shrouded skeleton statue

Daryl M.

Librarian


Posts by Daryl M.

  • Maggie Tokuda-Hall and her debut novel, The Mermaid, The Witch and The Sea

    Interview With an Author: Maggie Tokuda-Hall

    Maggie Tokuda-Hall is the author of the Parent's Choice Gold Medal-winning picture book, Also an Octopus, illustrated by Benji Davies. She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, son, and…

  • Author Rebecca Serle and her latest novel, In Five Years

    Interview With an Author: Rebecca Serle

    Rebecca Serle is an author and television writer who lives in Los Angeles. Serle co-developed the hit TV adaptation of her YA series Famous in Love, and is also the author of The Dinner List, and YA…

  • Books by authors that were influenced by Octavia Butler

    Octavia’s Influence

    This month is not only the first anniversary of the Octavia Lab at the Central Library, a do-it-yourself studio space, but also Octavia E. Butler’s birthday on June 22. During this time we are…

  • Author Celia Laskey and first book Under the Rainbow

    Interview With an Author: Celia Laskey

    Celia Laskey's work has appeared in Guernica, The Minnesota Review, and other places. She has an MFA from the University of New Mexico and was a finalist in Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New…

  • Author Annabeth Albert and her latest novel, Conventionally Yours

    Interview With an Author: Annabeth Albert

    When she’s not adding to her keeper shelf, Annabeth Albert is a multi-published Pacific Northwest romance writer. Her popular LGBTQ+ romances include several fan-favorite and critically acclaimed…

  • Author John Scalzi and his latest novel, The Last Emperox

    Interview With an Author: John Scalzi

    John Scalzi is a New York Times bestselling and award-winning speculative fiction author whose work has been translated into more than 20 languages. He has also worked as a creative consultant for the…

  • Author Marie Benedict with her latest novel, Lady Clementine

    Interview With an Author: Marie Benedict

    Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years’ experience as a litigator at two of the country’s premier law firms and for Fortune 500 companies. She is a LibraryReads Hall of Fame Recipient and…

  • Author Margarita Montimore with her debut novel, Oona Out of Order

    Interview With an Author: Margarita Montimore

    After receiving a BFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College, Margarita Montimore worked for over a decade in publishing and social media before deciding to focus on the writing dream full-time. Now…

  • Cynthia Hand and her latest novel, The How and The Why

    Interview With an Author: Cynthia Hand

    Cynthia Hand is the New York Times bestselling author of several books for teens, including the Unearthly trilogy, The Afterlife of Holly Chase, The Last Time We Say Goodbye, and My Lady Jane & My…

  • Peter Swanson and his latest book, Eight Perfect Murders

    Interview With an Author: Peter Swanson

    Peter Swanson is the author of six novels, including The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and Her Every Fear, an NPR…


Reviews by Daryl M.

  • Cover image for Camp Damascus

    Camp Damascus

    • By: Tingle, Chuck
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Rose Darling is a high school senior who has lived her entire life in the small town of Neverton, Montana. She’s also grown up attending Kingdom of the Pine church with her parents. Kingdom of the Pine is a smaller church, compared to some others, but it has an international...
  • Cover image for The Legend of Charlie Fish

    The Legend of Charlie Fish

    • By: Rountree, Josh
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Floyd Betts is a bit of a loner. He lives a solitary existence in Galveston, Texas. He works construction on local building projects and rents a room at Abigail Elder’s boarding house. It’s a quiet life, and Floyd likes it. But all of that is about to change.When Floyd returns...
  • Cover image for The London Séance Society

    The London Séance Society

    • By: Penner, Sarah
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Lenna Wickes, and her younger sister Evie, are very different people. Lenna is interested in the world and how it works. She has an interest in science, even though she knows that a young lady in Victorian London is not supposed to be interested in such things. Evie, on the...
  • Cover image for The celebrants : a novel

    The celebrants : a novel

    • By: Rowley, Steven, 1971-
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Two weeks before their college graduation, a group of friends, who have become family during their college experience, must attend the funeral of one of their own. Alec has died of an apparent drug overdose and it shakes them all, Craig, Jordan, Jordy, Marielle, and Naomi, to their cores. Alec’s...
  • Cover image for Final Cut

    Final Cut

    • By: McCown, Marjorie
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Joey Jessup is very good at her job. And it is a job that she really enjoys. Joey is a key costumer and over her career she has worked on almost every type of film, with a number of A-list actors and directors, along with some of the most talented...
  • Cover image for The Wishing Game

    The Wishing Game

    • By: Shaffer, Meg
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    How many of us have books, or series of books, that provided an escape for us as children and, because of that, we continue to love them as adults? How many of us longed to receive an owl-delivered letter from Hogwarts; find a secret entrance at the back of the...
  • Cover image for Our Hideous Progeny

    Our Hideous Progeny

    • By: Mcgill, C. E.
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley tells the tale of how Victor Frankenstein challenges the “natural order” and explores the secrets of life itself by creating a being made from the pieces of other men. But what if Victor had chosen another direction for his research? What if, instead of choosing to...
  • Cover image for Going Zero

    Going Zero

    • By: McCarten, Anthony
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    We all know that we are constantly being observed and monitored in today’s world. There are security and surveillance cameras on many homes, businesses, and on the traffic lights at intersections. ATMs and now self-check out machines in retail establishments also include cameras. Purchases, whether online or in a brick...
  • Cover image for The Lies of the Ajungo

    The Lies of the Ajungo

    • By: Utomi, Moses Ose
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    “There is no water in the City of Lies.”Tutu has lived all of his short life in the City of Lies with his mother. Located in the Forever Desert, the City of Lies used to have water. . .but the inhabitants were vanquished by the fierce Ajungo Empire which required...
  • Cover image for Hell Bent

    Hell Bent

    • By: Bardugo, Leigh
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    At the end of Ninth House, Galaxy “Alex” Stern solved the mystery of who killed Tara Hutchins and why, uncovering a conspiracy that involved some of the highest offices of Yale University and several of their “secret societies.” At the end of the novel, Darlington, Alex’s advisor in Lethe, the “ninth...