DVDs
"Lonesome Dove: Complete Collection"
"Charlie and Lola: This is Actually My Party"
"Eloise in Springtime"
"Caillou: Family Favorites"
"The Great Debaters"
"National Geographic: Incredible Human Machine"
Adult Fiction
“Love the One You’re With” Emily Giffin
How do you know if you’ve found the one? Can you really love the one you’re with when you can’t forget the one who got away?
Emily Giffin, author of the New York Times bestselling novels Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Baby Proof, poses these questions—and many more—with her highly anticipated, thought-provoking new novel Love the One You’re With.
Ellen and Andy’s first year of marriage doesn’t just seem perfect, it is perfect. There is no question how deep their devotion is, and how naturally they bring out the best in each other. But one fateful afternoon, Ellen runs into Leo for the first time in eight years. Leo, the one who brought out the worst in her. Leo, the one who left her heartbroken with no explanation. Leo, the one she could never quite forget. When his reappearance ignites long-dormant emotions, Ellen begins to question whether the life she’s living is the one she’s meant to live. At once heartbreaking and funny, Love the One You’re With is a tale of lost loves and found fortunes—and will resonate with anyone who has ever wondered what if.
“The Year of Disappearances” Susan Hubbard
Wherever Ariella Montero goes, it seems, someone is murdered. Writing in a style that The New York Times calls "minimalism O. Henrified," Susan Hubbard continues, with The Year of Disappearances, her heroine's mysterious and spellbinding quest, begun in The Society of S, to recognize the demons who may live inside us and the ones we love -- so that they can be removed.
How do you know if you’ve found the one? Can you really love the one you’re with when you can’t forget the one who got away?
Emily Giffin, author of the New York Times bestselling novels Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Baby Proof, poses these questions—and many more—with her highly anticipated, thought-provoking new novel Love the One You’re With.
Ellen and Andy’s first year of marriage doesn’t just seem perfect, it is perfect. There is no question how deep their devotion is, and how naturally they bring out the best in each other. But one fateful afternoon, Ellen runs into Leo for the first time in eight years. Leo, the one who brought out the worst in her. Leo, the one who left her heartbroken with no explanation. Leo, the one she could never quite forget. When his reappearance ignites long-dormant emotions, Ellen begins to question whether the life she’s living is the one she’s meant to live. At once heartbreaking and funny, Love the One You’re With is a tale of lost loves and found fortunes—and will resonate with anyone who has ever wondered what if.
“The Year of Disappearances” Susan Hubbard
Wherever Ariella Montero goes, it seems, someone is murdered. Writing in a style that The New York Times calls "minimalism O. Henrified," Susan Hubbard continues, with The Year of Disappearances, her heroine's mysterious and spellbinding quest, begun in The Society of S, to recognize the demons who may live inside us and the ones we love -- so that they can be removed.
Adult Non-Fiction
“Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles” Don Felder
The inside story can finally be revealed
The Eagles are the bestselling, and arguably the tightest-lipped, American group ever, and Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 is the bestselling album of all time in the United States. Through breakup and comeback, arguments and lawsuits, their popularity has continued to soar for more than three decades. Now band member and guitarist DonFelder finally breaks the Eagles' years of public silence to take fans behind the scenes— -where drugs, greed, and endless acrimony threatened to break up the band almost daily.
In Heaven and Hell, Felder shares every part of the band's wild ride, from the pressure-packed recording studios and trashed hotel rooms to the tension-filled courtrooms where he, Glenn Frey, and Don Henley had their ultimate confrontation. Yet, beyond the mayhem and clashing egos that have become standard-issue in rock-and-roll memoirs, Felder also remembers the joy of writing powerful new songs with his bandmates; the magic of performing in huge arenas packed with roaring fans; and the hard work, dedication, and creativity that each band member brought to the music, even in the worst of times.
Offering even-handed and perceptive portraits of every member of the Eagles, Heaven and Hell is a thrilling and thoughtful, raucous and bittersweet tale about the love of music and the price of fame.
“Twisted Triangle: a Famous Crime Writer, a Lesbian Love Affair, and the FBI Husband’s Violent Revenge” Caitlin Rother
Twisted Triangle tells the compelling true story of Margo Bennett, a married FBI agent whose jealous, vengeful husband, Gene Bennett, a former undercover FBI agent, kidnapped and attempted to murder her after she had?a secret love affair with best-selling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell.
This series of bizarre events caused a sensation when it made national news a decade ago, but the whole incredible story has never before been told. Only now have Margo Bennett, her friends, and family granted investigative journalist Caitlin Rother exclusive access to personal interviews, previously sealed court records, diaries, letters, and other formerly confidential material. The book details the crazy dynamics of Margo and Gene Bennett's marriage and family, the rise and fall of their FBI careers, and Margo's clandestine lesbian affair with celebrity author Patricia Cornwell. Stranger than fiction, this story describes the makings of Gene's complex plan, his insanity defense, and the trial that ultimately vindicated Margo and sent Gene to prison, where he remains today.
Margo Bennett lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is a captain of the University of California, Berkeley, campus police department. Gene Bennett is incarcerated in Virginia, not far from the Washington DC area, where the events of this fascinating true crime narrative took place.
“Warman’s Depression Glass Field Guide” Ellen Schroy
Some of the most profitable and exciting collecting opportunities come when least expected, which is good news for you when you have a copy of Warman's Depression Glass Field Guide. The new edition of this affordable and ultra portable (fits in most jacket pockets and purses and totes) guide contains 195 patterns with pricing, 200 color photos and a bonus 150 thumbnail line drawings, to help you with identifying and valuing glass. Plus, this quick spot reference contains a timeline of company history, a color identification guide and contact information for various Depression glass associations, to help keep you in contact with fellow collectors.
“Up Till Now” William Shatner
After almost sixty years as an actor, William Shatner has become one of the most beloved entertainers in the world. And it seems as if Shatner is everywhere. Winning an Emmy for his role on Boston Legal. Doing commercials for Priceline.com. In the movie theaters. Singing with Ben Folds. He’s sitting next to Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel, and he’s practically a regular on Howard Stern’s show. He was recently honored with election to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. He was a target on a Comedy Central’s Celebrity Roast entitled “The Shat Hits the Fan.” In Up Till Now, Shatner sits down with readers and offers the remarkable, full story of his life and explains how he got to be, well, everywhere.
It was the original Star Trek series, and later its films, that made Shatner instantly recognizable, called by name---or at least by Captain Kirk’s name---across the globe. But Shatner neither began nor has ended his career with that role. From the very start, he took his skills as an actor and put them to use wherever he could. He straddled the classic world of the theater and the new world of television, whether stepping in for Christopher Plummer in Shakespeare’s Henry V or staring at “something on the wing” in a classic episode of The Twilight Zone. And since then, he’s gone on to star in numerous successful shows, such as T.J. Hooker, Rescue 911, and most recently Boston Legal.
William Shatner has always been willing to take risks for his art. What other actor would star in history’s first---and probably only---all-Esperanto-language film? Who else would share the screen with thousands of tarantulas, release an album called Has Been, or film a racially incendiary film in the Deep South during the height of the civil rights era? And who else would willingly paramotor into a field of waiting fans armed with paintball guns, all waiting for a chance to stun Captain…er, Shatner?
In this touching and very funny autobiography, William Shatner reveals the man behind these unforgettable moments, and how he’s become the worldwide star and experienced actor he is today.
“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House” Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood, one of America's favorite news personalities, offers a hilarious compendium of anecdotes from the last seventy years of presidential campaigns.
With anecdotes from Harry Truman to JFK to George W. Bush, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House captures the wit and humor of the campaign trail. Culled from speeches, interviews, press conferences, as well as articles written by and about the candidates--no source is left untapped.
