"Listeners will be transported to the small Southern town of Wicklow by the drawls and laid-back pacing of the narrators.... This is a beautiful story of family, love, and forgiveness." (AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner) Heather Webbers Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm. Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café. It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmothers estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her fathers side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody cant stop talking about. As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781250198594
|
Hardcover
The Me I Used to Be
By Ryan, Jennifer
If you like Jill Shalvis and Kristin Hannah, you'll love Jennifer Ryan's exciting new novel, where a young woman has the chance to rebuild her life and become the woman she was always meant to be ... An inheritance she never expected ... After serving time for a crime she didn't commit, Evangeline returns home to discover her father left her solely responsible for the family's failing ranch, her mother blames her for her father's death, and her brothers want her out of their way. With her family's future squarely on her shoulders, she desperately searches for ways to save their home - before they lose everything. A chance to right past mistakes ... Her only ally, Chris Chambers. The cop who sent her away is positive she took the fall for someone else. And if she helps him track down the real criminals, he'll clear her record. But the closer Evangeline and Chris get to exposing the truth - and to each other - the deeper Evangeline is drawn into a dangerous sting that will finally bring her justice and pave the way for a bright future.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780062883919
|
Paperback
The Golden Hour
By Williams, Beatriz
The New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives and A Certain Age creates a dazzling epic of World War II-era Nassau - a hotbed of spies, traitors, and the most infamous couple of the age, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.The Bahamas, 1941. Newly-widowed Leonora "Lulu" Randolph arrives in Nassau to investigate the Governor and his wife for a New York society magazine. After all, American readers have an insatiable appetite for news of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, that glamorous couple whose love affair nearly brought the British monarchy to its knees five years earlier. What more intriguing backdrop for their romance than a wartime Caribbean paradise, a colonial playground for kingpins of ill-gotten empires?Or so Lulu imagines. But as she infiltrates the Duke and Duchess's social circle, and the powerful cabal that controls the islands' political and financial affairs, she uncovers evidence that beneath the glister of Wallis and Edward's marriage lies an ugly - and even treasonous - reality. In fact, Windsor-era Nassau seethes with spies, financial swindles, and racial tension, and in the middle of it all stands Benedict Thorpe: a scientist of tremendous charm and murky national loyalties. Inevitably, the willful and wounded Lulu falls in love. Then Nassau's wealthiest man is murdered in one of the most notorious cases of the century, and the resulting coverup reeks of royal privilege. Benedict Thorpe disappears without a trace, and Lulu embarks on a journey to London and beyond to unpick Thorpe's complicated family history: a fateful love affair, a wartime tragedy, and a mother from whom all joy is stolen.The stories of two unforgettable women thread together in this extraordinary epic of espionage, sacrifice, human love, and human courage, set against a shocking true crime . . . and the rise and fall of a legendary royal couple.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780062834751
|
Hardcover
The Last Book Party
By Dukess, Karen
*A July 2019 Indie Next List Great Read* *One of Parade's Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2019* *An O Magazine Best Beach Read of 2019**A New York Post Best Beach Read of 2019* "The Last Book Party is a delight. Reading this story of a young woman trying to find herself while surrounded by the bohemian literary scene during a summer on the Cape in the late '80s, I found myself nodding along in so many moments and dreading the last page. Karen Dukess has rendered a wonderful world to spend time in." -- Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six A propulsive tale of ambition and romance, set in the publishing world of 1980's New York and the timeless beaches of Cape Cod.In the summer of 1987, 25-year-old Eve Rosen is an aspiring writer languishing in a low-level assistant job, unable to shake the shadow of growing up with her brilliant brother. With her professional ambitions floundering, Eve jumps at the chance to attend an early summer gathering at the Cape Cod home of famed New Yorker writer Henry Grey and his poet wife, Tillie. Dazzled by the guests and her burgeoning crush on the hosts' artistic son, Eve lands a new job as Henry Grey's research assistant and an invitation to Henry and Tillie's exclusive and famed "Book Party" -- where attendees dress as literary characters. But by the night of the party, Eve discovers uncomfortable truths about her summer entanglements and understands that the literary world she so desperately wanted to be a part of is not at all what it seems. A page-turning, coming-of-age story, written with a lyrical sense of place and a profound appreciation for the sustaining power of books, Karen Dukess's The Last Book Party shows what happens when youth and experience collide and what it takes to find your own voice.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781250225474
|
Hardcover
Sea Prayer
By Hosseini, Khaled
The #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed responds to the heartbreak of the current refugee crisis with this deeply moving, beautifully illustrated short work of fiction for people of all ages, all over the world. A short, powerful, illustrated book written by beloved novelist Khaled Hosseini in response to the current refugee crisis, Sea Prayer is composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son, on the eve of their journey. Watching over his sleeping son, the father reflects on the dangerous sea-crossing that lies before them. It is also a vivid portrait of their life in Homs, Syria, before the war, and of that city's swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone. Impelled to write this story by the haunting image of young Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed upon the beach in Turkey in September 2015, Hosseini hopes to pay tribute to the millions of families, like Kurdi's, who have been splintered and forced from home by war and persecution, and he will donate author proceeds from this book to the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and The Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund lifesaving relief efforts to help refugees around the globe. Khaled Hosseini is one of the most widely read writers in the world, with more than fifty-five million copies of his novels sold worldwide in more than seventy countries. Hosseini is also a Goodwill Envoy to the UNHCR, and the founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780525539094
|
Hardcover
Milady
By Sullivan, Laura L.
From the glittering ballrooms of 17th Century England to the dangerous intrigues of the French court, Laura L. Sullivan brings an unlikely heroine to the page, turning on its head everything we've been told about The Three Musketeers and their ultimate rival. I've gone by many names, though you most likely know me as Milady de Winter: Villainess. Seductress. A secondary player in someone else's tale. It's finally time I tell my own story. The truth isn't tidy or convenient, but it's certainly more interesting. Before you cast judgment, let me start at the beginning, and you shall learn how an innocent girl from the countryside became the most feared woman in all of Europe. Because we all know history was written by men, and they so often get things wrong.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780451489982
|
Paperback
Marah Chase and the Conqueror's Tomb
By Stringer, Jay
Rogue archeologist Marah Chase is approached by MI6 with an impossible mission: to help them recover a dangerous treasure lost after the death of Alexander the Great. Once a rising star in the field of archaeology, Marah Chase is now a black-market treasure hunter, her services available to the highest bidder. But when she's caught "rescuing" relics in Syria before they're destroyed by war, an MI6 officer named Joanna Mason approaches her with an offer she can't refuse: help save the world or rot in prison. All Chase has to do is find Alexander the Great's lost tomb, recover an ancient weapon of mass destruction he may have used to conquer the earth, and destroy it before the bad guys can get it. Among those adversaries are a powerful church that believes in a forgotten epoch of advanced alien technology, the white supremacist thugs in its employ, and the rival archaeologist who recently left Chase for dead. Chase can't resist a challenge -- or the British spy recruiting her. There's just one problem. If Chase has any hope of unearthing Alexander's tomb before the forces hot on her heels do, she'll need the help of the one person she's been afraid to see since her fall from grace: Zoe Forrester, the heir to a hidden journal that holds the key -- and Chase's ex-girlfriend. A contemporary homage to the best adventure stories of literature, television, and film, Marah Chase and the Conqueror's Tomb is an action-packed, globe-trotting quest, perfect for anyone who's ever thought Indy really ought to be Jewish, female, and gay.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781643130736
|
Hardcover
Death and Other Happy Endings
By Cantor, Melanie
There's nothing like being told that in three months you'll be dead to make you think about what you really want in lifeJennifer Cole has just been told that she has a terminal blood disorder and has just three months to live--ninety days to say goodbye to friends and family, and to put her affairs in order. Ninety days to come to terms with a diagnosis that is unfair, unexpected, and completely unpronounceable. Focusing on the positives (she won't have to go on in a world without Bowie or Maya Angelou; she won't get Alzheimer's or Parkinson's like her parents, or have teeth that flop out at the mere mention of the word apple) , Jennifer realizes she only has one real regret: the relationships she's lost.Rather than running off to complete a frantic bucket list, Jennifer chooses to stay put and write a letter to the three most significant people in her life, to say the things she wished she'd said before but never dared: her overbearing, selfish sister, her jelly-spined, cheating ex-husband, and her charming, unreliable ex-boyfriend--and finally tell them the truth. At first, Jennifer feels cleansed by her catharsis. Liberated, even. Her ex-boyfriend rushes to her side and she even starts to build bridges with her sister Isabelle (that is, once Isabelle's confirmed that Jennifer's condition isn't genetic) . But once you start telling the truth, it's hard to stop. And as Jennifer soon discovers, the truth isn't always as straightforward as it seems, and death has a way of surprising you....
Publisher: n/a
|
9780525562115
|
Hardcover
The Long Flight Home
By Hlad, Alan
Inspired by fascinating, true, yet little-known events during World War II, The Long Flight Home is a testament to the power of courage in our darkest hours - a moving, masterfully written story of love and sacrifice. It is September 1940 - a year into the war - and as German bombs fall on Britain, fears grow of an impending invasion. Enemy fighter planes blacken the sky around the Epping Forest home of Susan Shepherd and her grandfather, Bertie. After losing her parents to influenza as a child, Susan found comfort in raising homing pigeons with Bertie. All her birds are extraordinary to Susan - loyal, intelligent, beautiful - but none more so than Duchess. Hatched from an egg that Susan incubated in a bowl under her grandfather's desk lamp, Duchess shares a special bond with Susan and an unusual curiosity about the human world. Thousands of miles away in Buxton, Maine, a young crop-duster pilot named Ollie Evans has decided to travel to Britain to join the Royal Air Force. His quest brings him to Epping and to the National Pigeon Service, where Susan is involved in a new, covert assignment. Codenamed Source Columba, the mission aims to air-drop hundreds of homing pigeons in German-occupied France. Many will not survive. Those that do make the journey home to England can convey crucial information on German troop movements - and help reclaim the skies from the Luftwaffe. The friendship between Ollie and Susan deepens as the mission date draws near. When Ollie's plane is downed behind enemy lines, both know how remote the chances of reunion must be. Yet Duchess's devotion and her singular sense of duty will become an unexpected lifeline, relaying messages between Susan and Ollie as war rages on - and proving, at last, that hope is never truly lost.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781496721679
|
Hardcover
The Orphan's Song
By Kate, Lauren
The historical adult debut novel by # 1 New York Times bestselling author Lauren Kate, The Orphan's Song is a sweeping love story about family and music--and the secrets each hold--that follows the intertwined fates of two Venetian orphans.Venice, 1736. Violetta has a secret: When she climbs out of her window at The Hospital of the Incurables, the revered music school and orphanage that has always been her home, she can look out over the city and dream. But when she stumbles upon Mino, a violinist from the boy's hall who also seeks solace in the skyline, she feels a surprising connection. The two begin a passionate duet that will transform their lives.Yet as Mino becomes determined to find his lost mother, and Violetta's desire to sing in the ospedale's famous coro make clear she can never leave its walls, they find their love torn in two. Known as the "city of masks," Venice is the perfect place to hide one's heart, but as Violetta becomes a legendary soprano with a secret nighttime life, and Mino seeks the truth among the city's canals, their fates prove inextricably linked. A haunting memory Violetta has kept hidden since childhood soon leads them both to a shocking confrontation.Vibrant with the glamour and beauty of Venice at its zenith, The Orphan's Song takes us on a breathtaking journey of passion, heartbreak, and betrayal before it crescendos to an unforgettable ending, a celebration of the enduring nature and transformative power of love.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780735212572
|
Hardcover
Unleashed
By Palmer, Diana
She vowed to never trust another man ... until she met him. A passionate new Long, Tall Texans romance from New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer Clancey Lang knows how to run. She's been doing it since the day she fled her abusive home to save her and her younger brother's lives. That was the same day she decided to never let herself depend on anyone else. Especially men. Though she's tempted - mighty tempted - to put her faith in her boss, ruggedly handsome Texas Ranger Colter Banks. If only he would look her way ... For far too long, Colter has been distracting himself with women he knows will never fully satisfy him. But there's something about his pretty assistant, Clancey, that he simply can't resist. Something slowly but surely drawing every ounce of his attention. But is he falling for a woman who'll never let herself be caught?
Publisher: n/a
|
9781335659989
|
Hardcover
The Lemon Sisters
By Shalvis, Jill
"A book to savor--and share." --Susan Wiggs, New York Times Bestselling AuthorThe New York Times bestselling author of Rainy Day Friends and Lost and Found Sisters returns to Wildstone, California...Brooke Lemon has always led the life she wanted, wild adventures - and mistakes - included, something her perfect sister, Mindy, never understood. So when Mindy shows up on Brooke's doorstep in the throes of a break-down with her three little kids in tow, Brooke's shocked.Wanting to make amends, Brooke agrees to trade places, taking the kids back to Wildstone for a few days so Mindy can pick up the pieces and put herself back together. What Brooke doesn't admit is she's just as broken . . . Also how does one go home after seven years away? It doesn't take long for Brooke to come face-to-face with her past, in the form of one tall, dark, sexy mistake. But Garrett's no longer interested. Only his words don't match his actions, leaving Brooke feeling things she'd shoved deep. Soon the sisters begin to wonder: Are they lemons in life? In love? All they know is that neither seems to be able to run far enough to outpace her demons. And when secrets surface, they'll have to learn that sometimes the one person who can help you the most is the one you never thought to ask.
Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe
By Webber, Heather
"Listeners will be transported to the small Southern town of Wicklow by the drawls and laid-back pacing of the narrators.... This is a beautiful story of family, love, and forgiveness." (AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner) Heather Webbers Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm. Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café. It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmothers estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her fathers side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody cant stop talking about. As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.
The Me I Used to Be
By Ryan, Jennifer
If you like Jill Shalvis and Kristin Hannah, you'll love Jennifer Ryan's exciting new novel, where a young woman has the chance to rebuild her life and become the woman she was always meant to be ... An inheritance she never expected ... After serving time for a crime she didn't commit, Evangeline returns home to discover her father left her solely responsible for the family's failing ranch, her mother blames her for her father's death, and her brothers want her out of their way. With her family's future squarely on her shoulders, she desperately searches for ways to save their home - before they lose everything. A chance to right past mistakes ... Her only ally, Chris Chambers. The cop who sent her away is positive she took the fall for someone else. And if she helps him track down the real criminals, he'll clear her record. But the closer Evangeline and Chris get to exposing the truth - and to each other - the deeper Evangeline is drawn into a dangerous sting that will finally bring her justice and pave the way for a bright future.
The Golden Hour
By Williams, Beatriz
The New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives and A Certain Age creates a dazzling epic of World War II-era Nassau - a hotbed of spies, traitors, and the most infamous couple of the age, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.The Bahamas, 1941. Newly-widowed Leonora "Lulu" Randolph arrives in Nassau to investigate the Governor and his wife for a New York society magazine. After all, American readers have an insatiable appetite for news of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, that glamorous couple whose love affair nearly brought the British monarchy to its knees five years earlier. What more intriguing backdrop for their romance than a wartime Caribbean paradise, a colonial playground for kingpins of ill-gotten empires?Or so Lulu imagines. But as she infiltrates the Duke and Duchess's social circle, and the powerful cabal that controls the islands' political and financial affairs, she uncovers evidence that beneath the glister of Wallis and Edward's marriage lies an ugly - and even treasonous - reality. In fact, Windsor-era Nassau seethes with spies, financial swindles, and racial tension, and in the middle of it all stands Benedict Thorpe: a scientist of tremendous charm and murky national loyalties. Inevitably, the willful and wounded Lulu falls in love. Then Nassau's wealthiest man is murdered in one of the most notorious cases of the century, and the resulting coverup reeks of royal privilege. Benedict Thorpe disappears without a trace, and Lulu embarks on a journey to London and beyond to unpick Thorpe's complicated family history: a fateful love affair, a wartime tragedy, and a mother from whom all joy is stolen.The stories of two unforgettable women thread together in this extraordinary epic of espionage, sacrifice, human love, and human courage, set against a shocking true crime . . . and the rise and fall of a legendary royal couple.
The Last Book Party
By Dukess, Karen
*A July 2019 Indie Next List Great Read* *One of Parade's Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2019* *An O Magazine Best Beach Read of 2019**A New York Post Best Beach Read of 2019* "The Last Book Party is a delight. Reading this story of a young woman trying to find herself while surrounded by the bohemian literary scene during a summer on the Cape in the late '80s, I found myself nodding along in so many moments and dreading the last page. Karen Dukess has rendered a wonderful world to spend time in." -- Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six A propulsive tale of ambition and romance, set in the publishing world of 1980's New York and the timeless beaches of Cape Cod.In the summer of 1987, 25-year-old Eve Rosen is an aspiring writer languishing in a low-level assistant job, unable to shake the shadow of growing up with her brilliant brother. With her professional ambitions floundering, Eve jumps at the chance to attend an early summer gathering at the Cape Cod home of famed New Yorker writer Henry Grey and his poet wife, Tillie. Dazzled by the guests and her burgeoning crush on the hosts' artistic son, Eve lands a new job as Henry Grey's research assistant and an invitation to Henry and Tillie's exclusive and famed "Book Party" -- where attendees dress as literary characters. But by the night of the party, Eve discovers uncomfortable truths about her summer entanglements and understands that the literary world she so desperately wanted to be a part of is not at all what it seems. A page-turning, coming-of-age story, written with a lyrical sense of place and a profound appreciation for the sustaining power of books, Karen Dukess's The Last Book Party shows what happens when youth and experience collide and what it takes to find your own voice.
Sea Prayer
By Hosseini, Khaled
The #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed responds to the heartbreak of the current refugee crisis with this deeply moving, beautifully illustrated short work of fiction for people of all ages, all over the world. A short, powerful, illustrated book written by beloved novelist Khaled Hosseini in response to the current refugee crisis, Sea Prayer is composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son, on the eve of their journey. Watching over his sleeping son, the father reflects on the dangerous sea-crossing that lies before them. It is also a vivid portrait of their life in Homs, Syria, before the war, and of that city's swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone. Impelled to write this story by the haunting image of young Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed upon the beach in Turkey in September 2015, Hosseini hopes to pay tribute to the millions of families, like Kurdi's, who have been splintered and forced from home by war and persecution, and he will donate author proceeds from this book to the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and The Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund lifesaving relief efforts to help refugees around the globe. Khaled Hosseini is one of the most widely read writers in the world, with more than fifty-five million copies of his novels sold worldwide in more than seventy countries. Hosseini is also a Goodwill Envoy to the UNHCR, and the founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.
Milady
By Sullivan, Laura L.
From the glittering ballrooms of 17th Century England to the dangerous intrigues of the French court, Laura L. Sullivan brings an unlikely heroine to the page, turning on its head everything we've been told about The Three Musketeers and their ultimate rival. I've gone by many names, though you most likely know me as Milady de Winter: Villainess. Seductress. A secondary player in someone else's tale. It's finally time I tell my own story. The truth isn't tidy or convenient, but it's certainly more interesting. Before you cast judgment, let me start at the beginning, and you shall learn how an innocent girl from the countryside became the most feared woman in all of Europe. Because we all know history was written by men, and they so often get things wrong.
Marah Chase and the Conqueror's Tomb
By Stringer, Jay
Rogue archeologist Marah Chase is approached by MI6 with an impossible mission: to help them recover a dangerous treasure lost after the death of Alexander the Great. Once a rising star in the field of archaeology, Marah Chase is now a black-market treasure hunter, her services available to the highest bidder. But when she's caught "rescuing" relics in Syria before they're destroyed by war, an MI6 officer named Joanna Mason approaches her with an offer she can't refuse: help save the world or rot in prison. All Chase has to do is find Alexander the Great's lost tomb, recover an ancient weapon of mass destruction he may have used to conquer the earth, and destroy it before the bad guys can get it. Among those adversaries are a powerful church that believes in a forgotten epoch of advanced alien technology, the white supremacist thugs in its employ, and the rival archaeologist who recently left Chase for dead. Chase can't resist a challenge -- or the British spy recruiting her. There's just one problem. If Chase has any hope of unearthing Alexander's tomb before the forces hot on her heels do, she'll need the help of the one person she's been afraid to see since her fall from grace: Zoe Forrester, the heir to a hidden journal that holds the key -- and Chase's ex-girlfriend. A contemporary homage to the best adventure stories of literature, television, and film, Marah Chase and the Conqueror's Tomb is an action-packed, globe-trotting quest, perfect for anyone who's ever thought Indy really ought to be Jewish, female, and gay.
Death and Other Happy Endings
By Cantor, Melanie
There's nothing like being told that in three months you'll be dead to make you think about what you really want in lifeJennifer Cole has just been told that she has a terminal blood disorder and has just three months to live--ninety days to say goodbye to friends and family, and to put her affairs in order. Ninety days to come to terms with a diagnosis that is unfair, unexpected, and completely unpronounceable. Focusing on the positives (she won't have to go on in a world without Bowie or Maya Angelou; she won't get Alzheimer's or Parkinson's like her parents, or have teeth that flop out at the mere mention of the word apple) , Jennifer realizes she only has one real regret: the relationships she's lost.Rather than running off to complete a frantic bucket list, Jennifer chooses to stay put and write a letter to the three most significant people in her life, to say the things she wished she'd said before but never dared: her overbearing, selfish sister, her jelly-spined, cheating ex-husband, and her charming, unreliable ex-boyfriend--and finally tell them the truth. At first, Jennifer feels cleansed by her catharsis. Liberated, even. Her ex-boyfriend rushes to her side and she even starts to build bridges with her sister Isabelle (that is, once Isabelle's confirmed that Jennifer's condition isn't genetic) . But once you start telling the truth, it's hard to stop. And as Jennifer soon discovers, the truth isn't always as straightforward as it seems, and death has a way of surprising you....
The Long Flight Home
By Hlad, Alan
Inspired by fascinating, true, yet little-known events during World War II, The Long Flight Home is a testament to the power of courage in our darkest hours - a moving, masterfully written story of love and sacrifice. It is September 1940 - a year into the war - and as German bombs fall on Britain, fears grow of an impending invasion. Enemy fighter planes blacken the sky around the Epping Forest home of Susan Shepherd and her grandfather, Bertie. After losing her parents to influenza as a child, Susan found comfort in raising homing pigeons with Bertie. All her birds are extraordinary to Susan - loyal, intelligent, beautiful - but none more so than Duchess. Hatched from an egg that Susan incubated in a bowl under her grandfather's desk lamp, Duchess shares a special bond with Susan and an unusual curiosity about the human world. Thousands of miles away in Buxton, Maine, a young crop-duster pilot named Ollie Evans has decided to travel to Britain to join the Royal Air Force. His quest brings him to Epping and to the National Pigeon Service, where Susan is involved in a new, covert assignment. Codenamed Source Columba, the mission aims to air-drop hundreds of homing pigeons in German-occupied France. Many will not survive. Those that do make the journey home to England can convey crucial information on German troop movements - and help reclaim the skies from the Luftwaffe. The friendship between Ollie and Susan deepens as the mission date draws near. When Ollie's plane is downed behind enemy lines, both know how remote the chances of reunion must be. Yet Duchess's devotion and her singular sense of duty will become an unexpected lifeline, relaying messages between Susan and Ollie as war rages on - and proving, at last, that hope is never truly lost.
