Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Virginia

Dearest

Katherine Center

A Novel

"My perfect ten of a book!" -- Emily Henry, New York Times bestselling author of BEACH READ and BOOK LOVERS


She's got his back.
Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she's an Executive Protection Agent (aka "bodyguard"), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.

He's got her heart.
Jack Stapleton's a household name--captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.

They've got a secret.
When Jack's mom gets sick, he comes home to the family's Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn't want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah--against her will and her better judgment--finds herself pretending to be Jack's girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.

What could possibly go wrong???
Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it's easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That's the hardest thing she's ever done.

More Praise for The Bodyguard:
"Great rollicking fun! Prepare to laugh and swoon and grin your pants off."--Helen Hoang, New York Times bestselling author of The Heart Principle

"Utterly charming... Center's latest might be her most winning yet. It's not only a must-read for her fans, but
it will likely garner her new devotees as well." --Booklist (starred review)

"My perfect 10 of a book. As funny and sweet as all the very best nineties rom-coms, but with Center's signature heart-tugging depth. I wish I could erase it from my mind just to read it again for the first time. A shot of pure joy."--Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers

"The Bodyguard is absolutely, unequivocally delightful!"--Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were Here

The Bodyguard

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Rose Carlyle

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

"Originally published in Australia in 2020 by Allen & Unwin."--Title page verso.

The Girl in the Mirror

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Katherine Faulkner

The author of the “twisty, fast-paced” (The Sunday Times, London) Greenwich Park returns with a fresh and deftly paced thriller about murder, class, and motherhood in one of London’s toniest communities. When a young nanny dies under mysterious circumstances near new mom Tash’s home, she is certain that this could be the story to relaunch her journalism career. Meanwhile, she also needs to find a local playgroup for her son. Nearby is the gorgeous neighborhood filled with wealthy and friendly families, stunning houses, and lavish playdates. But when another young woman is found dead, it’s clear there’s much more to the community than meets the eye and the more Tash investigates, the more she’s led uncomfortably close to the mothers in her son’s playgroup. Are these women really her friends? Or is there another, more dangerous reason why she has been accepted into their exclusive world? Who, exactly, is investigating who?

The Other Mothers

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Sierra Greer

For fans of Never Let Me Go and My Dark Vanessa, a powerful, provocative novel about the relationship between a female robot and her human owner, exploring questions of intimacy, power, autonomy, and control. Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the pert outfits he orders for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. True, she's not the greatest at keeping Doug's place spotless, but she's trying to please him. She's trying hard. She's learning, too. Doug says he loves that Annie's AI makes her seem more like a real woman, so Annie explores human traits such as curiosity, secrecy, and longing. But becoming more human also means becoming less perfect, and as Annie's relationship with Doug grows more intricate and difficult, she starts to wonder: Does Doug really desire what he says he wants? And in such an impossible paradox, what does Annie owe herself?

Annie Bot

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Ashley Elston

Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist. "Buckle up. First Lie Wins features some of the best cat and mouse suspense I've read in years, while serving up plenty of heart along this wild ride."—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One Step Too Far “First Lie Wins is a high-stakes thriller…Smart and sharp, fast-paced and twisty...a truly unpredictable, unforgettable story!”—Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of The Last to Vanish The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job. Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job will be different. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes--especially after what happened last time. Because the one thing she’s worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to—her real identity—just walked right into this town. Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn't be higher--but then, Evie has always liked a challenge...

First Lie Wins

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Kaliane Bradley

A time travel romance, a speculative spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingeniously constructed exploration of the nature of truth and power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley. In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time. She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machine,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But he adjusts quickly; he is, after all, an explorer by trade. Soon, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a seriously uncomfortable housemate dynamic, evolves into something much more. Over the course of an unprecedented year, Gore and the bridge fall haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences they never could have imagined. Supported by a chaotic and charming cast of characters—including a 17th-century cinephile who can’t get enough of Tinder, a painfully shy World War I captain, and a former spy with an ever-changing series of cosmetic surgery alterations and a belligerent attitude to HR—the bridge will be forced to confront the past that shaped her choices, and the choices that will shape the future. An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks the universal question: What happens if you put a disaffected millennial and a Victorian polar explorer in a house together?

