| Start
the New Year with Smile
Surprise
Me by Sophie Kinsella
After
ten years together, Sylvie and Dan have a comfortable home,
fulfilling jobs, and beautiful twin girls, and they communicate
so seamlessly they finish each other’s sentences. They
have a happy marriage and believe they know everything there
is to know about each other. Until it’s casually mentioned
to them that they could be together for another sixty-eight
years . . . and panic sets in.
They decide to bring surprises into their marriage to keep
it fresh and fun. But in their pursuit of Project Surprise
Me—from unexpected gifts to restaurant dates to sexy
photo shoots—mishaps arise, with disastrous and comical
results. Gradually, surprises turn to shocking truths. And
when a scandal from the past is uncovered, they begin to wonder
if they ever really knew each other at all.
With a colorful cast of eccentric characters, razor-sharp
observations, and her signature wit and charm, Sophie Kinsella
presents a humorous yet moving portrait of a marriage—its
intricacies, comforts, and complications. Surprise Me reveals
that hidden layers in a close relationship are often yet to
be discovered.
How
to Stop Time by Matt Haig
“The
first rule is that you don’t fall in love,’ he
said… ‘There are other rules too, but that is
the main one. No falling in love. No staying in love. No daydreaming
of love. If you stick to this you will just about be okay.'"
Tom
Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary
41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive
for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare,
exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails
with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.
Invisible
Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
Love,
betrayal, petty larceny, and high fashion fuel this deliciously
comic novel from the author of Fight Club.
She's
a fashion model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career,
a loyal best friend. But when a sudden freeway "accident"
leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she goes from
being the beautiful center of attention to being an invisible
monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge that she
exists. Enter Brandy Alexander, Queen Supreme, one operation
away from becoming a real woman, who will teach her that reinventing
yourself means erasing your past and making up something better.
And that salvation hides in the last places you'll ever want
to look.
Rich
People Problems
by Kevin Kwan
When
Nicholas Young hears that his grandmother, Su Yi, is on her
deathbed, he rushes to be by her bedside—but he's not
alone. The entire Shang-Young clan has convened from all corners
of the globe to stake claim on their matriarch’s massive
fortune. With each family member vying to inherit Tyersall
Park—a trophy estate on 64 prime acres in the heart
of Singapore—Nicholas’s childhood home turns into
a hotbed of speculation and sabotage. As her relatives fight
over heirlooms, Astrid Leong is at the center of her own storm,
desperately in love with her old sweetheart Charlie Wu, but
tormented by her ex-husband—a man hell bent on destroying
Astrid’s reputation and relationship. Meanwhile Kitty
Pong, married to China’s second richest man, billionaire
Jack Bing, still feels second best next to her new step-daughter,
famous fashionista Colette Bing. A sweeping novel that takes
us from the elegantly appointed mansions of Manila to the
secluded private islands in the Sulu Sea, from a kidnapping
at Hong Kong’s most elite private school to a surprise
marriage proposal at an Indian palace, caught on camera by
the telephoto lenses of paparazzi, Kevin Kwan's hilarious,
gloriously wicked new novel reveals the long-buried secrets
of Asia's most privileged families and their rich people problems.
Gone
Gull by Donna Andrews
Meg is spending the summer at the Biscuit Mountain Craft Center,
helping her grandmother Cordelia run the studios. But someone
is committing acts of vandalism, threatening to ruin the newly-opened
center’s reputation. Is it the work of a rival center?
Have the developers who want to build a resort atop Biscuit
Mountain found a new tactic to pressure Cordelia into selling?
Or is the real target Meg’s grandfather, who points
out that any number of environmentally irresponsible people
and organizations could have it in for him?
While
Meg is trying to track down the vandal, her grandfather is
more interested in locating a rare gull. Their missions collide
when a body is found in one of the classrooms. Can Meg identify
the vandal and the murderer in time to save the center’s
name—while helping her grandfather track down and rescue
his beloved gulls? |
