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This Wasn't The Plan
Lisa Fenwick - 2018
And she's really getting tired of it. Her love life is slowly sucking the life out of her. Her boss won't promote her. And her anxiety and weight just want her to keep everything the same because change is just too much work. Day after day she watches the parade of employees pass by her desk, the women in their expensive clothes giggling about what they did over the weekend and where they should go for lunch.It was like high school all over again, except this time the popular kids all worked upstairs and the invisible girl answered the phones.In an industry dominated by men and the skinny size two admins that support them Sam wonders if she should just accept the fact that she doesn't fit the mold for the job she wants. In the blink of an eye she's asked to do something that could end up turning her world upside down and possibly get her closer to her goals.Doing it could be a big mistake. Not doing it could be an even bigger one.
Roseland: Volume One
Eric Ugland - 2019
Without a disapproving mom to rebel against, what was the point?When she arrives back in her hometown, she finds a lot more going on than fancy food trucks and put-a-bird-on-it hipsters. Murders are being passed off as suicides. College-aged women keep going missing. And then there's the troubling spate of mobsters who keep inviting her out to eat. With a pile of cash saved from her last job and no one around to tell her not to, Ginger decides to become a private investigator, to find out exactly what's gone wrong in the City of Roses. First up: Her mother's "suicide."Included in this omnibus are the first six novellas in the series:
Home Is Where the Start Is
The Ruth Is Out There
The Body in the Pool
Amber Alert
Jane Dead
Welcome to Roseland
Praise for The Roseland Series:
"This heart-racing mystery is just dripping with snark. Ginger Mitchell is one of the best private investigators to hang up a shingle in years." "Ginger is a little bit Veronica Mars with daddy issues, fewer moral hang-ups, and a mom who is a not-so friendly ghost.""A slice of yummy cake. Quickly devoured and highly enjoyed."
Paris in the Present Tense
Mark Helprin - 2017
Seventy-four-year-old Jules Lacour—a maître at Paris-Sorbonne, cellist, widower, veteran of the war in Algeria, and child of the Holocaust—must find a balance between his strong obligations to the past and the attractions and beauties of life and love in the present.In the midst of what should be an effulgent time of life—days bright with music, family, rowing on the Seine—Jules is confronted headlong and all at once by a series of challenges to his principles, livelihood, and home, forcing him to grapple with his complex past and find a way forward. He risks fraud to save his terminally ill infant grandson, matches wits with a renegade insurance investigator, is drawn into an act of savage violence, and falls deeply, excitingly in love with a young cellist a third his age. Against the backdrop of an exquisite and knowing vision of Paris and the way it can uniquely shape a life, he forges a denouement that is staggering in its humanity, elegance, and truth.In the intoxicating beauty of its prose and emotional amplitude of its storytelling, Mark Helprin’s Paris in the Present Tense is a soaring achievement, a deep, dizzying look at a life through the purifying lenses of art and memory.
Friends Like These
Kimberly McCreight - 2021
Doesn’t matter how long it’s been, or how badly they’ve occasionally behaved, or how late it is when that call finally comes—you show up. No questions asked.Honestly, that’s how the five of us ended up here in the Catskills. We did have the best of intentions. Especially after what happened to Alice all those years ago, we can’t bear to think of losing anyone else. In fact, we’ll do anything to make sure that doesn’t happen. We’ll go so much farther than we ever thought we would. In the end, maybe that’s what caught up with us. That, and the fact that we’re such a complicated group—so much history and so many big personalities. Secrets, too, that can slip out at the most inopportune moments. Of course, we love each other despite all of those things. We love each other no matter what.There’s something so beautiful about that kind of unconditional love. It can turn ugly, though. Or maybe that’s just us. After all, we’ve already been through so much together. And we have so very much to hide.
The House Beneath the Oak Trees
Faye Belle - 2017
Guarded by two gigantic oak trees, the empty house stands alone within Oakdene, a quiet and desolate village. She ignores her mischievous aunt as she jokingly tries to convince them that their rented apartment is haunted the moment they step foot inside. Always rational, Penny tries to place logical explanations to unexplainable events that start occurring from the very first day. When these encounters become more and more frequent, and more terrifying, Penny cannot avoid it anymore. Someone, or something, is staying in the apartment with them and Penny needs to find out what it is and more importantly, what it wants from her?
The Watchman: Preventing the Apocalypse One Bullet at a Time
Arthur Bradley - 2020
Loved it!"★★★ A clever mash of X-files, Tombstone, and Dresden Files! ★★★In 1885, President Grover Cleveland commissioned a special group of agents to investigate paranormal activities plaguing the nation. Unwilling to accept failure, he granted each the authority to operate outside the law. His directive was simple. No rules. No excuses. Just get it done.Remy Kincaid and his cynical steed, Fable, head to the town of Wharton, Texas, to investigate the disappearance of several young children. As clues lead them from a decrepit old house to an abandoned silver mine, they soon learn that an ancient evil is trying to release itself upon the world.★★★ If you enjoyed The Survivalist Series, you'll love The Watchman! ★★★
Saving Ruby King
Catherine Adel West - 2020
Faith. Secrets. Everything in this world comes full circle.When Ruby King’s mother is found murdered in their home in Chicago’s South Side, the police dismiss it as another act of violence in a black neighborhood. But for Ruby, it means she’ll be living alone with her violent father. The only person who understands the gravity of her situation is Ruby’s best friend, Layla. Their closeness is tested when Layla’s father, the pastor of their church, demands that Layla stay away. But what are his true motives? And what is the price for turning a blind eye?In a relentless quest to save Ruby, Layla comes to discover the murky loyalties and dark secrets tying their families together for three generations. A crucial pilgrimage through the racially divided landscape of Chicago, Saving Ruby King traces the way trauma is passed down through generations and the ways in which communities can come together to create sanctuary.Saving Ruby King is an emotional and revelatory story of race, family secrets, faith and redemption. This is an unforgettable debut novel from an exciting new voice in fiction and a powerful testament that history doesn’t determine the present, and that the bonds of friendship can forever shape the future.
