Showing 10 of 150 Results

News & Events

Two rare tree frogs, clinging to a branch
03/03/2025
profile-icon Robyn Williams

People everywhere rely on wildlife and biodiversity-based resources to meet our needs - from food, to fuel, medicines, housing, and clothing. For us to enjoy the benefits and the beauty that nature brings us and our planet, people have been working together to make sure ecosystems are able to thrive and plant and animal species are able to exist for future generations. So, let’s celebrate wildlife and the important conservation work being done around the world!  - It's  World Wildlife Day!!

 

 These films highlight the incredible adaptability of wildlife, from the depths of the ocean to the tallest trees in rainforests around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

02/25/2025
profile-icon Robyn Williams

It's Dental Health Month!  Here at Big Sandy, we have a great technical program for Dental Hygienists and Dental Assisting.   These professionals create beautiful smiles for a living as a dental assistant or hygienist. Students gain the technical and interpersonal skills essential for work in a dentist’s office.  Students regularly advertise free student-led dental cleaning sessions in Paintsville.

 

 Here are more great resources for excellent dental health:

 

 

Cover ArtThe Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist by Stan Berenstain; Jan Berenstain

ISBN: 0394848365
Complete with a visit from the Tooth Fairy, this classic Berenstain Bears story is the perfect way to calm children's nerves about going to the dentist! Come for a visit in Bear Country with this classic First Time Book from Stan and Jan Berenstain. Join Mama, Papa, Brother, and Sister for a trip to the dentist where they'll get checked for cavities, have their teeth cleaned, and learn all about the tools a dentist uses to help keep teeth healthy. Includes over 50 bonus stickers!

 

 

Cover ArtThe Dental Diet: the surprising link between your teeth, real food, and life-changing natural health by Steven Lin

ISBN: 9781401953171
Lin shares the food-based health principles he has developed over the course of his dental career. He lays out a dietary program that not only prevents both dental fillings and cholesterol medications but gives readers the resources to raise kids who develop naturally straight teeth. Lin provides the science behind his program, shares real-world applications, and arms the reader with a 40-day meal plan to implement the techniques into your everyday life.

 

Cover ArtThe Dental Hygienist's Guide to Nutritional Care by Cynthia A. Stegeman; Judi Ratliff Davis

Call Number: RK60.7 .S74 2019
ISBN: 9780323497275
Publication Date: 2018-02-16
Learn how to apply nutritional principles to promote optimal patient care! The Dental Hygienist's Guide to Nutritional Care, 5th Edition explains how teaching proper nutrition can improve your clients' oral and systemic health. Case studies and clear, full-color photos and illustrations provide a basis for assessing, diagnosing, planning, implementing, and evaluating the care of patients. In addition, a solid foundation in nutrition prepares you for the subject's increased emphasis on the NBDHE examination.

 

 

The Journal of Dental Hygiene is the premier, peer-reviewed scientific research publication. In each issue, ADHA members will find articles help them make evidence-based treatment decisions and more.

 

The official journal of the American Dental Association, JADA contains valuable information for all thing dental.

 
 
02/18/2025
profile-icon Robyn Williams

The library remains closed during inclement weather.   The question and help forms remain open 24/7.  Responses may be somewhat delayed or occur on the next open day, virtual or in-office.   The search tools remain open 24/7. 

Closed Tuesday February 18 - Friday February 21

 

Students with quiet study needs may use their nearest public library for free WiFi and warm study areas.  You can find locations, hours, and services of your nearest public library here:  https://kdla.ky.gov/Library-Support/Pages/Public-Library-Directory.aspx

Our priority is your family's safety and recovery.  Contact your instructors about their expectations regarding due dates and continuing work in courses.  Below are some recovery resources to use during these times.  Contact your library and ACE about getting back into the routine as the crisis lessens, we can help you get back on schedule and track.

Recovery resources:

02/12/2025
profile-icon Robyn Williams

The library and ACE close on Thursday, February 13 at 4:30 pm and re-open on Tuesday, February 18, due to an all-staff meeting and then a federal holiday.  Visit us this week on Thursday for all things academic!

 

All Campus Convocation.  All Campuses Closed All Staff Out of Office Friday February 14   A mic stand sits in front of a blurry audience.

