When We Were Young by Karen Kingsbury

When We Were Young by Karen Kingsbury - 368 pages

From their first meeting, to their stunning engagement and lavish wedding, to their happily-ever-after, Noah and Emily Carter were meant to be together. Theirs is a special kind of love and they want the world to know.

More than a million adoring fans have followed their lives on Instagram since the day Noah publicly proposed to Emily. But behind the carefully staged photos and encouraging posts, their life is anything but a fairy tale, and Noah's obsession with social media has ruined everything.

Distraught, Emily reaches out to her friend Kari Baxter Taylor and tells her the truth: Noah and Emily have decided to call it quits. He is leaving in the morning. But when Noah wakes the next day, everything is different. Emily is gone and the kids are years older. Like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, bizarre and strange events continue throughout the night so that Noah is certain he's twenty years older, and he is desperate for a second chance. Now it would take a miracle to return to yesterday. 

When We Were Young is a rare and beautiful love story that takes place in a single day. It's about the gift of knowing what tomorrow will bring if you really walk out that door today.

Victories by Mercedes Lackey

Victories by Mercedes Lackey - 255 pages
A Shadow Grail Novel #4

Spirit, Loch, Burke and Addie have escaped from Oakhurst Academy.  Now they must figure out a battle plan to fight Mordred and his plan to annihilate the world through nuclear war.

This is the final volume in the Shadow Grail series.  While I really liked the first three books, I did not think this final book lived up to the others.  It was too rushed.  Everything happened way too conveniently for the good guys.

Things a Little Bird Told Me: Confessions of the Creative Mind by Biz Stone

Things a Little Bird Told Me: Confessions of the Creative Mind by Biz Stone - 240 pages

Read the entire book in one sitting.  It's a fascinating look into both the development of Twitter (with a side trip into the early days of Google) and the development of Stone's personal philosophy.  This book is a testament to the power of ideas and the importance of taking initiative.

Wizzywig: Portrait of a Serial Hacker, by Ed Piskor

Wizzywig: Portrait of a Serial Hacker, by Ed Piskor, 288 pages

I'll admit it- based on the title, I thought that this was a sort of biography.  Don't be fooled, however- the subject of this book, Kevin "Boingthump" Phenicle, is fictional, but based on several real-life hackers.  Kevin is a hacker, who grew up in the 1970s and 80s and started with manipulating the phone companies.  With the inception of the PC, Kevin became a computer whiz who taught himself how to do just about everything-- even unethical and illegal things.  This book isn't a defense of hacking, but it does explore the mindset of a hacker and raise some interesting questions about the Internet and online rights, in general.