The Front Porch prints book reviews by Denver Public librarians in Northeast Denver, rotating to a different library each month. This month, reviews are by Kristi Harder and Kelly Wright from the Sam Gary Branch.

Adult fiction:

Missing You by Harlen Coben Someone is using dating sites to lure new victims, steal their money and make them disappear. A great cautionary tale? Nah. I usually like Coben’s work but this just feels phoned in and done to death. A better bet? Coben’s Myron Bolitar mysteries.

Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman This book asks the question, is it worse to be ugly on the outside or the inside? Coralie spends her life answering that question, and looking for real love in turn-of-the-century America where her father opens a museum full of freaks and manufactured creatures. He’s a conman who horribly mis-uses her in his financial schemes. Then she sees Eddie, a man who shuns his own religious past to recreate himself, and falls in love, but is it that easy to escape your past? Alice Hoffman at her best.

Children’s fiction:

Thickety: a path begins by J. A. White Kara lives in the fold where magic is forbidden. Her mother was hanged as a witch and she is living under a cloud of suspicion too. Shunned, her family is barely surviving. Their community is surrounded by fast-growing poisonous weeds and a forest where all who enter disappear. Kara is compelled into Thickety to dig up a magic book that belonged to her mother. Is it controlled by an evil presence that’s controlling her? What’s the truth about her mother? Great word building. I can’t wait to read book 2.

Young adult fiction:

Noggin by John Corey Whaley Travis is a medical miracle. He was dying of cancer and decided to sign up for a risky experiment—he had his head chopped off, frozen and shipped to a hospital in Denver, Colo. Five years later it is attached to another boy’s body and now Travis is alive again. He is still 16 and living at his parent’s, but everything has changed. His best friend and girlfriend are now in college, and all Travis wants to do is get his old life back. Can he get used to his new life?

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins Harper is a typical Southern Belle who is looking forward to getting crowned at her homecoming dance. Something happens at the dance and she suddenly has amazing abilities that change her life forever. She becomes a Paladin, an ancient guardian who has super strength and reflexes. She finds out that she must protect her arch nemesis, David, a reporter for the school paper. Can she save the Earth? And can she adjust to having super powers and putting up with her least favorite person? This is a great book for those who like their action with a dose of humor.