If I Stay by Gayle Forman (2009)

*Just listen, Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel. I open my eyes wide now. I sit up as much as I can. And I listen. Stay, he says.* Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love—music—even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind? Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it's the only one that matters. If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make

Fire and Ice by J. A. Jance (2009)

Seattle investigator J. P. Beaumont is working a series of murders in which six young women have been wrapped in tarps, doused with gasoline, and set on fire. Their charred remains have been scattered around various dump sites, creating a grisly pattern of death across western Washington.At the same time, thousands of miles away in the Arizona desert, Cochise County sheriff Joanna Brady is looking into a homicide in which the elderly caretaker of an ATV park was run over and left to die. All the man has left behind is his dog, who is the improbable witness to some kind of turf warfare—or possibly something more sinister.Then a breakthrough in Beaumont's case leads him directly to the Southwest and into Brady's jurisdiction. When the two met on a joint investigation years earlier, sparks flew. Under different circumstances, both of them admit, even more could have happened.But here, as the threads of their two seemingly separate cases wind together, Beaumont and Brady...

Double Take by Catherine Coulter (2007)

It's been more than six months since her husband's brutal death, and Julia Ransom is just beginning to breathe again. She loved her husband, renowned psychic August Ransom, but the media frenzy that followed his murder sapped what little strength she had left. Now, after dinner with friends, strolling along San Francisco's Pier 39, she realizes that she's happy. Standing at the railing, she savors the sounds around her-tourists, seals on a barge-and for a moment enjoys the sheer normalcy of it all. And then it comes to an end. Out of nowhere she's approached by a respectable-looking man who distracts her with conversation before violently attacking her and throwing her the railing. If it hadn't been for Special Agent Cheney Stone, out to stretch his legs between courses at a local restaurant, Julia would have vanished into the bay's murky depths. Not only does he save her from a watery grave, but he senses a connection between her assault and her husband's death, and sets out to serve as her protector while reopening August Ransom's murder investigation. Meanwhile, in Maestro, Virginia, Sheriff Dixon Noble-last seen in Point Blank-still mourns his wife, Christie, who vanished hree years earlier. His life, too, is just getting back to normal when he learns of a San Francisco woman named Charlotte Pallack, whose shocking resemblance to Christie sends Dix across the country. Though he knows in his heart that she can't possibly be his wife, Dix is compelled to see her with his own eyes. Once in San Francisco, Dix and Cheney's paths inevitably cross. With the help of agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock, whose San Francisco connections prove essential in unlocking the mystery behind Charlotte Pallack's identity as well as the forces behind Julia Ransom's attempted murder, Sheriff Noble and Agent Stone push deep into a complex world of psychics and poseurs. As the stakes and the body count rise, Savich, Sherlock, Dix, and Cheney fight for answers-and their lives.

Kindred in Death by Nora Roberts (2009)

A Eve Dallas Investigation In Death When the newly promoted captain of the NYPSD and his wife return a day early from their vacation, they were looking forward to spending time with their bright and vivacious sixteen-year-old daughter who had stayed behind. Not even their worst nightmares could have prepared them for the crime scene that awaited them instead. Brutally murdered in her bedroom, Deena's body showed signs of trauma that horrified even the toughest of cops; including our own Lieutenant Eve Dallas, who was specifically requested by the captain to investigate. When the evidence starts to pile up, Dallas and her team think they are about to arrest their perpetrator; little do they know yet that someone has gone to great lengths to tease and taunt them by using a variety of identities. Overconfidence can lead to careless mistakes. But for Dallas, one mistake might be all she needs to bring justice.

Hit parade by Lawrence Block (2006)

The New York Times bestselling author and master of the modern mystery returns with a fierce and poignant new novel featuring his acclaimed killer-for-hire, KellerJohn Keller is everyone's favorite hit man: a new kind of hero for a new, uncertain age. He's cool. Reliable. A real pro: the hit man's hit man. The inconvenient wife, the aging sports star, the business partner, the retiree with a substantial legacy. He's taken care of them all, quietly and efficiently.Keller's got a code of honor, though he'd never call it that. And he keeps the job strictly business. "What happens is you wind up thinking of each subject not as a person to be killed but as a problem to be solved. Now there are guys doing this who cope with it by making it personal. They find a reason to hate the guy they have to kill. I don't know what's a sin and what isn't, or if one person deserves to go on living and another deserves to have his life ended. Sometimes I think about stuff like that, but as far as working it all out in my mind, well, I never seem to get anywhere."But while Keller might be a pragmatic and crack assassin, he's also prone to doubts and loneliness just like everybody else. There was a psychotherapist once. A dog. Even a woman. And though he's got Dot, his wisecracking contact and sometimes confidante, and his precious stamp collection, these days, it doesn't seem to be enough.Keller's been at this business a long while. Just maybe it's time to pack it in and find a nice little house in the desert. Only problem is, retirement takes money. And to get money, he's got to go to work. . . .Hit Parade, the third novel featuring the fascinating Keller, displays the hallmarks that distinguish Lawrence Block's award-winning fiction: the intelligence, the clever plotting, the humor, the tricky twists and ironic turns, the darkness and emotional complexity — and, above all else, the humanity.

