Life Fiction

Je lance un regard en direction du salon. Serena, ma sœur de onze ans, somnole sur le divan rose pâle. Elle s’est endormie en espérant le retour de notre mère, partie en trombe sur sa mobylette tremper son chagrin dans une soupe tonkinoise et ses olives dans une chaudière de dry martini. Le vendredi, c’est sa soirée de recharge mentale parce que des enfants, ça suce l’énergie, ça gruge, ça use. Je ne l’attends jamais avant minuit, ce qui me laisse le temps de mettre en scène ma disparition.

It's nearly Christmas, Julia Devine's favourite time of the year. She's just programmed a wonderful lead into the holidays at Sunny Street Cinema, which leaves her plenty of time to worry about going home to Cumbria for Christmas. Her mum and stepdad are fine, but the thought of spending another holiday with her awful stepsister Becca is enough to make a Scrooge out of anyone. When Becca calls to let her know about the dreamy pilot she's bringing to Christmas lunch, Julia finally snaps and does something very silly.

It seems like a lifetime ago that Thedeim was a mortal man. After a fatal accident, he was transported to a strange realm to begin again as a living low-level dungeon. But he didn't stay small for long. With a powerful will, he built his dungeon self into a force to be reckoned with, full of minions, creepy crawlies, and a hedge maze to die for. Except Thedeim isn't a place where delvers die. He's a different, friendlier kind of dungeon, which suits both him and his many allies just fine. But being a nice dungeon means taking on some not-so-nice entities.

Internationally best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith, creator of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels, offers the third installment from his popular Scotland Street series. The endearing denizens of 44 Scotland Street soldier on, both domestically and across the globe, in this entertaining mosaic that is filled with the author's trademark wit and charm.

Ava thinks love should be found in the real world, not on apps that filter men by height, job, or astrological sign. She believes in feelings, not algorithms. So after a recent breakup and dating app debacle, she decides to put love on hold and escapes to a remote writers' retreat in coastal Italy. At the retreat, she's not allowed to use her real name or reveal any personal information. When the neighboring martial arts retreat is canceled and a few of its attendees join their small writing community, Ava, now going by "Aria", meets "Dutch", a man who seems too good to be true.

Coke and Pepsi McDonald didn’t want to jump off a cliff. They didn't want to get hit by poisoned darts from blowguns either. And they certainly don't want to get locked in their burning school, thrown into a pit at the top of a sand dune, or drowned in a vat of liquefied Spam. But what are you supposed to do when you’re being chased across the country by your insane health teacher and two guys in bowler hats who are trying to kill you? One thing's for sure, it'll be a snap for Coke and Pep to write their essays on "How I Spent My Summer Vacation."

Après avoir été en froid avec mes amis et m’être attiré les foudres de Chloé, l’ex-reine incontestée de l’école, je viens encore de me mettre royalement les pieds dans les plats ! J’ai réussi à me disputer avec ceux qui comptent le plus pour moi : ma sœur Coralie, mon «grand frère» J-P et Sophie-Rose, ma meilleure amie. Maintenant, ils m’ignorent et m’en veulent tous à mort. En essayant de ne plus être la fille qui sourit et dit oui à tout sans broncher, je ne suis parvenue qu’à blesser ceux que j’aime et me retrouver (presque) tout e seule.

I’ve seen Frank Fisher before, but he’s never seen me. He definitely saw me tonight. And I know I wasn’t the only one who felt the world shift the moment our eyes connected from across the bar. But Frank isn’t like his brothers. He’s quiet, elusive, and keeps to himself. It makes him mysterious, but that’s not why I’m drawn to him. It’s something else. Something I’ve never experienced before, as cliche as that may sound. I want to be around him. Get to know him better. Explore what’s growing between us, but Frank keeps holding back and I have no idea why.

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man, faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery that forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

Shuggie’s mother Agnes walks a wayward path: She is Shuggie’s guiding light but a burden for him and his siblings. She dreams of a house with its own front door while she flicks through the pages of the Freemans catalogue, ordering a little happiness on credit, anything to brighten up her grey life. Married to a philandering taxi-driver husband, Agnes keeps her pride by looking good - her beehive, make-up, and pearly-white false teeth offer a glamourous image of a Glaswegian Elizabeth Taylor.

After a scourge of griefer attacks and a change in headmasters, Minecrafters Academy is once again at peace, and Lucy is working hard to keep up in all her classes. Meanwhile, the school is gearing up for an end-of-the-year talent show where everyone will showcase their greatest skills, from master building and clever potion making to strategic fighting. But when a hoard of skeletons and hostile mobs attacks the campus one night, an all-too-familiar struggle begins.

Charles Vincent seems to have it all—a beautiful wife, two successful children, and a well-paying career. Yet happiness remains out of reach. He is trapped in a loveless marriage and his job is simply a paycheck. But his life changes forever as he drives along the Normandy coast, heading to their lavish château for the weekend. In one terrifying moment, Charles falls asleep at the wheel and veers off the road, plunging thirty feet down the face of a rocky cliff. Miraculously, Charles survives.

When Aunt Lavender claims she’s found the location of the lost city of Atlantis, I agree to join her quest—a decision I quickly come to regret when we end up magically shipwrecked on a mysterious island. Even worse, it’s inhabited by a secret sisterhood of witches who make us feel about as welcome as a swarm of mosquitoes at a garden party. It turns out the lack of hospitality is the least of our problems when one member is poisoned.

Glass Ferry, Kentucky, is bourbon country. Whiskey has been a way of life for generations, enabling families to provide and survive even in the darkest times. Flannery Butler's daddy, Beauregard "Honey Bee" Butler, entrusted her with his recipes before he passed on, swearing her to secrecy. But Flannery is harboring other secrets too, about her twin sister Patsy, older by eight minutes and pretty in a way Flannery knows she'll never be. Then comes the prom night when Patsy - wearing a yellow chiffon dress and the family pearls - disappears along with her date.

Nic wants nothing more than to move on—from her sister’s disappearance and the state it’s left her in. But then one day, Jules’s sister, Jenna Connor, walks into her life and offers Nic something she hasn’t felt in a long time: hope. What follows is a gripping tale of two sisters who will do anything to find their missing halves, even if it means destroying everything they’ve ever known.

After a painful divorce, Maisey Lazarow returns to Fairham, the small island off the North Carolina coast where she grew up. She goes there to heal - and to help her brother, Keith, a deeply troubled man who's asked her to come home. But she refuses to stay in the family house. The last person she wants to see is her wealthy, controlling mother. Instead she finds herself living next door to someone else she'd prefer to avoid - Rafe Romero, the wild, reckless boy to whom she lost her virginity at 16.

Eighteen years ago, Tess McPhail left her tiny hometown of Wintergreen, Missouri, for the bright lights of Nashville and never looked back. Now, one of country music's biggest stars, "Mac" is a hardworking woman with little time for a personal life - until her sister insists she come home to help care for their widowed mother. The welcome Mac receives is less than warm, especially from her former next-door neighbor Kenny Kronek. With a teenage daughter to raise, the handsome divorce refuses to give Mac the time of day.

Disaster reigns when A.J. participates in the school's holiday pageant celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.

Just when they think they are safe, theMcDonald twins are chased by an evil Elvis impersonator, trapped in a pool of flesh-eating soda pop, nearly pulverized in a giant shredder, and crushed in a turbo-charged carnival ride. Worst of all, no one believes them! Will they make it out alive? Will they ever find out who's really after them? All bets are off in this explosive third book in the Genius Files series.

Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier, the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city, is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.