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Everything She Does Is Magic
by Bridget Morrissey
Darcy Keller, resident ray of sunshine and town spirit princess, loves every moment of Fableview's fall festivities. But she's also really ready to leave for college next year, even though her parents expect her to stay and take over their Halloween empire. Enter brooding new girl Anya Doyle, a real-life witch and almost a full member of her coven. In order to be initiated, she has to choose a mortal ally to act as her protector. But having moved around so much, Anya is completely friendless. So she does what any self-respecting teenage almost-witch would--she lies and tells her coven her secret crush, Darcy, is willing to do the job. The solution? Work together, of course. The girls agree to help each other out, attending everything from a costume parade to a pumpkin patch party to an apple bobbing contest together. But with Anya's magical powers and Darcy's future independence on the line, the last thing they need is the added complication of pesky feelings...--
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The Ivory City
by Emily Bain Murphy
The St. Louis World's Fair, 1904: A miniature city of palaces and pavilions that becomes a backdrop for romance, betrayal--and murder. Cousins Grace and Lillie have been best friends since birth, despite Grace's vastly inferior social status ever since her mother married for love instead of wealth. When Lillie invites Grace to the biggest event of the century--the legendary World's Fair, also known as The Ivory City--Grace hopes her fortunes might be about to change. But when a member of their party is brutally killed at the fair, and suspicion falls on Lillie's brother Oliver, Grace must prove Oliver's innocence before her beloved cousins' family is ruined forever. Along the way, she'll discover that the city's wealthy elite--including Oliver's handsome but irritable friend Theodore--aren't quite who they appear to be. And amidst the glitz, glamor, and magic of the Ivory City lurks a danger that just may claim her life.
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It's Me They Follow
by Jeannine A. Cook
An allegorical love story -- a modern day Alchemist meets The Never Ending Story --set in a world where a book shopkeeper becomes a reluctant matchmaker, bringing soulmates together through books.It's Me They Follow is an allegorical love story set in a not so distant past. It follows The Shopkeeper, a bookseller and reluctant matchmaker. Helping others find love through books comes easily for The Shopkeeper, until it is time for her to find love for herself.She secretly yearns for her first customer, ME, who took both her most prized book and a piece of her heart when he left. But just when she begins to lose hope, she discovers that she may hold the key to her own happily ever after as well.Real life Shopkeeper and author Jeannine A. Cook has conjured a magical story that is a book within a book within a book. Soon, readers will find themselves falling under the same love spell as her customers and characters. In this magical bookshop where the line between fiction and reality blurs, stories and real life intertwine in an enchanting and moving narrative about human connection, the power of storytelling, and the spirit of love.
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Second Chance Romance: A Harlot's Bay Novel
by Olivia Dade
Karl and Molly were never together. There was a time, right after high school, where it seemed like they might finally cross the line from friends to lovers--but instead, a foolish misunderstanding meant they never spoke again. Molly went to LA and got married. Karl stayed in Harlot's Bay and bought a bakery. The only connection the pair has shared over the years is painfully one-sided: now divorced, Molly narrates monster romance audiobooks, and Karl is an ever-diligent listener, clinging to his only piece of the one that got away. Still, Molly hasn't totally left Harlot's Bay behind. When she hears that Karl's obituary has run in the local paper, unexpected grief prompts her to hop on the next flight to Maryland--where she finds Karl very much alive, the victim of nothing but an accidental obituary--
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Merry Little Bookshop
by Ali Brady
From the USA Today Bestselling author of Battle of the Bookstores When her company sends her to tiny Azalea, Texas, to open a holiday pop-up bookstore for the month of December, Shira Schwartz knows the real reason she got the assignment-they figure she won't mind missing Christmas. What they forgot? She's also missing Hanukkah.From the moment she arrives on Thanksgiving Day, Shira is swept up in the town's charm-and right into the path of Jonny McKay, a local who traded big-city dreams to come home and care for his dad. He's cocky, flirty, and totally not Shira's type...but he might be perfect for a no-strings holiday fling.Together, they turn the bookshop into more than a store: it's a gathering place, a haven for new readers, and maybe the start of something magical between them. From cookie-decorating chaos with Jonny's family to Azalea's sparkling Christmas tractor parade, the season wraps Shira in warmth she never expected. And when Jonny rallies the townspeople to surprise Shira with their own heartfelt take on Hanukkah, she realizes this assignment might be the best holiday gift she's ever been given.MERRY LITTLE BOOKSHOP is a steamy, romantic holiday tale about unexpected love, community spirit, and finding your place where you least expect it.
