Set in 1950s Louisiana, Mandy Mikulencak's beautifully written and emotionally moving novel evokes both The Help and Dead Man Walking with the story of an unforgettable woman whose quest to provide meals for death row prisoners leads her into the secrets of her own past.Many children have grown up in the shadow of Louisiana's Greenmount State Penitentiary. Most of them—sons and daughters of corrections officers and staff—left the place as soon as they could. Yet Ginny Polk chose to come back to work as a prison cook. She knows the harsh reality of life within those walls—the cries of men being beaten, the lines of shuffling inmates chained together. Yet she has never seen them as monsters, not even the ones sentenced to execution. That's why, among her duties, Ginny has taken on a special responsibility: preparing their last meals.Pot roast or red beans and rice, coconut cake with seven-minute frosting or pork neck stew . . . whatever... Views: 70
Touching, funny, and bittersweet, this is a story that will make you laugh, cry, and call your best friend to tell her you love her. 30-year-old Dee Harper and her husband, Joe, are blissfully happy. Everyday she makes her loyal parents Val & Don incredibly proud. Jen has been her best friend and 'adopted sister' since their days of teenage crushes, bad 90's make-up and huge hair. They are just like any other group of family and friends, living life, getting by with equal measures of love and laughter. Until one day everything changes. Dee is gone, killed by a reckless driver, leaving the people she loved to deal with their grief in different ways. A marriage is rocked as a parent becomes consumed with seeking justice. A husband struggles to accept the loss of his wife and their future. And a friend discovers that there were shocking secrets that went unshared. But all... Views: 70
Eight years ago, Cole Van Buren left me at the altar without a single explanation. My heart's been at a standstill ever since, the anger keeping me from moving on. Keeping me from seeing the man who's been right in front of me all this time... Andrew's been the friend I needed, the one constant through the hardest times of my life. But one night, the lines blur and we're tipped into something more. Just when I'm ready to explore what we could be... My ex comes back. Cole says he didn't come to get me back, but I should know better. The answers he dangles overhead are the ones I need to finally let go. Except there's no such thing as closure, only a past that wants to pull you backward. Views: 70
It's a new school year at Minecrafters Academy, and Lucy is returning—this time not as a student, but as headmaster. She sets to work preparing the school for the Overworld Academic Olympics, a prestigious competition that will test their combat, treasure hunting, and potions brewing skills.But training is interrupted when an explosion rocks the campus. The school is under attack from a mysterious culprit—and everyone is a suspect.Meanwhile, Julia, a new student at Minecrafters Academy, is having a hard time adjusting to her new life on campus. When she catches her roommate, Hallie, sneaking around just after the attacks on the school, Julia begins to suspect her. Then Hallie goes missing right before another round of explosions and a massive creeper invasion. It's up to the students and teachers of Minecrafters Academy to track down the villain behind the attacks and protect not just the school, but the entire Overworld.As the Unofficial Minecrafters... Views: 70
From Blake Pierce, bestselling author of ONCE GONE (a #1 bestseller with over 900 five star reviews), comes book #8 in the heart-pounding Mackenzie White mystery series. In BEFORE HE HUNTS (A Mackenzie White Mystery—Book 8), victims are turning up dead in FBI Special Agent Mackenzie White's home state of Nebraska—all shot in the back of the head, and all bearing the card "Barker Antiques." The same card her father's murderer left on his body years ago. With a sudden urgency in the present, the time has finally come for Mackenzie to face her ghosts, to face her darkest past, and to find her father's killer. But her trip back down memory lane may take her to places she'd rather not see, and to discoveries she'd rather not find. She finds herself playing cat and mouse with a killer more sinister than she could imagine, and with her fragile psyche collapsing, this case, of all of them, may be the one that does her in for good. A dark... Views: 70
