June 2019
Summer is here! School is out and it is the perfect time to signup for SJPL's Summer Learning—get a new book in the process—and binge on your TBR pile that's been neglected from finals and graduation parties. There were so many good books that came out this month, too! Fantastical romances, magical adventures, and stories that will make you feel all the feels. So whether you’re basking on the beach or cooling off in your air-conditioned living room, the hottest season of the year only comes for one real reason: so you can get some pleasure reading in. Enjoy!
The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen
Emma Saylor Payne has always been Emma to her dad’s side of the family. Her mom called her Saylor, but her mom, an addict who’d been in and out of rehab, has been dead for five years now and was divorced from Emma’s father five years before that. But then a twist of fate leads Emma to spend the summer at her mom’s childhood home North Lake. At North Lake, Emma—though everyone here knows her as Saylor—reconnects with the family she hardly knows and learns about the mother she can barely remember and the place where her parents met, which is divided sharply into two worlds: the wealthy vacation spot her father visited and her mother’s working-class community. And she begins to realize that she’s not the girl she—or her father—has always thought she was.
Fake It Till You Break It by Jenn P. Nguyen
Mia and Jake have known each other their whole lives. They've endured summer vacations, Sunday brunches, even dentist visits together. Their mothers, who are best friends, are convinced that Mia and Jake would be the perfect couple, even though they can't stand to be in the same room together. After Mia's mom turns away yet another cute boy, Mia and Jake decide they've have had enough. Together, they hatch a plan to get their moms off their backs. Permanently. All they have to do is pretend to date and then stage the worst breakup of all time -- and then they'll be free. The only problem is, maybe Jake and Mia don't hate each other as much as they once thought...
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer's Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery -- magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power. Then an act of sabotage releases the library's most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth's desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them. As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she's been taught -- about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.
Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
Miyoung may look like any other Korean girl, but she's the daughter of a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who feeds on the life force of men. This makes Miyoung half gumiho—and half human. Though raised by her mother, Miyoung is drawn to humans as well, wondering about her missing father and hating that she must kill in order to live. Nevertheless, she manages to follow her mother's rules, always maintaining distance from others so that her secret is not discovered. But one night she strays from the rules, saving the life of Jihoon, a human boy who was attacked by a goblin, and all does not go according to plan. Miyoung suddenly finds herself juggling Jihoon's human world of school and friends with her supernatural world of shamans, spirits, and magic.
Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Eighteen-year-old Trinity Marrow may be going blind, but she can see and communicate with ghosts and spirits. Her unique gift is part of a secret so dangerous that she’s been in hiding for years in an isolated compound fiercely guarded by Wardens—gargoyle shape-shifters who protect humankind from demons. If the demons discover the truth about Trinity, they’ll devour her, flesh and bone, to enhance their own powers. When Wardens from another clan arrive with disturbing reports that something out there is killing both demons and Wardens, Trinity’s safe world implodes. Not the least because one of the outsiders is the most annoying and fascinating person she’s ever met. Zayne has secrets of his own that will upend her world yet again—but working together becomes imperative once demons breach the compound and Trinity’s secret comes to light. To save her family and maybe the world, she’ll have to put her trust in Zayne. But all bets are off as a supernatural war is unleashed…
Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi
Rachel Recht and Sana Khan are either mortal enemies or star-crossed lovers.Jewish-Mexican Rachel has hated South Asian-Persian Muslim Sana ever since Sana asked her out during their freshman year at their exclusive private school as a prank. At least, Rachel assumed it was a prank—why else would a perfect cheerleader like Sana want to date a scholarship student like her, even if Rachel is a brilliant filmmaker? So when Rachel's film teacher forces her to cast Sana in her final film class project—a project that will determine whether she gets a scholarship to her dream college, NYU—Rachel is sure that the whole thing will be a disaster. Until she realizes that seemingly perfect Sana is wrestling with her own demons—including her family's unreasonable expectations and her own doubts about her future. Before long, sparks start to fly, and Rachel and Sana discover parts of each other that they cannot help but love.
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