Monthly Archives: February 2013

Fall of the Giants

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FalloftheGiants_KenFollettKen Follett’s magnificent new historical epic begins, as five interrelated families move through the momentous dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.

A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man’s world in the mining pits.…An American law student rejected in love finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House.… A housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy.…And two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution.

From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes us into the inextricably entangled fates of five families—and into a century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same again.…

Description Credit: Amazon.com

A Risk Worth Taking

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riskworthtaking1A Risk Worth Taking by Robin Pilcher
Copyright 2004
ISBN 0-312-27002-X

Dan Porter had it all: a big house in suburban London, a beautiful wife, three children in private school, and a high-paying job. But then, it all collapsed like a house of cards. Now Dan stays home while his angry wife pursues a career, and his marriage falters. Returning to his old profession could mend the rift, but Dan needs to do something else, something more…

Then, Dan hears about a company for sale in northern Scotland, and the temptation is too great to resist. With his son Josh and two dogs in tow, he lands in a primitive cottage above a frigid loch. As he takes stock of his past, he discovers a community who desperately needs his help, a new chance for the future, a risk that requires a leap of faith…and an astonishing love.

Still Life

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StillLife_JoyFielding1Still Life by Joy Fielding
Copyright 2009
ISBN 978-1-4165-8527-5

Beautiful, happily married, surrounded by loving friends, and the owner of a successful interior design business, Casey Marshall couldn’t be more content with her life. Until a car slams into her at almost fifty miles an hour, breaking nearly every bone in her body, and plunging her into a coma that leaves her conscious but unable to move or communicate. Lying in her hospital bed, observing and listening to visitors, who assume she is oblivious to what they are saying, she quickly discovers that her friends aren’t necessarily the people she thought them to be—and that her accident might not have been an accident at all. As she struggles to break free from her living death, she begins to wonder if what lies ahead could be even worse.

“It is Fielding’s ability to get under the skin of her characters—and her readers—that has made her such a dependably bestselling author,” says the Calgary Herald . Smart, suspenseful, and overwhelmingly addictive, Still Life is a novel her fans won’t soon forget.

Sliver of Truth

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sliveroftruth_LisaUngerSliver of Truth by Lisa Unger

Copyright 2007 ISBN 978-0-307-33846-4

The highly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Beautiful Lies.

Charged with relentless intensity and kinetic action, and playing out with unnerving suspense on the streets of New York and London, Sliver of Truth delves deep into the shadowy world of Ridley Jones, a terrified but determined young woman at once hunting down a ghost from her past and running for her life.

The Teaberry Strangler

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teaberrystrangler_LauraChilThe Teaberry Strangler by Laura Childs
Copyright 2010
ISBN 978-0-425-23245-3

The bestselling author of Oolong Dead serves up an Old-World treat, spiced with a Sherlock Holmes-style murder mystery.

It was the Dickensian evening Theodosia Browning had been hoping for. Charleston shop-owners dressed in cloaks of yore threw open their back doors to visitors, who took advantage of bargains and Theodosia’s delicious teas.

But later, the alleys clear except for one body- which a horrified Theodosia discovers. It’s Daria, the map store’s owner. Locals have shown interest in buying her shop-but enough to kill? Plus there’s been a customer hell-bent on acquiring a not-for-­sale map. Most alarming of all theories, however, is Detective Tidwell’s: the killer mistook Daria for Theodosia. And if that theory holds, the killer’s work isn’t done.

Dramarama

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dramarama_LockhartDramarama by E. Lockhart
Copyright 2007
ISBN 978-078683817-2

Two theater-mad, self-invented fabulositon Ohio teenagers.
One boy, one girl.
One gay, one straight.
One black, one white.
And SUMMER DRAMA CAMP.
It’s a season of hormones,gold lame,hissy fits, jazz hands, song and dance, true love,and unitards that will determine their future–and test their friendship.

Scones and Bones

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sconeandbones_LauraChildsScones and Bones – A tea shop mystery by Laura Childs
Copyright 2011
ISBN 978-0-425-23896-7

Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning is attending the Heritage Society’s Pirates and Plunder show when a history intern is murdered amidst the gold earrings and doubloons. Even with that on her plate, Theodosia still has to attend Charleston’s Food and Wine Festival, where she’s hosting a tea and cheese tasting. But as her thoughts keep drifting to the victim, Theodosia knows she’ll have to whet her investigative skills to find the killer among a schooner of suspects.

