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Debbie Macomber, author of Sweet Tomorrows: A Rose Harbor Novel

Recovering from a twice-broken heart, Emily Gaffney, a young teacher, is staying at the Rose Harbor Inn while she looks for a home of her own. Having given up on marriage, Emily dreams of adopting children someday. She has her eye on one house in particular --- with room for kids. Although Emily’s inquiries about the house are rudely rebuffed, her rocky start with the owner eventually blossoms into a friendship. But when the relationship verges on something more, Emily will have to rethink what she truly wants and the chances she’s willing to take.

Jeffrey Toobin, author of American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst

The saga of Patty Hearst highlighted a decade in which America seemed to be suffering a collective nervous breakdown. Based on more than a hundred interviews and thousands of previously secret documents, AMERICAN HEIRESS recounts the craziness of the times (there were an average of 1,500 terrorist bombings a year in the early 1970s). Jeffrey Toobin portrays the lunacy of the half-baked radicals of the SLA and the toxic mix of sex, politics and violence that swept up Patty Hearst and re-creates her melodramatic trial.

Janet Lane

Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.

Attribution

Janet Lane

Toni Morrison

A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves --- a special kind of double.

Attribution

Toni Morrison

Maurice Freehill

Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark or the man afraid of the light?

Attribution

Maurice Freehill

August 5, 2016

Well, I served jury duty and never had to show up! In our county, you check in the night before to see if you need to go to court the following day. This happens for four days or one trial. My number never came up to appear at the courthouse, thus I was sprung from my civic duty. Of course, I also will not get the $5 a day that I would have earned if I was called in. What I could have done with that $20!

Since jury duty was a non-event, I moved my trip out to the Hamptons up by a few hours. There was something ever so splendid about cutting out of the office midday on Thursday instead of leaving after the typical work day. The bus on the way out had Wi-Fi, so I was able to connect and finish up a few last things. Last weekend was one very wet weekend, which kept my reading and floating time to a minimum. I am hoping for better weather this weekend! But then again, there are two bookstores that I want to check out in the Hamptons --- BookHampton in Easthampton and Southampton Books. We are out one weekend too early this year for me to hit the East Hampton Authors Night, which I have enjoyed in the past.

Editorial Content for The Sixth Idea: A Monkeewrench Novel

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

Patricia Lambrecht and her daughter, Traci --- collectively known as P. J. Tracy --- are clearly doing something right when they write (and yes, that was deliberate). Their Monkeewrench series has earned enough awards to cause mantles to groan over the course of six books. The seventh, the newly published THE SIXTH IDEA, demonstrates yet again why the work of this collaborating duo is so popular, featuring an interesting mystery, solid storytelling and intriguing characters. Read More

Teaser

Chuck Spencer and Wally Luntz, two friends scheduled to meet in person for the first time, are murdered on the same night, several miles apart. Lydia Ascher comes home to find two dead men in her basement. When homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth discover her connection to their current cases, they suspect she is a target as well. The same day, a terminally ill man is kidnapped from his home, an Alzheimer’s patient goes missing, and a baffling link among all the crimes emerges. This series of inexplicable events sends the detectives 60 years into the past to search for answers --- and straight to Grace MacBride’s Monkeewrench, a group of eccentric computer geniuses who devote their time and resources to helping the cops solve the unsolvable.

Promo

Chuck Spencer and Wally Luntz, two friends scheduled to meet in person for the first time, are murdered on the same night, several miles apart. Lydia Ascher comes home to find two dead men in her basement. When homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth discover her connection to their current cases, they suspect she is a target as well. The same day, a terminally ill man is kidnapped from his home, an Alzheimer’s patient goes missing, and a baffling link among all the crimes emerges. This series of inexplicable events sends the detectives 60 years into the past to search for answers --- and straight to Grace MacBride’s Monkeewrench, a group of eccentric computer geniuses who devote their time and resources to helping the cops solve the unsolvable.

About the Book

The Monkeewrench crew returns in a twisty, heart-stopping new thriller.

The peaceful Christmas season in Minneapolis is shattered when two friends, Chuck Spencer and Wally Luntz, scheduled to meet in person for the first time, are murdered on the same night, two hours and several miles apart, dramatically concluding winter vacation for homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth.

An hour north of Minneapolis, Lydia Ascher comes home to find two dead men in her basement. When Leo and Gino discover her connection to their current cases, they suspect that she is a target, too. The same day, an elderly, terminally ill man is kidnapped from his home, an Alzheimer’s patient goes missing from his care facility, and a baffling link among all the crimes emerges.

