Lima Public Library Book Reviews

FICTION

Most All of You by Mia Sheridan

Crystal learned long ago that love brings only pain. Feeling nothing at all is far better than being hurt again. She guards her wounded heart behind a hard exterior and carries within her a deep mistrust of men, who, in her experience, have only ever used and taken. Then Gabriel Dalton walks into her life. Despite the terrible darkness of his past, there’s an undeniable goodness in him. And even though she knows the cost, Crystal finds herself drawn to Gabriel. His quiet strength is wearing down her defenses and his gentle patience is causing her to question everything she thought she knew. Crystal and Gabriel never imagined that the world, which had stolen everything from them, would bring them a deep love like this.

The Hidden Storyteller by Mandy Robotham

Hamburg, 1946. The war is over, and Germany is in ruins. Posted to an Allied-run Hamburg, reporter Georgie Young returns to the country she fled seven years prior – at the onset of the conflict – to find it unrecognizable. Among the stark horrors of a bombed-out city crumbling under the weight of millions of displaced souls, she discovers pockets of warmth: a violinist playing amidst the wreckage, couples dancing in the streets, and a nation trying to make amends. Joining forces with local detective Harri Schroder to catch a killer targeting women on the city’s streets, curiosity draws Georgie deep into the dark underbelly, and she soon discovers that some secrets of war did not die with Hitler.

Drowning by T.J. Newman

Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean. During the evacuation, an engine explodes, and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors — but it’s too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with 12 passengers trapped inside. More than 200 feet below the surface, engineer Will Kent and his 11-year-old daughter Shannon are waist-deep in water and fighting for their lives. There’s not much time. There’s even less air. With devastating emotional power and heart-stopping suspense, Drowning is an unforgettable thriller about a family’s desperate fight to save themselves and the people trapped with them — against impossible odds.

Tom Clancy Shadow State: A Jack Ryan Jr. Novel by M.P. Woodward

The vibrant economy of the new Vietnam is a shiny lure for Western capital. Companies are racing to uncover ideal opportunities. Hendley Associates has sent their best analyst, Jack Ryan, Jr., to mine for investment gold. And he may have found some in a rare earth mining company — GeoTech. But a trip with a Hendley colleague to the Highlands to observe the company’s operations takes a treacherous turn when their helicopter is shot down. Some things haven’t changed, and Vietnam is still the plaything of powerful neighbors. The Chinese are determined to keep Jack from finding the truth about what exactly is being processed at the isolated factory. He’ll get no help from the government, because in the jungle, it’s the shadow state that rules.

NONFICTION

Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success they Deserve by Alison Fragale

Over decades of research, speaking engagements, and mentorship, psychologist and professor Alison Fragale encountered recurring questions from high powered and early career women alike: How do women thread the needle of kindness and competence in the workplace? How can women earn credit for their accomplishments and navigate complex office politics without losing the goodwill of their peers? Fragale investigated and determined that many women’s workplace issues boil down to what psychologists call status: the perception of them by others. No amount of power will raise a woman’s workplace stature unless it also affects how others see her. Fragale pulls back the curtain on how we can change how others see us by developing our standing as a “likeable badass.”

The Titans of the Twentieth Century: How They Made History and the History They Made by Michael Mandelbaum

An engaging and original historical portrait of eight of the most influential political figures of the 20th century: Woodrow Wilson, Lenin, Hitler, Churchill, FDR, Gandhi, David Ben-Gurion, and Mao. The Titans of the Twentieth Century addresses an age-old question: what is the impact of individuals on history? The first half of the 20th century offered political leaders enormous scope for changing the world. This book consists of essays about eight who, for better and for worse, did just that. Individually, each chapter offers fresh and often surprising portraits of the 20th century’s titans. Collectively, the essays present a vivid and revealing portrait of a turbulent half-century that shaped the world of today.

The Anti-Globalist Manifesto: Ending the War on Humanity by Dr. Jerome R. Corsi

Corsi addresses the planned “One World Government” takeover aimed at establishing an atheistic utopia that will have no respect for traditional human rights. The Malthusian elite is waging a war on humanity that embraces global depopulation as a means of preventing Earth’s abundant natural resources for themselves. Tracing this dystopian nightmare back to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 23, 1963, as the day the deep state went rogue in a conspiracy to affect a coup d’état that would allow the military industrial complex to go to war in Vietnam. The deep state has created an ongoing Truman Show — a series of neverending psychological operations designed to induce citizens worldwide to surrender freedoms to government in return for security.

Rebellion: How Antiliberalism is Tearing America Apart — Again by Robert Kagan

The 2024 election could be the last free election held in a unified America. So warns Robert Kagan in this brilliant and terrifying analysis of the perilous state of democracy in the United States today. If Donald Trump loses the upcoming election, as he did in 2020, but refuses to accept the result, as he also did in the last election, he is likely to call on his millions of followers to repudiate the election results. In Rebellion, Kagan dives deeper than the op-eds and think pieces to explore the historical forces that have brought us to this moment — in particular, the long history of opposition to liberalism, and to government, that has shaped America’s character from the time of the Revolution to today.

CHILDREN’S

A is for Axolotl by Catherine Macorol

Explore unique creatures of the continents from A-Z in this educational rhyming story. Swim with the Dumbo Octopus, hunt with the Fossa, and jump with the Jerboa. Readers both young and old will learn more about unusual and endangered species that live on Earth.

Ages 4-8

LIBRARY OPEN

Lima Public Library is open to the public six days a week. Hours for the Main Library in Lima are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Our Cairo, Elida and Spencerville branch libraries are open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Our Lafayette branch is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.