The Ministry of Time

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A talent for murder 

Carmella Lowkis

A deliciously haunting debut for fans of Sarah Waters and Sarah Penner set in 19th-century Paris, blending gothic mystery with a captivating sapphic romance as two estranged sisters—celebrated (and fraudulent) spirit mediums—come back together for one last con. Paris, 1866. When Baroness Sylvie Devereux receives a house call from Charlotte Mothe, the sister she disowned, she fears her shady past as a spirit medium has caught up with her. But with their father ill and Charlotte unable to pay his bills, Sylvie is persuaded into one last con. Their marks are the de Jacquinots: dysfunctional aristocrats who believe they are haunted by their great aunt, brutally murdered during the French Revolution. The scheme underway, the sisters deploy every trick to terrify the family out of their gold. But when inexplicable horrors start to happen to them too, the duo question whether they really are at the mercy of a vengeful spirit. And what other deep, dark secrets may come to light?

Spitting Gold

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Kacen Callender

Logan Gray is the stereotypical bad boy of Hollywood--a talented but troubled actor who the public love to hate for his self-destructive behavior and overall bad reputation. Mattie Cole is an up-and-coming golden boy, adored by all. Handsome and wholesome, he secretly deals with issues of ingrained shame about his sexuality despite being out and playing a gay character in his breakout role. When Mattie is cast as the love interest in Logan's newest film, Logan calls him "untalented" in the press, and buzz for their romantic movie takes a nosedive. To restore positive publicity for the film, they're forced to act in their own private script--a fake-dating scheme to save Logan's job and the movie. As the two actors get to know their new characters, real feelings start to develop. And while both need the movie to be a success for their own reasons, neither thought opposites would actually attract. But the publicity machine and old wounds may stand in the way of their own happily-ever-after.

Stars in Your Eyes

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Elliott James

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Sharp, sarcastic, and efficiently lethal, John Charming is set to join the ranks of your favorite fast-talking anti-heroes like Dean Winchester and Harry Dresden in the first book of this page-turning urban fantasy series.

John Charming isn't your average Prince. . .

He comes from a line of Charmings -- an illustrious family of dragon slayers, witch-finders and killers dating back to before the fall of Rome. Trained by a modern day version of the Knights Templar, monster hunters who have updated their methods from chain mail and crossbows to Kevlar and shotguns, John Charming was one of the best -- until a curse made him one of the abominations the Knights were sworn to hunt.

That was a lifetime ago. Now, John tends bar under an assumed name in rural Virginia and leads a peaceful, quiet life. That is, until a vampire and a blonde walked into his bar. . .

Charming is the first novel in a new urban fantasy series which gives a new twist to the Prince Charming tale.

Charming

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See pics for marker on the spine and back cover. Inside in excellent condition 

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Becoming Marie Antoinette 

Dan Poblocki

The Stone Child

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A Reunion of Ghosts 

Colleen Hoover

It Ends With Us 

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Tara Clancy

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

A Memoir

A witty memoir that weaves an authentic coming-of-age tale into a bold portrait of New York's working-class women.

Fifth-generation New Yorker, third-generation bartender, and first-generation author Tara Clancy was raised in three wildly divergent homes: a converted boat shed in working class Queens, a geriatric commune of feisty, Brooklyn-born Italians, and a sprawling Hamptons estate she visited every other weekend. This childhood triptych comes to life in The Clancys of Queens, an electric, one-of-a-kind memoir.   
 
From scheming and gambling with her force-of-nature grandmother, to brawling with eleven-year-old girls on the concrete recess battle yard of MS 172, to hours lounging on Adirondack chairs beside an immaculate croquet lawn, to holding court beside Joey O'Dirt, Goiter Eddy, and Roger the Dodger at her Dad's local bar, Tara leapfrogs across these varied spheres, delivering stories from each world with originality, grit, and outrageous humor.
 
But The Clancys of Queens is not merely an authentic coming-of-age tale or a rowdy barstool biography. Chock-full of characters who escape the popular imaginings of this city, it offers a bold portrait of real people, people whose stories are largely absent from our shelves. Most crucially, it captures--in inimitable prose--the rarely-heard voices of New York's working-class women.
 
With a light touch but a hard hit, The Clancys of Queens blends savvy and wit to take us on an unforgettable strata-hopping adventure.

The Clancys of Queens

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Sasha Stephenson

With their scientist parents away on a research expedition, seventeen-year-old Lorna is left in charge of her younger sister Callie, an Arctic Recovery Orphan, or "iceling," who one night builds a model of an island and makes it clear that she needs to go there, and so Lorna and Callie, along with another set of iceling siblings, travel north toward the mysterious island and the truth about the icelings' origins.