    

 

Library and ACE Closed Monday 17 February Presidents Day

 

02/11/2025
profile-icon Robyn Williams

It's National Inventors' Day, as well as International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and Thomas Edison's birthday.    The global reach of American innovation cannot be overstated.   Our inventions and our scientific personnel have impacted our world.    Here are a few examples of the depth of American thought in science and invention. 

 
Thomas Edison

  As one of history's great inventive geniuses Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) secured patents for more than a thousand inventions. His patents included the incandescent electric light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture projector. Edison was a classic example of the nineteenth-century American success story. Through talent, energy, and hard work, he rose from poor beginnings in a small Midwestern town to a position of eminence and wealth. 

 

Archaeologist of Sound and historian Patrick Feaster spent two months in “the nation's attic” – three floors  above the Smithsonian – and discovered a treasure trove of old early recordings, when inventors experimented with glass, cardboard, cardboard covered with wax, tin foil, and mixtures of paraffin and wax as their recording mediums.  He tracked old card catalog cards, used modern technology to play long-vanished sound, and inexplicably, allowed someone in France to hear his great-grandfather's voice for the first time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During StarTalk, Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson speaks to neuroscientist Mayim Bialik about women in STEM and careers in science, then speaks to panelists about women in science.

 

4,000 Years of Women in Science :  https://4kyws.ua.edu/

 

 

02/03/2025
profile-icon Robyn Williams

It's National Feed the Birds Day.    Did you know we have a great publication called Birds & Blooms, which helps you attract birds for all backyard birding activities?   You will learn about different species, plant life to add to your yard which supports their lifecycles, and questions from the different areas of the country regarding the birding community.

 

You can access it here:  https://flipster.ebsco.com/c/kdi2og/details/4090045

Because it's a Flipster purchase, you can also download Flipster from your online app store and take it on your phone with you.

A screenshot of Birds & Blooms, showing the many colorful bird covers from each publication.  There is a button titled Read Now.
 
01/27/2025
profile-icon Robyn Williams

It's our local self-proclaimed Appalachian History Month!   While the weather's cold, curl up with a great book about Appalachia!

NONFICTION:

Cover ArtFinding the Singing Spruce by Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth

ISBN: 9781959000006
Environment, craft, and meaning in the work of Appalachian instrument makers. How can the craft of musical instrument making help reconnect people to place and reenchant work in Appalachia? How does the sonic search for musical tone change relationships with trees and forests? Following three craftspeople in the mountain forests of Appalachia through their processes of making instruments, Finding the Singing Spruce considers the meanings of work, place, and creative expression in drawing music from wood. Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth explores the complexities and contradictions of instrument-making labor, which is deeply rooted in mountain forests and expressive traditions but also engaged with global processes of production and consumption. Using historical narratives and sensory ethnography, among other approaches, he finds that the craft of lutherie speaks to the past, present, and future of the region's work and nature.
 
 

Cover ArtCelebrating Southern Appalachian Food by Jim Casada; Tipper Pressley

ISBN: 9781467152778
High country cooking fit to grace any table. Southern Appalachia has a rich culinary tradition. Generations of passed down recipes offer glimpses into a culture that has long been defined, in considerable measure, by its food. Take a journey of pure delight through this highland homeland with stories of celebrations, Sunday dinners and ordinary suppers. The narrative material and scores of recipes offered here share a deep love of place and a devotion to this distinctive cuisine. The end result is a tempting invitation, in the vernacular of the region, to "pull up a chair and take nourishment." Authors Jim Casada and Tipper Pressley, both natives of the region, are seasoned veterans in sharing the culinary delights of the southern highlands.
 
 
 

Cover ArtSoutheast Foraging by Chris Bennett

ISBN: 9781604694994
"This is the ultimate guide, and Chris is the undisputed heavyweight champion of foraging in the South." --Sean Brock, author of Heritage and chef of McCradys, Minero, and Husk  The Southeast offers a veritable feast for foragers, and with Chris Bennett as your trusted guide you will learn how to safely find and identify an abundance of delicious wild plants. The plant profiles in Southeast Foraging include clear, color photographs, identification tips, guidance on how to ethically harvest, and suggestions for eating and preserving. A handy seasonal planner details which plants are available during every season. Thorough, comprehensive, and safe, this is a must-have for foragers in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtMaking Our Future by Emily Hilliard

