Pat's Favorites
This is the gripping story of 13 year-old Duchess Day Radley and her younger brother Robin. He is sweet and loving, she is scrappy, obstinate, mouthy, revengeful, loyal and protective of her brother and beautiful but damaged mother Star. Also, there is Sheriff Walker who has been friends with Star since they were children and tries to keep an eye on the family. A shattering event upends the children’s lives and propels Walker to investigate those involved. I loved Duchess and her code of honor and I did not want the story to end. I hope you find it as captivating as I did. Pat
Email or call for price
This novel is an intimate exploration of friendship through letters. It will lift your spirits and propel you into the kitchen to whip up a dish to share with a friend. Delightful!
- Pat
Imagine you are dropped into Northumberland during a blizzard. You meet DI Vera Stanhope who is trying to get home and because of the swirling, blowing snow she takes a wrong turn. As she navigates a bend in the road, she comes upon a car off the road, driver's door wide open and inside a toddler strapped into his car seat. This is just one of the many puzzles DI Stanhope must unravel.
Cleeves does a masterful job of putting the reader beside Vera as she navigates through the suspects' lives as well as the landscape. Bring a scarf! - Pat
Warning! There is no turning back once you begin reading Three Hours In Paris. Why is Kate Rees recruited by British Intelligence? What is she doing in Paris during WWII? And why is she carrying a sniper rifle? Learn all this and more as we follow her trying to outmaneuver her German pursuers. - Pat
This book is a fast-paced true story of murder in Paris during the Nazi occupation. A house with a chimney emiting a noxious smelling smoke, an inspector who was the inspiration for Simenon's Inspector Margret, and a cunning doctor are part of what makes this a true murder mystery. -Pat
Email or call for price
What an inspiring, funny, and informative story - I absolutely loved it! Take one part donkey rescue, one part caring community in Amish country, and one part animal lover, and one part burro racing and you have the make up of a read you will not be able to put down. -Pat
Email or call for price
Atkinson's Jackson Brodie may be a private eye, but Big Sky is so much more than Brodie tracking down information for a client. This is a novel that keeps you turning the pages for more of the characters and insights into their lives. The seedy is balanced with humor. -Pat
Grab this book if you want to read a story you cannot put down and do not want to end. I was transported in time and place, met a family in crisis, a community on the cusp of change, characters I wanted as friends because of their unwavering support and a landscape both beautiful and cruel. This is a story of a strong young woman. -Pat
Email or call for price
“Stella Fortuna: With a name like this, she should not be subjected to so many near-death accidents. Is she unlucky or cursed? Juliet Grames does a masterful job of parsing out Stella’s story, from growing up in an isolated mountain village to immigrating to America and navigating the perils of a patriarchal society along the way. This story explores familial bonds, discontentment, betrayal, and the damage of keeping secrets. Readers, get comfortable because you will not want to put this book down. I loved Stella.” -Pat
This is Marie's best book to date!
Hope Carpenter is at a crossroads. Her husband has lost his job and she needs to find employment. She is hired at the local prison to teach crafts to the women inmates. She must find a common ground and inspire these women to believe they can make something of themselves.
Heartwarming! -Pat
Email or call for price
Wynn and jack are best friends canoeing the Maskwa River in Canada, camping and fishing to supplement their supplies. Suddenly their trip turns sinister...
I could not stop turning the pages! Heller is a master storyteller whose descriptions of the wilderness are spare and poetic. -Pat
Email or call for price
A beautifully written novel about families, life in Trinidad, and the consequences of decisions.
Meet Clyde, his wife Joy, and their twin sons Peter and Paul. One is a "genius," the other a "troublemaker."
What begins as an exploration of family dynamics and the beauty and evil of Trinidad soon evolves into a heartbreaking thriller. -Pat
This collection of essays explores Hood's growth as a woman and cook from girlhood through life's most enduring memories of family and food.
She is honest, funny, and loving as she shares recipes that nurtured her and those around her. -Pat
In this novel Davis captures the people and places of NYC during the '20s.
