Kubica, Mary. Just the Nicest Couple. Toronto: Park Row Books, 2023

I don’t typically read “thrillers.” I’m more of a chick-lit, beach romance kind of girl. But this novel, the eighth from best-selling author Mary Kubica, somehow caught my attention. Told from two perspectives, in alternating chapters, it is a story that I’ll remember for years to come.

A man, hiking in a nature preserve, goes missing. He and his wife had recently fought and when he doesn’t return home that first night, she’s not too worried.

The wife’s co-worker meanwhile, tells her husband about an ugly encounter she had with the missing man in the nature preserve the same day. She worries she may have done more than just hurt him. The two couples are social friends, but none of the friends are completely forthcoming with what they know or with what they did.

Several weeks pass, and the missing man’s car turns up at a motel outside of town. Then a body is found in the nature preserve. Once the missing man has been identified, the stakes only get higher and the deceit intensifies. The twist at the end was definitely not what I’d anticipated.

If you’re already a fan of Kubica, don’t miss this one! If you haven’t read any of her stuff, and you enjoy Shari Lapena, Lisa Jewell, or Ruth Ware, check her out…you might find your next great author!

Jennifer N., May Memorial Library

The current NCLive offering of Learning Express Library Complete and PrepSTEP Academic covers more than just test prep resources! You’ll find information about careers, schools, computer skills, and many other subjects that students of all ages need.

To access this resource, go to our website (library.alamancecountync.gov), and choose the Research and Learn tab on the side. Under this tab, you’ll find a link to Online Resources. You can either search for Learning Express, or click on the “L” and scroll down to find Learning Express.

The first time you log in, you’ll need to sign in/register. Registering allows you to go directly to learningexpresshub.com or utilize the service through the LearningExpress Mobile App. Registering will also save your place in the eBooks, study guides, or practice tests and lets you mark relevant material to your profile.

This database is broken into ten (10) categories for the public library side (LearningExpress) and eleven (11) categories that focus on the college library (PrepSTEP). Many of these categories overlap, so you’ll notice some duplication between the two “sides.” If you do not want to sift through these categories, a search box exists to help you locate the needed resource. We are focusing on the LearningExpress side, but we recommend you also look on the PrepSTEP side if you’re planning to attend or attending college.

The categories on the public library side are Career Preparation, High School Equivalency Center, Prepare for College, Grades 4-8 Educator Resources, High School Students, College Students, Adult Core Students, Basic Computer Skills, Recursos Para Hispanohablantes, and the AWS Training Center.

Career Preparation contains a number of practice tests, eBooks, flash cards, and even general information related to beginning a career. There are eBooks related to changing careers, learning what is required for becoming a nurse, or becoming a teacher. There are also lessons to building workplace skills from etiquette to time management. The exams under the Career Preparation include licensing for electricians and plumbers, a wide variety of law enforcement exams, NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN exams for nurses, real estate exams, the PRAXIS for teachers, and more.

The High School Equivalency Center has GED test prep in English and Spanish.

The Prepare for College category includes guidance on standardized tests, like the PSAT, ACT, and SAT. This category also has guides and practice tests for those in high school AP classes. 

The Educator Resources has The Mathematics Skills Improvement and English Language Skills Improvement categories based on the Common Core State Standards from 4th grade through high school.

The High School Student categories includes skill improvement tutorials and lessons for all core high school classes, from Math to Social Studies.

The College Student category offers strategies and support for subject area skills, keyboarding, getting academic support, and more.

The Adult Core Skills offers eBooks and tutorials on everything from Public Speaking to being a better reader.

Basic Computer Skills offers interactive videos on the basics of using a computer to Microsoft Office training and it would be a great place for someone trying to boost their computer skills.

The AWS Training Center offers skill development in a wide range of current industry fields. The topics covered include AWS Cloud Essentials, Database Concepts, Artificial Intelligence Services, Game Technology and more!

Lastly LearningExpress has an entire subject field for Spanish speakers. There are resources for learning, career, and citizenship tools in Spanish.

Some of the hidden gems:

• LearningExpress has lessons and materials to become a U.S. Citizen, including test tutorials and civics lessons.
• Under the Prepare for College area, LearningExpress has a scholarship finder to help students find scholarships they qualify to receive.
• There is also a database to find the ideal college by searching for criteria important to the student, narrowing results by size of school, geographic area, subject specialties and more.

LearningExpress and PrepTest offer resources for anyone looking to improve their skills or find something new to pursue.

Winter is upon us, and that means our Winter Reading Program is right around the corner!

This program is a month-long, all-ages, reading challenge that takes place in the middle of winter. So, for those of you who have said you wanted to read more in the new year, this is the program for you! This year, we have a board game challenge.

Pick up a game board from any of our library branches between January 21st and February 22nd and play your way across the board (a die will be provided). Or you can download the board and use your own die! Turn in your completed game board to any of the branches for a free book and a special edition sticker!

