The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

Recovering from a painful loss, Eva Ward travels to Cornwall and the centuries-old Trelowarth House where she once spent happy summers. One morning, she hears unfamiliar voices in the next room, and on a walk she encounters a mysterious man who seems to be from another time. At first she attributes these oddities to symptoms of grief, but when the “hallucinations” continue to occur and she actually converses with the stranger in her bedroom, Eva concludes she has traveled back 300 years. Though she can’t control her comings and goings between the past and present, she begins to fall in love with Daniel Butler, a dashing man with a dangerous secret. As Eva investigates local annals, she learns some of what Daniel faced, but she’s unsure whether she can or should interfere in historical events—or if she can or should find a way to stay with him forever. Told in first person and with understated sensuality, the story of Eva and Daniel’s devotion and dilemma will keep readers avidly engaged.

 If you could travel back in time to the past, where would you go?  Claire traveled back in time as well, do you think she was aware of Eva's traveling into the past all along or just when Eva was injured?

Ford County by John Grisham

In his first collection of short stories John Grisham takes readers back to Ford County, Mississippi, the setting of his first novel, "A Time to Kill." Featuring a cast of characters readers will never forget, these stories bring Ford County to vivid and colorful life. This wholly surprising collection reminds readers once again why Grisham is one of America's favorite storytellers.

Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah

Meghann Dontess is haunted by heartbreak. Twenty-seven years ago she was forced to make a terrible choice, one that cost her everything, including the love of her sister, Claire. Now, Meghann is a hotshot divorce attorney who doesn't believe in intimacy--until she meets the one man who can change her mind. Claire Cavenaugh has fallen in love for the first time in her life. As her wedding day approaches, she prepares to face her harsh, judgmental older sister. It is the first time they have been together in more than two decades. Over the course of a hot Pacific Northwest summer, these two women who believe they have nothing in common will try to become what they never were: a family.

Hot Water by Erin Brockovich

Environmental activist AJ Palladino has her hands full when she is asked to leave for for a case at a nuclear power plant. Managing work and family life and battling her ex-father in law over custody of her son, she has challenges! There are many twists and turns and plenty of action to keep one reading and there is a real surprise at the end that you won't want to miss!

The book release is November 8, 2011.

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

"Night Road" is a vivid, emotionally complex novel that raises profound questions about motherhood, loss, identity, and forgiveness. It is an exquisite, heartbreaking novel that speaks to women everywhere about the things that matter most. How do you feel about Jude blaming Lexi for the accident? Why do you think Lexi returned Zack's letters with out reading them first?

August 2011 edition of Book Pages

The current issue of BookPage is now available at the Main Library and will be available at the Preakness Branch on Friday, July 29, 2011.
Happy reading!

Amazing Grace by Danielle Steel

On a warm May night in San Francisco, the Ritz-Carlton ballroom shimmers as a glittering, celebrity-studded crowd gathers for a charity dinner dance. The evening is perfect--until, just minutes before midnight, the room begins to sway.... In the earthquake's aftermath, the lives of four strangers will converge.... Sarah Sloane, the wife of a financial whiz, watches her perfect world fall to pieces.... Grammy-winning singer Melanie Free comes to a turning point in her life and career.... Photographer Everett Carson finds new purpose amid the carnage...and Sister Maggie Kent, a nun who works with the homeless, searches through the rubble--and knows that there is much to be done....

Beyond Tuesday Morning: Sequel to the Bestselling One Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury

In this sequel to the best-selling One Tuesday Morning, to widow Jamie Bryan it is still September 12, 2001. What will move her from living in the past to living the life God has given her today?

One Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury

A devoted fireman and a driven businessman, strangers with the same face. On that fateful Tuesday, one will leave the Twin Towers alive--but will he ever find his way home? Winner of the Silver Medallion Book Award.

A story you will not want to put down!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another.

A book you will not want to put down!

52 Waratah Avenue by Lynne Wilding

As Laura Beaumont struggles wih the loss of love, her other life's passion comes under threat…Someone is trying to sabotage Ashworths, the exclusive department store set up by Laura Beaumont. Is the company about to be taken over? The timing is bad for the Beaumont family because Laura's health is declining and they desperatly need to find a successor to the business. Caroline, Laura's eldest daughter, is an international concert pianist in search of a new career; perhaps at Ashworths. But her ambitious sister Michaela has her eye on the top job and is suspicious of Caroline's motives. Meanwhile, Joel, Laura's son, has to deal with his own problems before he can pursue his career as a doctor. Outside of Ashworths, the Beaumont women have other passions to contend with. Caroline's return to Sydney means facing her ex-husband. Nick wants Caroline back in his life — any way he can get her. Michaela finds herself attracted by young lawyer Leith Danvers.

Gigi by Colette

Perhaps Colette's best-known work, "Gigi "is the story of a young girl being raised in a household more concerned with success and money than with the desires of the heart. But Gigi is uninterested in the dishonest society life she observes all around her and remains exasperatingly Gigi. The tale of Gigi's success in spite of her anxious family is Colette at her liveliest and most entertaining. Written during the same period as "Gigi," "Julie de Carneilhan," based on Colette's last years with her second husband, focuses on a contest of wills between Julie, an elegant woman of forty, and her ex-husband. "Chance Acquaintances," a novella, involves an invalid wife, her philandering husband, and a music-hall dancer whose odd meeting at a French spa affects and indelibly marks each one of their lives.

The Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

After one of her patients commits murder, psychiatrist Julia Cates is asked to come back to her hometown by her sister Ellie to help with a child who seemed to appear from nowhere out of the forest. Julia's confidence is very low and her life has been almost destroyed. The found child is "wild" and no one knows where she came from. Julia becomes the temporary foster parent to help the young girl. Can Julia find out who the girl is? What her name is?
The book is hard to put down once you get started! I haven't finished reading just yet! The suspense of what may happens next has me hanging on, not wanting to put this book down!

The Time Traveler's wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Review by Julie Hale
The unconventional love story marks the arrival of a talented new author. Henry and Clare De Tamble are, by all appearances, a regular Chicago couple. Yet, all is not as it seems. Henry suffers from Chrono-Displacement Disorder, which means that, with no warning, he often disappears, only to resurface in the past or the future—most often at moments of special significance in his life. Thus, he travels backward into Clare's childhood, where, in a bizarre twist, he encounters her as a six-year-old. Skillfully shifting points of view, the author presents us with the perspectives of both Clare and Henry, with poignant, often hilarious results. As time's toy, Henry relies upon Clare—the one constant in his life—to keep him grounded. Their marriage, in fact, seems to grow stronger despite his peculiar condition and the strange paradoxes that ensue as a result. This touching, uniquely inventive novel was a national bestseller. The movie rights have been purchased by Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. A reading group guide is included in the book.

Would you call The Time Traveler's Wife a comedy or a tragedy, or are such classifications relevant to a work that plays havoc with time and allows one character to appear periodically after his death?
© 2004, All rights reserved, BookPage

Hannah's List by Debbie Macomber

On the anniversary of his beloved wife's death, Dr. Michael Everett receives a letter Hannah had written him. In it, she reminds him of her love and makes one final request. An impossible request. "I want you to marry again." She tells him he shouldn't spend the years he has left grieving. And to that end, she's chosen three women she asks him to consider-a chef who owns Blossom Street's French Cafe, a compassionate oncology nurse, and an artistic eccentric who rescues strays (animal and human).
Well worth the read Debbie Macomber keeps you guessing right to the very end!

Killer Weekend By Ridley Pearson

The first in a new series for Pearson, "Killer Weekend" pits rural Sheriff Walt Fleming against threats political and corporeal, as madness erupts in Sun Valley, Idaho, when a local attorney announces her candidacy for president.
Publisher CommentsThe #1 "New York Times" bestseller returns with a completely new setting-the magnificent natural beauty of Sun Valley, Idaho-and a heart-stopping story in which a local sheriff struggles to protect a controversial politician from the elegant plan of a hired assassin. Eight years ago, in Sun Valley-snowcapped playground for the wealthy and ambitious-all that stood between U.S. Attorney General Elizabeth Shaler and a knife-wielding killer was local patrolman Walt Fleming. Now Liz Shaler returns to Sun Valley as the keynote speaker of billionaire Patrick Cutter's world-famous media and communications conference, a convergence of the richest, most powerful business tycoons. The controversial attorney general is expected to announce her candidacy for president. It's a media coup for Cutter-but a security nightmare for Walt Fleming, now the county sheriff. As the Cutter conference gets under way, authorities learn of a confirmed threat on Shaler's life, and various competing interests-the Secret Service, the FBI, Cutter's own security forces -begin jockeying for jurisdiction. Amid the conference's opulent extravagances, Walt is suddenly shaken by an apparent murder, his nephew's arrest, and a haunting legacy from his family's past. The clock ticks down toward Shaler's keynote address as we track the chilling precision of her assassin's preparations.

Killer View By Ridley Pearson

Killer View By Pearson, Ridley
Sun Valley sheriff Walt Fleming returns in a stunning new thriller from the #1 "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Killer Weekend." A terrific villain, an appealing protagonist, and breakneck pacing. . . . Ridley Pearson writes thrillers, the kind that try to yank you to the edge of your seat and keep you there.--"Boston Sunday Globe."
Publisher CommentsWhen a skier goes missing at Sun Valley's Galena Summit, Sheriff Walt Fleming quickly assembles his crack search-and-rescue team and heads out into the snowy night. Despite the treacherous conditions, Walt and his group, including deputy Tommy Brandon and Walt's best friend, Mark Aker, set off on skis, accompanied by highly trained search dogs. Within minutes, something goes horribly wrong: a shot rings out, and one of their team is dead. By morning, Mark Aker has disappeared.
Torn between professional responsibility and the desperate urge to find his friend, Walt is further challenged by an unexplained illness at a local water-bottling plant that sends workers to the hospital and sets off biohazard warnings. Following threads of questionable evidence through the glitter of Sun Valley leads Walt to an unlikely and darker source, and reveals a crime played out on a much larger scale than he originally envisioned. Waist-deep in snow and knee-deep in lies, the life of his friend in the balance, Walt begins to suspect that the whole operation is controlled by people of great wealth and power, which leaves him where he started: out in the cold. From adrenaline-charged start to explosive finish, Killer View is heart-stopping suspense at its very best.

The Shack by William P. Young

The Shack By Young, William P.
Mackenzie Allen Phillips's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in this midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever.

Christ the Lord Out: Out of Egypt

Anne Rice writes a fictional account of Jesus as a young boy. Unaware of who he really is, strange things begin to happen and he questions his mother Mary about who he really is and what is he supposed to do. A rather interesting read, very well researched by the author, this book takes you back in time to experience turbulence and war in Egypt and Jerusalem and the beginning miracles of Jesus.