2026 Books and Brunch

James Beard Award-winning restaurateur Kevin Boehm has opened 40 restaurants in his 30-year career. He's worked with hard-core line cooks and celebrity chefs, suffered embarrassing setbacks, and won Michelin stars. Today his Boka Group is one of the most successful restaurant companies in the world.

But Boehm's path was a complicated one. A turbulent family life and a shocking revelation about his father drove him out into the world in search of a home. He found one in restaurants. Amidst other gifted and damaged people, he discovered the magic of hospitality and the thrill of a dining room on the edge of chaos.

The Bottomless Cup is Boehm's vibrant, funny and frank account of a life in and out of restaurants. This is a memoir about dropping out and finding your place, about opening nights and what comes after, about chefs, partners, guests, and critics. The Bottomless Cup is a story of ambition and adrenaline, of reaching remarkable highs and reckoning with the costs.

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

By Elizabeth Berg. As ninety-two-year-old Florence "Flo" Greene nears the end of her life, she writes a letter to Ruthie, the woman who grew up next door to her, describing the items Flo is leaving Ruthie in her will. But as it goes on, telling surprising stories about those "little" things Flo will leave behind (What could possibly be the worth of a rubber band kept in a matchbox tied up in red ribbon?), an unforgettable portrait of the life she has lived emerges.

The letter starts off as an autobiography in things, but it turns out to do much more than that: ultimately, it will transform Flo and those around her. In the time she has left, Flo decides to take herself up on tiny dares.

Full of Elizabeth Berg's characteristic mix of warmth, humor, and poignancy, Life: A Love Story is a reminder that whatever your circumstances, as long as you're alive, you can keep on investing in life. The joy will inevitably follow.

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

By David Ellis. A wickedly clever and fast-paced novel of greed, revenge, obsession--and quite possibly the perfect murder.

Simon and Vicky couldn't seem more normal: a wealthy Chicago couple, he a respected law professor, she an advocate for domestic violence victims. A stable, if unexciting marriage. But one thing's for sure: absolutely nothing is what it seems. The pair are far from normal, and one of them just may be a killer.

When the body of a beautiful socialite is found hanging in a mansion in a nearby suburb, Simon and Vicky's secrets begin to unravel.

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

By David Ellis. A wickedly clever and fast-paced novel of greed, revenge, obsession--and quite possibly the perfect murder.

Simon and Vicky couldn't seem more normal: a wealthy Chicago couple, he a respected law professor, she an advocate for domestic violence victims. A stable, if unexciting marriage. But one thing's for sure: absolutely nothing is what it seems. The pair are far from normal, and one of them just may be a killer.

When the body of a beautiful socialite is found hanging in a mansion in a nearby suburb, Simon and Vicky's secrets begin to unravel.

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

A new domestic thriller by David Ellis about betrayal and murder inside one twisted family.

Siblings Allison and Luke have been through a lot together. They've always stood by each other. They'd do anything for each other.

Or so it seems.

When Allison's husband, Finley, is murdered, the investigation threatens to expose the siblings' darkest secrets. An illicit affair. A decades-old accident. A stunning deception. How do these events explain Finley's death? How far will Allison and Luke go to keep their secrets buried? And can the siblings even trust one another anymore?

As the investigation winds tighter and past and present collide, the most shocking betrayal might lie a little too close to home.

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

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By David Ellis. Leo Balanoff is a crusading attorney with unthinkable skeletons in his closet. He's also a diagnosed pathological liar. When a predatory gangster with a long list of victims is found dead and Leo's fingerprints show up on the murder weapon, no one believes a word he says in his defense. But he might be the FBI's only shot at taking down the gangster's even more lethal boss.

Risk his life going undercover for the feds or head straight to prison for murder? Leo accepts the FBI's offer--but it comes with a price, including a collision course with his ex, Andi Piotrowski, a former cop and "the one who got away." Anyone else forced to walk this tightrope between an ambitious FBI agent and a cruel, calculating crime boss would fail. But this isn't Leo's first balancing act, and he still has a few tricks up his sleeve...

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

By David Ellis. Leo Balanoff is a crusading attorney with unthinkable skeletons in his closet. He's also a diagnosed pathological liar. When a predatory gangster with a long list of victims is found dead and Leo's fingerprints show up on the murder weapon, no one believes a word he says in his defense. But he might be the FBI's only shot at taking down the gangster's even more lethal boss.

Risk his life going undercover for the feds or head straight to prison for murder? Leo accepts the FBI's offer--but it comes with a price, including a collision course with his ex, Andi Piotrowski, a former cop and "the one who got away." Anyone else forced to walk this tightrope between an ambitious FBI agent and a cruel, calculating crime boss would fail. But this isn't Leo's first balancing act, and he still has a few tricks up his sleeve...

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

By David Ellis. A little girl, snatched from her bed in the dead of night...

