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Regrets only / by Scott, Kieran,1974-author.;
"Paige Lancaster, single mom and prodigal daughter, has returned to the East Coast from her prestigious, well-paid job in LA, writing for the smartest detective series on television. Something terrible happened to her back in Hollywood. Okay, two terrible things, one featuring a misplaced tire iron--and now she's broke and homeless and living with her widowed mother and eight year old daughter, Izzy, in her hometown of Piermont, Connecticut: land of safe streets, good public schools, and a kick-ass Parent Booster Association. Paige can make this work, she's sure of it. Her dad, may he rest in peace, was Piermont's beloved police chief before he died two years ago. All she needs to turn her life around is to buckle down and concentrate on getting a new writing gig. But first, she has to get Izzy to school on time--the very same school that she herself attended, back in the day. That's Fail #1. Then she runs into John Anderson, the boy she loved in high school, now a wealthy hedge-funder, still as gorgeous as ever, and (shoot) very married--to gorgeous blond PBA president Ainsley Anderson. Then she almost gets a traffic ticket from sexy blue-eyed police officer Dominic Ramos. And has a run-in with fellow parent Nina, a prim, self-righteous accountant (with an unaccountably sexy husband) who's convinced that someone is siphoning funds from the PBA account to the tune of tens of of thousands of dollars. Queen Bee Ainsley doesn't believe for a moment that anyone is stealing anything from the PBA. Neither does her posse of fellow PBA moms--Lanie, Dayna, and Bee--even though they're thick as, well, thieves. They're so close they even sport matching necklaces. Paige is determined to win them over, though it's not going to be easy, But when she shows up at the annual Parents and Pinot fundraiser, held at Ainsley and John's dazzling mansion in the toniest part of Piermont, she's caught in a compromising (though not unpleasant) position with John, accidentally rips a jagged hole in the guest bathroom, overhears an incriminating conversation, and discovers that her purse has gone missing. And later that night, Ainsley turns up dead at the bottom of her driveway. Did she fall? Or was she pushed? Dominic, aka Hot Cop, asks Paige to look into things in an unofficial capacity. She's a parent at the school, after all, and could be a useful undercover informant. But she's only written about detectives, never actually been one. Still, Dominic does have such beautiful eyes. And doing a little sleuthing means she can spend more time with John. Could he really be capable of murder? Is Nina on to something with her suspicions? Is Lanie's wish to take over as PBA President just the goal of an ambitious mom, or something darker? What's with the matching necklaces? And will Paige's decidedly unsavory past in California catch up to her? On second thought, maybe there's a new television season in the cards for Paige after all"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Novels.; Embezzlement; Murder; Parents' and teachers' associations; Single mothers; Television writers; Women detectives;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Reagan : an American journey / by Spitz, Bob,author.;
"From New York Times bestselling biographer Bob Spitz, a full and rich biography of an epic American life, capturing what made Ronald Reagan both so beloved and so transformational. More than five years in the making, based on hundreds of interviews and access to previously unavailable documents, and infused with irresistible storytelling charm, Bob Spitz's Reagan stands fair to be the first truly post-partisan biography of our 40th President, and thus a balm for our own bitterly divided times. It is the quintessential American triumph, brought to life with cinematic vividness: a young man is born into poverty and raised in a series of flyspeck towns in the Midwest by a pious mother and a reckless, alcoholic, largely absent father. Severely near-sighted, the boy lives in his own world, a world of the popular books of the day, and finds his first brush with popularity, even fame, as a young lifeguard. Thanks to his first great love, he imagines a way out, and makes the extraordinary leap to go to college, a modest school by national standards, but an audacious presumption in the context of his family's station. From there, the path is only very dimly lit, but it leads him, thanks to his great charm and greater luck, to a solid career as a radio sportscaster, and then, astonishingly, fatefully, to Hollywood. And the rest, as they say, is history. Bob Spitz's Reagan is an absorbing, richly detailed, even revelatory chronicle of the full arc of Ronald Reagan's epic life - giving full weight to the Hollywood years, his transition to politics and rocky but ultimately successful run as California governor, and ultimately, of course, his iconic presidency, filled with storm and stress but climaxing with his peace talks with the Soviet Union that would serve as his greatest legacy. It is filled with fresh assessments and shrewd judgments, and doesn't flinch from a full reckoning with the man's strengths and limitations. This is no hagiography: Reagan was never a brilliant student, of anything, and his disinterest in hard-nosed political scheming, while admirable, meant that this side of things was left to the other people in his orbit, not least his wife Nancy; sometimes this delegation could lead to chaos, and worse. But what emerges as a powerful signal through all the noise is an honest inherent sweetness, a gentleness of nature and willingness to see the good in people and in this country, that proved to be a tonic for America in his time, and still is in ours. It was famously said that FDR had a first-rate disposition and a second-rate intellect. Perhaps it is no accident that only FDR had as high a public approval rating leaving office as Reagan did, or that in the years since Reagan has been closing in on FDR on rankings of Presidential greatness. Written with love and irony, which in a great biography is arguably the same thing, Bob Spitz's masterpiece will give no comfort to partisans at either extreme; for the rest of us, it is cause for celebration"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Reagan, Ronald.; Presidents; Governors; Motion picture actors and actresses;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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