Great Christmas Reads!

This is my favorite time of year!  I absolutely love it when cold weather starts rolling in, snow starts falling and the smell of cookies baking in the oven fills the air.  I can't help it, I love all things Christmas!  So with that in mind here are some great Christmas feel good stories.   

So sit down by the fire on a comfy chair and snuggle in for a great story. Remember children love to have a grown up read them a story so I have also included some of my favorite holiday classics.

Great Holiday Reads

The Immortal Nicholas by Glen Beck
The Christmas Joy Ride by Melody Carlson
Christmas Bells: A Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini
Beautiful Star of Bethlehem by Lori Copeland
The Mistletoe Inn by Richard Paul Evans
The Gift of a Charm by Melissa Hill
Winter Stroll by Elin Hilderbrand
Falling Like Snowflakes by Denise Hunter
Marry Me At Christmas by Susan Mallery
A Knight's Bridge Christmas by Carla Neggers
A Christmas Escape by Anne Perry
All He Wants for Christmas by Lisa Plumley
The Last Chance Christmas Ball by Mary Jo Putney
A Christmas Prayer by Kimberly Lawson Roby
Grace by Shelley Shepard Gray
Cape Light Together for Christmas by Katherine Spencer
An Island Christmas by Nancy Thayer

Classics

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson The Christmas Train by David Baldacci
The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
Twas the Night Before Christmas
The Pine Tree Parable by Liz Curtis
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Elves and the Shoemaker by Brothers Grimm
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

Native American Heritage Month 2015--Mystery Series Part 1

November was Native American Heritage month and to help honor Native American literature, we are highlighting mystery series.  The following contain a Native American protagonist and/or are written by a Native American author.  These books are as unique as the many tribes and nations in North America plus some of the best mysteries around.  So if you like history, action, and interesting and quirky characters, try these great series!

Sandi Ault--Wild Indigo--Jamaica Wild is a Pueblo Indian and Bureau of Land Management agent in New Mexico.

Peter Bowen--Coyote Wind--Gabriel Du Pre' is a Metis' cattle inspector in Montana.

Lu Clifton--Scalp Dance--Lt. Sam Chitto works for the Choctaw Nation Tribal Police in Oklahoma.  This is a new series.

Margaret Coel--The Eagle Catcher--Vicky Holden is an Arapaho attorney on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.

Priscilla Cogan--Winona's Web--Winona Pathfinder is a Lakota medicine woman--she lives on the Leelanau Pennisula along Lake Michigan.

James D. Doss--The Shaman Sings--Charlie Moon is a Ute Tribal Police investigator in Granite Creek, Colorado.

Kathleen O'Neal Gear--The Visitant--Browser is a 13th century Anasazi war chief in the Chaco Canyon area of New Mexico.

Hartley GoodWeather (aka Thomas King)--Dreadful Water Shows Up--Thumps DreadfulWater is a Cherokee photographer in Chinook, Montana.

Tony Hillerman--The Blessing Way--Lt. Joe Leaphorn and officer Jim Chee are Navajo Tribal Police in Arizona and New Mexico.

Anne Hillerman--Spider Women's Daughter--she is continuing her father Tony's series.

Micah S. Hackler--Legend of the Dead--Part Navajo Gabe Hanna is a deputy in the Sheriff Cliff Lansing mysteries.

Jean Hager--The Grandfather Medicine--Mitch Bushyhead is a Cherokee police chief of Buckskin, Oklahoma.

Jean Hager--Ravenmocker--Molly Bearpaw is a half Cherokee Civil Rights investigator in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Sara Sue Hoklotubbe--Deception On All Accounts--Sadie Walela is a Cherokee banker in North East Oklahoma.

The rest of this list will continue in a couple of weeks.

Try SearchOhio for books not in our catalog.

December's In the Queue

This month's In the Queue has fantastic thrillers, hilarious reads and even books that will make you think. There's sure to be a great book just waiting for you once you get in the queue.

