Things break all the time. Day breaks, waves break, voices break. Promises break. Hearts break. Every expectant parent will tell you that they don't want a perfect baby, just a healthy one. Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe would have asked for a healthy baby, too, if they'd been given the choice. Instead, their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, the pitying stares of "luckier" parents, and maybe worst of all, the what-ifs. What if their child had been born healthy? But it's all worth it because Willow is, well, funny as it seems, perfect. She's smart as a whip, on her way to being as pretty as her mother, kind, brave, and for a five-year-old an unexpectedly deep source of wisdom. Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health. Everything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and her husband to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. What if Charlotte should have known earlier of Willow's illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more. What constitutes a valuable life? Emotionally riveting and profoundly moving, Handle with Care brings us into the heart of a family bound by an incredible burden, a desperate will to keep their ties from breaking, and, ultimately, a powerful capacity for love. Written with the grace and wisdom she's become famous for, beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult offers us an unforgettable novel about the fragility of life and the lengths we will go to protect it.
Cold Fire – Dean Koontz
'There is an Enemy. It is coming. It is relentless.' Schoolteacher Jim Ironheart flies on an impulse to Portland, Oregon. There he risks his life to save a child from being killed. Reporter Holly Thorne witnesses his heroism, and is impressed by his self-effacement when he declines to be interviewed. Burnt out, cynical, and looking for a life beyond journalism, Holly finds her newshound's instincts rekindled when she discovers Jim has quietly performed twelve last-minute rescues in twelve far-flung places over the past four months. Realising she is on to the biggest story of her life, Holly traces Jim to California. He insists he is not a psychic; he simply believes God is working through him. Holly thinks his explanation is too easy, that there is no wonder in life, no great mystery. She is dead wrong. For she and Jim are soon plunged into a dark sea of wonder, mystery - and stark terror. And, on the run for their lives, they will be forced to confront a savage and uncannily powerful adversary...
Cold Fire – Dean Koontz
'There is an Enemy. It is coming. It is relentless.' Schoolteacher Jim Ironheart flies on an impulse to Portland, Oregon. There he risks his life to save a child from being killed. Reporter Holly Thorne witnesses his heroism, and is impressed by his self-effacement when he declines to be interviewed. Burnt out, cynical, and looking for a life beyond journalism, Holly finds her newshound's instincts rekindled when she discovers Jim has quietly performed twelve last-minute rescues in twelve far-flung places over the past four months. Realising she is on to the biggest story of her life, Holly traces Jim to California. He insists he is not a psychic; he simply believes God is working through him. Holly thinks his explanation is too easy, that there is no wonder in life, no great mystery. She is dead wrong. For she and Jim are soon plunged into a dark sea of wonder, mystery - and stark terror. And, on the run for their lives, they will be forced to confront a savage and uncannily powerful adversary...
Charmed Life – Diana Wynne Jones
Cat doesn't mind living in the shadow of his sister, Gwendolen, the most promising young witch ever seen on Coven Street. But trouble starts brewing the moment the two orphans are summoned to live in Chrestomanci Castle. Frustrated that the witches of the castle refuse to acknowledge her talents, Gwendolen conjures up a scheme that could throw whole worlds out of whack.
Charmed Life – Diana Wynne Jones
Cat doesn't mind living in the shadow of his sister, Gwendolen, the most promising young witch ever seen on Coven Street. But trouble starts brewing the moment the two orphans are summoned to live in Chrestomanci Castle. Frustrated that the witches of the castle refuse to acknowledge her talents, Gwendolen conjures up a scheme that could throw whole worlds out of whack.
