oh man, I can't remember if this was an issue I had, but one time bookworm didn't install right.
I had a problem with a sound driver in bookworm, but the details have faded.
So try uninstalling it by deleting local files (right click)
Then close steam.
Then make sure any folders with bookworm name are removed/deleted.
Reboot.
Reinstall.
Then you want to turn off the STEAM overlay for that program, it may be an issue; it stops the F12 screenshots and simplifies the connection, I think. How to do that... I will go look and repost as I do not remember of the top of my head.

ok
right click game - properties - general - deselect Enable the Steam Overlay

Yeah sadly It still doesnt work. This is what I keep getting

http://imgur.com/KukBql6

I'm in the same boat as you Zod. I was actually playing the game fine last night (and I have played it fine multiple times in the past on this particular laptop) but I logged on it today and I get stuck now on "Please wait, unpacking sounds...." Funny thing is I didn't do anything to the computer to change any settings or anything. Hehe.

I am also having problem with the game for two days now!!! somebody help!!!

Same problem. It affected other Popcap games as well. Bejeweled Deluxe now gives an access violation. Zuma will not load. Started yesterday 02/03/2016

Most PopCap games broke after the update yesterday. The update today didn't fix this issue. Here is a work-around until Steam decides that paying customers are imporant.

To reiterate: This IS NOT a PopCap problem. This is a Steam problem. Only Steam can fix it.

The work-around I've found that works: (thanks to Prophet)

... try to open the game in windowed mode
type "regedit" into the Windows run bar or the search bar that appears when you click on Start in Windows
then open:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SteamPopCap\PlantsVsZombies (or Zuma, or Bejeweled, or whatever game you are currently having problems with)
double click to open the ScreenMode file and change ScreenMode to 0
exit the registry editor.

This is the ONLY thing I've found that continually works. If you want to play in full screen mode, you will have to open in windowed mode after changing the registry as detailed above, then open full screen mode, play, then change back to windowed mode before exiting. You will have to do this EVERY TIME or the game will crash. If you close the game on full screen mode, the next time you play it, it will crash.

ShellyBean75, I thank you and my wife thanks you. It worked! Cheers!!

My Bookworm Deluxe experienced the very same problem after the recent Steam update.

Even though ShellyBean75's solution enables to play the Bookworm Deluxe in windowed mode and as described above, to play in full screen you have to edit the registry every time. And that get's annoying and fast.

So, me and my BFF were doing some trial and error and we found out why Bookworm Deluxe (and probably all other PopCap games) won't work anymore.

Some Steam games will work without Steam if you go to that game's folder and launch the game directly.
All games by default are located: C:/SteamLibary/steamapps/common/
In case of Bookworm Deluxe, it's: C:/SteamLibary/steamapps/common/Bookworm Deluxe/

If you were using ShellyBean75's solution then just make sure that under the registry, ScreenMode is set back to 1. (So, that you can play in full screen again.)

So, when you try to launch game directly you should get an error message that says something about "steam.dll" cannot be found.

The file "steam.dll" is located under: C:/SteamLibary/
Just copy-paste the "steam.dll" into game's folder and that's it.

Afterwards you can resume playing your games via Steam without the need to launch them directly.

Do note that it was tested on only Bookworm Deluxe (since it was the game that gave us problems) and i'm not sure if this fix would work on other PopCap games also.

All the credits go for Ariadne for founding the fix!

--
Aesyle

@Aesyle

Great catch. However, that solution seems to only work if launching directly from the .exe and not from steam. At least for me I still cannot load up in fullscreen.

I had the same results when trying to run directly from the exe. It wouldnt run as I indicated. With ShellyBeans fix, it plays in Windowed mode and my wife doesnt mind as long as it works!

@drunken_drake
Tested it some more and you're correct, game runs fine when launched directly and freezes when launched from Steam. (I've set the ScreenMode's value to 1 and it works for me in full screen @1920x1080.)

@General Zod
Are you getting the missing *.dll error or game just freezes while loading when you launch it directly?

I think we won't get permanent fix until another Steam update comes. Since it was the last Steam update that broke some of our games.

--
Aesyle

This is what I was getting. But it works now:

http://imgur.com/KukBql6

@General Zod
That's the very same freeze screen that i still get when i try to launch Bookworm Deluxe straigt from my Steam library. But the game doesn't freeze when i launch it directly from the bookworm.exe file from the game's folder.

--
Aesyle

To anyone who owned Reddit, please upvote a comment to make this post visible.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/4810dk/dear_valvepopcapeaanyone_who_in_charge_for_the

Thanks.