Frank Carlson Library

"Mrs. Loretta Plansky, a recent widow in her seventies, is settling into retirement in Florida while dealing with her 98-year-old father and fielding requests for money from her beloved children and grandchildren. Thankfully, her new hip hasn't changed her killer tennis game one bit. One night Mrs. Plansky is startled awake by a phone call from a voice claiming to be her grandson Will, who desperately needs ten thousand dollars to get out of a jam....

"She's addicted to sex. He's addicted to booze...the only way out is rock bottom. No one would suspect shy Lily Calloway's biggest secret. While everyone is dancing at college bars, Lily stays in the bathroom. To get laid. Her compulsion leads her to one-night stands, steamy hookups, and events she shamefully regrets. The only person who knows her secret happens to have one of his own. Loren Hale's best friend is his bottle of bourbon. Lily comes...

"Grayson Hawthorne was raised as the heir apparent to his billionaire grandfather, taught from the cradle to put family first. Now the great Tobias Hawthorne is dead and his family disinherited, but some lessons linger. When Grayson's half-sisters find themselves in trouble, he swoops in to do what he does best: take care of the problem--efficiently, effectively, mercilessly. And without getting bogged down in emotional entanglements. Jameson Hawthorne...

"Meet Otto and Cecil. Two brothers growing up privileged in the Welsh countryside. They enjoy watching nature shows, playing with their pet pony, impersonating their grandfather...and killing the help. Murder is the family business after all. Downton Abbey, this is not. However, it's not so easy to continue the family legacy with the constant stream of threats and distractions seemingly leaping from the hedgerow. First there is the matter of the veritable...

"Maxim Trevelyan, reluctant Earl of Trevethick, has pursued the woman he loves to the wilds of Albania. Having fought for and won her, he now has to wed her, at the sharp end of a shotgun. But can a reformed rake like Maxim ever make a good husband -- or will his own notorious reputation and the scandalous secrets of his aristocratic family destroy his newfound happiness? Alessia Demachi has defied and outwitted kidnappers and traffickers, and won...

Bob Patterson considers himself an Everyman--albeit an Everyman with a rich, beautiful wife, two good kids, and a mail-it-in job that ignores his law degree. Despite his good fortune, Bob is idling through life, bored at work and at home. In short, he is the proverbial Coaster. Bob's wife, Sarah, is the anointed heir to the empire built by her father, Sam, a kind of Kansas City, Missouri, Warren Buffet. Fine by Bob, the family soccer mom. But early...

Mark and Karen Breakstone have constructed the idyllic life of wealth and status they always wanted, made complete by their beautiful and extraordinary daughter Heather. But they are still not quite at the top. When the new owners of the penthouse above them begin construction, an unstable stranger penetrates the security of their comfortable lives and threatens to destroy everything they've created.

"Nick and Noah's rocky relationship is struggling through its worst moment, and it seems that nothing can go back to the way it was before. They will have to surmount a new and frightening set of challenges to finally understand if they are really made for each other or if being apart is their only chance to be happy. Love is not always enough, and forgiveness sometimes doesn't fix what's been broken. But can you forget such a strong connection? How...

America faces daunting problems-stagnant wages, high health care costs, neglected schools, deteriorating public services. How did we get here? Through decades of dysfunctional government. In Democracy in America? veteran political observers Benjamin I. Page and Martin Gilens marshal an unprecedented array of evidence to show that while other countries have responded to a rapidly changing economy by helping people who've been left behind, the United...

Commanding tycoon Matias Silva is less long-term romance, more million-dollar business deals. Until his sweet childhood friend Georgie White anxiously confesses his family believes they're engaged. Matias never does anything by halves--if they're going to pretend, he's all in. Whisking Georgie to his sprawling coastal mansion, he'll ensure everyone believes their charade. But discovering Georgie's true innocence suddenly makes their fake relationship...