ISBN: 9781469671611
Drawing from her work as state folklorist, Emily Hilliard explores contemporary folklife in West Virginia and challenges the common perception of both folklore and Appalachian culture as static, antiquated forms, offering instead the concept of "visionary folklore" as a future-focused, materialist, and collaborative approach to cultural work. With chapters on the expressive culture of the West Virginia teachers' strike, the cultural significance of the West Virginia hot dog, the tradition of independent pro wrestling in Appalachia, the practice of nonprofessional women songwriters, the collective counternarrative of a multiracial coal camp community, the invisible landscape of writer Breece D'J Pancake's hometown, the foodways of an Appalachian Swiss community, the postapocalyptic vision presented in the video game Fallout 76, and more, the book centers the collective nature of folklife and examines the role of the public folklorist in collaborative engagements with communities and culture. Hilliard argues that folklore is a unifying concept that puts diverse cultural forms in conversation, as well as a framework that helps us reckon with the past, understand the present, and collectively shape the future.
 
 
 

Cover ArtFairy Tales of Appalachia by Stacy Sivinski (Editor)

ISBN: 9781621907626
While taking a graduate course in Appalachian literature at the University of Tennessee, Stacy Sivinski was surprised to discover that much of the folklore she had heard while growing up in Schuyler, Virginia, was rarely represented in popular published collections. In particular, they lacked the strong female heroines she had come to know, and most anthologies were full of Jack Tales--stories that focus on the adventures of the character from "Jack and the Beanstalk." Feminist critics have long discussed the gender inequalities and stereotypes that fairy tales often promote. With Fairy Tales of Appalachia, Sivinski asks whether such conclusions are inevitable and invites a fresh analysis of these regional tales with a contemporary sense of wonder. These tales, carefully and thoughtfully transcribed by Sivinski, have been passed down through Appalachia's oral histories over decades and even centuries. This wonderful selection was mainly drawn from the Archives of Appalachia at East Tennessee State University and special collections at Berea College. Drawing on the work of other regional archivists and folklorists, Sivinski grapples with issues of gender balance in Appalachian storytelling. The problem, Sivinski posits, does not rest with the fairy tale genre itself but in the canonization process, in which women's contributions have been diminished as oral traditions become transcribed. Appalachian women have historically demonstrated resilience, wit, and adaptability, and it is time that more collections of regional folklore reorient themselves to make this fact more apparent. Stories are living, breathing narratives, meant not just to be read but to be read aloud.
 
 

Cover ArtFoxfire Story: Oral Tradition in Southern Appalachia by T. J. Smith

ISBN: 9780525436324
Folktales, anecdotes, songs, ghost stories, and legends highlight the role of storytelling in the region and how they convey a sense of place and community.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtKatherine Jackson French by Elizabeth DiSavino

ISBN: 9780813196701
The second woman to earn a PhD from Columbia University - and the first from south of the Mason-Dixon Line to do so - Kentucky native Katherine Jackson French broke boundaries. Her research kick-started a resurgence of Appalachian music that continues to this day, but French's collection of traditional Kentucky ballads, which should have been her crowning scholarly achievement, never saw print. Academic rivalries, gender prejudice, and broken promises set against a thirty-year feud known as the Ballad Wars denied French her place in history and left the field to northerner Olive Dame Campbell and English folklorist Cecil Sharp, setting Appalachian studies on a foundation marred by stereotypes and misconceptions.
 
 
 

Cover ArtMovie-Made Appalachia by John C. Inscoe

ISBN: 9781469660134
While Hollywood deserves its reputation for much-maligned portrayals of southern highlanders on screen, the film industry also deserves credit for a long-standing tradition of more serious and meaningful depictions of Appalachia's people. Surveying some two dozen films and the literary and historical sources from which they were adapted, John C. Inscoe argues that in the American imagination Appalachia has long represented far more than deprived and depraved hillbillies. Rather, the films he highlights serve as effective conduits into the region's past, some grounded firmly in documented realities and life stories, others only loosely so. In either case, they deserve more credit than they have received for creating sympathetic and often complex characters who interact within families, households, and communities amidst a wide array of historical contingencies. They provide credible and informative narratives that respect the specifics of the times and places in which they are set. Having used many of these movies as teaching tools in college classrooms, Inscoe demonstrates the cumulative effect of analyzing them in terms of shared themes and topics to convey far more generous insights into Appalachia and its history than one would have expected to emerge from southern California's "dream factory."
 
