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The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers: A novel
by Samuel BurrAn extraordinary, gloriously uplifting novel about the power of friendship and the puzzling ties that bind usClayton Stumper might be in his twenties, but he dresses like your grandpa and fusses like your aunt. Abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, he was raised by a group of eccentric enigmatologists and now finds himself among the last survivors of a fading institution.When the esteemed crossword compiler and main maternal presence in Clayton&’s life, Pippa Allsbrook, passes away, she bestows her final puzzle on him: a promise to reveal the mystery of his parentage and prepare him for life beyond the walls of the commune. So begins Clay&’s quest to uncover the secrets surrounding his birth, secrets that will change Clay—and the Fellowship—forever.The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers is pure joy, a story about love and family and what it means to find your people—no matter what age you are.
Festivals as Reparative Gender Politics: Millennial Feminism in Southeastern Europe (Gender and Comparative Politics)
by Zorica SiročićWhat explains the popularity and widespread appeal of numerous post-Yugoslav feminist and LGBTQ+ festivals in the last decade? This book argues that the millennial generation expresses "reparative politics", as a distinct type of activism, through festivals. Reparative political acting, as identified here, characteristically relies on playfulness and creativity, interpretative (gender) dissent, acceptance of organizational and programmatic messiness and hybridity, belonging, and positive affect. The reparative politics is vital in a context that is marked by an individual and collective trauma of heteropatriarchy, violent breakdown of the common state, and post-transitional economic precarity. The book uses excerpts from programs, interviews and observations collected through the multi-sited ethnographic research. Siročić’s focus on contemporary activism in Southeastern Europe challenges the narrow geopolitical understanding of the recent feminist politics and refutes the common assumptions of a passive millennial generation. Yet, the book’s relevance surpasses its area of study, as it argues against the popular deriding of "artivist" expressions as the "merely cultural" or "merely aesthetic" engagement. In contrast, the book claims that such activities urge a redefined understanding of political agency. Festivals as Reparative Politics demonstrates that contemporary feminist festivals represent a distinct reformulation of contentious politics of gender whose constitutive principles can be exemplary for other types of political engagements.
Feu et neige (Les flics de Carlisle #4)
by Andrew GreyFisher Moreland a été chassé de sa famille, parce qu&’elle ne pouvait plus faire face à ses problèmes. Fisher est bipolaire et vit au jour le jour en essayant de gérer son état, mais il n&’a pas toujours le contrôle sur sa vie et s&’est auto-médicamenté avec tout ce qu&’il pouvait trouver. JD Burnside a été coupé de sa famille à cause d&’un scandale dans sa ville. Il s&’est installé à Carlisle, mais a emporté avec lui le charme et la chaleur du Sud. Lorsqu&’il aperçoit Fisher sur un banc public par une soirée d&’hiver, il l&’invite à se joindre à lui et à ses amis pour un repas nocturne. Au début, Fisher ne sait pas quoi penser de JD, mais il sort peu à peu de sa coquille. Et lorsque son emploi est menacé à cause d&’un incendie, le soutien et l&’attention de JD dépassent tout ce qu&’il aurait pu espérer. Mais lorsque des personnes de son passé réapparaissent en ville, au cœur d&’une épidémie de drogue résurgente, Fisher sait qu&’elles pourraient très bien saboter sa relation naissante avec JD.
Feuer und Hagel (Carlisle Cops (Deutsch) #5)
by Andrew GreyAls er seine erste Stelle als Polizist in Carlisle antrat, wusste Brock Ferguson nicht, dass sein erster Arbeitstag mit einer Reihe von Überraschungen enden würde: Zuerst läuft ihm sein Ex-Freund Vincent Geraldini über den Weg. Dessen Verhalten bei einer routinemäßigen Verkehrskontrolle erinnert Brock schnell daran, weshalb ihre Beziehung nicht von Dauer gewesen war. Dann findet Brock im Kofferraum einer Corvette zwei verängstigte Kinder: Es stellt sich heraus, dass Vincents Schwester die Mutter der Kinder ist. Brocks Sorge gilt der Sicherheit der Kinder und so ist er überrascht, aber glücklich, als Vincent sofort anbietet, sich um die Kinder zu kümmern, als ihre Mutter in Gewahrsam genommen wird. Vincent ist schockiert darüber, was seine Schwester getan hat. Um der Kinder willen begraben er und Brock das Kriegsbeil - und stellen bald fest, dass sie immer noch mehr gemeinsam haben als gedacht. Mit Hilfe der Kinder kommen sie sich näher, bis sie sich zu viert allmählich wie eine Familie fühlen. Doch Vincents Schwester und ihr Freund - ein wirklich mieser Typ - könnten alles zerstören, was sie sich aufgebaut haben.
