. Moreau, Khalia. New York: Forever, 2023.

Content Warnings: death of parents, panic attacks, off-page sexual assault.

I love books like The Princess of Thornwood Drive that straddle genres and make you think about what is real.

This is a wonderful, touching story of two sisters. One (Alyssa) has a traumatic brain injury, the other (Laine) is her caregiver. Laine feels guilty about the accident that killed her parents and paralyzed her sister. She thinks if she hadn’t lied and said she was sick and couldn’t come home from college, they never would have been in the car. Laine is struggling to keep a roof over their heads and pay the bills. But she still wants the best for her sister. She’s just moved her to Lake Forest Day Care Center, which isn’t going to charge for her care. Laine is too tired to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when she’s worried their uncle wants to purchase their house from under them.

Alyssa isn’t able to communicate with her sister, but she is still present in her body. However, she believes she is a princess and her parents are missing in the Dark Forest. She sees her sister as the First Princess and herself as the Second Princess. When she and Laine enter Lake Forest, she sees it as a healing center for changels, and smells the rot. She communicates with her fellow changels via their mind connection, and they warn her of the dark prince who hurts women. But how can she communicate this information to Laine?

The narrative jumps back and forth between the sisters, giving different viewpoints of what is going on. While you know that Laine’s viewpoint is the reality and Alyssa’s is coming from her brain injury, there are times when the lines are blurred and you’re not quite sure. Alyssa’s fantasy world is vivid and detailed.

This book does deal with some upsetting topics (see the content warnings above), and it also serves as a warning to all of us how easy it is to abuse power when you’re working with people with brain injuries, developmental delays or any other disability that makes them reliant on others for care. I hurt for Alyssa and her friends, who had no way to share what was happening.

There are so many wonderful details in this book (like that Laine and Alyssa were award-winning black equestrian riders), that I felt I was able to drop into their lives and enjoy their story. I do wish there was more explanation of the divide between them and their uncle, because that becomes an important factor in the story.

I highly recommend this book for lovers of realistic fiction as well as fantasy!

Mary Beth Adams is the Community Engagement Librarian for Alamance County Public Libraries. You can reach her at madams@alamancelibraries.org.

Women Are Some Kind of Magic Series by Amanda Lovelace

In Amanda Lovelace’s first collection of poetry she explores the hopes and struggles of her past and present by leaning into fairy tales and themes we all grew up with. She explores subjects of toxic relationships and self-love by setting them against the backdrop of fairy tales to give herself (and her readers) a happy ending.

The Princess Saves Herself in This One. Lovelace, Amanda. Kansas City Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing, a division of Andrews McMeel Universal, [2017].

This first collection is separated into four parts; the princess, the damsel, the queen, and you. Lovelace lets the last part, “you” focus on the reader while the first three sections focused on herself. Lovelace explores a raw and honest take on love, loss, grief, and healing with this collection that connects to the reader in a personal way.

The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One. Lovelace, Amanda. Kansas City Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing, a division of Andrews McMeel Universal, [2017].

This second collection follows a singular character more so. We have the witch, who is powerful, independent, and now – she is indestructible. Lovelace focuses on being strong and unapologetic and excepting of self-love and feminine power in this collection. She also advocates for the reader to realize all of those things and to embrace that in their own life. 

The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in This One. Lovelace, Amanda. Kansas City Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing, a division of Andrews McMeel Universal, [2017].

The final collection of poems shows that, like a mermaid, we are all more than what people see. Instead of just being the “siren” we are soft and in need of a safe space. One of Lovelace’s themes in this collection is the idea of healing and the courage it takes to get to that place. This collection also contains some guest poems by other poets, to allow more voices to showcase unity.

This isn’t your typical poetry. Lovelace doesn’t focus on rhyming lines or meter, nor does she have a heavy emphasis on syllabic beats, Lovelace writes her poems in a more modern way. She focuses on stream of conscience – on how we think or talk.

Note: This entire collection of poems does contain themes of abuse, assault, and healing that Lovelace does warn the reader about at the beginning of each book.

Kayleigh Dyer is a Library Technical Processing Assistant at May Memorial Library. Contact her at kdyer@alamancelibraries.org.

The Wings of Fire Series by Tui T. Sutherland

Looking for holiday gifts for your late elementary/middle school children? We often get questions about different book series to purchase for kids, so this week, we’re featuring The Wings of Fire series by Tui Sutherland.

The Wings of Fire series is about a group of dragonets who are part of a prophecy to end the endless wars between the seven dragon tribes. The Talons of Peace kidnapped the dragonets years ago and have raised them together in a cave. In the outside world, dragons, for the most part, live with their species. Few places exist where dragons of different types would spend any amount of time together, leading to a lot of misconceptions of each other and even hatred. But these five dragons have been raised as friends, knowing they’re going to have to work together to stop the Dragon Wars.

In the first book, the dragonets escape the caves when one of their lives is threatened by the dragons holding them. Unfortunately, they are immediately captured by the queen of the Skywings, and must find a way to escape from her kingdom as well.

Each book has one dragonet as its main character. The first five books deal with first prophecy. Book 6 begins the second prophecy (with a new set of dragonets), and Book 11 introduces a whole new continent, with new dragon species! The original books are now being re-released as graphic novels.

