NCW Libraries

Starting over in a small town after the tragic loss of her child, florist Ginger Dysart begins working on a big family wedding before forging a friendship that evolves into something more.

"Annika Rose is an English major at the University of Illinois. Anxious in social situations where she finds most people's behavior confusing, she'd rather be surrounded by the order and discipline of books or the quiet solitude of playing chess. Jonathan Hoffman joined the chess club and lost his first game--and his heart--to the shy and awkward, yet brilliant and beautiful Annika. He admires her ability to be true to herself, quirks and all, and...

"Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano...

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Frank Bascombe travels to the site of his former home on the shore, visits his ex-wife, who is suffering with Parkinson's, and meets a dying former friend.

Jake Martin, not your ordinary sleuth, is a divorced, outsourced software engineer, handyman and writer, living in the foothills of Denver with his dog, Fred, a golden retriever. A propane grill explodes at a neighbor's barbeque, injuring a man who later dies. About to be accused of manslaughter, Jake has to prove the accident was really murder. Along the way, he encounters a poaching ring, blackmail and a meth lab, and falls in love with a beautiful...

"Charlie Garner has a bad feeling. His ex-wife, Meg, has been missing for over a week and one quick peek into her home shows all her possessions packed up in boxes. Neighbors claim she's running from bill collectors, but Charlie suspects something more sinister is afoot. Meg was last seen working at the local donut shop, a business run by a shadow group most refer to as 'The Saucer People'; a space-age, evangelist cult...Along with his brother Felix...Charlie...

The Reinvention of Albert Paugh is a sweet, funny love story about retirees that will delight readers (and dog lovers) of any age. Dr. Albert Paugh is flunking retirement. After selling his Vashon Island veterinary practice, he soon finds himself not only lost without his work, but suddenly single. His efforts to carve out a new life, both as a bachelor and a retiree, only leave him feeling like his "golden years" are fast becoming "years of gloom."...

There are no wars to fight. But Gunnery Sgt. Tom Highway, a dog-faced relic of past wars, still has a lot of fight in him. He is a Marine Corps lifer who started his last tour of duty before retirement, and sees the bumpy road his life has taken become more complicated, due to feisty recruits, by-the-book officers, and a salty ex-wife to whom he's still attracted.

Richard Russo's novel follows the unexpected operation of grace in a deadbeat town in upstate New York -- and in the life of one of its unluckiest citizens, Sully, who has been doing the wrong thing triumphantly for fifty years. Divorced from his own wife and carrying on halfheartedly with another man's, saddled with a bum knee and friends who make enemies redundant, Sully now has one new problem to cope with: a long-estranged son who is in imminent...

"Toby Fleishman creyó saber qué podía esperar cuando él y su mujer, con quien ha estado casado durante casi quince años, se separan: fines de semana y vacaciones alternadas con los niños, alguna amargura residual, algún momento de tensión esporádico para negociar la crianza compartida de sus hijos. Pero no podía predecir que un día, en el medio de su emancipación sexual recién adquirida, Rachel dejaría a sus dos hijos en su casa y no...