Feuerprobe des Schicksals (Wandel des Herzens)
by Mary CalmesIn der geheimen Stadt Sobek nimmt Domin Thorne seine Arbeit auf als neu erwählter Semel-aten, als Anführer der Welt der Werpanther. Er plant große Veränderungen - er hat sich selbst und den Freunden, die er mitgebracht hat, hohe Ziele gesetzt, um seine Herrschaft nach der seines Freundes Logan Church zu gestalten. Doch Domins Ziele sind vielleicht zu hoch gesetzt, denn die Art, wie er seine Regentschaft führt, scheint nicht zu funktionieren. Während er sich mit einem heimwehkranken Crane, einem launischen Mikhail, einem peitschenschwingenden Taj, Dienern mit Mordgedanken, einem Ex sowie einem Gefährten auf einer gefährlichen Mission herumschlägt, steht er mit der Frage, wie er mit seiner neuen Rolle umgehen soll, alleine da. Außerdem muss er herausfinden, wie er eine Verschwörung zerschlagen kann. Und all das, während er sich immer mehr in einen Mann verliebt, der - zum ersten Mal in Domins Leben - diese Gefühle auch erwidert. Ob Domin bereit ist oder nicht, das Schicksal hält eine Lektion für ihn bereit: Die Gefahren von innen sind mindestens genauso bedrohlich wie die von außen.
Fierce, Fabulous, and Fluid: How Trans High School Students Work at Gender Nonconformity (Critical Perspectives on Youth #14)
by LJ SlovinHighlights the work trans youth do to create inclusive spaces in schoolsFierce, Fabulous, and Fluid presents a poignant critique of educational policies aimed at supporting trans and gender-nonconforming youth in schools. Over the years, caring adults have recognized these students as vulnerable and have tried to create inclusive environments to address their unique challenges. However, the book argues that these approaches have inadvertently perpetuated a narrow definition of trans identity, leaving many trans, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming youth feeling excluded and unseen.Based on a year-long ethnographic study conducted in a high school, LJ Slovin closely observes the experiences of gender-nonconforming youth who were often overlooked in the discussions about trans issues. Despite the lack of recognition, these hard-working young individuals persevered, navigating their identities and striving to thrive within the education system.Through their daily efforts, these young people tried to expand notions of gender in their school environment, building more inclusive spaces that embraced all trans identities. By sharing their stories, Slovin emphasizes the need for educators to shift away from a focus on risk and concern, to instead foster a celebration of trans and gender-nonconforming youth. The book urges educators to cultivate a genuine desire to understand and support trans youth, paving the way for a brighter and queerer future within educational settings.
Finally Fitz
by Marisa KanterA bisexual teen girl tries to make her ex jealous by faking an Instagram romance that leads to surprisingly real feelings in this hijinks-filled rom-com perfect for fans of To All the Boys I&’ve Loved Before and She Gets the Girl.Ava &“Fitz&” Fitzgerald has worked hard to create the picture-perfect life she&’s always wanted. She spent her junior year transforming her passion for sustainable fashion and upcycling into a viral online platform, maintaining a 4.0 GPA, and spending every free second with her soon-to-graduate girlfriend, Danica. And this summer she plans to take it all to the next level by attending a prestigious summer fashion program in New York City and convincing Dani that they can survive a year of long distance. But when Dani dumps her before classes even start, accusing Fitz of being more invested in growing her online persona than deepening their relationship, she&’s left not only heartbroken, but also creatively blocked. Fitz will do anything to win Dani back, even if that means taking a break from the platform that she&’s worked so hard to build. But just as she decides to go all-in on a hiatus, a chance encounter reunites her with Levi Berkowitz, her childhood best friend that she hasn&’t seen since elementary school. Levi is struggling with heartbreak of his own, and this cosmic coincidence sparks a new use for her social media savvy. Fitz offers to help Levi craft a fake relationship online to make his person jealous…if in return he can pretend to be her boyfriend in front of Dani to make her jealous. If all goes according to plan, by the end of the summer they&’ll both be reunited with their perfect partners and get to rekindle their friendship in the process. Sometimes even the most carefully designed plans can come apart at the seams, though. And when real history leads to not-so-fake feelings, Fitz will have to decide if she&’s finally willing to let go of what she thought was picture-perfect and choose what might actually be right for her.
