Melissa's Staff Picks

I'm a librarian at Southeast Regional Library, and these are some of my favorite reads! Feel free to email me at melissa.schultz@wakegov.com if you enjoyed one of these books!
 

Showing 1 - 20 of 58  There are a total of 208 valid entries on the list.

1. All my knotted-up life: a memoir

Book cover for "All my knotted-up life"
Star rating for All my knotted-up life
Author:
Moore, Beth, 1957-
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"Author, speaker, visionary, and founder of Living Proof Ministries Beth Moore has devoted her whole life to helping women across the globe come to know the transforming power of Jesus. An established writer of many acclaimed books and Bible studies for women on spiritual growth and personal development, Beth now unveils her own story"--

2. The almost legendary Morris sisters: a true story of family fiction

Book cover for "The almost legendary Morris sisters"
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Author:
Klam, Julie
Choose a Format
On Shelf
Cary Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
974.7 KLAM
East Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
974.7 KLAM
Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
974.7 KLAM
Description:
"Ever since she was young, Julie Klam has been fascinated by the Morris sisters, cousins of her grandmother. According to family lore, early in the 20th century the sisters' parents decided to move the family from Eastern Europe to Los Angeles so their father could become a movie director. On the way, their pregnant mother went into labor in St. Louis, where the baby was born and where their mother died. The father left the children in an orphanage...

3. The au pair

Book cover for "The au pair"
Star rating for The au pair
Author:
Rous, Emma
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Choose a Format
On Shelf
Athens Drive Community - Adult Fiction
ROUS
Cary Regional - Adult Fiction
ROUS
East Regional - Adult Fiction has 3
ROUS
Description:
"An addictive, highly commercial suspense novel featuring a grand estate, terrible secrets, and a young woman who bears witness to it all. If V.C. Andrews, Kate Morton, and Lexie Elliot had a love child, Emma Rous and THE AU PAIR would be it. Seraphine Mayes and her twin brother Danny were born in the middle of summer at their family's estate on the Norfolk coast. Within hours of their birth, their mother threw herself from the cliffs, the au pair...

4. Bleeding Heart Yard

Book cover for "Bleeding Heart Yard"
Star rating for Bleeding Heart Yard
Author:
Griffiths, Elly
Series:
Harbinder Kaur novels volume 3.
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"When Cassie Fitzgerald was at school in the late 1990s, she and her friends killed a fellow student. Almost twenty years later, Cassie is a happily married mother who loves her job--as a police officer. She closely guards the secret she has all but erased from her memory. One day her husband finally persuades her to go to a school reunion. Cassie catches up with her high-achieving old friends from the Manor Park School--among them two politicians,...

5. Brideshead revisited: the sacred and profane memories of Captain Charles Ryder

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Author:
Waugh, Evelyn, 1903-1966
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Choose a Format
On Shelf
Duraleigh Road - Adult Fiction
WAUGH
Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Fiction
WAUGH
Holly Springs Community - Adult Fiction
WAUGH
Description:
Captain Charles Ryder, stationed at Brideshead, recalls his boyhood associations with the odd but charming members of an English noble family.

6. The cartographers: a novel

Book cover for "The cartographers"
Star rating for The cartographers
Author:
Shepherd, Peng
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Choose a Format
On Shelf
Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Fiction has 5
SHEPHERD
Green Road Community - Adult Fiction
SHEPHERD
Holly Springs Community - Adult Fiction has 2
SHEPHERD
On Shelf
Cary Regional - Large Print
LP SHEPHERD
Eva H. Perry Regional - Large Print has 3
LP SHEPHERD
Holly Springs Community - Large Print
LP SHEPHERD
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection has 24
Description:
"What is the purpose of a map? Nell Young's whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell's personal hero. But she hasn't seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map. But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless...

