Death du Jour -- Kathy Reichs

In Canada for a brief two weeks in part to do a favor for a Catholic church there by indentifying the bones of a nun who is being considered for sainthood, Temperance Brennan anticipates a quick open-and-shut case and a return to North Carolina on schedule. What she gets instead is involvement in brutal and seemingly senseless murders that cross two countries, two states, and touch entirely too close to home for her own comfort.

The morning after retrieving the bones of the nun, Tempe is called out by Andrew Ryan, the handsome detective, to attend a crime scene where a massive fire had burned the night before. In the burned home, a total of seven victims are found: one elderly lady, four adults, and two infants. As Tempe and Ryan work to uncover the reason for the brutal murders, they find connections to other murders in the area. Meanwhile, one of the nuns at the church calls on Tempe to help her find her missing niece, which leads Tempe to a professor at McGill University. Before long, it becomes apparent that a cult may be involved with the murders in the burned home -- and possibly even the disappearance of the nun's niece. More horrifying for Temperance is that her own sister may be unwittingly involved with the same cult.

Together Ryan and Tempe track down lead after lead in an attempt to get at the truth. But can they find the person behind the murders before it is too late for Tempe's sister Harry?

Always Looking Up -- Michael J. Fox

Several years after his decision to quit working on his tv series Spin City due to his Parkinson's Disease, Michael J. Fox examines his life and the years since his semi-retirement. He focuses on what he considers to be the four pillars of his life: family, faith, politics, and work; and explains how his disease and his decisions since diagnosis have affected each area of his life. The result is full of humor, sincerity, honesty, and most significantly, optimism.

Bunnicula -- James Howe

Harold the dog and Chester the cat are two beloved pets that belong to the Monroe family. The Monroe family is a very well-educated family, and they treat Harold and Chester as members of the family, not merely as pets. Life is good for Harold and Chester, until one night the Monroes return from a night at the movies with a new addition: a small black and white rabbit. The two young Monroe boys are thrilled with the new pet, who they have named Bunnicula, since he was, after all, found in the theatre where they were watching Dracula. Harold and Chester, however, aren't so sure. And as strange things begin to happen -- such as vegetables turning white and Bunnicula managing to get out of his locked cage -- Chester becomes more and mor sure that Bunnicula is actually a vampire bunny! In an effort to protect himself and his family, Chester begins taking steps to thwart Bunnicula's vampire powers, but some of what he is doing is beginning to harm Bunnicula! Will Bunnicula be able to survive in his new home? And will Harold and Chester accept the new rabbit as part of the family?

Uglies -- Scott Westerfeld

Everyone wants to be pretty. And in Tally's society, everyone gets to be. At age 16, everyone in Uglyville undergoes a surgery to turn them pretty -- a term defined over years and by determining the "ideal" look -- and they move into New Pretty Town where life is one big party. Nobody in New Pretty Town is jealous of anyone else, because everyone is pretty and nobody is ugly. And Tally can't wait to be turned pretty and make her move into New Pretty Town where she can join her best friend Peris who turned 16 a few months before she did. But then Tally meets Shay -- another Ugly who shares her same birthday. And Shay doesn't want to be pretty. Shay wants to be herself. And Shay wants to escape to the place called The Smoke, the place of legend where Uglies have run to in order to avoid the surgery to become pretty and where no one is "ugly" because no one is "pretty". When Shay leaves and invites Tally to join her, Tally is confused and frustrated that her new best friend wouldn't want to become pretty, and Tally turns her down. As Tally counts down the few remaining days toward becoming pretty, she misses Shay and their adventures, but she eagerly awaits her reunion with the now-Pretty Peris.

Tally's 16th birthday, which should have brought the coveted surgery, instead brings a thing of dread. Tally is transported to Special Circumstances and given her worst fate: a lifetime of ugly if she doesn't travel to The Smoke and betray Shay. With her life-long dream on the line, Tally determines to bring Shay back to Uglyville so that she can be turned pretty, but when she reaches The Smoke, she learns that her whole life back in the city has been full of half-truths and deceit. And she learns horrible truths about what all the surgery entails, and what all is changed on the people who become pretty. And she no longer knows if she wants to become pretty, because with the help of her new friend David, she realizes that, maybe, she already is.

