Recreation

New Titles Fiction January 2016 (arrived in December 2015)

Adventure

The lone warrior, Paul Fraser Collard.
Jack Lark, once the Scarlet Thief, has fought hard for his freedom. But will he risk it all to do the right thing? Bombay, 1857. India is simmering with discontent, and Jack Lark, honourably discharged from the British Army, aims to take the first ship back to England
The perils of command, David Donachie.
Latest in the John Pearce series.
One killer force, Dalton Fury.
Fourth book in the Delta Force series.
The sword of Attila, David Gibbins.
Sword of Attila begins with the fall of Carthage to the Vandals in AD 439. Second in the Total War Rome series.
The mulberry bush, Charles McCarry.
Falling in love with a famous Argentinean revolutionary's daughter who he hopes will further his ambition to exact revenge against the handlers who ended his father's career years earlier, a maverick spy is caught in a web of deceit with ties to the Cold War.
The revelation code, Andy McDermott.
2002 Southern Iraq A CIA covert operation in the desert uncovers ancient ruins concealing a humanoid statue, with six wings.
The pope's assassin, Tim Severin.
Rome, 799 AD. Pope Leo is viciously attacked in the street by unknown assailants. Sigwulf, a Saxon prince who has been banished to the court of King Carolus in Frankia, is sent to Rome as a spy to discover who was responsible.

American Fiction

The magic strings of Frankie Presto, Mitch Albom.
Frankie Presto, the greatest guitarist to ever walk the earthl is the central character in this magical novel about the bands we join in life and the power of talent to change our lives.
Open your eyes, Jackson Ryder, Rudy Castaneda Lopez.
Fifteen-year-old Jackson Ryder has always loved art, but in the wake of his mother's death, he must choose between his passion and his grieving father's approval. Pulled from his New York home and thrust into the melting pot that is San Sebastiano, California in the 1960s, Jackson finds himself embroiled in a turbulent era.
The promise of home, Darcie Chan.
Returns readers to Mill River, the charming town whose residents experience surprises and sorrows, witness acts of goodwill and kindness, embrace family love and friendship and uncover age-old secrets and heartaches.
A wild swan : and other tales, Michael Cunningham
Fairy tales for our times from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours. A poisoned apple and a monkey's paw with the power to change fate; a girl whose extraordinarily long hair causes catastrophe; a man with one human arm and one swan's wing; and a house deep in the forest, constructed of gumdrops and gingerbread, vanilla frosting and boiled sugar.
The Mistletoe Inn, Richard Paul Evans.
Kimberly Rossetti has had her heart broken more times than she wants to remember. With two failed engagements, a divorce and again alone with no prospects, she hardly seems the type to dream of being a published romance author. She signs up for a writing course and her life changes.
Calf : a novel, Andrea Kleine.
Intriguing fictionalised account of John Hinckley Jr, the man who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan.
Dashing through the snow, Debbie Macomber.
Ashley Davison is desperate to spend the holidays with her mother in Seattle. Dash Sutherland has an interview for the job of a lifetime in Seattle and must arrive by 23 December. Both frantic to book a last-minute flight out of California, Ashley and Dash collide at the airport to learn that there are no flights and only one rental car available. Things will end romantically.
Food whore, Jessica Tom.
First novel with echoes of "The devil wears Prada," telling the story fo a woman who secretly helps out a top New York restaurant critic when he loses his sense of taste.
Gold fame citrus, Claire Vaye Watkins.
Desert sands have laid waste to the south-west of America. Las Vegas is buried. California and anyone still there is stranded. Any way out is severely restricted. But Luz and Ray are not leaving. They survive on water rations, black market fruit and each other's need. Strong dystopian tale.
The story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski.
When his beloved father mysteriously dies, Edgar Sawtelle blames himself, if only because his muteness left him unable to summon help. Grief-stricken and bewildered by his mother's affair with her dead husband's brother, Edgar's world unravels one spring night when, in the falling rain, he sees his father's ghost.

Australian fiction

The wonder lover, Malcolm Knox.
Intriguing story of a man who has three secret families, each kept secret from the other.