Southern Fried Witch
Amy Boyles - 2017
But it wasn't always like that. When dress designer Dylan Apel discovers she's a witch, a chain of events is ignited that throws Dylan into a world that is completely foreign to her--one that includes unicorns, hunky ex-assassins, and queen witches. Oh, and in the middle of all that Dylan has to find time to solve murder mysteries. Luckily, Dylan isn't alone in this mess. She's got two loyal sisters, wacky grandmothers and a slew of other characters to help her out. This is an omnibus of the first three books in the Bless Your Witch series. It includes SCARED WITCHLESS, KISS MY WITCH AND QUEEN WITCH.
Lisa Lutz Spellman Series E-Sampler
Lisa Lutz - 2011
This e-sampler includes book excerpts, reading group guides, and other classified materials from the hilarious Spellman Files series.The Spellman Files is an irresistible, totally hilarious series about a family of private investigators (the Spellmans) who put the "fun" in "dysfunctional."
The Quiet Streets of Winslow
Judy Troy - 2014
Nate Aspenall, with whom the young woman had been involved, is forced to confront the facts of her life and his own, and what he may have become with her. Sam Rush confronts the degree to which he is hindered by his assumptions about the Aspenall family, and by the knowledge of his own isolation. And Travis Aspenall, Nate’s fourteen-year-old stepbrother, must come to grips with what love and sex do to people, what choices they make when threatened with loss, and how to figure out what you’re left with when what you thought you knew and trusted has been thrown into question. As the investigation takes Sam north to Winslow and Holbrook and brings Nate home, temporarily, to Black Canyon City, solving the mystery becomes more complicated. Additional suspects emerge. Nobody tells the truth. The victim’s haphazard life was dangerous, and her relationship with Nate anything but straight-forward. As for Nate, his time in Black Canyon City is running out. His family is no longer certain of his innocence. In the midst of this, Travis struggles to grow up.Set in the gorgeous setting of Winslow, Arizona – where the place becomes a fully realized character in this beautiful story – Judy Troy offers a murder mystery infused with inter-woven love stories and unforgettable voices, a masterful return for this wonderful writer.
A Narrow Bridge
J.J. Gesher - 2017
HIs faith shattered, Jacob flees the comforts of his community and disappears. He lands up in a predominantly black town in rural Alabama, where he meets Rosie, the single mother of a young son. Their developing relationship, along with the rekindling of his love of music, precipitate events that will change both their lives. This debut novel is a powerful page-turner that follows a complex man on a journey of salvation after tragedy.J.J. Gesher is the pen name for co-authors Joyce Gittlin and Janet B. Fattal. Together, Janet and Joyce have won several prestigious screenwriting awards, including the Geller Prize and the Screenwriting Award at the Austin Film Festival. Their first screenwriting collaboration was produced as a Lifetime Television feature.Joyce Gittlin has written and directed such television shows as Wings, Frasier, and Everybody Loves Raymond and has written more than ten feature films for Disney, Paramount, and 20th Century Fox. She has an MFA from NYU.Janet B. Fattal has a masters in Comparative Literature from UCLA and has taught literature and writing at the college level. The editor of several memoirs, Janet leads many Los Angeles–area book groups, including for the Skirball Cultural Center, Hadassah, and the Brandeis alumni association. The co-authors both live in Los Angeles.
Just Like the Other Girls
Claire Douglas - 2020
So did the others . . .At loose ends after the devastating death of her mother, Una Richardson responds to an advertisement for a ladies' companion, a position that leads her into the wealthy, secluded world of Mrs. Elspeth McKenzie.But Elspeth's home isn't the comforting haven it seems.Kathryn, her cold and bitter daughter, resents Una's presence. More disturbing is evidence suggesting two girls lived here before her.What happened to the young women?Why won't the McKenzies talk about them?What are they hiding?As the walls begin to close in around her, Una fears she'll end up just like the other girls . . .
In Broad Daylight
Seth Harwood - 2011
The endless days of an Alaskan summer can't thwart the fiend's plans as he slashes his way through the rural community, where everyone knows your name and always distrusts the outside. With the help of Oscar Linstrom, an old colleague who wants to be more than friends, Jess attempts to immerse herself in the area's culture, leading her to a strange rural village inhabited by Russian Old Believers hell-bent on protecting their way of life. Even the locals are outsiders to the Old Believers, and Jess needs a safehaven in the glare of daylight because a blood-stained message left at the scene of the most recent murder says Jess is no longer the hunter--but the hunted.Seth Harwood, named a Best of 2010 author by George Pelecanos, returns with this terrifying daydream of an expansive Great North that offers no place to hide.
The House of Deep Water
Jeni McFarland - 2020
When each must return—Linda Williams, never sure what she wants; her mother, Paula, always too sure; and Beth DeWitt, one of River Bend's only black daughters, now a mother of two who'd planned to raise her own children anywhere else—their paths collide under Beth's father's roof. As one town struggles to contain all of their love affairs and secrets, a local scandal forces Beth to confront her own devastating past.Filled with the voices of mothers and daughters, husbands, lovers, and fathers, The House of Deep Water explores motherhood, trauma, love, loss, and new beginnings found in a most unlikely place: home.