A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, 432 pages

 When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.

At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

The Secret of Snow by Viola Shipman, 432 pages

 Sonny Dunes, a SoCal meteorologist who knows only sunshine and seventy-two-degree days, is being replaced by an AI meteorologist, which the youthful station manager reasons "will never age, gain weight or renegotiate its contract." The only station willing to give the fifty-year-old another shot is one in a famously nontropical place—her northern Michigan hometown.

Unearthing her carefully laid California roots, Sonny returns home and reacclimates to the painfully long, dark winters dominated by a Michigan phenomenon known as lake-effect snow. But beyond the complete physical shock to her system, she's also forced to confront her past: her new boss, a former journalism classmate and mortal frenemy; more keenly, the death of a younger sister who loved the snow; and the mother who caused Sonny to leave.

To distract herself from the unwelcome memories, Sonny decides to throw herself headfirst into all things winter to woo viewers and reclaim her success. From sledding and ice fishing to skiing and winter festivals, the merrymaking culminates with the town’s famed Winter Ice Sculpture Contest. Running the events is a widowed father and chamber of commerce director, whose genuine love of Michigan, winter and Sonny just might thaw her heart and restart her life in a way she never could have predicted.

Love Me To Death, Volume One by Toonimated, 432 pages

 In the city of San Guadario, necromancy has been banned for one hundred years. Every aspect of life, from buying food to getting married, requires a signature written in one's own blood. If a necromancer were to sign, their identity would be revealed by the magic that courses through their veins. As a necromancer, Victor and his cute one-eyed cat must live a discreet life, constantly on the run.

Everything changes when the wealthiest patron in San Guadario hires Victor to resurrect his recently deceased, and impossibly beautiful, bride. The catch? Victor must perform an ancient ritual which eternally binds himself to this bride. After he brings her back to life, Victor finds himself magically entangled with the bride and groom and caught in the middle of more romance than he knows what to do with.

Sexy Origins and Intimate Things: The Rites and Rituals of Straights, Gays, Bis, Drags, Trans, Virgins and Others by Charles Panati, 432 pages

 Has there ever been a gay pope? What is history's first love poem? Why do men have nipples? How did "drag" come to mean cross-dressing? Who was the first prostitute? At what age does a man's penis stop growing? Do female animals have orgasms? How long have people been giving the finger? Charles Panati explores hundreds of racy and "unmentionable" subjects, including words, practices, and taboos. Obsessed with getting to the root of things, Panati reveals facts that will surprise even the most informed reader.

Hunted by Shona Knight, 432 pages

 She’s not alone anymore. But them knowing the secret she’s kept for fifteen years may be the one thing she can’t survive.

The men who found her have begun to quiet the darkness that once consumed her, slowly helping her piece herself back together. But Darla is still clutching one devastating secret—one she swore she’d never reveal. And the closer they get, the harder it becomes to keep it buried.

As old wounds resurface and deadly threats close in, it’s clear their pasts are far from finished with them. The truth behind the crashes that changed their lives is beginning to unravel, and someone will do anything to keep those secrets hidden.

Especially hers.

Because some history refuses to stay buried.
And Darla knows—if her truth comes out, it could destroy everything.

An Irish Country Village by Patrick Taylor, 432 pages

 Patrick Taylor first charmed readers with An Irish Country Doctor, a warm and enchanting novel in the tradition of James Herriot and Jan Karon. Now Taylor returns to the colorful Northern Ireland community of Ballybucklebo, where there's always something brewing beneath the village's deceptively sleepy surface.

Young Doctor Barry Laverty has only just begun his assistantship under his eccentric mentor, Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly, but he already feels right at home in Ballybucklebo. When the sudden death of a patient casts a cloud over Barry's reputation, his chances of establishing himself in the village are endangered, especially since the grieving widow is threatening a lawsuit.

