'Everybody remembers where they were the day they heard that Paddy de Courcy was getting married'. But for four women in particular, the big news about the charismatic politician is especially momentous... Stylist Lola has every reason to be interested in who Paddy's marrying - because she's his girlfriend, yet she definitely isn't the bride-to-be. Journalist Grace wants the inside story on the de Courcy engagement and thinks Lola holds the key... while Grace's sister, Marnie, still can't forget her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy. And what of the soon-to-be Mrs de Courcy? Alicia will do anything for her fiancé and is determined to be the perfect wife. But does she know the real Paddy? Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And the dark secret that binds them all...
Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig's final achievement, completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only days before his suicide in 1942. It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological.
Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig's story. This new translation of Chess Story brings out the work's unusual mixture of high suspense and poignant reflection.
In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa's powers for his own dark ends.
With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister's war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, but her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.
Tricks explores the lives of five teenagers from different parts of the country. The group consists of three girls and two guys, with a mix of sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds, and family situations. They are all navigating their lives the best they can, each searching for something: freedom, safety, community, family, love. However, what they do not anticipate is the complexity and potential danger that comes with saying "I love you" for all the wrong reasons.
The narrative begins with each story separate, but as the plot progresses, these stories intertwine to form a larger, powerful narrative. This book delves into the choices we make, the leaps of faith we take, the lows we fall to, and the process of growing up. It's a poignant exploration of what sex and love mean for young people, at all costs, while grappling with the question, "Can I ever feel okay about myself?"
Ellie is horrified to discover the pharmaceutical company she works for is doing illegal experiments. Company scientists have spliced human and animal DNA, creating exotic new species. One such “experiment” captures her heart and she’ll do anything to save him—even if he hates her for it.
Fury has never known compassion or love. He’s spent his life in a cell, chained and abused by humans. The one woman he allowed himself to trust betrayed him. Now he’s free and set on vengeance. He vows to end her life but when she’s finally in his grasp, harming her is the last thing he wants to do to the sexy little human.
Fury can’t resist Ellie—the touch of her hands, her mouth on his skin, her body wrapped around his. He’s obsessed with the scent of his woman. And Ellie wants Fury—always has. She craves his big, powerful body and wants to heal his desolate heart. But loving Fury is one thing…taming him is another.
A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.
Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone—one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship —tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.
Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.
Justice North is the face of New Species. Seeing him up close makes Jessie's heart race. He's the ultimate alpha male—big, muscular, exotically beautiful...and dangerous. Of course, he's off limits. But then the sexy man purrs and all bets are off.
Jessie Dupree is a mouthy, fiery human female who brings out the animal in Justice. She wants to show him how to relax, and he's all for anything she wants to do. However, Justice has sworn to protect his people and to take a Species mate. He's torn between the woman he wants and the oath he's taken.
Jessie knows a relationship between them probably won't end well; heartbreak is inevitable. But that won't stop her from freeing the wildness inside Justice and spending every moment she can steal wrapped around his hot body, making him roar with passion.
Reader Advisory: Each New Species book may be read as a standalone, but we suggest reading them in order to get the most enjoyment from the series.
It is astonishing that anyone lived this story. It is even more astonishing that anyone survived it. Stefan grows up in the grip of a raging famine. Stalin’s Five Year Plan brings genocide to Ukraine – millions of people starve to death. To free themselves from the daily terrors of Soviet rule, Stefan and his friends fight imaginary battles in nearby woods to defend their land. The games they play are their only escape.
Sliding on the Snow Stone is the true story of Stefan's extraordinary journey across a landscape of hunger, fear and devastating loss. With Europe on the brink of World War Two, Stefan and his family pray they'll survive in their uncertain world. They long to be free.
In 1932-33, as part of their drive towards industrialisation, the Soviet Union demanded impossibly high requisitions of grain from rural areas in Ukraine. In a deliberate act of genocide, Ukrainian smallholdings were stripped of food, and the population began to perish, with some estimates as high as 10 million deaths, from starvation. In Ukraine, this atrocity became known as the Holodomor (death by hunger). The following years saw Soviet purges and terrors resulting in the elimination of academics and intellectuals, or of anyone who spoke out against Soviet rule. When World War Two arrived on Ukraine’s doorstep, many people viewed the Nazis as liberators – a view that was quickly proved wrong. Sliding on the Snow Stone is Stefan’s personal account of a historical period drenched in the blood of a nation, and of his yearning for freedom.
THEY KILLED THE KING. THEY PINNED IT ON TWO MEN. THEY CHOSE POORLY.
There's no ancient evil to defeat or orphan destined for greatness, just unlikely heroes and classic adventure. Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, are two enterprising rogues who end up running for their lives when they're framed for the murder of the king. Trapped in a conspiracy that goes beyond the overthrow of a tiny kingdom, their only hope is unraveling an ancient mystery before it's too late.