From Bob Dole telling reporters after a loss in the primary that "I slept like a baby--every two hours I woke up and cried," and Barry Goldwater's comment that his talkative opponent Hubert Humphreys "has been clocked at 275 words a minute with gusts up to 340," to Adlai Stevenson declaring that "If I talk over the people's head, Ike must be talking under their feet," this is the go-to source for campaign humor.
Just when America most needs a good laugh, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House makes the seemingly endless race to the presidency a lot more fun.
“Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog” Ted Kerasote
Kerasote, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award, draws on inspirational experiences with his beloved canine companion, Merle, and extensive research in animal behavior to advance the notion that living in harmony with our dogs requires us to embrace—rather than suppress—their natural instincts. Patrick Lawlor delivers an animated performance, both literally and figuratively. His renderings of Merle's incessant pants of enthusiasm evoke the essence of canine loyalty. Lawlor successfully navigates the potentially tricky terrain of the book's anthropomorphism. He gives voice to Kerasote's human interpretations of Merle's expressions and behaviors in a manner that manages to preserve a healthy measure of mystery and wonder. Lawlor does slightly over-reach with regard to his performance of relatively extraneous human dialogue, especially some of the ethnic accents of experts that Kerasote quotes in the text. While not all pet owners may be able to grant the degree of freedom that Kerasote afforded Merle, this heartwarming story will still manage to enlighten and entertain fans of four-legged memoirs.
The inside story can finally be revealed
The Eagles are the bestselling, and arguably the tightest-lipped, American group ever, and Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 is the bestselling album of all time in the United States. Through breakup and comeback, arguments and lawsuits, their popularity has continued to soar for more than three decades. Now band member and guitarist DonFelder finally breaks the Eagles' years of public silence to take fans behind the scenes— -where drugs, greed, and endless acrimony threatened to break up the band almost daily.
In Heaven and Hell, Felder shares every part of the band's wild ride, from the pressure-packed recording studios and trashed hotel rooms to the tension-filled courtrooms where he, Glenn Frey, and Don Henley had their ultimate confrontation. Yet, beyond the mayhem and clashing egos that have become standard-issue in rock-and-roll memoirs, Felder also remembers the joy of writing powerful new songs with his bandmates; the magic of performing in huge arenas packed with roaring fans; and the hard work, dedication, and creativity that each band member brought to the music, even in the worst of times.
Offering even-handed and perceptive portraits of every member of the Eagles, Heaven and Hell is a thrilling and thoughtful, raucous and bittersweet tale about the love of music and the price of fame.
“Twisted Triangle: a Famous Crime Writer, a Lesbian Love Affair, and the FBI Husband’s Violent Revenge” Caitlin Rother
Twisted Triangle tells the compelling true story of Margo Bennett, a married FBI agent whose jealous, vengeful husband, Gene Bennett, a former undercover FBI agent, kidnapped and attempted to murder her after she had?a secret love affair with best-selling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell.
This series of bizarre events caused a sensation when it made national news a decade ago, but the whole incredible story has never before been told. Only now have Margo Bennett, her friends, and family granted investigative journalist Caitlin Rother exclusive access to personal interviews, previously sealed court records, diaries, letters, and other formerly confidential material. The book details the crazy dynamics of Margo and Gene Bennett's marriage and family, the rise and fall of their FBI careers, and Margo's clandestine lesbian affair with celebrity author Patricia Cornwell. Stranger than fiction, this story describes the makings of Gene's complex plan, his insanity defense, and the trial that ultimately vindicated Margo and sent Gene to prison, where he remains today.
Margo Bennett lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is a captain of the University of California, Berkeley, campus police department. Gene Bennett is incarcerated in Virginia, not far from the Washington DC area, where the events of this fascinating true crime narrative took place.
“Warman’s Depression Glass Field Guide” Ellen Schroy
Some of the most profitable and exciting collecting opportunities come when least expected, which is good news for you when you have a copy of Warman's Depression Glass Field Guide. The new edition of this affordable and ultra portable (fits in most jacket pockets and purses and totes) guide contains 195 patterns with pricing, 200 color photos and a bonus 150 thumbnail line drawings, to help you with identifying and valuing glass. Plus, this quick spot reference contains a timeline of company history, a color identification guide and contact information for various Depression glass associations, to help keep you in contact with fellow collectors.
“Up Till Now” William Shatner
After almost sixty years as an actor, William Shatner has become one of the most beloved entertainers in the world. And it seems as if Shatner is everywhere. Winning an Emmy for his role on Boston Legal. Doing commercials for Priceline.com. In the movie theaters. Singing with Ben Folds. He’s sitting next to Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel, and he’s practically a regular on Howard Stern’s show. He was recently honored with election to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. He was a target on a Comedy Central’s Celebrity Roast entitled “The Shat Hits the Fan.” In Up Till Now, Shatner sits down with readers and offers the remarkable, full story of his life and explains how he got to be, well, everywhere.
It was the original Star Trek series, and later its films, that made Shatner instantly recognizable, called by name---or at least by Captain Kirk’s name---across the globe. But Shatner neither began nor has ended his career with that role. From the very start, he took his skills as an actor and put them to use wherever he could. He straddled the classic world of the theater and the new world of television, whether stepping in for Christopher Plummer in Shakespeare’s Henry V or staring at “something on the wing” in a classic episode of The Twilight Zone. And since then, he’s gone on to star in numerous successful shows, such as T.J. Hooker, Rescue 911, and most recently Boston Legal.
William Shatner has always been willing to take risks for his art. What other actor would star in history’s first---and probably only---all-Esperanto-language film? Who else would share the screen with thousands of tarantulas, release an album called Has Been, or film a racially incendiary film in the Deep South during the height of the civil rights era? And who else would willingly paramotor into a field of waiting fans armed with paintball guns, all waiting for a chance to stun Captain…er, Shatner?
In this touching and very funny autobiography, William Shatner reveals the man behind these unforgettable moments, and how he’s become the worldwide star and experienced actor he is today.
“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House” Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood, one of America's favorite news personalities, offers a hilarious compendium of anecdotes from the last seventy years of presidential campaigns.
With anecdotes from Harry Truman to JFK to George W. Bush, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House captures the wit and humor of the campaign trail. Culled from speeches, interviews, press conferences, as well as articles written by and about the candidates--no source is left untapped.
From Bob Dole telling reporters after a loss in the primary that "I slept like a baby--every two hours I woke up and cried," and Barry Goldwater's comment that his talkative opponent Hubert Humphreys "has been clocked at 275 words a minute with gusts up to 340," to Adlai Stevenson declaring that "If I talk over the people's head, Ike must be talking under their feet," this is the go-to source for campaign humor.
Just when America most needs a good laugh, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House makes the seemingly endless race to the presidency a lot more fun.
“Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog” Ted Kerasote
Kerasote, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award, draws on inspirational experiences with his beloved canine companion, Merle, and extensive research in animal behavior to advance the notion that living in harmony with our dogs requires us to embrace—rather than suppress—their natural instincts. Patrick Lawlor delivers an animated performance, both literally and figuratively. His renderings of Merle's incessant pants of enthusiasm evoke the essence of canine loyalty. Lawlor successfully navigates the potentially tricky terrain of the book's anthropomorphism. He gives voice to Kerasote's human interpretations of Merle's expressions and behaviors in a manner that manages to preserve a healthy measure of mystery and wonder. Lawlor does slightly over-reach with regard to his performance of relatively extraneous human dialogue, especially some of the ethnic accents of experts that Kerasote quotes in the text. While not all pet owners may be able to grant the degree of freedom that Kerasote afforded Merle, this heartwarming story will still manage to enlighten and entertain fans of four-legged memoirs.
Adult Paper Back
“Blood Bank” Tanya Huff
Originally collected in one volume as half of the omnibus edition of The Blood Books: Volume Three, all of Tanya Huff’s short stories featuring homicide cop turned P.I. Vicki Nelson, her partner Mike Celluci, and vampire Henry Fitzroy are now being released in a separate edition to tie-in with the Lifetime television series, Blood Ties.
