Susan Meissner

Some wear and tear and bending to the cover and spine along with some pages.  Nothing you need to read is affected by the bent areas.

One of my favorite reads!

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Pennsylvania

From the acclaimed author of A Bridge Across the Ocean and The Last Year of the War comes a new novel set in Philadelphia during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which tells the story of a family reborn through loss and love. In 1918, Philadelphia was a city teeming with promise. Even as its young men went off to fight in the Great War, there were opportunities for a fresh start on its cobblestone streets. Into this bustling town, came Pauline Bright and her husband, filled with hope that they could now give their three daughters--Evelyn, Maggie, and Willa--a chance at a better life. But just months after they arrive, the Spanish Flu reaches the shores of America. As the pandemic claims more than twelve thousand victims in their adopted city, they find their lives left with a world that looks nothing like the one they knew. But even as they lose loved ones, they take in a baby orphaned by the disease who becomes their single source of hope. Amidst the tragedy and challenges, they learn what they cannot live without--and what they are willing to do about it. As Bright as Heaven is the compelling story of a mother and her daughters who find themselves in a harsh world not of their making, which will either crush their resolve to survive or purify it.

As Bright As Heaven

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Alexi Pappas

Maya Rudolph

I ended up listening to thw audiobook during my work commute so I didn't open this book.  I did let someone else read it.  Inside back cover looks like it is peeling and it was loke that when I got it.  Somerimes returning is not worth the hassle.

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas

The Olympic runner, actress, filmmaker and writer Alexi Pappas shares what she’s learned about confidence, self-reliance, mental health, embracing pain, and achieving your dreams. “Heartbreaking and hilarious.”—Mindy Kaling • “A beautiful read.”—Ruth Reichl • “Essential guidance to anyone dreaming big dreams.”—Shalane Flanagan • “I couldn’t put it down.”—Adam Grant run like a bravey sleep like a baby dream like a crazy replace can’t with maybe When “Renaissance runner” (New York Times) Alexi Pappas—Olympic athlete, actress, filmmaker, and writer—was four years old, her mother died by suicide, drastically altering the course of Pappas’s life and setting her on a search for female role models. When her father signed his bereaved daughter up for sports teams as a way to keep her busy, female athletes became the first women Pappas looked up to, and her Olympic dream was born. At the same time, Pappas had big creative dreams, too: She wanted to make movies, write, and act. Despite setbacks and hardships, Pappas refused to pick just one lane. She put in a tremendous amount of hard work and wouldn’t let anything stand in her way until she achieved all of her dreams, however unrelated they may seem to outsiders. In a single year, 2016, she made her Olympic debut as a distance runner and wrote, directed, and starred in her first feature film. But great highs are often accompanied by deep lows; with joy comes sorrow. In Bravey, Pappas fearlessly and honestly shares her battle with post-Olympic depression and describes how she emerged on the other side as a thriving and self-actualized woman. Unflinching, exuberant, and always entertaining, Bravey showcases Pappas’s signature, charming voice as she reflects upon the touchstone moments in her life and the lessons that have powered her career as both an athlete and an artist—foremost among them, how to be brave. Pappas’s experiences reveal how we can all overcome hardship, befriend pain, celebrate victory, relish the loyalty found in teammates, and claim joy. In short: how every one of us can become a bravey.

Bravey

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#hardcover #youngadult #fiction #cult
Remainder dot on bottom- see pic

With a harrowing poetic voice, this contemporary page-turner is perfect for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, Julie Berry's All The Truth That's in Me, and the works of Ellen Hopkins. The Kevinian cult has taken everything from seventeen-year-old Minnow: twelve years of her life, her family, her ability to trust. And when she rebelled, they took away her hands, too. Now their Prophet has been murdered and their camp set aflame, and it's clear that Minnow knows something?but she's not talking. As she languishes in juvenile detention, she struggles to un-learn everything she has been taught to believe, adjusting to a life behind bars and recounting the events that led up to her incarceration. But when an FBI detective approaches her about making a deal, Minnow sees she can have the freedom she always dreamed of?if she's willing to part with the terrible secrets of her past. The Sacred Lies of Minnow By is a hard-hitting and hopeful story about the dangers of blind faith?and the power of having faith in oneself.

