Central Kansas Library System

"The message was unexpected but instantly recognizable. A voice resonated from a distance and somehow from within. Against all earthly logic, it carried a divine command. And five very different people knew they were summoned to obey. Their actions were demanding, but not particularly grand. Only later would they see a pattern emerge - one that links their tasks together and comes to challenge the cultural direction of the nation. They realize that...

Byron Hemmings wakes to a morning like any other: his school uniform draped over his desk chair, his sister arguing over breakfast, the click of his mother's heels in the kitchen. But when the three leave home, driving into a dense summer fog, the morning takes an unmistakable turn. In one terrible moment, something happens, something completely unexpected, and eleven-year-old Byron understands that from now on nothing can be the same.

"Meredith thought she'd done it all right - married the perfect man, had the perfect daughter - but as she grows increasingly restless, she can't help but wonder if she got the love part wrong. Josie has been happily single for years, but she wants a child of her own so much she's one bad Match.com date away from heading straight for the baby carriage all on her own. The sisters, whose relationship was strained by the tragic death of their older brother...

"On a cold, gloomy night, twenty-three-year-old Kyoko stands in the rain with a knife in her hoodie's pocket. Her target is Daniel, who seduced Kyoko's mother then callously dropped her, leading to her death. But tonight, there will be repercussions. Following the unsuspecting Daniel home, Kyoko manages to get a rash kidnapping plot off the ground ... and then nothing goes as planned. The Fetishist is the story of three people--Kyoko, a Japanese American...

"Overworked and underappreciated, single mom Amy Byler needs a break. So when the guilt-ridden husband who abandoned her shows up and offers to take care of their kids for the summer, she accepts his offer and escapes rural Pennsylvania for New York City. Usually grounded and mild mannered, Amy finally lets her hair down in the city that never sleeps. She discovers a life filled with culture, sophistication, and - with a little encouragement from...

"The world is a complicated place with lots of small moving parts. When someone moves one part just a little, it causes all the other parts to move in ways we can't see coming. Two men. One young, one old. Complete strangers who have made the same ultimate decision -- that their lives are not worth living and it is time to take fate into their own hands. When their stories intersect on a single fateful night in West Texas, the ensuing friendship takes...

"Kara Hart suffered overwhelming heartache when she lost her mother and husband, and her father's sudden death might be the blow that breaks her -- unless she turns her grief into purpose. She'll finish renovating his Victorian mansion in rural Virginia, but with her own twist. She'll turn the old house into a creative retreat for artists and writers. Kara has never tackled a project this big alone, and she's not ready to open her heart to others...

"A young New York City couple with a boy and a baby in tow, Ben and Caroline Tierney had it all, until Ben's second novel missed the mark, Caroline lost her lucrative banking job, and something went wrong with 8-year-old Charlie. When Ben inherits land way upstate from his grandmother, the two of them began to believe in second chances. But upon arriving in Swannhaven, a town that seems to have been forgotten by time, they're beset by strange sights...

"Three women's lives are about to change because of a few delicate pieces of china... When Jenny Davis comes across a beautiful vintage tea set at an outdoor market in the English countryside, she's convinced it's fate. A young bride on a budget, she has her heart set on a vintage tea-party theme for her wedding-and the gorgeous gold-rimmed china before her is perfect. There's only one problem. Two other women have fallen in love with it, too. So...

"Anthony Spencer is egotistical, proud of being a self-made business success at the peak of his game, even though the cost of winning was painfully high. A cerebral hemorrhage leaves Tony comatose in a hospital ICU. He 'awakens' to find himself in a surreal world, a 'living' landscape that mirrors dimensions of his earthly life, from the beautiful to the corrupt. It is here that he has vivid interactions with others he assumes are projections of his...