The First Breath of Spring
by Shawn BaileyGrocery owner Griffin Reed is a little hesitant about renting the apartment next to his to a nineteen-year-old young man with a two-year-old son. But from the moment he sees this blue-eyed, blond-haired angel standing outside his screened-door, Griffin feels maybe he should put his doubt aside and give Charles Martin and his equally angelic son Charlie a chance at a stable home.Charles Martin never knew his parents and grew up in foster care. So when he accidently gets a young woman pregnant, Charles makes a promise to himself to not let his son share his fate of getting passed from one foster family to another because Charlie’s mother thinks they’re too young to be parents. With the help of a social service worker, his best friend’s family, and a kindly landlord, Charles gets the chance to prove he is a responsible human-being.A few months after Charles settles into his new apartment, a devastating epidemic hits the world, forcing Charles and Charlie to hunker down with his landlord, a man he barely knows who has gone out of his way to prove love can conquer all.
Flashes
by K. L. NooneFrom holiday decorating at a historic castle to werewolf FBI agents, from nightmares aboard a starship to a book-thief encountering a king’s brother in a fantastical library, from hurt and comfort and cinnamon pancakes to a cozy afternoon full of wedding planning, these collected stories bring together K.L. Noone’s flash and short fiction for the first time!Some familiar characters make an appearance -- Jason and Colby from the Character Bleed trilogy and Wes and Finn from the Seasonal Stories -- and brand-new characters and stories await, including Ember the royal librarian, detective-fiction novelist Patrick, and interior decorator Rory.Find all their happy endings, and more, in the sparkling short stories of Flashes!
Flawless Girls
by Anna-Marie McLemoreThe Soler sisters are infamous in polite society—brazen, rebellious, and raised by their fashionable grandmother who couldn’t care less about which fork goes where. But their grandmother also knows the standards that two Latina young ladies will be held to, so she secures them two coveted places at the Alarie House, a prominent finishing school that turns out first ladies, princesses, and socialites.Younger sister Isla is back home within a day. She refuses to become one of the eerily sweet Alarie girls in their prim white dresses. Older sister Renata stays. When she returns months later, she’s unfailingly pleasant, unnervingly polite, and, Isla discovers, possibly murderous. And the same night she returns home, she vanishes.As their grandmother uses every connection she has to find Renata, Isla re-enrolls, intent on finding out what happened to her sister. But the Alarie House is as exacting as it is opulent. It won’t give up its secrets easily, and neither will a mysterious, conniving girl who’s either controlling the house, or carrying out its deadly orders.Tautly written, tense, and evocative, this is a stunning YA novel by award-winning and critically acclaimed author Anna-Marie McLemore.
Flipping for Her
by Alex WintersThe last place Eden Sampson wants to be right now is home. Not that it ever felt that way, of course, but the time has come to finally sell the old homestead and seek closure from her dysfunctional, borderline abusive childhood. With contracts galore hanging in the balance back at her influencer management group in Nashville, Eden’s impatient to get the house remodeled and on the market, once and for all. That is, until she meets her sexy young house stager.Scout Mackenzie is excited for her new gig, staging one of the last legacy properties she’s had her eyes on ever since starting her business years earlier. But when she comes face to face with Eden, an ice queen of a client, the job takes an unexpected turn in more ways than one.Now both women must decide which comes first: their romantic lives or making a living. For these two High Stakes Heroines, choosing love over their bank accounts will be a costly decision ...
