Adult

Everybody knows that Cherry's husband, Tom, is in Hollywood making a movie. Almost nobody knows that he isn't coming home. Tom is the creator of Thursday, a semi-autobiographical webcomic that's become an international phenomenon. There's a character in this movie based on Cherry: “Baby.” Wide-hipped, heavy-chested, double-chinned Baby. Cherry never wanted this. No fat girl wants to see herself caricatured on the page --- let alone on the big screen. But there's no getting away from it. While her soon-to-be ex-husband is in Los Angeles, Cherry is stuck in Omaha wondering who she's supposed to be without him. One night, Cherry decides to leave all her problems at home. She ventures out to see her favorite band play her favorite album…and someone recognizes her from across the room.

Julia Merchaud’s beloved historical drama, “A Patchwork Life,” revived her acting career. But her happiness turns to dismay when she learns that the hit show will have only one more season. Inspiration comes after a conversation with Summer Sullivan, one of the expert quilters who helped Julia prepare for her role. When Summer confides that Elm Creek Quilt Camp is in financial trouble, Julia concocts a brilliant plan that will help the Elm Creek Quilters and herself. Julia sets about persuading the cast and crew to join her for what she promises will be a marvelous week at a luxurious 19th-century mansion. Secretly, she hopes the bonding experience will convince them to sign on for another few seasons. But after several joyful days of quilting and camaraderie, Julia’s scheme takes an unexpected turn.

Jennie Garth is best known for playing the iconic role of Kelly Taylor in the hit television series “Beverly Hills, 90210.” Now in her 50s, she invites readers into the real story of growing up on screen, facing Hollywood’s impossible beauty standards, and losing --- and finding --- herself through heartbreak, loss and the challenge of motherhood. She shares the raw truths of the moments that broke her open and shows the resilience it takes to walk through grief and begin again. Jennie writes with warmth and candor about learning to quiet the voice that says “not enough,” rediscovering her strength after loss, and daring to take up space, speak her truth and want more. She opens up about the unglamorous, deeply human moments, and finally letting go of the need for perfection and other people’s approval.

Eddie Wilkens is a workaholic house painter. His wife has left him to her regret, and his main employee, Houston, is a loafer and scoundrel who barely shows up for work. Eddie is a thoughtful man who rarely gets angry, but he is ruled by a guilt that he has carried for nearly 20 years. Next door, a woman and her two sons move in with her frail and aging mother. The youngest boy, eight-year-old Russell, is quiet and small for his age and lives in constant terror of his increasingly lost and troubled 15-year-old brother, Curtis. As their mother struggles to keep the family together and the grandmother’s health begins to falter, they find themselves unable to protect Russell and themselves from Curtis’ cruelty, which threatens to explode in frenetic violence. Though neither knows it, Russell and Eddie will become each other’s saving grace.

Born in Buffalo, New York, Marilyn Ann Scales Underwood dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. Moving to New York City to study at the Traphagen School of Fashion, she became an assistant designer and eventually returned to her hometown where she began her career as the first Black female executive at Barmon Brothers Company. Independent and content with being single, she wasn’t interested in marriage until she met Lieutenant Frank Underwood. Blair Underwood honors his mother with this remarkable work, bringing into sharp focus her life as a soldier's wife, mother and successful entrepreneur, drawn from his memories, her letters, and interviews with family and friends.

In the wake of her debut novel’s breakout success --- and a very painful public divorce --- Charlotte Williams-Jackson has something to prove. With her second novel overdue, she’s scrambling to hold it together. But her focus is rocked when she discovers that she has a tween half-sister who's been orphaned in Italy. Alongside her best friend, Sloane, and Sloane’s charming brother, Julian, Charlotte ventures to the Amalfi Coast to meet her sister. But between her looming deadline and her entire identity being flipped upside down, it’s a lot. Determined to rebuild her life, Charlotte must confront the relationships she’s held dear --- and the loss of those she thought she had but didn't --- forcing her to question everything she understood about herself and the bonds that shape a family.

Special Agent Chloe McMurray has been asked to do many things in the name of her job. But going undercover on a cruise ship is a new one. Not only that, but she’s tasked with posing as the wife of her federal counterpart, Special Agent Wesley Law. Their investigation? A string of murders and suicides across three states that seem unrelated, until they uncover a deadly technological connection. Every victim was an expert in technology and had some connection to Milestones, a megacorporation with ties to many industries...including the cruise industry. Chloe and Wesley must successfully go undercover as tech employees on the ship hosting the 10th anniversary of the Milestones cruise company. They’ll infiltrate the technology events, investigate their fellow passengers and try to uncover what’s really going on. However, danger is never far behind.

Arthur Fletch, one of the world’s bestselling novelists, is a reclusive genius known for his iconic protagonists and fiendish twists. When six struggling authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private Scottish island, they arrive to discover a shocking secret: Arthur Fletch is dead…and his last book is unfinished. Desperate to publish the novel, Fletch’s agent and editor have summoned these writers in the hope that one of them will imagine a worthy ending for this final book. To sweeten the deal, they are offering an irresistible prize: in addition to ghost-writing the last chapter --- for a mind-boggling sum --- they also will help the lucky writer successfully re-launch their own career, guaranteeing future bestsellers. The catch: the writers have just 72 hours to finish Fletch’s magnum opus. It’s the perfect plot. All it needs is a killer ending.

One night, when Kate Crane was 12, her father called to say he was on his way home from his trucking business. He never showed up. Kate and her family were left stunned, with no explanation or resolution on the horizon. Twenty years later, now a journalist in New York City, Kate reopens the investigation with Baltimore’s Cold Case Unit, tracks down the retired detectives who had worked Eddy’s case, and chases leads with old friends through her hometown’s dark alleys. Maybe she can find some answers --- or at least a little solace.

In THE HEART OF IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, Jimmy Hawkins helps us focus on the true meaning behind the classic holiday movie. It’s not just the message or its many famous lines but rather the motivation behind the creation of the film and director Frank Capra’s unrelenting vision for what it should be. As a boy, Jimmy played George Bailey’s youngest son, Tommy. And he has spent the eight decades since living out the heart of the story and becoming arguably the world’s foremost expert on the movie. Filled with unpublished facts that the author has collected about the cast and crew, this book gives a clearer understanding of what they all brought to the scripted pages. Through excerpts from the screenplay, never-before-seen photos, and a lifetime of friendship with both Capra and the stars of the movie, Hawkins guides us to discover why this story still touches the spirit decades after its release.