British Fiction

Beatlebone, Kevin Barry.
The story of John Lennon fleeing public life and going to Ireland where he has an island he'd bought some years back.
Beloved enemy : a conflict of love and duty, Sheila Munds Belbin.
N ovel that covers a twenty-year period beginning in 1942. Allison, a young woman in the British Women's Army whose mother was German, agrees to become a spy. She is parachuted into enemy-occupied France and helped by the French Resistance to reach the German border, where she is met by members of the little-known German Resistance.
Conditional love, Cathy Bramley
Meet Sophie Stone, a thirty-something serial procrastinator. Tesco knickers, Take That and tea with two sugars is about as exciting as it gets. Sophie's life is safe and predictable, which is just the way she likes it until ...
Trust, Mike Bullen.
Greg and Amanda are happy. They've been together thirteen years and have two young daughters. They're very much in love. Dan and Sarah aren't so fortunate. Their marriage is going through the motions and they're just staying together for the sake of their son. Novel by the creator of the hit British TV series, "Cold feet."
Tales of adventure and medical life, Arthur Conan Doyle.
One of the collections Arthur Conan Doyle published at the end of his career, anthologizes some of his best short fiction outside of the Sherlock Holmes canon.
The absent therapist, Will Eaves.
A book of soundings, a jostle of voices that variously argue, remember, explain, justify, speculate and meander. Sons and lovers, wanderers, stayers, leavers, readers and believers: 'the biggest surprise of all is frequently that things and people really are as they seem.'
A family for Christmas, Linda Finlay.
Eliza is just fourteen years old when she is forced out of her home one freezing winter's night. Lost and alone, she struggles across the snowy moors before collapsing on the doorstep of the reclusive Fay, who slowly nurses her back to health.
A snow garden and other stories, Rachel Joyce.
In the course of a fortnight at the end of a year a woman finds a cure for a broken heart where she least expects it; a husband and wife build their son a bicycle and, in the process, deconstruct their happy marriage; freak weather brings the airport to a standstill on Christmas Day; a young woman will change her life by saying one word. Seven droll and charming linked stories.
A conscious Englishman, Magaret Keeping.
Story of the last years of the poet Edward Thomas, opening with his family visiting the Herefordshire home of Robert Frost.
Dancing on the outskirts, Shena Mackay.
Impressive collection of short stories from underrated British writer.
A wedding at Christmas, Chrissie Manby.
Chelsea Benson has just twelve weeks to organise her perfect winter wedding. Her family and friends pitch in to help, but sisterly squabbling, issues with money and an Ice-Queen mother-in-law soon threaten Chelsea's plans for her big day.
The little red chairs, Edna O'Brien.
When a wanted war criminal, masquerading as a healer, settles in a small west coast Irish village, the community are in thrall. One woman, Fidelma McBride, falls under his spell.
There's only two David Beckhams, John O'Farrell.
A love-letter to football; part-detective story, part-sports memoir, part-satire on the whole corrupt FIFA circus.
A Christmas kiss, Vicky Pattison.
Amber Raey is working all the hours God sends as assistant to one of the country's top fashion designers, and her boss is a complete nightmare. Light Christmas themed tale. Vicky Pattison is the British reality TV "personality."
That day in June, Martina Reilly.
Sandy and Max are unlikely friends. Sandy is a runaway, who has left her unhappy past behind and now roams the streets of High Hills. Max is a high- flying PR executive, a man about town, a mover and shaker.
Cockfosters, Helen Simpson.
Collection of droll short stories, the title one dealing with a trip to the end of the Tube line.
Chance developments : unexpected love stories, Alexander McCall Smith.
Shorn of context, unknown people look out to us from old and anonymous photographs, and each image has magical appeal. Smith cleverly reimagines their stories.
The winter children, Lulu Taylor.
Olivia and Dan Felbeck are blissfully happy when their longed-for twins arrive after years of IVF. At the same time, they make the move to Renniston Hall, a huge, Elizabethan house that belongs to absent friends.
Faith and beauty, Jane Thynne.
Berlin, on the eve of war. As soldiers muster on the streets, spies circle in the shadows, and Lottie Franke, a young woman from the Faith and Beauty Society the elite finishing school for Nazi girls is found in a shallow grave. Clara Vine, Anglo-German actress and spy investigates, Highly readable tale from author who will soon become as well known as her author husband, Philip Kerr.
Desiring Cairo, Louisa Young.
Angeline Gower, ex-bellydancer, ex-biker, single mother of a little girl who is not actually her child, is mired in problems again in this wonderful sequel. Her relationship with Harry, the lover turned cop, remains fraught, the lure of the glamorous but no good Eddie hasn't gone away. Sequel to "Baby love."

