Author: Shipman, Viola, author. Container of (work): Shipman, Viola. Christmas angels. Published: 2023 Call Number: F SHIPMAN Format: Books Summary: Workaholic Henrietta Wegner can feel her edge beginning to dull in middle age. Once the company's hottest mergers and acquisitions executive, Henri can see the ambitious and impossibly young up-and-comers gunning for her job. When her boss makes it clear she'll be starting the New Year unemployed unless she can close a big deal before the holidays, Henri impulsively tells him that she can convince her aging parents to sell Wegner's, their iconic Frankenmuth, Michigan, Christmas store, to a massive, soulless corporation. It's the kind of deal cool corporate Henri has built her career on. Home for the holidays has typically meant a perfunctory twenty-four-hour visit for Henri, then back to Detroit as fast as her car will drive her. So turning up at the Wegner's offices in early December raises some eyebrows: from her delighted, if puzzled, parents to her suspicious brother and curious childhood friends. But as Henri fields impatient texts from her boss while reconnecting with the magic of the store and warmth of her hometown, what sounded great in the boardroom begins to lose its luster in real life. She's running out of time to pull the trigger on what could be the greatest success of her career ... or the most awkward family holiday of her life.
Author: Toussaint, Alex, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 131 Format: Books Summary: "Alex Toussaint is known for his grueling workouts where he promises "to kick your ass"--yet thousands keep coming back for more. Why? Because he might be the most motivational teacher out there right now. His mantra is "Feel good, Look Good, Do Better." He expects more from you, and from himself. Yet so much of what he talks about is NOT about the bike. Alex's enthusiasm for life is infectious--"You woke up today!" "Breathe in confidence, exhale doubt." Because Alex knows what it is like to be overlooked and undervalued, to be the underdog. He knows what it's like to not expect the best from yourself. The child of Haitian immigrants who sacrificed so much to give him an education, he knows what it is like to be one of the few Black kids growing up in East Hampton. After a turbulent adolescence that saw him being sent to military school, Toussaint dropped out of college and was mopping floors at a gym. A few years later, he's one of the most iconic cycling instructors on Peloton, helping thousands of users along their fitness journeys through his inspirational workouts. Finally, Alex gets off the bike to help readers activate their own greatness in every aspect of their lives. Part self-help, part memoir, Activate Your Greatness details Toussaint's mental and physical practices, on and off the bike, that have influenced his daily habits, fueled his motivation, and that have ultimately contributed to his astronomical success and shows readers how they can do the same"--
Author: Griffin, Martin, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F GRIFFIN Format: Books Summary: Trapped in the remote MacKinnon Hotel in the Scottish Highlands during a blizzard, Remie York and her remaining guests must endure one deadly night when two injured men arrive, both claiming to be Constable Dan Gaines as a dangerous prisoner is at-large. "An electric, locked-room suspense thriller set in the remote Scottish Highlands, where icy temperatures and a terrible blizzard prevent any ideas of escape--from a brilliant new voice in crime fiction. One bitterly cold February night at the remote MacKinnon Hotel, Remie Yorke begins her last shift at the front desk as the snow begins to fall. She has booked a one-way flight for the next day--and she's never coming back to Scotland. Or so she thinks. As the storm quickly invades the surrounding Highlands, the roads become impassable and the phone lines fall dead. When the icy temperatures plummet further, an injured man stumbles into the hotel lobby from the blizzard. Police Constable Don Gaines has been in a car accident on the mountain road, and Remie welcomes him to safety. Gaines tells her that the other survivor of the accident is a dangerous prisoner who is now at-large; and Gaines is sure he is heading their way. Then a second injured visitor arrives--also introducing himself as Constable Don Gaines. Both claim to want to protect Remie and the hotel's remaining guests. Both are convincing. Remie doesn't know who to trust. But she must endure a deadly night before dawn breaks, and if she doesn't succumb to the cold, one of these men will surely kill her first. And she has no idea why they have chosen to come to the MacKinnon Hotel..." -- Provided by publisher.
