Laughing: . . . And Sometimes Tears was written after a question I asked my husband then of nine years: Why did you leave Puerto Rico? When I heard his answer, I knew there was something hidden inside that was kept a secret from me. You see, Diego was a young man of seventeen years when he came to the mainland and, unfortunately, ended up in very precarious situations. He even spent eighteen months in prison for a felony crime he did not commit. Many stories he told me evoked either belly ...

One of The New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of 2015One of Jezebel's Favorite Books of 2016A Manual for Cleaning Women compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin.With the grit of Raymond Carver, the humor of Grace Paley, and a blend of wit and melancholy all her own, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday, uncovering moments of grace in the L...

**Perfect for fans of Joanne Fluke and Leslie Meier, national bestseller Lucy Burdette's eighth Key West Food Critic mystery sees the return of fan-favorite food critic Hayley Snow, who must once again get to the bottom of a bitter murder.When a killer strikes just before flan time, beloved food critic Hayley Snow is forced to sniff out the killer before someone else bites the dust.**Hayley Snow, fiery food critic for Key Zest magazine, has just landed a t...

When Tess's mother abandons her during her senior year at high school, she must find a way to keep the secret and survive until graduation. She's surprised when Cruz, her crush and an aspiring model, moves in to help. Tess has dreams of studying in Paris, France and becoming a writer...impossible dreams without money or family. But as Tess and Cruz's relationship grows closer, Cruz will do anything to make sure Tess's dreams come true. But at what price?Forever Now is a young adult...

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians seriesMultiple-award-winning author Rick Riordan brings back smart-mouthed Texas P.I. Tres Navarre for his most dangerous case yet. If you think the academic world is deadly dull, you're half right....When a controversial English professor is found shot to death, Tres Navarre — P.I. and Ph.D. — is the only local academic crazy enough to accept the emergency opening...

A New York Times Notable Book, an NPR Best Debut of the Year, and a PEN/Hemingway finalist.These linked stories follow Sabina as she navigates her shifting identity as a daughter of the Colombian diaspora, and struggles to find her place within and beyond the net of her strong, protective, but embattled family.In "Lucho," Sabina's family—already "foreigners in a town of blancos"—is shunned by the community when a relative commits an unspeakable act of viole...

In What About Your Saucepans? Lindsay de Feliz gave up marriage and a successful career in the UK to follow her dreams as a scuba diving instructor in the Dominican Republic. She met and married her Dominican man and went on an incredible adventure involving political corruption and being shot in her own home.Life After My Saucepans continues the story with Lindsay and Danilo living in hiding, away from the beaches and tourist resorts, in the mountainous,...

"Seven-year-old Juan lives in Guatemala, a place of stunning beauty and grim economic reality. Abandoned by his mother, Juan lives with his grandmother and shines shoes. He passionately wants to attend school, but fears Grandmother will say no. Finally gathering his courage, he is surprised when she not only agrees to send him to school but also chides him about the importance of standing up for himself. Juan tells this bittersweet story, which reads smoothly and powerfully on several leve...

"A very cool ride. If Raymond Chandler was reincarnated as a novelist in South Florida, he couldn't nail it any better than Dufresne."—Carl HiaasenOn Christmas Eve in Eden, Florida, Wylie "Coyote" Melville, therapist and forensic consultant, is summoned to a horrific crime scene. Five members of the Halliday family have been brutally killed. Wylie's rare talent is an ability to read a crime scene, consider the evidence seen and unseen, and determine what's likely t...

Patricia Woodard had always wanted to live and work in a foreign country, but the dream seemed to be elusive. Then in the summer of 1975 while she was teaching summer school in her hometown of Whiteville, North Carolina, she received a telegram offering her a teaching position in Bogot, Colombia. Excited and stunned to finally be realizing her dream, she accepted the offer and set off for a year high on a plateau in the Andes Mountains. Several years later, she returned to Colombia, this t...

March has a perfect life: beauty, popularity, a great job, a loving family and a hot boyfriend.So when she discovers that her boyfriend is cheating on her, she is hurt and enraged. When she lashes out at him, he falls and is badly injured. March panics, flees the scene and then watches her perfect life spiral out of control. In a misguided attempt to atone for her crime, March changes her appearance, quits her job and tries to become invisible until an unlikely fri...

Home is where the heart is.Doreen Hamilton's plans to return home for the Christmas holiday is interrupted by a major snow blizzard. New York City is covered in one foot of snow, and last night's snowstorm caused delays at the airports, along the Eastern Seaboard. She's disappointed when her flight is canceled, until she runs into her former lover, Tyler Shaw.Tyler is also going home to Summerville, S. C., for the holiday. He's ecstatic to see her, and since they can't retu...