"Two friends make a promise to their dying friend to face their deepest hopes and greatest fears by agreeing to stop waiting until they lose weight and start living now. As they begin to work on their list of things to do, they grow stronger and learn to embrace themselves just the way they are"--
“An epic love story . . . No greater reading pleasure to be had anywhere.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“No one writes about love or the American wilderness like Bill Roorbach . . . Thrilling.” —Lily King, author of Writers & Lovers and Five Tuesdays in Winter
When sixteen-year-old Cindra Zoeller is sent to a reform camp in Montana after being involved in an armed robbery, she is thrust into a world of mountains and cowboys and prayers and miscreants and people from all walks of life like she’s never seen in suburban Massachusetts. At Camp Challenge, she becomes transfixed by Lucky, a camp employee of mysterious origin—an origin of constant speculation—and the chemistry between them is instant, and profound. The pair escape together into the wilderness to create an idyllic life far from the reach of the law, living off their resounding love, Lucky’s vast knowledge of the wilderness, and a little help from some friends.
But they can run from the outside world for only so long, and the consequences of their naïve fantasy of a future together—and circumstances shaped by skin color—will keep them apart for decades. Cindra gets trapped in a relationship, safely if stultifyingly suburban, where she is both cosseted and controlled by a man who claims to be her rescuer. But for Cindra, there will never be another Lucky, and she dreams of one day finding him, the only man she’s ever fully trusted, her soulmate.
Page-turning, full of vivid characters, delicious suspense, and ultimately joy, Lucky Turtle is a big- hearted, deeply engrossing love story from one of our most entertaining and perceptive writers.
A Florida woman wins millions in the lottery only to have her ticket stolen.
Tony Valentine made his living and his name as a cop in Atlantic City–and is now known worldwide for his ability to spot the kinds of scams, grifts, and rip-offs that cost casinos billions every year. A man with a biting wit who drives a ’92 Honda, Tony is low-profile, old-school, and has seen it all–until he meets the luckiest man on earth.
Ricky Smith was once a small-town loser. Then he went to Las Vegas, jumped out the window of a burning hotel, lived to tell the tale, and tore up the Strip on an incredible winning streak. Ricky didn’t just win at one slot machine or table game. He won at blackjack, roulette, and craps, and then beat the pants off the world’s greatest poker player. Tony knows that goofy, loudmouthed Ricky Smith–or anyone else, for that matter–couldn’t possibly bethat fortunate. But when “Mr. Lucky” returns home to the little town of Slippery Rock, North Carolina, he keeps on winning everything from a horse race to a $50,000 lottery.
Hired by a desperate casino, Tony starts to pry into Ricky’s past, his friends, and the strange little town that is benefiting from Ricky’s fame and fortune. Unfortunately for Tony, his cover is blown when he is forced to reveal a trick he has up his own sleeve: a pocket Glock he can shoot with laser-like precision. Suddenly, two men are dead, the cops are on Tony’s tail, and the investigation explodes in violence–putting the lives of Tony’s son and his young family in danger.
For years, Tony’s son Gerry has dueled with his own criminal impulses. Now, the Ricky Smith case has lured Gerry through the gates of temptation and into a murderous confrontation with the Dixie Mafia. With Tony stuck on the slippery slope of Slippery Rock and Gerry fighting for his life, the Valentines are finding out just how bad good luck can get.
Against a neon-tinted backdrop of adrenaline rushes, hard crashes, big money, and high-wire tension, the inimitable James Swain has set his best Tony Valentine novel yet: a funny, furious ride with an astounding array of crooks, marks, and one killer scam.
A sharp and twisty exploration of female friendship from the New York Times bestselling author of A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things.
Lucy Sharpe is larger than life. Magnetic, addictive. Bold and dangerous. Especially for Margot, who meets Lucy at the end of their freshman year at a liberal arts college in South Carolina. Margot is the shy one, the careful one, always the sidekick and never the center of attention. But when Lucy singles her out at the end of the year, a year Margot spent studying and playing it safe, and asks her to room together, something in Margot can't say no—something daring, or starved, or maybe even envious.