Fiction

The Relic Master: A Novel by Christopher Buckley
A compelling and hilarious adventure which features a sixteenth-century relic hunter and his best friend, who conspire to forge the Shroud of Turin.

The Hunting Trip by W. E. Butterworth
From the best selling author of the W.E.B. Griffin novels comes a rollicking story of love, war and adventure.

Harbour Street by Ann Cleeves
This gripping new novel explores what happens when a community closes ranks to protect their own, and at what point silent witnesses become complicit.

Warriors of the Storm by Bernard Cornwell
The epic saga of the making of England, magnificently brought to life by the reigning king of historical fiction.

Dictator by Robert Harris
In Robert Harris's indelible portrait, Cicero becomes a hero-brilliant, flawed, frequently fearful yet ultimately brave-both for his own time and for ours.

Time of Departure by Douglas Schofield
Full of spellbinding twists, Time of Departure will appeal not only to thriller aficionados, but to readers who appreciate a strong female lead and a compelling love story.

Forty Thieves by Thomas Perry
Sid and Ronnie Abel are a first-rate husband-and-wife detective team. Ed and Nicole Hoyt are married assassins for hire. The two couples meet on opposing sides of a murder investigation. The Abel's lives become at risk the closer they get to the truth. 

New Books by Best Selling Authors

The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster
The Bitter Season by Tami Hoag
Orphan X by Gregg Andrew Hurwitz
Breakdown: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman
Ashley Bell: A Novel by Dean Koontz
Feverborn by Karen Marie Moning
Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin
The Bone Labyrinth by James Rollins
The First Hostage by Joel C. Rosenberg
Blue: a Novel by Danielle Steel
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
The Forgotten Soldier by Brad Taylor


Non Fiction 
Maggie Smith: A Biography  by Michael Coveney
No one does glamour, severity or tight-lipped charm better than Dame Maggie Smith. This biography, written with Maggie's consent, spans six decades and paints a portrait of an amazing actress.

Power Words: What You Say Can Change Your Life by Joyce Meyer
Learn to wield God's powerful word with positive speaking to help you overcome everyday problems and change your life.

Fresh Start: God's Invitation by Joel Osteen
Osteen provides practical insight and encouragement to help readers form a new beginning with God. Learn m ore about yourself, God and fulfill your own destiny after reading this book.

The Girl Who Slept with God

Relationships can be difficult to navigate. Whether we are talking about the relationships we choose or the ones we are born into, each carries a unique set of problems and issues. Val Brelinski’s debut novel, The Girl Who Slept with God, tells the story of Jory Quanbeck as she struggles to grow up in Idaho in 1970 and the events that lead to the creation and dissolution of some of her most important relationships.

Jory is the middle of three sisters in a strict, evangelical family. She is outspoken and strong-willed compared to her sisters. However, it isn’t Jory who causes the biggest uproar in her family. Her very devout older sister Grace goes on a mission trip to Mexico only to return home early… and pregnant. Grace insists the child is God’s baby—an angel baby. Not wanting to risk public embarrassment, the girls’ father purchases a remote farmhouse and shuttles Jory and Grace off to live alone out of the public eye.

In the midst of all this family mayhem, an ice cream man named Grip enters Jory’s life. Grip is an older man who befriends Jory when Grace is in Mexico, then continues to be her lifeline after the move to the farm. Grip shields his personal life from Jory, but manages to insinuate himself into the lives of the girls in very personal ways. In addition to Grip, Jory befriends Mrs. Kleinfelter, the only neighbor and the sister of the previous inhabitant of the home Jory’s father purchases for the girls. Without meaning to, Mrs. Kleinfelter becomes a very strong influence in Jory’s life. She cares for the girls who have practically been abandoned and helps Jory acclimate to the public school she is suddenly dumped in after only attending Christian school.

In a time in Jory’s life when survival seems questionable, the relationships she creates will ultimately be what save her and help her to understand the needs of others and her deeper family relationship.