Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
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Dominion by Jean Kwok
Rubi Morningtail has no memories from before the Annihilation that destroyed her home and forced her to migrate to the Silver Tyger Dominion. Making her way with her ribbon-dancing and a little singing magic, Rubi and her guardian Edith are barely getting by. When a raging battle tyger appears on her doorstep and Rubi wounds her, the metal mage Blake Axefire has Rubi thrown into the Bonding, where tygers bond with their riders and slaughter everyone else. Surprisingly, Rubi survives and is bonded with the tyger she once hurt. Now Rubi prepares with Blake’s elite group to join other Dominion warriors to reseal the Anchors that keep the demon realm closed. Escaping demons and rebel uprisings are the least of Rubi’s problems, because she must discover the truth about her past and her power, and figure out if the attraction she has for Blake is worth changing her future.
VERDICT Kwok (The Leftover Woman) launches a romantasy trilogy with an intricately crafted magic system and a romance that will keep readers clamoring for the next in the series. – Library Journal Review
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Hot Girls Murder Club: A Novel by Ashley Winstead
Ten years ago, when her younger sister Georgia was brutally murdered, and the Los Angeles police were unable to bring her killer to justice, Sage Scout realized if she wanted justice she would need to deliver it herself. Since then, Sage has become a famous singer/songwriter while simultaneously collecting a circle of friends, all equally talented and driven women, around her. The group soon earns the sobriquet “Hot Girl Murder Club” when, one after another, powerful individuals who have up until now evaded justice suddenly get their karmic comeuppance. However, what begins as a joke quickly becomes very real when LA Police Detective Grey Holloway charges Sage with murder. From this ingenious premise, Winstead (The Future Saints) fashions a wickedly clever novel that not only delivers all the jaw-dropping twists readers crave but also offers up a thoughtful exploration of the costs that can come from taking justice into one’s own hands.
VERDICT Written with a razor-sharp sense of humor and graced with a memorable cast of relatably messy characters, this sleekly plotted novel of suspense is simply superb. – Library Journal Review
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A Summer of Stars by Liana Cincotti
Fake relationship terms and conditions: do not fall in love. After a messy breakup, it feels like the entire world hates tennis superstar Luna Aldridge. With her reputation ruined and her career at risk, the only way to repair it is a PR stunt: fake-dating Hollywood’s golden boy, Kieran Alexander. There’s just one problem … Luna can’t stand him. For Kieran, the feeling is mutual. He’s about to lead a big-screen love story, but his dating history is jeopardizing the film’s success. His team believes the world needs to see him wildly in love. And who better than Luna, the person he loathes most?
Soon, Luna and Kieran spend the summer posing for cameras, sharing red carpets and flying around the world for the tennis circuit. But the more they pretend, the more they question if they can keep their hearts, and their careers, together. Especially with everyone watching …
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We Will See You Bleed: A Novel by Ron Currie
This prequel to The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne (2025) answers a lot of questions readers may have had about how the fictional character, Babs, a stalwart town supporter and grandmother, came to run a drug empire in the Little Canada neighborhood of Waterville, Maine (the neighborhood and town are real). Currie takes us back to 1984, when Babs was a struggling but strong young woman. Times are hard. A strike at the paper mill, the lifeblood of the small town, has been going on for more than a year (the strike is loosely based on the strike around this time in nearby Jay, Maine). Drug dealers and strikebreakers swoop in. The women, led by Babs, are the strong organizers against these forces. Currie often over-describes, and his use of second person singular for Babs’ thoughts and actions (for example, “And so you sat swatting bugs in the heat”) is a confusing and strained literary device. Nevertheless, this novel is a good character study and historical crime story for the patient reader. – Booklist Review
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The Wild Beneath: A Novel by Kelly Anderson
Annie MacLeod always knew she was different, growing up on a sailboat in the Pacific Northwest, navigating by stars and swimming with sea creatures alongside her parents and best friend Evan. But when a tsunami shatters her world, Annie is stranded on land and forced to confront how eccentric she is. In the wreckage, she rescues a wordless man named Walker, who emits a hum only she can hear.
Their connection is instant, electric. Walker’s touch gives Annie visions of the ocean’s hidden world, a life she’s never known but feels inexplicably drawn to. Yet even as she is pulled toward him, Evan—the steadfast love who has always been there—remains on dry land, offering the stability she may have to leave behind. Annie is torn between Evan’s grounding presence and Walker’s magnetic secrets. But then, Walker vanishes, along with the answers she needs about who she really is.
Six years later, Annie has left the sea and buried the past—until Walker’s otherworldly sound returns, pulling her back toward the ocean and the life she abandoned. The truth under the water is more ancient than she ever could have known, and Annie must confront a choice that will test her heart and determine her future.
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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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.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 