Sparks fly when Laura Moriarty re-creates the socially uptight world of 1920s Kansas and teams Cora Carlisle, a straitlaced mother and wife of a successful Wichita lawyer, with Louise Brooks, the 15-year-old helmet-haired beauty who became the queen of silent films. With a comfortable mash-up of fact and fiction, The Chaperone explores themes of disconnected parents and children familiar to readers of Moriarty's previous novels (including While I'm Falling).

Cora is hired to accompany Louise as a chaperone in New York City--but hired more to convince Brooks's father to pay for the young dancer's trip than to rein in his irrepressible daughter's hedonistic impulses. As the unlikely couple rides the luxurious train from the Kansas prairie to Grand Central Terminal, Moriarty shifts her story's focus from the uninhibited Brooks to Cora, whose corseted Wichita propriety masks a latent passion that will bloom in the anonymity of New York. (Her marriage is one in name only, after she discovered her husband's homosexuality.) Although Cora and Brooks begin their trip a generation apart, Cora learns that "spending time with the young... can exasperate, of course, and frighten," but it "can also drag you... right up to the window of the future, and even push you through." For Cora, Louise Brooks's departure from Wichita to live among the cultural avant-garde becomes a kind of permission "to at least try to live as one wished, or as close to it as possible." --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.

With a track record of grill-themed books like Planet Barbecue!, one might be unsure what to expect of Steven Raichlen's first crack at a novel. However, he's crafted an exceptionally nuanced and fascinating read in Island Apart.

The setting, and the source of the novel's title, is Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts; the main characters are recovering cancer patient Claire and a mysterious figure known only as the Hermit (which might be another source for the title). These two injured souls begin a courtship based not on emotional connection, but on food. From fragrant hazelnut tortes to glistening lobsters thermidor and coconut hot pepper soup, foodies Claire and the Hermit try to outdo one another as they forge their bond. It is a pleasure to behold, although you might not want to start reading unless you have a fridge full of groceries--this book will inspire your inner chef.

Raichlen is well-versed in epicurean delights; as the two loners' relationship unfolds, cooking takes a central role. The riveting descriptions of how these gourmands gather ingredients from the woods, and their process of transforming basic staples into dazzling meals, nearly overshadows the captivating tale of how Claire draws the Hermit out of his shell. In addition, the cast of supporting characters, from a zany author who eats only sauerkraut to a rebellious biker with impeccable manners, serves to enrich the story in an amusingly memorable way. With a debut novel like Island Apart, Raichlen could consider shelving his barbecue tools for good. --Natalie Papailiou, author of blog MILF: Mother I'd Like to Friend

One might think, based on the title, that J.R. Angelella's debut novel, Zombie, is a tale of shambling undead devouring their way through a post-apocalyptic landscape. Well, it's not; rather, it's a story about the undead parts of our own lives, shut down by mass media consumption and cannibalistic social mores, and the bravery needed to strike a new path and lead a life of authenticity.

Jeremy Barker, a 14-year old who's just landed in the hellish environs of an all-boys Catholic high school, is a zombie movie fanatic who has developed rules for living from his obsessive viewing. He needs these defense mechanisms to deal with his pill-popping mom, who's left his dad (who, in turn, might be part of a crazy cult). Angelella's portrayal of the small injustices and everyday violence of high school life is pitch-perfect; he's also astute at capturing the fine line between romantic joy and overactive hormones when Jeremy meets a pretty drama club girl from a nearby school. As the story grows darker and Jeremy's dad ends up in a genuinely menacing place, the action is delivered in crisp, cinematic bursts.

Zombie, like so many of the movies that inspired it, is not for the faint of heart. It is violent and dark but ultimately has a benevolent message about the human capacity for survival--whether we are fighting the walking dead, weird cults or just the scary, sometimes dehumanizing halls of the local high school. --Donald Powell, freelance writer

Readers who loved Fifty Shades of Grey will want to continue their exploits in erotica with Bared to You, the first installment in a new trilogy by veteran romance author Sylvia Day.

Eva could live the high life if she chose, but instead shares an apartment with her jaded best friend, Cary, and is determined to make it to the top of the advertising world on her own merits. Privately, Eva struggles with a traumatic past and her paranoid mother's lack of boundaries. When gorgeous billionaire Gideon Cross steps into Eva's life, she initially resists his aggressive come-ons but cannot deny her lust for his stunning body. A no-strings arrangement quickly becomes a tangle of unstoppable need, but Gideon carries dark secrets to match Eva's own. The lovers must learn to trust each other or their own fractured psyches will tear their relationship apart.

Day writes indulgent fantasy at its most enjoyable, in a story populated by high-society beauties and rakes, all of them hiding dark passions and darker secrets behind their glittering facades. While elements of Bared to You bear superficial similarities to Fifty Shades of Grey, Day charts the course of her plot and her characters' development into different territory as Eva and Gideon try to build a lasting relationship despite the challenges caused by their mutual fear of emotional intimacy. Filled with catty socialite drama, dysfunctional personalities and deliciously explicit love scenes, Bared to You takes a sensual look at a darker side of love. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger, Infinite Reads

"So you got two hormonal teenage boys, a bloody murder, illegal doctorin', a business feud, a illegal immigrant situation, all of it circlin' around a relative you don't hardly even know, and tomorrow's your birthday. Well ain't you managed to step into a fine mess."