Virginia Clay wanders through Grand Central Station and discovers a partially hidden drawing in one of the dust-ridden rooms in the upper level in 1974.
This discovery and her relentless pursuit of the history of the drawing coincides with the push for landmark status for GCS. -Pat
This book has it all! Family relationships, faith, love, misunderstandings. I wanted to rush through it to find out what happens to each character and yet I didn't want it to end. -Pat
Travel to Sofia, Bulgaria and meet Alexandra Boyd (newly arrived from the U.S.) and her cab driver "Bobby" (also a poet and activist) as they try to locate the owners of a bag inadvertly kept by Boyd. There are plenty of twists and turns in this engrossing tale which introduces the country Bulgaria and the historical nuances of its people and politics both compassionate and evil. -Pat
Pachinko is an engrossing tale of a Korean's family struggle when their daughter becomes pregnant and her lover abandons her. She marries and they move to Japan to join her new husband's family. There begins the immigrant's story of betrayal, poverty, and desire for a better life. I did not want this book to end. -Pat
Email or call for price
Celine is a PI specializing in missing persons and is more successful at it than the FBI. This aging investigator is tenacious, tough, smart, and wise. Celine is asked to investigate the suspicious death of a young woman's father. Celine and Pete embark on a journey that is as unexpected as their discovery. -Pat
"The Promise Girls will steal your heart and take you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. You'll wish you could move in next door to Joanie, Meg, and Avery and be their friend. This is Marie Bostwick at her very best." -Pat
Escape to London with husband and wife detectives Kincaid and James in Deborah Crombie's Garden of Lamentations. You'll be engaged in the twists and turns, murder, and corrupt police as the main characters must determine who to trust. -Pat
The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgwick opens with Roisin, a scientist, and Francois, a chef, meeting at a research facility in Antarctica. She plans to study comets and he has signed on as the chef. We learn about their individual lives in chapters named for comets and how they feel those comets impacted their lives. There is love and loss experienced under the spellbinding beauty of the comets. -Pat
"This is one of my favorite books this year. Lucy Barton is confined to a hospital bed for several weeks after an operation during which her mother visits for five days. This is Lucy Barton's story." -Pat
Lilac Girls is a page-turning, historical novel which spans WWII and covers event in Poland, Spain, and the U.S. Kelly does a fine job weaving events, and the lives of three women as their fates interconnect. I couldn't put this down. -Pat
Email or call for price
Can Britt-Marie find a place where she truly belongs (after leaving her cheating husband)? Can she survive a job as a caretaker of a soon-to-be-demolished recreation center? As a coach for the worst soccer team in Borg? An entertaining, laugh-out-loud journey. -Pat
Quirky charaters and multiple plots will keep you engaged. Adding a dash of humor to the mix rounds out the story. Follow up with Silkworm and Career of Evil (on sale 10.20.15) -Pat
Pat's pick!! Come in to ask her why she "couldn't put this one down."
"I loved it!" -Pat
"I loved it!" -Pat
You just have to look at life's challenges with the right perspective like Ellen. We've all experienced some of what she writes about, but her humor and storytelling abilities will make you want to claim her as a friend. -Pat
Pat's Pick AND a Hickory Stick Book Club Selection!
Email or call for price
Pat's pick!
Pat loved it!
One party field study, one part adventure, and one part danger, mixed with an elusive owl, eccentric locals, frozen or thawing rivers equals a nature based thriller! I could not put this down and I thank Slaght for this magnificent story about the Blakiston Fish Owl.
- Pat
Pat loved it!
Pat loved it!
Email or call for price
I loved the characters at the American Library in Paris: Odile, Mrs. Reeder, Bitsi, Boris, Margaret and the subscribers for their passionate love of books, trying to help others and trying to survive the WWII occupation. The story alternates between WWII Paris and Montana in the 1980s where Odile, now a recluse, meets young Lily who is trying to navigate bullying and the loss of her mother. What an ending! Pat
What could possibly happen to a young woman from Sweden who travels to Iowa to meet her pen pal? I loved this charming novel!
- Pat