Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. But in terms of caretaking and relating to two children, no matter how adorable, Patrick is, honestly, overwhelmed. So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick's brother...

The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married, and that the groom will remain a secret until...

"In this memoir, Isabel Allende reconstructs the painful reality of her own life in the wake of tragic loss--the death of her daughter, Paula. Recalling the past thirteen years from the daily letters the author and her mother, who lives in Chile, wrote to each other, Allende ... recounts the stories of the wildly eccentric, strong-minded, and eclectic tribe she gathers around her that becomes a new kind of family. Throughout, Allende shares her thoughts...

"When an evangelical preacher in Tennessee offers shelter to two gay men after a catastrophic flood, he's met with resistance by his wife and congregation, and eventually loses custody of his son. He decides to kidnap his son and flee to Key West, where he suspects his estranged gay brother is living"--

Winnie Friedman knows she has a talent for comedy, although it is something she keeps private until a boy suggests she join the school improv troupe, but then her father gets diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

"In present-day Miami, Jeanette is battling addiction. Daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to learn more about her family history from her reticent mother and makes the snap decision to take in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE. Carmen, still wrestling with the trauma of displacement, must process her difficult relationship with her own mother while trying to raise a wayward Jeanette. Steadfast in her quest for understanding,...

"Journalist Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary and their four children lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing...

In the second book of Iris Johansen's heart-stopping new Eve Duncan trilogy, the stakes get higher. Eve Duncan is on the run. Kidnapped by Jim Doane, a mysterious man who wants her to complete a sinister forensic sculpture, she now has no time to savor the victory of escaping from him. He's back on her trail and closing in fast. Doane desperately needs Eve's skill to reconstruct the skull of his son -- a sick and twisted killer who still holds Doane...

Cassie Wright, owner of Wright Glassworks, takes in one-year-old Gwen after a tragic accident and raises her as her own. Jewel Fairbanks enters the lives of Cassie and Gwen. Jewel envies Gwen. Both Jewel and Gwen marry. Jewel marries a shrewd businessman and Gwen a honest hardworking man who works for the company that Jewel's husband owns.