The Pilot’s Baby. This book features Zoe, a flight attendant whose love life is in a drought. Her best friend pushes her to be more spontaneous, hoping she’ll find a new love … or at least a new lover. While Zoe is enjoying a beautiful Hawaiian resort, she encounters gorgeous Mason, who happens to be a pilot. They have strong chemistry, which leads to a one-night stand. That night/morning of passion leads to her pregnancy, and the story unfolds from there. While the premise of this story had a lot of potential, its execution fell very short.

The Christmas Cats Fear for the Deer. Constance Corcoran Wilson, Gary McClusky, ill. 2015. 36 pages. Quad Cities Press. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of author.] The Christmas Cats Fear for the Deer is the fourth installment in The Christmas Cats series, a fun and festive collection of books centered around cats that are great problem-solvers. In this book, the Christmas Cats are called on to help usher the deer – who keep eating the bark from trees – out of harm’s way, which will surely come at the hands of pesky hunters. I read this with my 7-year-old and we both loved it. I was initially concerned about the references to hunters and wondered where the story would take them. However, I was impressed at the author’s ability to tackle what could be a sensitive topic in an age-appropriate and comical way. My daughter particularly liked the reference to the North Pole, Santa Clause, and his reindeer, which made everything more familiar.

Awake. Natasha Preston. 2015. 336 pages. Sourcebooks Fire.  [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] This was a tough book to read, but it was just as tough to put it down. Awake follows Scarlet, a teenager who has led a mostly normal life, except for the fact that she can’t remember anything before she was 4 years old. With the introduction of an attractive, attentive new boy in school, Scarlet’s world changes quickly and she starts questioning her past and the people in her life. The story is filled with the angst you’d expect from teens – juggling friendships and jealousy, trying to make “mature” choices based on inexperience and new love. But the underlying question of Scarlet’s past and how it may force its way into her present is inescapable. She’s constantly questioning the motives of those around her and ask she begins to question her family more directly, she starts to unravel some of her truth.