They knew who killed her. They couldn't prove it. 26 years later, her brother Sammy doesn't care about proof. He only cares about justice. Now, only his childhood best friend, attorney Jason Kolarich, can save Sammy from a life sentence for killing a killer.

To defend Sammy, Jason must do what authorities could not, decades ago--prove the guilt of the pedophile who killed Sammy's sister.

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

David Ellis's Line of Vision won the 2002 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel by an American Author.

Marty Kalish is a young man suffocating in the heat of an affair with a married woman named Rachel. When Rachel's husband disappears one night, Marty is one of the first to be questioned. With few likely suspects, the police arrest him for murder. We know Marty was outside their home that night. We know he has a motive. We know he's guilty of something. But is it murder?

Everything we have learned--about Marty as a man, his affair with Rachel, and the night in question--comes from Marty himself. But as the trial unfolds to a jaw-dropping conclusion, we learn that there is more to the truth than one man's narrow line of vision.

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

By Andrea Thome. Delilah Spencer is a rolling stone. A big city attorney from Chicago on a temporary work assignment in Sunflower, Montana.

Ranger Beckham's Sunflower roots run deep. Three generations to be exact. The high school band director and single father is adrift, fresh out of a marriage of convenience. He's all but given up on finding true love.

Until he bumps into Delilah, the fixer with trust issues who has a hard and fast rule: never get attached to the places she visits or the people in them. They strike a deal when the chemistry between them burns too hot to ignore, convincing themselves they'll be able to part as friends when Delilah's gig is up, no matter how scorching things get between them.

Will Delilah break her own rules and finally put down roots, or will she cut and run when her contract is up, leaving Ranger and the life she never knew she wanted in the rearview mirror?

A small-town, friends-to-lovers, found-family, single-dad romance, Mine Again is the first book in the Sunflower Series.

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

By Andrea Thome. Can broken hearts risk love again?

India's life has always gone according to plan. But when she decides to call off her high-profile wedding and take time off from her network television job, everything turns upside down. A tranquil resort in the moody Smoky Mountains was supposed to be a place she could hide out and lick her wounds. Instead she finds herself questioning everything she ever thought she wanted.

Wyatt is a man with scars that run deep. He's built a careful life for himself, and he has no intention of letting anyone get close to him . . . again.

But what happens when two people who are running away from love run right into one another? Will the intense chemistry they feel be enough to overpower their fears? Or will their time together in Tennessee end with broken hearts?

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

By Andrea Thome. Who can we count on? The family we're born into, or the one we create for ourselves?

Renowned chef Laina Ming walked away from the culinary spotlight and an unhealthy relationship--one that still haunts her a year later. She's trying to start fresh in the Rocky Mountains, opening a concept restaurant on the banks of the Roaring Fork River, where she hopes she'll be able to express her passion for food and bury her heartache.

Horse rancher Logan Matthews moved to Aspen to be near his sister and her husband, grateful for his newfound family. Since a chance meeting with Laina the previous summer, Logan's been enchanted. But she doesn't want anything to do with him--which makes her all the more appealing.

Despite Laina's efforts to protect her heart, Logan has been on her mind, too--and he has a way of turning up in the most unexpected places. Can they learn to trust one another and finally find the sense of belonging they've both been searching for?

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

By Andrea Thome. Winner of a 2018 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award.

Is it more important to have roots, or wings?

Garrett Oliver has just settled into his job as heir apparent to one of the most renowned master gardeners in the country. After a difficult few years, he's found a home and a renewed purpose at a famed resort in the secluded Smoky Mountains. The stars seem to be aligning for Garrett as he plans a future with his college sweetheart and envisions a simple life with her in the mountains of East Tennessee.

Willow Armstrong, fresh off a painful breakup, is coming home to Knoxville to care for her ailing father. She finds herself in the right place at the right time, landing a dream job alongside Garrett--as his boss. As they are thrown together by their work, an undeniable magnetism grows between them, despite the fact that Garrett is ready to start a future with someone else. Circumstances persist in drawing them closer, and an unexpected opportunity in Colorado prompts Willow and Garrett to wonder if a life together out west might be beyond anything either of them had dared to imagine.

** If you cannot be with us at the live event, and you buy this item, you will need to collect your book(s) from our office at 120 E Ogden Ave. Suite 100 Hinsdale IL (630-321-2529) on Wednesday, Nov. 11th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Thursday, Nov. 12th between 5:00 - 7:00 pm, or Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 10:00 - 3:00. You may be asked to provide ID. Failure to claim items within 3 weeks of the event will result in forfeiture of the items.

Pre-purchase a bottle of wine for delivery to your table when you sit down for lunch.

Pre-purchase a bottle of wine for delivery to your table when you sit down for lunch.

Pre-purchase a bottle of wine for delivery to your table when you sit down for lunch.

Pre-purchase a bottle of wine for delivery to your table when you sit down for lunch.