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

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#hardcover #youngadult #fiction #rainbowrowell #Carryon

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Rainbow Rowell continues to break boundaries with Carry On, an epic fantasy following the triumphs and heartaches of Simon and Baz from her beloved bestseller Fangirl.

Carry On

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A Novel

For readers of Lisa Jewell, Diane Chamberlain, and Jodi Picoult comes another gripping novel from internationally bestselling author Susan Lewis, about an eccentric old woman, the ghost-writer helping write her memoirs, and the destructive secrets binding them together. Ghost-writer Joely Foster has been asked to write the memoir of an eccentric old lady with a troubling past. Relieved to have a break from her own marital difficulties, Joely escapes to the woman's isolated house, where she gets to work writing about a pivotal event in Freda Donahoe's life. On its surface, the story is of a fifteen-year-old girl being groomed at school by her teacher. But Freda is determined to set the record straight by showing that the girl was complicit in the seduction, and had only called the police when she was spurned. But that's just half the story... Joely delves into her work, learning more about the events that happened all those years ago. She is soon surprised to discover that the truth lies much closer to home and is bizarrely connected to her. How can Freda's past be linked to Joely? Could the teacher be someone near to her? As the story of Freda's past unravels, it spins Joely into a dangerous world of secrets and lies she could never have imagined, causing her to question everything she thought she knew about her family. Breathlessly intriguing from the first page to the last, My Lies, Your Lies is an unforgettable novel that intertwines the fascinating past of one mysterious woman to the present of another woman with a harrowing, unexpected twist.

My Lies, Your Lies

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#hardcover #fiction #youngadult 
Remainder mark on the bottom and the barcode is blacked out on the back cover.  See pictures.

The author of the highly acclaimed "The Sky Is Everywhere" presents a story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal told from different points in time, and in separate voices, by artists Jude and her twin brother Noah.

I'll Give You the Sun

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The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes

Weaving together tales of tragedy and folly, of heroism and scientific progress, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin shows how hurricanes have time and again determined the course of American history, from the nameless storms that threatened the New World voyages to our own era of global warming and megastorms. Along the way, Dolin introduces a rich cast of unlikely heroes, and forces us to reckon with the reality that future storms will likely be worse, unless we reimagine our relationship with the planet.

A Furious Sky

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#fiction #hardcover #youngadult #contemporary 
Really good shape hardcover.  Mark on the back cover...picture


A heart-wrenching yet ultimately uplifting story of psychological suspense in which a parent is forced to confront what he does—and does not—know about his teenage son, in the vein of Reconstructing Amelia, Defending Jacob, and We Need to Talk about Kevin. While his successful wife goes off to her law office each day, Simon Connolly takes care of their kids, Jake and Laney. Now that they are in high school, the angst-ridden father should feel more relaxed, but he doesn’t. He’s seen the statistics, read the headlines. And now, his darkest fear is coming true. There has been a shooting at school. Simon races to the rendezvous point, where he’s forced to wait. Do they know who did it? How many victims were there? Why did this happen? One by one, parents are led out of the room to reunite with their children. Their numbers dwindle, until Simon is alone. As his worst nightmare unfolds, and Jake is the only child missing, Simon begins to obsess over the past, searching for answers, for hope, for the memory of the boy he raised, for mistakes he must have made, for the reason everything came to this. Where is Jake? What happened in those final moments? Is it possible he doesn’t really know his son? Or he knows him better than he thought? Brilliantly paced, Finding Jake explores these questions in a tense and emotionally wrenching narrative. Harrowing and heartbreaking, surprisingly healing and redemptive, it is a story of faith and conviction, strength, courage, and love that will leave readers questioning their own lives, and those they think they know.

Finding Jake

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#paperback #historicalfiction
Really good shape.  Some slight bending to the cover..see picture.

Separated by a century. Bonded by loss. Will examining all that was invoke comfort or calamity? Seattle, 2015. Emily Reed refuses to dwell on her emotions. When the first-year attorney is assigned a church archival project, she dives into the records to hide from her own heartache. But when she discovers her parents were married in this very chapel, she is forced to confront the grief she buried a decade ago. After she died in 1935, Elizabet Thomas was devastated when her beloved husband wasn't waiting for her on the other side. A lost soul, she's wandered their church for the past eighty years, desperate to find him. And now she must persuade a young, living lawyer that the historic building needs to be preserved rather than sold and torn down. Discovering a diary among the disarray in the building's basement, Emily is first engrossed and then moved by the dead woman's words. And as the fate of her home unravels, Elizabet realizes she and the grieving archivist have more in common than she ever would have guessed. Can Emily and Elizabet save themselves and their cherished sanctuary? All That Was is an uplifting standalone women's literary fiction novel deeply woven with historical elements. If you enjoy dual-perspective storylines, complex female characters, and the rekindling of lost hope, then you'll love Tanya E Williams's soul-stirring tale.

