For one Long Island podiatrist, it takes an impromptu act of vandalism just to make him aware of his own being. Walking home in the sub-zero wind chill of a Friday night, he stumbles on a bottle of horseradish and mindlessly hurls it through the window of a popular store selling over-sexed tween fashions. This one tiny, out-of-character impulse turns his life vivid and terrifying, triggering waves of fear, crooked cops, and suspicions of antisemitism, both accurate and paranoid.The story is told by this same podiatrist, an often hysterical, endearingly wide-eyed, and entirely nameless narrator, to what he regards as the perfect audience: a comatose college friend. Yet, our narrator s most unique quality lies simply in his glowing love for his wife Alyse, the girl of his dreams whom he met in college and still can t quite believe he attained. She is the mother of his two children, Esme and Charlie, who are just starting to come into their own minds and experiencing their first encounters with prejudice.Prior to the bottle throwing incident, our narrator had just enough going on to keep him interested in his own life. Now he s way too interested. Friends and neighbors push his new intrigue-filled existence into wildly unpredictable places, especially nineteen year old Audra Uziel, a long-time patient whose plantar warts have given way to brilliance, rebelliousness, sexiness, and a taste for happily married men.And oh: Audra also happens to be the daughter of Nat Uziel, self-proclaimed neighborhood patriarch business owner and owner of the store whose window the horseradish bottle smashed. Nat, always loudly on the lookout for antisemitism, doesn't know the true culprit but doesn't let that stop him from whipping his neighborhood into a frenzy, forcing our narrator into hiding in plain sight.Pushed to the edge by his own desires, despairs, and disappointments, our narrator is about to find out what it s like to become a criminal, and what his excruciatingly dull neighborhood looks like when it s been turned upside down.

    Observe. Ridicule.You run into them every day—the striped-shirt guy, the karaoke master, the dude with a pencil-thin beard, the guy who won’t shut up about his fantasy football team—characters who annoy, irritate, and incense us all. Based on the wildly popular essay on ThePhatPhree.com by Mike Polk, this book is a look inside the heads of the most infuriating douchebags on Earth. It’s the best of ThePhatPhree.com plus more than fifty all-new, hilarious pieces written by some of your favorite writers from this site.Everyone’s (Least) Favorite, The Striped-Shirt Guy…I will valet tonight! I will treat the valet with contempt and make sure that he knows that I am superior to him. I will tell him, “Take it easy on the brakes, champ”! When I do not hook up with a girl at the club, I will say that the place is “full of skanks” and wait in line at another bar, only to strike out again!Your “Cool” High School Teacher…Here are some things I allow in my class that other teachers don’t: eating, drinking,swearing, dancing, smoking, fighting, cell phones, Texas hold ’em, iPods, and sex. Like my Goo Goo Dolls tee? Anyone else here down with the Dolls? No? Me either. I’m just wearing it as a goof.The Guy with Amazing Taste in Music…Personally, I haven’t listened to the radio in fifteen years. If you have ever heard a band on the radio, then I can assure you, I am not a fan. I stopped listening to American music about ten years ago.

    The women are now in their seventies and time is rendering its Accounts Payable: arthritis, cataracts, forgetfulness, and departures.From the dawn of the new millennium - at which the anti-Christ unaccountably fails to appear, despite evangelist Gayle's predictions - Peggy soldiers on through new upheavals, including her ex-husband Vern's Alzheimer's diagnosis, and the death of one of her live-in friends. Then, on a clear blue day in September 2001, the US Air Force scrambles too late to save America from four hostile attacks, and for the first time Peggy wonders if being a USAF wife - the constant worry about your husband, the faraway postings in Alaska, Norfolk, Siberia, the lack of control over your own life - was worth it.You're getting very negative in your old age, Peggy Dewey, says Lois. Sure it was worthwhile. Leastways we're not speaking Russky. And besides, we had some fun. Didn't we have some fun?

    The Prime Minister regarded him as the hard man, and depended on him because he brought solutions, not problems. But the political deals he had to do had their price and someone, sometime was going to have to pay it.

    Wayne Winkle! Following the Civil War, Ten St. John comes home to find his mother dead and his father gone West. He goes after his pa to let him know it’s just the two of them now. Along the way, he begins hearing about someone other than his father who may be traveling with him. He also begins finding out a lot of new things about his pa. The question is: Will he find his pa, and will he be who Ten thinks he is?

    The Standish family are poor but the eldest boy, Tommy, desires wealth and position and will do anything in pursuit of his dream regardless of the misery he causes anyone who dares to step in his way. His ambitions realised, a terrible secret from his past threatens his very existence. THE WIDOW MAKERS 1842-1860 Review the Welsh Books Council www.gwales.com Mead's novel is inspiring reading; a classic tale, full of all the ingredients which make the finest novels. My only criticism was that it ended too soon; I felt bereft! A sequel please. THE WIDOW MAKERS; STRIFE 1860-1874 Review Historical Novel Society The author is a wonderful storyteller who uses authentic well-written language. A page turner. The story stays with you after the book is finished. THE WIDOW MAKERS; STRIFE 1860-1874 Review Welsh Books Council www.gwales.com Jean Mead sweeps you along with her vivid descriptions of 19th century life. A compelling vivid account that leaves you finishing the last page with regret and hoping for more.

    They say, every wish can be fulfilled. Kito is a little orphan, living in a village, who got to know about a magical tree, that can make his innermost desire true. But at the same time all the other villagers want their desires to be fulfilled as well...

