Thy Gold to Refine -- Gerald Lund

Volume four of The Work and the Glory series finds the Steed family almost completely reunited in Far West, Missouri. The prodigal son, Joshua, has returned with his new family: wife Caroline, son Will, and daughters Olivia and Savannah; and made ammends with his father and his family. Much joy and happiness fills the hearts of all the family members at this reunion, as well as at the family's growth as children marry and begin families of their own; and all seems well with the world. But only for a time.

Meanwhile, the anger of the Missourians toward the Mormons has festered to a point of breaking. Jealousy, fear, miscommunication, and rumors start a horrible ball rolling, and result in mobbings, rapings, and the eventual extermination order by Missouri Governor Boggs: all Mormons are to leave the state or be exterminated. The leaders of the Mormon church are arrested and held prisoner, the people of Far West are brutally attacked -- some losing their lives, and their homesteads are destroyed by mobs and militia alike. With little choice but to leave Far West in the dead of winter and head East to Illinois, many of the Saints find themselves trekking over miles of snow and ice, including the sometimes-frozen Missisippi River, with faith in their hearts that the Lord will see them through and that, when they emerge on the other side of the events, they will be as gold refined.

Dracula -- Bram Stoker

As part of his job, Jonathan Harker finds himself journeying into Transylvania in order to deliver paperwork to Count Dracula, who has recently purchased property in England through Jonathan's employer. As he travels, he notes strange behaviors among the locals who learn of his destination, and he begins to feel on edge himself. He arrives at the castle of Count Dracula and finds himself in the midst of bizarre and horrible things, and he becomes convinced the Count is not a normal human being. He even finds the Count's lair -- a place rank with death and coffins. But before Jonathan, who is by now a prisoner at the castle, can discover more, the Count leaves the castle and Transylvania, leaving Jonathan to fend for himself.

Meanwhile, Mina -- Jonathan's fiancee -- vacations with her friend Lucy at the ocean in England. One strange day, a ship without a crew arrives in the harbor where they are staying, and soon strange events begin occurring there. After a night of sleepwalking, Lucy begins to act strangely -- becoming more and more pale by the day. And on her neck appear two puncture wounds. In spite of multiple blood transfusions to try to save her, Lucy succumbs to death. And by this time, Dr. Seward -- Lucy's friend -- has brought Dr. Van Helsing to see about events surrounding Lucy, her illness, and her death. And together they learn that Lucy had in fact become a vampire!

Jonathan eventually returns home to England and helps the rest of the group, for he too has intimate knowledge of vampires and Count Dracular in particular. Together, they discover the whole story of Count Dracula and set out to destroy him so as not to lose another soul as they had lost their dear Lucy.

Life As We Knew It -- Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life in Howell, PA is pretty normal for 16-year old Miranda. She is close to the end of her sophomore year of high school, she is about to be a sister again (her dad's second wife is pregnant and they've asked her to be the godmother), and she is semi-obsessed with a famous ice-skater from her home town. And the big news around town and around the world is the meteor scheduled to impact the Moon. Everyone expects this even to be a change from the norm -- an opportunity to gaze at the heavens and see something fascinating. But nobody expects the tragic events that ensue. Because when the meteor hits the moon, it is a greater impact than was anticipated, and the moon is knocked out of orbit and into a closer orbit to Earth. At first, nothing changes. Well, nothing except that the moon looms large outside in the night sky. But by the morning after the impact, news is pouring in about tsunamis along all coastlines, chaos, and death. And that is only the beginning.

Within weeks, Miranda's whole life is changed. Electricy is gone, schools are closed, stores are emptied, and people are moving away in hopes to find that things are better somewhere else. Miranda struggles to enjoy a "normal" summer in spite of everything, but finds that her childhood is gone and she must take on the responsibilities of an adult to help herself and her family survive. Only time will tell if it is enough.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader -- C. S. Lewis

While their brother and sister Peter and Susan are away, Edmund and Lucy find themselves back in Narnia with their whiney cousin Eustace. Their adventure starts when they manage to accidentally enter a painting in the house where they are staying, and they find themselves aboard the Dawn Treader with King Caspian and his crew aboard. Caspian and his men have set out to travel as far East as possible in order to find seven of Caspian's father's dearest friends who had been sent out years before to explore the lands, but who never returned. One of the crew on the journey is Reepicheep, a mouse who believes his destiny is to go to the end of the world.

As the Dawn Treader's occupants travel the known lands, they gain experience and knowledge. But before long, they sail off into the unknown and find many curious lands full of dragons, darkness, magic, and greed. They find that they have opportunities to grow and learn individually with the situations with which they are faced on the different lands. And each of them improves personally through the trials they face on their journey.

Sizzling Sixteen -- Janet Evanovich

Book 16 finds Vincent Plum's Bail Bonds in heaps of trouble and Stephanie Plum the one everyone looks to for rescue. Vinny has been kidnapped by some very angry creditors, and they want their money (over a million dollars) or else Vinnie dies and the bonds office gets blown up. Which would mean Lula, Connie, and Stephanie would be without jobs. Thus begins a series of schemes to free Vinnie, which include breaking and entering, stealing, and stink bombs -- lots of stink bombs.

While trying to rescue Vinnie, Stephanie also needs to earn money to pay rent. So she decides it's probably a wise idea to try to capture some outstanding FTAs. These efforts do not prove any easier than rescuing Vinnie, and take her up against a guard-alligator, a stampede of cattle, and a huge man who isn't phased by tasers.

Amidst the chaos of work, Stephanie deals with her romance life -- which is off-again with Joe and just this side of sizzling with Ranger -- and her own personal emotions... Does she even want to be a bounty hunter anymore? With the clock ticking and Vinnie's creditors unhappy about the money he owes them, it may not matter, because Vincent Plum Bail Bonds may not be in existence much longer!

Death du Jour -- Kathy Reichs

In Canada for a brief two weeks in part to do a favor for a Catholic church there by indentifying the bones of a nun who is being considered for sainthood, Temperance Brennan anticipates a quick open-and-shut case and a return to North Carolina on schedule. What she gets instead is involvement in brutal and seemingly senseless murders that cross two countries, two states, and touch entirely too close to home for her own comfort.

The morning after retrieving the bones of the nun, Tempe is called out by Andrew Ryan, the handsome detective, to attend a crime scene where a massive fire had burned the night before. In the burned home, a total of seven victims are found: one elderly lady, four adults, and two infants. As Tempe and Ryan work to uncover the reason for the brutal murders, they find connections to other murders in the area. Meanwhile, one of the nuns at the church calls on Tempe to help her find her missing niece, which leads Tempe to a professor at McGill University. Before long, it becomes apparent that a cult may be involved with the murders in the burned home -- and possibly even the disappearance of the nun's niece. More horrifying for Temperance is that her own sister may be unwittingly involved with the same cult.

Together Ryan and Tempe track down lead after lead in an attempt to get at the truth. But can they find the person behind the murders before it is too late for Tempe's sister Harry?

Always Looking Up -- Michael J. Fox

Several years after his decision to quit working on his tv series Spin City due to his Parkinson's Disease, Michael J. Fox examines his life and the years since his semi-retirement. He focuses on what he considers to be the four pillars of his life: family, faith, politics, and work; and explains how his disease and his decisions since diagnosis have affected each area of his life. The result is full of humor, sincerity, honesty, and most significantly, optimism.