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The Neighbour’s Secret

Summary:

A new job. A new home. A new start.

It's all Anna wants.

But in a closed rural community, strange traditions and a suspicion of outsiders mean everything is not as it seems.

Three teenage girls have vanished at the annual Gathering as they reach their sixteenth birthday.

No one seems to be investigating.

And a fourth girl begs Anna for help, fearing that she will be next to disappear.

Everyone has secrets.

Anna is watching everyone.

But who is watching Anna?

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You All Die Tonight

Summary:

Seven people wake up in a remote mansion. The doors are all locked. They have no idea where they are. Who brought them there. Or how to escape.


Each knew the victims of a dreadful crime committed four years earlier but that's all that links them.

Then a voice echoes through the house with a terrifying message. They've been poisoned - and have less than 12 hours to live. There's an antidote on hand: but only if someone admits to being a killer. And they all claim to be innocent.

The time for confession is rapidly running out. How many - if any - of them will survive the night?

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Revenge of Rome

Summary:

AD 61. Britannia is divided.

The rebel horde has been defeated. But the leader, Boudica, and her remaining warriors are still at large. With them is the eagle standard of the Ninth Legion, taken in ambush, flaunted as proof that Rome can yet be beaten.

The embers of rebellion are still glowing . . .

The toll has been heavy, with countless men lost, and major towns in ruins. The bodies of the dead are strewn across the streets. And for Centurion Macro, there is the scarring knowledge that his mother perished in the attack on Londinium.

As Macro's heart burns for revenge, he and his comrade-in-arms Prefect Cato are tasked with hunting down the remnants of the enemy army. There can be no peace until the queen is captured or killed. And Roman honour will only be restored when the eagle standard has been recovered.

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The Truth About the Devlins

Summary:

TJ Devlin is the charming disappointment in the prominent Devlin family, all of whom are lawyers at their highly successful firm-except him. After a stint in prison and rehab for alcoholism, TJ can't get hired anywhere except at the firm, in a make-work job with the title of investigator.

But one night, TJ's world turns upside down after his older brother John confesses that he just murdered one of the clients, an accountant he'd confronted with proof of embezzlement. It seems impossible coming from John, the firstborn son and Most Valuable Devlin.

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The Texas Murders

Summary:

A cold case is about to turn hotter than the sun.

Texas Ranger Rory Yates has proven his strength on the field time and again. Now he faces the toughest case of his career.

He's on the trail of two missing women. Both are Native American. Does anything else link them?

As he digs deeper, he discovers that a Native American woman has gone missing every summer solstice for the past few years. The captor leaves no trace, except for a very strange calling card.

The Texas Ranger must do everything he can to track down these missing women.

He only hopes that he finds them alive . . .

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The Traitor’s Gold

Summary:

At the root of all riches lies evil…

Ex-MI5 operative Joe Mason is on a mission to rescue a friend who has been kidnapped. Meanwhile, ancient coins – remnants of a Chinese casino buried for six hundred years – are starting to surface in Japan's clandestine underworld.

Mason knows the coins and kidnapping are linked. Someone has finally unearthed the long-buried ancient casino, and its riches – both financial and archaeological – are now up for grabs. But hidden forces are desperate to conceal the discovery and take it for themselves, kidnapping and killing to silence anyone in their path.

In a high-stakes battle to reveal the casino to the world, Joe and his team race across the region, from high-rise Hong Kong to Tokyo's bustling markets to the covert gambling rings of Osaka. But they are being hunted by elite forces – and it’s only a matter of time before the target on their back catches up with them.

In this perilous quest for the world’s oldest casino, Mason must find the site before his enemies find him. But can he unearth the secrets of the gold in time?

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Firefight

Summary:

MERCY HAS A COST. TIME FOR VICTOR TO PAY.

Assassin-for-hire Victor is in Bucharest, Romania, to kill two targets meeting to exchange stolen intelligence his client wants back. It should be a simple task - until he realises the second of his targets is a former ally. Even for a man of Victor's twisted morality, he's not prepared to kill someone to whom he owes his life.

To atone for not completing the job, Victor agrees to take on the kind of dangerous assignment he would otherwise avoid. At a conference on international relations, he must identify and assassinate a killer just like him and remain unseen, despite a guest list of spies, dignitaries, and security experts. Even for an elite professional, the job is a tall order - which is why he looks for help from the person whose life he spared in Romania.

Yet unbeknownst to Victor, the Bucharest contract stepped on the toes of powerful enemies from his past; enemies who now know exactly where to find him . . .