FICTION:
 

Cover ArtMemorials by Richard Chizmar

ISBN: 9781668009192
1983: Three students from a small college embark on a week-long road trip to film a documentary on roadside memorials for their American Studies class. The project starts out as a fun adventure with long stretches of empty road and nightly campfires where they begin to open up with one another. But as they venture deeper into the Appalachian backwoods, the atmosphere begins to darken. They notice more and more of the memorials feature a strange, unsettling symbol hinting at a sinister secret. Paranoia sets in when it appears they are being followed. Their vehicle is tampered with overnight and some of the locals appear to be anything but welcoming. Before long, the students can't help but wonder if these roadside deaths were really random accidents...or is something terrifying at work here?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtHoller of the Fireflies by David Barclay Moore

ISBN: 9781524701291
Javari knew that West Virginia would be different from his home in Bushwick, Brooklyn. But his first day at STEM Camp in a little Appalachian town is still a shock. Though run-ins with the police are just the same here. Not good. Javari will learn a lot about science, tech, engineering, and math at camp. And also about rich people, racism, and hidden agendas. But it's Cricket, a local boy, budding activist, and occasional thief, who will show him a different side of the holler--and blow his mind wide open. Javari is about to have that summer. Where everything gets messy and complicated and confusing . . . and you wouldn't want it any other way.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtAll We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee

ISBN: 9781496484161
She was so sure she knew her family's story . . . Now she wonders if she was wrong about all of it.1969.When Mattie Taylor's twin brother was killed in Vietnam, she lost her best friend and the only person who really understood her. Now, news that her mother is dying sends Mattie back home, despite blaming her father for Mark's death. Mama's last wish is that Mattie would read some old letters stored in a trunk, from people Mattie doesn't even know. Mama insists they hold the answers Mattie is looking for.1942.Ava Delaney is picking up the pieces of her life following her husband's death at Pearl Harbor. Living with her mother-in-law on a secluded farm in Tennessee is far different than the life Ava imagined when she married only a few short months ago. Desperate to get out of the house, Ava seeks work at a nearby military base, where she soon discovers the American government is housing Germans who they have classified as enemy aliens. As Ava works to process legal documents for the military, she crosses paths with Gunther Schneider, a German who is helping care for wounded soldiers. Ava questions why a man as gentle and kind as Gunther should be forced to live in the internment camp, and as they become friends, her sense of the injustice grows . . . as do her feelings for him. Faced with the possibility of losing Gunther, Ava must choose whether loving someone deemed the enemy is a risk worth taking, even if it means being ostracized by all those around her.In the midst of pain and loss two women must come face-to-face with their own assumptions about what they thought they knew about themselves and others. What they discover will lead to a far greater appreciation of their own legacies and the love of those dearest to them.
 
 

Cover ArtThe Collected Breece D'J Pancake: Stories, Fragments, Letters by Breece D'J Pancake; Jayne Anne Phillips (Introduction by)

ISBN: 9781598536720
A definitive edition of the haunted and haunting stories of the legendary West Virginia writer, with rare unfinished stories and fragments and revealing letters Breece D'J Pancake published only a handful of stories before he took his own life in 1979, just shy of his twenty-seventh birthday. Those stories and a small number of others found among his papers after his death comprise the remarkable posthumous collection. The Collected Breece D'J Pancake brings together the original landmark book, several story drafts and fragments, and a selection of Pancake's letters to offer an unprecedented picture of his life and art. Among the unfinished stories are fragments from Pancake's two planned novels. The letters document his relationship with writers such as Peter Taylor, John Casey, James Alan McPherson, and Mary Lee Settle, and offer a picture of his collaborative relationship with his mother, who sent him newspaper clippings and helped him research his stories.
 

