The third in New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas’s Hathaway Series, Tempt Me at Twilight marries off high-spirited Poppy. Poppy minds her chaperone and does her best to remain above reproach as she waits for a proposal from the Honourable Michael Bayning… until she catches the eye of hotelier Harry Rutledge. After Michael tells Poppy tells her that a match with the unconventional Hathaway family isn’t good enough for his father, Poppy falls into the arms of the rakish Rutledge and is caught in a kiss. Thus ruined (you’ve got to love the 19th century, don’t you?) she and Rutledge marry. The story’s true seduction takes place as Rutledge tries to woo his wife–an act complicated by the fact that she now knows he was the one who leaked a love letter to Bayning’s uptight father in the first place.

Fans of Kleypas’s steamy historical romances will savor:

My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne
To prove her father’s not selling secrets to Napoleon, Jess Whitby matches wits with Captain Sebastian Kennett, the man responsible for her father’s arrest.

Desperately Seeking a Duke by Celeste Bradley
Phoebe Millbury must marry a duke if she is to inherit her grandfather’s estate. She manages to secure a proposal from the Marquis of Brookhaven, but it is his brother Rafe who captures her heart.

Just Wicked Enough by Lorraine Heath
Desperate for money, the Marquess of Falconridge sells the only thing he has left–his name. Kate Ross’s father buys her way into society with the costly marriage, but Kate wants more from her new husband than his title. She wants his love.

To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt
Melisande Fleming’s proposal to jilted groom Jasper Renshaw is win-win. If he accepts, she marries the rogue of her dreams. If he rebuffs her, she will at least have finally spoken her feelings.

Lessons of Desire by Madeline Hunter
Phaedra Blair’s research into her father’s scandalous memoirs lands her in an Italian prison and indebted to her rescuer, Lord Elliot Rothwell. One hitch–the authorities won’t let them return to England until they’re, you guessed, hitched.

Potent Pleasures by Eloisa James
Charlotte Calverstill can’t forget the masquerade ball where she lost her innocence. So how can her deflowerer begin courting her three years later as if she were a complete stranger?

Devil’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens
It isn’t saving her reputation that makes governess Honoria Wetherby consider the proposal of Sylvester  "Devil" Cynster, it’s the promise of adventure.

The Gamble by Joan Wolf
When Georgiana Newbury accidentally blackmails the wrong Earl of Winterdale into presenting her to society, she finds that she no longer holds all the cards.

For those having to work the day after Thanksgiving, we bring you a repeat of an earlier post that may make you feel better about not being out there spending money with the crowds.  Enjoy!

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell  got a lot of press when it came out this fall, and enough holds at my library that we had to purchase multiple copies.  It’s a frank discussion of why consumers buy junk we don’t need, how prices affect us psychologically, what happened in the past to send us down this path, and how it’s affecting our future.  When a patron asks you for it, steer them towards these as well:

The Wal-Mart Revolution: How Big Box Stores Benefit Consumers, Workers, and the Economy by Richard Vedder and Wendell Cox.  Because libraries like to remain fair and balanced, right?

Last week I brought you some short story collections from famous authors.  Now I’d like to showcase some dusty anthologies.  You know them; they are probably hidden in your 800s somewhere… why not pull them out for a display?  Every time I’d do a short story display, I found myself having to constantly replenish it, and I’m sure these were readers who wouldn’t normally have ventured into the nonfiction stacks to find these gems.  Because mystery and suspense tend to make up a large part of the anthologies published, that’s what you’ll find on this list.  But check your shelves, I’m betting you have romance anthologies, science fiction collections, and more.

The "100" Anthologies (featuring 100 Malicious Little Mysteries, 100 Dastardly Little Detective Stories and 100 Hair Raising Little Horror Stories, among others) – These wonderful collections, reprinted in paperback by Barnes and Noble Books in the 90s, collect a bevy of famous short stories that are truly, short – averaging about 5 pages per story. 