7. Caste: the origins of our discontents

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Author:
Wilkerson, Isabel
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
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On Shelf
45 copies, 4 people are on the wait list.
Cary Regional - Adult Non-Fiction has 2
305.5 WILKE
Duraleigh Road - Adult Non-Fiction has 2
305.5 WILKE
Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Non-Fiction has 5
305.5 WILKE
Description:
"In this ... Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people's lives and behavior and the nation's fate....

8. Catch and kill: lies, spies, and a conspiracy to protect predators

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Author:
Farrow, Ronan, 1987-
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
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On Shelf
East Regional - Large Print Non-Fiction has 3
LP 362.88 FARRO
Eva H. Perry Regional - Large Print Non-Fiction
LP 362.88 FARRO
Fuquay-Varina Community - Large Print Non-Fiction
LP 362.88 FARRO
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection has 3
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection has 3
Description:
Now an HBO documentary series streaming on HBO Max. 
One of the Best Books of the Year  Time * NPR * Washington Post * Bloomberg News * Chicago Tribune * Chicago Public Library * Fortune * Los Angeles Times * E! News * The Telegraph * Apple * Library Journal  In...

9. Celine: a novel

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Author:
Heller, Peter, 1959-
Average Rating:
3 stars
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On Shelf
Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Fiction has 2
HELLER
Leesville Community - Adult Fiction
HELLER
Southeast Regional - Adult Fiction
HELLER
Description:
"From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars and The Painter, a luminous, spine-tingling novel of suspense--the story of Celine, an elegant, aristocratic private eye who specializes in reuniting families, trying to make amends for a loss in her own past"--

10. The Chilbury Ladies' Choir: a novel

Book cover for "The Chilbury Ladies' Choir"
Star rating for The Chilbury Ladies' Choir
Author:
Ryan, Jennifer (Jennifer L.)
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook
Description:
"Through letters and journals, [this novel] unfolds the struggles, affairs, deceptions, and triumphs of a village choir during World War II [in England]"--Dust jacket flap.

11. Comfort me with apples

Book cover for "Comfort me with apples"
Star rating for Comfort me with apples
Author:
Valente, Catherynne M., 1979-
Average Rating:
4 stars
Choose a Format
On Shelf
12 copies, 1 person is on the wait list.
Cary Regional - Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror has 3
VALENTE
Duraleigh Road - Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror
VALENTE
East Regional - Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror
VALENTE

12. Commonwealth: a novel

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Star rating for Commonwealth
Author:
Patchett, Ann
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
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On Shelf
Fuquay-Varina Community - Adult Fiction
PATCHETT
Morrisville Community - Adult Fiction
PATCHETT
Wake Forest Community - Adult Fiction
PATCHETT
Available Online
10 copies, 3 people are on the wait list.
Online OverDrive Collection has 10
Description:
"The acclaimed, bestselling author--winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize--tells the enthralling story of how an unexpected romantic encounter irrevocably changes two families' lives. One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating's christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny's mother, Beverly--thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining...

13. Counterfeit: a novel

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Author:
Chen, Kirstin, 1981-
Average Rating:
3.4 stars
Choose a Format
On Shelf
Athens Drive Community - Large Print
LP CHEN
Eva H. Perry Regional - Large Print
LP CHEN
Fuquay-Varina Community - Large Print
LP CHEN
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection has 32
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection has 4
Description:
Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home, she's built the perfect life. But beneath this facade, Ava's world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn't been used in years, and her toddler's tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point. Enter Winnie Fang, Ava's enigmatic college roommate from...

14. Death Comes to Pemberley

Book cover for "Death Comes to Pemberley"
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Author:
James, P. D.
Average Rating:
2.8 stars
Formats:
Book, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
A rare meeting of literary genius: P. D. James, long among the most admired mystery writers of our time, draws the characters of Jane Austens beloved novel Pride and Prejudice into a tale of murder and emotional mayhem. It is 1803, six years since Elizabeth and Darcy embarked on their life together at Pemberley, Darcys magnificent estate. Their peaceful, orderly world seems almost unassailable. Elizabeth has found her footing as the...

