"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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"Love Saves the Day" by Gwen Cooper

From the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Homer's Odyssey, here is a tender, joyful, utterly unforgettable novel told through the eyes of the most observant member of any human family: the cat.

The day Prudence the cat adopts a "roommate" named Sarah outside a building on the Lower East Side, there's something more than chance at work. But when Sarah doesn't come home one day, Prudence is uprooted from their apartment and the closest thing to a family she's ever known, and is taken to live with Sarah's daughter, Laura, and Laura's new husband, Josh. "It's important to keep your past organized," Sarah always liked to say. But as Prudence searches for the key that will bring Sarah back, it's Laura's past, and the secret joys, hurts, and life-changing moments that make every mother-daughter relationship special, that will ultimately come to the surface. Heartwarming, insightful, and funny in the way only a cat can be, Love Saves the Day is about a daughter healing after the loss of her mother, about a new husband and wife learning to adapt to marriage, and about how the love of an animal can make us all better humans.

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"Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker" by Jenniver Chiaverini

New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini illuminates the extraordinary friendship between Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, a former slave who won her freedom by the skill of her needle, and the friendship of the First Lady by her devotion.


Freedwoman Elizabeth Keckley made her professional reputation in Washington, DC, making dresses for the city's elite, among them Mrs. Jefferson Davis and Mrs. Robert E. Lee. She made history by sewing for First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln within the White House, and she was a trusted witness to many private moments between the president and his wife, two of the most compelling figures in American history.
In March 1861, Mrs. Lincoln chose Keckley from among a number of applicants to be her personal modiste, responsible not only for creating the First Lady's gowns but also for dressing Mrs. Lincoln in the beautiful attire Keckley had fashioned. The relationship between the two women quickly evolved as Keckley was drawn into the intimate life of the Lincoln family, supporting Mary Todd Lincoln in the loss of another son and then of her husband from the assassination that stunned the nation and the world.
Keckley saved scraps from the dozens of gowns she made for Mrs. Lincoln, eventually piecing together a tribute known as the Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt. She also saved memories, which she fashioned into a book, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. Upon its publication, Keckley's memoir created a scandal that compelled Mary Todd Lincoln to sever all ties with her, but more recently, Keckley's story has languished in the archives. In this impeccably researched, engrossing novel, Jennifer Chiaverini brings history to life with a rich, moving style.

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The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

In the spirit of American Wife and The Paris Wife, Melanie Benjamin (Alice I Have Been, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb) reveals the story behind one of America's most remarkable marriages-Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh-two aviators, thrill-seekers, heroes-and reveals both its dizzying highs and devastating lows with grace, insight, and stunning power.

It was the most famous marriage of the twentieth century-that of Charles Lindbergh, the handsome young aviator who changed the course of history and Anne Spencer Morrow, the shy, naive ambassador's daughter. It was a picture-book marriage that prevailed through wild international acclaim and vilification, death-defying flights, and a kidnapping that stunned the world. Their every act and gesture was captured by an insatiable press. Melanie Benjamin deftly peers into the fairy tale that is the marriage of one of America's most famous couples, and brings gorgeous insight into two compelling lives.

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