Cover ArtRednecks by Taylor Brown

ISBN: 9781250329332
Rednecks is a tour de force, big canvas historical novel that dramatizes the 1920 to 1921 events of the West Virginia Mine Wars--from the Matewan Massacre through the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest armed conflict on American soil since the Civil War, when some one million rounds were fired, bombs were dropped on Appalachia, and the term "redneck" would come to have an unexpected origin story. Brimming with the high stakes drama of America's buried history, Rednecks tells a powerful story of rebellion against oppression. In a land where the coal companies use violence and intimidation to keep miners from organizing, "Doc Moo" Muhanna, a Lebanese-American doctor (inspired by the author's own great-grandfather), toils amid the blood and injustice of the mining camps. When Frank Hugham, a Black World War One veteran and coal miner, takes dramatic steps to lead a miners' revolt with a band of fellow veterans, Doc Moo risks his life and career to treat sick and wounded miners, while Frank's grandmother, Beulah, fights her own battle to save her home and grandson. Real-life historical figures burn bright among the hills: the fiery Mother Jones, an Irish-born labor organizer once known as "The Most Dangerous Woman in America," struggles to maintain the ear of the miners ("her boys") amid the tide of rebellion, while the sharp-shooting police chief "Smilin" Sid Hatfield dares to stand up to the "gun thugs" of the coal companies, becoming a folk hero of the mine wars.
 

Cover ArtWrecked by Heather Henson

ISBN: 9781442451056
For as long as Miri can remember it's been her and her dad, Poe, in Paradise--what Poe calls their home--hidden away from prying eyes in rural Kentucky. It's not like Miri doesn't know what her dad does or why people call him "the Wizard." It's not like she doesn't know why Clay, her one friend and Poe's right-hand man, patrols the grounds with a machine gun. It's nothing new, but lately Paradise has started to feel more like a prison. Enter Fen. The new kid in town could prove to be exactly the distraction Miri needs...but nothing is ever simple. Poe doesn't take kindly to strangers. Fen's DEA agent father is a little too interested in Miri's family. And Clay isn't satisfied with being just friends with Miri anymore. But what's past is prologue--it's what will follow that will wreck everything.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtCounting Miracles by Nicholas Sparks

ISBN: 9780593449592
Tanner Hughes was raised by his grandparents, following in his grandfather's military footsteps to become an Army Ranger. His whole life has been spent abroad, and he is the proverbial rolling stone: happiest when off on his next adventure, zero desire to settle down.; But when his grandmother passes away, her last words to him are find where you belong. She also drops a bombshell, telling him the name of the father he never knew--and where to find him. Tanner is due at his next posting soon, but his curiosity is piqued, and he sets out for Asheboro, North Carolina, to ask around;He's been in town less than twenty-four hours when he meets Kaitlyn Cooper, a doctor and single mom. They both feel an immediate connection; Tanner knows Kaitlyn has a story to tell, and he wants to hear it. To Kaitlyn, Tanner is mysterious, exciting--and possibly leaving in just a few weeks. Meanwhile, nearby, eighty-three-year-old Jasper lives alone in a cabin bordering a national forest. With only his old dog, Arlo, for company, he lives quietly, haunted by a tragic accident that took place decades before. When he hears rumors that a white deer has been spotted in the forest--a creature of legend that inspired his father and grandfather--he becomes obsessed with protecting the deer from poachers. As these characters' fates orbit closer together, none of them is expecting a miracle . . . but that may be exactly what is about to alter their futures forever.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Or take the opportunity to look up your family tree, and see where the all the old folks at home came from, via Ancestry. 

 

Answers await everyone—whether professional or hobbyist, expert or novice, genealogist or historian—inside the more than 7,000 available databases. Here, you can unlock the story of you with sources like censuses, vital records, immigration records, family histories, military records, court and legal documents, directories, photos, maps, and more.

 

You can look at our library guide for HUM 203 to find more great ideas about researching Appalachian studies online and in person:

https://bigsandy.libguides.com/HUM203

 

 
01/15/2025
profile-icon Robyn Williams

The library and campus will be closed on Monday January 20, 2025, to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   His leadership and oratory skills were grounded in a heritage of resistance to powerful economic and political forces.   Here are just a few recollections from leaders of their time.  Each quote is from a video.   Search by keyword Martin Luther King within the Films on Demand library for more content like this.  

 

Throughout the collection you will find: step-by-step training videos; scholarly commentary; vivid animation; full-length investigative documentaries; and hundreds of short-form videos. Films on Demand offers search by topical category, such as monthly exhibitions or in-the-news ideas, or search by content producer, such as BBC. It divides each film into succinct clips which can be used in class or projects. The entire catalog is keyword searchable and transcripts are provided for searching by ideas.

