Typically, we stick to reviewing teen books here, but not always. Every so often we'll read a book from other departments (Youth or Adult) that's so awesome we just have to recommend it to you--even though it's not, technically, a teen book.
This is one of those cases.
In A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff (a book you can find in the Youth Department), almost everyone has a special Talent. That's Talent with a capitol T, in case you're wondering. These Talents could be for anything: Spitting, knot-tying, cake-baking... Anything. One character even has a particularly diabolical talent--which you'll soon learn about as you read.
On an unusually foggy day, young orphan Cady is baking the perfect cake (her Talent) in the kitchen of Miss Mallory's Home for Lost Girls. Then, by chance, she is adopted by a strange man who works for an even stranger employer. She ends up at the Lost Luggage Emporium where she meets the Asher family, elderly mute V, and the mysterious Owner, who is obsessed with collecting powder-blue suitcases. Add to this the mystery of a missing recipe for the best peanut butter ever and an unexpected plot twist regarding Cady's missing parents, and you've got yourself a story you can't put down. Sure, it's a kid's book, but it's still awesome.
This one was a lot of fun to read. It's fairly short (less than 250 pages), and short chapters told from various viewpoints keep the action quick. Plus there's a happy ending for everyone. You really can't go wrong with A Tangle of Knots. Highly recommended! --AJB