Thus Chrissy Shaw succinctly sums up A Bad Day for Mercy, the fourth book in Sophie Littlefield's Stella Hardesty series. Stella is back handling problems with her less-than-legal tactics and all the attitude and wit readers have come to expect, but this time she's dealing with family, namely her step-nephew. Pulling Stella out of Missouri enables Littlefield to introduce new characters who add a layer of complexity to an already divinely original member of the crime fiction world.

A Bad Day for Mercy speeds along at a nonstop pace. Littlefield brings the concept of the nesting Matryoshka dolls along with her new Russian characters: open up one event and find another mystery inside. The manner in which Littlefield places her mysteries one inside another makes figuring out the culprit a true challenge.

Littlefield has managed to keep this series fresh and original. New readers to the series will be able to enjoy A Bad Day for Mercy as much as the devoted series fan; just enough of Stella's background is explained for newcomers to understand her character without weighing down those who have been with the series from A Bad Day for Sorry. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts

Though The Neruda Case, the first novel by Chilean Roberto Ampuero to be translated into English, is breezily scented with the high Valparaiso air and its protagonist's genial manner, this glittering detective novel develops into a suspenseful resolution as the fictional mystery intertwines with the real-life events of Augusto Pinochet's brutal 1973 coup.

Cayetano Brulé, the hero of previous Ampuero novels, is a Cuban living in Miami who, as the novel begins, comes to Chile with his Chilean wife to work for the broad socialist goals of the recently elected Salvador Allende. He stumbles into a friendship with the Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda, a close ally (in real life as in this story) of Allende. Neruda hires Cayetano for a secret, personal mission: to find a former lover and ascertain if her 30-year-old daughter is the dying poet's progeny. The crumbs of the woman's trail lead Cayetano to Mexico, Cuba, Eastern Europe and Bolivia before bringing him back to Chile just as the Allende dream is dying amid the furor of impending militaristic terror. As Neruda's health declines and the dark days of Pinochet draw nearer, Cayetano's quest becomes maddeningly elusive, yet ever more imperative to the young detective as he becomes unmoored from everything except his duty to this great, and greatly flawed, man.

The Neruda Case, though ostensibly a mystery, manages also to humanize the legendary Neruda and give air to the international wound of Allende's murder. The English-speaking world would be well-served by more translations of Ampuero's work. --Cherie Ann Parker, freelance journalist and book critic

From picky eaters to thrill-seeking foodies, humans value food for more than mere sustenance and survival. In Taste Matters, John Prescott explores the motivations behind our food preferences, weaving together psychology, physiology, anthropology and the evolutionary history of the taste bud.

According to Prescott, the human emotional response to foods dictates what we eat, and this in turn is defined by cultural context and the complexity of individual flavor combinations. He invokes Pavlovian conditioning, nature versus nurture and Darwinian principles in his attempt to understand the fluidity of the human palate. Consider: the human tongue has up to 8,000 taste buds arranged in varying densities on the tongue; these physiological densities define how we handle the intensity of flavors, explain why some tolerate coffee or beer better than others and reveal how the smell of Roquefort cheese can induce disgust in the uninitiated. He also shows how contextual understanding and the smart pairing of flavor profiles (particularly sweet and salty) can overcome phobic reluctance to new foods.

Densely packed and scientific to its core, the first half of Prescott’s treatise can lapse into technical ramble as he ties together a cohesive explanation of how flavor, odor and taste interact. But when Prescott segues into the origins of molecular gastronomy, obesity and the hedonistic aspects of food, Taste Matters progresses past jargon and takes on a life of its own, teaching us how the separation of food for pleasure from food for survival can lead to a more healthy approach to eating and sensory fulfillment. --Nancy Powell, freelance writer

From birds to bumblebees to bison, Charles Finn (editor of High Desert Journal) exquisitely captures the minute details of chance encounters with a variety of animals, insects and birds. Wild Delicate Seconds encapsulates these accidental meetings in vivid, colorful prose that reads like poetry; Finn describes an owl poised "like a teardrop against the dark wall of forest" or a heron that resembles "a hunched stone, an oval of waiting." From the amusing antics of four flying squirrels that launch themselves into space ("square as kites they flew--stuntmen, stuntwomen, acrobats in a jungle gym world") to the serenity of trumpeter swans ("all curves and smoothness and grace... like a string of white pearls"), Finn causes time to stand still and forces the reader to pause in an otherwise hectic day.

Short, sweet and compassionate, the tiny details in these essays speak to the heart, bringing the peace, humility and serenity of the natural world to those who otherwise might not notice what Finn aptly describes. "Because of the unexpectedness of these meetings they held a special quality for me," he writes. "Always there was a timelessness, a residue of the sacred, and a lingering feeling that I was witnessing something spectacular. And I was." Readers will feel the same way after indulging in each of these brief reflections. --Lee E. Cart, freelance reviewer

Poetry can be a direct conduit to the most populist, universalist sentiments or reflective of our personal dreams and longings. Allan Peterson's Fragile Acts introduces us to a poet capable of changing from the personal and interior to the global and exterior in a single work, sometimes in a single line:

"A pinwheel in the heart spins off oxygen like sparks
people singing anthems try to cover with their hands.
A pure Indonesia under my pillow opens its markets
every night to music, caged birds bought to be released."

