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?

Random Zits by Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman, 250 pages

Random Zits not-so-randomly combines the previous collections Road Trip! and Teenage Tales into one mega-volume. It includes popular story lines that include Jeremy and Hector fixing up their old van and taking it for a clandestine joy ride, Jeremy learning the value of tact on his girlfriend's bad hair days, selling random household items on eBay, surviving sudden radical growth spurts, and being coaxed into a fishing trip with his father, who seizes the opportunity to have "the talk."

Zits captures the nature of teenage boys with uncanny precision. In one series of strips, Jeremy's mom is alarmed when she finds a fist-size hole in the wall of his room. Pressed to explain it, he balks. When he finally describes what happened, it turns out that the hole wasn't made in a moment of teen hormonal rage. It was made in a moment of teen hormonal idiocy, when he used his mom's meat tenderizing mallet to swat a bug. Anyone who has spent much time around an adolescent boy will recognize this seemingly inexplicable behavior: intelligence and impulsiveness locked in constant battle. This is the natural state of the teen male, and it's portrayed exquisitely in Zits.

Black as He's Painted by Ngaio Marsh, 250 pages

 A visiting dignitary in London asks for security—and gets extra help from a clever feline—in a novel starring “the nonpareil among criminal investigators” (The New York Times).

Superintendent Alleyn’s old school chum, nicknamed the “Boomer,” has become the president of the newly emerged African nation of Ng’ombwana, newly emerged in the wake of colonialism. Old school ties being what they are, his friend—making an official visit to London—insists that Alleyn handle his security, rather than Her Majesty’s Special Branch. The Special Branch is not best pleased about this, as the Boomer is known to have some very deadly enemies, and the threats only increase when the Ng’ombwanan ambassador is killed. Happily for the Boomer, not only is Alleyn up to the task, but he is assisted by a rescued cat who proves extremely adept at finding clues . . .

Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan, 250 pages

 Behold the rat, dirty and disgusting! Robert Sullivan turns the lowly rat into the star of this most perversely intriguing, remarkable, and unexpectedly elegant New York Times bestseller.

Love them or loathe them, rats are here to stay-they are city dwellers as much as (or more than) we are, surviving on the effluvia of our society. In Rats , the critically acclaimed bestseller, Robert Sullivan spends a year investigating a rat-infested alley just a few blocks away from Wall Street. Sullivan gets to know not just the beast but its friends and foes: the exterminators, the sanitation workers, the agitators and activists who have played their part in the centuries-old war between human city dweller and wild city rat.

Sullivan looks deep into the largely unrecorded history of the city and its masses-its herds-of-rats-like mob. Funny, wise, sometimes disgusting but always compulsively readable, Rats earns its unlikely place alongside the great classics of nature writing.

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun, 250 pages

 Jim Qwilleran is a prizewinning reporter who's been on the skids but is now coming back with a job as feature writer (mostly on the art scene) for the Daily Fluxion. George Bonifield Mountclemens, the paper's credentialed art critic, writes almost invariably scathing, hurtful reviews of local shows; delivers his pieces by messenger; lives with his all-knowing cat Koko in a lushly furnished house in a moldering neighborhood, and has a raft of enemies all over town.

He offers the newcomer a tiny apartment in his building at a nominal rent, and Qwilleran grabs it, surmising the deal will involve lots of cat-sitting. Meanwhile, a gallery whose artists get happier treatment from Mountclemens is owned by Earl Lambreth. The acerbic critic has praised paintings there by a reclusive Italian named Scrano; the junk assemblages of Nino, who calls himself a ``Thingist,'' as well as works by Lambreth's attractive wife Zoe.

It's Zoe who, one night past closing, finds her husband stabbed to death in the vandalized gallery. Days later, Qwilleran, guided by an insistent Koko, finds Mountclemens's knifed corpse on the patio behind his house.