The "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" Anthologies – Published in the late 50s through the 70s, if your library still has some of these on the shelves, be sure to get them into someone’s hands before they get weeded. (I counted 21 different anthologies available through First Search.)  Timeless, classic short mystery/horror/suspense tales that rarely appear in other anthologies.

Crimes of Passion: Twenty Three Tales of Love and Hate ed. by Martin H. Greenberg.  This collection features well-known authors such as Nancy Pickard, Lawrence Block, Sara Paretsky, and more. Not a bad tale in the bunch – and if you aren’t completely creeped out by Marcia Muller’s "Dust to Dust" or forever freaked by F. Paul Wilson’s "Faces"… then you must have nerves of steel.

Dark Love:  22 All-Original Tales of Lust and Obsession ed.by Nancy Gorman et al.  An original Stephen King story leads the pack along, along with one of my favorite twist ending stories, "The Psycho" by Michael O’Donoghue.

The Dictionary of Failed Relationships:  26 Tales of Love Gone Wrong ed. by Meredith Broussard.  This is one of those non-mystery anthologies I was telling you about!  Jennifer Weiner, Anna Maxted, and Suzanne Finnamore all contributed stories to this collection of romance-gone-wrong tales.

For more insight on short stories, check out what Seattle Public librarian David Wright’s been up to – twice a month, he presents "Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Grownups" program. You can find out more about this program by clicking here.  He’ll be presenting on this topic at PLA in March 2010, so if you’re attending, be sure to put it on your schedule. 

Katie Fforde is one my top three go-to’s when a woman comes in and tells me just want something "light and good." Why, that describes these books and their charming heroines! Wild Designs holds a special place in my reader’s heart because it was the first of Fforde’s books that I read, and I was going through my HGTV phase. Althea is a divorced mother of three whose gardening passion has always been a hobby. When she suddenly loses her job and a handsome new neighbor announces his plans for the greenhouse she’s been using on the sly, Althea finally declares her own desires and enters a gardening competition that would allow her to cultivate her own dreams for a change. As Althea begins to bloom, her children and unruly dog begin to mind her, her ex-husband learns she’s no doormat, and the handsome neighbor is bemused and finally besotted by her kind heart and green thumb. A lovely British romp with a heroine readers will root for.

Following up her bestselling The Liar’s Club and Cherry, poet Mary Karr’s new memoir Lit explores her dependence on alcohol and the effect that drinking had on work, marriage, and motherhood. The second half of the book describes her struggle to accept a higher power that she can call on to support her nascent sobriety. Karr writes with ferocious honesty and a humor that comes from hard-fought self-awareness. After being told by a psychologist that quality time with her son doesn’t mean playing with him nonstop, Karr realizes, "Till then, I’d believed my job was to impersonate a preschooler every second I was with Dev. In some ill-considered way, I hadn’t wanted him to feel so bad about being so short, so ill spoken and incontinent."

Already on the New York Times‘ extended bestseller list, a glowing review in that paper and others will draw readers to Karr’s latest literary memoir and whet their appetite for more tales of people rewriting the next chapter in their lives.

Blame by Michelle Huneven
In this subtle novel, Professor Patsy MacLemoore hits bottom when she hits and kills two people while driving drunk. Putting her life back together after two years in prison, she inhabits a certain state of numbness while trying to maintain sobriety and live with the guilt of the lives lost at her hand.

Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp
A successful journalist, Knapp turns her critical eye to her own tempestuous 20-year affair with alcohol–the anxiety, doubts, betrayal, breakups, benders, and painful decision to finally walk away.

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
With her trademark wit and wisdom, Lamott describes finding religion, admitting her addictions, and finding peace within herself as part of a larger community. She does for spirituality here, what she did for writing in Bird by Bird and parenting in Operating Instructions.

