The century-old Gentlewoman’s Guide to Love and Courtship is no ordinary book club choice. But for the little book club in Smitten, Vermont, it might be their best pick yet!The thick, leathery tome Heather pulled out of the dusty cardboard box was definitely coming home with her. Not only was The Gentlewoman’s Guide to Love and Courtship an appealing curiosity by virtue of its title; it was also written by Smitten, Vermont native Pearl Chambers, a local gentlewoman from three generations back.Little did Heather know the repercussions this little curiosity would have on her and her friends’ romantic exploits.When Heather and her fellow book club members begin passing the book around, their respective interpretations are unleashed on their respective love lives . . . for better or for worse. Is it a mystery? An idealist fantasy? An intimation of Jane Austen? As romantic love finds its way to each woman, the Guide proves itself both surprisingly prescient and hilariously irrelevant.What’s more, a handwritten inscription indicates that the arcane book might hold the only extant clues leading to buried gold—exactly what one of the members needs to keep her house. How could they not go treasure hunting?In this remarkable collaborative novel, besties Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Denise Hunter, and Diann Hunt tackle the tale of the Gentlewoman’s Guide by writing for one book club member apiece. Smitten Book Club is a hopeful, hilarious story of friendship and healing, written by friends for friends.** Views: 27
College senior Lily Madison is on her own and desperate to pay for her last semester of school. With nowhere to turn, she makes the difficult decision to donate her eggs to a fertility clinic. Sam Parker is also a penniless student who supplements his tuition money by visiting a sperm bank. One day, Lily and Sam meet at the clinic and talk about their secret. They agree that the clinic gives them an odd feeling, as if all is not as it seems. Despite their obvious attraction, Lily and Sam go their separate ways. Twenty years have passed and Lily often wonders if she has a child somewhere in the world. She also thinks a lot about Sam. Now a wealthy entrepreneur, Sam never forgot Lily either, and when he sees her in an airport one day, he falls for her all over again. But while they enjoy their unlikely reunion, a story on the news has them riveted. Two teenage boys are missing and their disappearance may be linked to the fertility clinic Sam and Lily visited in college. In a shocking twist, one of the boys looks exactly like Sam. Lily and Sam are now determined to find out what really went on at the clinic all those years ago. When the whole story comes out, the truth will be more than they bargained for. But they will discover that letting go of their secrets from the past is the best way to build a future worth fighting for...From Publishers WeeklyFeaturing love-at-second sight romance and a fast-moving plot, Michael's fizzy latest about illegal experiments on humans is farfetched but entertaining. Peter Kelly and Lily Madison regret choices they made in 1986 as impoverished college students when they first met outside a sperm bank and its adjacent fertility clinic. Years later, Pete's a software mogul and Lily's a successful clothing designer, and they happen across one another at an airport, where they see a news broadcast about a massacre at the California Academy of Higher Learning. Featured on the report is Josh, a survivor and dead ringer for Pete. Soon, Peter and Lily are on a quest for answers about some sinister dealings at the sperm bank and fertility clinic, Josh becomes a suspect, and a colorful cast of crusaders and villains gets sucked into the fray. Michael makes the wild search a roller-coaster ride of serendipitous fun. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistFinancially desperate students at Berkeley, Peter and Lily resort to selling their genetic material to a local fertility clinic. They do not know each other, but each of them decide on the same day that it is their last time. When Peter and Lily literally run into each other, they share the same sadness over what they’ve done and agree that it felt like something nefarious was going on. Peter vows to return when he’s made his first million and burn the place to the ground. Years later, Peter, now a billionaire, and Lily, a successful designer, each use the excuse of a Berkeley reunion to revisit the clinic. Shocked to see each other at the airport, they are far more alarmed by a massacre at a California school. Only a couple of students, presumably the gunmen, survive, and Peter is stunned to see that one of the boys looks just like him. It is now more urgent than ever for them to join forces in this thrilling tale of secret genetic experimentation. --Maria Hatton Views: 27
"Reader beware—you choose the scare! GIVE YOURSELF GOOSEBUMPS! Your cousins, Kip and Abbey, have come to visit you from jolly old England — and guess what they brought with them? Two huge crates, each containing a suit of armor and a curse. But it doesn't matter, 'cause you're ""dying"" to see what's inside. If you open the crate marked ""Evil Knight,"" you will be hypnotized by the knight's sparkling medallion and will have to face an ugly sorceress. If you open the ""Good Knight"" crate, you'll discover a room full of mannequin heads that talk. Before you know, it you've lost your head. Can you pull yourself together before time runs out? The choice is yours in this scary GOOSEBUMPS adventure that's packed with over 20 super-spooky endings!" Views: 27
When an elderly woman is found dead at her home, newly fledged DC Kirsty Wilson is called to the scene. It appears that the woman had a mysterious visitor in the early hours of that morning - someone dressed as a carer, but with much darker intentions. It soon becomes obvious that this was not death by natural causes, in fact, it was murder. Before she can catch her breath, DC Wilson is thrown in at the deep end as another body turns up - this time it's a gruesome crime scene, the victim a well-known drug dealer from Glasgow's mean streets, and there's no question that this was a brutal execution.