Iceling

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Leila Rasheed

This includes a paperback of the first novel (Cinders and Sapphires) and a hardback of the second novel (Diamonds and Deceit). Both in excellent condition 

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

One house, two worlds... Rose Cliffe has never met a young lady like her new mistress. Clever, rich, and beautiful, Ada Averley treats Rose as an equal. And Rose could use a friend. Especially now that she, at barely sixteen, has risen to the position of ladies' maid. Rose knows she should be grateful to have a place at a house like Somerton. Still, she can't help but wonder what her life might have been had she been born a lady, like Ada. For the first time in a decade, the Averleys have returned to Somerton, their majestic ancestral estate. But terrible scandal has followed Ada's beloved father all the way from India. Now Ada finds herself torn between her own happiness and her family's honor. Only she has the power to restore the Averley name-but it would mean giving up her one true love . . . someone she could never persuade her father to accept. Sumptuous and enticing, the first novel in the At Somerton series introduces two worlds, utterly different yet entangled, where ruthless ambition, forbidden attraction, and unspoken dreams are hidden behind dutiful smiles and glittering jewels. All those secrets are waiting . . . at Somerton.

BUNDLE Cinders and Sapphires & Diamonds and Deceit (at Somerton)

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Marge Piercy

A Novel of Gilded Age New York

Post-Civil War New York City is the battleground of the American dream. In this era of free love, emerging rights of women, and brutal sexual repression, Freydeh, a spirited young Jewish immigrant, toils at different jobs to earn passage to America for her family. Learning that her younger sister is adrift somewhere in the city, she begins a determined search that carries her from tenement to brothel to prison--as her story interweaves with those of some of the epoch's most notorious figures: Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Susan B. Anthony; sexual freedom activist Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president; and Anthony Comstock, founder of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, whose censorship laws are still on the books.

In the tradition of her bestselling World War II epic Gone to Soldiers, Marge Piercy once again re-creates a turbulent period in American history and explores changing attitudes in a land of sacrifice, suffering, promise, and reward.

Sex Wars

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T. J. Brown

1913: In a sprawling manor on the outskirts of London, three young women seek to fulfill their destinies and desires amidst the unspoken rules of society in this stunning series starter that fans of Downton Abbey will love. Rowena Buxton Sir Philip Buxton raised three girls into beautiful and capable young women in a bohemian household that defied Edwardian tradition. Eldest sister Rowena was taught to value people, not wealth or status. But everything she believes will be tested when Sir Philip dies, and the girls must live under their uncle’s guardianship at the vast family estate, Summerset Abbey. Standing up for a beloved family member sequestered to the “underclass” in this privileged new world, and drawn into the Cunning Coterie, an exclusive social circle of aristocratic “rebels,” Rowena must decide where her true passions—and loyalties—lie. Victoria Buxton Frail in body but filled with an audacious spirit, Victoria secretly dreams of attending university to become a botanist like her father. But this most unladylike wish is not her only secret—Victoria has stumbled upon a family scandal that, if revealed, has the potential to change lives forever... Prudence Tate Prudence was lovingly brought up alongside Victoria and Rowena, and their bond is as strong as blood. But by birth she is a governess’s daughter, and to the lord of Summerset Abbey, that makes her a commoner who must take her true place in society—as lady’s maid to her beloved “sisters.” But Pru doesn’t belong in the downstairs world of the household staff any more than she belongs upstairs with the Buxton girls. And when a young lord catches her eye, she begins to wonder if she’ll ever truly carve out a place for herself at Summerset Abbey.

Summerset Abbey

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Chris Cleave

Presents a tale of a precarious friendship between an illegal Nigerian refugee and a recent widow from suburban London, a story told from the alternating and disparate perspectives of both women.

Little Bee

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Autumn Cornwell

"I've got my entire life planned out for the next ten years -- including my PhD and Pulitzer Prize," claims 16-year-old overachiever Vassar Spore, daughter of overachiever parents, who in true overachiever fashion named her after an elite women's college. Vassar expects her sophomore summer to include AP and AAP (Advanced Advanced Placement) classes. Surprise! Enter a world-traveling relative who sends her plans into a tailspin when she blackmails Vassar's parents into forcing their only child to backpack with her through Southeast Asia.

On a journey from Malaysia to Cambodia to the remote jungles of Laos, Vassar sweats, falls in love, hones her outdoor survival skills -- and uncovers a family secret that turns her whole world upside-down.


Vassar Spore can plan on one thing: she'll never be the same again.

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Jacquie Walters