While he anxiously waits for the postmortem results that he prays will exonerate him, Barry must regain the trust of the gossipy Ulster village, one patient at a time. From a put-upon shop girl with a mysterious rash to the troubled pregnancy of a winsome young lass who's not quite married yet, Ballybucklebo provides plenty of cases to keep the two country G.P.s busy.

Not all their challenges are medical in nature. When a greedy developer sets his sights on the very heart of the community, the village pub, it's up to the doctors to save the Black Swan (affectionately known to the locals as the "Mucky Duck") from being turned into an overpriced tourist trap. After all, the good citizens of Ballybucklebo need some place to drink to each other's health. . . .

Whether you've visited in the past, or are discovering Ballybucklebo for the first time, An Irish Country Village is an ideal location for anyone looking for wit, warmth, and just a touch of blarney.

The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters, 432 pages

 In Amelia's seventh adventure, she and Emerson take passage on a boat travelling up the Nile, enjoying a second honeymoon while they search for Nefertiti's tomb. On the other hand, they might be heading towards murder. An exotic slave woman, a Siamese cat and a den of conspirators unite to snatch away Amelia's happiness unless she reveals a certain secret...and at the remote dig in Amarna what she uncovers is a shocking present-day peril: the loss of treasures far more precious than any antiquity - her husband's love or both their lives!

Kiss Me, Annabel byEloisa James, 432 pages

 If you kiss a man once…

When the dashing Earl of Ardmore tempts Miss Annabel Essex, the most unattainable of the four beautiful Essex sisters, with the promise of a kiss, she resists, just as she snubs his teasing offers of marriage. For what would she get if she married him? Why, nothing but a faded Scottish title and a hovel in the highlands.

But by some cruel twist of fate Annabel finds herself in a carriage bound for Scotland (the place she abhors) with the penniless Ardmore – and with all the world thinking they're man and wife! To make matters worse Annabel becomes embroiled in a flirtatious game of words with the Earl – in which the prize is a kiss…and the forfeit… A moment of passionate madness with Ardmore and the choice is clear – marriage or disgrace.

Yet when she arrives at the Earl's Scottish Estate – contrary to what she had been lead to believe – she finds the hovel to be a castle and her Earl far from impoverished. And she learns – in the bridal bedchamber and elsewhere – that there is more to marriage than just kissing…

Mengele: Unmasking the "Angel of Death" by David G. Marwell, 432 pages

 One of the most notorious war criminals of all time, Dr. Josef Mengele has come to symbolize both the evil of the Nazi regime and the failure of justice in the postwar world. Drawing on new scholarship and sources, historian David G. Marwell examines Mengele’s life and career, chronicling his university studies, which led to two PhDs and a promising career as a scientist; his wartime service, in combat and at Auschwitz, where his “selections” determined the fate of countless innocents and his “scientific” pursuits resulted in the traumatization and death of thousands more; and his postwar refuge in Germany and South America.

Mengele describes the international search in 1985, which ended in a cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the dogged forensic investigation that produced overwhelming evidence that Mengele had died―but failed to convince those who, arguably, most wanted him dead. This is a story of science without limits, escape without freedom, and resolution without justice.

American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt by Stephanie Marie Thornton, 432 pages

A sweeping novel from renowned author Stephanie Marie Thornton...

Alice may be the president's daughter, but she's nobody's darling. As bold as her signature color Alice Blue, the gum-chewing, cigarette-smoking, poker-playing First Daughter discovers that the only way for a woman to stand out in Washington is to make waves--oceans of them. With the canny sophistication of the savviest politician on the Hill, Alice uses her celebrity to her advantage, testing the limits of her power and the seductive thrill of political entanglements.

But Washington, DC is rife with heartaches and betrayals, and when Alice falls hard for a smooth-talking congressman it will take everything this rebel has to emerge triumphant and claim her place as an American icon. As Alice soldiers through the devastation of two world wars and brazens out a cutting feud with her famous Roosevelt cousins, it's no wonder everyone in the capital refers to her as the Other Washington Monument--and Alice intends to outlast them all. A sweeping novel from renowned author Stephanie Marie Thornton...