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Thoroughly Disenchanted

Summary:

A weekend away that has lasted a century. True love's kiss can't break this spell ... A cosy, romantic fantasy mystery for all fans of Rebecca Ross, Legends and Lattes and Assistant to the Villain.

A hundred years ago, Genevieve and Oliver spent an amazing weekend together in Riverswood manor. They wished they could stay there forever ... and then their wish come true.

Blessed with immortality but trapped for eternity, the two former lovers are now thoroughly tired of one another's company. Then, one dark and stormy night, a stranger called Ella arrives with a cheery disposition and a secret that could be the key to their salvation. With the help of Ella and the return of their best friend, Fionn, Genevieve and Oliver learn more about Riverswood's tangled history.

If they can come to terms with their own feelings, and the truth that has kept them locked away, they might stand a chance at breaking this curse. True love certainly hasn't worked.

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Blood of Hercules

Summary:

Alexis Hert isn’t a hero, and she certainly isn’t a god. All she’s ever been is a survivor.

But the Fates disagree.

When a blood test leads to her admittance at the Spartan War Academy, she’ll have to do more than merely survive.

Alexis will have to claim her birthright: immortality.

But immortality is a privilege, one earned in the crucible of the academy, where the heroes are villains and classrooms battlegrounds. While gladiators Achilles and Patro, her demanding mentors, hone her into a warrior, Augustus and Kharon, her professors and the brooding heirs to the underworld, haunt her steps and her thoughts.

Because where there are gods, there are bound to be monsters, and there is more than one hunting Alexis…

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Under Loch and Key

Summary:

A woman discovers that not all monsters are her enemy—the opposite, in fact—in this new paranormal romance by Lana Ferguson, author of The Fake Mate.

Keyanna “Key” MacKay is used to secrets. Raised by a single father who never divulged his past, it’s only after his death that she finds herself thrust into the world he’d always refused to speak of. With just a childhood bedtime story about a monster that saved her father’s life and the name of her estranged grandmother to go off of, Key has no idea what she’ll find in Scotland. But repeating her father’s mistakes and being rescued by a gorgeous, angry Scotsman—who thinks she’s an idiot—is definitely the last thing she expects.

Lachlan Greer has his own secrets to keep, especially from the bonnie lass he pulls to safety from the slippery shore—a lass with captivating eyes and the last name he’s been taught not to trust. He’s looking for answers as well, and Key’s presence on the grounds they both now occupy presents a real problem. It’s even more troublesome when he gets a front row seat to the lukewarm welcome Key receives from her family; the strange powers she begins to develop; and the fierce determination she brings to every obstacle in her path. Things he shouldn’t care about, and someone he definitely doesn’t find wildly attractive.

When their secrets collide, it becomes clear that Lachlan could hold the answers Keyanna is after—and that she might also be the key to uncovering his. Up against time, mystery, and a centuries old curse, they’ll quickly discover that magic might not only be in fairy tales, and that love can be a real loch-mess.

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Ghost Mother

Summary:

Lilly Bly desperately wants to have a baby. She is struggling with infertility and bad spending habits when her husband, Jack, gets a new job that moves them from Chicago to a small town in Wisconsin. Impractical Lilly falls in love with a decrepit mansion well out of their price range

she is convinced that she will finally get pregnant and have a baby in this house

and Jack reluctantly agrees to buy the wreck. But when Lilly learns that her dream house was the site of a gruesome triple homicide/suicide in the 1950s, she begins to experience strange occurrences that soon lead her to believe the house is haunted. Are her ghostly encounters real, or is this a cascading mental breakdown? As Lilly learns more about the deaths and her visions become increasingly vivid, her relationship with Jack deteriorates, leading to a dramatic and irreversible climax.

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The Madness

Summary:

Beware what waits in the shadows...

With one unexpected email from her estranged best friend, Lucy, Mina Murray’s carefully curated life is turned upside down. Leaving behind her psychiatric practice in London, along with her routine and the calm it brings, she returns to the windswept shores of Wales. Faced with everything she’s left behind, she soon discovers that Lucy’s symptoms mirror those of her mysterious patient with amnesia hundreds of miles away.

With nothing but an untreatable sickness connecting the two women, and with Lucy’s life on the line, Mina finds herself asking questions and being drawn ever deeper into a web of secrets, missing girls and the powerful, nameless force at its centre — one that has been haunting her for years.

As terrible, ancient truths begin to reveal themselves, Mina prepares to confront her own darkest secrets, and with them, an evil beyond comprehension. Together with a group of smart, savvy women, Mina seizes one last, desperate chance to stop the cycle that began so long ago. But there are dangers to inviting the attentions of what might not be a man, but a monster...

