Playing With Fire by Dana Stabenow, 253 pages

 KATE SHUGAK is a native Aleut working as a private investigator in Alaska. She's 5 foot 1 inch tall, carries a scar that runs from ear to ear across her throat and owns half-wolf, half-husky dog named Mutt. Resourceful, strong-willed, defiant, Kate is tougher than your average heroine – and she needs to be to survive the worst the Alaskan wilds can throw at her.

PLAY WITH FIRE.
A ten-year-old boy 'hires' Kate to find his missing father and when Kate stumbles across a body in the woods she fears she may have found him. Finding out what happened will lead Kate to a right-wing religious sect, a conspiracy of silence and a smouldering evil.

Barbarian's Mate by Ruby Dixon, 250 pages

 'Resonance' is supposed to be a dream - that's when your soulmate is chosen for you. And everyone on the ice planet has hooked up with a big, hunky soulmate of their own... except me. So do I want a mate? Heck yeah. More than anything, all I've ever wanted is to be loved by someone.

Except that the soulmate chosen for me? My least favorite person on the darn ice planet. Haeden's the most cranky, disapproving, unpleasant, overbearing male alien... so why is it that my body sings when he gets close? Why is he working so hard to prove to me that he's not as awful as I think he is?

I hate him... don't I?

Funny Fairy Tales: All 16 Fairy Tales by Reut Barak, 209 pages

 Once upon a time, Cinderella was allergic to dust, Red Riding Hood experimented a little too much, and Snow White discovered that dwarfs aren’t always what they seem.

Unexpected twists, awkward romances, and magical mishaps unfold in these short stories, where familiar fairy tales take a sharp left turn.

A little absurd, a little charming, and full of surprises for readers who like their classics reimagined.

The stories:

Thumbelina

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Rapunzel

Red Riding Hood

Aladdin

Frog Prince

Cinderella

Hansel & Gretel

Alice in Wonderland

Beauty and the Beast

Sleeping Beauty

Rumpelstiltskin

Goldilocks

Jack and the Beanstalk

The Princess and the Pea

The Little Mermaid

Prose and Cons by Steffanie Holmes, 290 pages

 Morrie’s been arrested on suspicion of murder. Mina knows the Napoleon of Crime is innocent, but how can she prove her favorite con-artist is being stitched-up?

Being the spider in the center of a vast criminal web has left Morrie in hot water. His list of enemies is long… too long for Mina and her men to unravel. Mina doesn’t have a clue to stand on when a shadow from Morrie’s past shows up and threatens to destroy everything she’s fought for.

If Morrie’s ex solves the murder before them it could mean the end of Nevermore Bookshop. But is Mina ready to pit her sleuthing skills against literature’s foremost consulting detective?

Add a rambunctious puppy, a meddling mother, a cockroach cookery lesson, and their ultimate enemy closing in, and Mina’s on her toughest case yet. There’s only way to get the answers they need, but are Heathcliff and Quoth prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to save their friend?

America's Geekheart by Pippa Grant, 364 pages

 Remember that time you accidentally sexted your in-laws?

Yeah. I just did that. Except worse. Now my million social media followers are reading and sharing the rude, smartass message I meant to send privately to my little sister...and I’m officially public enemy number one.

I’m Beck Ryder. Former boy bander. Underwear model. Fashion mogul. And I just buried my entire leg in my mouth—not just my foot—modern internet style, and publicly insulted my sister’s neighbor.

Sarah Dempsey.

Also known as the woman of my dreams, who loves geeky TV shows, baseball, and giraffes, who’s just as turned on by food as I am, and who has a huge secret that I didn’t see coming.

Now it's time to grovel and apologize publicly on social media and hope that those same followers who helped start the raging shitstorm will help calm the waters.

Because Sarah doesn’t want the spotlight. For very good reasons that I can’t tell you right now and trying to convince her to be my fake girlfriend to fix this mess and make me look like less of a jackass is worse than taking a kick to the nuts by Jackie Chan.

And I thought modeling underwear made me feel naked.

Trying to start a relationship in the era of the twitterazzi isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

Fifty Animals That Changed the Course of History by Eric Chaline, 224 pages

 Fifty Animals that Changed the Course of History is a beautifully presented guide to the animals that have had the greatest impact on human civilization. Entries are organized by scientific name, except for Homo sapiens, which is featured last.

The 50 animals include the horse, dog, rat, whale, reindeer, beaver, flea, leech, dodo, falcon, oyster and shark. These creatures, great and small, have played central roles in the evolution of humankind, but they have remained at the periphery of our understanding of history. Whether it is an advancement in scientific knowledge, a trade war, disease and death, battles won and lost, or encounters with explorers in unknown lands, these animals have changed the course of history.

More than 150 elegant drawings, photographs and paintings, as well as excerpts from literature, highlight the concise text. Each animal is judged by its influence in four categories:

Edible -- animals that have shaped agriculture, such as the cow
Medical -- animals that are "disease vectors," spreading bacteria and viruses, from malaria to plague
Commercial -- animals used for trade or in manufacturing
Practical -- animals used for transportation or clothing.

The animals described in Fifty Animals that Changed the Course of History are familiar, but their roles in human history are easily overlooked. This attractive reference gives us a fresh perspective on our place in the animal kingdom.