Playing is easy!

1. Roll a die and beginning from the “Start” position, count that number of circles.

2. Complete the challenge listed on the circle and ‘X’ out the circle once you complete that specific challenge. There’s one challenge per circle.

3. After your first challenge is completed, repeat steps 1-2 and move along the game board until you reach “Finish.”

4. When you’ve landed on “Finish,” congratulations! You’ve won Winter Reading.

Once you are finished, please bring your completed game board to any library location to claim your prize. We will be distributing Winter Reading prizes until MARCH 1^ST.

If you have finished the game once, you are more than welcome to play again. Just ask library staff for a fresh game board. Subsequent finished game boards are eligible to be returned to the library for a small prize.

Remember, audiobooks and graphic novels are considered books too!

Because this challenge is for all ages, please note that we did our best to make this game board for every age. We understand if you need to adapt a challenge for a younger reader.

Share how your game is going by connecting with us on social media. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram @alamancelibraries.

For more information, contact Emery Lai at elai@alamancelibraries.org or call (336) 790-0465.

Kashiwai, Hisashi. The Kamogawa Food Detectives. Translated by Jesse Kirwood, New York : G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2024.

Kashiwai, Hisashi. The Restaurant of Lost Recipes. translated by Jesse Kirkwood, New York : G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, [2024].

Moving and deliciously cozy, The Kamogawa Food Detectives shows that a meal is never just a meal: it can be both the window to a long-forgotten past and the key to a more fulfilling future. 

The book centers on the Kamogawa Diner, housed in a nondescript building along the backstreets of Kyoto. Run by Nagare Kamogawa and his daughter, Koishi, the diner provides delectable meals, along with a unique service for their customers… The two are culinary detectives, recreating special dishes from a person’s memory through painstakingly detailed investigations. 

Each chapter is its own vignette, detailing a meal that the father-daughter duo recreate for an inquiring customer of the Kamogawa Diner–from beef stew to tonkatsu to Napolitan spaghetti. Fair warning: do not read these on an empty stomach. The descriptions of the meals are mouth-watering and lush, often weaving a story of nostalgia into the ingredients and the way the dishes are prepared, pulling the reader even further into the story until their stomach rumbles with each turn of the page. Underneath the nostalgia and aromatic cuisine, the customers of the Kamogawa Diner find something remarkable: comfort, wisdom, or closure. 

We return to Kyoto in the sequel, The Restaurant of Lost Recipes, where Koishi and Nagare Kamogawa continue to put their detective work to the test with more culinary mysteries.

Perfect for fans of cozy literary fiction and magnificent food writing, these books are–at their heart–a love letter to the relationship between food, memory, and the power of human connection. Both The Kamogawa Food Detectives and The Restaurant of Lost Recipes are available as a physical copy at your local library and as an audiobook via Libby. 

 Sara Durbin is a Library Assistant at Graham Public Library. They can be reached at sdurbin@alamancelibraries.org

The end of the year means we’re sharing our favorite reads of 2024! Some of these are new books, while others are books from previous years that we (finally) got around to reading this year.

Thirsty by Jas Hammonds

A young woman struggles with fitting in, alcohol addiction, toxic friendships, and more in this moving, important young adult novel. – Mary Beth A., Outreach

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Big space opera that asks will people will learn from a traumatic history or attempt to suppress it while dealing with gangsters, spacers, various factions of governments, religious zealots, political intrigue, spying, angels who punch-you-in-the-face. – Adrian Z., Mebane

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

An isolated witch fights for love and her newfound family in this enchantingly cozy romance about healing and finding a place to call home. – Sara D., Graham

North of Normal: A Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Unusual Family, and How I Survived Both by Cea Sunrise Person

“Filled with hard-to-believe yet true events, it flows seamlessly and tells a wonderful story of hardship and resilience, making it a true page-turner.” – Sharada F., Graham

Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White

This raw, hard-hitting YA revenge thriller set in a small coal mining town is surprisingly full of empathy for everyone caught up in the violence that the main character is trying to end. – Rebecca M., May Memorial

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

 It’s not always about your biological family. Sometimes your family is found. – Adrian Z., Mebane

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

More dragon books are needed in the world, and this one is sublime! It may be written for kids, but like Lewis and Pullman, Rundell has written a book that all ages will enjoy. – Mary Beth A., Outreach

The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim

A story that hides itself as horror but touches on multi layered issues then throws you right back into the thrill and suspense you came for. – Bracey B., Mebane

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

This is a classic for a reason. It’s Capote’s scene creating prose which generates a perfectly rendered visual of a gruesome crime and its aftermath. – Adrian Z., Mebane

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

The Lost Story is a wonderful fantasy for anyone who loves Narnia and Neverland and wishes that they could find a door in a tree and bring a Lost Boy home. – Mary Beth A., Outreach