He counts her smiles every day and night at the train station. Morning and evening, the beautiful commuter acknowledges him—just like she does everyone else on the platform. But Blake Hartt is not like the others... he’s homeless.
Memories of a broken childhood have robbed him of peace and twisted delusions into his soul. He stays secluded from the sun, sure the world would run from him in the harsh light of day.
Each day, Livia McHugh smiles politely and acknowledges her fellow commuters as she waits for the train to the city. She dismisses this kindness as nothing special, just like her. She’s the same as a million other girls—certainly no one to be cherished. But special or not, she smiles every day, never imagining that someone would rely on the simple gesture as if it were air to breathe.
When the moment comes that Livia must do more than smile, without hesitation she steps into the fray to defend the homeless man. And she's surprised to discover an inexplicable connection with her new friend. After danger subsides, their smiles become conversation. Their words usher in a friendship, which awakens something in each of them.
But it’s not long before their bond must prove its strength. Entanglements from the past challenge both their love and their lives. Blake’s heart beats for Livia’s, even if her hands have to keep its rhythm.
In an interwoven tale of unlikely loves and relationships forged by fire, Debra Anastasia takes readers into the darkest corners of human existence, only to show them the radiant power of pure adoration and true sacrifice. Complicated families and confused souls find their way to light in this novel, which manages to be racy, profane, funny, and reverent all at once.
The Chronicle of Sapta Sindhu is perhaps, India's first proto-historical novel and tells us the tale of the people of Indus Valley and its adjoining cities. It narrates a story of how the people of Sapta Sindhu unite to face the challenges of natural disasters and the Greek invasion, in the year 950BC. A wonderful tale of valor, adventure, faith, love, romance, wars, peace, Rudreeshwar, the discovery of Sanjivini, Wars at Zahaden, Zarang and Zabol (all in Afghanistan).
It also helps us understand the political development of our nation. Moreover, the Rig Veda and Avesta (Zoroastrian holy book) find a prominent place in this book. In times of wars and strife, it speaks of peace and culture, highlighting the places like Iraq (Mesopotamia), Iran (Arianna), Plains of River Helmand (Afghanistan), Syria, Jordan, which were once the cradle of civilization and are now termed as rogue nations.
It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long—at least, up until last November, when Josh did something that changed everything. Things have been weird between them ever since, but when Josh's family gets a free AOL CD in the mail, his mom makes him bring it over so that Emma can install it on her new computer.
When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto their Facebook pages. But Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And they're looking at themselves fifteen years in the future. By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later.
As they grapple with the ups and downs of what their futures hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right—and wrong—in the present.
Hazel stands at a crossroads. She and the remaining crew of the Argo II could return home with the Athena Parthenos statue and try to stop Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter from going to war. Or they could continue their quest to find the House of Hades, where they might be able to open the Doors of Death, rescue their friends Percy and Annabeth from Tartarus, and prevent monsters from being reincarnated in the mortal world. Whichever road they decide to take, they have to hurry, because time is running out. Gaea, the bloodthirsty Earth Mother, has set the date of August 1 for her rise to power.
Annabeth and Percy are overwhelmed. How will the two of them make it through Tartarus? Starving, thirsty, and in pain, they are barely able to stumble on in the dark and poisonous landscape that holds new horrors at every turn. They have no way of locating the Doors of Death. Even if they did, a legion of Gaea's strongest monsters guards the Doors on the Tartarus side. Annabeth and Percy can't exactly launch a frontal assault.
Despite the terrible odds, Hazel, Annabeth, Percy, and the other demigods of the prophecy know that there is only one choice: to attempt the impossible. Not just for themselves, but for everyone they love. Even though love can be the riskiest choice of all.
Join the demigods as they face their biggest challenges yet in The House of Hades, the hair-raising penultimate book in the best-selling Heroes of Olympus series.
Lacey Yeager is young, captivating, and ambitious enough to take the NYC art world by storm. Groomed at Sotheby's and hungry to keep climbing the social and career ladders put before her, Lacey charms men and women, old and young, rich and even richer with her magnetic charisma and liveliness.
Her ascension to the highest tiers of the city parallels the soaring heights—and, at times, the dark lows—of the art world and the country from the late 1990s through today.
Greg Heffley is in big trouble. School property has been damaged, and Greg is the prime suspect. But the crazy thing is, he’s innocent. Or at least sort of. The authorities are closing in, but when a surprise blizzard hits, the Heffley family is trapped indoors.
Greg knows that when the snow melts, he’s going to have to face the music, but could any punishment be worse than being stuck inside with your family for the holidays?