Author: Edwards, Emily J., author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F EDWARDS Format: Books Summary: "New York City, 1950. Viviana Valentine and Tommy Fortuna have a lot of resolutions for the new year, whether it's continuing to build up their detective agency or planning their wedding, the two are looking forward to the future. On their way to Times Square to celebrate, the two witness a brutal stabbing. When Tommy tries to chase down the culprit, Viviana tries her best to save the man. She's unsuccessful, but Viviana hears his final words: a whispered apology to an unknown friend. Clues are hard to come by, with the only leads being the fraught last words and a few nondescript matchbooks in the victim's overcoat. Their investigation is halted when Detective Jack Lawson of the New York Police Department arrives, immediately ruffling Viviana's feathers and bumping chests with Tommy, who he nearly arrested for murder just months earlier. The two know there's more to the story, but there are other pressing matters at hand. Clients are clamoring to get the detectives to work on their cases: a man is being blackmailed by a criminal who only writes in code, Tommy's old friend needs his fiancée tailed, and an investment banker has mysteriously vanished. To add to their workload, Viviana knows something strange is happening at her boarding house. Will all of this, plus planning for a wedding, be too much for one Girl Friday?"--Dust jacket flap.
Author: Lochery, Neill, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 940.5318 Format: Books Summary: "When Nazis looked to flee Europe with stolen art, gems, and gold in tow, certain "neutral" countries were all too willing to assist them. By the end of January 1945, it was clear to Germany that the war was lost. The Third Reich was in freefall, and its leaders, apart from those clustered around Hitler in his Berlin bunker, sought to abscond before they were besieged. But they wanted to take their wealth with them. Their escape routes were diverse: Sweden and Switzerland boasted proximity, banking, and industrial closeness, while Spain and Portugal offered an inviting Atlantic coastline and shipping routes to South America. And in various ways, each of these so-called neutral nations welcomed the Nazi escapees, along with the clandestine wealth they carried. Cashing Out tells the riveting history of the race to intercept the stolen assets before they disappeared, and before the will to punish Germany was replaced by the political considerations of the fast-approaching Cold War. Bestselling author Neill Lochery here brilliantly recounts the flight of the Nazi-looted riches--the last great escape of World War II--and the Allied quest for justice"--
Author: Breslin, Susannah, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: B BRESLIN Format: Books Summary: "What if your parents turn you into a human lab rat when you're a child? Will that change the story of your life? Will that change who you are? When Susannah Breslin is a toddler, her parents enroll her in an exclusive laboratory preschool at the University of California, Berkeley, where she becomes one of over a hundred children who are research subjects in an unprecedented 30-year study of personality development that predicts who she and her cohort will grow up to be. Decades later, trapped in what she feels is an abusive marriage and battling breast cancer, she starts to wonder how growing up under a microscope shaped her identity and life choices. Already a successful journalist, she makes her own curious history the subject of her next investigation. From experiment rooms with one-way mirrors, to children's puzzles with no solutions, to condemned basement laboratories, her life-changing journey uncovers the long-buried secrets hidden behind the renowned study. The question at the gnarled heart of her quest: Did the study know her better than she knew herself? At once bravely honest and sharply witty, Data Baby is a compelling and provocative account of a woman's quest to find her true self, and an unblinking exploration of why we turn out as we do. Few people in all of history have been studied from such a young age and for as long as Susannah Breslin, but the message of her book is universal. In an era when so many of us are looking to technology to tell us who to be, it's up to us to discover who we actually are"--
Author: Heughan, Sam, 1980- author. Reather, Charlotte, author. Jackson, Peter, 1961- writer of foreword. Published: 2023 Call Number: 919.304 Format: Books Summary: "Buckle up, grab a dram, and get ready for another unforgettable wild ride. They're back! Stars of Outlander, Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish are no strangers to the rugged beauty of Scotland. But this time they're setting their sights on a new New Zealand. Join our intrepid Scotsmen on their latest epic adventure across The Land of the Long White Cloud in this thrilling follow-up to Clanlands. Setting out to explore a country that Graham calls home, and that Sam has longed to visit, these sturdy friends immerse themselves in all that New Zealand has to stunning landscapes, rich history, world-class food and drink, and - much to Graham's mounting anxiety and Sam's deep satisfaction - famously adrenaline-fueled activities! As ever there's not nearly enough space in their trusty camper van and with plenty of good-natured competition and tormenting to go around, Sam and Graham's friendship is put to the test once again. Along the way we learn about the length and breadth of this jewel of the Southern Seas, exploring the fascinating story of its people while testing the very limits of Graham's sanity. Like the very best buddy movie sequel, this latest installment is full of unforgettable experiences and lovable characters and promises to be an even more memorable ride with two of the most entertaining travel companions around. So, say goodbye to your inhibitions and kia ora to New Zealand like you've never seen it before." --Goodreads.
