Monarch Manor

Monarch Manor
Author: Maureen Leurck
Publisher: Kensington Books
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2019-07-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1496719794

Erin Marinelli has her work cut out for her when she arrives at her late grandmother’s Wisconsin home to prepare for an estate sale. But sifting through the overwhelming collection of figurines, outdated appliances and dusty books, she finds something that captures her attention: a yellowed envelope of old photographs. In one, taken almost a century ago, a beautiful woman is seated with a young boy who looks uncannily like Erin’s five-year-old autistic son, Will. Intrigued, Erin looks further into her family's history, and discovers parallels to her present-day life. The boy in the picture, John Cartwright, was deaf. He and his mother, Amelia, are presumed to have drowned together in Geneva Lake, beside Amelia’s family home. Named for the butterflies that flocked to its lush gardens, Monarch Manor still stands, though the once-grand Queen Anne house is now in ruins, slated for demolition. Seeking respite from her own exhausting battle to get the best care for Will, Erin delves even deeper into the past—unearthing a story that is both heartbreaking and surprising. Weaving Erin’s and Amelia’s narratives together, Maureen Leurck creates an unforgettable and moving novel of sacrifice and hope, and the way love between a parent and child can transform them both. Praise for Maureen Leurck’s Cicada Summer “Rich with believable characters and an evocative setting, Leurck’s novel is a gem.” —Publishers Weekly “Leurck has crafted a perfect summertime story of love, loss, and second chances. . . . Readers of Elin Hilderbrand and Nancy Thayer will enjoy this beach read.” —Booklist “A captivating novel about the power of redemption.” —Jen Lancaster, New York Times bestselling author

Paris of the Plains

Paris of the Plains
Author: John Simonson
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 122
Release: 2010-05-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1614232768

From the end of the Great War to the final years of the 1950s, Kansas Citians lived in a manner worthy of a place called Paris of the Plains. The title did more than nod to the perfumed ladies who shopped at Harzfeld's Parisian or the one-thousand-foot television antenna nicknamed the "Eye-full Tower." It spoke to the character of a town that worked for Boss Tom and danced for Count Basie but transcended both the Pendergast era and the Jazz Age. Author John Simonson introduces readers to a town of vaudeville shows and screened-in porches, where fleets of cream-and-black streetcars passed beneath a canopy of elms. This is a history that smells equally of lilacs and stockyards and bursts with the clamor of gunshots, radio baseball and the distant whistle of a night train.

The Search For Magiq

The Search For Magiq
Author: C.J. Bernstein
Publisher: Ackerly Green Publishing
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2020-09-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1735791202

So much of magic is still a mystery to the Mountaineers, but there’s one thing they know for certain: What little is left of magic is running out. It’s been over a year since they’ve heard from any of their friends from The Monarch Papers — Martin Rank, Deirdre Green, even the old Basecamp leaders, like Ascender, Endri, and Eaves. Despite the fact that new recruits are pouring into the forum every day, it seems like the Mountaineers are the last bastion of magimystic knowledge in this world. That is, until, a new recruit with connections to the Low finds a mysterious social media campaign called “Search for Magiq.” With time running out, and the magimystic walls hiding them from the world steadily closing in, the Mountaineers take their chances and join the cause. Their search leads them to the Sanctuary, a secret group of adepts and allies that include old faces and new, working together to protect those affected by magic from a threat once thought vanquished. The Silver are back and desperate to possess all that remains of magic. Will the Mountaineers be able to see the Sanctuary to safety before the Silver attack? And what will be lost and found again when the Book of Kings closes forever, and the Book of Briars is born at last? The follow-up to the narrative events of The Ackerly Green Secret Society, The Search for Magiq guides readers into a new age of spellbinding Briarverse adventures, setting the stage for C.J. Bernstein’s long-awaited novel, The Book of Briars.