Jocie Brooke seeks to understand the mother who left her and the father who never would in a heart-warming southern tale set in the 1960's.Jocie Brooke has never wanted for love, despite the fact that she hardly remembers her mother. Jocie's father, preacher David Brooke, has done his best to be both father and mother to his daughter. Even Jocie's spinster Great-aunt Love, who's slowly going senile, cares for Jocie in her own stern way. But in their small town of Hollyhill, Kentucky, painful secrets lie just beneath the surface, and inquisitive spirits discover surprising truths. There's a reason why Aunt Love hides behind black dresses and a stoic countenance. And David takes his morning walks not just for quiet solitude, but to wrestle with the past.Full of stories of lost loves and the trials of small-town living, this heartwarming novel explores the journey of faith and family. Views: 55
How far would you go to hide the truth? Julia Thayne is a valued and loving wife, a successful mother, and a beautiful woman. She is everything most other women strive to be. But beneath the surface is a terrible secret that threatens to tear her perfect world apart. Joshua is Julia's husband—a dynamic, devastatingly handsome man with great style, charisma, and humor. He is utterly devoted to his wife and children, but as the ghosts of Julia's past begin to move into their marriage, he finds himself losing the struggle to keep them together. Then two telephone calls change everything. Julia moves from London to a remote mill house in Cornwall, determined to break free from the past and save her fractured relationship with Josh. But it is here that she makes her own fatal mistake, and once more her marriage is rocked to its very foundation.About the AuthorSusan Lewis is the bestselling author of 24 novels, including Cruel Venus, Dance While You Can, Darkest Longings, A French Affair, Obsession, Vengeance, and Wildfire. Her novel The Hornbeam Tree was short-listed for the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2005. Views: 55
There is a middle world between life and death, and Tess must navigate it to save her brother in this heart-wrenching story infused with the fractured and fantastical realms of Finnish mysticism.Axel and Tess are bewildered when a stranger shows up in their backyard accompanied by a giant brown bear, but before they can investigate the bizarre encounter, something more harrowing happens: their father is killed in a freak car accident. Now orphaned, Tess and Axel are shipped off to Finland to live with grandparents who they’ve never met, and are stunned to discover that the mysterious stranger with the bear has found them again. More stunning—they come to understand that this man isn’t really a man…he’s a keeper of souls. And the bear isn’t really a bear…it’s a ghost. Their mother’s ghost. Wandering, endlessly, searching for their father. Then the Keeper invites Axel, who is fighting his symptoms of muscular... Views: 55
With a sizzling Cuban setting and a murder plot that hits too close to home, the New York Times bestselling mastermind delivers her most dramatic case to date. Miami lawyers Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana have recently married. Gail hopes to learn more about her new husband by visiting the island that still claims his heart. Anthonys loyalties are divided between his family, who believe in the Revolution, and his friends, dissident writers Jos Leiva and Yolanda Cabrera. No one is aware that Yolandas idealistic twenty-year-old son, Mario, belongs to an underground group plotting the assassination of a top Cuban general. The night before Gail and Anthony leave for Havana, the CIA pays a visit. They want Anthony to deliver a message to his brother-in-law, General Ramiro Vega: He is in danger, and unless he defects, he could be killed. Why is Vega so important to the CIA? The answer leads to the discovery of a violent death, a secret terrorist threat, and a love from the past that could tear Gail and Anthony apart. Views: 55
At thirty-three, Ryan Kealey has achieved more in his military and CIA career than most men can dream of in a lifetime. He’s also seen the worst life has to offer and is lucky to have survived it. But being left alone with his demons is no longer an option. The CIA needs him badly, because the enemy they’re facing is former U.S. soldier Jason March. Ryan knows all about March – he trained him. He knows they’re dealing with one of the most ruthless assassins in the world, a master of many languages, an explosives expert, a superb sharpshooter who can disappear like a shadow and who is capable of crimes they cannot begin to imagine. And now, March has resurfaced on the global stage, aligning himself with a powerful Middle East terror network whose goal is nothing less than the total destruction of the United States. Teaming up with beautiful and tenacious British-born agent Naomi Kharmai, Ryan intends to break every rule in order to hunt down his former pupil, whatever the cost to himself. As Ryan puts together the pieces of a terrifying puzzle, and as the elusive March taunts him, always staying one step ahead, he discovers the madman’s crusade is personal as well as political – and Ryan himself is an unwitting pawn. With the clock ticking down and the fate of the country resting uneasily on his shoulders, Ryan is caught in a desperate game of cat-and-mouse with the most cunning