“Charm School” Susan Wiggs
A cargo-hauling clipper ship would seem an unlikely place for a Boston spinster to acquire social polish, but the insecure Isadora Peabody, who wangles passage aboard the Silver Swan and sets sail for Rio, is not the confident, self-assured woman who returns to set society (and the unworthy object of her former affections) firmly on its ear. A crew of rough, lovable seamen, a single-minded captain who is caught up short by love, and a heroine who finally learns to believe in herself draw readers into this lively, funny story. While a love scene in which the hero gets the heroine high on hemp may tarnish this story for some, the ugly-duckling aspects of the plot and the concern with slavery issues will appeal to fans across the board.
“Danger’s Kiss” Sarah McKerrigan
A trained thief, Desirée of Canterbury can wriggle out of any tight spot with a coy smile. Until she meets her match in Nicholas Grimshaw, the most feared lawman in the shire. Ruggedly handsome and all brawn, Nicholas is the key to avenging the unjust execution of her elderly guardian. Yet the crackling passion burning between them, stoked by every stolen touch, could defeat all her plans.
Nicholas is bound to Desirée by a debt of honor-though the lush, quick-witted beauty may be the death of him yet. Unwillingly installed in his household, Desirée mischievously disrupts his well-ordered life until he doesn't know whether to kiss or kill her. But soon Nicholas must use all his wiles to save them both from a merciless enemy...and, finally, claim her merry heart.
“The Harlequin” Laurell K. Hamilton
At the start of bestseller Hamilton's solid 15th adventure to star vampire hunter Anita Blake, Malcolm, the priggish head of the Church of the Eternal Life (the vampire church), is so desperate for help in dealing with the Harlequin, a troop of vampire enforcers and spies so feared vampires are forbidden to speak its name, he turns to those he considers sinful and corrupt—Anita and her sweetie, Jean-Claude, St. Louis's Master of the City. The Harlequin may have targeted Anita and the powerful triumvirate she has forged with Jean-Claude and Richard Zeeman (aka Ulfric of the werewolves). According to the rules, the Harlequin must make contact through delivery of a mask—white to indicate they are watching, red for pain, black for death. Anita receives a white mask, but the members of the Harlequin aren't playing by the rules. Shorter and more tightly structured than the previous entry in the series, Danse Macabre (2006), Hamilton's latest should prove more satisfying to longtime fans with its straightforward supernatural politics and steamy (but not extreme) sex.
“Kushiel’s Justice” Jacqueline Carey
Bestseller Carey's fifth book in her Kushiel's Legacy series, volume two of her Imriel fantasy trilogy (after 2006's Kushiel's Scion), is a moody tale of violence and divided loyalties. Phèdre nó Delaunay, the sexually adventurous heroine of the first trilogy, has become a placid foster mother to Prince Imriel, son of the unseen traitor Melisande Shahrizai. Carey's infamous explicit sex scenes now portray Imriel's illicit and often violent affair with Sidonie, daughter of Queen Ysandre. Their romance is frustrated by Imriel's obligation to marry Dorelei, an Alban princess, and beget future rulers of Alba. When Dorelei and her unborn son are betrayed and Imriel is badly wounded, he finds himself torn between his vow to avenge his wife and child and his desire to seek solace in Sidonie's arms. His inner conflicts are ameliorated by religious faith, a change from previous books that may please some readers and dismay others. Imriel serves well as protagonist, however, and events are clearly building to what promises to be a spectacular climax in the sixth volume.
“Legacy: Sharing Knife, Book 2” Lois McMaster
Ill-chance brought young Fawn Bluefield together with Dag Redwing Hickory, the seasoned soldier-sorcerer, but it was love and loyalty that joined their fates. While their unorthodox marriage has been grudgingly accepted by the clever farm girl's people, Dag's Lakewalker kin are less tolerant, greeting their union with derision, suspicion, and prejudice.
The specter of permanent exile looms above the couple—until a final decision on their lot is diverted by a sudden, viciously magical malice attack on a neighboring hinterland. Sworn to duty, Dag must answer the call, leaving his new bride behind. But what awaits him and his patrol could have serious and unimagined consequences for farmers and Lakewalkers alike, forever altering the lovers, their families, and their world.
“Silver Flame” Hannah Howell
No one captures the windswept romance of the Scottish Highlands like New York Times bestselling author Hannah Howell. In this dazzling novel, a beautiful young woman fights to regain her birthright-and to resist the rugged knight who ignites her deepest desire.For six years, Sine Catriona Brodie has clung to a vow of vengeance. A pickpocket and street performer by trade, Sine bides her time until she can defeat her treacherous kinsmen. Nothing will sway her from her path, not even Gamel Logan-a tall, lean knight whose hungry gaze and heated embrace stir a longing that is both delicious and distracting.From his first glimpse of her at a roadside camp, Gamel knows that Sine, with violet eyes and hair like silken moonlight, is the soul mate he has sought. Yet Sine insists she belongs to another man, though her eager response to his seduction belies her every word. Gamel pledges to help Sine win back her lands from a cunning enemy, but the greater battle will be convincing her to conquer her past and trust in his enduring love...
“To Taste Temptation” Elizabeth Hoyt
The ton loves nothing more than a good scandal, and they're giddy with the appearance of wealthy Samuel Hartley. Not only is he self-made, American, and in the habit of wearing moccasins, but he is also notorious for fleeing a battle in which several English gentlemen lost their lives. What the ton doesn't know, though, is that Samuel is in Londonbecause of this massacre. He believes his regiment was given up to the enemy and won't rest until he finds the traitor.
Lady Emeline Gordon is captivated with Samuel. Not only does he defy convention with his unusual dress, his sensual smile, and his forthright manner, but he survived the battle that killed her beloved brother. Samuel suspects that the person responsible for her brother's death is Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, a family friend since childhood--and Emeline's fiancé. Despite Emeline's belief in Vale's innocence and her refusal to break off her betrothal, she and Samuel begin a passionate affair. But can their relationship survive the fallout from Samuel's investigation?
“A Wanted Man” Linda Lael Miller
The author of more than 60 books, bestseller Miller pounds out another frontier romance loaded with hot lead, steamy sex and surprising plot twists. Rowdy Rhodes is the handsome hunk newly arrived in Stone Creek, Arizona Territory, in 1905. He's living under an assumed name and trying to change his criminal ways, but his plans to go straight go awry when he meets pretty Lark Morgan, a sophisticated local schoolteacher who is secretly on the run from a rich, abusive husband back in Denver. As they flirt, spar and try to keep their own secrets, felonious family members and other more lethal pursuers threaten them both. When Rowdy is tasked with catching the gang of train-robbing outlaws led by his own father, he is in a real dilemma. Between trysts with Lark under the horse blankets and aided by an unlikely tip, Rowdy saves the day after a terrific shootout. He can't, however, save Lark, whose salvation comes in an unexpected and satisfying plot twist. After the last owlhoot hits the dust and the smoke and secrets are cleared up, this zippy horse opera comes to a predictable and comforting ending.
“Grantville Gazette III” Eric Flint
The third volume of short fiction and nonfiction from the e-zine Eric Flint spun off from his alternate-history hit 1632 (2000) boasts the same combination of charm and intelligence as its predecessors and again has continuing character Anne Jefferson on the cover in less than she really enjoys wearing. Meanwhile, at the end, the nonfiction contributors launch a series of articles on seventeenth-century firearms, a topic almost as confused and shifting as seventeenth-century religion. Between cover and guns come stories of refugee experience, of a pastor setting up 12 American men to marry Germans and convert to Lutheranism, of the culture shock when a delegation of Benedictines encounters the 1632 town of Grantville, and of the influence of the Ring of Fire on the already lively enough religious controversy at Cambridge. And an essay considers the likely effects of mechanization on Germany's tangled land tenure system. Flint's 1632 universe seems to be inspiring a whole new crop of gifted alternate historians.