Floating Hotel: a cosy and charming read to escape with
by Grace Curtis'Smart, bold and so much fun . . . I'm officially a member of the Grace Curtis fan club' AMIE KAUFMANThe Grand Budapest Hotel in space, Floating Hotel is a hopeful story of misfits, rebels and found family, perfect for fans of Becky Chambers, Martha Wells and Aliette de Bodard.Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. Year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury - and a magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby intray? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver's conference? And perhaps most pertinently - who is driving the ship?At the centre of these mysteries stands Carl, one time stowaway, longtime manager, devoted caretaker to the hotel. It's the love of his life and the only place he's ever called home. But as forces beyond Carl's comprehension converge on the Abeona, he has to face one final question: when is it time to let go?** AUTHORS LOVE GRACE CURTIS **'A beautiful novel . . . You will turn every page hoping for one hundred more' HANNAH KANER'Curtis oozes charm and humour' TAMSYN MUIR'An absolute marvel' BETH REVIS'A real treat' MAX GLADSTONE'Bittersweet and breathtaking' JULES ARBEAUX'Beautiful and clever, sad and hopeful, subtle and profoundly moving . . . A heartbreak and a hug' CLAIRE NORTH'If you read one sci-fi novel this year, make it this one' KATE DYLAN** READERS LOVE FLOATING HOTEL **'I was completely immersed ' Netgalley, Five Stars'Made me laugh and tear up and restore a little hope in humanity' Netgalley, Five Stars'Grace Curtis is a wonderful writer' Netgalley, Five Stars'Unique and brilliant' Netgalley, Five Stars'Deliriously divine' Netgalley, Five Stars
Floating Hotel: a cosy and charming read to escape with
by Grace Curtis'Smart, bold and so much fun . . . I'm officially a member of the Grace Curtis fan club' AMIE KAUFMANThe Grand Budapest Hotel in space, Floating Hotel is a hopeful story of misfits, rebels and found family, perfect for fans of Becky Chambers, Martha Wells and Aliette de Bodard.Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. Year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury - and a magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby intray? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver's conference? And perhaps most pertinently - who is driving the ship?At the centre of these mysteries stands Carl, one time stowaway, longtime manager, devoted caretaker to the hotel. It's the love of his life and the only place he's ever called home. But as forces beyond Carl's comprehension converge on the Abeona, he has to face one final question: when is it time to let go?** AUTHORS LOVE GRACE CURTIS **'A beautiful novel . . . You will turn every page hoping for one hundred more' HANNAH KANER'Curtis oozes charm and humour' TAMSYN MUIR'An absolute marvel' BETH REVIS'A real treat' MAX GLADSTONE'Bittersweet and breathtaking' JULES ARBEAUX'Beautiful and clever, sad and hopeful, subtle and profoundly moving . . . A heartbreak and a hug' CLAIRE NORTH'If you read one sci-fi novel this year, make it this one' KATE DYLAN** READERS LOVE FLOATING HOTEL **'I was completely immersed ' Netgalley, Five Stars'Made me laugh and tear up and restore a little hope in humanity' Netgalley, Five Stars'Grace Curtis is a wonderful writer' Netgalley, Five Stars'Unique and brilliant' Netgalley, Five Stars'Deliriously divine' Netgalley, Five Stars
Flyboy
by Kasey LeBlancSimon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets The Night Circus in this standout debut YA novel, about a boy who visits a magic-filled circus in his dreams in order to escape reality, where his trans identity remains a secret. An ideal next read for fans of Cemetery Boys.After an incident at his school leaves closeted trans teenager Asher Sullivan needing stitches, his mother betrays him in the worst possible way—she sends him to Catholic school for his senior year. Now he has to contend with hideous plaid skirts, cranky nuns, and #bathroomJesus.Nighttime brings an escape for Asher when he dreams of the Midnight Circus—the one place where he is seen for the boy he truly is. Too bad it exists only in his sleep. At least, that’s what he believes until the day his annoyingly attractive trapeze rival, Apollo, walks out of his dreams and into his classroom. On the heels of this realization that the magical circus might be real, Asher also learns that his time there is limited.In his desperation to hang on to the one place he feels at home, Asher sets both worlds on a collision course that could destroy all the relationships he cares about most. Now he must decide how far he’ll go to preserve the magical circus, even if it means facing his biggest challenge yet—coming out.
