Huntington Public Library Adult Reading Challenge

  Beautifully written. An engrossing retelling of the Russian folktale Snegurochka set in Alaska. The winter is rendered as a character alongside Mabel, her husband, and her snow child. I am not an enormous fan of the ending but that is partially because of my knowledge of Slavic folklore - I suppose that those coming in fresher would not have the annoyed reaction I did to the choices Ivey made. Regardless, this is a nice summer read when you want something snowy!

  Life is complex. We are all human. What is the price of achieving the "American Dream"? The reader follows the story of a new arrival from Haiti. She was supposed to arrive with her mother to live with her family in Detroit. Instead, mother and daughter are separated at a U.S. airport and Fabiola has to come alone. She has to learn how to navigate through her new life. Technically, this is a young adult novel, but it feels like an adult one. There are a lot of layers here that touch on many of the things we hold close us- faith, loyalty, family, power, choices and consequences. A great novel full of emotion. *Contains complex adult situations and language

Emily, I love you but you really lost me with this one. I'm still confused by the ending and I've been processing it for a day already. I liked the thought, and I really wanted to like this book. I was just so confused with where you were going with this. You definitely made a good switch going to romance and you should keep with that.  

  How do you measure one's life? By it's length, accomplishments, love, family? This one stuck with me long after I finished it. One part dystopian, one part sci-fi, one part love story, this book had me crying and smiling with rich characters that you will route for and left me pensive and hopeful. One day everyone on earth gets a box with their name on it, and inside is a piece of string. It is soon discovered that the length of the string directly coincides with how long you will live. Chaos ensues, political battles are waged, personal struggles occur, and it culminates with an unforgettable ending. One of my favorite reads this year.

  After a tragic accident killing the hero's husband and small son, she goes on a bus who-knows-where and ends up in a tiny town (in Guatemala) where a hotel needs so mush repair and renovation. The owner conveniently dies, leaving the gardens and hotel to our hero. How she copes with bureaucracy, little money, good and bad local people makes this quite a good read. It helps very much to have been to Lake Atitlan, in Guatemala. Volcanos and all.

  I admire Karen Russell's vivid and unexpected story of three Florida teens trying to save their family's alligator wrestling theme park, while the trio also grieve their legendary mother. This novel was slower paced than Russell's short story collections, but it was still a great read.

  This novel had a very interesting story: one day, every adult around the globe receives a box containing a string that indicate the length of their life. I enjoyed the tale, though I wasn't so impressed with the actual writing style.