Originally collected in one volume as half of the omnibus edition of The Blood Books: Volume Three, all of Tanya Huff’s short stories featuring homicide cop turned P.I. Vicki Nelson, her partner Mike Celluci, and vampire Henry Fitzroy are now being released in a separate edition to tie-in with the Lifetime television series, Blood Ties.
“Charm School” Susan Wiggs
A cargo-hauling clipper ship would seem an unlikely place for a Boston spinster to acquire social polish, but the insecure Isadora Peabody, who wangles passage aboard the Silver Swan and sets sail for Rio, is not the confident, self-assured woman who returns to set society (and the unworthy object of her former affections) firmly on its ear. A crew of rough, lovable seamen, a single-minded captain who is caught up short by love, and a heroine who finally learns to believe in herself draw readers into this lively, funny story. While a love scene in which the hero gets the heroine high on hemp may tarnish this story for some, the ugly-duckling aspects of the plot and the concern with slavery issues will appeal to fans across the board.
“Danger’s Kiss” Sarah McKerrigan
A trained thief, Desirée of Canterbury can wriggle out of any tight spot with a coy smile. Until she meets her match in Nicholas Grimshaw, the most feared lawman in the shire. Ruggedly handsome and all brawn, Nicholas is the key to avenging the unjust execution of her elderly guardian. Yet the crackling passion burning between them, stoked by every stolen touch, could defeat all her plans.
Nicholas is bound to Desirée by a debt of honor-though the lush, quick-witted beauty may be the death of him yet. Unwillingly installed in his household, Desirée mischievously disrupts his well-ordered life until he doesn't know whether to kiss or kill her. But soon Nicholas must use all his wiles to save them both from a merciless enemy...and, finally, claim her merry heart.
“The Harlequin” Laurell K. Hamilton
At the start of bestseller Hamilton's solid 15th adventure to star vampire hunter Anita Blake, Malcolm, the priggish head of the Church of the Eternal Life (the vampire church), is so desperate for help in dealing with the Harlequin, a troop of vampire enforcers and spies so feared vampires are forbidden to speak its name, he turns to those he considers sinful and corrupt—Anita and her sweetie, Jean-Claude, St. Louis's Master of the City. The Harlequin may have targeted Anita and the powerful triumvirate she has forged with Jean-Claude and Richard Zeeman (aka Ulfric of the werewolves). According to the rules, the Harlequin must make contact through delivery of a mask—white to indicate they are watching, red for pain, black for death. Anita receives a white mask, but the members of the Harlequin aren't playing by the rules. Shorter and more tightly structured than the previous entry in the series, Danse Macabre (2006), Hamilton's latest should prove more satisfying to longtime fans with its straightforward supernatural politics and steamy (but not extreme) sex.
“Kushiel’s Justice” Jacqueline Carey
Bestseller Carey's fifth book in her Kushiel's Legacy series, volume two of her Imriel fantasy trilogy (after 2006's Kushiel's Scion), is a moody tale of violence and divided loyalties. Phèdre nó Delaunay, the sexually adventurous heroine of the first trilogy, has become a placid foster mother to Prince Imriel, son of the unseen traitor Melisande Shahrizai. Carey's infamous explicit sex scenes now portray Imriel's illicit and often violent affair with Sidonie, daughter of Queen Ysandre. Their romance is frustrated by Imriel's obligation to marry Dorelei, an Alban princess, and beget future rulers of Alba. When Dorelei and her unborn son are betrayed and Imriel is badly wounded, he finds himself torn between his vow to avenge his wife and child and his desire to seek solace in Sidonie's arms. His inner conflicts are ameliorated by religious faith, a change from previous books that may please some readers and dismay others. Imriel serves well as protagonist, however, and events are clearly building to what promises to be a spectacular climax in the sixth volume.
“Legacy: Sharing Knife, Book 2” Lois McMaster
Ill-chance brought young Fawn Bluefield together with Dag Redwing Hickory, the seasoned soldier-sorcerer, but it was love and loyalty that joined their fates. While their unorthodox marriage has been grudgingly accepted by the clever farm girl's people, Dag's Lakewalker kin are less tolerant, greeting their union with derision, suspicion, and prejudice.
The specter of permanent exile looms above the couple—until a final decision on their lot is diverted by a sudden, viciously magical malice attack on a neighboring hinterland. Sworn to duty, Dag must answer the call, leaving his new bride behind. But what awaits him and his patrol could have serious and unimagined consequences for farmers and Lakewalkers alike, forever altering the lovers, their families, and their world.
“Silver Flame” Hannah Howell
No one captures the windswept romance of the Scottish Highlands like New York Times bestselling author Hannah Howell. In this dazzling novel, a beautiful young woman fights to regain her birthright-and to resist the rugged knight who ignites her deepest desire.For six years, Sine Catriona Brodie has clung to a vow of vengeance. A pickpocket and street performer by trade, Sine bides her time until she can defeat her treacherous kinsmen. Nothing will sway her from her path, not even Gamel Logan-a tall, lean knight whose hungry gaze and heated embrace stir a longing that is both delicious and distracting.From his first glimpse of her at a roadside camp, Gamel knows that Sine, with violet eyes and hair like silken moonlight, is the soul mate he has sought. Yet Sine insists she belongs to another man, though her eager response to his seduction belies her every word. Gamel pledges to help Sine win back her lands from a cunning enemy, but the greater battle will be convincing her to conquer her past and trust in his enduring love...
“To Taste Temptation” Elizabeth Hoyt
The ton loves nothing more than a good scandal, and they're giddy with the appearance of wealthy Samuel Hartley. Not only is he self-made, American, and in the habit of wearing moccasins, but he is also notorious for fleeing a battle in which several English gentlemen lost their lives. What the ton doesn't know, though, is that Samuel is in Londonbecause of this massacre. He believes his regiment was given up to the enemy and won't rest until he finds the traitor.
Lady Emeline Gordon is captivated with Samuel. Not only does he defy convention with his unusual dress, his sensual smile, and his forthright manner, but he survived the battle that killed her beloved brother. Samuel suspects that the person responsible for her brother's death is Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, a family friend since childhood--and Emeline's fiancé. Despite Emeline's belief in Vale's innocence and her refusal to break off her betrothal, she and Samuel begin a passionate affair. But can their relationship survive the fallout from Samuel's investigation?
“A Wanted Man” Linda Lael Miller
The author of more than 60 books, bestseller Miller pounds out another frontier romance loaded with hot lead, steamy sex and surprising plot twists. Rowdy Rhodes is the handsome hunk newly arrived in Stone Creek, Arizona Territory, in 1905. He's living under an assumed name and trying to change his criminal ways, but his plans to go straight go awry when he meets pretty Lark Morgan, a sophisticated local schoolteacher who is secretly on the run from a rich, abusive husband back in Denver. As they flirt, spar and try to keep their own secrets, felonious family members and other more lethal pursuers threaten them both. When Rowdy is tasked with catching the gang of train-robbing outlaws led by his own father, he is in a real dilemma. Between trysts with Lark under the horse blankets and aided by an unlikely tip, Rowdy saves the day after a terrific shootout. He can't, however, save Lark, whose salvation comes in an unexpected and satisfying plot twist. After the last owlhoot hits the dust and the smoke and secrets are cleared up, this zippy horse opera comes to a predictable and comforting ending.