Drunkard: A Hard-Drinking Life by Neil Steinberg
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg’s court-ordered rehab was just the first step in his rocky road to recovery. His unsentimental memoir vividly describes his many stumbles along the way.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Like Karr, Jeannette Walls was raised by parents who were, at best, unconventional. Her best-selling account of a childhood filled with uncertainty and broken promises stands out of her ability to write about their "adventures" without rationalizing or apologizing for her parents’ behavior.

It took a little time (and a little complaining on our part…) but the feed for our new setup at Library Journal is now in working order!

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RA librarian and instructor Becky Spratford dishes all about Readers Advisory on RA for All, featuring what she’s reading, what her patrons at the Berwyn Public Library are reading, and what her students at Dominican University are learning about.  We like her clean layout and unpretentious writing.

Another mystery that sits languishing on the shelf, probably because Sussman and Avidon quickly wrote a sequel… and then never wrote another.  Which is really too bad, because this title and the followup, Cruising for Murder, are wonderfully written, funny and light mysteries that will appeal to readers who enjoy Evanovich’s sassiness.  Wisecracking Morgan Taylor is a Chicago actress-turned-sleuth.  In Audition for Murder, she is thrust into a spotlight she doesn’t want when 2 of her theatre pals are murdered.  In Cruising for Murder, Morgan is now a lead performer on a cruise ship, but it turns out the actress she’s replacing might not have died accidentally, after all.

John Grisham can pull them in, can’t he?  Even when it has nothing to do with the legal system, or if it’s (gasp!) short stories.
This could be a great opportunity to showcase other authors who have turned out short story collections as well.  Check back next week, when I’ll present a list of anthologies that are likely gathering dust on your library shelves, but deserve a wide readership.

Hardly Knew Her by Laura Lippman.  I’ve never read one of Lippman’s Tess Monaghan mysteries, but I’ve enjoyed her stand-alone novels.  I was eager to check out her short story collection… and boy, was I in for a treat.  Plenty of twists, turns, suspense, and dark humor, there is not a dud in the bunch.  Be warned, Lippman pulls no punches when it comes to sex, violence, or foul language.

The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner.  I admit it, I love Weiner so much I am borderline stalking her.  But even if she wasn’t one of my favorite authors, I would steer readers to her short story collection, because it is filled with poignant, humorous, and satisfying stories of modern women, dysfunctional families, and every day relationships.

The Woman Who Gave Birth To Rabbits by Emma Donoghue.  Donoghue’s British-flavored collection takes actual historical oddities and imagines what their backstories might have been.   Donoghue’s writing is lyrical and lovely, and the stories range from grim to hilarious.

I, Richard by Elizabeth George.  As with Lippman, I hadn’t read any of George’s many series titles, but was intrigued enough to pick up her first short story collection (point being, even a well-known author can garner new readership with a story collection!).  George’s five long tales range from horror to mystery to suspense, all with delicious twists and surprise endings.

The Veteran by Frederick Forsythe.  Classic thriller author Forsythe turned out a collection of short -actually, on the long side – stories, in the vein of Jeffrey Archer (a master of the twist ending short story if there ever was one).  The four stories and a novella take the reader across the globe and span different historical periods, but Forsythe’s strong storytelling style remains a constant. 

I know, when you’re thinking Stephen King read-alikes, the Mormon author of Ender’s Game doesn’t jump to the top of your list. But he should. For this one book, at least. Lost Boys has all the tenderness, creepiness, and "No! Do not open that door!" appeal of the master of supernatural suspense. Computer game creator Step Fletcher moves his family to North Carolina for a promising programming job. The whole family has a difficult time fitting in, but it’s their oldest son Stevie who’s having the hardest time of it. He pulls away from his close-knit family, spending endless hours playing video games and talking to his imaginary friends. It’s only when his parents learn that his imaginary friends share the names of the young boys who have been disappearing from the area that their concern for their lonely son turns to terror. And rightfully so.