The Geekish Reader

Title:   Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink Author:   Stephanie Kate Strohm Genre:   YA, Contemporary Pages:   204 Published:   May 2012 Publisher:   Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Source:   Thomas Allen Where to buy:   Amazon Synopsis: A story of crushes, corsets, and conspiracy. Libby Kelting had always felt herself born out of time. No wonder the historical romance-reading, Jane Austen-adaptation-watching, all-around history nerd jumped at the chance to intern at Camden Harbor, Maine’s Oldest Living History Museum. But at Camden Harbor Libby’s just plain out of place, no matter how cute she looks in a corset. Her cat-loving co-worker wants her dead, the too-smart-for-his-own-good local reporter keeps pushing her buttons, her gorgeous sailor may be more shipwreck than dreamboat — plus Camden Harbor’s haunted. Over the course of one unforgettable summer, Libby learns that boys, like ghosts, aren’t always what they seem. I have to say I really related to Libb...

Title:   The Wicked and the Just Author:   J. Anderson Coats Genre:   Historical Fiction Pages:   352 Published:   April 2012 Publisher:   Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Source:   via Publisher Where to buy:   Amazon ~ Book Depository Synopsis: Cecily’s father has ruined her life. He’s moving them to occupied Wales, where the king needs good strong Englishmen to keep down the vicious Welshmen. At least Cecily will finally be the lady of the house. Gwenhwyfar knows all about that house. Once she dreamed of being the lady there herself, until the English destroyed the lives of everyone she knows. Now she must wait hand and foot on this bratty English girl. While Cecily struggles to find her place amongst the snobby English landowners, Gwenhwyfar struggles just to survive. And outside the city walls, tensions are rising ever higher—until finally they must reach the breaking point. Furious with her father, poor, poor Cecily has been for...

Title:   The Union Quilters (Elm Creek Quilts Book #17) Author:   Jennifer Chiaverini Genre:   Historical Fiction, Fiction Published:   February 2011 ISBN:   0525952039   Publisher:   Dutton Adult Source:   Purchased Synopsis: With The Union Quilters , Chiaverini delivers a powerful story of a remarkable group of women coping with changing roles and the extraordinary experiences of the Civil War. In 1862 Water's Ford, Pennsylvania, abolitionism is prevalent, even passionate, so the local men rally to answer Mr. Lincoln's call to arms. Thus the women of Elm Creek Valley's quilting bee are propelled into the unknown. Constance Wright, married to Abel, a skilled sharpshooter courageous enough to have ventured south to buy his wife's freedom from a Virginia plantation, knows well her husband's certainty that all people, enslaved and free, North and South, need colored men like him to fight for a greater purpose. Sisters-in-law D...