“Grantville Gazette III” Eric Flint
The third volume of short fiction and nonfiction from the e-zine Eric Flint spun off from his alternate-history hit 1632 (2000) boasts the same combination of charm and intelligence as its predecessors and again has continuing character Anne Jefferson on the cover in less than she really enjoys wearing. Meanwhile, at the end, the nonfiction contributors launch a series of articles on seventeenth-century firearms, a topic almost as confused and shifting as seventeenth-century religion. Between cover and guns come stories of refugee experience, of a pastor setting up 12 American men to marry Germans and convert to Lutheranism, of the culture shock when a delegation of Benedictines encounters the 1632 town of Grantville, and of the influence of the Ring of Fire on the already lively enough religious controversy at Cambridge. And an essay considers the likely effects of mechanization on Germany's tangled land tenure system. Flint's 1632 universe seems to be inspiring a whole new crop of gifted alternate historians.
Book on CDs
“Smiles to Go” Jerry Spinelli
What is stargazer, skateboarder, chess champ, pepperoni pizza eater, older brother, sister hater, best friend, first kisser, science geek, control freak Will Tuppence so afraid of in this great big universe?
Jerry Spinelli knows.
“The Front” Patricia Cornwell
When Patricia Cornwell introduced the quicksilver, cut-to-the-bone style and extraordinary cast of characters of At Risk, the result was electrifying: “At Risk is Cornwell’s finest novel. It works in every way possible— fascinating characters, solid plot, great pacing and expertly crafted prose” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); “Absolutely the best. Here’s hoping we’ll see more of Win, Monique, Nana and Sykes in the coming years. They are the best characters to emerge from Cornwell’s creative pen since . . . well, Kay Scarpetta” (The Denver Post).
At Risk featured Massachusetts state investigator Win Garano, a shrewd man of mixed-race background and a notinconsiderable chip on his shoulder; District Attorney Monique Lamont, a hard-charging woman with powerful ambitions and a troubling willingness to cut corners; and Garano’s grandmother, who has certain unpredictable talents that you ignore at your peril.
And in The Front, peril is what comes to them all. D.A. Lamont has a special job for Garano. As part of a new public relations campaign about the dangers of declining neighborhoods, she’s sending him to Watertown to “come up with a drama,” and she thinks she knows just the case that will serve. Garano is very skeptical, because he knows that Watertown is also the home base for a loose association of municipal police departments called the FRONT, set up in order that they don’t have to be so dependent on the state—much to Lamont’s anger. He senses a much deeper agenda here—but he has no idea just how deep it goes. In the days that follow, he’ll find that Lamont’s task, and the places it leads him, will resemble a house of mirrors—everywhere he turns, he’s not quite sure if what he’s seeing is true.
“Falsehoods rule,” warns his grandmother. And they can also kill.
This is the master writing at the absolute top of her game. You will never guess what lies behind The Front.
“Phantom Prey” John Sandford
A widow comes home to her large house in a wealthy, exclusive suburb to find blood everywhere, no body—and her collegeaged daughter missing. She’s always known that her daughter ran with a bad bunch. What did she call them—Goths? Freaks is more like it, running around with all that makeup and black clothing, listening to that awful music, so attracted to death. And now this.
But the police can’t find the girl, alive or dead, and when a second Goth is found slashed to death in Minneapolis, the widow truly panics. There’s someone she knows, a surgeon named Weather Davenport, whose husband is a big deal with the police, and she implores Weather to get him directly involved. Lucas begins to investigate only reluctantly—but then when a third Goth is slashed in what is now looking like a Jackthe- Ripper series of killings, he starts working it hard. The clues don’t seem to add up, though. And then there’s the young Goth who keeps appearing and disappearing: Who is she? Where does she come from and, more important, where does she vanish to? And why does Lucas keep getting the sneaking suspicion that there is something else going on here . . . something very, very bad indeed?
Filled with his brilliant trademark suspense and some of the most interesting characters in thriller fiction, Phantom Prey is further proof that “Sandford is in a class of his own”
“Comfort Food” Kate Jacobs
Shortly before turning the big 5-0, boisterous party planner and Cooking with Gusto! personality Augusta “Gus” Simpson finds herself planning a birthday party she’d rather not—her own. She’s getting tired of being the hostess, the mother hen, the woman who has to plan her own birthday party. What she needs is time on her own with enough distance to give her loved ones the ingredients to put together successful lives without her.
Assisted by a handsome up-and-coming chef, Oliver, Gus invites a select group to take an on-air cooking class. But instead of just preaching to the foodie masses, she will teach regular people how to make rich, sensuous meals—real people making real food. Gus decides to bring a vibrant cast of friends and family on the program: Sabrina, her fickle daughter; Troy, Sabrina’s ex-husband; Anna, Gus’s timid neighbor; and Carmen, Gus’s pompous and beautiful competitor at the Cooking Channel. And when she begins to have more than collegial feelings for her sous-chef, Gus realizes that she might be able to rejuvenate not just her professional life, but her personal life as well. . . .
“Final Salute” Jim Sheeler
Based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning story, Jim Sheeler’s unprecedented look at the way our country honors its dead; Final Salute Is a stunning tribute to the brave troops who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and to the families who continue to mourn them
They are the troops that nobody wants to see, carrying a message that no military family ever wants to hear. It begins with a knock at the door. “The curtains pull away. They come to the door. And they know. They always know,” said Major Steve Beck.
Since the start of the war in Iraq, marines like Major Beck found themselves thrown into a different kind of mission: casualty notification. It is a job Major Beck never asked for and one for which he received no training. They are given no set rules, only impersonal guidelines.
Marines are trained to kill, to break down doors, but casualty notification is a mission without weapons. For Beck, the mission meant learning each dead marine’s name and nickname, touching the toys they grew up with and reading the letters they wrote home. He held grieving mothers in long embraces, absorbing their muffled cries into the dark blue shoulder of his uniform. He stitched himself into the fabric of their lives, in the simple hope that his compassion might help alleviate at least the smallest piece of their pain. Sometimes he returned home to his own family unable to keep from crying in the dark.
In Final Salute, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Jim Sheeler weaves together the stories of the fallen and of the broken homes they have left behind. It is also the story of Major Steve Beck and his unflagging efforts to help heal the wounds of those left grieving. Above all, it is a moving tribute to our troops, putting faces to the mostly anonymous names of our courageous heroes, and to the brave families who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. Final Salute is the achingly beautiful, devastatingly honest story of the true toll of war. After the knock on the door, the story has only begun.
“Harvesting the Heart” Jodi Picoult
Picoult ( Songs of the Humpback Whales ) brings her considerable talents to this contemporary story of a young woman in search of her identity. Abandoned by her mother when she was five years old, Paige O'Toole has been left with painful doubts about her self-worth. She leaves her Chicago home for Cambridge, Mass., at 18 to fulfill herself as an artist, but must work in a diner because she can't afford art school. When she marries Harvard medical student Nicholas Prescott, his parents disown him, disapproving of their Irish Catholic daughter-in-law. Again Paige is forced to sideline her creative needs and work as a waitress in order to support Nicholas until he is able to establish his career as a cardiac surgeon. Paige is soon overwhelmed by the demands of Nicholas's socially sophisticated world, and after the birth of their son, Max, she becomes emotionally and physically exhausted. Unable to communicate her terrors about herself to Nicholas, she leaves him to search for her mother, who may hold the answers to her life. Told in flashbacks, this is a realistic story of childhood and adolescence, the demands of motherhood, the hard paths of personal growth and the generosity of spirit required by love. Picoult's imagery is startling and brilliant; her characters move credibly through this affecting drama.
“Not Even For Love” Sandra Brown
On the surface, Jordan Hadlock has it all. A great job in Switzerland and the rich and renowned Swiss industrialist Helmut Eckherdt is intent on marrying her. What more could she ask for? A clap of thunder and a pounding on her door soon give her an answer. Reeves Grant appears seeking shelter from a sudden downpour, but the real storm is inside Jordan and the passion they share that night. The next morning he disappears without a trace.Still reeling from the encounter, Jordan plays hostess at Helmut's lavish dinner party, where it is announced that he and Jordan are to be wed -- at the very same moment she spies Reeves Grant snapping pictures of the event and her new "fiancé." Now Jordan is moving toward the altar with a man she doesn't love. And working on a feature of the wealthy Helmut is photojournalist Reeves Grant, bringing with him all the memories of the emotions she felt one special night.
