Library patrons keep on reading! We shared some 5-star reviews in April and July submitted by readers like you as part of the 2022 Reading Challenge. Here are more of your top picks this year:

Title: “Before We Were Yours” by Lisa Wingate
Category: New York Times Bestseller, Historical fiction not set in WWII, Recommended by a Friend, Told from multiple perspectives
Review: This was a really good book. Even though it is a work of fiction, it incorporates a woman, Georgia Tann, and the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in the storytelling which were both monstrous, yet very real. Many kids were stolen from parents to be basically in concentration camp-like settings, where they were abused and molested, barely fed or clothed by Miss Tann and her Society. The children were sold to the highest bidders and the poverty-stricken biological parents could do nothing about it as they were either duped or conned out of their rights and the law enforcement and courts were in Miss Tann’s back pockets. It’s told every other chapter from Rill Foss’ point of view, one child that is taken into Miss Tann’s possession in addition to her other 4 siblings, between a current storyline that is about a woman named Avery who is finding a secret past that her grandmother has kept from the rest of the family and that she is unraveling and somehow connects with Rill and Avery’s point of view.

Title: “Grown” by Tiffany D. Jackson
Category: New York Times Bestseller
Review: Could not put this book down! Read this book in a little more than a day! Such a good read. Enchanted is a lovable character and you want only the best for her, and you just keep hoping it gets better for her. Tiffany D. Jackson shows the danger of young artists and the power of groomers and abusers. I’ve never had a book where I’ve gasped out loud several times.

Title: “William Still and His Freedom Stories“ by Don Tate
Category: Title with Five or More Words
Review:  This children’s book is on the William Allen White list for 2022-23 for grades 3-5. It’s well-written nonfiction about the underground railroad.

Title: “Before We Disappear“ by Shaun David Hutchinson
Category: Middle-grade or Young adult novel, A mystery where the victim(s) is not a woman, Historical fiction not set in WWII, Told from multiple perspectives
Review: I absolutely loved this book. The book has magic mixed with fantasy elements but it is set in the real historical 1909 Seattle’s World’s fair. It has romance, and action and suspense. I didn’t know how Wilhelm would escape his captor. He was such a giving and caring soul; I just didn’t want him to be hurt anymore. Yet Teddy who kidnapped Wilhelm when he was just 4 for his gift, always seemed to have the upper hand. Then, there is Jack. He loves to pickpockets and he loves to figure out other magicians’ magic tricks or steal them if he must for his mistress, a woman who took him in when he was 6 or 7, starving on the streets, and taught him how to pick pockets and do cons and is a great magician called the Enchantress. When Jack can’t figure out Wilhelm’s magic trick, that proves very dangerous for Wilhelm, but as they get to know each other more it also might be worth every risk. It’s a very well-written book.

Title: “Ghost Town” by Phoebe Rivers
Category: Middle-grade or Young adult novel
Review: This book is from the Saranormal series of books and is excellent. It is a compelling story told from the view of a young girl with the ability to see spirits. The girls’ friends and parents do not know she has this ability. The story begins when the girl and her father relocate to an older town and move into a old house with spirits. This book talks about how she deals with her ability socially, mentally and how she grows as she understands how to maneuver life with her secret.

Title: “The Down and Dirty Guide For Camping With Kids” by Helen Olsson
Category: Recommended by a Friend
Review: I love camping and I learned so many things that I can’t wait to use them.

Title: “The Girl in His Shadow“ by Audrey Blake
Category: Recommended by a Friend
Review: This historical fiction from the late eighteenth, early nineteenth centuries tells about women in the medical field.

Title: “All the Stars and Teeth“ by Adalyn Grace
Category: Middle-grade or Young adult novel, Title with Five or More Words
Review: I love fantasy books, especially with magic. This one had several different types of magic and a whole invented world and kingdom. The main character is a rogue princess on the run joining forces with a mermaid and a pirate to figure out the true nature of her magic and to try to save her kingdom and her own fate. She has been lied to and kept on her island all her life in order to never discover the truth behind her royal lineage and power or to not discover it. I look forward to reading the second and I think final book. I highly recommend it.