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Pandemic: The Beginning (Pandemic Book One) (affiliate link)
It started as a new virus. Before long, 95% of the world’s population was dead.
When a deadly flu sweeps the globe, the Bronson family hunkers down to wait it out. It doesn’t take long for society to collapse, but when surviving neighbors band together, hope is restored.
That hope is swiftly shattered when a rogue element forms, requiring food in exchange for security and medical services. The Bronsons refuse, but when the group takes over the neighborhood, they demand the Bronsons join or face deadly consequences. With their lives at stake, they must make a decision: give in or take a stand.
Return to Death (Mortician Murder Mysteries Book 1) (affiliate link)
Desperate to escape the shadow of her family’s mortuary business, Kay Lamberton runs off to serve as a nurse in Vietnam. Fifteen years later, her father’s death draws her back to her Florida hometown in an attempt to pick up the pieces and convince her brother, Lee, to sell the funeral home before they both wind up on the streets.
The last thing Kay expects to find upon her return is her high school sweetheart, laid out on a slab in the embalming room. While all signs point toward a simple drowning, it soon becomes clear to Kay and Lee that the funeral home’s newest client is the victim of murder.
Faced with an incompetent local sheriff and a case of insatiable curiosity, Kay is consumed with the need to find out what happened to her old flame. Kay and Lee join forces with a reluctant deputy, a bumbling assistant and a dotty housekeeper to track down the murderer and uncover a decade’s worth of secrets.
Fake Death (A Dotty Sayers Antique Mystery Book 1) (affiliate link)
One dead body. Multiple identities. Can an amateur sleuth see through the charade before she becomes a tragic victim?
Young military widow, Dotty Sayers, is delighted with her new job at an auction house in Britain’s picturesque Cotswolds. She reluctantly agrees to take part in a Remembrance parade, to commemorate her husband and his fallen comrades, but she’s shocked to learn that after the event an unknown soldier is found dead.
Dotty assists the police and appraises objects found at the victim’s house, but rather than identifying the deceased, she discovers numerous personas. When a suspect is arrested, and Dotty is asked to look after his British blue cat, she realises appearances can be deceiving. Can she track down the real culprit and prevent an innocent man from being imprisoned?
Finding Love in Forgotten Cove (Island County Series Book 1) (affiliate link)
Welcome to Fireweed Island, a place where friendships flourish, love whispers from the island breeze, and the road to healing is paved with unexpected surprises…like a super sizzling contractor with a heart of gold.
Tori’s love life hits a snag when she catches her fiancé in a cozy situation in between the sheets with someone else. So, she packs her bags and heads to Fireweed Island to teach summer school and fix up her childhood home, expecting a relaxing summer far away from men. But the island greets her with open arms and a truckload of secrets.
Murder On The Menu: The 1st Nikki Hunter Mystery (affiliate link)
Private Investigator Nicoli “Nikki” Hunter has lost enthusiasm for the bar and restaurant surveys that pay the bills but no longer challenge her. When the brutal murder of socialite, (and stripper), Laura Howard lands on her desk, she finally encounters a case worthy of her talent.
Murder on the Menu is the first in a series of mysteries featuring Nikki Hunter. The only child of a Cossack and a former nun, Hunter is a smart, tenacious thirty-five-year-old, who lives aboard a sailboat in the San Francisco Bay Area and works out of a ground floor office in the marina complex where she lives.
When the Howard murder goes unsolved, the victim’s mother contacts Nikki, who agrees to a preliminary investigation, and discovers that Laura was about to inherit several million dollars. The list of suspects grows as Nikki delves into Laura’s past. Nikki befriends Homicide Detective Bill Anderson, and he confides to her that three recent murders, including Laura’s, have peculiar similarities.
Whole Foods Market has long been synonymous with high-quality and healthy ingredients. Now, John Mackey, CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods Market, has teamed up with nutritional experts and leading chefs to create a cookbook inspired by these values. They know that cooking food yourself is the secret to changing your diet and sustaining a new lifestyle, and are sharing their favorite recipes that celebrate nutrient-rich, health-promoting whole plant foods.
The Whole Foods Cookbook philosophy starts with the basic tenet that the most important dietary change you can make is to eat more fruits and vegetables. To help you navigate the nebulous world of healthy eating, the authors have written a clear and friendly introductory summary of the Whole Foods Diet’s principles, the essential 8 foods to eat, tips on setting up a stress-free kitchen, and more.
Sweet Home Alaska (A Wild Coast Novel) (affiliate link)
When old feelings resurface, will the truth bring them back together?