    And he’s a deputy city marshal in Wichita. When a band of cutthroats torture and kill and elderly couple, Coppersmith turns in his badge and becomes a bounty hunter. Following Brady Rutledge and his gang, Coppersmith ends up in Blanca, Colorado. Wounded and framed for a murder he did not commit, he proves his innocence, and decides it’s time to pin on a star again — and end Rutledge’s murderous reign.

    

    Hunt, once again hears from the Secretary of the Interior and is not happy. Hunt is forced to once again travel to Washington to iron things out. Beth is having second thoughts about Denver, and Hunt becomes tormented with guilt about returning to Denver and wonders if he is making the right decision. Hunt gets a telegram from Ditch Combs in Albany and needs help with a gang of bandits that hit New York banks and cross Lake Ontario and escape to Canada. Hunt travels to Albany and makes plans to set a trap for the Ontario Lake Gang’s next robbery, and it results in a shootout involving citizens, police, and the U.S. Marshals. Hunt decides to take Beth and the children to Denver for a week at the home in Hidden Valley. Beth doesn’t want to take the children out of school so Hunt travels alone. Hunt needs to find a husband and wife team for one of the ranches in Denver, and a husband and wife team for the farms in Indiana. Hunt meets the neighbor in Indiana and buys his farms, adding more to the list of reasons to return to Denver. Hunt once again confronts Grant and insists on being transferred and President Grant calls on Hunt for one more impossible task. Hunt heads to New Orleans for a dangerous task that may be a oneway trip.

    A young man hung himself from the tree two years earlier. Someone is determined this time the guilty ones will pay. DCI Hatherall must unmask a master of disguise before everyone connected to the suicide is slaughtered.

     Part 3 continues the saga of the Bassett brothers and their twin wives as they face the greatest threats to their lives. After a slight mishap and reconciliation at the end of Part 2, the two couples experience a time of peace and happiness during the Christmas season. That peace is soon shattered during a Twelfth Night party when an unexpected, and unwelcome, guest arrives. Now they must find the strength to prevail against this foe from the brothers' past as he plots to ruin their lives. And finally, the climax, a historically correct event brings treachery and sorrow to Riverbreeze plantation, forcing the brothers to defend their home and protect their family from Indian attack and war. Full of drama, excitement, humor, romance and details of early American life, the Riverbreeze series will appeal to a wide range of readers.

    "The Lion and the Leopard" takes place during the Great 1914-18 War when German forces invaded Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia and Portuguese East Africa. Martin Russell ("The Settler") and his step-daughter, Clare, travel to the war front, while the Spaight family (Alan, from "Lake of Slaves", and his son Drew, and daughters Mandy and Kirsty) are also drawn into the conflict. A young British officer falls in love with Mandy, but she finds her true love elsewhere. Kirsty's friend, a Britsh naval reservist, joins the gunboat flotilla on Lake Tanganyika. The Chilembwe Uprising in Nyasaland provides an unwelcome distraction early in the war. The loves and tragedies in the families unfold during the long and bitter campaign.

    But a terrible accident and a surprise inheritance put pressure on the happy couple's relationship. "Sheer country magic." James Herriott The advent of the Second World War brings changes to the farm, with one depature and a new arrival. Charlie's good intentions to help a young boy, and the Truscotts' struggling neighbour, drive him and his wife further apart. And Linn's worries about her beloved son, Robert, are difficult to bear. A moving and often heart-rending account of life on a country farm in 1940s war-torn England. The fifth and final book in the Apple Tree Saga.

    EDDIE FLYNN NOVEL FROM MICHAEL DONOVAN Cheating husbands. P.I. Eddie Flynn doesn't judge. He just brings back the evidence for a fee and lets the client do the judging. Not that the present fee is much. Young mother Lisa Elland can barely afford the bargain basement charge for a quick check on her husband. But pay she will: even bad news is better than not knowing whether she still has a marriage. And for Flynn the job is a nice filler before he shuts up shop for Christmas. But there's a problem. You can't catch a guy cheating until you find him. And Ray Elland isn't findable. He's disappeared completely with just an overnight bag and a sleazy excuse. He's nowhere to be found. No-one has seen him or heard from him. It's like he doesn't exist. And Flynn's quick investigation has hit the rocks. Then complications arise. Flynn is being followed. He's being threatened. And Lisa has stopped answering her phone. The quick investigation has just turned into a nightmare... The fourth P.I. Eddie Flynn novel from award-winning crime author Michael Donovan. WHAT BOOK REVIEWERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE EDDIE FLYNN SERIES... "Masterful... If you haven't been introduced to Eddie Flynn yet, be prepared." RED CITY REVIEW "A chilling thriller crafted with a fluid narrative style ... wild nightmarish scenes..." BOOKPLEASURES "A wonderful debut novel in a hugely competitive market" CUCKOO REVIEWS" Good old fashioned detective work. A slick, dynamic mystery. "KIRKUS REVIEWS" [With] more competition than ever in the crime-writing genre, Donovan's novel is a real winner..." LYTHAM ST ANNES EXPRESS "Brilliantly absorbing. Escapism at its best." POSTCARD REVIEWS "Humour ... violent confrontations ... well recommended. "EUROCRIME" Short chapters ... a brilliant use of format ... the [book] will haunt your days and nights" CUCKOO REVIEWS "Great concise writing style... fast paced action ... Donovan makes you feel as though you are uncovering the truth." NEWBOOKSMAG