“The Gingerbread Girl” Stephen King and Mare Winningham
In the emotional aftermath of her baby's sudden death, Em starts running. Soon she runs from her husband, to the airport, down to the Florida Gulf and out to the loneliest stretch of Vermillion Key, where her father has offered the use of a conch shack he has kept there for years. Em keeps up her running -- barefoot on the beach, sneakers on the road -- and sees virtually no one. This is doing her all kinds of good, until one day she makes the mistake of looking into the driveway of a man named Pickering. Pickering also enjoys the privacy of Vermillion Key, but the young women he brings there suffer the consequences. Will Em be next?
“Madness: A Bipolar Life” Marya Hornbacher
Hornbacher, who detailed her struggle with bulimia and anorexia in Wasted, now shares the story of her lifelong battle with mental illness, finally diagnosed as rapid cycling type 1 bipolar disorder. Even as a toddler, Hornbacher couldn't sleep at night and jabbered endlessly, trying to talk her parents into going outside to play in the dark. Other schoolchildren called her crazy. When she was just 10, she discovered alcohol was a good mood stabilizer; by age 14, she was trading sex for pills. In her late teens, her eating disorder landed her in the hospital, followed by another body obsession, cutting. An alcoholic by this point, she was alternating between mania and depression, with frequent hospitalizations. Her doctor explained that not only did the alcohol block her medications, it was up to her to control her mental illness, which would always be with her. This truth didn't sink in for a long, long time, but when it did, she had a chance for a life outside her local hospital's psychiatric unit. Hornbacher ends on a cautiously optimistic note—she knows she'll never lead a normal life, but maybe she could live with the life she does have. Although painfully self-absorbed, Hornbacher will touch a nerve with readers struggling to cope with mental illness.
“Sunday’s at Tiffany’s” James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
As a little girl, Jane has no one. Her mother Vivienne Margaux, the powerful head of a major New York theater company has no time for her. But she does have one friend--Michael--and no one can see him but her. But Michael can't stay with Jane forever, and on her eighth birthday, her imaginary friend must leave her.
When Jane is in her thirties, working for her mother's company, she is just as alone as she was as a child. Her boyfriend hardly knows she's there and is more interested in what Vivienne can do for his career. Her mother practically treats her as a slave in the office, despite the great success of Jane's first play, "Thank Heaven." Then she finds Michael--handsome, and just the same as she remembers him, only now he's not imaginary. For once in her life, Jane is happy--and has someone who loves her back. But not even Michael knows the reason behind why they've really been reunited.
“Disney Fairies Collection #6: Dulcies Taste of Magic; Silvermist, and the Ladybug Curse” Gail Herman
Poor Dulcie! After the overworked baking fairy nearly ruins breakfast, Queen Clarion tells her to take a holiday. But Dulcie’s vacation is no fun at all. Then Dulcie stumbles across an ancient magical recipe in the library. She’s desperate to try it out. But how can she bake the mysterious Comfort Cake if she’s not allowed in the kitchen?
Silvermist is the calmest water-talent fairy around and as cool as a deep mountain lake. But then an “unlucky” white ladybug lands on Silvermist’s head, and her orderly world goes topsy-turvy. Silvermist doesn’t believe in bad luck and silly old fairy superstitions. But all her troubles began after she found the white ladybug. Is Silvermist really under a curse?
What is stargazer, skateboarder, chess champ, pepperoni pizza eater, older brother, sister hater, best friend, first kisser, science geek, control freak Will Tuppence so afraid of in this great big universe?
Jerry Spinelli knows.
“The Front” Patricia Cornwell
When Patricia Cornwell introduced the quicksilver, cut-to-the-bone style and extraordinary cast of characters of At Risk, the result was electrifying: “At Risk is Cornwell’s finest novel. It works in every way possible— fascinating characters, solid plot, great pacing and expertly crafted prose” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); “Absolutely the best. Here’s hoping we’ll see more of Win, Monique, Nana and Sykes in the coming years. They are the best characters to emerge from Cornwell’s creative pen since . . . well, Kay Scarpetta” (The Denver Post).
At Risk featured Massachusetts state investigator Win Garano, a shrewd man of mixed-race background and a notinconsiderable chip on his shoulder; District Attorney Monique Lamont, a hard-charging woman with powerful ambitions and a troubling willingness to cut corners; and Garano’s grandmother, who has certain unpredictable talents that you ignore at your peril.
And in The Front, peril is what comes to them all. D.A. Lamont has a special job for Garano. As part of a new public relations campaign about the dangers of declining neighborhoods, she’s sending him to Watertown to “come up with a drama,” and she thinks she knows just the case that will serve. Garano is very skeptical, because he knows that Watertown is also the home base for a loose association of municipal police departments called the FRONT, set up in order that they don’t have to be so dependent on the state—much to Lamont’s anger. He senses a much deeper agenda here—but he has no idea just how deep it goes. In the days that follow, he’ll find that Lamont’s task, and the places it leads him, will resemble a house of mirrors—everywhere he turns, he’s not quite sure if what he’s seeing is true.
“Falsehoods rule,” warns his grandmother. And they can also kill.
This is the master writing at the absolute top of her game. You will never guess what lies behind The Front.
“Phantom Prey” John Sandford
A widow comes home to her large house in a wealthy, exclusive suburb to find blood everywhere, no body—and her collegeaged daughter missing. She’s always known that her daughter ran with a bad bunch. What did she call them—Goths? Freaks is more like it, running around with all that makeup and black clothing, listening to that awful music, so attracted to death. And now this.
But the police can’t find the girl, alive or dead, and when a second Goth is found slashed to death in Minneapolis, the widow truly panics. There’s someone she knows, a surgeon named Weather Davenport, whose husband is a big deal with the police, and she implores Weather to get him directly involved. Lucas begins to investigate only reluctantly—but then when a third Goth is slashed in what is now looking like a Jackthe- Ripper series of killings, he starts working it hard. The clues don’t seem to add up, though. And then there’s the young Goth who keeps appearing and disappearing: Who is she? Where does she come from and, more important, where does she vanish to? And why does Lucas keep getting the sneaking suspicion that there is something else going on here . . . something very, very bad indeed?
Filled with his brilliant trademark suspense and some of the most interesting characters in thriller fiction, Phantom Prey is further proof that “Sandford is in a class of his own”
“Comfort Food” Kate Jacobs
Shortly before turning the big 5-0, boisterous party planner and Cooking with Gusto! personality Augusta “Gus” Simpson finds herself planning a birthday party she’d rather not—her own. She’s getting tired of being the hostess, the mother hen, the woman who has to plan her own birthday party. What she needs is time on her own with enough distance to give her loved ones the ingredients to put together successful lives without her.
Assisted by a handsome up-and-coming chef, Oliver, Gus invites a select group to take an on-air cooking class. But instead of just preaching to the foodie masses, she will teach regular people how to make rich, sensuous meals—real people making real food. Gus decides to bring a vibrant cast of friends and family on the program: Sabrina, her fickle daughter; Troy, Sabrina’s ex-husband; Anna, Gus’s timid neighbor; and Carmen, Gus’s pompous and beautiful competitor at the Cooking Channel. And when she begins to have more than collegial feelings for her sous-chef, Gus realizes that she might be able to rejuvenate not just her professional life, but her personal life as well. . . .