Author: Land, Stephanie, 1978- author. Published: 2023 Call Number: B LAND Format: Books Summary: When Stephanie Land set out to write her memoir Maid, she never could have imagined what was to come. Handpicked by President Barack Obama as one of the best books of 2019, it was called "an eye-opening journey into the lives of the working poor" (People). Later it was adapted into the hit Netflix series Maid, which was viewed by 67 million households and was Netflix's fourth most-watched show in 2021, garnering three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Stephanie's escape out of poverty and abuse in search of a better life inspired millions. Maid was a story about a housecleaner, but it was also a story about a woman with a dream. In Class, Land takes us with her as she finishes college and pursues her writing career. Facing barriers at every turn including a byzantine loan system, not having enough money for food, navigating the judgments of professors and fellow students who didn't understand the demands of attending college while under the poverty line, Land finds a way to survive once again, finally graduating in her mid-thirties. Land paints an intimate and heartbreaking portrait of motherhood as it converges and often conflicts with personal desire and professional ambition.
Author: Miller, Holly Marie, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: B MILLER Format: Books Summary: "At ten months old, Holly Marie was brought to the door of a church by three barefoot women in white robes and head coverings. Adopted by the pastor and raised in a loving Christian home, Holly nevertheless struggled with the ache of not knowing what had happened to her biological parents. She still felt their absence even as she married and started a family of her own. When two detectives showed up at the restaurant where she worked and informed her that she had a large family in Florida who had been searching for her for over 40 years, Holly's past became the reality of her present, and she began the sometimes painful journey of discovering the truth about her origins: Her parents had been brutally murdered, their case still unsolved..." --Amazon.com
Author: Brands, H. W., author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 973.3092 Format: Books Summary: "From bestselling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands, a revelatory history of the shocking emergence of vicious political division at the birth of the United States Founding Partisans is a lively narrative of the early years of the republic as the Founding Fathers fought one another with competing visions of what our nation would be. To the framers of the Constitution, political parties were an existential threat to republican virtues. They had suffered the consequences of partisan politics in Britain before the American Revolution, and they wanted nothing similar for America. Yet parties emerged even before the Constitution was ratified, and they took firmer root in the following decade. The first party, the Federalists, formed around Alexander Hamilton and his efforts to overthrow the Articles of Confederation. Thomas Jefferson and the opposition organized as the Antifederalists, the precursor to the Republicans. The two factions wrestled as George Washington tried to remain above the fray. John Adams, however, our second president, was an avowed Federalist, and very much in the scrum. The country's first years unfolded in a contentious spiral of ugly elections and blatant violations of the Constitution. Still, peaceful transfers of power continued, and the nascent country made its way toward global dominance, against all odds. Founding Partisans is a powerful reminder that fierce partisanship is a problem as old as the republic, one we've survived time and time again"--
Author: Roman, Joe, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 577 Format: Books Summary: Reveals how ecosystems are sculpted and sustained by animals eating, pooping, and dying-and how these fundamental functions could help save us from climate catastrophe. "If forests are the lungs of the planet, then animals migrating across oceans, streams, and mountains--eating, pooping, and dying along the way--are its heart and arteries, pumping nitrogen and phosphorus from deep-sea gorges up to mountain peaks, from the Arctic to the Caribbean. Without this conveyor belt of crucial, life-sustaining nutrients, the world would look very different. The dynamics that shape our physical world--atmospheric chemistry, geothermal forces, plate tectonics, and erosion through wind and rain--have been explored for decades. But the effects on local ecosystems of less glamorous forces--rotting carcasses and deposited feces--as well as their impact on the global climate cycle, have been largely overlooked. The simple truth is that pooping and peeing are daily rituals for almost all animals, the ellipses of ecology that flow through life. We eat, we poop, and we die." --Amazon.com
