COVID-19 Update

Nineteen-year-old Jesse McGowan kills to stay alive.

As a Marine gunner in Vietnam, he knows the gun team is the heart of every battle. Meet the gun team. They serve in a place called Con Thien, “The Hill of Angels.” Learn what gives them the courage to fight another day. Will Jesse prove worthy? Will the gun team? Will they survive their 13-month tour?

In her war-torn country, Tweet, a Vietnamese nurse who believes in democracy, works to save American soldiers. With war’s end, there is no one to protect her or her young daughter. She must escape the North Vietnamese Communists or face a re-education camp and probable death for helping Americans. Will they survive?

Join us upstairs at The Book Loft for a Sip and Sign with local best-selling author Kay Shostak! Enjoy author talk and getting to know all about Kay's latest book–The Shark Did It. Wine will be served, no reservations required.

It’s August on Sophia Island as this fourth book in the Southern Beach Series opens and that means hurricane season is in full swing. Everyone keeps telling Jewel not to worry—yet. That they’ll tell her when it’s time to worry. However, against their advice, she’s staying up late watching The Weather Channel™ and when the latest storm gets a name, well she decides it’s time to worry!

Isabella Stewart's Tangled Vines, Island Crimes is set in the quintessential seaport town of Edgartown on the island of Martha's Vineyard, seven miles off the coast of Cape Cod. In the summer, 120 thousand descend on the island, including many notable celebrities: Jackie Onassis, Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton. But come September, the island shrinks to its year-round population of seventeen thousand hardy souls...some of whom abound in criminal activities.

Parapsychologist, Dr. Jamie Pearce PhD, is the founder of Historic Haunts Investigations. She has been professionally involved in the paranormal for over 25 years, is a Paranormal Investigator, and has a PhD in Parapsychology, and is a member of the Rhine Research Center, MUFON, and the Society for Psychical Research. She is also a member of The Ghost Club which is the oldest paranormal organization in the world. Pearce is also ordained and is a certified Reiki Master. She is a genealogist and her research ability comes in handy on investigations. Pearce studied business, history, and  writing at the University of Virginia. She is also a photographer, conservationist, and scuba diver.

Pearce is also an author of the Paranormal. Historic Haunts Florida, which came out in 2011 and her 2nd book, Historic Haunts of the South was released in 2013, Historic Haunts Florida 2, Historic Haunts of the South 2 in 2014, and Historic Haunts of the South 3 in 2015.  Historic Haunts of the North and Historic Haunts of the Midwest will be out in 2021.

"In celebration of the State of Florida opening up after the Covid epidemic, and since we haven’t been able to have the Shrimp Festival (1st weekend in May) for the last 2 years which honors the “Birthplace of the Modern Shrimping Industry”; the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival Committee in partnership with the City of Fernandina Beach is pleased to be holding: Falling for Shrimp (weekend), Presented by Baptist Medical Center Nassau. This “special event” is NOT the Shrimp Festival nor a replacement for the festival, it’s just a fun weekend event because we’ve missed everyone!" –Shrimp Festival

In his stunning debut collection Third Winter in Our Second Country Andres Rojas writes with pure lyric clarity about the dangerous landscape in which these poems are set. From the beginning of the collection where a “crystal-fanged night” and “unflinching stars “ illume a family photo from which so many are “gone already” to the final poem where his “sea of change is reefed with wrecks” you feel the threat circling and impeding. Through this treacherous landscape, though, the speaker in these poems carries us, confesses to us, and speaks truths back to the past in a way that leaves us haunted.

Andres Rojas: Andres Rojas is the author of the chapbook Looking for What Isn’t There (Paper Nautilus Press Debut Series Winner, 2019) and the audio-only chapbook The Season of the Dead (EAT Poems, 2016). His poetry has been featured in the Best New Poets series and has appeared in, among others, AGNI, Barrow Street, Colorado Review, Massachusetts Review, New England Review, and Poetry

Pamela Bauer Mueller is an award-winning author of books for children and adults who makes her home on Jekyll Island on the Southeast Georgia coast. Over the last decade, she has written and published eight books of fiction and won three Georgia Author of the Year Awards.

Jenny wants to surprise her mom by teaching herself how to fish. Join Jenny on her adventure through a mangrove estuary where she meets several different wading birds including a Snowy Egret, White Ibis, Wood Stork, and Great Blue Heron. Each new friend tries to teach Jenny their fishing method, but Jenny's big spoonbill just won't work like the other birds' bills! Young readers will learn all about Florida's wading birds alongside Jenny, as she discovers important lessons about perseverance and being true to herself

Aboard a sailboat 300 miles at sea, festering suspicions over an illicit love affair lead to heated words, accusations, a shoving match, and a bad fall that leaves the husband unconscious, seemingly lifeless. Mistakenly believing he’s dead, the adulterous couple, Lauren and Blake, makes a grisly and desperate decision to get rid of the body overboard and keep sailing. But the husband, Tim, is rescued hours later by a fishing vessel, barely alive and comatose. The enormity of their deed closes in on them, tormenting them, hounding them from one Caribbean island hideaway to the next. Their affair turns into a harrowing ordeal. Until, in the end, they turn on each other. And in a deadly dance of betrayal, the evil comes full circle.