Chaos Walking: A Trilogy brings together the three captivating books of the Chaos Walking series: The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, and Monsters of Men. Dive into a world filled with suspense, adventure, and thought-provoking themes.
Experience the unforgettable journey of Todd Hewitt and Viola Eade as they navigate through a dystopian world where everyone's thoughts are audible. This trilogy is a thrilling exploration of power, control, and the resilience of the human spirit.
Join Todd and Viola on their epic quest that has captured the hearts of readers worldwide.
Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and no one knows this better than New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who the killer is, or why the victims have been offed, but what is clear is that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list.
Short on time to find the murderer, Stephanie is also under pressure from family and friends to choose between her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and the bad boy in her life, security expert Ranger. Stephanie’s mom wants her to dump them both for a former high school football star who’s just returned to town. Stephanie’s sidekick, Lula, suggests a red-hot boudoir “bake-off.” And Joe’s old-world grandmother gives Stephanie “the eye,” which may mean that it’s time to get out of town.
With a cold-blooded killer after her, a handful of hot men, and a capture list that includes a dancing bear and a senior citizen vampire, Stephanie’s life looks like it’s about to go up in smoke.
Greek Lessons tells the story of two ordinary people brought together at a moment of private anguish—the fading light of a man losing his vision meeting the silence of a woman who has lost her language. In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, as he is also grappling with his own plight—losing his sight.
For her, the pain is multifaceted: the loss of both her mother and custody of her nine-year-old son within a short span of time. For him, it stems from growing up between Korea and Germany, the conflict between two cultures and languages, and the fear of losing independence. Yet, through their shared suffering, they form a profound connection. Their voices intersect with startling beauty as they move from darkness to light, from silence to breath and expression.
Greek Lessons is a tender love letter to human intimacy and connection—a novel to awaken the senses, one that vividly conjures the essence of what it means to be alive.
The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector's consummate final novel, may well be her masterpiece. Narrated by the cosmopolitan Rodrigo S.M., this brief, strange, and haunting tale is the story of Macabéa, one of life's unfortunates.
Living in the slums of Rio de Janeiro and eking out a poor living as a typist, Macabéa loves movies, Coca-Cola, and her rat of a boyfriend; she would like to be like Marilyn Monroe, but she is ugly, underfed, sickly, and unloved. Rodrigo recoils from her wretchedness, and yet he cannot avoid the realization that for all her outward misery, Macabéa is inwardly free. She doesn't seem to know how unhappy she should be.
Lispector employs her pathetic heroine against her urbane, empty narrator—edge of despair to edge of despair—and, working them like a pair of scissors, she cuts away the reader's preconceived notions about poverty, identity, love, and the art of fiction. In her last novel, she takes readers close to the true mystery of life, and leaves us deep in Lispector territory indeed.
Stephen King’s #1 bestselling time-travel novel—now a limited series on Hulu starring James Franco! On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back?
In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King—who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer—takes readers on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching GED classes. He asks his students to write about an event that changed their lives, and one essay blows him away—a gruesome, harrowing story about the night more than fifty years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a sledgehammer. Reading the essay is a watershed moment for Jake, his life—like Harry’s, like America’s in 1963—turning on a dime.
Not much later his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958. And Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in a different world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere. From the dank little city of Derry, Maine (where there’s Dunning business to conduct), to the warmhearted small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love, every turn is leading eventually, of course, to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore. Time-travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.
Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds.
Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history—or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice.
One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.
The Inheritance Cycle is a thrilling collection of four books that follow the journey of Eragon, a young farm boy who discovers his destiny as a Dragon Rider. This epic saga unfolds as Eragon transforms from a humble farmhand into a skilled swordsman, battling alongside his dragon, Saphira, to save the Empire from the clutches of evil.
Across these pages, readers will embark on an adventure filled with magic, friendship, and courage. Eragon's quest takes him through mystical landscapes, where he encounters both allies and formidable foes. The series is a testament to the power of hope and the strength of the human spirit.
Join Eragon as he navigates the complexities of war, loyalty, and love, making choices that will shape the fate of Alagaësia. Christopher Paolini weaves a captivating tale that will resonate with readers of all ages, inviting them to believe in the extraordinary.
The Time In Between is a captivating and sweeping novel that catapulted María Dueñas, a debut author, to the top of Spain's bestseller lists. This story combines the storytelling power of The Shadow of the Wind with the irresistible romance of Casablanca, moving at an unstoppable pace.
Suddenly left abandoned and penniless in Morocco by her lover, Sira Quiroga forges a new identity. Against all odds, she becomes the most sought-after couture designer for the socialite wives of German Nazi officers. But soon, she is embroiled in a dangerous political conspiracy as she passes information to the British Secret Service through a code stitched into the hems of her dresses.