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Never Seen the Stars
by Kate Korsh
Hattie Murphy thinks the universe hates her. She has a secret: she has the same genetic eye disease as her father and is slowly going blind, just like he did. Nobody knows. Not her friends. Not her family. As if that weren't hard enough, Hattie's good friend Mason drowns unexpectedly, leaving their friend group shattered. After Mason's death, Hattie isn't ready to let go. There are too many things left unsaid between them. But while it's hard for her to find her seat in the dim light of the church at Mason's funeral, Hattie finds that she can see something no one else can: Mason's ghost. And when he speaks, teasing her the way he always did, it's clear their chemistry hasn't changed. Sometimes, when Mason visits her, Hattie can pretend that everything is how it used to be. But the longer Hattie keeps her secrets, the harder it is to deny the truth. Her eyesight is getting worse, and she's mourning not just Mason, but the life she thought she'd have. Hattie's sick of being told that the only way to heal is to move on ... because how can she move on if it means losing Mason forever?--
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Servants' Hall: A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance
by Margaret Powell
The sequel to New York Times bestseller Below Stairs, Servants' Hall tells a gripping real-life tale reminscent of Downton Abbey's Lady Sybil and Tom Branson. Margaret Powell's Below Stairs became a sensation among readers reveling in the luxury and subtle class warfare of Masterpiece Theatre's hit television series Downton Abbey. Now in the sequel Servants' Hall, Powell tells the true story of Rose, the under-parlourmaid to the Wardham Family at Redlands, who took a shocking step: She eloped with the family's only son, Mr. Gerald.Going from rags to riches, Rose finds herself caught up in a maelstrom of gossip, incredulity and envy among her fellow servants. The reaction from upstairs was no better: Mr. Wardham, the master of the house, disdained the match so completely that he refused ever to have contact with the young couple again. Gerald and Rose marry, leave Redlands and Powell looks on with envy, even as the marriage hits on bumpy times: To us in the servants' hall, it was just like a fairy tale . . . How I wished I was in her shoes.Once again bringing that lost world to life, Margaret Powell trains her pen and her gimlet eye on her betters in this next chapter from a life spent in service. Servants' Hall is Margaret Powell at her best a warm, funny and sometimes hilarious memoir of life at a time when wealthy families like ruled England.
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A Queen's Match
by Katharine McGee
In this breathtaking sequel to the national bestseller A Queen's Game, the love lives of three princesses are hopelessly entangled. Hearts will be broken, friendships betrayed, secrets revealed . . . and when it's all over, Europe's monarchies will never be the same. H l ne d'Orl ans, exiled princess of France, was forced to break off her engagement to Prince Eddy because of a mistake from her past. But she's determined to win him back, even if it means pretending to court another prince. Alix of Hesse is desperately in love with Prince Nicholas of Russia and promises to wait for him, no matter how long it takes. But what happens when her grandmother Queen Victoria introduces a new suitor . . . one who makes Alix question her heart? May of Teck isn't even looking for love, just a crown--and now, after all her scheming, she might finally have found a way to marry Prince Eddy. So why can't she stop thinking about his younger brother, George? In this stunning conclusion to the duology that began with A Queen's Game, Katharine McGee offers an intimate portrayal of a near-forgotten moment in royal history: a story of agonizing loss, of impossible choices, and of love--and hope--that defied the odds.
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Truly, Madly: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, and the Romance of the Century
by Stephen Galloway
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST A New York Times Bestseller A well rounded and entertaining (New York Times) Hollywood biography about the passionate, turbulent marriage of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. In 1934, a friend brought fledgling actress Vivien Leigh to see Theatre Royal, where she would first lay eyes on Laurence Olivier in his brilliant performance as Anthony Cavendish. That night, she confided to a friend, he was the man she was going to marry. There was just one problem: she was already married--and so was he. TRULY, MADLY is the biography of a marriage, a love affair that still captivates millions, even decades after both actors' deaths. Vivien and Larry were two of the first truly global celebrities - their fame fueled by the explosive growth of tabloids and television, which helped and hurt them in equal measure. They seemed to have it all and yet, in their own minds, they were doomed, blighted by her long-undiagnosed mental-illness, which transformed their relationship from the stuff of dreams into a living nightmare. Through new research, including exclusive access to previously unpublished correspondence and interviews with their friends and family, author Stephen Galloway takes readers on a bewitching journey. He brilliantly studies their tempestuous liaison, one that took place against the backdrop of two world wars, the Golden Age of Hollywood and the upheavals of the 1960s -- as they struggled with love, loss and the ultimate agony of their parting.
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Husbands & Lovers
by Beatriz Williams
Two women--separated by decades and continents, and united by an exotic family heirloom--reclaim secrets and lost loves in this sweeping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives. My favorite kind of page-turner--unputdownable!--Martha Hall Kelly, author of The Golden Doves New England, 2022. Three years ago, single mother Mallory Dunne received the telephone call every parent dreads--her ten-year-old son, Sam, had been airlifted from summer camp with acute poisoning from a toxic death cap mushroom, leaving him fighting for his life. Now, searching for the donor kidney that will give her son a chance for a normal life, Mallory's forced to confront two harrowing secrets from her past: her mother's adoption from an infamous Irish orphanage in 1952, and her own all-consuming summer romance fourteen years earlier with her childhood best friend, Monk Adams-- one of the world's most beloved singer-songwriters--a fairy tale cut short by a devastating betrayal. Cairo, 1951. After suffering tragedy beyond comprehension in the war, Hungarian refugee Hannah Ainsworth has forged a respectable new life for herself--marriage to a wealthy British diplomat with a coveted posting in glamorous Cairo. But a fateful encounter with the enigmatic manager of a hotel bristling with spies leads to a passionate affair that will reawaken Hannah's longing for everything she once lost. As revolution simmers in the Egyptian streets, a pregnant Hannah finds herself snared in a game of intrigue between two men . . . and an act of sacrifice that will echo down the generations. Timeless and bittersweet, Husbands & Lovers takes readers on an unforgettable journey of heartbreak and redemption, from the revolutionary fires of midcentury Egypt to the moneyed beaches of contemporary New England. Acclaimed author Beatriz Williams has written a poignant and beautifully voiced novel of deeply human characters entangled by morally complex issues--of privilege, class, and the female experience--inside worlds brought shimmeringly to life.