Botanic Garden by Erasmus Darwin by Adam Komisaruk (2017)

The Stranger You Know (Forensic Instincts, #3) by Andrea Kane (2013)

Ziggy's Big Idea by Ilana Long (2014)

Ziggy is a little boy with a lot of big ideas that have not turned out well, but when Moishe the baker asks him to find a way to make boiled buns that are not undercooked in the center Ziggy is up for the challenge.

Apple Days by Allison Sarnoff Soffer (2014)

The Passover parrot by Evelyn Zusman (2011)

It's Lily's turn to say the Four Questions at the Passover Seder, but nobody will help her practice. Things change with the arrival of Hametz the Parrot. Clever Hametz not only helps Lily but solves the puzzle of who stole the afikomen!

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (2017)

No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine. Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Loss and Gain by John Henry Newman (2008)

This novel about a young man's intellectual and spiritual development was the first work John Henry Newman wrote after entering the Roman Catholic Church in 1845. The story describes the perplexing questions and doubts Charles Reding experiences while attending Oxford. Though intending to avoid the religious controversies that are being heatedly debated at the university, Reding ends up leaving the Church of England and becoming a Catholic. A former Anglican clergyman who was later named a Catholic cardinal, Newman wrote this autobiographical novel to illustrate his own reasons for embracing Catholicism.

The arrangement by H. M. Ward (2013)

"I've gone from a future of possibilities to nothing in a single gunshot. Homeless, penniless and without the man I love, my hopelessness overwhelms me and I seek unexpected comfort from people long absent in my life. I can't lose Sean--not now, not ever--and I'll do anything to get him back, even if it means using myself as bait." --page 4 of cover.

Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler (2020)

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell (2020)

**The long-awaited new novel from the bestselling, prize-winning author of Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks.** Utopia Avenue is the strangest British band you’ve never heard of. Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967 and fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, guitar demigod Jasper de Zoet, and blues bassist Dean Moss, Utopia Avenue released only two LPs during its brief, blazing journey from the clubs of Soho and drafty ballrooms to Top of the Pops and the cusp of chart success, and on to glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and a fateful American fortnight in the autumn of 1968. David Mitchell’s captivating new novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue; of riots in the streets and revolutions in the head; of drugs, thugs, madness, love, sex, death, art; of the families we choose and the ones we don’t; of fame’s Faustian pact and stardom’s wobbly ladder. Can we change the world in turbulent times, or does the world change us?

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (2020)

Darkwing by Kenneth Oppel (2007)

As the sun sets on the time of the dinosaurs, a new world is left in its wake. . . . DuskHe alone can fly and see in the dark, in a colony where being different means being shunned — or worse. As the leader's son, he is protected, but does his future lie among his kin? CarnassialHe has the true instincts of a predator, and he is determined that his kind will not only survive, but will dominate the world of beasts. From the author of the internationally acclaimed Silverwing trilogy comes an extraordinary adventure set sixty-five million years ago. Kenneth Oppel, winner of a Michael L. Printz Honor for airborn, has crafted a breathtaking animal tale that reaches out to the human in all of us.

Odessa Sea by Clive Cussler (2016)

"Over the years, Dirk Pitt has always had a knack for finding trouble. This time, it has found him. The extraordinary new novel from the grand master of adventure and #1 New York Times-bestselling author. Pitt, the director of the National Underwater and Marine Agency, is on the Black Sea, helping to locate a lost Ottoman shipwreck, when he responds to an urgent Mayday - "Under attack!" - from a nearby freighter. But when he and his colleague Al Giordino arrive, there is nobody there. Just dead bodies, a smell of sulfur in the air, and, as Pitt and Giordino explore, a blast from the stern that scuttles the ship swiftly, almost taking them with it. The more the two of them search for the secret of the death ship, the deeper they descend into an extraordinary series of discoveries. A desperate attempt in 1917 to preserve the wealth and power of the Romanov Empire. A Cold War bomber lost with a deadly cargo. A brilliant developer of advanced drone technology on an unknown mission.Modern-day nuclear smugglers, determined Ukrainian rebels, a beautiful anti-terrorism agent from Europol - all will combine to present Pitt with the most dangerous challenge of his career. And not only Pitt. His two children, marine engineer Dirk and oceanographer Summer, are exploring a mysterious shipwreck of their own, when they are catapulted into his orbit. The three of them are used to perilous situations - but this time, they may have found their match. Filled with breathtaking suspense and remarkable imagination, Odessa Sea is further proof that when it comes to adventure writing, nobody beats Clive Cussler"-- "Pitt, the director of the National Underwater and Marine Agency, is on the Black Sea, helping to locate a lost Ottoman shipwreck, when he responds to an urgent Mayday - "Under attack!" - from a nearby freighter"--

Worlds Collide by Chris Colfer (2017)

In the highly anticipated conclusion to the Land of Stories series, Conner and Alex must brave the impossible. All of the Land of Stories fairy tale characters--heroes and villains--are no longer confined within their world! With mayhem brewing in the Big Apple, Conner and Alex will have to win their biggest battle yet. Can the twins restore order between the human and fairy tale world? Breathtaking action mixed with laugh out loud moments and lots of heart will make this a gripping conclusion for many fans!

An Author's Odyssey by Chris Colfer (2014)