Fragile Acts takes chance after chance with rhythm and meter; poems begin and end in unexpected places yet never seem incomplete. Peterson addresses the shrinking of our world through technology but also pays heed to the splintering and cognitive dissonance resulting from the torrent of information hurtling into our heads:

"At night when stars fall on Alabama
water goes granular and steps back, dreams improve us
with their thick pastels, revisits in tints.
Maybe the astronauts called from their cloudless telephones
with news from Long Distance:
Romans invaded Arabia Felix, Columbus discovered Ohio."

It is from these shards of the modern world that Peterson arranges his poetry, mosaic-like, into bold and beautiful forms.

Peterson deserves a wide audience. He possesses great observational power, offering an unusual worldview that assimilates disparate strands of vision and event into art that is timeless. Kudos to the McSweeney's poetry series for championing Peterson's work--and for the wonderful physical beauty of this edition of Fragile Acts. --Donald Powell, freelance writer

Seth Grahame-Smith has made a name for himself with delightful re-imaginings of well-known stories and histories, including Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Unholy Night continues this trend, tackling the story of Christmas and the three kings who journeyed to visit a small babe lying in a manger. Or, rather, of the three escaped criminals disguised as noblemen who try to hide out in a manger that also happens to house Mary, Joseph and the recently born baby Jesus.

Grahame-Smith approaches the story through the perspective of one of the three visiting kings, Balthazar--a professional thief famous across the Roman Empire for his masterful deceits. When Balthazar escapes execution, with two other criminals in tow, he finds himself on the journey of a lifetime, in the company of a carpenter, a woman and a babe--with the entire Roman army on his heels. His fight to protect his travelling band is complicated by his agnostic views, his lack of religion and his tortured past.

Peter Berkrot's (77 Shadow Street) narration brings Grahame-Smith's already rich characters to life, from the spunky, opinionated Mary to the spiteful, bitter Balthazar, and though the three "kings" do not, in fact, smoke a rubber cigar, they do have their fare share of humorous exchanges, adventures and full-out battles. Unholy Night is an entertaining retelling of one of the most familiar stories in Western civilization. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm

As with her marvelous Bunny Days, Tao Nyeu uses a limited palette of lime green, cornflower blue and cantaloupe to convey a light mood and a hint of nostalgia as she explores the many shades of friendship.

Squid, with his green polka dots, sports a wool hat with a pom-pom. His best friend is blue-spotted Octopus, wearing a plaid cap. A quartet of brief tales charts the mostly ups and a few downs in their friendship. In the first story, "The Quarrel," Squid knits Octopus eight socks, only to hear Octopus insist that he wears mittens--but they reach a peaceful compromise after seeking out (and ignoring) the advice of Wise Old Turtle. Each has his talents. While Squid knits, Octopus paints, sculpts and photographs. After a dream in which he starred as "Super Squid," the fellow wakes up feeling ordinary--until Octopus reminds Squid of all the good things he does for his friends. Youngsters will enjoy knowing the true function of "The Hat" that "float[s] down from above," even as Octopus and his fellow sea creatures hazard erroneous guesses (flowerpot and soup bowl, among them; our favorite: a fish calling a spur a "can opener" and "pizza cutter"). Fun side conversations at Yum Yum's soup stand come to fruition a few pages later. The closer, "The Fortune Cookie," affirms the duo's friendship, through good fortune and bad.

There's plenty to pore over in these pages, and much fodder for discussion in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms about how to be a good friend. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness

What reader hasn't imagined herself into the pages of a much loved story? In the novel Between the Lines, Jodi Picoult (My Sister's Keeper) and daughter Samantha Van Leer deliver an interesting twist: this time, the prince wants out.

Fifteen-year-old Delilah is obsessed with a book. Not a cool romance novel or science fiction, but a fairy tale meant for little kids. Her mother is worried. So is her best friend, Jules. But Delilah feels a connection to this storybook prince: "The very first thing you learn about Oliver is that it's not easy growing up without a dad. It was as if the words had been taken straight out of my mouth." Plus, Prince Oliver is smart, cute and he knows how to kiss. Delilah reads the story over and over, until one day an illustration in the book changes. The next thing she knows, she's talking to Oliver and... he's talking back.

The engagingly written novel moves from the storybook itself (with full-color illustrations as chapter openers) to Oliver (his narrative appears in blue type) and to Delilah (hers is in green type). The alternating chapters portray the budding romance between Oliver and Delilah, and juxtapose the fairy tale with the turmoil of contemporary high school. Plenty of obstacles keep this unlikely pair apart, yet they persevere through adventures with mermaids, accidents with wizards and a visit to a real-world psychiatrist. It's a fun romp that fans of both fairy tales and teen romance will enjoy. --Lynn Becker, host of Book Talk, the monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI