Eager to Please

Eager to Please

Julie Parsons

Julie Parsons

For twelve long years Rachel Beckett has been in prison for the murder of her husband Martin. A murder sheswears she did not commit.For twelve long years she has been denied the touch and the love of her only daughter Amy. Has been forcedto watch another woman raise and enjoy her child. Until, at the age of seventeen, Amy has insisted she neverwants to see her real mother again.But now Rachel is free. And she is ready to take revenge on Daniel – her brother-in-law, her one-time lover, andthe man she insists fired the fatal shot.No-one can take her beloved Amy away from her and hope to gofree... The wheel must turn full circle.
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The Honk and Holler Opening Soon

The Honk and Holler Opening Soon

Billie Letts

Billie Letts

Caney Paxton wanted his cafe to have the biggest and brightest sign in Eastern Oklahoma-the "opening soon" part was supposed to be just a removable, painted notice. But a fateful misunderstanding gave Vietnam vet Caney the flashiest joke in the entire state. Twelve years later, the once-busy highway is dead and the sign is as worn as Caney, who hasn't ventured outside the diner since it opened. Then one blustery December day, a thirtyish Crow woman blows in with a three-legged dog in her arms and a long-buried secret on her mind. Hiring on as a carhop, Vena Takes Horse is soon shaking up business, the locals, and Caney's heart...as she teaches them all about generosity of spirit, love, and the possibility of promise-just like the sign says.From Publishers WeeklyLetts's gently humorous second novel confirms the promise of her debut, Where the Heart Is. For 12 years, wheelchair-bound restaurateur and Vietnam vet Caney Paxton hasn't left his Sequoyah, Okla., cafe, known (thanks to a sign-maker's error) as the Honk and Holler Opening Soon. Now it's Christmas time, 1985, and for Caney and four-times married waitress Molly O, who helped raise him, the holiday looks bleak: business is slumping, overdue bills are piling up and the roof is leaking. Worried about her teenage daughter, Brenda, a country musician seeking her fortune in Nashville, Molly O is too preoccupied to recognize the romantic interest of cafe regular Life Halstead; Caney, ashamed of his part in the war, feels trapped by his wound and his painful past. But that changes when luck brings the Honk and Holler two new employees: beautiful young Crow Indian drifter Vena Takes Horse, who signs on as a carhop, and Vietnamese refugee Bui Khanh, a cook and handyman running from a guilty secret of his own. Initially skeptical of the two outsiders, Honk and Holler habitu?s come to value Vena and Bui, especially after an act of violence threatens Bui's life. Even a few unresolved loose ends can't diminish the cumulative effect of this warm, sentimental tale, abundant with quirky detail and homespun wisdom, which emphasizes not only the power of romantic love but the healing powers of community as well. Author tour. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library JournalYA-In 1973, Caney Paxton returned from Vietnam in a wheelchair. While in the VA hospital, he and some buddies designed a cafe that was built on a then-busy highway outside of Sequoyah, OK. The cafe was supposed be called The Honk and Holler, but because of a misunderstanding and about a half a case of Coors, the nonrefundable $600 red-neon sign read "The Honk and Holler Opening Soon." Caney retreated to his cafe and for 12 years led a lonely life with only his combat nightmares and his regular customers for company. One day shortly before Christmas, a Crow woman named Vena Takes Horse appears at the door wearing red cowboy boots and carrying a severely injured dog. Caney could see that "she was trouble" but gave her a job, thus changing his life forever. Bui Khanh, a Vietnamese immigrant, arrives sometime after Vena and in broken English also asks for work. He becomes more than a short-order cook; he helps free Caney from his terrible nightmares. Caney, Vena, and Bui become the focus in a cast of unforgettable characters who carry heavy burdens and live life on the edge. As she did in the award-winning novel Where the Heart Is (Warner, 1995), Letts will again captivate young adults with this story of love, hope, and humanity.Carol Clark, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield, VACopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Wives and Champions

Wives and Champions

Tina Martin

Tina Martin

~The Champion Brothers Family Novel~Dante wants another child. Emily feels guilty for not spending enough time with the child they already have, their one-year-old son, Ezra. Struggling with motherhood while trying to ensure her boutique is a success, she's not ready for more children.Melanie runs into her ex - Scott - again. Scott had left her heartbroken when he found out she couldn't have children. Since seeing her with her daughter Grace, Scott feels like Melanie owes him an explanation. Melanie keeps Dimitrius out of the loop. The last thing she wants is for him to think she still has feelings for her ex. But her plan backfires.Sherita knows she married a fine, millionaire boss, Desmond Champion. That's why she's under pressure trying to lose baby weight after giving birth to their twins, Celeste and Nolan, six months ago. She's working hard to be a good mother while trying to run her photography studio - not to mention dealing with postpartum and intimacy issues that's...
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The Color of Blood

The Color of Blood

Declan Hughes

Declan Hughes

Still adjusting to being back on Irish soil, PI Ed Loy finds himself caught up in a deadly web of lies, betrayals and shrouded histories. Shane Howard, a respected dentist from the venerable Howard medical family of Dublin, asks Loy to search for his missing daughter. The only information available is a set of pictures portraying nineteen-year-old Emily in a series of very compromising positions. Seems like a pretty easy case to Loy… until people start dying. The very same day that Loy meets Howard, Emily's mother and ex-boyfriend are brutally stabbed to death. But that's only the beginning. Loy discovers that the Howard family is not all that it seems. For years their name has stood for progress and improvement within Dublin's medical community, but that is only what's on the surface. The true legacy of the Howards is one of scandalous secrets, the type that are best left unearthed. Against his better judgment, Loy is drawn into the very center of the Howards' sordid family history, and what he finds could ruin more than reputations. In The Color of Blood, Declan Hughes once again brings the city of Dublin to life in all its gritty glory. The dark realities of the streets converge with the lethal secrets of the past in a sinister and graphic thriller that will have readers on edge right up to its shocking conclusion.
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T.J. and the Winning Goal

T.J. and the Winning Goal

Theo Walcott

Theo Walcott

The Parkview team are off to compete in the Regional Championship tournament, but their striker is in trouble. The team is improving all the time, but Tulsi, once the star, is getting left behind. When she's dropped from both the school team and her Sunday League team, she even talks about giving up football. Can TJ and the team help Tulsi change her ways and win her place back in the team?
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Falling Idols

Falling Idols

Brian Hodge

Brian Hodge

Product DescriptionWe were given language, says an old parable, because God loves the stories. And he loves the stories because they help him know himself better. These eight tales in Brian Hodge's renowned second collection advance the cause a little further. Full of gods and devils, tormentors and deliverers, Falling Idols is a twisting, harrowing path toward the state of being that poet Kahlil Gibran describes as being able "to bless the darkness as we have blessed the light." Includes: "Stick Around, It Gets Worse" - The universe creates what it needs, even in a gritty urban Hell. "A Loaf Of Bread, A Jug Of Wine" - A threatened village in World War II France has an unlikely defender: the allegedly soulless creation of Victor Frankenstein. "The Dripping Of Sundered Wineskins" - A trio of immortal Sisters catapults an Irish stigmatic toward his destiny of being either a saint or a butcher. World Fantasy Award finalist. "Cenotaph" - While exploring the fantastical sculptures at an ancient English church, a photographer discovers what really guided her ancestor's hammer and chisels. "As Above, So Below" - A lifetime of searching that began deep inside a derelict railroad tunnel leads a very old soul to a desert town, for his final revelations in sacrifice, miracles, and love. Selected for The Century's Best Horror.
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The Mountain

The Mountain

David L. Golemon

David L. Golemon

In 1863 a meeting takes place between legendary war leaders—a secret alliance that will never show up in any American history books. A clandestine arrangement has been struck for a single chance to heal a war-torn nation. The mission is to bring the greatest prize in the world back to American soil-remnants of pre-history's greatest ship and most startling mystery. The prize may lie on a mountain top inside the fierce Ottoman Empire, yet the men who seek it are only days away from trying to kill one another. In 2007, America's darkest agency known to only a privileged few as the Event Group, has been tasked by the President to bring home a famous former astronaut who was on a mission to bring back the greatest biblical artifact-Noah's Ark. It will be up to the newly-installed Director of Security at Department 5656, Major Jack Collins and his team of brilliant men and women, to rescue the archeological expedition from forces that will kill to keep the...
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The Withering Palace

The Withering Palace

Alexia Purdy

Young Adult / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Paranormal

Untold darkness rules the Unseelie realm of the Land of Faerie. Hidden in this vast area, Aveta, the future queen of the Unseelie Army, perfects her gifts over lifetimes. Learning that magic isn't the only way to manipulate the world around her, this naive girl grows into a woman of strength and cunning, ultimately becoming one of the most feared leaders in Faerie.
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Poseidon's Bride (Olympians, Book One)

Poseidon's Bride (Olympians, Book One)

Marie Medina

Romance / Gay and Lesbian / Fantasy

Poseidon wanted to blow off some steam after a fight with his brother Zeus, but the fates had something else planned for him. When he sees a beautiful woman on the beach, he aches to touch her. She calls to him, the pull like the song of a siren. She’s mortal, but he doesn’t care. He has to have her. The ache in his body, and his heart, simply won’t be denied…
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The Good Husband of Zebra Drive tn1lda-8

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive tn1lda-8

Alexander McCall Smith

Mystery & Thrillers / Literature & Fiction / Children's Books

As winter turns to spring across the red earth, acacia trees and slow green rivers of Botswana, all is not quite as it should be on Zebra Drive, home to Mma Ramotswe and her beloved husband Mr J. L. B. Matekoni. At the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency there are the usual number of cases to be pursued, from persistent theft at Teenie Magama’s printing works to the rather more serious case of three suspicious deaths at the Mochudi hospital, but there is discontent among the ranks. It is bad enough that Mr Matekoni’s apprentice Charlie is off on another escapade and Mma Makutsi’s impending marriage threatens her happy working relationship with Mma Ramotswe. And when – in trying to prove himself a worthy husband – Mr J. L. B. Matekoni himself decides to try a little detective work, disaster looms . . . Tender, witty and wise, the latest instalment in the lives of Alexander McCall’s Smith’s extended Botswana family instructs us with familiar modesty in the importance of trust, love, not judging by appearances and what really makes a good husband.
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Leaving Glorytown

Leaving Glorytown

Eduardo F. Calcines

Eduardo F. Calcines

Eduardo F. Calcines was a child of Fidel Castro's Cuba; he was just three years old when Castro came to power in January 1959. After that, everything changed for his family and his country. When he was ten, his family applied for an exit visa to emigrate to America and he was ridiculed by his schoolmates and even his teachers for being a traitor to his country. But even worse, his father was sent to an agricultural reform camp to do hard labor as punishment for daring to want to leave Cuba. During the years to come, as he grew up in Glorytown, a neighborhood in the city of Cienfuegos, Eduardo hoped with all his might that their exit visa would be granted before he turned fifteen, the age at which he would be drafted into the army. In this absorbing memoir, by turns humorous and heartbreaking, Eduardo Calcines recounts his boyhood and chronicles the conditions that led him to wish above all else to leave behind his beloved extended family and his home for a chance at a...
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