Fantasy

Wake of vultures, Lila Bowen.
"Absorbing fantasy adventure" said Kirkus Reviews of this debut novel set in an alternate American West.
Angel of storms, Trudi Canavan.
Second in the "Millenium's Rule" series.
The cathedral of known things, Edward Cox.
Second in the Relic Guild series.
Black Wolves, Kate Elliott.
He lost his honour long ago. Captain Kellas was lauded as the king's most faithful servant until the day he failed in his duty. Dismissed from service, his elite regiment disbanded, he left the royal palace and took up another life.First title in a new trilogy.
Warheart, Terry Goodkind.
Latest title in the Sword of Truth series.
Tower of thorns, Juliet Marillier.
Second book in the Blackthorn & Grim series.
Lud-in-the-mist, Hope Mirrlees.
The town of Lud is a prosperous, bustling little country port, situated at the confluence of two rivers: the Dawl and the Dapple. The latter, which has its source in the land of Faerie beyond the Elfin Marches and the Debatable Hills, is a source of great trial to Lud, which had long rejected such fanciful nonsense as fairies, elves and the like.
Stalking the dragon : a fable of tonight : a John Justin Mallory mystery, Mike Resnick.
Cast in honor, Michelle Sagara.
Latest book in the Chronicles of Elantra.
Blood kiss, J.R. Ward.
First in the Blacl Dagger Legacy series.

Fiction from the rest of the World

Three light-years, Andrea Canobbio
Italian novel about a pair of doctors (male & female) at the same hospital who, despite veing both in complicated relationships, are attracted to each.
The world according to Anna, Jostein Gaarder
When fifteen-year-old Anna begins receiving messages from another time, her parents take her to the doctor. But he can find nothing wrong with Anna; in fact he believes there may be some truth to what she is seeing.
Like family, Paolo Giordano
Author of the bestselling Italian novel "The solitude of prime numbers," made into a memorable film, returns with a story about a family who rely on their maid as nanny and confidante. Things change when the maid becomes ill.
The devil is a black dog : stories from the Middle East and beyond, Sandor Jaszberenyi
Immersed in the societies he reports on and heedless in the face of war and revolution, Jaszberenyi observes mothers, martyrs, soldiers, and lovers who must confront the extremes of contemporary experience.
Autobiography of a corpse, Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky
Collection of back comedy stories from Russian writer.
Memories of the future, Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky
Written in Soviet Moscow in the 1920s but considered too subversive even to show to a publisher the seven tales included here attest to Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky's boundless imagination, black humor, and breathtaking irony
Death by water, Kenzaburo Oe
Kogito Choko returns to his hometown village in search of a red suitcase rumoured to hold documents revealing the details of his father's death during World War II, details that will serve as the foundation for his new, and final, novel.
The Juliet stories, Carrie Snyder.
Coming of age novel set against a backdrop of political turmoil in 1980s Nicaragua. Canadian novelist writing in the tradition of Alice Munro.
The age of reinvention, Karine Tuil
Prix Goncourt finalist and a bestseller in France, a tale of a tangled love triangle in the shadow of the war on terror.

Graphic novel

Universal war one. Volume 1, Genesis, Denis Bajram
Love. The fox, Frederic Brremaud, Federico Bertolucci.
Fairest. [5], The clamour for glamour, Mark Buckingham
Trashed : a graphic novel, Derf Backderf.
Supreme Blue Rose, Warren Ellis + Tula Lotay.
Ody-C. Vol. 1, Off to far Ithicaa, Matt Fraction
Attack on Titan, colossal edition. [2], Hajime Isayama
John Constantine, Hellblazer. 11, Last man standing, Paul Jenkins
Outcast. Volume 2, A vast and unending ruin, Kirkman & Azaceta.
Ruins, Peter Kuper
The girl who kicked the hornet's nest, Adapted by Denise Mina
The sacred blacksmith. Volume 9, Kotaro Yamada
Crossed + one hundred. [Vol. 1], Alan Moore
A bride's story. 7, Kaoru Mori
Judge Dredd : the mega collection. Shimura, Robbie Morrison
Knights of Sidonia. 14, Tsutomu Nihei
Low. Volume 1, The delirium of hope, Rick Remender
Judge Dredd : the mega collection., John Smith
.
Guardians of the galaxy. Vol. 3, Jim Valentino
The gifted. Books 1&2, Damian A. Wassel & Adrian F. Wassel
Nanjing : the burning city, Ethan Young.