Finger-Lickin' Fifteen -- Janet Evanovich

A famous TV chef, Chipotle, is beheaded in Trenton, NJ, and Lula is a witness. But she's not going this road alone, so she brings her friend, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, along for the ride! Stephanie, of course, has issues of her own: she has bills to pay, not enough money, an on-again/off-again relationship that is currently in off mode, and her only three skips are not going to make capturing them easy for her.

Facing the reality that she can't afford her bills and isn't likely to catch her skips anytime soon, Stephanie signs on for side work with Ranger, the sizzlingly hot and mysterious ex-Rambo who usually bails her out of her fiascos. Ranger is having problems of his own, because someone is breaking into the houses of people who have security accounts with his company Rangeman. Stephanie is a great solution, since she can snoop around for him, make extra money on the side, and she can enlist Ranger's help in capturing her FTAs.

Meanwhile Lula is being hunted by the Chipotle murderers, and she gets shot at as well as having an attempt at meat-cleavinering made against her. Spooked that the Chipotle killers know where she lives, Lula moves into Stephanie's apartment, and Lula's snoring moves Stephanie out of it!

In the midst of all this craziness, Lula continues undaunted in entering the BBQ sauce contest, which was what had brought Chipotle to Trenton -- and his untimely demise -- in the first place. And so Stephanie finds herself up to her elbows in fires and BBQ sauce, and even manages to find time to dress up like a hot dog!

The Other Woman -- Jane Green

Ellie Black is living her dream life. She is a successful career woman, working for a successful chain of hotels in England. She is in the prime of her life -- in her early 30s. And she is dating cute, dependable, gainfully employed Dan Cooper. And when Dan proposes, Ellie realizes she will soon join the perfect family and life will be all she could have ever hoped it would be.

Only sometimes, life throws a curve ball. What Ellie didn't realize is that Dan's family was not picture-perfect. Before long, Ellie starts to realize there is another woman in Dan's life, and it's his mother Linda. Linda is the matriarch of her family, and she definitely "wears the pants." So when Dan and Ellie get engaged, Linda immediately begins trying to turn Ellie into the daughter she never had (though in all truth, Linda does have a daughter of her own), and butts into their lives daily. She takes over all wedding plans, and winds up planning the wedding of her own dreams, rather than the wedding Ellie wanted. But Ellie strives to take it all in stride, and she isn't surprised when her new mother-in-law becomes even more overbearing when Dan and Ellie share the exciting news that a baby is on the way, but she is certainly quite annoyed by it!

As time goes on and life changes with the birth of a son, Ellie soon discovers that her life isn't the fairytale she thought it was going to be -- and that marriage is hard, and even harder when a child enters the mix. As Ellie struggles with the trials that come from parenthood, marriage, and over-involved in-laws, she wonders if it is really all worth it and if she made the right choices about marriage.

Before Midnight: a Retelling of "Cinderella" -- Cameron Dokey

The day Cendrillon was born was the same day her mother died. Cendrillon's father, Etienne de Brabant, blames Cendrillon for the death of his beloved -- he wasn't even able to be present at her death, becasue he was on an errand for the king. When he returns two weeks after his daughter's birth and his wife's death, he brings with him a two-week old baby boy - a boy about whom he refuses to give any information. In fury and grief, he leaves the boy and his daughter to be raised by Old Mathilde, wishing never to see his daughter again until peace is in his heart.

So for fifteen years, Old Mathilde rasies Cendrillon and Raoul - the name she gave the baby boy. Together they, with the other workers on the de Brabant lands, keep the lands and home running and productive. One day, a soldier, young, weary, and hurt, arrives suddenly at their doorstep. He is a messenger from the land at war with their country, and he brings a message for the queen. Once the young messenger, whose name is Niccolo, has been nursed back to health, and after becoming well-acquainted with the members of the de Brabant household, Niccolo goes to court to deliver his message.

A few months pass before Niccolo's return, but when he does return, he brings with him surprising news: Etienne de Brabant has remarried according to orders from the king, and Cendrillon now has a step-mother and two step-sisters who are en route to their new home. At first, Cendrillon is treated as a servant by her new family, for that is what her stepmother and stepsisters believe her to be. Etienne de Brabant never divulged the existence of his daughter, so nobody from the city knew about her. But when the truth comes out, Cendrillon's life egins to change, and before long -- with a summons by the king to a ball for all elligible young ladies; and a summons by Etienne himself for Raoul to come to court, everyon's lives will be changed as secrets are revealed, betrayals are discovered, and love overcomes all.