Celia's August Pick

Caravan by Dorothy Gilman

Synopsis

"A lushly romantic adventure story set in the North African desert in 1914, told by the impeccable Lady Treal as she reminisces in her London town house about her decidedly peccable past...Well-written, expertly plotted, perfectly paced."

NEWSDAY With her anthropologist husband murdered and their caravan stolen by fierce Tuareg tribesmen, Caressa's choices are death or a life of slavery. Concealing her dangerous beauty beneath the faded robes of an Arab boy, she embarks on the adventrue of her life, harassed by vicious nomads, slave traders and the envious witch doctor, Isa. Only a handful of carnival magic tricks stand between her and oblivion. Then she discovers an inner magic so mysteriously compelling that the desert people call her a sorceress. With it she will secure her freedom and discover the love of her life.... (from bn.com)

Lauri's pick for July

Magic Study

by Maria V. Snyder

You know your life is bad when you miss your days as a poison taster...

After saving the Commander's life, Yelena is set free - though she must leave Ixia. But with less than a year to learn to get her magic under control or be destroyed by the other wizards for disrupting the order of things, she's nervous. She's anxious as well about finding the family she was stolen from 14 years ago. Going to her birth country of Sitia is almost like going to another world, and she finds it difficult to accept the changes she's going through. Especially as she gets involved with the exiled prince of Ixia who wants her help to lead a coup against the Commander and her mentor, Valek. Everyone in the South believes she should hate the North, but though she had some bad times, the North is filled with people and things she loved as well. And Yelena finds that her independence and growing powers make it difficult to fit in anywhere.

Susan's pick

Our new look

Many thanks to Annell for our new logo (or really our FIRST logo) and the fabulous bags!



We really ARE sorta naughty now!

Pam's Pick for May

After loosing her boyfriend and her job in one fell swoop, Noreen finds it hard to know what the next step is-never mind take it. For the first time in a great many years, Noreen has time to herself. So she puts on a new pair of sneakers and a seriously outdated pair of exercise pants, and walks.

It isn't long before she's joined by neighbors Tess and Rosie, two women as lost as she is. As the Wildwater women walk and talk, and talk and walk, they tally their steps, share their secrets, and begin putting their lives back together. And along the way, they learn what women everywhere are finding out-time flies, and getting fit is actually fun when you're walking with friends.

New Rule

At the end of every book club, Celia must turn out her pockets. Everyone in favor, say "aye." (I mean silverware is one thing, but she was trying to make off with my CAR.)

Jennifer's April Pick - (with the help of a ghost writer)

The Spellman Files

by

 Lisa Lutz

Synopsis

Meet Isabel "Izzy" Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors -- but the upshot is she's good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family's firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people's privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman.

Part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry, Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who's become addicted to "recreational surveillance"); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed "Lost Weekends"). But when Izzy's parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy's new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there's a hitch: she must take one last job before they'll let her go -- a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.

The Spellman Files is the first novel in a winning and hilarious new series featuring the Spellman family in all its lovable chaos.