Books

Charlotte Sapori has led a wonderful life safely tucked in the bosom of her family. Her mother, Irene Adler, is a renowned opera singer, while her father, Lucca Sapori, does important government work that frequently takes him away from them. Charlotte is close to her brother Nicco, and they are both doted on by their parents. All is well until her mother receives an unexpected diagnosis which shakes the family's core. 

Knowing herself to be dying, Adler confesses to Charlotte things that have long been kept from her, telling her to find and read her diary. A distressed Lucca Sapori tells her to read his as well. And by the way, Lucca Sapori is not his real name. In fact, she may have heard of him-he is actually the world-famous detective Sherlock Holmes. 

Charlotte finds both diaries and plunges into the hidden world of Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes as she discovers what brought them together and how they managed to stay together for thirty years despite battling the odds.

This novel of outstanding beauty is told using the narratives of Charlotte, Adler and Holmes. The author has essentially used a magnifying glass as the readers look at Holmes and Adler --investigating the mysteries of the heart. Through their eyes, we begin to see and understand the character from each other's perspective. The emotions they wrestle with and the appreciation and acceptance that love allows us to see. We are all different....and without understanding,----without love, we remain different. Investigate Song for Someone, an endearing look at an enduring love.---genius! Jon Oshiro -The Sign of Holmes.

The Big White Church Down the Street exposes ineffective church leadership in the chasmatic church, and the harm it can cause a congregation. 

When a much needed vacation to Hong Kong turns upside down, Washington Private Investigator, Philip Chandler finds himself involved in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. He and Hong Kong action star, Eddie Tseung are nearly blown to bits in an explosion in Eddie’s apartment.
Miraculouslly escaping the explosion, a fire , a near drowning, and an attempted poisoning, Eddie asks Philip for help, then mysteriously disappears, leaving Philip a suspected murderer in a manhunt by Hong Kong police. With the aid of Eddie’s eighteen-year-old son, Jai, Philip searches for clues to lead him to Eddie while trying to stay ahead of the Asian authorities.

Join Sneighd Arkon, a Denovan freighter pilot, on a wild adventure through the galaxy in this thrilling page-turner. Despite facing constant challenges to keep his battered ship flying, Sneighd refuses a tempting job offer from sinister Syndicate Boss Baquar Starka. However, when Sneighd accepts a loan from Starka to keep his vessel functional, he unwittingly becomes embroiled in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Accused of a murderous crime he didn't commit, Sneighd must rely on the help of friends and newfound allies, including Tendrite Portmaster Korbot Maka and Rhadurian pilot Haunalyn, to clear his name and evade the clutches of Starka and his cohorts. With danger lurking around every corner and a ticking clock threatening their mission, can Sneighd, Korbot, and Haunalyn find the real killer and prove Sneighd's innocence before it's too late? Don't miss out on the action-packed journey of "Sneighd Arkon and the Rogue Marauder."

Ten Rules Of The Road I Learned At My First Concert is one ordinary guy's saga of 160 concerts over the last 44 years:

"From scalping tickets to catch Captain Fantastic at the height of his success to missing the opportunity to see Sir Paul close down Shea Stadium; from meeting one band in the middle of 43rd street to watching another play in a parking lot; from seeing a crowd throw objects at an amateur lead-in band to hearing two legends, Macca and Bruce, play "I Saw Her Standing There" - twice; from never seeing Van Morrison play "Someone Like You" to having him surprise us all with a rendition of "Send In The Clowns"; from attending a concert that never started to being at a show that we wouldn’t let end; the “Ten Rules Of The Road” have marked the moments of my journey from August 15, 1976 right through today."

    Even in death, her spirit lived on.

   THE GHOST OF SAREY JANE is a 20th century Romeo and Juliet tale with a touch of Macbeth and To Kill a Mockingbird.

   Sarey Jane Munroe is an emotionally and physically abused teenager living on a farm in Appalachia. The time is 1916. Her only escape is her friendship with Billy Puckett. He opens her eyes to a world she never knew existed. There’s just one problem–their families have been feuding for five decades.

    When Sarey’s father discovers their friendship, he vows to end it…at all costs. The young couple’s decision to run away sets in motion a string of consequences that resound for generations to come.  

An American Story: My Family and Yours is a template, using myself and my family to reveal the impact slavery has had on America, not just to African Americans, but to whites as well. This book is not written out of anger, resentment, hatred or bitterness. It is an attempt to analyze deeply hidden emotions from both sides that have been handed down for over 250 years.

An American Story: My Family and Yours, recognizes that biases are deep, mental, destructive patterns of thought, that cling to and guide our behaviors. Layers and layers of human, corrective, theories and practices have been tried, but as we see today in this country, the sleeping giant is awakened when one side ventured too far above what the other side considers tolerable. Because of economic reasons, blacks always get the short end of the stick! The power structure is white, and it sets the polices, laws and social norms.

Spirituality is goodness, perfection, justice, faith, hope, righteousness and inner beauty…to name a few. With these embedded in consciousness, there is no room for hate, superiority, inferiority, injustice, inequality and fear.

