Bleeding Kansas
by Sara Paretsky
Set in the Kaw River Valley where Paretsky grew up, Bleeding Kansas
is the story of the Schapens and the Grelliers, two farm families whose
histories have been entwined since the 1850s, when their ancestors
settled the valley as antislavery emigrants.
Today, the Schapen family, terrified by the lawlessness of the 1970s-when Lawrence was the most violent college town in the nation-has turned to that old- time religion for security. The Schapens keep a close eye on all their neighbors, most especially the Grelliers. They maintain careful track of everyone's misdeeds, printing the most egregious on their family website. When Gina Haring, a Wiccan, moves into an empty farmhouse and starts practicing pagan rites, the family members are so outraged that they begin an active harassment campaign against the Wiccans.
The Schapens worry, too, about who stands better with the Lord: their family or the Grelliers. When a Schapen cow gives birth to what may be a "Perfect Red Heifer"-needed if the temple is ever rebuilt in Jerusalem-the Schapens feel convinced that God is indeed smiling on them.
Despite parental cautions, the Grelliers' teenagers are enraged by the Schapens. All their short lives, they and the young Schapens have fought. One particularly angry confrontation causes Chip Grellier to be expelled from school and consequentlyto join the army. Chip's death in Iraq is the catalyzing event for momentous changes in the lives of not only both the Schapens and the Grelliers but of all the families in the valley.
Today, the Schapen family, terrified by the lawlessness of the 1970s-when Lawrence was the most violent college town in the nation-has turned to that old- time religion for security. The Schapens keep a close eye on all their neighbors, most especially the Grelliers. They maintain careful track of everyone's misdeeds, printing the most egregious on their family website. When Gina Haring, a Wiccan, moves into an empty farmhouse and starts practicing pagan rites, the family members are so outraged that they begin an active harassment campaign against the Wiccans.
The Schapens worry, too, about who stands better with the Lord: their family or the Grelliers. When a Schapen cow gives birth to what may be a "Perfect Red Heifer"-needed if the temple is ever rebuilt in Jerusalem-the Schapens feel convinced that God is indeed smiling on them.
Despite parental cautions, the Grelliers' teenagers are enraged by the Schapens. All their short lives, they and the young Schapens have fought. One particularly angry confrontation causes Chip Grellier to be expelled from school and consequentlyto join the army. Chip's death in Iraq is the catalyzing event for momentous changes in the lives of not only both the Schapens and the Grelliers but of all the families in the valley.
High Profile by Robert Parker (Jesse Stone Series #6)
The murder of a
notorious public figure places Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief
Jesse Stone in the harsh glare of the media spotlight.
When the body of controversial talk-show host Walton Weeks is discovered hanging from a tree on the outskirts of Paradise, police chief Jesse Stone finds himself at the center of a highly public case, forcing him to deal with small-minded local officials and national media scrutiny. When another dead body-that of a young woman-is discovered just a few days later, the pressure becomes almost unbearable.
Two victims in less than a week should provide a host of clues, but all Jesse runs into are dead ends. But what may be the most disturbing aspect of these murders is the fact that no one seems to care-not a single one of Weeks's ex-wives, not the family of the girl. And when the medical examiner reveals a heartbreaking link between the two departed souls, the mystery only deepens.
Despite Weeks's reputation and the girl's tender age, Jesse is hard-pressed to find legitimate suspects. Though the crimes are perhaps the most gruesome Jesse has ever witnessed, it is the malevolence behind them that makes them all the more frightening. Forced to delve into a world of stormy relationships, Jesse soon comes to realize that knowing whom he can trust is indeed a matter of life and death.
When the body of controversial talk-show host Walton Weeks is discovered hanging from a tree on the outskirts of Paradise, police chief Jesse Stone finds himself at the center of a highly public case, forcing him to deal with small-minded local officials and national media scrutiny. When another dead body-that of a young woman-is discovered just a few days later, the pressure becomes almost unbearable.
Two victims in less than a week should provide a host of clues, but all Jesse runs into are dead ends. But what may be the most disturbing aspect of these murders is the fact that no one seems to care-not a single one of Weeks's ex-wives, not the family of the girl. And when the medical examiner reveals a heartbreaking link between the two departed souls, the mystery only deepens.
Despite Weeks's reputation and the girl's tender age, Jesse is hard-pressed to find legitimate suspects. Though the crimes are perhaps the most gruesome Jesse has ever witnessed, it is the malevolence behind them that makes them all the more frightening. Forced to delve into a world of stormy relationships, Jesse soon comes to realize that knowing whom he can trust is indeed a matter of life and death.
Life’s a Beach by Claire Cook
Life's a bit of a beach these days for Ginger Walsh, who's single at forty-one and living back home in the family FROG (Finished Room Over Garage). She's hoping for a more fulfilling life as a sea glass artist, but instead is babysitting her sister's kids and sharing overnights with Noah, her sexy artist boyfriend with commitment issues and a dog Ginger's cat isn't too crazy about. Geri, her BlackBerry-obsessed sister, is also nearly over the deep end about her pending fiftieth birthday (and might just drag Ginger with her). Toss in a dumpster-picking father, a Kama Sutra T-shirt-wearing mother, a movie crew come to town with a very cute gaffer, an on-again-off-again glassblower boyfriend, plus a couple of Red Hat realtors, and hilarity ensues.
The perfect summer read, Life's a Beach is a warm, witty, and wise look at what it takes to move forward at any stage in life.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
'The more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!'
Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love—and its threatened loss—the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.
Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love—and its threatened loss—the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.
The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes
The year is 1946, and
all over the world, young women are crossing the seas in the thousands
en route to the men they married in wartime - and an unknown future. In
Sydney, Australia, four women join 650 other brides on an extraordinary
voyage to England, aboard the HMS Victoria, which also carries not just
arms and aircraft but 1,000 naval officers and men.
Rules of honour,
duty, and separation are strictly enforced, from the aircraft carrier's
captain down to the lowliest young stoker. But the men and the brides
will find their lives intertwined in ways the Navy could never have
imagined.
Shoot to Thrill by P.J. Tracy (Monkeewrench Series #5)
It's eighty-five degrees
in the shade when Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth
pull into the MPD parking garage. They're driving a tricked-out Caddy,
repossessed from a low-level drug dealer. It's not a Beemer or a
Mercedes, but it's got GPS, air-conditioning, and power seats with more
positions than the Kama Sutra.Things are heating up
inside the station-house, too. The bomb squad's off to investigate
another suspicious package at the mall, and kids are beating the crap
out of one another and posting it on YouTube. And before Magozzi and
Rolseth can wish for a straight-on homicide, the call comes in: a
floater.
Soon they're humping it along a derelict stretch of the Mississippi River, beyond the green places where families picnic and admire the views. They can see her- she looks like a bride in her white formal gown- face down, dead in the water. And so it begins.
Across town, Grace McBride's Monkeewrench crew-the computer geeks who, after making a fortune on games, are now helping the cops with anticrime software-have been recruited by the FBI to investigate a series of murder videos posted on the Web. It's not long before Magozzi, Rolseth, and Monkeewrench discover the frightening link between the unlucky bride and the latest, most horrific use of the Internet to date. Using their skills to scour the Net in search of the perpetrator, the team must race against the clock to stop a killer in his tracks.
Soon they're humping it along a derelict stretch of the Mississippi River, beyond the green places where families picnic and admire the views. They can see her- she looks like a bride in her white formal gown- face down, dead in the water. And so it begins.
Across town, Grace McBride's Monkeewrench crew-the computer geeks who, after making a fortune on games, are now helping the cops with anticrime software-have been recruited by the FBI to investigate a series of murder videos posted on the Web. It's not long before Magozzi, Rolseth, and Monkeewrench discover the frightening link between the unlucky bride and the latest, most horrific use of the Internet to date. Using their skills to scour the Net in search of the perpetrator, the team must race against the clock to stop a killer in his tracks.
16 Lighthouse Road
by Debbie Macomber (Cedar Cove Series #1)
Dear Reader,
You don't know me yet,
but in a few hours that's going to change. I'm inviting you to my town
of Cedar Cove because I want you to meet my family, friends and
neighbors. Come hear their stories--maybe even their secrets!
My secrets are pretty open. My marriage failed years ago, and I have a rather...difficult relationship with my daughter. Then there's my mother, Charlotte, who has plenty of opinions and is always willing to share them.
I'm a family court judge and she likes to drop in on my courtroom. Recently I was hearing a divorce petition. In Charlotte's view, Cecilia and Ian Randall hadn't tried hard enough to make their marriage work--and I agreed. I rendered my judgment: Divorce Denied.
You wouldn't believe the reaction! Thanks to an article by Jack Griffin, the editor of our local paper (a man I wouldn't mind seeing more of!), everyone's talking.
Cedar Cove--people love it and sometimes they leave it, but they never forget it!
Olivia Lockhart
My secrets are pretty open. My marriage failed years ago, and I have a rather...difficult relationship with my daughter. Then there's my mother, Charlotte, who has plenty of opinions and is always willing to share them.
I'm a family court judge and she likes to drop in on my courtroom. Recently I was hearing a divorce petition. In Charlotte's view, Cecilia and Ian Randall hadn't tried hard enough to make their marriage work--and I agreed. I rendered my judgment: Divorce Denied.
You wouldn't believe the reaction! Thanks to an article by Jack Griffin, the editor of our local paper (a man I wouldn't mind seeing more of!), everyone's talking.
Cedar Cove--people love it and sometimes they leave it, but they never forget it!
Olivia Lockhart
Testimony by Anita Shreve
At a New England
boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking
than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on
videotape. A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of
voices--those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the
scandal--that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or
destroyed in one foolish moment.
Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellingly explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.
Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellingly explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.
A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs
When Augusten Burroughs was small, his father was a shadowy presence in his life: a form on the stairs, a cough from the basement, a silent figure smoking a cigarette in the dark. As Augusten grew older, something sinister within his father began to unfurl. Something dark and secretive that could not be named.
Betrayal after shocking betrayal ensued, and Augusten's childhood was over. The kind of father he wanted didn't exist for him. This father was distant, aloof, uninterested...
And then the "games" began.
A Woman without Lies by Elizabeth Lowell
After the tragic death
of her family and the man she loved, Angel had worked hard to find peace
and tranquillity. Facing the world head on, she emerged a woman of
uncompromising integrity and honesty. Meeting Hawk had been a shock:
here was a man who could destroy the calm she had fought so hard to
preserve with one careless look or gesture.
Hawk claimed not to be
capable of love; he was only interested in the chase, but Angel sensed
that behind his cool and ruthless exterior was a vulnerable man, and it
was this man that she was prepared to risk everything to love.