The Flying Ship Volume 2
by Jem MiltonQueer adventure, humor, and heartfelt friendships star in this fantastical tale that truly feels like it&’s for everyone.Dobrinia and her crew continue their quest aboard the flying ship, on a fantastic adventure to find the lost Princess Sabrina. But in the vast Tzardom of Glas, where magic has been outlawed, troubled histories can catch up with even a flying ship.The Flying Ship by Jem Milton continues in volume two! Their fan-favorite story, originally released digitally, is part of a collaboration between Dark Horse and Tapas Entertainment.
For Real (Spires #3)
by Alexis HallFrom the acclaimed author of BOYFRIEND MATERIAL and HUSBAND MATERIAL comes a deeply emotional romance about finding love when (and where) you least expect it.Laurence Dalziel is worn down and washed up, and for him, the Scene is all played out. Six years from his last meaningful relationship, he's pushing forty and tired of pretending nothing has changed. Then he meets Toby Finch. Young. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can't remember being.Toby doesn't know who he wants to be or what he wants to do, but he knows that he wants Laurie. The problem is, while Laurie will surrender his body, he won't surrender his heart. Because Toby is too young, too intense, too easy to hurt. And what they have—no matter how right it feels—can't last. It can't mean anything.It can't be real.This dynamic, emotional LGBTQIA+ romance contains never-before-seen content and exclusive bonus material.The World of SPIRES:Glitterland, book 1Waiting for the Flood, book 2For Real, book 3Pansies, book 4
Forbidden Fruit
by Eve MortonKatrina Rose knows there are two things cancer patients can't do: laugh and date. She tries to challenge each one of those assumptions at every last turn. When she finally receives surgery to remove her tumor, she wants to go back to a normal life, but finds herself going to the all-women therapy group for cancer victims and survivors every week. After an aggravating discussion that threatens to shatter Kat's devotion to her group, Carmen walks in and completely changes Katrina’s goals.Carmen Sykes is a tall, beautiful woman, who just lost her girlfriend of cancer. She teaches at the local university and is the curator at the local museum. After she argues with a woman about cancer’s perception in the mainstream media, Kat knows she has found her intellectual -- and physical -- match.The two women immediately start an overwhelming affair that lasts into the final days of autumn. They go shopping for forbidden fruit in the local farmer’s market, talk about myth and art and cancer as they stay in bed all day. But soon, Kat realizes Carmen's hiding something she can't quite recognize or name. When a figure from Carmen’s past turns up, the truth about what she’s really growing in her garden may surprise -- and also relieve -- Kat of all her worries.
Four Squares
by Bobby FingerFrom the beloved author of The Old Place comes a tender, funny, and fresh novel about a gay writer in New York City whose life is irrevocably altered, and then again thirty years later.In 1992, on his thirtieth birthday, Artie Anderson meets the man who will change his life. Artie spends his days at a tedious advertising job, finding relief in the corner of New York City he can call his own, even as the queer community is still being ravaged by HIV. But when his birthday celebration brings Artie and his friends to his favorite bar, a chance encounter with Abe, an uptight lawyer and Artie&’s opposite in almost every way, pushes Artie to want, and to ask for, more for himself.Thirty years later, Artie is stunned when Halle and Vanessa, Abe&’s daughter and ex-wife, announce they are moving across the country. Artie has built a lovely, if small, life, but their departure makes Artie realize that he might be lonelier than he previously thought. When a surprising injury pushes Artie into the hands of GALS, the local center for queer seniors, a rambunctious group of elders insist on taking him under their wing.Alternating between both timelines, Four Squares is an intimate look at what it means to find community at any age. With humor and compassion, it honors the enduring power of queer friendship, its history, and how essential it is to keep those stories alive.
