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Reviews

Library Lines

September 19 2025

New Fiction

To The Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage – Steph Harper is on the run. She has been all her life, ever since her mother drove five-year-old Steph and her younger sister through the night to Cherokee Nation, a place they had never been, but where she hoped they might finally belong. In response to the turmoil, Steph sets her sights as far away from Oklahoma as she can get, vowing that she will let nothing get in the way of pursuing the rigorous physical and academic training she knows she will need to be accepted by NASA, and ultimately, to go to the moon. Spanning three decades and several continents, Steph’s turbulent journey, along with the multifaceted and intertwined lives of the three women closest to her: her sister Kayla, an artist who goes on to become an Indigenous social media influencer, and whose determination to appear good takes her life to unexpected places; Steph’s college girlfriend Della Owens, who strives to reclaim her identity as an adult after being removed from her Cherokee family through a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act; and Hannah, Steph and Kayla’s mother, who has held up her family’s tribal history as a beacon of inspiration to her children, all the while keeping her own past a secret.

Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham – Twenty-two years ago, Claire Campbell’s older sister, Natalie, disappeared shortly after her eighteenth birthday. Days later, her blood was found in a car, a man was arrested, and the case was swiftly closed. In the decades since, Claire has attempted to forget her traumatic past by moving to the city and climbing the ranks as an investigative journalist... until an unexpected call from her father forces her to come back home and face it all anew. With the entire summer now looming ahead―a summer spent with nothing to do in her childhood home, with her estranged mother―Claire decides on a whim to accept a seasonal job at Galloway Farm, a muscadine vineyard in coastal South Carolina less than an hour away from where she grew up. At first glance, Galloway is an idyllic escape for Claire. A scenic retreat full of slow-paced nostalgia, as well as a place where her sister seemed truly happy in that last summer before she vanished, it feels like the perfect plan to pass the time. However, as soon as Claire starts to settle in, she stumbles across an old diary written by one of the vineyard's owners, and what at first seems like a story of young rebellion and love turns into something much more sinister as it begins to describe details of various unsolved crimes. As the days stretch on, Claire finds herself becoming more and more secluded as she starts to obsess over the diary's contents… as well as the lingering feeling that her own sister's disappearance may be somehow tied to it all.

Last Seen by J.T. Ellison -Halley James knows her marriage is over.  But she’s not prepared for the rest of her life to fall apart too.  She just lost her job at the forensics lab.  Her dad needs emergency surgery.  But the biggest blow comes back home in Marchburg, Virginia, where she discovers her mother didn’t actually die in a car crash.  Her mom was murdered – and her father lied about it all these years.  Since she was six years old, it’s been Halley and her dad.  Now, she doesn’t know what to believe.  Desperate for the truth, Halley chases down a lead in Brockville, Tennessee.  But all there is not as it seems.  Brockville’s utopian charm hides a chilling darkness.  And Halley’s search for answers threatens to expose an unspeakable reality.

A Killer Motive by Hannah Mary McKinnon – To Stella Dixon, sneaking her teenage brother out of their parents’ house for a beach party was harmless fun – until Max disappeared without a trace.  Six years later, Stella’s family is still broken, and she can’t let go of her guilt.  The only thing that keeps her going is helping other families find closure through A Killer Motive, her true crime podcast.  In a bid to find new sponsors and keep making episodes, Stella goes on a local radio show.  But when she says on air that if she had just one clue, she’d find Max and bring whoever hurt him to justice, someone takes it as a challenge.  A mysterious invitation to play a game arrives, with the promise that if Stella wins, she’ll get information about what happened to Max.  Stella thinks it’s a sick joke…until Max’s best friend vanishes.  And she’s given new instructions: tell nobody or people will die.  Desperate and unable to trust anyone, Stella agrees.  But beating a twisted, invisible enemy seems impossible when they make all the rules.

Krista Law