Although the first day of Spring was March 20th, this is Illinois. It often feels as though Spring is something out of a fairy tale. The moment you think it has arrived, it vanishes. Temperatures drop, and you can't even take that winter coat off and shove it into the back of a closet. The question always arises, "are there any backup indoor Easter egg hunts?" Just in case... Coupled with the questions: "Do the Easter outfits for the kids have sweaters or warm tights-make that leggings, and just where did the boots go?" Because, again, it's Illinois, and while we can dream of a "White Christmas" we run the risk of a snowy Easter - or just waking up to a dusting of snow the day after Easter...
In the spring of 1853, private detective Laetitia Rodd receives a delicate request from a retired actor, whose days on the stage were ended by a theatre fire ten years before. His great friend, and the man he rescued from the fire, Thomas Transome, has decided to leave his wife, who now needs assistance in securing a worthy settlement. Though Mrs. Rodd is reluctant to get involved with the scandalous world of the theatre, she cannot turn away the woman in need. She agrees to take the case. But what starts out as a simple matter of negotiation becomes complicated when a body is discovered in the burnt husk of the old theatre. Soon Mrs. Rodd finds herself embroiled in family politics, rivalries that put the Capulets and Montagues to shame, and betrayals on a Shakespearean scale. Mrs. Rodd will need all her investigative powers, not to mention her famous discretion, to solve the case before tragedy strikes once more.
A mother and midwife inadvertently threatens the fortunes and livelihoods of her family and their neighbors after noticing an increase in local miscarriages and believes it's caused by the pesticides used by the Sanderson Timber Company, her husband's employer.
For fans of Maggie Stiefvater and Laini Taylor, a perfect storm lies ahead in this riveting fantasy duology opener from award-winning author Elle Cosimano. One cold, crisp night, Jack Sommers was faced with a choice--live forever according to the ancient, magical rules of Gaia, or die. Jack chose to live, and in exchange, he became a Winter--an immortal physical embodiment of the season on Earth. Every year, he must hunt the Season who comes before him. Summer kills Spring. Autumn kills Summer. Winter kills Autumn. And Spring kills Winter. Jack and Fleur, a Winter and a Spring fall for each other against all odds. To be together, they'll have to escape the cycle that's been forcing them apart. But their creator won't let them go without a fight.
"A tense, psychological novel about what propels one 8-year-old girl to murder, and the complex ways this past chases her down in later life. Chrissie is eight years old and she has a secret: she has just killed a boy. The feeling of it made her belly fizz like soda pop. Across her neighborhood, Chrissie's playmates and their parents are tearful and terrified. But Chrissie rules the roost - she's the best at wall-walking, she knows how to get free candy, and now she has a secret, thrilling power she doesn't get to experience much at home, where food is scarce and attention scarcer. Twenty years later, Chrissie has a new identity and a new name. As "Julia," she is working in a cafe to support herself and her six-year-old daughter, Molly. All she wants is a fresh start, but the past hasn't seemed to let her and Molly alone, and when, suddenly, their future together is threatened, Chrissie/Julia must find a new way to take matters into her own hands. Nancy Tucker leaves the reader breathless as she considers what happens when innocence and survival instincts collide. Tucker writes from professional experience in pediatric mental health, and she inhabits the voices of her young protagonists with a shocking authenticity and precision that moves the reader from sympathy to humor to horror to heartbreak and back again"--. Provided by publisher.
Persephone, the young goddess of spring, is new to Olympus. Her mother, Demeter, has raised her in the mortal realm, but after Persephone promises to train as a sacred virgin, she's allowed to live in the fast-moving, glamorous world of the gods. When her roommate, Artemis, takes her to a party, her entire life changes: she ends up meeting Hades and feels an immediate spark with the charming yet misunderstood ruler of the Underworld. Now Persephone must navigate the confusing politics and relationships that rule Olympus, while also figuring out her own place--and her own power.
"When a favorite customer on his delivery route needs a favor, Tanner Richards agrees to help without a second thought. The last thing he expects is to face off against the man's spitfire granddaughter. Crystal Malloy is near her breaking point. Her beloved grandfather constantly skirts the rules at the retirement center where he's recovering from surgery. She's caring for his escape artist dog, even if it means abandoning her salon customers, and she has no time for a romantic attraction to the handsome new stranger. After Tanner's reassigned to Mystic Creek, Crystal can no longer ignore how much she misjudged the man's good intentions. She has known too much sorrow to easily open her heart, but she can't deny that Tanner and his children could gift her with a happiness beyond compare--if only she can forgive herself for the past and accept that she's deserving of such a lasting love"--Provided by Publisher.
What unites Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Shakespeare, Rilke, Beethoven, Brexit, the present, the past, the north, the south, the east, the west, a man mourning lost times, a woman trapped in modern times? Spring. The great connective. With an eye to the migrancy of story over time and riffing on Pericles, one of Shakespeare's most resistant and rollicking works, Ali Smith tells the impossible tale of an impossible time. In a time of walls and lockdown, Smith opens the door. The time we're living in is changing nature. Will it change the nature of the story? Hope springs eternal.-- Publisher's description.
After an incident at school, seventeen-year-old Alaine is spending spring break in a "volunteer immersion project", toiling away under the ever-watchful eyes of Tati Estelle and her eagle-eyed mother at a new nonprofit in Haiti. Although it is meant as punishment, Alaine is still able to flirt with Tati's distractingly cute intern, get some actual face time with her mom and experience her family's history in Haiti for the first time.
Betts Winston has inherited more than her cooking skills from her grandmother, she can also see and talk to ghosts of people that once roamed the streets of Broken Rope, Missouri, in the days of the Old West. With Gram's Country Cooking School on spring break, Betts and Gram are taking part in this year's cowboy poetry convention, offering lessons on frying catfish over an open campfire. But when a staged gunfight ends in real death and her brother Teddy becomes a prime suspect, Betts may be the one to jump from the frying pan into the fire. After her ghostly guardian Jerome appears to watch her back and a spectral Pony Express rider gallops into town with some unfinished business, Broken Rope starts to seem more like a cowboy ghost convention. With trouble on both sides of this mortal coil, it's up to Betts to clear her brother, put the spirits to rest, and make sure the true killer doesn't become the one who got away.
A Son for Always by Amy Clipston
(Previously published in An Amish Cradle)
Carolyn and Joshua are thrilled to be expecting their first child together. Carolyn was a teenager when she had her son, Benjamin, and she feels solely responsible to secure his future. As Joshua watches Carolyn struggle to accept his support, he knows he must find some way to convince her that she--and Ben--will always be taken care of.
A Love for Irma Rose by Beth Wiseman
(Previously published in An Amish Year)
The year is 1957, and young Irma Rose has a choice to make. Date the man who is "right" for her Or give Jonas a chance, the wild and reckless suitor who refuses to take no for an answer Irma Rose steps onto the path she believes God has planned for her, but when she loses her footing, she is forced to rethink her choice.
Where Healing Blooms by Vannetta Chapman
(Previously published in An Amish Garden)
Widow Emma Hochstetter finds her quiet life interrupted when she discovers a run-away teenager in her barn, and then the bishop asks her to provide a haven for a local woman and her two children. Then, her mother-in-law, Mary Ann, reveals one of her garden's hidden secrets, something very unexpected.
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