The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China
by Matthew H. SommerIn imperial China, people moved away from the gender they were assigned at birth in different ways and for many reasons. Eunuchs, boy actresses, and clergy left behind normative gender roles defined by family and procreation. “Stone maidens”—women deemed physically incapable of vaginal intercourse—might depart from families or marriages to become Buddhist or Daoist nuns. Anatomical males who presented as women sometimes took a conventionally female occupation such as midwife, faith healer, or even medium to a fox spirit. Yet they were often punished harshly for the crime of “masquerading in women’s attire,” suspected of sexual predation, even when they had lived peacefully in their communities for many years.Exploring these histories and many more, this book is a groundbreaking study of transgender lives and practices in late imperial China. Through close readings of court cases, as well as Ming and Qing fiction and nineteenth-century newspaper accounts, Matthew H. Sommer examines the social, legal, and cultural histories of gender crossing. He considers a range of transgender experiences, illuminating how certain forms of gender transgression were sanctioned in particular social contexts and penalized in others. Sommer scrutinizes the ways Qing legal authorities and literati writers represented and understood gender-nonconforming people and practices, contrasting official ideology with popular mentalities. An unprecedented account of China’s transgender histories, this book also sheds new light on a range of themes in Ming and Qing law, religion, medicine, literature, and culture.
Fractal Repair: Queer Histories of Modern Jamaica (Perverse Modernities: A Series Edited by Jack Halberstam and Lisa Lowe)
by Matthew ChinIn Fractal Repair, Matthew Chin investigates queerness in Jamaica from early colonial occupation to the present, critically responding to the island’s global reputation for extreme homophobia and anti-queer violence. Chin advances a theory and method of queer fractals to bring together genealogies of queer and Caribbean formation. Fractals—a kind of geometry in which patterns repeat but never exactly in the same way—make visible shifting accounts of Caribbean queerness in terms of race, gender, and sexual alterity. Drawing on this fractal orientation, Chin assembles and analyzes multigenre archives, ranging from mid-twentieth-century social science studies of the Caribbean to Jamaica’s National Dance Theatre Company to HIV/AIDS organizations, to write reparative histories of queerness. Chin’s proposal of a fractal politics of repair invests in the horizon of difference that repetition materializes, and it extends reparations discourses intent on overcoming the past and calculating economic compensation for survivors of violence.
The Friendship Study
by Ruby Barrett"Barrett writes with tremendous care for anyone who has ever felt lonely." —Rosie Danan, author of The RoommateJesse Logan doesn&’t want a fresh start. He wants his old life back—before an injury made his career as a firefighter impossible, before his grandfather&’s Alzheimer&’s got so bad he doesn&’t recognize Jesse anymore. When a friend tells him about a paid psychological study, Jesse sees it as a chance to get back to the man he was while making a little extra cash.All Lulu Banks is asking for is a fresh start. Back home after a devastating breakup, she&’s struggling to find her place. She&’s always been a lot—too loud, too eager, too obvious about her feelings. The friendship study seems like a great idea…until she&’s paired with Jesse Logan, who recently ghosted her after a blind date that led to a steamy make-out session.Now that old familiar tension is back. Despite the program&’s strict &“no romance&” rule, Jesse and Lulu are quick to find a work-around that allows them to explore their tenuous connection. And soon they&’re on their way to total self-improvement…As long as they don&’t get caught.
