Click below to see the other books in each age band.
2016: ADULT
Paris, He Said
by Christine Sneed
Jayne Marks is questioning the choices she has made in the years since college and is struggling to pay her bills in Manhattan when she is given the opportunity to move to Paris with her wealthy lover and benefactor, Laurent Moller, who owns and operates two art galleries, one in New York, the other in Paris. He offers her the time and financial support she needs to begin her career as a painter and also challenges her to see who and what she will become if she meets her artistic potential. Laurent, however, seems to have other women in his life and Jayne, too, has an ex-boyfriend, much closer to her own age, whom she still has feelings for. Bringing Paris gloriously to life, Paris, He Said is a novel about desire, beauty, and its appreciation, and of finding yourself presented with the things you believe you've always wanted, only to wonder where true happiness lies.
Dollface: A Novel of the Roaring Twenties
by Renée Rosen
Vera Abramowitz is determined to leave her gritty childhood behind and live a more exciting life, one that her mother never dreamed of. Bobbing her hair and showing her knees, the lipsticked beauty dazzles, doing the Charleston in nightclubs and earning the nickname “Dollface.” As the ultimate flapper, Vera captures the attention of two high rollers, a handsome nightclub owner and a sexy gambler. On their arms, she gains entrée into a world filled with bootleg bourbon, wailing jazz, and money to burn. She thinks her biggest problem is choosing between them until the truth comes out. Her two lovers are really mobsters from rival gangs during Chicago’s infamous Beer Wars, a battle Al Capone refuses to lose. The heady life she’s living is an illusion resting on a bedrock of crime and violence unlike anything the country has ever seen before. When the good times come to an end, Vera becomes entangled in everything from bootlegging to murder. And as men from both gangs fall around her, Vera must put together the pieces of her shattered life, as Chicago hurtles toward one of the most infamous days in its history, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Made in America
by Chris Chelios
From being inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013, to serving in an executive role on the Detroit Red Wings, and signing on to become an NHL analyst for Fox Sports 1, Chris Chelios has proven himself to be a man of many talents and here he tells his story. Drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 1981, Chelios enjoyed a long career in the NHL, playing for 26 seasons for the Canadiens as well as the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings, two diehard hockey markets in which he has become a beloved figure. From the 1992 Stanley Cup final to the 2006 Winter Olympics team, Chelios shares his achievements on the ice while providing new information on his life off it to readers, making this autobiography a must-have not only for Chelios fans, but anyone who loves the game of hockey.
The Blade Itself
by Marcus Sakey
To protect everything, would you do anything? Your name is Danny Carter. You’re a happy man: you have a good job, a nice house, and a girlfriend you adore. Life is better than you ever dared hope. But things weren’t always this way. Once, you stood in a dark room and watched a man bleed to death. You’ve prayed every day that your past would stay buried...because you weren’t alone in that room. Now, the man who stood beside you is back. He’s the most dangerous person you can imagine. And he’s demanding you help him do the unforgivable. Agreeing will cost your career, your relationship, even your freedom. Refusing will cost your life.
Turn of Mind
by Alice LaPlante
A literary thriller about a retired orthopedic surgeon suffering from dementia and accused of killing her best friend. With unmatched patience and a pulsating intensity, Alice LaPlante's debut novel brings us deep into a brilliant woman’s deteriorating mind, where the impossibility of recognizing reality can be both a blessing and a curse. When the book opens, Dr. Jennifer White’s best friend, Amanda, has been killed, and four fingers surgically removed from her hand. Dr. White is the prime suspect and she herself doesn’t know whether she did it. Told in White’s own voice, fractured and eloquent, a picture emerges of the surprisingly intimate, complex alliance between these life-long friends—two proud, forceful women who were at times each other’s most formidable adversaries. As the investigation into the murder deepens and White’s relationships with her live-in caretaker and two grown children intensify, a chilling question lingers: is White’s shattered memory preventing her from revealing the truth or helping her hide it? A startling portrait of a disintegrating mind clinging to reality through anger, frustration, shame, and unspeakable loss, Turn of Mind examines the deception and frailty of memory and how it defines our very existence.
The Hidden Man
by David Ellis
Jason Kolarich is a Chicago attorney with a lineman's build, a razor- sharp intellect-and the grief of a tragic personal loss. When an estranged childhood friend is charged with murder, Kolarich must create a solid defense-even while doubting his client's innocence. But it soon becomes clear that Kolarich will have to uncover long-forgotten events from their shared childhoods to save his friend-and bring a relentless killer to justice before he strikes again.