Author: Gross, Michael, 1952- author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 305.809 Format: Books Summary: "Fifteen families. Four hundred years. The complex saga of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant elite in America's history. For decades, writers from Cleveland Amory to Joseph Alsop to the editors of Politico have proclaimed the diminishment of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, who for generations were the dominant socio-cultural-political force in America. While the WASP elite has, in the last half century, indeed drifted from American centrality to the periphery, its relevance and impact remain, as Michael Gross reveals in his compelling chronicle of the WASPs in our history. From Colonial America's founding settlements through the Gilded Age to the present day, Gross traces the complicated legacy of American WASPs-their profound accomplishments and egregious failures-through the lives of fifteen influential individuals and their very privileged, sometimes intermarried families. As the Bradford, Randolph, Morris, Biddle, Sanford, Peabody, and Whitney clans, among others, progress, prosper, and stumble, defining aspects in the four-century sweep of American history emerge: our wide, oft-contentious religious diversity; the deep scars of slavery, genocide, and intolerance; the creation and sometime misuse of astonishing economic, political, and social power; an enduring belief in the future; an instinct to offset inequity with philanthropy; an equal capacity for irresponsible, sometimes wanton, behavior. "American society was supposed to be different," writes Gross, "but for most of our history we have had a patriciate, an aristocracy, a hereditary oligarchic upper class, who initiated the American national experiment." In previous acclaimed books such as 740 Park and Rogues' Gallery, Gross has explored elite culture in microcosm; expanding the canvas, Flight of the WASP chronicles it across four centuries and fifteen generations in an ambitious and consequential contribution to American history"--
Author: Austen, Ben, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 364.6 Format: Books Summary: "From the critically acclaimed author of High-risers comes a groundbreaking and honest investigation into the crisis of the American criminal justice system-through the lens of parole. Perfect for fans of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow and Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy The United States, alone, locks up a quarter of the world's incarcerated people. And yet apart from clichés-paying a debt to society; you do the crime, you do the time-there is little sense collectively in America what constitutes retribution or atonement. We don't actually know why we punish. Ben Austen's powerful exploration offers a behind-the-scenes look at the process of parole. Told through the portraits of two men imprisoned for murder, and the parole board that holds their freedom in the balance, Austen's unflinching storytelling forces us to reckon with some of the most profound questions underlying the country's values around crime and punishment. What must someone who commits a terrible act do to get a second chance? What does incarceration seek to accomplish? An illuminating work of narrative nonfiction, Correction challenges us to consider for ourselves why and who we punish-and how we might find a way out of an era of mass imprisonment"--
Author: Galvan, Liz Marie, author. Montgomery, Sharon, illustrator. Published: 2023 Call Number: 747 Format: Books Summary: Create your own quiet refuge with tips and affordable decor ideas from popular blogger and author Liz Marie Galvan. Liz's friendly blend of inspiration, interactive elements, and intentional living ideas will help you create cozy spaces, healthy habits, and will fill your home with peace and connection. "Bring peace, calm, and beauty into your life and your home as you journey with popular blogger and author Liz Marie Galvan through Create Your Own Cozy to create a haven for yourself and those you love. This beautiful interactive book offers: Ideas to make your home and life cozier--from personal routines to easy and affordable ways to make any space feel comfortable ; Cozy home tips, garden ideas, and easy gathering suggestions ; Stunning photography and captivating original art ; Space to record room dimensions, paint colors, shopping lists, project plans, and monthly checklists to keep your home running smoothly.
Author: Albom, Mitch, 1958- author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F ALBOM Format: Books Summary: Eleven-year-old Nico Crispi never told a lie. When the Nazi's invade his home in Salonika, Greece, the trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who offers him a chance to save his family. All Nico has to do is convince his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading towards "the east" where they are promised jobs and safety. Unaware that this is all a cruel ruse, the innocent boy goes to the station platform every day and reassures the passengers that the journey is safe. But when the final train is at the station, Nico sees his family being loaded into a large boxcar crowded with other neighbors. Only after it is too late does Nico discover that he helped send the people he loved--and all the others--to their doom at Auschwitz. Nico never tells the truth again.