Nemesis – Jo Nesbø
Gripping and surprising, Nemesis is a nail-biting thriller from one of the biggest stars in crime fiction. Grainy closed-circuit television footage shows a man walking into an Oslo bank and putting a gun to a cashier's head. He tells the young woman to count to twenty-five. When the robber doesn't get his money in time, the cashier is executed, and two million Norwegian kroner disappear without a trace. Police Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case. While Hole's girlfriend is away in Russia, an old flame decides to get in touch. Former girlfriend and struggling artist Anna Bethsen invites Hole to dinner, and he can't resist a visit. But the evening ends in an all too familiar way as Hole awakens with a thundering headache, a missing cell phone, and no memory of the past twelve hours. That same morning, Anna is found shot dead in her bed. Hole begins to receive threatening e-mails. Is someone trying to frame him for this unexplained death? Meanwhile, the bank robberies continue with unparalleled savagery. As the death toll continues to mount, Hole becomes a prime suspect in a criminal investigation led by his longtime adversary Tom Waaler and Waaler's vigilante police force. Racing from the cool, autumnal streets of Oslo to the steaming villages of Brazil, Hole is determined to absolve himself of suspicion by uncovering all the information needed to crack both cases. But the ever-threatening Waaler is not finished with his old archenemy quite yet. *Edgar Nominee for Best Novel of the Year
A Prisoner Of Birth – Jeffery Archer
If Danny Cartwright had proposed to Beth Wilson on any other day, he would not have been arrested and charged with the murder of his best friend. But when the prosecution witnesses happen to be a group of four upper-crust college friends—a barrister, a popular actor, an aristocrat, and the youngest partner in an established firm’s history—who is going to believe Danny’s side of the story? Danny is sentenced to twenty-two years and sent to Belmarsh prison, the highest-security jail in the land, from where no inmate has ever escaped. But Spencer Craig, Lawrence Davenport, Gerald Payne, and Toby Mortimer all underestimate Danny’s determination to seek revenge—and the extent to which his fiancée Beth will go in pursuit of justice.
The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee: A Novel – Rebecca Miller
What part of our selves do we hide away in order to have a stable, prosperous life? Pippa Lee has just such a life in place at age fifty, when her older husband, a retired publisher, decides that they should move to a retirement community outside New York City. Pippa is suddenly deprived of the stimulation and distraction that had held everything in place. She begins losing track of her own mind; her foundations start to shudder, and gradually we learn the truth of the young life that led her finally to settle down in marriage--years of neglect and rebellion, wild transgressions and powerful defiance. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is the study of a brave, curious, multilayered woman--an acutely intelligent portrait of the many lives behind a single name
The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee: A Novel – Rebecca Miller
What part of our selves do we hide away in order to have a stable, prosperous life? Pippa Lee has just such a life in place at age fifty, when her older husband, a retired publisher, decides that they should move to a retirement community outside New York City. Pippa is suddenly deprived of the stimulation and distraction that had held everything in place. She begins losing track of her own mind; her foundations start to shudder, and gradually we learn the truth of the young life that led her finally to settle down in marriage--years of neglect and rebellion, wild transgressions and powerful defiance. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is the study of a brave, curious, multilayered woman--an acutely intelligent portrait of the many lives behind a single name
Made For Sex – Joan Elizabeth Lloyd
New York...the city that never sleeps, where sex is available anytime, anyplace. It's a city of hot desires and wild fantasies, exquisite pleasure and erotic seduction. And two women have come looking for it all...Sex For Sale A single mom of three, Carla is stuck in a suburban rut. Then she bumps into an old college friend who makes her an incredible proposition: become her partner as a very selective, high-priced prostitute. Shocked at first, Carla soon feels a thrill of excitement when she gets a glimpse of her new life. There are men who control and who like to be controlled, men who become aroused listening to the whisper of silk panties over the phone, and men who want to play with a woman's naked body until she's a quivering mess of ecstasy. And she has the power to live out her most intimate fantasies and deepest desires... Sex To Savor For years Fran has been writing erotica under the pseudonym Nichole St. Michelle. Now that she's been nominated for the prestigious Madison Prize, Fran has a chance to go to New York and take a walk on the wild side--as Nicki. By day, Fran is dazzled by the city's lights and the beautiful, seductive men and women strutting by. By night, she becomes Nicki, a wanton creature, tasting, touching and exploring sex in every way imaginable. It's pure, unfettered ecstasy, and all Nicki wants is more...
BooksAvenue 