Swirling Tides

Premise: Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why -- or even who Tobias Hawthorne is. To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch -- and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caug...

Premise:   The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it. But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth? Review:      5 years prior, Andie Bell was (allegedly) murdered by Sal Singh, who then (allegedly) committed suicide. And no one doubted that he was guilty… except Pippa Fitz-Amobi, a high school senior, who never quite believed the police’s version of events. So when she has to do a final senior project, she jumps at the excuse to re-investigate the murder case which rocked her small town years ago. But when new information is unearthed, Pip digs deeper into the live...

Premise:  When a guy named Martin Nathaniel Munroe II texts you, it should be obvious who you're talking to. Except there's two of them (it's a long story), and Haley thinks she's talking to the one she doesn't hate. A question about a class project rapidly evolves into an all-consuming conversation. Haley finds that Martin is actually willing to listen to her weird facts and unusual obsessions, and Martin feels like Haley is the first person to really see who he is. Haley and Martin might be too awkward to hang out in real life, but over text, they're becoming addicted to each other. There's just one problem: Haley doesn't know who Martin is. And Martin doesn't know that Haley doesn't know. But they better figure it out fast before their meet-cute becomes an epic meet-disaster . . .

Premise: A hitched ride home in a snow storm turns sinister when one of the passengers is plotting for the ride to end in disaster. When Mira flies home to spend Christmas with her mother in Pittsburgh, a record-breaking blizzard results in a cancelled layover. Desperate to get to her grief-ridden mother in the wake of a family death, Mira hitches a ride with a group of friendly college kids who were on her initial flight. As the drive progresses and weather conditions become more treacherous, Mira realizes that the four other passengers she's stuck in the car with don't actually know one another. Soon, they're not just dealing with heavy snowfall and ice-slick roads, but the fact that somebody will stop at nothing to ensure their trip ends in a deadly disaster. Page-turning and Twisty With Christmas approaching, Mira wants to make it home to her mother for the holidays. On the airplane ride, she meets Harper, the person in the seat next to her. When they reach the airpor...

Premise: Five-year-old Heidi goes to live with her grandfather in his lonely hut high in the Alps. She quickly learns to love her new life with him. But her strict aunt decides that Heidi must be sent away again, to live in town. Heidi cannot bear being away from the mountains and is determined to return to the happiness of life with her grandfather. Picturesque and Classical This book begins with a little Swiss girl, five-year-old Heidi who is sent by her aunt after her parents pass away, to live with her estranged grandfather who lives in an isolated hut high in the Alps, away from the rest of the village. His troubled past and his grief over his son’s death makes him reclusive but Heidi immediately loves her carefree life in the mountains with her grandfather, and he comes to like her too. So they are both upset when Heidi’s aunt takes her away and sends her to live with a rich family she had worked for, in a city.  My favorite part of the book was when Heidi gets back to the ...

Premise: Twelve-year-old Crow has lived her entire life on a tiny, isolated piece of the starkly beautiful Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. Abandoned and set adrift on a small boat when she was just hours old, Crow's only companions are Osh, the man who rescued and raised her, and Miss Maggie, their fierce and affectionate neighbor across the sandbar. Crow has always been curious about the world around her, but it isn't until the night a mysterious fire appears across the water that the unspoken question of her own history forms in her heart. Soon, a chain of events is triggered, leading Crow down a path of discovery and danger. Vivid and Heart-wrenching This story takes place in the Elizabeth Islands in the 1920s. Crow, a twelve-year-old girl, has always lived on a small island off of Cuttyhunk. She was abandoned and set adrift in a small boat as a newborn. She was raised by a man named Osh, who rescued her, and their neighbor, Miss Maggie, and Crow doesn’t know anything ...

Premise:  Some facts about Billy Dickens: * He once saw a biker swerve across the road in order to run over a snake. * Later, that motorcycle somehow ended up at the bottom of a canal. * Billy isn't the type to let things go. Some facts about Billy's family: * They've lived in six different Florida towns because Billy's mom always insists on getting a house near a bald eagle nest. * Billy's older sister is dating a jerk. It's a mystery. * Billy's dad left when he was four, and Billy knows almost nothing about him. * Billy has just found his dad's address--in Montana. This summer, Billy will fly across the country, hike a mountain, float a river, dodge a grizzly bear, shoot down a spy drone, save a neighbor's cat, save an endangered panther, and then try to save his own father.   Crazy and Intriguing      This humorous book will be impossible to put down, already talking about the main character’s fascination for squirming snakes on the first page. Us...