 

 

 

"There's a great deal of difference between non-resistance to evil and non-violent resistance. Non-resistance leaves you in a state of stagnant passivity and deadening complacency, wherein non-violent resistance means that you do resist in a very strong and determined manner." - The WPA Film Library

 

 

 

 

 
“Each time that he was doing something important, there was an effort to discredit him.” - Testimony before the Church Committee Details FBI Plans to Intimidate Martin Luther King Jr. ca. 1975

 

 

 "Well, I don't think that Mr. Helms or the extreme right really speaks for the American people. Probably really speaks for the Republican Party on this issue. I believe that the filibuster will be broken and that we will commemorative Martin Luther King's birthday as it should be." – Edward Kennedy, Opposition to a Holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

 


“And we will be able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and this will be a great America. We will be the participants in making it so.”  – Last Speech at the Washington Cathedral, March 31 1968

01/05/2025
profile-icon Robyn Williams

🥶 Inclement Weather has delayed our post-holiday opening.  

The library will NOT open on Monday January 6 on campus.   Please refer to SNAP alerts sent to the college community for the latest information about availability.  This weather event is severe and may impact the library's services during the week of January 6 - January 10.  Please refer to SNAP alerts and local news regarding other questions about the Big Sandy campus open schedule. 

UPDATE: As of now, CLOSED on Monday January 6 and Tuesday January 7.  

On Wednesday January 8, Thursday January 9, and Friday January 10, we'll be virtually working, so questions can be sent to Ask a Librarian or Homework Help with assistance within the day.   Campus remains closed on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

We miss you guys, and we're trying to get back on campus, so stay safe and warm until that's possible.

All Big Sandy online search tools, like OneSearch and other databases, should be accessible online 24/7 during the holiday.  Students with printing or study needs may check on their local library branch's hours when the college is closed. Students with homework needs over the holiday are encouraged to use the service NetTutor.  It is found in Homework Help modules from Blackboard courses.  NetTutor is an accessible service during the holiday. Watch a video about accessing NetTutor through your courses. 

12/16/2024
profile-icon Robyn Williams

Holiday Fiction to read over the break!

 

Cover ArtA Quilt for Christmas by Melody Carlson

ISBN: 9780800739348
Christmas should be celebrated with family. But for Vera Swanson, that's not an option this year. Widowed and recently relocated, she is lonely in her condo-for-one--until little Fiona Albright knocks on her door needing help. With her mother seriously ill and her father out of town, Fiona enlists Vera's help, and when she finds out her new neighbor is a quilter, she has a special request--a Christmas quilt for Mama. Vera will have to get a ragtag group of women together in order to fulfill the request. Between free-spirited artist Tasha, chatty empty nester Beverly, retired therapist Eleanor, and herself, Vera has hopes that Christmas for the Albright family will be merry, after all--and she may find herself a new family of friends along the way.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtBright Lights, Big Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews

ISBN: 9781250285812
When fall rolls around, it's time for Kerry Tolliver to leave her family's Christmas tree farm in the mountains of North Carolina for the wilds of New York City to help her gruff older brother & his dog, Queenie, sell the trees at the family stand on a corner in Greenwich Village. Sharing a tiny vintage camper and experiencing Manhattan for the first time, Kerry's ready to try to carve out a new corner for herself. In the weeks leading into Christmas, Kerry quickly becomes close with the charming neighbors who live near their stand. When an elderly neighbor goes missing, Kerry will need to combine her country know-how with her newly acquired New York knowledge to protect the new friends she's come to think of as family, And complicating everything is Patrick, a single dad raising his adorable, dragon-loving son Austin on this quirky block. Kerry and Patrick's chemistry is undeniable, but what chance does this holiday romance really have?
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Susan Wiggs

ISBN: 9780063253513
Brenda Malloy wants nothing to do with Christmas ever again. Last year, Brenda and her husband rushed their beloved dog Tim to the emergency vet on Christmas eve. The good news: Tim survived after the vet cleared the obstruction--a pair of women's lace undies. The bad news: the undies were not Brenda's. A year after the breakup, Brenda has put her life back together. She's trained for a marathon, is writing a children's novel, and she's found purpose and healing as a volunteer with a dog rescue organization in Houston, Texas. The rescue partners with a program in Avalon, New York--a small, snowy town deep in the Catskills. Now Brenda is arranging the transport of rescued dogs from Houston to Avalon--just in time for a merry Christmas with their forever families. But a blinding snowstorm, an escaped mutt, and a life-saving encounter with Adam Bellamy--a single dad and paramedic--means Brenda has to stay in Avalon longer than she planned. As she drops off each precious pup at their new homes, some of the comfort and joy of the season begins to creep up on Brenda despite her determination to avoid the holidays. Perhaps you can bring Christmas into your heart after all...if you have the right furry friends to guide the way.
 