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A Secret Garden in Paris

Summary:

In the heart of a city blooming with flowers, three women face life-changing challenges. Driven by grief over the sudden death of her mother, Corinne, Sydneysider Emma Taylor has taken refuge with her Parisian grandmother, Mattie, in her house with its secret garden. Determined to unlock the mysteries of Corinne’s past, Emma’s only clue is an enigmatic photograph.

Celebrated garden designer Charlotte Marigny believed she had a happy marriage, until her husband, Tom, inexplicably started to withdraw from her. Needing time to think about the future, she has fled their home in London for her native Paris.

Meanwhile, widowed Parisian florist Arielle Lunel had finally managed to get her life together, after her husband’s death and the discovery of his crippling debts three years earlier changed everything for her and their young twins. Now, her world is again turned upside down when her controlling parents-in-law arrive with a disturbing proposal...

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The Night on the Darling River

Summary:

Amid the rising flood waters and shearers' strike violence, can one brave woman reclaim her future? From an Australian bestselling author comes a riveting historical adventure about one woman's journey from a life of isolation to one of love and acceptance.

1894, Echuca, Victoria

Tess Hawthorn is a woman on the run from her abusive husband. All she has to do is get on the riverboat Victor and she will be free.

But with tensions at an all-time high between unionist shearers and Scabs, Tess isn't the only person trying to board a boat under the cover of night. When a brawl erupts between the union and non-union men, Tess is mistaken for a fellow Scab and in the chaos pulled aboard the PS Rodney - the same boat heading up the Darling River that her husband was bound for.

The last person Bram Kempster expects to see on board is Tess Hawthorn, the girl he's loved from afar since they were young. But he can't afford to get distracted, not when he's on an urgent trip to Renmark. Tess didn't want him back then and, if her haughty behaviour is anything to go by, she certainly doesn't want him now.

But childhood hurts are the least of their problems. The continent is a tinderbox of violence and bloodshed waiting to ignite, and at home the Murray River is rising fast. Can they overcome their past in time to work together and survive?

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Special Delivery

Summary:

Moving back to her hometown in country NSW, single, jobless and pregnant was never Poppy's plan. With her best friend living hundreds of kilometres away and an ex who refuses to pick up the phone, she doesn't know who to turn to for help.

There's definitely no point asking her midwife, James, because he's the worst. Sure, he held her hand through the birth, but that's only because it was his job.

However, as Poppy and James keep crossing paths in the small country town, Poppy begins to realise she may have misjudged her midwife. And that complicates things.

As Poppy stumbles from crisis to crisis in a town that feels unrecognisable, she learns that to build a future, sometimes you need to let go of the past. And often, the strongest relationships are those you forge when you're at rock bottom.

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Twist of Fate

Summary:

At twenty-nine years old, single, living in a very small country town, and working in the same job she's had since she left school, some would say Bel Buckley's life is mediocre at best.

But Bel is content and always escapes to her beloved romance novels whenever she feels a bit lonely. No matter how hopeless a situation seems, there's always a hero to swoop in and save the day with a happily-ever-after at the end. Despite her best friend, Emma, trying to set her up with every eligible man in town, no one holds a light to Bel's perfect hero: Jax Lexington. Bel owns every book in the outrageously romantic series and loves them. Emma is concerned about her obsession, but Bel knows the line between fantasy and reality . . . until the day Jax Lexington arrives in town. Her fictional hero is real - and he's best man at her cousin's wedding.

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Angel of Vengeance

Summary:

FBI Special Agent Pendergast and Constance Greene take a final stand against the deadliest serial killer in the history of New York: Pendergast's own ancestor, Dr. Enoch Leng. The latest thrilling timeslip adventure in the New York Times-bestselling series from Preston and Child.

A desperate bargain is broken...

Having travelled back in time, Constance Greene confronts Manhattan’s most dangerous serial killer, Enoch Leng, bartering for her sister's life – but she is betrayed and turned away empty-handed, incandescent with rage.

A clever trap is set...

As Agent Pendergast focuses on the unstable Constance in her fanatical quest for vengeance, his brother Diogenes appears unexpectedly, offering to help for mysterious reasons of his own. Disguised as a cleric, Diogenes establishes himself in New York's notorious Five Points slum, watching Leng’s every move... and awaiting his own chance to strike.

A vengeful angel will not be deterred...

