Lima Public Library Book Reviews

FICTION

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E. to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. The letters they share are filled with passion, at first for their mutual interests, and then, inevitably, for each other. Together, they uncover a mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally fear and love. But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E.’s home, and she and Henerey vanish. A year later, E.’s sister Sophy, and Henerey’s brother Vyerin, are left to solve the mystery, piecing together the letters, sketches and field notes left behind—and learn what their siblings’ disappearance might mean for life as they know it.

Lost Hours by Paige Shelton

One sunny July day, Beth boards a tourist ship to see the glaciers, the main reason visitors venture to the area, and something Beth hasn’t attempted until now. A bloodied woman is found standing on the shore, waving for help. When she’s brought aboard, she claims she was kidnapped from her home in Juneau three days earlier. She, however, is unharmed. The woman, Sadie, finds a sympathetic ear in Beth. She tells her that she’s been in Juneau under witness protection, and that the Juneau police don’t like her. When another kidnapping occurs, Beth and police chief Gril can’t help but think the two cases are interwoven, though the clues to solving them will be harder to unravel.

The Dead Guy Next Door by Lucy Score

Divorced. Broke. Living with a pack of elderly roommates. And those hallucinations she’s diligently ignoring? Her tarot card-dealing mom is convinced they’re clairvoyant visions. Just when things can’t get worse, a so-hot-it-should-be-illegal private investigator shows up on her doorstep looking for a neighbor … who turns up murdered. Nick Santiago doesn’t play well with others. Unless the “others” are of the female persuasion. Wink. He’s a rebel, a black sheep, a man who prefers a buffet of options to being stuck with the same entrée every night, if you catch his drift. When the pretty, possibly psychic Riley lands at the top of the list of suspects, Nick volunteers to find out whodunit.

Court of Wanderers by Rin Chupeco

Remy Pendergast, vampire hunter, and his unexpected companions, royal vampires Lord Zidan Malekh and Lady Xiaodan Song, are on the road through the kingdom of Aluria again after a hard-won first battle against the formidable Night Empress, who threatens to undo a fragile peace between humans and vampires. Xiaodan, severely injured, has lost her powers to vanquish the enemy’s new superbreed of vampire, but if the trio can make it to Fata Morgana, the seat of Malehk’s court—dubbed “the Court of Wanderers”—there is hope of nursing her and bringing them back.

NONFICTION

Never Say Never: A TV Producer and Pig Farmer’s Love Story of Faith, Resilience and Business Success by Lisa Kroehler

A television producer and a pig farmer meet on a cruise, not knowing they will become business partners. Lisa marries the farmer with his million-dollar debt. The farm business collapses, and they explore other ventures, including becoming traveling carnies. Lisa and Keith’s faith in God is the thread that binds them together despite failures. Facing setbacks with hope and determination, they rebuild their lives and eventually find success starting a window cleaning company. Their shared journey as business partners for 32 years transforms the million-dollar debt into a successful million-dollar company. This book is a compelling blend of entrepreneurial spirit, faith, and love.

Manifest Anything You Want: Six Magical Steps to Create an Extraordinary Life by Shantini Rajah

Join Shantini Rajah on a delightful manifesting journey that integrates spiritual and scientific concepts with simple exercises and tools anyone can use to attract their dream life. Shantini’s approach includes six magical yet practical ingredients and a unique, Microaction Manifesting tool called 1 Healing Breath that helps you call in your greatest desires in just a few moments each day. Featuring much more than generic techniques, this book helps you generate a deep sense of safety in the body, mind, and spirit so you can confidently and joyfully partner with the Universe to receive everything you desire.

You Could Make this Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself. The book begins with one woman’s personal heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work, and patriarchy.

Cheaper, Faster, Better: How We’ll Win the Climate War by Tom Steyer

In 2012, Steyer walked away from the highly successful investment fund he founded to devote himself full time to climate issues, and he’s been on the front lines of the fight ever since: funding clean tech research and businesses, spearheading clean-energy ballot measures and voter registration drives, and running for president on a climate platform. In this accessible book, Steyer shares his own story and showcases the inspiring and innovative work of other climate leaders in the clean-energy transition. He shows us how capitalism can be used to scale climate progress, debunks many of the arguments made by fossil fuel companies, and calls on all of us to make stabilizing our planet part of our life’s work.

Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry by Austin Frerick

Barons is the story of seven corporate titans, their rise to power, and the consequences for everyone else. Take Mike McCloskey, Chairman of Fair Oaks Farms. In a few short decades, he went from managing a modest dairy herd to running the Disneyland of agriculture, where schoolchildren ride trams through mechanized warehouses filled with tens of thousands of cows that never see the light of day. What was the key to his success? Hard work and exceptional business savvy? Maybe. But more than anything else, Mike benefitted from deregulation of the American food industry, a phenomenon that has consolidated wealth in the hands of select tycoons, and along the way, hollowed out the nation’s rural towns and local businesses.

CHILDREN’S

Little Snail’s Book of Bugs by Yuval Zommer

If you are a little one curious about bugs, little snail has the perfect adventure! Readers will meet many common insects, learning simple facts about them and seeing beautiful illustrations of where they live.

Ages Birth-4

LIBRARY OPEN

Lima Public Library is open to the public six days a week. Hours for the Main Library in Lima are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Our Cairo, Elida and Spencerville branch libraries are open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Our Lafayette branch is open from 12 noon to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday.