Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
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Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham
Once again, Willingham (Only If You’re Lucky) delivers a gripping thriller packed with twists that will keep readers on edge until the final page. It’s been 15 years since Claire returned home to South Carolina, a place haunted by the disappearance of her older sister Natalie at age 18. Having been called back to her hometown by her father, Claire gravitates to nearby Galloway Farm, where Natalie spent time before she disappeared. Hoping to escape her estranged mother and feel closer to her sister, Claire takes a job at the farm and moves into its guest cabin, where she discovers an old journal belonging to one of the farm’s owners. The diary recounts a story of young love that soon takes on more sinister form. It also hints at unsolved crimes that lead Claire to investigate Natalie’s ties to the farm. When she uncovers evidence of another woman’s disappearance, Claire begins to wonder if these are more than coincidences–and if she’s getting too close to the truth.
VERDICT Fans of Sally Hepworth and Kate Alice Marshall will enjoy the novel’s Southern heat, slow-burning tension, and suspense.- Library Journal
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Knife In The Back by Karen Rose
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Rose comes another “intense, complex, and unforgettable”* novel.
Officer Naomi Cranston was framed for stealing cocaine from the evidence locker and coerced—through threats to her young son—into not fighting the charges. After five years in prison, she has tried to put the ordeal behind her, but the crooks who framed her have returned, this time demanding she move drugs along with her flower shop’s deliveries. They threaten her son once again, but this time she’s not capitulating quietly. She hires Broussard Investigations to protect her and her son, to prove her innocence, and to put the real bad guys away.
As a former cop, Burke Broussard is well aware of the corruption in the New Orleans police department. He had always believed Naomi Cranston to be guilty and isn’t inclined to take her case. Until he sits down to listen to her side of things. Until he sees her tortured innocence written all over her beautiful face…
Reader’s Note: Knife in the Back is the fourth book in the New Orleans series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning, check out book one: Quarter to Midnight.
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Many Voices: Building Erie, the Canal That Changed America by Laurie Lawlor
“The Nation’s First Superhighway” existed before the spread of cars… or even railroads! This immersive photo book ferries readers through the past and present of the Erie Canal, from impossible idea to groundbreaking reality.
In the twenty-first century, it’s hard to imagine a canal as cutting-edge technology. Yet even to the most scientifically-minded, the Erie Canal once seemed an unachievable dream. Thomas Jefferson himself called it “nothing short of madness;” one critic felt sure it was impossible as “building a canal to the moon.” Yet with eight years and nearly $185 million dollars in today’s currency, the Erie Canal opened in 1825 to celebratory cannon fire: an innovating—and enduring—marvel of engineering.
But as the Canal shaped the flow of American history, the sociopolitical impact reached much further than its shores. A largely untold tale of creativity and cowardice, sacrifice and greed, heroism and prejudice, the Erie Canal’s story is as complex and compelling as that of America itself.
Award-winning nonfiction author Laurie Lawlor captures the landmark achievements of the Erie Canal while diving deep into corporate greed, environmental devastation, poor working conditions, and its impact on the Haudenosaunee people. Pairing rich back matter (including maps, source notes, an index, bibliography, glossary, and timeline) with attention grabbing photographs, accomplished STEAM storyteller Laurie Lawlor connects the Erie Canal’s past and present to plumb the depths of unexplored American history.
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That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White
As a child, Phoebe Manigault developed the gift of premonition after she was struck by lightning in the creek near her Charleston home. Plagued throughout her life by mysterious dreams, and always living in the shadow of her beautiful sister, Addie, Phoebe eventually moves to the West Coast, as far from her family as possible. Now, years later, she is summoned back to South Carolina, to help Addie care for their ailing mother.
As Phoebe’s return lures her back into deep-rooted tensions and conflicts, she is drawn to Celeste, whose granddaughter went missing years ago. Their connection brings comfort to Phoebe, while Celeste’s adult grandson Liam resurrects complicated emotions tied to Phoebe’s past.
But the longer Phoebe spends in her childhood home, the more her recurring nightmares intensify—bringing her closer to the shocking truth that will irrevocably change everything. Unfolding against the lush backdrop of the South Carolina Lowcountry, That Last Carolina Summer is an unforgettable story about the unbreakable bonds of family and the gift of second chances.
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Tomlinson’s Wake by Randy Wayne White
Doc Ford returns for a perilous journey into Mesoamerica after a world-shattering earthquake threatens his family’s safety—and all of their lives
In the wake of a killer hurricane, Doc Ford heads to Honduras, where his best friend, Tomlinson, crashed his beloved sailboat into a reef off the Mosquito Coast. Tomlinson swears he died in the shipwreck and was brought back to life by a runaway orphan—the direct descendant of the last king of the ancient Mayan people.
Corrupt politicians want the child out of the picture before he catalyzes a revolution among the Indigenous population. But the boy, a charismatic twelve-year-old, has gone underground with the help of Tomlinson and a network of street urchins. They’re all on the run and in the crosshairs when Ford arrives and picks up his friend’s trail.
The Marina family has already suffered the death of one key member, and Ford is determined not to burden his homeless friends with yet another funeral wake. What no one is prepared for, however, is a cataclysmic earthquake that hits the area with the impact of a meteor that nearly destroyed all life on earth more than sixty million years ago.
Reader’s Note: Tomlinson’s Wake is the twenty-eight book in the Doc Ford Series. If you’d like to binge read from the beginning, check out book one: Sanibel Flats.
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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Information on the four library catalogs
The Digital Catalog aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
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Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
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Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
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StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
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Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
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Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

