Historical

To catch a falling star, Anna Belfrage.
Latest in the Graham saga.
Whiter thou goest, Anna Belfrage.
The gift, Wanda E. Brunstetter.
Leah Mast cures people with reflexology, but many scoff at this treatment, including Adam Beachy. When Adam becomes a father figure to his nieces due to a tragedy he finds himself needing Leah to fill the roll of mother.
Quicksilver, Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent.
The final volume of the Anjou trilogy focuses on merchant Jacques Coeur, a man of humble beginnings but fiercely ambitious, who became one of the richest and most powerful men in fifteenth century France.
Scarpia, Piers Paul Read.
Tale of the 18th century Sicilian nobleman who skkes his fortune in a corrupt power hungry Italy.
Britannia, Simon Scarrow.
Lates in the "Eagles of the Empire" series.

Mystery

The bark before Christmas, Laurien Berenson.
Melanie Travis has her hands full with her two young sons, a part-time job, and a half dozen Poodles to her name. But even with the busy holiday season approaching, she still has time to sniff out a Christmastime killer.
Even the dead : a Quirke mystery, Benjamin Black.
Pathologist Quirke is back working in the city morgue, watching over Dublin's dead. When a body is found in a burnt-out car, Quirke is called in to verify the apparent suicide of an up-and-coming civil servant. But Quirke can't shake a suspicion of foul play.
Away in a manger, Rhys Bowen.
Latest in the Molly Murphy series.
House of the rising sun, James Lee Burke.
Fourth in the Hackberry Holland series.
The hunter of the dark, Donato Carrisi
Series of gruesome murders leaves the police force in Rome reeling, with no real clues or hard evidence to follow. Assigned to the case is Sandra Vega, a brilliant forensic analyst, struggling to come to terms with the crimes and her own past.
All dressed in white, Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke.
In present-day New York City, Laurie Moran realizes a missing bride is the perfect cold case for her investigative television series, Under Suspicion. She and her team set out to recreate the night of the disappearance.
Untimely death : a Shakespeare in the Catskills mystery, Elizabeth J. Duncan.
A Catskills resort's production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet takes a wickedly ironic turn when the leading lady, Lauren Richmond, is first poisoned and then stabbed.
Paul Temple : east of Algiers, Francis Durbridge.
Reprint of one of the Paul Temple (and his wife Steve) mysteries.
Numero zero, Umberto Eco
1945 and Mussolini and his mistress are killed by partisans. Later, in 1992, a writer is contracted to write a memoir that will say it is a coverup.
Home by nightfall, Charles Finch.
It's London in 1876, and the whole city is abuzz with the enigmatic disappearance of a famous foreign pianist.
Bryant & May : London's glory, Christopher Fowler.
Delightully zany mysteries solved by the two detectives, Bryant and May.
A painted smile, Frances Fyfield.
Young, rich widow Diana Porteous has inherited a vast collection of paintings, but she feels without purpose again. Then her beloved stepgrandson comes up with the idea for an exhibition of portraits with the title 'A Question of Guilt'. It starts as a joke, but soon they are preparing the huge wine cellar of the old schoolhouse by the sea, in spite of those with misgivings as to its suitability.
The girl in the ice, Lotte and Soren Hammer
Under the heartless vault of Greenland's arctic sky the body of a girl is discovered. Half-naked and tied up, buried hundreds of miles from any signs of life, she has lain alone, hidden in the ice cap, for twenty-five years. Sinister Danish thriller.
The silent room, Mari Hannah.
A security van sets off for Durham prison, a disgraced Special Branch officer in the back. It never arrives. On route it is hijacked by armed men, the prisoner sprung. Suspended from duty on suspicion of aiding and abetting the audacious escape of his former boss, Detective Sergeant Matthew Ryan is locked out of the investigation.
One under, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.
A middle-aged man jumps under a tube train at Shepherd's Bush station, and a teenage girl is killed in a hit-and-run, in a country lane puzzlingly far from her home on the White City Estate: two unrelated incidents which occupy DCI Bill Slider and team.
The order of things, Graham Hurley.
D/S Jimmy Suttle is called to a brutal murder in the picturesque Devon village of Lympstone. Harriet Reilly, a local GP, has been found disembowelled in the bedroom of her partner, climate scientist Alois Bentner.
If she only knew, Lisa Jackson.
She woke up with a new face. She woke up with no memories. And she woke up to murder. Not only has Marla Cahill survived a deadly car accident, but her beautiful features have been restored through plastic surgery. She should be grateful. Instead, she's consumed by confusion and panic.
A cold death in Amsterdam, Anja de Jager.
A smart and engaging police procedural about a Dutch detective struggling to come to terms with her past. Set in Amsterdam, the novel introduces Lotte Meerman, a Cold Case detective still recovering from the emotional devastation of her previous investigation.
The dead dog day, Jackie Kabler.
TV reporter's day begins with a dead dog and a dead boss. British crime debut.
The yellow diamond, Andrew Martin.
Detective Superintendent George Quinn Mayfair resident and dandy with a razor-sharp brain has set up a new police unit, dedicated to investigating the super-rich. When he is shot in mysterious circumstances, DI Blake Reynolds is charged with taking over.
End games in Bordeaux, Allan Massie.
IThe fourth book in the Bordeaux series.
The honourable assassin, Roland Perry.
A journalist takes on a story that takes him to Bangkok and the Thai power elite, murder and more.
Forty thieves, Thomas Perry.
Husband and wife detective team cross paths with husband and wife assassins for hire.
The mayfair mystery : a story of crime, Frank Richardson
The body of a wealthy man is discovered by his valet. The valet hurried to a friend of the dead man to tell him of the tragedy. They return to find the body gone! Reprint of a classic mystery from 1907.
The house of Susan Lulham, Phil Rickman.
A Merrily Watkins mystery.
If you dare : a Deanna Madden novel, A. R. Torre.
The rules are the same. I can't open the door. I can't leave. I can't kill anyone. The only difference is, I don't set the rules anymore. Guards in grey uniforms do. It is everything I never wanted and everything I always deserved. I write to you now, from a prison cell. My home for the next twenty to thirty years. That's the going term for murder.
Dark as my heart, Antti Tuomainen
Very well reviewed Finnish novel about a mother and son and their search for justice.
Death wears a mask, Ashley Weaver.
Second in a light 1930's set mystery series.
The granite moth, Erica Wright.
It begins with a bang: Kathleen Stone is watching her friend Dolly and his fellow drag queens from The Pink Parrot perform at the Halloween Parade when their float explodes. Suspecting foul play, The Pink Parrot's owner, Big Mamma, hires Kat to find the culprit.