“Final Salute” Jim Sheeler
Based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning story, Jim Sheeler’s unprecedented look at the way our country honors its dead; Final Salute Is a stunning tribute to the brave troops who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and to the families who continue to mourn them
They are the troops that nobody wants to see, carrying a message that no military family ever wants to hear. It begins with a knock at the door. “The curtains pull away. They come to the door. And they know. They always know,” said Major Steve Beck.
Since the start of the war in Iraq, marines like Major Beck found themselves thrown into a different kind of mission: casualty notification. It is a job Major Beck never asked for and one for which he received no training. They are given no set rules, only impersonal guidelines.
Marines are trained to kill, to break down doors, but casualty notification is a mission without weapons. For Beck, the mission meant learning each dead marine’s name and nickname, touching the toys they grew up with and reading the letters they wrote home. He held grieving mothers in long embraces, absorbing their muffled cries into the dark blue shoulder of his uniform. He stitched himself into the fabric of their lives, in the simple hope that his compassion might help alleviate at least the smallest piece of their pain. Sometimes he returned home to his own family unable to keep from crying in the dark.
In Final Salute, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Jim Sheeler weaves together the stories of the fallen and of the broken homes they have left behind. It is also the story of Major Steve Beck and his unflagging efforts to help heal the wounds of those left grieving. Above all, it is a moving tribute to our troops, putting faces to the mostly anonymous names of our courageous heroes, and to the brave families who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. Final Salute is the achingly beautiful, devastatingly honest story of the true toll of war. After the knock on the door, the story has only begun.
“Harvesting the Heart” Jodi Picoult
Picoult ( Songs of the Humpback Whales ) brings her considerable talents to this contemporary story of a young woman in search of her identity. Abandoned by her mother when she was five years old, Paige O'Toole has been left with painful doubts about her self-worth. She leaves her Chicago home for Cambridge, Mass., at 18 to fulfill herself as an artist, but must work in a diner because she can't afford art school. When she marries Harvard medical student Nicholas Prescott, his parents disown him, disapproving of their Irish Catholic daughter-in-law. Again Paige is forced to sideline her creative needs and work as a waitress in order to support Nicholas until he is able to establish his career as a cardiac surgeon. Paige is soon overwhelmed by the demands of Nicholas's socially sophisticated world, and after the birth of their son, Max, she becomes emotionally and physically exhausted. Unable to communicate her terrors about herself to Nicholas, she leaves him to search for her mother, who may hold the answers to her life. Told in flashbacks, this is a realistic story of childhood and adolescence, the demands of motherhood, the hard paths of personal growth and the generosity of spirit required by love. Picoult's imagery is startling and brilliant; her characters move credibly through this affecting drama.
“Not Even For Love” Sandra Brown
On the surface, Jordan Hadlock has it all. A great job in Switzerland and the rich and renowned Swiss industrialist Helmut Eckherdt is intent on marrying her. What more could she ask for? A clap of thunder and a pounding on her door soon give her an answer. Reeves Grant appears seeking shelter from a sudden downpour, but the real storm is inside Jordan and the passion they share that night. The next morning he disappears without a trace.Still reeling from the encounter, Jordan plays hostess at Helmut's lavish dinner party, where it is announced that he and Jordan are to be wed -- at the very same moment she spies Reeves Grant snapping pictures of the event and her new "fiancé." Now Jordan is moving toward the altar with a man she doesn't love. And working on a feature of the wealthy Helmut is photojournalist Reeves Grant, bringing with him all the memories of the emotions she felt one special night.
“The Gingerbread Girl” Stephen King and Mare Winningham
In the emotional aftermath of her baby's sudden death, Em starts running. Soon she runs from her husband, to the airport, down to the Florida Gulf and out to the loneliest stretch of Vermillion Key, where her father has offered the use of a conch shack he has kept there for years. Em keeps up her running -- barefoot on the beach, sneakers on the road -- and sees virtually no one. This is doing her all kinds of good, until one day she makes the mistake of looking into the driveway of a man named Pickering. Pickering also enjoys the privacy of Vermillion Key, but the young women he brings there suffer the consequences. Will Em be next?
“Madness: A Bipolar Life” Marya Hornbacher
Hornbacher, who detailed her struggle with bulimia and anorexia in Wasted, now shares the story of her lifelong battle with mental illness, finally diagnosed as rapid cycling type 1 bipolar disorder. Even as a toddler, Hornbacher couldn't sleep at night and jabbered endlessly, trying to talk her parents into going outside to play in the dark. Other schoolchildren called her crazy. When she was just 10, she discovered alcohol was a good mood stabilizer; by age 14, she was trading sex for pills. In her late teens, her eating disorder landed her in the hospital, followed by another body obsession, cutting. An alcoholic by this point, she was alternating between mania and depression, with frequent hospitalizations. Her doctor explained that not only did the alcohol block her medications, it was up to her to control her mental illness, which would always be with her. This truth didn't sink in for a long, long time, but when it did, she had a chance for a life outside her local hospital's psychiatric unit. Hornbacher ends on a cautiously optimistic note—she knows she'll never lead a normal life, but maybe she could live with the life she does have. Although painfully self-absorbed, Hornbacher will touch a nerve with readers struggling to cope with mental illness.
“Sunday’s at Tiffany’s” James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
As a little girl, Jane has no one. Her mother Vivienne Margaux, the powerful head of a major New York theater company has no time for her. But she does have one friend--Michael--and no one can see him but her. But Michael can't stay with Jane forever, and on her eighth birthday, her imaginary friend must leave her.
When Jane is in her thirties, working for her mother's company, she is just as alone as she was as a child. Her boyfriend hardly knows she's there and is more interested in what Vivienne can do for his career. Her mother practically treats her as a slave in the office, despite the great success of Jane's first play, "Thank Heaven." Then she finds Michael--handsome, and just the same as she remembers him, only now he's not imaginary. For once in her life, Jane is happy--and has someone who loves her back. But not even Michael knows the reason behind why they've really been reunited.
“Disney Fairies Collection #6: Dulcies Taste of Magic; Silvermist, and the Ladybug Curse” Gail Herman
Poor Dulcie! After the overworked baking fairy nearly ruins breakfast, Queen Clarion tells her to take a holiday. But Dulcie’s vacation is no fun at all. Then Dulcie stumbles across an ancient magical recipe in the library. She’s desperate to try it out. But how can she bake the mysterious Comfort Cake if she’s not allowed in the kitchen?
Silvermist is the calmest water-talent fairy around and as cool as a deep mountain lake. But then an “unlucky” white ladybug lands on Silvermist’s head, and her orderly world goes topsy-turvy. Silvermist doesn’t believe in bad luck and silly old fairy superstitions. But all her troubles began after she found the white ladybug. Is Silvermist really under a curse?
Young Adult Graphic Novels
“Kindaichi Case Files v.17” Kanari Yozaburo
“Hardy Boys #13: The Deadliest Stunt” Scott Lobdell
When a mysterious saboteur infiltrates the Miss Teen Stunt Americana competition, Joe and Frank are assigned to back up one of the contestants... Lind'Z Rider, the most flamboyant and impulsive A.T.A.C. agent ever! As if the competition stunts weren’t dangerous enough, Frank and Joe must stop the saboteur before someone dies!
“Nancy Drew Girl Detective #13: Doggone Town” Stefan Petrucha
When Nancy Drew and Ned Nickerson attempt to return a lost dog named “Togo” to its owner in the small town of Nevershare, they stumble onto a much bigger mystery—where did all the people go? The entire population of Nevershare is missing, except for one person, and she’s mean and not very helpful. Will Nancy solve this mystery before she and Ned also disappear?
“Nancy Drew Girl Detective #14: Sleight of Dan” Stefan Petrucha
Nancy, Ned, and George attend magician Dan Devil’s show, and witness his assistant’s magical disappearance—except she doesn’t reappear! Seems Nancy can’t even go on a date without stumbling upon a mystery. In searching for the missing assistant, Nancy goes on a magical mystery tour of Dan Evil’s home and runs into a very hungry anaconda! Rather than become snake food, she agrees to become Dan’s new assistant—but what if she vanishes too?
