HE WAS TALL, DARK…AND TEMPTING Mysterious Mikel arrived out of nowhere. Rescued Rachel’s elderly relative. Then stayed on at her remote Michigan farm to see her through the crisis. Yet with her haunted past, Rachel couldn’t risk trusting anyone, least of all this elusive loner. For, despite Mikel’s studied nonchalance, he certainly seemed a man on a mission…. Mikel’s probing questions, his penetrating gaze, warned Rachel to be wary. Still, his heart-stopping kindnesses, his breathtaking sensuality and his own hidden scars from some past betrayal called out to her soul. Though Mikel might expose her every secret, then soon be gone, Rachel ached to be honest with him…and she ached to be his.
The first collection in English of an endlessly surprising, master storyteller Like those of Kafka, Poe, Leonora Carrington, or Shirley Jackson, Amparo Dávila’s stories are terrifying, mesmerizing, and expertly crafted—you’ll finish each one gasping for air. With acute psychological insight, Dávila follows her characters to the limits of desire, paranoia, insomnia, and fear. She is a writer obsessed with obsession, who makes nightmares come to life through the everyday: loneliness sinks in easily like a razor-sharp knife, some sort of evil lurks in every shadow, delusion takes the form of strange and very real creatures. After reading The Houseguest—Dávila’s debut collection in English—you’ll wonder how this secret was kept for so long.
**A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller** A year after a summer guest dies under suspicious circumstances, her best friend lives under a cloud of grief and suspicion in this “fast-paced and gripping” (People) thriller filled with “dizzying plot twists and multiple surprise endings” (The New York Times Book Review). Littleport, Maine, has always felt like two separate towns: an ideal vacation enclave for the wealthy, whose summer homes line the coastline; and a simple harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the visitors. Typically, fierce friendships never develop between a local and a summer girl—but that’s just what happens with visitor Sadie Loman and Littleport resident Avery Greer. Each summer for almost a decade, the girls are inseparable—until Sadie is found dead. While the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can’t help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie’s brother, Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they’re saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name, before the facts get twisted against her. “A riveting read…from master of suspense, Megan Miranda,” (Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl) The Last House Guest is a clever, twisty mystery that brilliantly explores the elusive nature of memory and the complexities of female friendships.
Chuck Burgoyne is no ordinary houseguest. The Graveses (father Doug; wife Audrey; son Bobby; and daughter-in-law Lydia) have gotten used to his polite manners and gourmet breakfasts. But one morning at the Graveses' summer home, Chuck fails to appear. When Chuck finally does surface, he is no longer sweet and charming, but rather has become aggressive and arrogant, abusing each family member in turn. Each family member that is, except the fellow outsider, Lydia. Once Chuck rescues her from the dangerous undertow of the ocean, Lydia can't help but feel obligated to him, even after his uninvited advances to her while she's half asleep. Slowly it becomes apparent to the family that Chuck isn't anyone's guest but rather a perfect stranger who wormed his way into their home. Yet the Graveses are so concerned with not offending him by being impolite that they willingly accept the abuse he freely dishes out. In private, however, they all scheme for his undoing. But will anyone muster up the courage? An eerie and clever novel, "The Houseguest" introduces one of Berger's most dangerous and compelling villains.
An "evocative" historical novel set on the eve of America's involvement in World War II that follows a Russian immigrant family who agree to take in a dazzling Jewish actress to save her from the atrocities raging through Europe (The New York Times). It is the summer of 1941 and Abe Auer, a Russian immigrant and small–town junkyard owner, has become disenchanted with his life. So when his friend Max Hoffman, a local rabbi with a dark past, asks Abe to take in a European refugee, he agrees, unaware that the woman coming to live with him is a volatile and alluring actress named Ana Beidler. Ana regales the Auer family with tales of her lost stardom and charms and mystifies Abe with her glamour and unabashed sexuality, forcing him to confront his own desire as well as the ghost of his dead brother. As news filters out of Europe, American Jews struggle to make sense of the atrocities. Some want to bury their heads in the sand while others want to create a Jewish army that would fight Hitler and promote bold, wide–spread rescue initiatives. And when a popular Manhattan synagogue is burned to the ground, our characters begin to feel the drumbeat of war is marching ever closer to home. Set on the eve of America's involvement in World War II, The Houseguest examines a little–known aspect of the war and highlights the network of organizations seeking to help Jews abroad, just as masses of people seeking to escape Europe are turned away from American shores. It moves seamlessly from the Yiddish theaters of Second Avenue to the junkyards of Utica to the covert world of political activists, Jewish immigrants, and the stars and discontents of New York's Yiddish stage. Ultimately, The Houseguest is a moving story about identity, family, and the decisions that define who we will become.
Abandoned shortly after her wedding, the Countess of Rathbourne has been searching for her husband for 2 years with little success. A social outcast with few loyal friends left, Abigail begins to despair of ever seeing her husband again until a chance encounter rekindles her hopes. But as the mystery of her husbands disappearance unravels, who can she trust? The gentleman who swiftly befriends her or the darkly mysterious brother of her best friend? And when lives are in danger, will her heart prove to be the worst traitor of all? Spies, lies and intrigue set against the backdrop of Regency England.
WHY AM I WEARING THIS GOWN? When widowed Reed Morgan discovered a bedraggled amnesiac bride, all his kids asked was 'Can we keep her?' So Reed took the very gorgeous woman home for the holidays. After all, he needed a nanny, and she needed a place to stay. Before he knew it, 'Kate' had transformed his mischievous kids into angels and warmed his hardened heart. So how could he let her go when she regained her memory?
Classmates Belle Marie, Tess Brown and Julien Edgehawk discover that having tea on Wednesday afternoons – barefoot and in pajamas – is the secret gateway into Belzerac, a strange new world of talking animals and a glittering sapphire forest. But while Belzerac is easy to access, it’s a little trickier to return from, and they might be stranded if they never find Belzerac's secret exit. Meanwhile, musician Orpheus is grief-stricken when his bride Eurydice dies on their wedding night. He departs the living realm and descends into the Underworld in search of her. Heading straight for the royal court of Hades and Persephone, Orpheus hopes to petition the King and Queen for Eurydice’s release. To his dismay, however, it seems the royal couple may not be the ones holding the keys to his wife’s freedom. In this sequel to the fantasy adventure novel, Tea in Pajamas, Belle and her friends – as well as Orpheus and Eurydice – all want the same thing: to be authors of their own fate. But they’ll have to learn that salvation isn't about a destination and has to come from within.
