Check out what’s happening at the Library

Howard County Library is open from 9 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday, the computer room closes at 5:30 PM. You may reach us at (432) 264-2260 and our fax number is (432) 264-2263. Please visit our website at http://howard-county.ploud.net and our Facebook page at www. facebook.com/HowardCoLibrary for more information about our services and any updates.

Join us in the library for Chess Club on Monday, February 5 from 4:30-5:30, We will also have Baby Storytime in the Children's room on Tuesday, February 6, at 10:30 AM for ages 0-3 and Preschool Storytime for ages 4-6 on Thursday, February 8. On Tuesday, February 6 from 4:30-5:30 PM we have our teen art program Slice of Art with Ms. Jamie, a free program for ages 12-17. Code Club is on Wednesday, February 7, from 4:30-5:30 PM for ages 8-15. Make sure to like and follow our Facebook page for all upcoming events and activities.

This week's reviews are fiction in audio format.

In the fall of 1863, the Union army controls the Mississippi river in Flags on the Bayou (AUCD F BUR J) by James Lee Burke. Much of Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is occupied. The Confederate army is in disarray, corrupt structures are falling apart, and enslaved men and women are beginning to glimpse freedom. When Hannah Laveau, a formerly enslaved woman working on the Lufkin plantation, is accused of murder, she goes on the run with Florence Milton, an abolitionist schoolteacher, dodging the local constable and the slavecatchers that prowl the bayous. Wade Lufkin, haunted by what he observed and did as a surgeon on the battlefield, has returned to his uncle's plantation to convalesce, where he becomes enraptured by Hannah.

Mitch Rapp hates owing anyone a favor especially when it's the world's most powerful crime lord in Code

Red-Mitch Rapp #22 (AUC F FLY V) by Vince Flynn. But when Damian Losa calls, Mitch is honor-bound to answer. The Syrian government appears to have created a highly addictive new narcotic that it plans to distribute throughout Europe. It's a major threat to Losa's business and he's determined to send someone to keep him on top by any means necessary. Rapp is the perfect choice for the mission. Not only does he have extensive experience operating in the Middle East, but he's also entirely expendable. As he crosses into war-torn Syria, Rapp quickly discovers a shocking truth. The new drug isn't being produced by Damascus to prop up the government's collapsing finances. Instead, it was created by Russia's asymmetrical warfare unit, not for profit but as a weapon against the West. With far more than Damian Losa's interests at stake, Rapp devises a desperate plan that forces him and his team onto a battlefield where the United States is virtually powerless, and allegiances shift almost hourly. Further, if Russia uncovers their plot, it will set off a confrontation between the two countries that could change the course of human history.

Must Love Flowers (AUCD F MAC D) by Debbie Macomber

Joan Sample is not living the life she expected in Must Love Flowers (AUCD F MAC D) by Debbie Macomber. Now a widow and an empty nester, she has become by her own admission something of a recluse. But after another birthday spent alone, she is finally inclined to listen to her sister, who has been begging Joan to reengage with the world. With Emmie's support, Joan gathers the courage to take some long-awaited steps: hiring someone to tame her overgrown garden, joining a grief support group, and even renting out a room to a local college student. Before long Joan starts to feel a little like herself again. Across town, Maggie Herbert works mornings as a barista, tending to impatient customers before rushing to afternoon nursing classes.

She lives with her alcoholic father, ducking his temperamental outbursts and struggling to pay the household bills. But her circumstances brighten when she finds a room for rent in Joan's home. In the unexpected warmth of her new situation, Maggie finds a glimmer of hope for a better life. But will Maggie's budding attraction to one of her favorite customers ruin the harmony she's only recently found with Joan? Meanwhile, what is Joan to make of the mysterious landscaper who's been revitalizing her garden a man who seems to harbor a past loss of his own? As Maggie and Joan confront difficult life choices, they draw strength from this new friendship in surprising ways, discovering in the process that "found family" is often the very best kind.

Lethal operative Scot Harvath is dispatched to avenge the killing of American citizens abroad in #1 New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brad Thor's new pulse-pounding thriller Dead Fall-Scot Harvath #22 (AUCD F THO B) by Brad Thor. In the war-ravaged borderlands of Ukraine, a Russian military unit has gone rogue. Its members, conscripted from the worst prisons and mental asylums across Russia, are the most criminally violent, psychologically dangerous combatants to ever set foot upon the modern battlefield. With all attention focused on the frontlines, they have pushed deeper into the interior to wage a campaign of unspeakable barbarity. As they move from village to village, committing horrific war crimes, they meet little resistance as all able-bodied men are off fighting the war. Simultaneously, a team of Russian mercenaries has been dispatched by the Kremlin to loot truckloads of art and priceless cultural treasures hidden away in a host of churches, museums, and private homes. When multiple American aid workers are killed, America's top spy is sent in to settle the score. But in a country almost the size of Texas, will Harvath be able to find the men in question and, more importantly, will he be able to stop them before they can kill again?

“I love the solitude of reading. I love the deep dive into someone else’s story, the delicious ache of a last page.” – Naomi Shihab Nye