The Orphan's Song
By Kate, Lauren
The historical adult debut novel by # 1 New York Times bestselling author Lauren Kate, The Orphan's Song is a sweeping love story about family and music--and the secrets each hold--that follows the intertwined fates of two Venetian orphans.Venice, 1736. Violetta has a secret: When she climbs out of her window at The Hospital of the Incurables, the revered music school and orphanage that has always been her home, she can look out over the city and dream. But when she stumbles upon Mino, a violinist from the boy's hall who also seeks solace in the skyline, she feels a surprising connection. The two begin a passionate duet that will transform their lives.Yet as Mino becomes determined to find his lost mother, and Violetta's desire to sing in the ospedale's famous coro make clear she can never leave its walls, they find their love torn in two. Known as the "city of masks," Venice is the perfect place to hide one's heart, but as Violetta becomes a legendary soprano with a secret nighttime life, and Mino seeks the truth among the city's canals, their fates prove inextricably linked. A haunting memory Violetta has kept hidden since childhood soon leads them both to a shocking confrontation.Vibrant with the glamour and beauty of Venice at its zenith, The Orphan's Song takes us on a breathtaking journey of passion, heartbreak, and betrayal before it crescendos to an unforgettable ending, a celebration of the enduring nature and transformative power of love.
Unleashed
By Palmer, Diana
She vowed to never trust another man ... until she met him. A passionate new Long, Tall Texans romance from New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer Clancey Lang knows how to run. She's been doing it since the day she fled her abusive home to save her and her younger brother's lives. That was the same day she decided to never let herself depend on anyone else. Especially men. Though she's tempted - mighty tempted - to put her faith in her boss, ruggedly handsome Texas Ranger Colter Banks. If only he would look her way ... For far too long, Colter has been distracting himself with women he knows will never fully satisfy him. But there's something about his pretty assistant, Clancey, that he simply can't resist. Something slowly but surely drawing every ounce of his attention. But is he falling for a woman who'll never let herself be caught?
The Lemon Sisters
By Shalvis, Jill
"A book to savor--and share." --Susan Wiggs, New York Times Bestselling AuthorThe New York Times bestselling author of Rainy Day Friends and Lost and Found Sisters returns to Wildstone, California...Brooke Lemon has always led the life she wanted, wild adventures - and mistakes - included, something her perfect sister, Mindy, never understood. So when Mindy shows up on Brooke's doorstep in the throes of a break-down with her three little kids in tow, Brooke's shocked.Wanting to make amends, Brooke agrees to trade places, taking the kids back to Wildstone for a few days so Mindy can pick up the pieces and put herself back together. What Brooke doesn't admit is she's just as broken . . . Also how does one go home after seven years away? It doesn't take long for Brooke to come face-to-face with her past, in the form of one tall, dark, sexy mistake. But Garrett's no longer interested. Only his words don't match his actions, leaving Brooke feeling things she'd shoved deep. Soon the sisters begin to wonder: Are they lemons in life? In love? All they know is that neither seems to be able to run far enough to outpace her demons. And when secrets surface, they'll have to learn that sometimes the one person who can help you the most is the one you never thought to ask.