But Constance strikes out on her own, to rescue her beloved siblings from a tragic fate and take savage retribution on Leng. Yet Leng is one step ahead... and has a surprise for them all.

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Blood Sacrifice

Summary:

As hunger grips the Warsaw ghetto, is a cannibal loose on the streets?

January 1943. Warsaw. City of the dead. In the ghetto, the last fifty thousand Jews await their fate, but, unlike those who preceded them to the death camps, these Jews are prepared to fight. Jan Kalisz, Kripo investigator and Resistance double-agent, has promised to supply them with weapons. But how will he fulfil his vow?

The murder of a German officer appears to provide an opportunity. For the victim is a man with multiple identities and one of those is a wealthy ghetto Jew. The hunt for the murderer draws Kalisz into the chaos of the ghetto, only to find a new, perilous mission awaiting him. SS death squads are not the only enemy the Jews fear. Can Kalisz catch the killer known as The Cannibal before he strikes again?

With time running out, it becomes a question of survival amid the blazing ghetto ruins as the Nazis make their final attack.

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Bellevue

Summary:

A young doctor must come to terms with the dark truth behind some of the greatest medical advances in history made at Bellevue in this the gripping suspense-horror from New York Times bestselling author Robin Cook

Twenty-four-year-old Michael ""Mitt"" Fuller starts his surgical residency at the iconic Bellevue hospital. With the pressure on, Mitt uses his secret sixth sense to his advantage - a sensitivity to the nonphysical.

Between the fatigue, stress, and nerves, the first few days and nights of his surgical residency are tough ones. Then his patients begin to die from mysterious causes. Mitt struggles to find the cause of the deaths, but things rapidly spiral out of control.

As bodies mount and Mitt's stress level rises, he finds himself drawn into the secrets of the abandoned Bellevue Psychopathic Hospital building - having defied demolition a few doors north of the modern Bellevue Hospital high-rise. Forcing an unauthorized entry into this storied but scary structure, Mitt discovers he's more closely tied to the sins of the past than he ever thought possible.

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Long Surrender

Summary:

Damien Hunter is a veteran born in the unforgiving cauldron of combat operations. An Air Force special forces operator turned contractor; Damien is employed by the shadowy Taipan Organisation. In company with Warwick ‘Wuz’ Davis and Paul ‘Stayer’ MacLean, Damien is in command of the tight three-man outfit, Taipan One Six. The team are the Warfighters who take missions no one else will.

Taipan left one of their own behind in blood-soaked Afghanistan. Haunted by Taipan's decision, Damien seeks solace in the Australian outback, only to be thrust back into turmoil when a desperate plea for help arrives.

Homaria Radrizzani rots in an Afghani prison. Along with other international sports women, she lives out the last of her days before the Taliban swing the executioner’s blade.

The abandoned operator establishes contact with Taipan after years of imprisonment. Taipan initiate a rescue mission for the operator, coupled with a lucrative contract to rescue Homaria and the women.

Damien learns the identity of the operator and the Taipan 16 handler issues an ultimatum to Damien, rejoin Taipan and command the mission for the women first, then the operator or take no part at all.

Damien will stop at nothing to rescue his friend. He leaves a trail of destruction through Afghanistan’s Banyam Province as he prosecutes the mission. Can he save his friend in time, or will the shadows of the past consume them all?

Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Warrigal Care to deliver Bee Connected, an intergenerational program aimed at forming meaningful connections between young people and seniors in the community through songs, games, reading, and crafts. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with UOW on a range of Paint Shellharbour REaD initiatives. Paint Shellharbour REaD is part of the Paint the Town REaD network, dedicated to promoting early childhood literacy. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with The Man Walk to deliver the Tall Tales program. This program aims to make connections with local, social, hobby and information organisations who appeal to male audiences and bring them into our library programs space. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Smith Family to promote early childhood literacy through the Paint Shellharbour REaD initiative. Paint Shellharbour REaD organises reading days and kids events throughout the year dedicated to fostering a love of reading. 

QBD

Shellharbour City Libraries have worked with QBD Shellharbour as the preferred bookseller at all of our Author Talk events. 

Shellharbour City Libraries sponsors Project Bucephalus in their facilitation of the Shellharbour Robo Club. The club teaches youth to form robotics teams and particulate in the FIRST LEGO League tournament. 

Shellharbour City Libraries collaborates with Paint the Gong REaD in conjunction with the Paint the Town REaD network. This partnership promotes early childhood literacy across the Illawarra through multiple reading events and activities. 

Shellharbour City Libraries has partnered with NSW Health to facilitate Independent Living Skills sessions aimed at teaching foster children health and wellbeing skills, in collaboration with the William Campbell Foundation.

