Hold on to your cardigan! This small-town Christmas is about to get steamy… The most recent addition to New Bedford’s crack team of small-town librarians is Ben, a mysterious, tight-lipped recluse who prefers cataloging in the basement to interacting with his eccentric coworkers. Poppy, the intrepid circulation clerk, is content to let him brood alone…at first. As Christmas Eve approaches, Poppy braves Ben’s prickly demeanor—and the spooky basement stairs—with offerings of hot chocolate and friendship. What she discovers at Ben’s dimly lit desk is an endearing, complicated man who always expresses exactly what he wants. Or would, if not for the constant interruptions that keep him from touching her. When an unexpected snowstorm traps the potential lovebirds in the library overnight, Poppy and Ben finally have a chance to explore the energy that crackles between them. Is it just epic sex? Or is it love in the stacks?

Have you ever wished you could tell your favourite books just what they mean to you? Or wanted to give a piece of your mind to the "must-read" book that you wish you hadn't? Librarian Annie Spence has done just that, writing fan-girl love letters to books like MATILDA and THE GOLDFINCH, and irreverent break-up notes to FIFTY SHADES OF GREY and THE HOBBIT. Annie's letters will make you laugh, remind you why you love your favourite books, and give you lots of new entries for your reading list. She's also on hand to help you with your bookish dilemmas: recommendations for lazy readers, excuses to tell your friends when you'd rather stay home reading, and how to turn your lover into a reader.

Mira Lockhart is married to her work. One of the youngest library directors in the state, she has been climbing ladders for so long she's forgotten what life is like outside the library. Not that she has time for love and all that mushy stuff - Westbrook Public Library is the most challenging place she's ever worked, and every day there's a new crisis to avert. Her new library page, for one. Chelle Tate is young, wild, and free, with fiery red hair and a confidence that instantly draws Mira in - perhaps too close, as Mira finds herself crossing professional boundaries against her better judgment. As tensions mount between the two women, so do the bizarre occurrences at the library - boycotts and vandalism and sex in the stacks all conspire to threaten Mira's job and keep her from finding balance and happiness with Chelle. Mira finds love in the stacks, but will she have the courage to pursue it? Praise for Love in the Stacks "I can't stress enough how fun and entertaining this book was. The sizzle was there, the story was engaging, and it was a quick read that, while light and sexy, also delivered humor, a bit of intrigue, and a couple of characters who didn't just find a happy ever after, but also personal growth and life lessons as well." - Amy Herman-Pall, The Lesbian Review "The main characters are well done - both are flawed, both need to grow and the author has done a good job of maturing them throughout the story. The library has real character and is a pleasing background to the plot." - Lesbian Reading Room

By Catherine Liu.

A guide for librarians to the romance novel - how to make the library user friendly for the romance novel reader; increase your understanding of the romance novel and reader; how to become a romance reader advisor.

The author presents two of her classic romances--"The Courtship of Carol Sommars" and "Father's Day, " in which Robin's ten-year-old son befriends Cole Camden's dog, bringing together the aloof and unfriendly Cole, who is still mourning the deaths of hiswife and son, and Robin, who is also dealing with a tragic loss.

Can anyone be truly herself - or truly in love - in a language that's not her own? Sixteen-year-old Josie knows a lot of languages- she speaks High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Break-ups, and even the language of Beautiful Girls. But none of these is her native tongue - the only people who speak that are her best friend Stu and her sister, Kate. So when Kate gets engaged to an insufferable guy, how can Josie see it as anything but the mistake of a lifetime? As battles are waged over secrets and semantics, Josie is forced to examine her feelings for the boy who says he loves her, the sister she loves but doesn't always like, and the best friend who hasn't said a word - at least not in a language Josie understands. 'A true-blue lovable weirdo, Josie is the type of character I really enjoy seeing . . . authentically herself, even when being herself gets her into trouble.' Hellogiggles

"A quietly brilliant book that warms slowly in the hands." —Dwight Garner, The New York Times I am not talking about surviving. I am not talking about becoming human, but about how I came to realize that I had always already been human. I am writing about all that I wanted to have, and how I got it. I am writing about what it cost, and how I was able to afford it. Jan Grue was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at the age of three. Shifting between specific periods of his life—his youth with his parents and sister in Norway; his years of study in Berkeley, St. Petersburg, and Amsterdam; and his current life as a professor, husband, and father—he intersperses these histories with elegant, astonishingly wise reflections on the world, social structures, disability, loss, relationships, and the body: in short, on what it means to be human. Along the way, Grue moves effortlessly between his own story and those of others, incorporating reflections on philosophy, film, art, and the work of writers from Joan Didion to Michael Foucault. He revives the cold, clinical language of his childhood, drawing from a stack of medical records that first forced the boy who thought of himself as “just Jan” to perceive that his body, and therefore his self, was defined by its defects. I Live a Life Like Yours is a love story. It is rich with loss, sorrow, and joy, and with the details of one life: a girlfriend pushing Grue through the airport and forgetting him next to the baggage claim; schoolmates forming a chain behind his wheelchair on the ice one winter day; his parents writing desperate letters in search of proper treatment for their son; his own young son climbing into his lap as he sits in his wheelchair, only to leap down and run away too quickly to catch. It is a story about accepting one’s own body and limitations, and learning to love life as it is while remaining open to hope and discovery.

Describes why secondary students don't read, and offers teachers practical advice and strategies for developing depth, stamina, and passion in adolescent readers.