Hello Harry.

Well, it's here.

Let me first say, I LOVE Harry Potter. It is the ONLY book that I have EVER waited on the front step of my house for. The Harry Potter books have been like some strange drug that took over my mind and I lived, ate, slept and breathed everything Hogwarts. 

Funny story, I originally got the Sorcerer's Stone some time after it came out. I believe The Prisoner of Azkaban was due to be out when I picked up my first Harry book. I had been hearing SO much about these books that I crumbled and grabbed a paperback. I was so embarrassed buying a "children's book". Up until then, all I read were romances (*please don't groan*). They were historical romances and weren't that bad. Anyway, I read the Sorcerer's Stone in a day and was back at the bookstore for another fix and didn't care that they knew that I was the one the book was bought for!!! I needed it and came to a huge, brick wall when I realized that the 3rd was not out yet. So I did what I could...I replaced both of my paperbacks with hard covers and put in an order for The Prisoner  of Azkaban and waited patiently...okay fine! I waited.

With that being said, I made my peace with Harry in the last book. I'm not sure I'm ready to open up that door again. I'm not sure if this book is good enough to go back to Hogwarts for. I don't have a copy and I haven't read anything but reviews and they are very mixed.

First, J. K. Rowling didn't write it. It clearly states on the cover..."based on an original new story by J. K. Rowling". Right there you know it's going to be different. Different isn't always bad so given it a chance! Second, it's a play. Plays aren't bad, but they can be difficult to read and they can leave out a lot of detail that really brings in readers. I'm not sure if I'll get a copy of this one. Maybe I will, just to have it, but I'm not sure if I'd call this number 8.

To J. K. Rowling,

Harry needs to live his own life and we all made our peace at the end of Deathly Hallows. It was an emotional moment for me. I cried. I laughed. I did all of this in a car on the way to Myrtle Beach, SC. The kids and my husband thought I was a lunatic. I didn't care. I think I can speak for the other Harry fans though when I say, we LOVE the magical world you have created. Although Harry's story may have ended, maybe there are other stories waiting to be told. Maybe about other characters or another newbie. We're ready for a new adventure as soon as you are ready to write it!

Love, T

The Memory Jar

The Memory Jar

By Elissa Janine Hoole

Since the accident, Taylor’s memory has been fuzzy. But at least she’s awake. Who knows what her boyfriend, Scott, will remember when he comes out of his coma. Will he remember that Taylor was driving the snowmobile when it crashed? Will he remember the engagement ring? Her pregnancy?

Will he remember that she tried to break up with him?

Taylor doesn’t know. And she doesn’t know if she wants him to remember. Plenty of things happened that night and before—secrets wrapped in secrets—that she’d prefer be forgotten.

Facing choices she’d rather ignore, Taylor searches for something more solid than whispers and something bigger than blame, so that she can face the future and forgive herself.

The Haters

The Haters

By Jesse Andrews

From Jesse Andrews, author of the New York Times bestselling Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and screenwriter of the Sundance award–winning motion picture of the same name, comes a groundbreaking young adult novel about music, love, friendship, and freedom as three young musicians follow a quest to escape the law long enough to play the amazing show they hope (but also doubt) they have in them.

Inspired by the years he spent playing bass in a band himself, The Haters is Jesse Andrews’s road trip adventure about a trio of jazz-camp escapees who, against every realistic expectation, become a band. 

For Wes and his best friend, Corey, jazz camp turns out to be lame. It’s pretty much all dudes talking in Jazz Voice. But then they jam with Ash, a charismatic girl with an unusual sound, and the three just click. It’s three and a half hours of pure musical magic, and Ash makes a decision: They need to hit the road. Because the road, not summer camp, is where bands get good. Before Wes and Corey know it, they’re in Ash’s SUV heading south, and The Haters Summer of Hate Tour has begun.

In his second novel, Andrews again brings his brilliant and distinctive voice to YA, in the perfect book for music lovers, fans of The Commitments and High Fidelity, or anyone who has ever loved—and hated—a song or a band. This witty, funny coming-of-age novel is contemporary fiction at its best.

Flashcards Of My Life: A Novel

Flashcards of My Life: A Novel

By Charise Mericle Harper

When Emily receives a pack of note cards labeled "Flashcards of My Life" as an unexpected birthday present, she uses them as inspiration to journal and to untangle her knotted life. Includes illustrations by the author.

The Girl From Everywhere

The Girl From Everywhere

By Heidi Heilig

Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s ship, sailing across the centuries, across the world, across myth and imagination.

As long as her father has a map for it, he can sail to any time, any place, real or imagined: nineteenth-century China, the land from One Thousand and One Nights, a mythic version of Africa. Along the way they have found crewmates and friends, and even a disarming thief who could come to mean much more to Nix.

But the end to it all looms closer every day.

Her father is obsessed with obtaining the one map, 1868 Honolulu, that could take him back to his lost love, Nix’s mother. Even though getting it—and going there—could erase Nix’s very existence.

For the first time, Nix is entering unknown waters.

She could find herself, find her family, find her own fantastical ability, her own epic love.

Or she could disappear.

Cat Sense

Cat Sense

By John Bradshaw

Cats have been popular household pets for thousands of years, and their numbers only continue to rise. Today there are three cats for every dog on the planet, and yet cats remain more mysterious, even to their most adoring owners. Unlike dogs, cats evolved as solitary hunters, and, while many have learned to live alongside humans and even feel affection for us, they still don’t quite get us” the way dogs do, and perhaps they never will. But cats have rich emotional lives that we need to respect and understand if they are to thrive in our company. 

In Cat Sense, renowned anthrozoologist John Bradshaw takes us further into the mind of the domestic cat than ever before, using cutting-edge scientific research to dispel the myths and explain the true nature of our feline friends. Tracing the cat’s evolution from lone predator to domesticated companion, Bradshaw shows that although cats and humans have been living together for at least eight thousand years, cats remain independent, predatory, and wary of contact with their own kind, qualities that often clash with our modern lifestyles. Cats still have three out of four paws firmly planted in the wild, and within only a few generations can easily revert back to the independent way of life that was the exclusive preserve of their predecessors some 10,000 years ago. Cats are astonishingly flexible, and given the right environment they can adapt to a life of domesticity with their owners—but to continue do so, they will increasingly need our help. If we’re to live in harmony with our cats, Bradshaw explains, we first need to understand their inherited quirks: understanding their body language, keeping their environments—however small—sufficiently interesting, and becoming more proactive in managing both their natural hunting instincts and their relationships with other cats.

A must-read for any cat lover, Cat Sense offers humane, penetrating insights about the domestic cat that challenge our most basic assumptions and promise to dramatically improve our pets’ lives—and ours.

The Changeling (The Worming Book III)

The Changeling

(The Worming Book III)

By Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry

As Owen and Watcher continue their search for the King's Son, they encounter the Changeling - a creature with the ability to change into anything, even other people. Will Owen be tricked by the Changeling into leaving his mission? How can Owen know who to trust?

Owen has always believed his only gift is his ability to devour books, but the battle he finds himself in will affect two worlds: his and the Lowlands.