"Saturday Night Widows" by Becky Aikman

Six marriages, six heartbreaks, and a shared new beginning.

At the age of forty-seven, Becky Aikman became a widow. Married for twenty years, she found herself adrift both in the world she and her beloved husband Bernie had made for each other, and in the larger world of widowhood and mourning. In this transcendent and undeniably wise memoir, Saturday Night Widows, Aikman convenes a group of five widowed women who together change their lives.

Meet the Saturday Night Widows: ringleader Becky, an unsentimental journalist who lost her husband at the conclusion of his two-year battle with a rare cancer; Tara, mother of two, whose alcoholic husband died in the midst of divorce proceedings; Denise, a widow of just five months when the group first meets, who now finds herself struggling to stay afloat financially; Marcia, a hard-driving corporate lawyer and grown-up tomboy; Dawn, a voluptuous self-made entrepreneur whose husband and father of their two children was killed in an ATV accident; and Lesley, who stepped out one day on an errand and returned to find her husband had committed suicide, leaving her with two college-age children.

The Saturday Night Widows agree to meet once a month, beginning in January, and over the course of a year they learn to live past the worst thing that can happen. And they do it together. Using their monthly city meetings and later farther afield adventures as an anchor, Saturday Night Widows tells the story of six love affairs, six heartbreaks, and countless-and often very funny-attempts to honor grief and celebrate life. Through it all is the story of Becky Aikman's own happy ending: her love affair with her now-husband, Bob, and her commitment to help her fellow widows reach the other side of grief, where life and possibilities return. In a transporting story of what women can achieve when they hold each other up, Saturday Night Widows is one of those rare books that will make you laugh, think, and remind yourself that in spite of life's utter unpredictability and tragedy, it is also precious, fragile, and often more joyous than we recognize.
-Edelweiss

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"Suspect" by Robert Crais

The explosive new masterpiece of suspense from the #1 New York Times –bestselling author.
LAPD cop Max Kent is not doing so well. Eight months ago, a shocking nighttime assault by unidentified men killed his partner Allie, nearly killed him, and left him enragedflashamed, and ready to explode. He is unfit for duty—until he meets his new partner.
Maggie is not doing so well, either. A German shepherd who survived three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan sniffing explosives before losing her handler to an IED, her PTSD is as bad as Max's.
They are each other's last chance. Shunned and shunted to the side, they set out to investigate the one caseThat no one wants them to touch: the identity of the men who murdered Allie. That they begin to find is nothing likeThat Max has been told, and the journey will take them both through the darkest moments of theiflown personal hells. Whether they will make it out again, no one can say.
-Edelweiss

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"Ever After" by Kim Harrison

The ever after, the demonic realm that parallels the human world, is shrinking. If it disappears completely, so does all magic. It's up to witch-turned-daywalking-demon Rachel Morgan to avert catastrophe and keep life from changing . . . for the worse.

While saving the world is important, it isn't Rachel's only motivation. There's also the small fact that she caused the ley line to rip in the first place, setting off a chain reaction of unfortunate events. That little mistake has made her life forfeit unless she can fix it. It's also made her more than a few enemies, including the most powerful demon in the ever after-a terrifying entity who eats souls and now has an insatiable appetite for her. He's already kidnapped her friend and goddaughter to lure her out, and if Rachel doesn't give herself up soon, they'll die.
But Rachel has more than a few impressive and frighening skillls of her own, and she isn't going to hand over her soul and her life without one hell of a fight. She's also got a surpise: elven tycoon Trent Kalamack. With this unlikely ally beside her-a prospect both thrilling and unnerving-she's going to return to the ever after, kick some demon butt, rescue her loved ones . . . and prevent an apocalypse before it's too late. Or, at least that's the plan . . .
-Harper Voyager


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"Private Berlin" by James Patterson

IN EUROPE'S MOST DANGEROUS CITY

Chris Schneider is a superstar agent at Private Berlin, Germany headquarters for the world's most powerful investigation firm. He keeps his methods secret as he tackles Private's most high-profile cases-and when Chris suddenly disappears, he becomes Private Berlin's most dangerous investigation yet.

AN INVESTIGATOR IS SEARCHING

Mattie Engel is another top agent at Private Berlin, gorgeous and ruthlessly determined-and she's also Chris's ex. Mattie throws herself headfirst into finding Chris, following leads to the three people Chris was investigating when he vanished: a billionaire suspected of cheating on his wife, a soccer star accused of throwing games, and a nightclub owner with ties to the Russian mob. Any one of them would surely want Chris gone-and one of them is evil enough to want him dead.

AND SHE'S AFTER MORE THAN THE TRUTH

Mattie's chase takes her into Berlin's most guarded, hidden, and treacherous places, revealing secrets from Chris's past that she'd never dreamed of in the time they were lovers. On the brink of a terrifying discovery, Mattie holds on to her belief in Chris-in the face of a horror that could force all of Europe to the edge of destruction and chaos.

James Patterson has taken the European thriller to a masterful new level with Private Berlin, an adrenaline-charged, spectacularly violent and sexy novel with unforgettable characters of dark and complex depths. Private Berlin proves why Patterson is truly the world's #1 bestselling author.


-Edelweiss

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New DVDs

 New DVDs this week:

House at the End of the Street

Hit & Run

Taken 2

"The Midwife's Tale" by Sam Thomas

In the tradition of Arianna Franklin and C. J. Sansom comes Sam Thomas’s remarkable debut, The Midwife’s Tale

It is 1644, and Parliament’s armies have risen against the King and laid siege to the city of York. Even as the city suffers at the rebels’ hands, midwife Bridget Hodgson becomes embroiled in a different sort of rebellion. One of Bridget’s friends, Esther Cooper, has been convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to be burnt alive. Convinced that her friend is innocent, Bridget sets out to find the real killer.

Bridget joins forces with Martha Hawkins, a servant who’s far more skilled with a knife than any respectable woman ought to be. To save Esther from the stake, they must dodge rebel artillery, confront a murderous figure from Martha’s past, and capture a brutal killer who will stop at nothing to cover his tracks. The investigation takes Bridget and Martha from the homes of the city’s most powerful families to the alleyways of its poorest neighborhoods. As they delve into the life of Esther’s murdered husband, they discover that his ostentatious Puritanism hid a deeply sinister secret life, and that far too often tyranny and treason go hand in hand. - From http://www.abovethetreeline.com/edelweiss

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"Enemy of Mine" by Brad Taylor

In retired Delta Force officer Brad Taylor's third Pike Logan thriller, a tentative peace between Israel and Palestine has been brokered by the United States. But the Taskforce—a clandestine team operating outside of US law to protect the country from terrorism—gets wind of an assassination attempt on the American envoy sent to solidify the treaty. The Taskforce must devote every resource to saving his life—and preventing another bloody outbreak of violence.
Taskforce operator Pike Logan and his partner, Jennifer Cahill, are charged with following the assassin's flimsy trail through the Middle East, a trail that becomes more muddled at every turn. They must contend with terrorist organizations, independent killers, and shaky allies to uncover the biggest threat of all: an American citizen hiding a secret that just may destroy everything, including the Taskforce.
Brad Taylor is the complete package: a writer who understands how to tell a thrilling story, who possesses the knowledge to construct an intricate and utterly believable plot, and who has more than enough on-the-ground experience to back it up. His first two books appeared on bestseller lists nationwide, including The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today. Propulsive and compelling, Enemy of Mine is sure to join them. -From http://www.abovethetreeline.com/edelweiss

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