 Follow baby from day to night- around town and home again- and discover opposites aplenty!
Baby shares an eventful day with her parents and big brother. Follow along as they visit buildings (big and small) and meet new people (some short, some tall). Up, down. Smile, frown. Opposites abound! This simple rhyming story is perfect for little learners discovering the world. 

Please join us for a Sip and Sign with local celebrated author DonnaLee Overly-

Thursday, Oct. 28th at 5p.m. Wine will be served, no reservations required.

 Caregivers are described as angels on earth. 

Gabby King…her fairytale romance collapses when she becomes her husband’s caregiver after his horrific accident. Escaping her painful reality for one night, she seeks comfort in the arms of a former lover…an emotional mistake. Tangled in shame, what can she do to lessen her guilt?

More About Donna:

  DonnaLee worked as a critical care nurse for 20 years before pursuing a degree in studio art from the University of Texas, Austin in 2005. Her passion lies in finding ways to mix her art with words. Her contemporary fiction novels, The KNOT Series I and The KNOT Series II give a voice to difficult issues that are often hushed. When she is not painting or playing tennis, she’s busy writing.

Visit the author at her website, www.DonnaLeeOverly.com.

Secret Jacksonville: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure is dedicated to telling the stories behind forgotten, mysterious and just plain interesting spots across Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Fernandina Beach and the surrounding communities. Here you’ll find out where you can see a long forgotten Florida waterfall with connections to Jacksonville’s founder, and learn why there’s a tombstone in the middle of a neighborhood sidewalk. You’ll hear the stories behind local delicacies like Jacksonville-style garlic crabs, datil peppers, Mayport shrimp and camel rider sandwiches. And of course, you’ll learn what exactly is up with that orange roadside dinosaur everyone’s always talking about.

Jacksonville writer Bill Delaney has a deep passion for his hometown and a keen interest in underrepresented stories. From folklore to history and everything in between, join him to explore a side of the Bold City you can only find by leaving the well-trodden path.

DATE: Nov. 12th 

TIME: 11a.m.

LOCATION: Downstairs at The Book Loft

Celebrity chef, artist, and author Jacques Pépin will return to Amelia Island for a book signing on Nov. 12th 11AM at The Book Loft.

The Pépin’s first came to Amelia for an extended stay in 2012 for the international Pétanque Amelia Island Open. With 28 cookbooks and several famous cooking shows, Jacques is celebrated internationally for his culinary success. Later he would become know for his remarkable paintings that would capture the attention of artists and admirers from all around.
Considering COVID-19 and its impact on the food and beverage industry, Jacques encourages those who can give to donate to The Jacques Pépin Foundation. The JPF supports community kitchens that offer free life skills and culinary training to adults with high barriers to employment, including previous incarceration, homelessness, substance abuse issues, low skill and education attainment and lack of work history.
Join the JPF family as a member to support our educational programs and grants for your neighbors in need. As a member, you will gain access to unparalleled content, including our Webby Award finalist video recipe book, featuring recipes and video instruction from the most renowned chefs. Become a donor today at https://jp.foundation/

Please join us at The Book Loft  for an evening of book talk with Michael Almond to celebrate his new novel The Tannery. Wine will be served, no reservations required.

 July 5, 1900, Wilkes County, North Carolina: The beautiful young daughter of tannery owner Jakob Schumann is found dead on the north bank of the Yadkin River, brutally beaten, a skinning knife in her chest.

Who killed Rachel Schumann? And why? Ambitious Wilkes prosecutor Vincent Taliaferro has arrested Virgil Wade, a mixed-race boy, and is convinced the case is open and shut. But local lawyer Ben Waterman is not so sure. Ben's investigation uncovers evidence that undermines the prosecutor's case and points in an entirely different direction. But can I prove it? Can he convince an all-White, all-male jury of Virgil's innocence?

The Tannery transports readers to the turbulent world of the post-Reconstruction South. Reflecting issues prominent in today's headlines, themes of Black voter suppression and intimidation, the violence and depravity of vigilante "justice," and the rise of Jim Crow drive the narrative to its dramatic and surprising conclusion.

Please join us at The Book Loft  for an evening of book talk with E. Louise Jaques to celebrate her new novel Her Tuscan Sister. Wine will be served, no reservations required.

  In Her Tuscan Sister, the sudden death of her brother Jim, and the subsequent discovery of a half-sister living in Tuscany, up end Catherine (Cat) Emerson's tranquil life. Since Cat refuses to fly-even in a post-pandemic world- her Tuscan sister Luna Bianchi and Nico, Luna's soon-to-be adopted son, travel to Amelia Island, Florida to join Cat. On the flight, Luna and Nico meet Sam Lawrence who's a dead-ringer for Cat's high school boyfriend. A romance blossoms between Cat and Sam.

The Book Loft's new book group, "What's Next?" is a book club dedicated to sharing your current read to other book lovers from all around!

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