The two cases appear to have nothing in common, but when a second vulnerable person is murdered in their sleep, the police realise that it's only a matter of time before the next victim emerges and Detective Superintendent William Lorimer is called in to help DC Wilson investigate. This case is big and it's about to get more personal than either of them could have imagined... Views: 27
Anna's Healing is the first book in a brand-new collection from popular author Vannetta Chapman. These stories of love and family and Amish community in Oklahoma tell of the miracles that can happen when lives are lived in service to God and to one another.When a tornado strikes the farms surrounding Cody's Creek, Anna Schwartz's life is changed forever. She suffers a spinal cord injury and suddenly finds herself learning to live as a paraplegic.Three people—Chloe Roberts, Jacob Graber, and Ruth Schwartz—join forces to help Anna through her darkest days. Chloe is an Englischer who writes for the local paper. Jacob has recently arrived in town and stays on as a hired hand at her uncle's. And Ruth is her grandmother, a woman of deep faith and a compassionate spirit.Then one morning Anna wakes and finds herself healed. How did it happen? Why did it happen? And what is she to do now? Her life is again turned upside down as the world's attention is... Views: 27
One mild summer evening Lily and her husband are enjoying a meal while their baby daughter sleeps peacefully in her pram beneath a maple tree. But when Lily steps outside she is paralysed with terror. The child is bathed in blood.
Inspector Sejer is called to the hospital to meet the family. Mercifully the baby is unharmed, but her parents are deeply shaken. Sejer spends the evening trying to comprehend why anyone would carry out such a sinister prank.
Then, just before midnight, somebody rings his doorbell. The corridor is empty, but the caller has left a small grey envelope on the mat. From his living room window, the inspector watches a figure slip across the car park and disappear into the darkness. Inside the envelope Sejer finds a postcard bearing a short message. Hell begins now. Views: 27
Angel Crawford is finally starting to get used to life as a brain-eating zombie, but her problems are far from over. Her felony record is coming back to haunt her, more zombie hunters are popping up, and she's beginning to wonder if her hunky cop-boyfriend is involved with the zombie mafia. Yeah, that's right—the zombie mafia. Throw in a secret lab and a lot of conspiracy, and Angel's going to need all of her brainpower—and maybe a brain smoothie as well—in order to get through it without falling apart. Views: 27
The Joona Linna Thrillers 3-Book BundleThe Hypnotist; The Nightmare; The Fire WitnessChilling, psychologically dark, and complexly plotted, Lars Kepler's brilliant and addictive thrillers feature the troubled and intriguing Detective Inspector Joona Linna, someone who goes against the grain of conventional police procedure and thinks outside the box. This series has literally taken the world by storm, each book becoming a runaway bestseller internationally.In The Hypnotist, a triple homicide, all of the victims from the same family, captivates Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the grisly case -- against the wishes of the national police. He enlists Dr. Erik Maria Bark to mesmerize a young witness to the crime, hoping to discover the killer through his eyes. When Bark breaks his promise never to do this kind of work again and hypnotizes the victim, a terrifying chain of events unfurls. In The Nightmare, we follow Joona Linna's investigation of two seemingly unrelated crimes -- a young woman murdered on a pleasure boat in the archipelago and a man found hanging in his state apartment in Stockholm the next day -- but as Linna begins to piece together the mysteries, the logistics become a mere prelude to a dizzying and dangerous course of events. And, in The Fire Witness, we find Joona Linna under internal review by the National Police for an alleged infraction and on leave to solve some troubling personal business. Nevertheless, he's called in to "observe" the investigation of a gruesome and strange murder at a youth home for wayward teenage girls, and it's not long before Linna is drawn deeply into the intricate, disturbing case. Views: 27
For over thirty years, Bill Pronzini has created fictional sleuths. The most famous dubbed the "Nameless Detective" appeared in twenty-five novels. But there are many others. Views: 27
Book DescriptionWhen J.P. Beaumont's teenaged daughter runs away, her tracks lead the sober-but-struggling sleuth to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. And, in addition to his very headstrong offspring, Beau find something else backstage: a case of cold-blooded murder. Views: 27