We are. . .what we believe!

In Book Two of the Harry Heron Series, a freak accident on board the HMS Spartan during a sea battle with the French navy in 1804 catapults Midshipman Harry Heron and his shipmates Ferghal O'Connor and Danny Gunn four hundred years into the future, landing them on the NECS Vanguard, flagship of the World Treaty Organisation Fleet. While Captain Blackwood and Major Heron sort out the mystery and determine whether the young men are alive or dead, Harry and his friends are faced with the challenge of learning new roles aboard a spaceship. Just as they have found their footing, they are called upon to assist the Fleet in a rescue mission on the planet Pangaea, giving them the opportunity to prove that their unique skills from the past are still very relevant in the far distant future.

Readers meet the royal Karda family in Two Moons of Merth. The book's protagonist, Aadya, a peasant girl who becomes queen and her husband, Prince Poma. Through her leadership Aadya changes the fabric of Merth's male-oriented society with the help and prophecies of an omniscient and magical orb. The royal family are gifted with kinetic sight, including Aadya and Poma's children Ali, Galen, and Roark. Toward the end of the book Ali becomes the ruler of Merth, her older sister, Galen, is a gifted healer and Roark pulls himself and his kingdom forward by exploring science and facts. Something totally new for the people of Merth.

We follow these beloved characters through their many travails and celebrations in this multi-generational tale about destiny, family loyalty, tribal conflicts, and female empowerment. There is love-some forbidden-and there are tragic circumstances to be overcome. Scoundrels find their way into the plot as well, there is Alatoi, an Omi and gifted female artist, who turns her skills toward espionage, and Prince Tildyn, who tries to ingratiate himself to Ali and gain power.

The compelling journey is replete with Mitchell's signature vivid imagery and mesmerizing descriptions. Once again, readers are utterly transported, this time into a world illuminated by twin moons where fascinating animals and magical horses roam.

Jack Ryan Jr. is in a world of trouble. When a benign surveillance operation takes a deadly turn, Jack finds himself locked in a struggle with an unseen enemy bent on destroying the Campus. The chase leads Jack to the South China Sea where a midair collision between aircraft from rival nations threatens to serve as a flash point for the entire region. As Jack frantically tries to put the pieces of the conspiracy together, the Campus is hit with a crippling attack. When the dust settles, Jack is one of the few operators still standing and the Campus’s de facto leader. But the fight is just beginning.

As tensions escalate, Jack’s mysterious adversary executes a brilliant campaign to paralyze the American government even as China inches closer to invading Taiwan. With the odds stacked against him and no help in sight, Jack and his shattered team must stop the world’s two remaining super powers from stumbling into war even as the noose around the Campus grows ever tighter.
Every operation has a cost.

This time the bill might just be too much to pay.

Former Army brat Morgan Albright has finally planted roots in a friendly neighborhood near Baltimore. Her friend and roommate Nina helps her make the mortgage payments, as does Morgan's job as a bartender. But after she and Nina host their first dinner party—attended by Luke, the flirtatious IT guy who'd been chatting her up at the bar—her carefully built world is shattered. The back door glass is broken, cash and jewelry are missing, her car is gone, and Nina lies dead on the floor.

Soon, a horrific truth emerges: It was Morgan who let the monster in. "Luke" is actually a cold-hearted con artist named Gavin who targets a particular type of woman, steals her assets and identity, and then commits his ultimate goal: murder.

What the FBI tells Morgan is beyond chilling. Nina wasn't his type. Morgan is. Nina was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Morgan's nightmare is just beginning. Soon she has no choice but to flee to her mother's home in Vermont. While she struggles to build something new, she meets another man, Miles Jameson. He isn't flashy or flirtatious, and his family business has deep roots in town. But Gavin is still out there hunting new victims, and he hasn't forgotten the one who got away.

What became of Mitch and Abby McDeere after they exposed the crimes of Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke and fled the country? The answer is in The Exchange, the riveting sequel to The Firm, the blockbuster thriller that launched the career of America’s favorite storyteller. It is now fifteen years later, and Mitch and Abby are living in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at the largest law firm in the world. When a mentor in Rome asks him for a favor that will take him far from home, Mitch finds himself at the center of a sinister plot that has worldwide implications—and once again endangers his colleagues, friends, and family. Mitch has become a master at staying one step ahead of his adversaries, but this time there’s nowhere to hide.

A Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine on Audible Pick

"A beautiful novel full of passion, secrets, courage and sacrifice." (Reese Witherspoon)

After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity - and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution

Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, 19-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest - until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary....

Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth. Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate.

When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her understand the true meaning of courage.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

The author of Into the Blue and Fly with Me returns with the third high-flying Wild Aces romance...

A year after losing her husband, Joker, the squadron commander of the Wild Aces, Dani Peterson gets an offer from his best friend, Alex “Easy” Rogers, to help fix up her house. Dani accepts, and their friendship grows—along with an undeniable attraction.

