Adult

Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech, is dead. Any one of his three children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne. Or so they would like to think. Meredith, the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. If only her father's fortune wasn't her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud. Arthur, the second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. Yet his wife might be leaving him, and he's losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father’s approval just might turn his sinking ship around. Eilidh has spent the last five years as a marketing executive after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious ballet career. If her father left her everything, it finally would validate her worth.

Dive into the extraordinary world of CHILDREN OF A HARSH BLISS, a spellbinding memoir that blends deep spirituality with the raw realities of homesteading. Rishi Waterman, a California native, shares his riveting journey within the New Vrindaban Krishna community in rural West Virginia, offering a unique exploration of alternative living. In this captivating narrative, Waterman paints a vivid picture of the challenges faced by a small group of spiritual enthusiasts striving to live off the land in the 1970s. Brace yourself for a wild ride through cold weather, local conflicts and even a confrontation with a biker gang. This isn't just a tale of survival; it's a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

The British love to complain that words and phrases imported from America --- from French fries to Awesome, man! --- are destroying the English language. But what about the influence going the other way? Britishisms have been making their way into the American lexicon for more than 150 years, but the process has accelerated since the turn of the 21st century. From acclaimed writer and language commentator Ben Yagoda, GOBSMACKED! is a witty, entertaining and enlightening account of how and why scores of British words and phrases --- such as one-off, go missing, curate, early days, kerfuffle, easy peasy and cheeky --- have been enthusiastically taken up by Yanks.

Sixty percent of Americans live with at least one chronic health condition, and over a lifetime, many people will face multiple surgeries or life-changing diagnoses. A scary diagnosis can be overwhelming, launching patients and their loved ones into a world of fear, uncertainty and complexity. SCARY DIAGNOSIS is a uniquely compassionate and empowering book that helps patients, families and caregivers navigate the emotional and practical challenges that follow a serious medical diagnosis. Author Edward Rogoff draws on his own experience with chronic illness and shares compelling stories from others who have faced similar journeys. Through these narratives, he reveals how individuals can move from fear to strength, advocate for themselves, and navigate the health care system, while maintaining their sense of control and dignity.

Paris, 1941. At the height of World War II, young and headstrong Josephine Portier is the protégé of a wealthy family in the highest echelons of Paris society. When she meets the arrogant but handsome Gabriel, she wants nothing to do with him --- until he reveals a shocking secret about her adoptive family that puts her in grave danger. With her life turned upside down and the Nazi forces ever advancing, Josephine finds a new calling when she joins the underground French Resistance. Her dislike for Gabriel soon flourishes into love, but their romance is short-lived as she sacrifices her own freedom to allow his escape. Alone, she must brave the secret missions and Gestapo interrogations of a 1940s Parisian resistance girl. In a city ravaged by war, Josephine is drawn into a dangerous game of survival, in which losing is simply not an option.

On a warm summer evening in 1991, 17-year-old Julia Parker was murdered in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. An area known for an exorbitant level of violence and crime, East New York had come to be known as the Killing Fields. In the six months after Julia Parker’s death, 62 more people were murdered in the same area. In the early 1990s, murder rates in the neighborhood climbed to the highest in NYPD history. East New York was dying. But how did this once thriving, diverse, family neighborhood fall into such ruin? The answer can be found two decades earlier. A compulsively readable hybrid of true crime and investigative journalism, THE KILLING FIELDS OF EAST NEW YORK reveals how white-collar crime reduced a prospering neighborhood to abandoned buildings and empty lots.

After nearly 18 months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust. Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves --- her dragons, her family, her home and him. Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find --- the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.

Paris, 1947. Recovering from the Nazi occupation, the city suffers from an economy in shambles and an unraveled social fabric. Cecile Rosenbaum, from a bourgeois Jewish family that has lost everything, meets Minette Traoré, a feisty, French-born girl of Senegalese descent, on the bus to a Communist Youth Conference. There, she also meets Sebastien Danxomè, an aspiring architecture student from West Africa, and romance blooms. Back in Paris, Cecile and Sebastien find their budding love muddied by confused loyalties and unyielding cultural traditions. When Mack Gray, a charming African-American GI, sets his sights on Cecile, her complicated relationship with Sebastien, as well as her fierce dedication to her newfound political ideologies, are pushed to the brink.

Celebrated stage actress Mona Zahid wakes up on Thanksgiving morning to the clamor of guests packed into her Manhattan apartment and to a wave of dread. Her in-laws are lurking on the other side of the bedroom door; she’s still fighting with her husband; and in just a few weeks she will begin rehearsals as Shakespeare’s Cleopatra, the hardest role in theater. In an impulsive burst, Mona bounds out the door with the family dog in tow to find her estranged mentor, Milton Katz, who recently was forced out of the legendary theater company he founded amid accusations of sexual misconduct. Mona’s escape turns into an overnight adventure that brings her face to face with her past, with her creative power and its limitations, and ultimately, with all the people she has ever loved.

Sometimes, even a first-rate ghostwriter and successful mystery author needs to make a buck. Even if that means setting foot on a cruise ship, something she vowed she’d never do. To top it off, the “Get Lit Cruise” is being organized by Payton Garrett, a very popular, bestselling author --- and the ghostwriter’s long-time frenemy from back in their MFA days. Payton has acquired a rabid following who eagerly snapped up the invitations sent to a select few of her newsletter subscribers. The guests, all female, will receive personalized instruction from experts in five different writing genres. When an attendee is found dead under suspicious circumstances and several others suffer symptoms of poisoning, there are numerous motives and suspects to choose from. As the body count rises along with onboard tensions, no one is safe.