 

The Parisian Affair

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parisianaffair_JudithGouldThe Parisian Affair by Judith Gould
Copyright 2004
ISBN 0-451-21274-6

Allegra Sheridan is a jewelry designer in Manhattan. She has made a name for herself designing one-of-a-kind pieces for a small but elite clientele – one of whom has offered Allegra an extraordinary opportunity. Wealthy software entrepreneur Hilton Whitehead has a mistress he’s eager to please. What Kitty wants, Kitty gets. This time, Kitty wants the legendary Princess Karima emerald, that is up for auction in Europe. Whitehead’s proposition: he’ll pay Allegra a small fortune to travel to Paris and bid in anonymity for him.

Once in Paris, Allegra successfully completes her mission. However, ownership of the extraordinary jewels invites threats from the lethally handsome Ramtane – a man willing to murder for the secret that the Karima gem holds. For the treasure that Allegra holds contains a dangerous mystery and a scandalous past of international conspiracy that could mean death to anyone who discovers it . . .

Summer Rental

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summerrental_marykayandrewsSummer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews
ISBN 978-0-312-64269-3
Copyright 2011

Sometimes, when you need a change in your life, the tide just happens to pull you in the right direction….

Ellis, Julia, and Dorie. Best friends since Catholic grade school, they now find themselves, in their mid-thirties, at the crossroads of life and love. Ellis, recently fired from a job she gave everything to, is rudderless and now beginning to question the choices she’s made over the past decade of her life. Julia—whose caustic wit covers up her wounds–has a man who loves her and is offering her the world, but she can’t hide from how deeply insecure she feels about her looks, her brains, her life.  And Dorie has just been shockingly betrayed by the man she loved and trusted the most in the world…though this is just the tip of the iceberg of her problems and secrets. A month in North Carolina’s Outer Banks is just what they each of them needs.

Ty Bazemore is their landlord, though he’s hanging on to the rambling old beach house by a thin thread. After an inauspicious first meeting with Ellis, the two find themselves disturbingly attracted to one another, even as Ty is about to lose everything he’s ever cared about.

Maryn Shackleford is a stranger, and a woman on the run. Maryn needs just a few things in life: no questions, a good hiding place, and a new identity.  Ellis, Julia, and Dorie can provide what Maryn wants; can they also provide what she needs?

Five people questioning everything they ever thought they knew about life. Five people on a journey that will uncover their secrets and point them on the path to forgiveness. Five people who each need a sea change, and one month in a summer rental that might just give it to them.

 

Such a Pretty Face

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suchaprettyface_CathyLambSuch a Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb
Copyright 2010
ISBN 978-1-61664-651-6

In this warm, funny, thoroughly candid novel, acclaimed author Cathy Lamb introduces an unforgettable heroine who’s half the woman she used to be, and about to find herself for the first time…

Two years and 170 pounds ago, Stevie Barrett was wheeled into an operating room for surgery that most likely saved her life. Since that day, a new Stevie has emerged, one who walks without wheezing, plants a garden for self-therapy, and builds and paints fantastical wooden chairs. At thirty-five, Stevie is the one thing she never thought she’d be: thin.

But for everything that’s changed, some things remain the same. Stevie’s shyness refuses to melt away. She still can’t look her neighbors’ gorgeous great-nephew in the eye. The Portland law office where she works remains utterly dysfunctional, as does her family—the aunt, uncle, and cousins who took her in when she was a child. To top it off, her once supportive best friend clearly resents her weight loss.

By far the biggest challenge in Stevie’s new life lies in figuring out how to define her new self. Collaborating with her cousins to plan her aunt and uncle’s problematic fortieth anniversary party, Stevie starts to find some surprising answers—about who she is, who she wants to be, and how the old Stevie evolved in the first place. And with each revelation, she realizes the most important part of her transformation may not be what she’s lost, but the courage and confidence she’s gathering, day by day.

As achingly honest as it is witty, Such A Pretty Face is a richly insightful novel of one woman’s search for love, family, and acceptance, of the pain we all carry—and the wonders that can happen when we let it go at last.