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It Seemed Important at the Time: A Romance Memoir
by Gloria Vanderbilt
An elegant, witty, frank, touching, and deeply personal account of the loves both great and fleeting in the life of one of America's most celebrated and fabled women. Born to great wealth yet kept a virtual prisoner by the custody battle that raged between her proper aunt and her self-absorbed, beautiful mother, Gloria Vanderbilt grew up in a special world. Stunningly beautiful herself, yet insecure and with a touch of wildness, she set out at a very early age to find romance. And find it she did. There were love affairs with Howard Hughes, Bill Paley, and Frank Sinatra, to name a few, and one-night stands, which she writes about with delicacy and humor, including one with the young Marlon Brando. There were marriages to men as diverse as Pat De Cicco, who abused her; the legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, who kept his innermost secrets from her; film director Sidney Lumet; and finally writer Wyatt Cooper, the love of her life. Now, in an irresistible memoir that is at once ruthlessly forthright, supremely stylish, full of fascinating details, and deeply touching, Gloria Vanderbilt writes at last about the subject on which she has hitherto been silent: the men in her life, why she loved them, and what each affair or marriage meant to her. This is the candid and captivating account of a life that has kept gossip writers speculating for years, as well as Gloria's own intimate description of growing up, living, marrying, and loving in the glare of the limelight and becoming, despite a family as famous and wealthy as America has ever produced, not only her own person but an artist, a designer, a businesswoman, and a writer of rare distinction.
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Thomas Kinkade's Cape Light: One Bright Christmas
by Katherine Spencer
This Christmas the peaceful town of Cape Light shines extra bright. When Lauren Willoughby returns to Cape Light for the holidays, she's hardly feeling festive. Although her family views her as a sharp, successful New York attorney, she's come home to heal from a bad breakup and a career setback. While freelancing for a local law firm, Lauren meets Cole McGuire, a widower and a single father, as difficult to deal with as he is attractive. His sweet daughter Phoebe is instantly drawn to Lauren's whimsical side, and Cole's reserve is soon worn down by her straight-talking charm. Lauren knows she's falling hard for this handsome, enigmatic man and his adorable little girl, but worries that the attachment can only lead to heartache. For Phoebe's sake, Cole is committed to a quiet country life while Lauren is a city girl, determined to return to the bright lights to make her mark. Meanwhile, a movie crew has come to Cape Light, and the entire town is starstruck. Everyone except Lucy Bates, who harbors a secret about the film's star, Craig Hamilton. One magical summer long ago, they met at the village theater and fell in love. Despite their big plans and promises, Craig broke her heart. They never spoke again and she's certainly never forgiven him. Yet, for some uncanny reason, he's appeared out of the blue. Will she accept this chance to sort out their painful past? Or forever regret it? And to Lillian Warwick-Elliot's dismay, one chilly night her husband Ezra takes in a scruffy, little dog. Lillian is determined to pass the stray to a more suitable family. But at what cost to her marriage and Ezra's devotion? With Christmas nearly here, can the good folks of Cape Light open their hearts to forgiveness and love?
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All My Roads
by Cortny Joy
Sensual and nuanced, ALL MY ROADS is a story of holding heartache in one hand and joy in the other; of learning we are never outside the realm of beauty and healing.
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Longing: A Sweet, Contemporary Christian Romance
by Karen Kingsbury
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes the next chapter in Bailey Flanigan's journey--a story of love, longing, and the choices that shape our hearts.After months of silence from Cody Coleman, Bailey Flanigan begins to spend more and more time with her Hollywood co-star Brandon Paul. Nights on the town in New York City and long talks on the balcony of Brandon's Malibu Beach home make Bailey dizzy with new feelings and cause her to wonder if her days with Cody are over forever.Meanwhile, Cody's work coaching a small-town football team has brought him and his players national attention. In the midst of the celebration and success, Cody finds himself much closer to a woman who seems to better understand him and his new life.Despite the distance and the new people in their lives, neither Bailey nor Cody can fully let go of what they once shared. But when tragedy strikes, will it be the catalyst that finally brings them back together--or the moment that proves some love stories are never meant to be?Perfect for fans of contemporary Christian romance, this novel includes discussion questions for book clubs.Longing is the third book in the beloved Bailey Flanigan series, featuring members of the popular Baxter family from Kingsbury's Redemption series, now streaming online.
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Grand Ledge Area District Library
131 E Jefferson St
Grand Ledge, Michigan 48837
(517) 627-7014https://gladl.org |
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