Reader's Place: February 19, 2024
WHEN LOVE GOES WRONG
Anyone over the age of 12 knows that “Love” is not an ending or a destination, but more like a portal through which we can experience the life and thoughts of another. It doesn’t always turn out well.
Cruel seduction, by Katee Robert, 2023. Library copy
The only problem with using seduction as a weapon? Hearts are all too quick to get involved. With Hephaestus and Aphrodite trading venomous strikes that feel a whole lot like foreplay, lines become blurred and emotions entangled. But a broken heart may be the least of their worries. With unrest in Olympus reaching new heights, these bedroom games may have deadly consequences for themselves, their city, and everyone they've come to love.
The killing hills, by Chris Offutt, 2021. Library copy
Mick Hardin, a combat veteran now working as an Army CID agent, returns home on a leave that is almost done. His wife is about to give birth, but they aren't getting along. His sister, newly risen to sheriff, has just landed her first murder case, and local politicians are pushing for city police or the FBI to take the case. Are they convinced she can't handle it, or is there something else at work?
The birthday party, by Laurent Mauvignier; translated from the French by Daniel Levin Becker, 2022 Library copy
Buried deep in rural France, little remains of the isolated hamlet of the Three Lone Girls, save a few houses and a curiously assembled quartet: Patrice Bergogne, inheritor of his family's farm; his wife, Marion; their daughter, Ida; and their neighbor, Christine, an artist. While Patrice plans a surprise for his wife's fortieth birthday, inexplicable events start to disrupt the hamlet's quiet existence.
The art of desire, by Montgomery, Selena, author, 2023. Library copy
Trouble comes in threes... One doomed love affair after another has made lovely Alex Walton swear off men. Now, she's determined to try something that maybe she can succeed at: a writing career. Little does she know that a chance meeting with a strikingly handsome stranger, a mysterious obelisk, and a lost kingdom will change her life forever. As Alex is about to discover, truth can be stranger-and far more dangerous-than fiction. ...but true love comes only once.
The absolutes: A novel, by By Molly Dektar, 2023. Library copy
When Nora, a withdrawn American teenager, is sent to live with relatives in Turin, she meets Nicola, the enigmatic son of the most powerful aristocratic family in Italy. Years later, the two reconnect in New York and begin a heated affair. Propelled by disorienting desire, Nora quickly becomes entangled in Nicola's insular, menacing world of old-world luxury and family secrets, until she finds herself spiraling on a path of self-destruction,
Compiled by Ina Rimpau