Windy City Bags

Sara Lawson, author of the top-selling Big-City Bags, presents a new collection of high-fashion designs. Expand your skills with patterns for 12 sophisticated bags that make impressive gifts.

Ready to move beyond basic bags and totes? Now you can create sophisticated handbags and totes with a modern look. Learn a variety of intermediate to advanced techniques--from installing zippers and magnetic snaps to creating adjustable straps--and find detailed info on selecting the right interfacing, stabilizer, or batting for any project. Choose from 12 new designer-style bags and purses--alternate colorways provide additional inspiration Make use of clearly illustrated, well-tested patterns for sewing attractive bags Add stylish design elements that make your bags stand out: piping, three-dimensional pockets, fabric pleats, and more

Renee is young and beautiful Chicagoan with a successful career and a gorgeous man. She seems to have life figured out and mastered. Her obsession with her career finally pushes her lover of six years away, causing Renee to slowly unravel. It becomes apparent that she is not the picture-perfect woman everyone thinks she is. In fact, she has a very dark and scandalous past. Through flashbacks, visions, and a supernatural encounter with the deceased grandmother that she was raised by, Renee is forced to relive the pain of being abandoned by her mother as a toddler and the shame of the gutter lifestyle of stripping and hustling that she narrowly escaped. Will Renee be able to salvage her relationship with the love of her life while simultaneously fighting the demons of her past? Windy City Woes is extremely entertaining and stimulating in many ways. It subtly grips the reader, taking you on an emotional roller coaster ride with lots of surprises. It ultimately forces you to think about facing your own skeletons and repressed memories - Mary V.

The trusted leader in test preparation offers targeted practice and review for students studying for the challenging Analytical Writing sections of the GRE and GMAT exams.

Best-selling and award-winning authors Jerry Jenkins and Chris Fabry grab the attention of kids in these fast-paced, exciting books. Watch out! The Timberline twins are on the loose. Bryce and Ashley are 13-year-old twins from Colorado who unearth action-packed mystery and adventure wherever they go. The twins' growing faith and the strong example of their parents guide them through even the most life-threatening situations. With the trademark page-turner style used by Jerry Jenkins and Chris Fabry in the Left Behind: The Kids series, these fast-paced books will keep even reluctant readers on the edge of their seats. Readers will definitely be hooked! Perfect for ages 8–12. This set includes Books 10–12 in the 15-Book Red Rock Mysteries series: Escaping Darkness: An unfamiliar car runs Bryce Timberline off a back road. He and Ashley discover a secret that puts them in a race against time to save lives. Will they be able to get help without becoming victims themselves? Windy City Danger: It has been years since Bryce and Ashley Timberline have been to their hometown. This trip to Chicago presents a new mystery when a family friend disappears. Can they unravel the clues and find him before it’s too late? Hollywood Holdup: A family crisis causes Bryce and Ashley Timberline to volunteer to house-sit for some friends, but as soon as they move in, they notice strange happenings with the neighbors. Could one of them be involved in a series of robberies?

The place: Chicago, Illinois. The year: 1937. A city struggles to recover from the lawless legacy of Prohibition and the destructive aftermath of the Great Depression. The inequities of race and social class are vast and growing. In a rigidly segregated society, the average citizen keeps to his own kind, keeps his head down, and toils just to make ends meet. During this turbulent time, a young European immigrant labors in obscurity, deep within the teeming confines of the Pilsen district. He dreams of being a professional prizefighter. The young man’s prospects are few until he befriends an elderly African American boxer who operates a small gym on the city’s west side. The old man recognizes championship potential in the boy and agrees to coach him, molding him into a first class athlete. Together, the unlikely pair chase the elusive goal of a Middleweight Crown. Across town, another young man has a mentor of a different sort. One who schools him in the fine art of the “quick buck”. This boy, rescued from abject poverty, pursues wealth and power with ruthless zeal, surrendering to the darker side of human nature. Abandoning all compassion, he eagerly embraces a life of crime and brutality. A disillusioned Detective, grappling with a deep personal grief has become obsessed with fighting crime. His work has become his solace, his only virtue, his redemption. Exceeding the bounds of his authority, he fanatically persecutes the criminals of his precinct, setting him on a dangerous path of confrontation and violence. When these worlds collide, loyalty is forsaken and heartfelt dreams are crushed. A life is taken. This is a tale of good versus evil, of sacrifice and righteousness and love. This is a story of happiness and heartbreak and darkness. This Windy City Nocturne.

Thought Provoking Writing is a literary collection of life experiences and lessons by Winston Cockburn also known as The Writer.

The acclaimed author of the intensely powerful novel Pretty Birds, Scott Simon now gives us a story that is both laugh-out-loud funny and heart-piercing–as sprawling and brawling as Chicago, where politics is a contact sport. The mayor of Chicago is found in his office late at night, sitting in his boxer shorts, facedown dead in a pizza. The mayor was a hero and a rascal: dynamic, charming, ingenious, corruptible, and a masterly manipulator. The city mourns. But it’s discovered that the mayor was murdered–shortly after he may have begun to squeal on some of his colleagues at City Hall. Over the next four days, police race to find the mayor’s killer, while the politicians who bemoan his passing scramble for his throne.