opponent he’s ever faced, one who will never stop until he’s committed the ultimate act of evil – a man who is all the more deadly for being one of our own.From Publishers WeeklyThe titular character of 24-year-old Britton's debut thriller is no patriot. Jason March, a blond al-Qaeda operative with a ferocious grudge against the U.S.A., kicks off an orgy of revenge by blowing up Senate Majority Leader Daniel Levy's motorcade, slaughtering the senator, his aide and assorted Secret Service personnel. Assigned to hunt down this killer is ex-CIA agent Ryan Kealey, March's former commanding officer when they were both Special Forces soldiers in the U.S. Army. While on a secret mission years before, March wounded Kealey and murdered everyone else on the team. Now, Langley sends the uniquely qualified Kealey—along with CIA counterterrorism expert Naomi Kharmai—after the unstoppable killing machine. Other than the mildly interesting March, there's little original material. The evil characters are numbingly familiar—al-Zarqawi and bin Laden loom large—and the usual Arab minions and murderers play out their predictable fictional roles. The writing never rises above the pedestrian: "The sands of the endless desert south of Kabul burned beneath the fiery orb above." Readers open to another formulaic Arab terrorist story may enjoy this one, but anyone looking for something new will find it ordinary and tedious. (Mar. 7) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistThis debut thriller by a 24-year-old author stars an unconventional CIA agent who must track down a renegade former comrade-in-arms. Ryan Kealey, the hero, is a tough, embittered ex-CIA agent; he is engaging enough but hardly original. Jason March, the former U.S. soldier now allied with terrorists, is appropriately villainous, but, again, we've seen his like before. And the story itself, while solidly structured, doesn't stray much from formula. Is it a bad book? Not at all: it's a well-told tale, and Britton shows a great deal of promise. If his next novel is more inventive than his first, that promise may be realized. David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 55
$10K IS ON THE LINE SO IS HER REPUTATION AND RETRIEVAL SPECIALIST SAMANTHA BALLANGER IS ABOUT TO RISK IT ALL For a retrieval pro like Sam, extracting a deluded cult member and transporting him across the country should be a piece of cake. Right? Too bad the people who hired her to snatch Matt Granger left out a few vital details. Such as that Matt was a total babe -- and irresistibly charming. And he was an undercover reporter on the verge of nailing a reputed Russian mob boss. With bullets flying, it was all Sam could do to keep her quarry safe and her professional reputation intact. Because if they survived, she might just want to keep Matt for herself! Views: 55
From Library JournalIn 1876 William "[Buffalo] Bill" [Hickok] and Charley Utter rode into Deadwood, a hellish frontier settlement in the Black Hills. Bill died there, victim of a possibly demented assassin. Fortunately, this is mostly the story of his constant companion, Charley, a man of sapient insight and, though less famous than his friend, of extensive and varied experience. Charley, Bill, their acquaintance the Bottle Fiend, and later Bill's widow Agnes and mourner Calamity Jane saw some remarkable things in Deadwood and raised considerable Cain. By turns heroic, ludicrous, vicious, pathetic, and infuriating, the exotic citizens of Deadwood grab the reader's interest immediately and never let go. Highly recommended for its deadpan, offbeat, credible frontier anarchy. Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army TRALINET Ctr., Fort Monroe, Va.Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review“If you want to call Deadwood a Western, you might as well call The House of Mirth chick lit. Dexter looked at the dark, twisted, ridiculous doings of Bill Hickok and company, said to himself, ‘I recognize that!’ and gave us a world-class entertainment.” —Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections “Unpredictable, hyperbolic and, page after page, uproarious; a joshing book written in high spirits and a raw appreciation of the past.” --_The New York Times Book Review_ “Splendid. . . . Rumor put straight. . . . A carefully researched knitting of events into their most dazzling fabric.” --_The Philadelphia Inquirer_ “Deadwood may well be the best western ever written.” —_The Washington Post Book World_ "What deepens and darkens [Dexter's] writing, so that art is the precise word to describe it, is a powerful understanding that character rules, that we live with our weaknesses and die of our strengths." --_Time_ "Dexter is a master of colloquial poetry, of moods revealed through gestures and settings." -_-Playboy_ "One of the greatest American writers... a storyteller who cuts straight to the nerve." --Scott L. Turow "Dexter's strongest suit is his exquisite understanding of the finely meshed engines of greed, appetite, and interest." --_The New York Times Book Review_ "Great, eccentric characters....Dexter's writing is a living thing." --_USA Today_ Views: 55
In this debut of an exciting new voice in fiction, Lalami evokes the grit and enduring grace that is modern Morocco. The book begins as four Moroccans illegally cross the Strait of Gibraltar in an inflatable boat headed for Spain. What has driven them to risk their lives? Views: 55