15. The dry

Book cover for "The dry"
Star rating for The dry
Author:
Harper, Jane (Jane Elizabeth)
Series:
Aaron Falk novels volume 1.
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Choose a Format
On Shelf
7 copies, 1 person is on the wait list.
Leesville Community - Large Print
LP HARPER
Southeast Regional - Large Print has 2
LP HARPER
Wake Forest Community - Large Print
LP HARPER
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection has 7
Description:
"A small town hides big secrets in The Dry. After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke's steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the...

16. Emma

Book cover for "Emma"
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Author:
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Choose a Format
On Shelf
Middlecreek Community - Large Print
LP AUSTEN
North Regional - Large Print
LP AUSTEN
Wake Forest Community - Large Print
LP AUSTEN
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection has 999999
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection has 2000003
Description:
Content with her life and not interested in marriage, Emma Woodhouse, a rich and beautiful heiress, causes complications with her matchmaking schemes.

17. Exiles

Book cover for "Exiles"
Star rating for Exiles
Author:
Harper, Jane (Jane Elizabeth)
Series:
Aaron Falk novels volume 3.
Average Rating:
4 stars
Choose a Format
On Shelf
Athens Drive Community - Mystery
HARPER
Cary Regional - Mystery
HARPER
East Regional - Mystery
HARPER
On Shelf
18 copies, 1 person is on the wait list.
Cary Regional - Large Print has 2
LP HARPER
Eva H. Perry Regional - Large Print
LP HARPER
Leesville Community - Large Print
LP HARPER
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection has 25
Description:
"At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her stroller, her mother vanishing into the crowds. A year on, Kim Gillespie's absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family. Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group...

18. Furious hours: murder, fraud, and the last trial of Harper Lee

Book cover for "Furious hours"
Star rating for Furious hours
Author:
Cep, Casey N.
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Choose a Format
On Shelf
Cary Regional - Adult Non-Fiction has 2
364.152 CEP
Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Non-Fiction has 2
364.152 CEP
Holly Springs Community - Adult Non-Fiction
364.152 CEP
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection has 3
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection
Description:
"The stunning true story of an Alabama serial killer, and the trial that obsessed the author of To Kill a Mockingbird in the years after the publication of her classic novel--a complicated and difficult time in her life that, until now, has been very little examined. Willie Maxwell was a Baptist reverend in Alabama; he also happened to be a serial killer. Between 1970 and 1977, his two wives and brother all died under suspicious circumstances -- each...

19. The gown: a novel of the royal wedding

Book cover for "The gown"
Star rating for The gown
Author:
Robson, Jennifer, 1970-
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Choose a Format
On Shelf
Cary Regional - Large Print
LP ROBSON
East Regional - Large Print
LP ROBSON
Oberlin Regional - Large Print
LP ROBSON
Available Online
Online OverDrive Collection has 10
Description:
London, 1947: Besieged by the harshest winter in living memory, burdened by onerous shortages and rationing, the people of postwar Britain are enduring lives of quiet desperation despite their nation's recent victory. Among them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge an unlikely friendship, but their nascent hopes for a brighter future are tested when they are chosen...

20. Grit: the power of passion and perseverance

Book cover for "Grit"
Star rating for Grit
Author:
Duckworth, Angela
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Choose a Format
On Shelf
13 copies, 1 person is on the wait list.
Eva H. Perry Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
158.1 DUCKW
Morrisville Community - Adult Non-Fiction
158.1 DUCKW
North Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
158.1 DUCKW
Description:
"In this must-read book for anyone striving to succeed, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth shows parents, educators, athletes, students, and business people--both seasoned and new--that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a focused persistence called "grit." Why do some people succeed and others fail? Sharing new insights from her landmark research on grit, MacArthur "genius" Angela Duckworth explains why talent is hardly...