How Do I Un-Remember This? Unfortunately True Stories by Danny Pellegrino, 250 pages

 Growing up in small-town Ohio isn't easy, particularly when you're a closeted gay kid surrounded by... no one openly gay. Luckily, Danny Pellegrino grew up in the 90s, coming of age when the internet opened up a whole new world for a curious kid itching for life outside of Midwest suburbia. Danny escaped the pains of growing up by submerging himself in a sea of pop culture—bingeing The Nanny until he had the confidence of Fran Fine, belting out Brandy songs until his heartaches were healed, or watching every semi-clothed Ryan Phillippe scene known to man.

Now, as a successful podcaster interviewing the same iconic personalities that he idolized as a kid, Danny's life has only become more entertaining and delightfully chaotic.

Heartfelt and hilarious, How Do I Un-Remember This? is a collection of real-life stories exploring Danny's journey from feeling like the only gay kid in Ohio to becoming a big-time podcaster in Los Angeles, and all the amusing moments life threw at him in between. With remarkable honesty and his trademark humor, Danny discusses his struggles alongside his love for all things pop culture in a way that is equally emotional and uplifting. And of course, it's all sprinkled with a little 90s nostalgia and a whole lot of comedy.

Assorted Foxtrot by Bill Amend, 250 pages

 FoxTrot has built its considerable appeal with its sincere depiction of the hilarious clashes seen in everyday family life without getting too sticky sweet. Fans of all ages can find something in creator Bill Amend's work with which they're familiar, from the outrageous sibling rivalries between ten-year-old Jason and his teenage siblings, Peter and Paige, to marital squabbles over golf between parents Roger and Andy.

FoxTrot's appeal, in large part, comes from Amend's talent for finding humor in contemporary topics and issues. Readers enjoy a delightful ride as the Fox family members give their takes on the latest in pop culture. It's sometimes surprising and always entertaining to see just how different members of the same gene pool can be.

The Penguin Book of the Undead edited by Scott G. Bruce, 250 pages

Since ancient times, accounts of supernatural activity have mystified us. Ghost stories as we know them did not develop until the late nineteenth century, but the restless dead haunted the premodern imagination in many forms, as recorded in historical narratives, theological texts, and personal letters. The Penguin Book of the Undead teems with roving hordes of dead warriors, corpses trailed by packs of barking dogs, moaning phantoms haunting deserted ruins, evil spirits emerging from burning carcasses in the form of crows, and zombies with pestilential breath.

Spanning from the Hebrew scriptures to the Roman Empire, the Scandinavian sagas to medieval Europe, the Protestant Reformation to the Renaissance, this beguiling array of accounts charts our relationship with spirits and apparitions, wraiths and demons over fifteen hundred years, showing the evolution in our thinking about the ability of dead souls to return to the realm of the living--and to warn us about what awaits us in the afterlife.

Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes, 250 pages

When the Pye family's puppy, Ginger, disappears on Thanksgiving Day, the children are convinced that he has been adbucted by a stranger in a yellow hat.

Changes at Fairacre by Miss Read, 250 pages

Times are changing in the charming downland village of Fairacre, and Miss Read isn't certain that it's all for the best. The new commuter lifestyle has caused a drop in attendance at the local school, and officials are threatening closure. Miss Read worries about the failing health of Dolly Clare. Vegetable gardens have given way to trips to the Caxley markets, and the traditional village fete now includes a prize for best quiche. With her trademark patience and good humor, Miss Read hopes for the best and plans for the worst as the village grows increasingly modern. Despite all the innovations, Fairacre still retains its essential elements: gentle wit, good manners, and the comfort of caring neighbors.

Uncle Will and the Fitzgerald Curse by John D. Fitzgerald, 250 pages

This is one in a series of Non-fiction that tells the tale of the Fitzgerald family from Adenville UT. The others in the series are Papa Married A Mormon and Mama's Boarding House

British Manor Murder by Leslie Meier, 250 pages

I'm guessing the author has ran out of holidays, so she's moving onto different themes for the murders, lol. I'm a lot more like Lucy Stone than I want to admit at times, aside from the tendency to stumble across dead bodies.

laughing at my nightmare by Shane Burcaw, 250 pages

A very humorous and uplifting book. I have too many books checked out and waiting on my too-read book, but I'm glad this one caught my eye and jumped to the head of the list.