Skylar Beaumont never wanted to return to Alaska. Still, when duty calls, she can’t refuse. And, as a third-generation “Coastie” and the only female captain in the local coast guard, she has too much to prove. Being stationed in her hometown of Port Serenity isn’t ideal—but she’ll tough it out until her transfer goes through and she can move on to warmer waters. That’s the plan, at least, until she crashes into Dex Wakefield. Again.
Shocked to see his secret high school sweetheart after all this time, Dex can’t help but wonder if he should finally come clean. Skylar deserves to know the real reason why he abandoned the dream they’d shared—and broke her heart.
Linda McCartney’s Family Kitchen: Over 90 Plant-Based Recipes to Save the Planet and Nourish the Soul (affiliate link)
Linda McCartney was a trailblazer of meat-free cooking, and she shared with her family the pleasure that eating compassionately could bring. Now Paul, Mary and Stella have reimagined Linda’s best-loved recipes, in a modern collection that fits perfectly with how we want to eat now.
Vegan Cooking
Family favorites such as French Toast, Chili non Carne, Sausage Rolls, Shepherd’s Pie, Pulled Jackfruit Burgers and Crunchy Pecan Cookies are just some of the many simple, nourishing and sustainable vegan recipes included in this stylish book.Complete with personal stories and intimate family photos spanning three decades, Linda McCartney’s Family Kitchen is not only good for you, but for the planet too.
There Are (No) Stupid Questions … in Science (affiliate link)
How does DNA work?
Does chicken noodle soup actually help with being sick?
When cats purr, what is actually making the noise?
Does singing to plants really help them grow?
Is it possible to clone a woolly mammoth?
In the vein of Randall Munroe’s What If? and perfect for readers of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Leah Elson’s There Are No Stupid Questions … in Science covers biology, chemistry, physics, human physiology, and space—providing easy-to-understand, delightfully cheeky answers to over one hundred common questions, from the age-old, to the ridiculous, to the sublime.
Sheet Pan Desserts: Delicious Treats You Can Make with a Sheet, 13×9 or Jelly Roll Pan (affiliate link)
Your sheet pan is a star with these easy, no-fuss dessert recipes like big-batch cakes, slab pies, creative bars, and candy.
A sheet pan, or its sibling the 13 x 9 pan, can be found in almost every kitchen, and is a versatile tool—from baking to freezing to refrigerating, the sheet pan delivers terrific desserts. The 125 recipes here, each with a photo, show the variety of recipes, with chapters on Cakes, Bars, Brownies, Slab Pies, Candy and Refrigerated and Frozen Desserts.
Also included is information on how to get the most from a sheet pan; how to freeze desserts; tips on gift giving, bake sales, and mailing; and clever serving ideas such as brownie ice cream sandwiches. From luscious German Chocolate Sheet Cake and Mudslide Ice Cream Cake to Peanut Butter Fudge Bars and Apple-Pomegranate Slab Pie, sheet pan desserts are the perfect choice for delivering big results and flavor with little effort.
If Ever I Should Love You (The Spinster Heiresses Book 1) (affiliate link)
He’s inherited a title, but not a penny to speak of, so the Earl of Rochdale knows he must find a wife—preferably one tolerably pretty and good-tempered, but definitely wealthy, and willing to exchange her fortune for his family name.
His choice: Leonie Charnock, one of the season’s “Spinster Heiresses.” Years before, the earl had saved the dark-eyed beauty’s reputation, and she is still breathtakingly lovely, leading Rochdale to hope that their marriage will be more than in name only.
However, Leonie doesn’t want to be anyone’s wife. Nearly destroyed by the secrets in her past, Leonie agrees to their union with one condition: there will be a wedding but no bedding. But it’s a condition the new Countess Rochdale isn’t sure even she can keep . . .
Replay: A Thriller (affiliate link)
On the morning of July 9, 2012, New York Times investigative reporter Andrew Stilman is jogging along the Hudson River when he feels a sudden, sharp pain in his lower back. He collapses in a pool of blood. When he regains consciousness, it’s May 7, 2012—exactly two months earlier.
From that moment on, Andrew has sixty days to uncover his murderer. Sixty days to find out who wants him dead and why—his wife? Someone he’s reported on? A coworker with a grudge? From New York City to Buenos Aires, Andrew embarks on a gripping race against time, in a twisting tale that is by turns funny and heartrending, from an international-bestselling author whose novels have sold more than forty million copies.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2