New Zealand Fiction

The West Coast whitebait children. Book one : intimate secrets shared with a stranger, Duncan Dolby.
Humorous stories about life on the Coast.
The West Coast whitebait children. Book two : intimate secrets shared with a stranger, Duncan Dolby.
Book two of the series.
Daughters of Messene, Maggie Rainey-Smith
When almost 300 unmarried Greek women arrived in Wellington in the early 1960s, the established Greek community feared the scandal that might follow. Instead the women settled into life here and the event has largely been forgotten.
The song journey, T.E. Scott.
When singer Julia MacAllistair sits down at a piano in her attic to play one of her late great-grandmother's favorite pieces of music, she doesn't expect to wake up on the floor of a Chicago concert hall in 1906, dressed in period costume with a sea of concerned faces peering down at her.
The gentlemen's club, Jen Shieff.
Headstrong and independent, Rita Saunders is a successful hairdresser by day and a busy brothel madam by night. The only thing missing from her life is the love of a good woman.

Romance

Falling for her reluctant sheikh, Amalie Berlin.
A marriage fit for a sinner, Maya Blake.
New beginnings at Lilyfields, Lottie Bloom.
One night before Christmas, Susan Carlisle.
Resisting the Sicilian playboy, Amanda Cinelli.
Housekeeper under the mistletoe, Cara Colter.
Soldier, hero husband?, Cara Colter.
Hidden in the sheikh's harem, Michelle Conder.
Unwrapping the Castelli secret, Caitlin Crews.
Safe in the surgeon's arms, Molly Evans.
The prince's Christmas vow, Jennifer Faye.
Duke of scandal, Gaelen Foley.
His little christmas miracle, Emily Forbes.
Her Christmas baby bump, Robin Gianna.
An heir fit for a king, Abby Green.
Falling for Mr December, Kate Hardy.
Reunited for the billionaire's legacy, Jennifer Hayward.
A father this Christmas?, Louisa Heaton.
Larenzo's Christmas baby, Kate Hewitt.
Tomorrow's path, Anna Jacobs.
Claimed for Makarov's baby, Sharon Kendrick.
The sheikh's Christmas conquest, Sharon Kendrick.
Tallowood bound, Karly Lane.
Winter wedding in Vegas, Janice Lynn.
A December to remember, Sue MacKay.
A Christmas baby surprise, Catherine Mann.
The baby of their dreams, Carol Marinelli.
Father for her newborn baby, Lynne Marshall.
Hot-shot doc, secret dad, Lynne Marshall.
Courting the cowboy boss, Janice Maynard.
The return of Antonides, Anne McAllister.
Shackled to the sheikh, Trish Morey.
Bought for her innocence, Tara Pammi.
A proposal worth millions, Sophie Pembroke.
The baby who saved Christmas, Alison Roberts.
A royal temptation, Charlene Sands.
Gift-wrapped in her wedding dress, Kandy Shepherd.
Untamed, S. C. Stephens.
Brazilian's nine months' notice, Susan Stephens.
Seducing his enemy's daughter, Annie West.
The wedding night debt, Cathy Williams.
A touch of Christmas magic, Scarlet Wilson.
His lost-and-found bride, Scarlet Wilson.
Pursued, Tracy Wolff.
A Christmas vow of seduction, Maisey Yates.