“Hardy Boys #13: The Deadliest Stunt” Scott Lobdell
When a mysterious saboteur infiltrates the Miss Teen Stunt Americana competition, Joe and Frank are assigned to back up one of the contestants... Lind'Z Rider, the most flamboyant and impulsive A.T.A.C. agent ever! As if the competition stunts weren’t dangerous enough, Frank and Joe must stop the saboteur before someone dies!
“Nancy Drew Girl Detective #13: Doggone Town” Stefan Petrucha
When Nancy Drew and Ned Nickerson attempt to return a lost dog named “Togo” to its owner in the small town of Nevershare, they stumble onto a much bigger mystery—where did all the people go? The entire population of Nevershare is missing, except for one person, and she’s mean and not very helpful. Will Nancy solve this mystery before she and Ned also disappear?
“Nancy Drew Girl Detective #14: Sleight of Dan” Stefan Petrucha
Nancy, Ned, and George attend magician Dan Devil’s show, and witness his assistant’s magical disappearance—except she doesn’t reappear! Seems Nancy can’t even go on a date without stumbling upon a mystery. In searching for the missing assistant, Nancy goes on a magical mystery tour of Dan Evil’s home and runs into a very hungry anaconda! Rather than become snake food, she agrees to become Dan’s new assistant—but what if she vanishes too?
Junior Fiction
“Nick of Time” Ted Bell
In the grand tradition of epic novels like Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island comes a wondrous tale of time travel, adventure, and riches, in which twelve-year-old Nick McIver sets out to become “the hero of his own life.”
The setting is England, 1939, on the eve of war. Nick and his younger sister, Kate, live in a lighthouse on the smallest of the Channel Islands. Nick and Kate come to the aid of their father who is engaged in a desperate war of espionage with German U-boat wolf packs that are circling the islands. The information they provide to Winston Churchill is vital as he tries to warn England of the imminent Nazi invasion.
One day Nick discovers an old sea chest, left for him by his ancestor, Captain Nicholas McIver of the Royal Navy. Inside, he finds a time machine and a desperate plea for help from the captain. He uses the machine to return to the year 1805. Captain McIver and, indeed, Admiral Nelson’s entire fleet are threatened by the treachery of the French and the mutinous Captain Billy Blood. Nick must reach deep inside, using his wits, courage, and daring to rescue the imperiled British sailors.
His sister, Kate, meanwhile, has enlisted the aid of two of England’s most brilliant “scientific detectives,” Lord Hawke and Commander Hobbes, to thwart the invading Nazis. She and Nick must face England’s underwater enemies, a challenge made all the more difficult when they discover the existence of Germany’s supersecret submarine.
In this striking adventure for readers of all ages, Nick must fight ruthless enemies across two different centuries, on land and sea, to help defeat those determined to destroy his home and his family.
In the grand tradition of epic novels like Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island comes a wondrous tale of time travel, adventure, and riches, in which twelve-year-old Nick McIver sets out to become “the hero of his own life.”
The setting is England, 1939, on the eve of war. Nick and his younger sister, Kate, live in a lighthouse on the smallest of the Channel Islands. Nick and Kate come to the aid of their father who is engaged in a desperate war of espionage with German U-boat wolf packs that are circling the islands. The information they provide to Winston Churchill is vital as he tries to warn England of the imminent Nazi invasion.
One day Nick discovers an old sea chest, left for him by his ancestor, Captain Nicholas McIver of the Royal Navy. Inside, he finds a time machine and a desperate plea for help from the captain. He uses the machine to return to the year 1805. Captain McIver and, indeed, Admiral Nelson’s entire fleet are threatened by the treachery of the French and the mutinous Captain Billy Blood. Nick must reach deep inside, using his wits, courage, and daring to rescue the imperiled British sailors.
His sister, Kate, meanwhile, has enlisted the aid of two of England’s most brilliant “scientific detectives,” Lord Hawke and Commander Hobbes, to thwart the invading Nazis. She and Nick must face England’s underwater enemies, a challenge made all the more difficult when they discover the existence of Germany’s supersecret submarine.
In this striking adventure for readers of all ages, Nick must fight ruthless enemies across two different centuries, on land and sea, to help defeat those determined to destroy his home and his family.
Children's Easy Fiction
“Pinky Dinky Doo: Where Are My Shoes?” Jim Jinkins
Pinky Dinky Doo makes up silly stories to entertain her little brother, Tyler, in these two titles in the Step into Reading series. In Polka Dot Pox, Pinky cheers up Tyler, who has a cold, by telling him a somewhat convoluted tale about the problem she had when it was her turn to do pet show-and-tell at school. In Where Are My Shoes? Pinky wears the baloney from her sandwiches on her feet. After arriving at school she discovers everyone else has food shoes, too--from meat loaves to melons. The slapstick nonsense is extended in the art, which combines digital photos with bright, active cartoons. The story-within-a-story in pox may be a bit confusing, but the scenarios in Shoes show new readers the fun of making up nonsense as well as reading it.
“Pinky Dinky Doo: Think Pink” Jim Jinkins
In Pinky’s trademark story-within-a-story, Pinky wakes up one morning to find that her lovely yellow hair has turned bright, raving pink! When she discovers how and why, she and her little brother also learn that change, big or small, can be a good thing.
“Pinky Dinky Doo: Shrinky Pinky” Jim Jinkins
In the third book in the Pinky Dinky Doo series, irrepressible cartoon character Pinky makes up another story to entertain and enlighten her brother, Tyler. This time Tyler is being bullied, and Pinky tells him about her problems with Lane Puppytray. As with the other books, both the narrative voice and the emotional content seem right on the mark for the age group, as is the generous scattering of goofy character names (Ms La Deedah, Mrs. Tartarsauce). The text is matched by inventive, computer-enhanced collage artwork: spirited, busy, smoothly integrated combinations of photos and bold, full-of-action color cartoons. Pinky and her pals seem to spring right off the page. The art and the energy of the story--not the "lesson" it purports to convey--are the attractions here.
Pinky Dinky Doo makes up silly stories to entertain her little brother, Tyler, in these two titles in the Step into Reading series. In Polka Dot Pox, Pinky cheers up Tyler, who has a cold, by telling him a somewhat convoluted tale about the problem she had when it was her turn to do pet show-and-tell at school. In Where Are My Shoes? Pinky wears the baloney from her sandwiches on her feet. After arriving at school she discovers everyone else has food shoes, too--from meat loaves to melons. The slapstick nonsense is extended in the art, which combines digital photos with bright, active cartoons. The story-within-a-story in pox may be a bit confusing, but the scenarios in Shoes show new readers the fun of making up nonsense as well as reading it.
“Pinky Dinky Doo: Think Pink” Jim Jinkins
In Pinky’s trademark story-within-a-story, Pinky wakes up one morning to find that her lovely yellow hair has turned bright, raving pink! When she discovers how and why, she and her little brother also learn that change, big or small, can be a good thing.
“Pinky Dinky Doo: Shrinky Pinky” Jim Jinkins
In the third book in the Pinky Dinky Doo series, irrepressible cartoon character Pinky makes up another story to entertain and enlighten her brother, Tyler. This time Tyler is being bullied, and Pinky tells him about her problems with Lane Puppytray. As with the other books, both the narrative voice and the emotional content seem right on the mark for the age group, as is the generous scattering of goofy character names (Ms La Deedah, Mrs. Tartarsauce). The text is matched by inventive, computer-enhanced collage artwork: spirited, busy, smoothly integrated combinations of photos and bold, full-of-action color cartoons. Pinky and her pals seem to spring right off the page. The art and the energy of the story--not the "lesson" it purports to convey--are the attractions here.
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