Racked by guilt for loving his best friend’s widow, Easy’s caught between what he wants and can’t have. Until one night everything changes, and the woman who’s always held his heart ends up in his arms. Yet as Easy leaves for his next deployment, he and Dani are torn between their feelings and their loyalty to Joker’s memory.

But when Dani discovers something that sends them both into a spin, the conflicted lovers must overcome the past to navigate a future together...

New York heiress Catherine Dohan seemingly has it all. There’s only one problem. It’s a lie. As soon as the Morro Castle leaves port, Catherine’s past returns with a vengeance and threatens her life. Joining forces with a charismatic jewel thief, Catherine must discover who wants her dead—and why.

Elena Palacio is a dead woman. Or so everyone thinks. After a devastating betrayal left her penniless and on the run, Elena’s journey on the Morro Castle is her last hope. Steeped in secrecy and a burning desire for revenge, her return to Havana is a chance to right the wrong that has been done to her—and her prey is on the ship.

As danger swirls aboard the Morro Castle and their fates intertwine, Elena and Catherine must risk everything to see justice served once and for all.

A companion book-and much more!-to Martin Scorsese's movie of the #1 bestseller and Caldecott Medal Winner.

Brian Selznick takes readers on an intimate tour of the movie-making process as his Caldecott Award-winning book The Invention of Hugo Cabret is turned into a 3-D major motion picture by Academy Award-winning director, Martin Scorsese, written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, John Logan.

Lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs from the movie, and filled with fun, informative interviews of the cast and crew, comparisons of artwork from the book alongside people, props, costumes, and sets from the movie, plus fascinating information about automatons, filmmaking pioneer Georges Méliès, and an essay on the birth of movies written by Martin Scorsese, The Hugo Movie Companion beautifully extends the experience of the book and the movie, and is a must-have for fans of all ages.

The new novel from New York Times bestselling and Los Angeles Times Book Prize-winning author S. A. Cosby, "one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction.” —Washington Post.

A Black sheriff. A serial killer.
A small town ready to combust.

Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, quiet Charon has had only two murders. But after years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface.

Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon.

With the killer’s possible connections to a local church and the town’s harrowing history weighing on him, Titus projects confidence about closing the case while concealing a painful secret from his own past. At the same time, he also has to contend with a far-right group that wants to hold a parade in celebration of the town’s Confederate history.

Charon is Titus’s home and his heart. But where faith and violence meet, there will be a reckoning.

Powerful and unforgettable, All the Sinners Bleed confirms S. A. Cosby as “one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction” (The Washington Post).

At the conference held in in Moscow in October 1943, American officials proposed to their Soviet allies a new operation in the effort to defeat Nazi Germany. The Normandy Invasion was already in the works; what American officials were suggesting until then was a second air front: the US Air Force would establish bases in Soviet-controlled territory, in order to "shuttle-bomb" the Germans from the Eastern front. For all that he had been pushing for the United States and Great Britain to do more to help the war effort--the Soviets were bearing by far the heaviest burden in terms of casualties--Stalin, recalling the presence of foreign troops during the Russian Revolution, balked at the suggestion of foreign soldiers on Soviet soil. His concern was that they would spy on his regime, and it would be difficult to get rid of them afterword. Eventually in early 1944, Stalin was persuaded to give in, and Operation Baseball and then Frantic were initiated. B-17 Flying Fortresses were flown from
bases in Italy to the Poltava region in Ukraine.

As Plokhy's book shows, what happened on these airbases mirrors the nature of the Grand Alliance itself. While both sides were fighting for the same goal, Germany's unconditional surrender, differences arose that no common purpose could overcome. Soviet secret policeman watched over the operations, shadowing every move, and eventually trying to prevent fraternization between American servicemen and local women. A catastrophic air raid by the Germans revealed the limitations of Soviet air defenses. Relations soured and the operations went south. Indeed, the story of the American bases foreshadowed the eventual collapse of the Grand Alliance and the start of the Cold War. Using previously inaccessible archives, Forgotten Bastards offers a bottom-up history of the Grand Alliance, showing how it first began to fray on the airfields of World War II.

Despite repeated warnings from the White House, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shocked the world. Why did Putin start the war―and why has it unfolded in previously unimaginable ways? Ukrainians have resisted a superior military; the West has united, while Russia grows increasingly isolated.

Serhii Plokhy, a leading historian of Ukraine and the Cold War, offers a definitive account of this conflict, its origins, course, and the already apparent and possible future consequences. Though the current war began eight years before the all-out assault―on February 27, 2014, when Russian armed forces seized the building of the Crimean parliament―the roots of this conflict can be traced back even earlier, to post-Soviet tensions and imperial collapse in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Providing a broad historical context and an examination of Ukraine and Russia’s ideas and cultures, as well as domestic and international politics, Plokhy reveals that while this new Cold War was not inevitable, it was predictable.

Ukraine, Plokhy argues, has remained central to Russia’s idea of itself even as Ukrainians have followed a radically different path. In a new international environment defined by the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the disintegration of the post–Cold War international order, and a resurgence of populist nationalism, Ukraine is now more than ever the most volatile fault line between authoritarianism and democratic Europe.