The Multicultural Communities Council Illawarra attends Warilla library to utilise the 2528 community room. This is used for exercise and light physio sessions with senior community members.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Living Connected to offer drop-in Tech Help sessions to our customers at Warilla, Albion Park and City Libraries. These short one-on-one sessions are designed to assist customers in their digital skills development. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Legal Aid NSW to bring free community talks across our branches discussing a range of legal topics and how people can access help and resources as a part of the Libraries Law Week celebration.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Kiama Community College to deliver Tech Savvy Seniors sessions at our libraries. Tech Savvy Seniors is a NSW Government and Telstra partnership coordinated by the State Library of NSW. The program aims to teach seniors digital skills and knowledge.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Junior Einsteins to deliver Bee Connected, an intergenerational program aimed at forming meaningful connections between young people and seniors in the community through songs, games, reading, and crafts. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Judi Sandilands-Cincotta to bring Ollie and Shiko the therapy dogs to a range of children’s and youth programs. These programs aim to promote positive mental health and social connection.

Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Illawarra Legal Centre to bring free community talks across our branches discussing a range of legal topics and how people can access help and resources as a part of the Libraries Law Week celebration.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with HARS to deliver the Tall Tales program. This program aims to make connections with local social, hobby and information organisations who appeal to male audiences and bring them into our library program space. 

Shellharbour City Libraries organises Sensory Experiences with Greenacres Disability Services at Warilla Library.

Shellharbour City Libraries and the Youth Services team partnered with Fitness Cartel Albion Park to deliver a Youth Fitness program at Warilla Library. This program engaged local youth and taught them about health, personal fitness, and respect.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Ed U Play to facilitate programs and activities that bring young people together. These programs support social and emotional wellbeing amongst youth. The libraries support the Girls Only Project which aims to provide young women with knowledge of and access to positive activities in their own communities. Ed U Play are funded by the Communities for Children Program.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Bunnings to deliver free monthly Craft Workshops at City Library. In these sessions, experts from Bunnings teach our customers a range of crafting skills. These workshops include, Kokedama Balls, Painting Art Canvas and much more!

For Library Lovers Day, Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Belladonna Book Club to produce a series of Book Review videos. 

These reviews were released on the Libraries’ Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as on the Belladonna Book Club’s social media channels.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Barnardos to promote early childhood literacy through the Paint Shellharbour REaD initiative. Paint Shellharbour REaD organises reading days and kids events throughout the year dedicated to fostering a love of reading.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Aruma Disability Services to deliver Library Links. Library Links is a program that aims to invite disability services groups into their local branches to utilise craft and puzzle kits as well as getting to know our collections. Aruma is the first group at the Warilla branch and comes monthly to utilise space, kits and collections with their joined organisation library card.

Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Warrigal Care to deliver Bee Connected, an intergenerational program aimed at forming meaningful connections between young people and seniors in the community through songs, games, reading and crafts. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with the William Campbell Foundation to deliver the Independent Living Skills Program. This program involves teaching foster children integral health and wellbeing skills and knowledge. Additionally, the City Library hosts WCF’s fortnightly Homework Club.

Sydney Writers Festival

Every year, Shellharbour City Libraries partners with the Sydney Writers Festival to deliver author panel livestreams and local events as part of the festival’s Live and Local programming. 

Paint the town read

Shellharbour City Libraries leads Paint Shellharbour REaD, which is part of the Paint the Town REaD network. This initiative aims to promote early childhood literacy by connecting local early childhood education stakeholders and providers and collaborating with them to deliver reading events and activities. 

Little Zaks Bee connected

Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Little Zaks Academy to deliver Bee Connected, an intergenerational program aimed at forming meaningful connections between young people and seniors in the community through songs, games, reading and crafts. 

Frasers Property

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Frasers Property Australia to deliver Toddler Tales, a weekly childhood reading program, at The Waterfront Shell Cove. The libraries have also partnered with Frasers Property Australia to deliver a term of Tech Savvy Seniors at Shell Cove.

Frasers Property

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Frasers Property Australia to deliver Toddler Tales, a weekly childhood reading program, at The Waterfront Shell Cove. The libraries have also partnered with Frasers Property Australia to deliver a term of Tech Savvy Seniors at Shell Cove.

Paint Shellharbour REaD

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Big Fat Smile to deliver Transition to School programs to prepare pre-schoolers for their move into primary school. Big Fat Smile is also a part of the Paint Shellharbour REaD initiative, which organises events that promote early childhood literacy.