This series of inexplicable events sends the detectives sixty years into the past to search for answers --- and straight to Grace MacBride’s Monkeewrench, a group of eccentric computer geniuses who devote their time and resources to helping the cops solve the unsolvable. What they find is an unimaginable horror --- a dormant Armageddon that might be activated at any moment unless Grace and her partners Annie, Roadrunner, and Harley Davidson, along with Leo and Gino, can find a way to stop it.

Audiobook available, read by Peter Berkrot

Editorial Content for House of Nails: A Memoir of Life on the Edge

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rob Bentlyewski

The new autobiography by retired Major League Baseball all-star Lenny “Nails” Dykstra is, like its author, as straightforward, entertaining and brutal as they come. Read More

Teaser

For the first time, former world champion, multimillionaire entrepreneur and imprisoned felon Lenny Dykstra tells all about his tumultuous career --- from battling through crippling pain to steroid use and drug addiction, to a life of indulgence and excess, followed by an epic plunge and the long road back to redemption. Was Lenny's hard-charging, risk-it-all nature responsible for his success in baseball and business and his precipitous fall from grace? What lessons, if any, has he learned now that he has had time to think and reflect?

Promo

For the first time, former world champion, multimillionaire entrepreneur and imprisoned felon Lenny Dykstra tells all about his tumultuous career --- from battling through crippling pain to steroid use and drug addiction, to a life of indulgence and excess, followed by an epic plunge and the long road back to redemption. Was Lenny's hard-charging, risk-it-all nature responsible for his success in baseball and business and his precipitous fall from grace? What lessons, if any, has he learned now that he has had time to think and reflect?

About the Book

Eclipsing the traditional sports memoir, HOUSE OF NAILS, by former world champion, multimillionaire entrepreneur and imprisoned felon Lenny Dykstra, spins a tragicomic tale of Shakespearean proportions --- a relentlessly entertaining American epic that careens between the heights and the abyss.

Nicknamed "Nails" for his hustle and grit, Lenny approached the game of baseball --- and life --- with mythic intensity. During his decade in the majors as a center fielder for the legendary 1980s Mets and the 1990s Phillies, he was named to three All-Star teams and played in two of the most memorable World Series of the modern era. An overachiever known for his clutch hits, high on-base percentage, and aggressive defense, Lenny was later identified by his former minor-league roommate Billy Beane as the prototypical "Moneyball" player in Michael Lewis' bestseller. Tobacco-stained, steroid-powered, and booze-and-drug-fueled, Nails also defined a notorious era of excess in baseball.

Then came a second act no novelist could plausibly conjure: After retiring, Dykstra became a celebrated business mogul and investment guru. Touted as "one of the great ones" by CNBC's Jim Cramer, he became "baseball's most improbable post-career success story" (The New Yorker), purchasing a $17.5-million mansion and traveling the world by private jet. But when the economy imploded in 2008, Lenny lost everything. Then the feds moved in: convicted of bankruptcy fraud (unjustly, he contends), Lenny served two and a half harrowing years in prison, where he was the victim of a savage beating by prison guards that knocked out his front teeth.

Jon Stewart, channeling the bewildered fascination of many observers, declared that Lenny's outrageous rise and spectactular fall was "the greatest story that I have ever seen in my lifetime."

Now, for the first time, Lenny tells all about his tumultuous career, from battling through crippling pain to steroid use and drug addiction, to a life of indulgence and excess, then, an epic plunge and the long road back to redemption. Was Lenny's hard-charging, risk-it-all nature responsible for his success in baseball and business and his precipitous fall from grace? What lessons, if any, has he learned now that he has had time to think and reflect?

Hilarious, unflinchingly honest and irresistibly readable, HOUSE OF NAILS makes no apologies and leaves nothing left unsaid.

Audiobook available, read by Patrick Lawlor

Editorial Content for You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone

Reviewer (text)

Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

Andrea Boyle and her nephew, Spencer, move to Seattle to start a new life. Spencer is 17 and has spent the last five years institutionalized when he was found guilty of killing his parents. Nobody with the exception of his aunt cared that the authorities may have gotten it wrong. Needless to say, they have a very tight bond. So she takes him as far away from Washington, D.C. as she can.

"Clues and red herrings litter the pages, but are not helpful in solving this merry-go-round of a novel."

Teaser

Andrea Boyle moved to Seattle to give her 17-year-old nephew, Spencer, a fresh start after the death of his parents. Andrea has found her own new beginning with Luke, a successful playwright and father of a teenage son, Damon. When a tragedy befalls Damon, it's just the beginning of a nightmare that unfolds. But the worst is yet to come once a dark secret from Spencer's past is exposed. And when Luke is brutally attacked, both of their futures are at stake. Now it's up to Andrea to prove Spencer's innocence to the police --- and to herself. Because for reasons she has revealed to no one, even Andrea can't help questioning the truth --- and fearing that she may be next to pay the ultimate price.