Author: Chow, Jennifer J., author. Published: 2023 Call Number: LP F CHOW Format: Large print Summary: "Food stall owners Yale and Celine Yee have scored an invitation to join an exclusive dinner with the local restaurant owners association. The members gather together for a relaxing hot pot feast . . . until Jeffery Vue, president of the group, receives a literal shock to his system and dies. Everyone at the meal is a suspect, but the authorities are homing in on family friend Ai Ho, owner of the restaurant where Jeffery was killed -- and Yale's dad is a close second on their list. Yale and Celine step up to the plate and investigate the dinner attendees: the association's ambitious VP, a familiar frenemy, a ramen king, a snacks shopkeeper, and a second-generation restaurateur. It's up to the detecting duo to figure out what really happened before their friends and family have to close their businesses for good."--
Author: Hannon, Irene, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: LP F HANNON Format: Large print Summary: "As a former smokejumper, arson investigator Bri Tucker knows her way around fires. But after a mysterious blaze takes the life of a former colleague, Bri inherits a curious puzzle from him that raises questions about several fiery deaths. Someone, however, doesn't want her picking up where he left off in search of answers. When she teams up with ATF Special Agent Marc Davis to solve the puzzle, the danger escalates. But will they manage to track down the person behind the mysterious deaths before their budding romance -- and maybe even their lives -- go up in flames?"--
Author: Macmillan, Gilly, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: LP F MACMILLA Format: Large print Summary: Childhood sweethearts Nicole and Tom are a normal, loving couple, until a massive lottery win changes their lives overnight. Soon they've moved into a custom-built state-of-the-art Glass Barn on the stunning grounds of Lancaut Manor in Gloucestershire. They have fancy cars, expensive hobbies, and an exclusive lifestyle they never could have imagined. But this dream world quickly turns into a nightmare when Tom is found dead in the swimming pool. Nicole is devastated. Tom is her rock. And their beautiful barn, with all its smart features that never seem to work for her, is beginning to feel very lonely. But she's not entirely by herself out there in the country. There's a nice young couple who live in the Manor itself along with their middle-aged housekeeper who has the Coach House. And an old friend of Tom's from school has turned up to help her get through her grief. But big money can bring big problems and big threats. Was Tom's death a tragic accident or was it something worse? And is her life in danger as well? Nicole's beginning to feel like a little fish in a big glass fishbowl. Surrounded by piranhas.
Author: Lagoze, Miles, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: B LAGOZE Format: Books Summary: "For readers of Jarhead and Phil Klay, a Marine Combat Cameraman offers a character-rich, unfiltered look at military life in Afghanistan, from a Millennial perspective of soldiers raised with modern media and graphic video games"-- "At just eighteen years old, Miles Lagoze joined the Marine Corps a decade after the war began and found himself surrounded by people not unlike those he'd left behind at home--aimless youth searching for stability, community, and economic security. Deployed to Afghanistan as a Combat Cameraman--an active-duty videographer and photographer--Lagoze produced slick images of glory and heroism for public consumption. But his government-approved footage concealed a grim reality. Here, Lagoze pulls back the curtain and illustrates the grisly truth of the longest war in American history. As these young men and women were deployed to an unfamiliar country half a world away--history's "graveyard of empires"--they carried the scars of the fractured homeland that sent them. Lagoze shows us Marines straddling the edge of chaos. We see forces desensitized to gore and suffering by the darkest reaches of the internet, unsure of their places in an unraveling world and set further adrift by the uncertain mission to which they had been assigned abroad. Whistles from the Graveyard shows the parts of the Afghanistan War we were never meant to see--Afghan locals and American infantry drawn together by their fears of the ghostly, ever-present terror of the Taliban; moments of dark resignation as the devastating toll of years in war's crossfire reveals itself between bouts of adrenaline-laced violence; and nights of reckless, drug-fueled abandon to dull the pain. In full, vivid color, Miles Lagoze shows us an oft-overlooked generation of young Americans we cast out into the desert, steeped in nihilism, and shipped back home with firsthand training in extremism, misanthropy, and insurrection" --
Author: Butcher, Jim, 1971- author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F BUTCHER Format: Books Summary: "The fate of the Cinder Spires may be decided by crossed swords in the next exhilarating fantasy adventure from the author of the Dresden Files, in this New York Times bestselling series of noble families, swordplay, and airships. For centuries the Cinder Spires have safeguarded humanity, rising far above the deadly surface world. Within their halls, aristocratic houses rule, developing scientific marvels and building fleets of airships for defense and trade. Now, the Spires hover on the brink of open war. Everyone knows it's coming. The guns of the great airship fleets that control the skies between the last bastions of humanity will soon speak in anger, and Spire Albion stands alone against the overwhelming might of Spire Aurora's Armada and its new secret weapon--one capable of destroying the populations of entire Spires. A trading summit at Spire Olympia provides an opportunity for the Spirearch, Lord Albion, to secure alliances that will shape the outcomes of the war, and to that end he dispatches privateer Captain Francis Madison Grimm and the crew of the AMS Predator to bolster the Spirearch's diplomatic agents. It will take daring, skill, and no small amount of showmanship to convince the world to stand with Spire Albion--assuming that it is not already too late"--