And so Margot finds herself living in an off-campus house with three other girls, Lucy, the ringleader; Sloane, the sarcastic one; and Nicole, the nice one, the three of them opposites but also deeply intertwined. It's a year that finds Margot finally coming out of the shell she's been in since the end of high school, when her best friend Eliza died three weeks after graduation. Margot and Lucy have become the closest of friends, but by the middle of their sophomore year, one of the fraternity boys from the house next door has been brutally murdered... and Lucy Sharpe is missing without a trace.
From the author of A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things comes a tantalizing thriller about the nature of friendship and belonging, about loyalty, envy, and betrayal—another gripping novel from an author quickly becoming the gold standard in psychological suspense.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
No one speaks the language of suspense more brilliantly than Kathy Reichs, author of the acclaimed Temperance Brennan series. In Speaking in Bones, the forensic anthropologist finds herself drawn into a world of dark secrets and dangerous beliefs, where good and evil blur.
Professionally, Temperance Brennan knows exactly what to do--test, analyze, identify. Her personal life is another story. She's at a loss, wondering how to answer police detective Andrew Ryan's marriage proposal. But the matter of matrimony takes a backseat when murder rears its head.
Hazel "Lucky" Strike--a strident amateur detective who mines the Internet for cold cases--comes to Brennan with a tape recording of an unknown girl being held prisoner and terrorized. Strike is convinced the voice is that of eighteen-year-old Cora Teague, who went missing more than three years earlier. Strike is also certain that the teenager's remains are gathering dust in Temperance Brennan's lab.
Brennan has doubts about working with a self-styled websleuth. But when the evidence seems to add up, Brennan's next stop is the treacherous backwoods where the chilling recording (and maybe Cora Teague's bones) were discovered. Her forensic field trip only turns up more disturbing questions--along with gruesome proof of more untimely deaths.
While local legends of eerie nocturnal phenomena and sinister satanic cults abound, it's a zealous and secretive religious sect that has Brennan spooked and struggling to separate the saints from the sinners. But there's nothing, including fire and brimstone, that can distract her from digging up the truth and taking down a killer--even as Brennan finds herself in a place where angels fear to tread, devils demand their due, and she may be damned no matter what.
Praise for Speaking in Bones
"Speaking in Bones keeps the suspense high."--Associated Press
"Temperance's forensic sleuthing uncovers many secrets, along with a blockbuster psychological surprise."--The Huffington Post
"In this entertaining, sexy debut, Allie is a sharp Stephanie Plum paired up with a hot partner... The original voice, humor, and unusual premise will appeal to Janet Evanovich readers." --Library Journal STARRED review
Lonely and broke, Cleveland divorce-survivor Allie Harper believes all her problems would be solved if she could find a nice, smart, hot guy and enough money to get her car fixed.
The hot guy arrives first: he's in a crosswalk clutching a bag of groceries while a blonde in a Hummer is leaning hard on her horn, sending the man's groceries and white cane flying. How has this woman missed the fact that the man is blind? From the curb, an outraged Allie jumps to his rescue, rebagging the groceries as well.
The money is in the bag. Literally--Thomas Bennington III, for that's who the handsome guy proves to be, has bought a MondoMegaJackpot ticket along with canned tomatoes. Allie takes him home and turns his groceries into dinner for two. Later that night, Tom hears the numbers announced. He's won. And he's less than thrilled. PhD Tom had gambled on the odds of losing (175 million to one) to prove a point to Rune, a kid from the projects he's befriended, that only losers buy lottery tickets. Instead, Rune, who'd helped pick the Mondo numbers, will share Tom's jackpot.
Allie and Tom grasp two things: one, they're hot for each other, and two, the ticket is a hot target, and now so are they. Every scheming weasel in Cleveland will be after Tom's millions. $550 of them. Yes, once the Mondo ball drops, it's game on with killers and kidnappers as players.
Allie and Tom need to get smarter about the threats all around them. On the run from one fancy hotel refuge to another and from one danger moment to the next, with only Allie's feisty landlady, Margo, and a couple of Cleveland cops for back-up, Allie and Tom evolve a strategy. First, turn in the ticket and claim the jackpot. Second, set up accounts to manage the millions. Third, stay alive to the end of the week...if they can.
