THOUGHTS ON THIS 'n THAT

  For fans of Good Spirits, Hallmark holiday movies, and general witchy shenanigans, this charming holiday romance follows a woman with a curse and the handsome witch she reluctantly enlists to help her break it. Hayleigh Gray is cursed - for real. After losing her job, her savings, and her relationship, it's the discovery of a lump on her beloved horse’s neck that finally sends Hayleigh looking for solutions. And she knows where to start: Elk Ridge, Washington, a seemingly innocuous small town with a cliched winter festival and a whole lot of witches. There, she crosses paths with Stephan Midwinter, an animal-rescuing artist with a reputation a mile long and a whole lot of magic that Hayleigh wants nothing to do with. Adamant that his coven wasn’t involved in the curse, he offers to help her find the real culprit and break the curse before Christmas Day. As Hayleigh and Stephan face ancestral secrets, mischievous holiday spirits, and being snowed into the world’s kitschiest holid...

  This poignant and compelling memoir, set in ’60s–’70s Los Angeles, traces a daughter’s experience of her mother’s schizophrenia and its lasting fallout before she ultimately reckons with her mother’s suicide and trusts in enduring love. When Suzanne Sherman is four, her musically gifted mother is struck by sudden-onset schizophrenia, altering the course of Suzanne’s childhood. Told in dual timelines—the years of her childhood and the two weeks following her mother’s suicide when Suzanne is eighteen— Living in the Long Shadow traces Suzanne’s coming of age in the shadow of mental illness as her family struggles with its far-reaching effects. As a teenager, Suzanne makes the difficult decision to leave her mother’s home and eventually moves in with her father and stepfamily. While her mother manages life on medication, Suzanne forms a friendship with her, sharing values, confidences, and a love of music and poetry. But a year after leaving Los Angeles for college, she learns that ...

  Draw near to God this Christmas season as you reflect on spiritual lessons from a timeless holiday classic. This 25-day Advent devotional journeys through one of the world's most beloved Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and helps you honor Christmas in your heart—and keep it all year! In this devotional companion to the cherished classic, you'll walk alongside Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, and Tiny Tim as you explore the many spiritual lessons tucked into the story. The timeless novella's themes of redemption, generosity, and community will help you prepare your heart for Christmas and reflect on all God has done, is doing, and is preparing to do in your life. Each daily entry includes a key scripture, a retelling of part of the story, a personal reflection, and a short prayer. Filled with beautiful line-art illustrations, A Christmas Carol Devotional will help you slow down and draw near to Christ during the busy Christmas season. This heartw...

  THE CHAPERONES (Thomas&Mercer) by Amy Meyerson is a propulsive psychological thriller about privileged parents and their kids on an idyllic camping trip that turns deadly. The third-grade parents at the elite Chester School don’t do anything small—not their drama and certainly not their end-of-year trips. As they set out to the remote island of Santa Cruz off the coast of Southern California, where the only amenity is running water and help is a ninety-minute boat ride away, they may have finally gotten in over their heads. Stranded by a sudden storm, the chaperones wake to find two children missing from their tents. The search for the boys leads to a body—and a surfacing of secrets that were meant to stay buried. Because there’s someone else on the island. Someone with secrets of their own. Someone who shouldn’t be there. And has every reason to stay. The Chaperones is a locked room thriller that will keep readers guessing about who’s dead and who’s capable of murder, and ...

  WITCHES THREE (Berkley) by Kristin Judd impacts our present, and the importance of understanding our history in making sense of our contemporary world.   England, 1650: Mary, a secret healer, longs for a life far from the farm where she was raised. One star-strewn night, she and her forbidden love escape to London, building a new life together while working in an apothecary shop. But Mary’s dramatic decisions will reverberate through the generations of women who come after her. Massachusetts, 1692: When Clara Brooks is accused of witchcraft at the height of the Salem witch trials, she escapes deep into the wilderness with her young daughter in tow. Their only hope of survival is the gift Clara has long kept at bay—a deep and intrinsic connection to the natural world—and a mysterious presence who guides them on their harrowing journey. Washington, 1959: July Hathaway, once an aspiring medical student with a hidden power of healing, is now a single, unwed mother. To protect...

  THE DATING GAME (Berkley) by Ally Zetterberg is a clever and surprising thriller about the perils of modern dating and  female rage. It inspires, a board game designer to start playing by her own rules, and losers won’t be tolerated. The friendship game. The dating game. The end game. For board game designer Tilda Smith they’re all necessary steps on the path to finding happiness. And by structuring her life according to a set of rules, just like in the games that she loves to create at her job, Tilda can finally win. The only problem? The other players don’t know they’re playing by Tilda’s rules. She’s fair. Very fair, in fact. But then one night her date pushes her too far and she gets just a bit carried away. Any player who disappoints must face consequences, right? But as Tilda finds herself transporting a body in a laundry bag, she has to question how to make the punishment fit the crime.  And now someone is watching Tilda and playing a game of their own. Will they...