The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County: A Novel
by Claire SwinarskiArmed with a Crock-Pot and a pile of recipes, a grandmother, her granddaughter, and a mysterious young man work to bring a community together in this uplifting novel for readers of The Chicken Sisters.Esther Larson has been cooking for funerals in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for seventy years. Known locally as the “funeral ladies,” she and her cohort have worked hard to keep the mourners of Ellerie County fed—it is her firm belief that there is very little a warm casserole and a piece of cherry pie can’t fix. But, after falling for an internet scam that puts her home at risk, the proud Larson family matriarch is the one in need of help these days.Iris, Esther’s whip-smart Gen Z granddaughter, would do anything for her family and her community. As she watches her friends and family move out of their lakeside town onto bigger and better things, Iris wonders why she feels so left behind in the place she is desperate to make her home. But when Cooper Welsh shows up, she finally starts to feel like she’s found the missing piece of her puzzle. Cooper is dealing with becoming a legal guardian to his younger half-sister after his beloved stepmother dies. While their celebrity-chef father is focused on his booming career and top-ranked television show, Cooper is still hurting from a public tragedy he witnessed last year as a paramedic and finding it hard to cope. With Iris in the gorgeous Ellerie County, though, he hopes he might finally find the home he’s been looking for.It doesn’t seem like a community cookbook could possibly solve their problems, especially one where casseroles have their own section and cream of chicken soup mix is the most frequently used ingredient. But when you mix the can-do spirit of Midwestern grandmothers with the stubborn hope of a boy raised by food plus a dash of long-awaited forgiveness—things might just turn out okay.Includes Recipes
Funny Boy: The Richard Hunt Biography
by Jessica Max Stein"The most sensational, perpetual teenager in the world.” —Jim Henson "To know him was to love him, and we do." —Mark Hamill Funny Boy: The Richard Hunt Biography tells the life story of a gifted performer whose gleeful irreverence, sharp wit and generous spirit inspired millions. Richard Hunt was one of the original main five performers in the Muppet troupe. He brought to life an impressive range of characters on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and various Muppet movies, everyone from eager gofer Scooter to elderly heckler Statler, groovy girl Janice to freaked-out lab helper Beaker, even early versions of Miss Piggy and Elmo. Hunt also acted, directed and mentored the next generation of performers. His accomplishments are all the more remarkable in that he crammed them all into only 40 years. Richard Hunt was just 18 years old when he joined Jim Henson’s company, where his edgy humor quickly helped launch the Muppets into international stardom. Hunt lived large, savoring life’s delights, amassing a vivid, disparate community of friends. Even when the AIDS epidemic wrought its devastation, claiming the love of Hunt’s life and threatening his own life, he showed an extraordinary sense of resilience, openness and joy. Hunt’s story exemplifies how to follow your passion, foster your talents, adapt to life’s surprises, genuinely connect with everyone from glitzy celebrities to gruff cab drivers – and have a hell of a lot of fun along the way.
Fur Real
by Alex WintersGray Hunter is working behind the bar at his first Cyber Con, hosting a horde of aliens, astronauts, and, a giant, furry squirrel from his favorite sci-fi series, Cyborg Clones. When the giant squirrel is surprised the big, burly bartender recognizes him, sparks fly, drinks flow, and the fake fur on the cosplay costume isn’t the only thing feeling warm and fuzzy all of a sudden.Troy Cavendish runs a successful trading card company, but Cyber Con is his one weekend every year to dress up like his favorite cybernetically-enhanced space squirrel and, hopefully, strike up a conversation with some random stranger. He’s never had any luck until this year, when he meets Gray, the sexy bartender with an almost encyclopedic knowledge of Cyborg Clones.Will the unlikely pair make it out of their squirrel suits and into bed? Or will nerding out have to be enough for the sexy strangers?
The Future Was Color: A Novel
by Patrick NathanA dazzling novel about the inextricable link between the personal and the political set against the decadence of Hollywood and postwar Los AngelesAs a Hungarian immigrant working as a studio hack writing monster movies in 1950s Hollywood, George Curtis must navigate the McCarthy-era studio system filled with possible communists and spies, the life of closeted men along Sunset Boulevard, and the inability of the era to cleave love from persecution and guilt. But when Madeline, a famous actress, offers George a writing residency at her estate in Malibu to work on the political writing he cares most deeply about, his world is blown open. Soon Madeline is carrying George like an ornament into a class of postwar L.A. society ordinarily hidden from men like him.What this lifestyle hides behind, aside from the monsters on the screen, are the monsters dwelling closer to home: this bacchanalia covers a gnawing hole shelled wide by the horror of the war they thought they&’d left behind and the glimpse of an atomic future. It&’s here that George understands he can never escape his past as György, the queer Jew who fled Budapest before the war and landed in New York, all alone, a decade prior.Spanning from sun-drenched Los Angeles to the hidden corners of working-class New York to a virtuosic climax in the Las Vegas desert, The Future Was Color is an immaculately written exploration of postwar American decadence, reinventing the self through art, and the psychosis that lingers in a world that&’s seen the bomb.