Alice may be the president's daughter, but she's nobody's darling. As bold as her signature color Alice Blue, the gum-chewing, cigarette-smoking, poker-playing First Daughter discovers that the only way for a woman to stand out in Washington is to make waves--oceans of them. With the canny sophistication of the savviest politician on the Hill, Alice uses her celebrity to her advantage, testing the limits of her power and the seductive thrill of political entanglements.

But Washington, DC is rife with heartaches and betrayals, and when Alice falls hard for a smooth-talking congressman it will take everything this rebel has to emerge triumphant and claim her place as an American icon. As Alice soldiers through the devastation of two world wars and brazens out a cutting feud with her famous Roosevelt cousins, it's no wonder everyone in the capital refers to her as the Other Washington Monument--and Alice intends to outlast them all. A sweeping novel from renowned author Stephanie Marie Thornton...

Alice may be the president's daughter, but she's nobody's darling. As bold as her signature color Alice Blue, the gum-chewing, cigarette-smoking, poker-playing First Daughter discovers that the only way for a woman to stand out in Washington is to make waves--oceans of them. With the canny sophistication of the savviest politician on the Hill, Alice uses her celebrity to her advantage, testing the limits of her power and the seductive thrill of political entanglements.

But Washington, DC is rife with heartaches and betrayals, and when Alice falls hard for a smooth-talking congressman it will take everything this rebel has to emerge triumphant and claim her place as an American icon. As Alice soldiers through the devastation of two world wars and brazens out a cutting feud with her famous Roosevelt cousins, it's no wonder everyone in the capital refers to her as the Other Washington Monument--and Alice intends to outlast them all.A sweeping novel from renowned author Stephanie Marie Thornton...

Alice may be the president's daughter, but she's nobody's darling. As bold as her signature color Alice Blue, the gum-chewing, cigarette-smoking, poker-playing First Daughter discovers that the only way for a woman to stand out in Washington is to make waves--oceans of them. With the canny sophistication of the savviest politician on the Hill, Alice uses her celebrity to her advantage, testing the limits of her power and the seductive thrill of political entanglements.

But Washington, DC is rife with heartaches and betrayals, and when Alice falls hard for a smooth-talking congressman it will take everything this rebel has to emerge triumphant and claim her place as an American icon. As Alice soldiers through the devastation of two world wars and brazens out a cutting feud with her famous Roosevelt cousins, it's no wonder everyone in the capital refers to her as the Other Washington Monument--and Alice intends to outlast them all.A sweeping novel from renowned author Stephanie Marie Thornton...

Alice may be the president's daughter, but she's nobody's darling. As bold as her signature color Alice Blue, the gum-chewing, cigarette-smoking, poker-playing First Daughter discovers that the only way for a woman to stand out in Washington is to make waves--oceans of them. With the canny sophistication of the savviest politician on the Hill, Alice uses her celebrity to her advantage, testing the limits of her power and the seductive thrill of political entanglements.

But Washington, DC is rife with heartaches and betrayals, and when Alice falls hard for a smooth-talking congressman it will take everything this rebel has to emerge triumphant and claim her place as an American icon. As Alice soldiers through the devastation of two world wars and brazens out a cutting feud with her famous Roosevelt cousins, it's no wonder everyone in the capital refers to her as the Other Washington Monument--and Alice intends to outlast them all.

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi, 432 pages

I'd seen this book recommended on a daily email I get, Hot at Harper's. It looked really intriguing so I did a suggestion for purchase. This book had me outraged, sad, and eagerly turning pages, all signs of an outstanding read. The novel covers an Afghanistan practice of girls living as boys until they come of age in families that have no sons. The emotional toll is superbly done and the character and plot development had me feeling for the daughters. I think the thing that outraged me most is the fact that women still live under these strict regulations, endangered and pushed down, all in the name of religion. I'm really wanting my husband to read this, especially in light of the recent hoopla going on via the Internet and the "Not all men" sites. Women have come so far but as long as any women live under these conditions, it's not far enough.