Promo

Andrea Boyle moved to Seattle to give her 17-year-old nephew, Spencer, a fresh start after the death of his parents. Andrea has found her own new beginning with Luke, a successful playwright and father of a teenage son, Damon. When a tragedy befalls Damon, it's just the beginning of a nightmare that unfolds. But the worst is yet to come once a dark secret from Spencer's past is exposed. And when Luke is brutally attacked, both of their futures are at stake. Now it's up to Andrea to prove Spencer's innocence to the police --- and to herself. Because for reasons she has revealed to no one, even Andrea can't help questioning the truth --- and fearing that she may be next to pay the ultimate price.

About the Book

No Forgiveness

Andrea Boyle moved to Seattle to give her 17-year-old nephew, Spencer, a fresh start after the death of his parents. Andrea has found her own new beginning with Luke, a successful playwright and father of a teenage son, Damon. The boys appear to have little in common, but in truth they share a private torment.

No Remorse

When a tragedy befalls Damon, it's just the beginning of a nightmare that unfolds. But the worst is yet to come once a dark secret from Spencer's past is exposed. And when Luke is brutally attacked, both of their futures are at stake.

No Second Chance

Now it's up to Andrea to prove Spencer's innocence to the police --- and to herself. Because for reasons she has revealed to no one, even Andrea can't help questioning the truth --- and fearing that she may be next to pay the ultimate price.

Editorial Content for The Bones of Paradise

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Alexis Burling

On December 29, 1890, one of the most atrocious massacres perpetrated by whites in American history occurred on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Nearly 300 unarmed Sioux men, women and children were gunned down in their teepees by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry. For weeks leading up to the event, members of the Native American tribe had been performing a ritual “ghost dance” --- a spiritual ceremony to please the gods, entice the buffalo to return, and usher in a new era of prosperity on the reservation. Read More

Teaser

Ten years after the Seventh Cavalry massacred more than 200 Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee, J.B. Bennett, a white rancher, and Star, a young Native American woman, are murdered in a remote meadow on J.B.’s land. The deaths bring together the scattered members of the Bennett family: J.B.’s cunning and hard father, Drum; his estranged wife, Dulcinea; and his teenage sons, Cullen and Hayward. As the mystery of these twin deaths unfolds, the history of the dysfunctional Bennetts and their damning secrets is revealed, exposing the conflicted heart of a nation caught between past and future.

Promo

Ten years after the Seventh Cavalry massacred more than 200 Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee, J.B. Bennett, a white rancher, and Star, a young Native American woman, are murdered in a remote meadow on J.B.’s land. The deaths bring together the scattered members of the Bennett family: J.B.’s cunning and hard father, Drum; his estranged wife, Dulcinea; and his teenage sons, Cullen and Hayward. As the mystery of these twin deaths unfolds, the history of the dysfunctional Bennetts and their damning secrets is revealed, exposing the conflicted heart of a nation caught between past and future.

About the Book

The award-winning author of THE RIVER WIFE returns with a multigenerational family saga set in the unforgiving Nebraska Sand Hills in the years following the massacre at Wounded Knee --- an ambitious tale of history, vengeance, race, guilt, betrayal, family and belonging, filled with a vivid cast of characters shaped by violence, love and a desperate loyalty to the land.

Ten years after the Seventh Cavalry massacred more than two hundred Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee, J.B. Bennett, a white rancher, and Star, a young Native American woman, are murdered in a remote meadow on J.B.’s land. The deaths bring together the scattered members of the Bennett family: J.B.’s cunning and hard father, Drum; his estranged wife, Dulcinea; and his teenage sons, Cullen and Hayward. As the mystery of these twin deaths unfolds, the history of the dysfunctional Bennetts and their damning secrets is revealed, exposing the conflicted heart of a nation caught between past and future.

At the center of THE BONES OF PARADISE are two remarkable women. Dulcinea, returned after bitter years of self-exile, yearns for redemption and the courage to mend her broken family and reclaim the land that is rightfully hers. Rose, scarred by the terrible slaughters that have decimated and dislocated her people, struggles to accept the death of her sister, Star, and refuses to rest until she is avenged.

A kaleidoscopic portrait of misfits, schemers, chancers and dreamers, Jonis Agee’s bold novel is a panorama of America at the dawn of a new century. A beautiful evocation of this magnificent, blood-soaked land --- its sweeping prairies, seas of golden grass and sandy hills, all at the mercy of two unpredictable and terrifying forces, weather and lawlessness --- and the durable men and women who dared to tame it. Intimate and epic, THE BONES OF PARADISE is a remarkable achievement: a mystery, a tragedy, a romance, and an unflagging exploration of the beauty and brutality, tenderness and cruelty that defined the settling of the American West.

Audiobook available, read by Christina Traister