Saga

Heart and home, Lyn Andrews.
Cathie Kinrade is all too used to hardship. Growing up on the Isle of Man in the 1930s, she sees her da set sail daily on dangerous seas while her mam struggles to put food on the table.
The Saint-Tropez lonely hearts club, Joan Collins.
Sun, sin, sex and scandal set amongst the rich in St. Tropez.
A Nightingale Christmas wish, Donna Douglas.
As Christmas 1938 approaches, the staff at the Nightingale Hospital have their own wishes for the festive season. Ward sister Frannie Wallace is hoping she won't have to live through another war like the one that claimed her beloved fiance. But with bomb defences going up all around London, it seems as if her hopes are in vain.
Midnight on Lime Street, Ruth Hamilton.
What possible connections might exist between an aged man who used to sell shoes, some ladies of the night, three abused schoolboys, two nuns, two police officers, a philanthropist, a serial killer, a drugs cartel, Lime Street Station and a mansion in Southport in whose grounds donkeys and horses are kept?
The gunner girl, Clare Harvey.
Three women, one shared ambition: to join the ATS and do their bit for King and country.
The perfumer's secret, Fiona McIntosh.
On the eve of the First World War, Fleurette, the only daughter of the wealthy Delacroix perfume dynasty, is being forced to marry a man she loathes, Aimery De Lasset, head of the pre-eminent perfume manufacturer in France. It is only the cathedral bells tolling the rally to the frontlines that save her from sharing his bed. When she receives an unexpected letter from Aimery's estranged brother, Fleurette is left holding a terrible secret, and the sparks of a powerful passion. Her discoveries risk shattering the two families and their perfume empires, bringing tragedy down on them all.
The storm sister : Ally's story, Lucinda Riley.
Ally D'Apliese is about to compete in one of the world's most perilous yacht races, when she hears the news of her adoptive father's sudden, mysterious death. Rushing back to meet her five sisters at their family home, she discovers that her father, an elusive billionaire affectionately known to his daughters as Pa Salt, has left each of them a tantalising clue to their true heritage.
Little girl lost, Val Wood.
Margriet grew up as a lonely child in the old town of Hull. Her adored father often travelled by sea to the Netherlands, leaving her with an unaffectionate mother and only her imagination of a little Dutch girl to keep her company. When tragedy strikes and her father's ship goes down in a storm, devastation ravages her tiny family.

Science Fiction

Made to kill, Adam Christopher.
Speculative noir fiction mixing SF and mystery. The first in his L.A. trilogy.
Star Wars Battlefront. Twilight company, Alexander Freed.
Features a squad of ordinary soldiers caught in the trenches of that galactic war, where the ideals of a free galaxy can seem light years away, where loyalty to one's squad is paramount, yet every skirmish, every confrontation, every life or death decision can bring you closer to that ultimate struggle between good and evil.
Chimera, Mira Grant.
The outbreak has spread, tearing apart the foundations of society, as implanted tapeworms have turned their human hosts into a seemingly mindless mob. Sal and her family are trapped between bad and worse, and must find a way to compromise between the two sides of their nature before the battle becomes large enough to destroy humanity, and everything that humanity has built including the chimera.
Solar express, L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
You can't militarize space. This one rule has led to decades of peaceful development of space programs worldwide. However, increasing resource scarcity and a changing climate on Earth's surface is causing some interested parties to militarize.
Green earth, Kim Stanley Robinson
The Arctic ice pack averaged thirty feet thick in midwinter when it was first measured in the 1950s. By the end of the century it was down to fifteen. One August the ice broke. The next year the breakup started in July. The third year it began in May. That was last year. Environmental SF thriller.
The rising, Ian Tregillis.
Second in the Alchemy War series.