All That Was

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#paperback #ChristianFiction
Please see all pictures.  Stamp on inside.  Sticker residue on front and back cover.  Wear to edges.





Julia Whittaker's rocky past yielded two daughters, both given up for adoption as infants. Now she must find them to try to save her son.

Julia and Matt Whittaker's son has beaten the odds for thirteen years only to have the odds--and his liver--crash precipitously. The only hope for his survival is a "living liver" transplant, but the transplant list is long and Dillon's time is short. His two older half-sisters, born eighteen months apart to two different fathers, offer his only hope for survival.

But can Julia ask a young woman--someone she surrendered to strangers long ago and has never spoken with--to make such a sacrifice to save a brother she's never known Can she muster the courage to journey back into a shame-filled season of her life, face her choices and their consequences, and find any hope of healing

And what if she discovers in her own daughters' lives that a history of foolish choices threatens to repeat itself Julia knows she's probably embarking on a fool's errand--searching for the daughters she abandoned only now that she needs something from them. But love compels Julia to take this journey. Can grace and forgiveness compel her daughters to join her

In To Know You, Shannon Ethridge and Kathryn Mackel explore how the past creates the present . . . and how even the most shattered lives can be redeemed.

To Know You

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#paperback #mysteryromance #ForgottenFilesSeries
Good shape.  Pages are starting to yellow on edges from the sun

At the grisly murder scene of a teen prostitute, Virginia state trooper Riley Tatum's past roars back to haunt her. When she was a teenage runaway, she was kidnapped, drugged, and left unconscious on the streets. She has no memories of what happened, only strange recurring dreams of two men playing cards.

Former FBI agent Clay Bowman, Riley's old flame, is Shield Security's newest member. He's plagued by the unsolved case of a serial killer nicknamed the Shark who murdered girls as part of a sadistic poker game. Only one girl survived. With the Shark now bent on evening that score, Clay has a chilling suspicion: Riley is the girl who escaped the Shark's deadly amusement--and she is his next prey.

As the Shark gets ready to play his hand, can Riley and Clay stop him--or will this killer finally claim the one who got away?

The Shark

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#hardcover #fiction #suspense
Crease on top of dust jacket.  Sticker residue at bottom of dust jacket on the edge.  The barcode on the back has a black sticker over it.  A remainder mark is on the bottom. See all photos.

Wrongly arrested after fleeing from her abusive husband, a mother desperately fights corrupt authorities to recover her stolen children; while a man across the country hears the story on the news and identifies links to similar events in his own past.

Here and Gone

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#paperback #fiction
Personalization on inside front cover of book (see photo).  Also so wear from sitting on shelf and yellowing of pages.

Named a Best Book of the Year by the Seattle Times and Kirkus Review The final novel from a great American storyteller. Donal Cameron is being raised by his grandmother, the cook at the legendary Double W ranch in Ivan Doig’s beloved Two Medicine Country of the Montana Rockies, a landscape that gives full rein to an eleven-year-old’s imagination. But when Gram has to have surgery for “female trouble” in the summer of 1951, all she can think to do is to ship Donal off to her sister in faraway Manitowoc, Wisconsin. There Donal is in for a rude surprise: Aunt Kate–bossy, opinionated, argumentative, and tyrannical—is nothing like her sister. She henpecks her good-natured husband, Herman the German, and Donal can’t seem to get on her good side either. After one contretemps too many, Kate packs him back to the authorities in Montana on the next Greyhound. But as it turns out, Donal isn’t traveling solo: Herman the German has decided to fly the coop with him. In the immortal American tradition, the pair light out for the territory together, meeting a classic Doigian ensemble of characters and having rollicking misadventures along the way. Charming, wise, and slyly funny, Last Bus to Wisdom is a last sweet gift from a writer whose books have bestowed untold pleasure on countless readers.