 

Cover ArtThe Wishing Bridge by Viola Shipman

ISBN: 9781525812002
When Henri Wegner's boss makes it clear she'll be starting the New Year unemployed unless she can close a big deal before the holidays, Henri impulsively tells him that she can convince her aging parents to sell Wegner's--their iconic Frankenmuth, Michigan, Christmas store--to a massive, soulless corporation. It's the kind of deal cool, corporate Henri has built her career on. Home for the holidays has typically meant a perfunctory twenty-four-hour visit for Henri, then back to Detroit as fast as her car will drive her. So turning up at the Wegner's offices in early December raises some eyebrows: from her delighted, if puzzled, parents to her suspicious brother and curious childhood friends. But as Henri fields impatient texts from her boss while reconnecting with the magic of the store and warmth of her hometown, what sounded great in the boardroom begins to lose its luster in real life.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan

ISBN: 9781335009265
With its historic charm and picture-perfect library, the Maple Sugar Inn is considered the winter destination. As the holidays approach, the inn is fully booked with guests looking for their dream vacation. But widowed far too young, and exhausted from juggling the hotel with being a dedicated single mom, Hattie Coleman dreams only of making it through the festive season. But when Erica, Claudia and Anna--lifelong friends who seem to have it all--check in for a girlfriends' book club holiday, it changes everything. Their close friendship and shared love of books have carried them through life's ups and downs. But Hattie can see they're also packing some major emotional baggage, and nothing prepares her for how deeply her own story is about to become entwined in theirs. In the span of a week over the most enchanting time of the year, can these four women come together to improve each other's lives and make this the start of a whole new chapter?
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtOne Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery

ISBN: 9781335008404
Julie Parker's kids are her greatest gift. Still, she's not exactly heartbroken when they ask to skip a big Christmas. Her son, Nick, is taking a belated honeymoon with his bride, Blair, while her daughter, Dana, will purge every reminder of the guy who dumped her. Again. Julie feels practically giddy for one-on-one holiday time with Heath, the (much) younger man she's secretly dating. But her plans go from cozy to chaotic when Nick and Dana plead for Christmas at the family cabin in memory of their late father, Julie's ex. She can't refuse, even though she dreads their reactions to her new man when they realize she's been hiding him for months. As the guest list grows in surprising ways, from Blair's estranged mom to Heath's precocious children, Julie's secret is one of many to be unwrapped. Over this delightfully complicated and very funny Christmas, she'll discover that more really is merrier, and that a big, happy family can become bigger and happier, if they let go of old hurts and open their hearts to love.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtRockin' Around the Chickadee by Donna Andrews

ISBN: 9781250894359
Meg's sister-in-law, Delaney, is pregnant. Since her due date is on or around Christmas Day, this is putting a bit of a damper on the usual holiday festivities. Meg and Michael are NOT hosting the usual house full of relatives and parties. Instead, Meg, along with her mother, her grandmother, her cousin Rose Noire, and her good friend Caroline, are militantly doing everything they can think of to keep Delaney quiet and healthy. All the relatives are farmed out to friends and neighbors; all the parties are being held somewhere else; and while Delaney is bored and mutinous, she's doing well, and they're managing to maintain a serene, peaceful environment for her . . . until a body is found in Meg and Michael's yard. The body turns out to be an attendee at Presumed Innocent, a nearby conference that Meg's grandmother has organized. Some of the attendees want to learn how to exonerate a friend or family members who has been unjustly convicted, while the rest are avid true crime aficionados. And since the dead guy has been very vocal about his belief that most actual and would-be exonerees are guilty, guilty GUILTY!, nearly everyone at the conference dislikes him. But would any of them hate him enough to kill him? And can Meg still keep Delaney calm in the middle of a murder investigation, all while trying to catch the killer?