Sutherland has built a wonderful fantasy world that kids will enjoy exploring through these books. As an adult, I enjoyed them greatly, and have seen kids fly through the series. With fifteen books in the main series, companion books and the graphic novels, there is plenty to get excited about.

There are many positive messages these books teach:

Friendship across species – Kids will find it easy to understand that the dragons are judging others by their outward characteristics and prejudices, and why that is wrong.

Kindness – The villains in these stories are ruthless and unkind, and each story reinforces that while evil can rule for a time, goodness always prevails if dragons (or people!) stand together. There also are characters who have made bad choices (or have been led to making bad choices) and are given the chance to redeem themselves.

A Sense of Adventure – If your kid loves adventure, these books deliver in spades! There are numerous battles in each book, and each dragon has their own special powers and strengths. What you’ll love is how different types of strength and power are celebrated, so every kid reading it will find a character with which they really identify.

Diversity/Neurodiversity – As I stated above, each dragon has their own power and strengths. The world values certain traits over others (both our world and the dragon world), but having those preferred traits don’t necessarily lead to success. Kids learn to value their own strengths and feel they are an important part of the world.

Representation: There are LGBTQIA+ characters, which means kids who identify as such feel seen.

(Possible) Negatives:

Violence: These books do depict dragon deaths. The violence is not gratuitous, but it might upset some children. There are dragons who have seized power (and hold power) through violence.

Neglect: Some dragonets are welcomed back into their families, while others are not. The dragons watching over the dragonets in the beginning are pretty callous at times.

Romance: The dragons do have crushes on each other, and talk about liking each other. Any romance depicted is age-appropriate (holding tails), but it is a part of these books that you might be surprised to see!

However, these “negatives” shouldn’t stop your children from enjoying these books! If your children are concerned, or you are, you can talk about these topics as your children read these books, or even before they begin the series. Talking about something happening to a book character, like a dragon, is a good way to introduce a topic with children in a way that doesn’t seem as threatening or personal to them.

We always love giving book recommendations and helping to grow a love of books in children. Come by any library for more recommendations.

Mary Beth Adams is the Community Engagement Librarian for Alamance County Public Libraries. You can reach her at madams@alamancelibraries.org.

Looking for a new cozy-fantasy / cozy-mystery read but don’t know where to start? Try Juneau Black’s Shady Hollow Mysteries Series, where small town charm meets murder mystery but with a twist. All of our characters are animals, like Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit or Brian Jacques’ Redwall Series. The Herald’s ace reporter Vera Vixen, amateur detective, won’t let the unknown stop her as she gets to the bottom of these cases that keep popping up in the harmonious town of Shady Hollow.

Shady Hollow. Black, Juneau. New York : Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2022.©℗♭2015.

This is the first book in this cozy fantasy/mystery series where we first meet the woodland residents of Shady Hollow.

Shady Hollow is an idyllic place to live, until murder stirs up the harmony that is normally felt in this town. Reporter Vera Vixen has a nose for news and knows that the residents of Shady Hollow deserve the truth – and so do the victims. So, she begins her own investigation while trying to discover the truth (and not agitate Deputy Orville) and uncovers mysteries of the residents of Shady Hollow that they would rather have stayed secret.

Cold Clay. Black, Juneau. New York : Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2022. ©2017.

Set against the beautiful autumnal background of Shady Hollow, a cold case shakes up life again when a skeleton is found in the apple grove.

Vera sets her sights on solving this cold case in order to save her friend Joe from the easy out of framing him for his wife’s murder. As Vera begins to piece together a decade old puzzle, truths and secrets begin to emerge that some neighbors of Shady Hollow would rather have stayed dead and buried.

Mirror Lake. Black, Juneau. New York : Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2022. ℗♭2020.

With an election season causing tension to rise in Shady Hollow and a resident convinced that her husband is actually an imposter, Vera has a lot to report for The Herald in Black’s next novel.

Vera doesn’t dismiss the claims of mistaken identity but she must tread carefully since a nosy, oblivious, author is butting in and a sinister presence is wanting everything to stay in the dark.

Twilight Falls. Black, Juneau. New York : Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2023. (not available at ACPL yet)

Vera Vixen is loving springtime in Shady Hollow, because love is in the air, both for her and Police Chief Orville Braun, and for the young sweethearts Jonah Atwater and Stasia von Beaverpelt. When Jonah’s father, Shelby, perishes by going over the falls, Stasia is the prime suspect. Vera finds herself on the other side from Orville in this case. Will true love prevail?

EverGreen Chase. Black, Juneau. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2021. (available for Kindle only)

In this winter novella the chances of the winter cheer for Shady Hollow going off without a hitch should be easy, until the solstice tree has disappeared without a trace! Can Vera and her friends figure out who would want to take away all of the town’s winter cheer?

This is a festive, Christmas flavored, cozy mystery that is low stakes.

Fans of Beatrix Potter and Agatha Christie should enjoy this series. Most are available as hard copy books that can be placed on hold with your library account. There are more titles in the series that ACPL does not carry at the moment, but patrons are able to request the library to purchase it online or with staff. Book 5, Summers End, is coming out in July 2024.

Kayleigh Dyer is a Library Technical Processing Assistant at May Memorial Library. Contact her at kdyer@alamancelibraries.org.