Shark Heart: A Love Story by Emily Habeck

This book follows a newly wed couple as the husband slowly transforms into a great white shark and they prepare for his eventual release to the ocean. – Storey H., Outreach

Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce

Riley has to figure out how to combine musical theater (her passion) with Dungeons and Dragons (her dad’s passion) and rope in Nathan (her co-worker) to help her do it. – Kayleigh D., Tech Services

Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb

A Black music professor discovers that the world’s most famous composer may have stolen work from a young Black woman, and his dream job becomes a nightmare when he realizes that very powerful people want to stop him from revealing this shocking secret – at all costs. – Joan H-C., May Memorial

Assistant to the Villain Series by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Maehrer combines cozy fantasy vibes with silly hijinks and a sprinkle of danger in the first two books of her debut series. – Kayleigh D., Tech Services

Don’t Believe It by Charlie Donlea

Listen to this audiobook on Hoopla. If you haven’t read or listened to Charlie Donlea yet, you’re in for a real treat. He creates strong, smart female characters and rewards readers with familiar faces that evolve and grow in later books. – Tracy W., Mebane

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

A woman boards a plane and chillingly reveals to the passengers how and when they will die—told by Moriarty, this premise evolves into something far more captivating and unpredictable. – Tracy W., Mebane

54 Miles by Leonard Pitts

A family story set between “Bloody Sunday” and “The March to Montgomery” in 1965. – Varlese H-G., May Memorial

Leong, Julie. The Teller of Small Fortunes. New York : Ace, 2024.

Cozy fantasy readers, rejoice! The Teller of Small Fortunes will warm your heart and fulfill your magical fantasy needs this winter.

Tao tells small fortunes, things like that your cow will fall in a hole, or the sun will shine on Sunday. But don’t ask her to tell you who you will marry, or when you will die. She won’t tell you. She did that once before, and can’t escape the notion that by foretelling his death, she caused her father to die.

Tao is trying to fly under the radar and avoid the mages who control magic from the capital city, Margrave. She left there years ago, when she realized her stepfather would make her work with the mages and she’d lose her freedom. She has traveled around the country, alone, in her small caravan, setting up in town squares for a day or two. It’s a lonely existence, but a safe one.

One day, she meets two men, a former thief (Silt) and a mercenary (Mash), who are looking for Mash’s young daughter, Leah. She disappeared several months ago, and it’s possible she was stolen by bandits that were seen in the area. The two men are traveling from town to town, following hints of the bandits and asking everyone if they’ve seen a young girl. In the next town, they meet a beautiful woman, Kina, who is a baker’s assistant, and her semi-magical cat. Silt immediately falls in love with Kina, and she is ready for an adventure and a chance to share her baked goods across the country. Thus, their journey begins, looking to earn coin, find Mash’s daughter, and avoid the High Mage.

This book has heart, and I really enjoyed the ways friendships blossomed. Prejudice is discussed in several different ways (race, socioeconomic status, profession), and illuminates how often we judge quickly (and wrongly) when faced by something or someone unfamiliar. This was a great read for a cold fall weekend!

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

When Women Were Dragons

“When Women Were Dragons,” by Kelly Barnhill. Copyright 2022, Doubleday (340 pages, $28.00).

Content Warning: Death of a parent, abandonment, sexism, cancer, misogyny, homophobia.

 

“I was four years old when I first saw a dragon. I was four years old when I first learned to be silent about dragons. Perhaps this is how we learn silence – an absence of words, an absence of context, a hole in the universe where the truth should be.”

In her debut adult novel, Barnhill explores the rage and rigidity of forced limitations on women. Barnhill uses 1950s suburbia as the backdrop for a world that is unaccepting of anyone not maintaining the status quo that people in power have placed upon the masses. Alex, the main character, is a young girl the first time she sees a dragon. She stumbles upon it in her elderly neighbors’ yard and never speaks of it, somehow knowing that were she to ask questions, she would receive no answers.

As the story progresses, Alex grows up, always learning and always questioning, but is ultimately stopped and forced into roles that are not meant for a student or a child like her. She never wanted to teach alculus to a room full of high school boys, nor did she ask to be moved out of the only home she’s ever known, forced to raise her little cousin once her father remarries. All of these responsibilities are thrust upon her under the guise of “a nice girl would” and if Alex asks for anything that steps out of line of what a nice girl is, she is selfish, she is dragon-like.

When her cousin tries to live their authentic life and begins questioning the rigidness of what society has named “proper,” so too, does Alex. She fights to push aside the restrictions and biases learned from her parents and teachers; the rhetoric of believing that all dragons are inappropriate and horrible and selfish.

We see Alex’s life unfold, and how she’s able to learn and grow and accept the newness of things, even against a society that is so opposed to change. We see her accept that women turning into dragons is how women connected their hearts and their minds, making them harmonious, whole, and at peace.

After all, why be confined to a box when you can unfurl your wings? Why be conformed when you can live freely, without reservation?

That’s all Alex wants. What about you?

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