Last Bus to Wisdom

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#paperback #nonfiction #biography #autobiography #history 

A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. Appearing in paperback for the first time—with twenty arresting new photos and an extensive Q&A with the author—Unbroken is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit, brought vividly to life by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand. Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] one-in-a-billion story . . . designed to wrench from self-respecting critics all the blurby adjectives we normally try to avoid: It is amazing, unforgettable, gripping, harrowing, chilling, and inspiring.”—New York “Staggering . . . mesmerizing . . . Hillenbrand’s writing is so ferociously cinematic, the events she describes so incredible, you don’t dare take your eyes off the page.”—People “A meticulous, soaring and beautifully written account of an extraordinary life.”—The Washington Post “Ambitious and powerful . . . a startling narrative and an inspirational book.”—The New York Times Book Review “Magnificent . . . incredible . . . [Hillenbrand] has crafted another masterful blend of sports, history and overcoming terrific odds; this is biography taken to the nth degree, a chronicle of a remarkable life lived through extraordinary times.”—The Dallas Morning News “An astonishing testament to the superhuman power of tenacity.”—Entertainment Weekly “A tale of triumph and redemption . . . astonishingly detailed.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “[A] masterfully told true story . . . nothing less than a marvel.”—Washingtonian “[Hillenbrand tells this] story with cool elegance but at a thrilling sprinter’s pace.”—Time “Hillenbrand [is] one of our best writers of narrative history. You don’t have to be a sports fan or a war-history buff to devour this book—you just have to love great storytelling.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Unbroken

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I ended up listening to the audio book and never read the book.  Received with the pages cut crooked and the binding is slightly misalinged. #hardcover #fiction 

An extraordinary family saga following a mother and two teens as they navigate a new life in East Germany Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Beate Haas, who defected from East Germany as a child, is notified that her parents’ abandoned mansion is available for her to reclaim. Newly divorced and eager to escape her bleak life in upstate New York, where she moved as an adult, she arrives with her two teenagers to discover a city that has become an unrecognizable ghost town. The move fractures the siblings’ close relationship, as Michael, free to be gay, takes to looting empty houses and partying with wannabe anarchists, while Adela, fascinated with the horrors of the Holocaust, buries herself in books and finds companionship in a previously unknown cousin. Over time, the town itself changes—from dismantled city to refugee haven and neo-Nazi hotbed, and eventually to a desirable seaside resort town. In the midst of that change, two episodes of devastating, fateful violence come to define the family forever. Moving seamlessly through decades and between the thoughts and lives of several unforgettable characters, Thomas Grattan’s spellbinding novel is a multigenerational epic that illuminates what it means to leave home, and what it means to return. Masterfully crafted with humor, gorgeous prose, and a powerful understanding of history and heritage, The Recent East is the profoundly affecting story of a family upended by displacement and loss, and the extraordinary debut of an empathetic and ambitious storyteller.

T Eppley

@tleppley627

Books Listed

Following

Followers

Susan Meissner

As Bright As Heaven

Alexi Pappas; Maya Rudolph

Bravey

Stephanie Oakes

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

Rainbow Rowell

Carry On

Susan Lewis

My Lies, Your Lies

Jandy Nelson

I'll Give You the Sun

Eric Jay Dolin

A Furious Sky

Bryan Reardon

Finding Jake

Tanya E. Williams

All That Was

Kathryn Mackel

To Know You

Mary Burton

The Shark

Haylen Beck

Here and Gone

Ivan Doig

Last Bus to Wisdom

Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken

Thomas Grattan

The Recent East

Maggie Knox

The Holiday Swap

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Susan Meissner

As Bright As Heaven

Alexi Pappas; Maya Rudolph

Bravey

Stephanie Oakes

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

Rainbow Rowell

Carry On

Susan Lewis

My Lies, Your Lies

Jandy Nelson

I'll Give You the Sun

Eric Jay Dolin

A Furious Sky

Bryan Reardon

Finding Jake

Tanya E. Williams

All That Was

Kathryn Mackel

To Know You

Mary Burton

The Shark

Haylen Beck

Here and Gone

Ivan Doig

Last Bus to Wisdom

Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken

Thomas Grattan

The Recent East

Maggie Knox

The Holiday Swap

Get The App