Too Lucky to Live debuts a talented writer in Annie Hogsett and a couple in Allie and Tom, a modern Nick and Nora Charles, who can power a compelling, amusing series with an excellent future.
Somebody's Bound to Wind Up Dead series:
Too Lucky to Live (Book 1)
Murder to the Metal (Book 2)
The Devil's Own Game (Book 3)
Praise for Annie Hogsett:
"Fast pacing, multiple plot twists, and humor, including a Stephanie Plum-like main character, enliven the story and keep the pages turning." --Booklist for Too Lucky to Live
"The bittersweet mystery, with the open-ended threat of a villainous mastermind, is reminiscent of P.J. Tracy's early 'Monkeewrench' novels." --Library Journal for Murder to the Metal
In this homage to True Grit, a young woman makes a perilous journey west in 1863 in search of her gold-mining father.
After their mother dies, Haidie Richards and her younger brother, Boots, are put to work in an orphanage. Their father left four years earlier to find a gold mine in Colorado Territory, and since then he’s sent only three letters. Still, Haidie is certain that he is alive, has struck gold, and will soon send for them.
But patience is not one of Haidie’s virtues, and soon she and her brother make a break for it. Boots and Haidie, disguised as a boy, embark on a dangerous journey deep into Western territory. Along the way, Haidie learns fast not only how to handle mules, oxen, and greedy men, but also that you are better off in a community. Hers includes a card shark, independent “spinster” sisters, and a very fierce dog. Once she arrives in Colorado and finds out the truth about her father, Haidie will need all her new friends for a get-even plot worthy of The Sting.
Filled with vivid period detail, colorful characters, and the irreverent voice of our scrappy heroine, Tough Luck celebrates both the tenacity of youth and the persistence of the heart in the great American West.
In his 14th book, bestselling author Nicholas Sparks tells the unforgettable story of a man whose brushes with death lead him to the love of his life.
Is there really such thing as a lucky charm? The hero of Nicholas Sparks's new novel believes he's found one in the form of a photograph of a smiling woman he's never met, but who he comes to believe holds the key to his destiny. The chain of events that leads to him possessing the photograph and finding the woman pictured in it is the stuff of love stories only a master such as Sparks can write.
From the moment he spies Lucky Houston stepping off a bus into the dazzle of Las Vegas with nothing except a gift for dealing cards and a promise to keep -- Nick Chenault is hooked. Nick has been around town long enough to know a winner when he sees one. And this strong-willed lovely with a Tennessee drawl that could melt glaciers is just what he needs.
This year's lucky winner of a brand-new dream home: Janine Brown of Cedar Falls, Iowa.
For heartbroken Janine "Janey" Brown, this announcement has the hallmarks of one of her Aunt Midge's harebrained plans to lure her from her tiny kitchen, where she's been submerging her grief in the pursuit of the perfect pot-au-feu. Meanwhile, across town, Janine "Nean" Brown couldn't be more thrilled. She just knows that this house is her destiny, the chance to escape the latest in her revolving door of crappy jobs and drunken boyfriends.
When both Janine Browns descend on Christmas Cove, Maine, to claim the prize they both think is theirs, however, they discover that more than just a dream home awaits them at the water's edge. Filled with wit and charm, The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane is Kelly Harms's enchanting and heartfelt debut—a testament to the many ways love finds us, the power of a home-cooked meal, and just what it means to be lucky.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a captivating epic saga of courage and honor, following the aristocratic Inghams and the loyal Swann family who have served them for centuries.
It is 1938 in England, and Miles and Cecily Ingham have lead the family in bringing the Cavendon estate back from the brink of disaster. But now, with the arrival of World War II, Cavendon Hall will face its biggest challenge yet. It is a challenge that will push the Inghams and Swanns to protect each other and the villagers, and reveal their true capacity for survival and rebirth.
Told with Bradford’s deft, evocative prose and featuring a beloved cast of characters, The Cavendon Luck is a story of intrigue, romance, sorrow, and joy that readers won’t soon forget.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten—aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon—shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table.
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Time, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Town & Country
Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.
From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.