Moments after several huge earthquakes shake every continent on Earth, something strange starts happening to some people. An inner rage has been released, and some people cannot fight it. For those who can, life becomes an ongoing battle to survive - at any cost!
Four teens struggle to survive in an apocalyptic world gone mad. Since the beginning of mankind, civilizations have fallen: the Romans, the Greeks, the Aztecs…and now us. Huge earthquakes rock the world. Cities are destroyed. But something even more awful is happening: An ancient evil has been unleashed, and it’s turning everyday people into hunters, killers, and crazies.
This is the world Aries, Clementine, Michael, and Mason are living in—or rather, trying to survive. Each is fleeing unspeakable horror, from murderous chaos to brutal natural disasters, and each is traveling the same road in a world gone mad. Amid the throes of the apocalypse and clinging to love and meaning wherever it can be found, these four teens are on a journey into the heart of darkness—and to find each other and a place of safety.
Clouds are brewing over Cadogan House, and recently turned vampire Merit can’t tell if this is the darkness before the dawn or the calm before the storm. With the city itself in turmoil over paranormals and the state threatening to pass a paranormal registration act, times haven’t been this precarious for vampires since they came out of the closet. If only they could lay low for a bit, and let the mortals calm down.
That’s when the waters of Lake Michigan suddenly turn pitch black—and things really start getting ugly. Chicago’s mayor insists it’s nothing to worry about, but Merit knows only the darkest magic could have woven a spell powerful enough to change the very fabric of nature. She’ll have to turn to friends old and new to find out who’s behind this, and stop them before it’s too late for vampires and humans alike.
It began with Eragon... It ends with Inheritance. Not so very long ago, Eragon — Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider — was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders.
Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chance.
The Rider and his dragon have come further than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaësia? And if so, at what cost?
Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?”
Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you’ve come to the right book, mostly!
In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka.
Raising the dead is easy. Love is hard...
There are many reasons to raise the dead—some private, some public. In this case, the feds have a witness who died before he could testify. They want him raised so his testimony can be taken. So, here I am, on a plane to Philadelphia, flying off to do my job. But I'm not alone. Micah is with me.
Micah, head of the St. Louis wereleopard pard. King to my Queen. The only one of my lovers who can stir my blood with just a glance from his chartreuse cat's eyes. I was happy to have him at my side. Until he mentioned that this would be our first time alone together. No Master Vampire. No Alpha Werewolf. Just me and Micah. And all my fears and doubts...
OCTOCÉFALO es un experimento. Unir a 8 escritores en torno a temáticas fantásticas, en un trabajo editorial que busca linkear los textos como perlas de un collar, o cabezas en una estaca, como gustes. La idea es unir la experiencia narrativa literaria con gráfica (el libro es ilustrado) en un todo más o menos integrado.
Relatos:
1. Dientes de Leche - I. C. Tirapegui
2. Terranova - Alberto Rojas
3. Piel de Uroboros - Sebastián Garrido
4. Martina y el Fénnec - Sergio Alejandro Amira
5. África Arcangélica - Gabriel Mérida
6. Heartquake - Angela González
7. Pájaro - JL Flores
8. Time Wars Lluscuma - Jorge Baradit
Nobody expected Dru Anderson to survive this long. Not Graves. Not Christophe. Not even Dru. She's battled killer zombies, jealous djamphirs, and bloodthirsty suckers straight out of her worst nightmares.
But now that Dru has bloomed into a full-fledged svetocha—rare, beautiful, and toxic to all vampires—the worst is yet to come. Because getting out alive is going to cost more than she's ever imagined.
And in the end, is survival really worth the sacrifice?
The Marbled Swarm is Dennis Cooper’s most haunting work to date. Within its secret passageways, hidden rooms, and the troubled mind of our narrator, a mystery perpetually takes shape. The most compelling clue to its final nature is “the marbled swarm” itself, a complex amalgam of language passed down from father to son.
Cooper ensnares the reader in a world of appearances, where the trappings of high art, old money, and haute cuisine obscure an unspeakable system of coercion and surrender. As the narrator stalks an elusive truth, traveling from the French countryside to Paris and back again, the reader will be seduced by a voice only Dennis Cooper could create.
From the author of the global phenomenon Ranger's Apprentice! They are outcasts. Hal, Stig, and the others - they are the boys the others want no part of. Skandians, as any reader of Ranger's Apprentice could tell you, are known for their size and strength. Not these boys. Yet that doesn't mean they don't have skills. And courage - which they will need every ounce of to do battle at sea against the other bands, the Wolves and the Sharks, in the ultimate race. The icy waters make for a treacherous playing field . . . especially when not everyone thinks of it as playing.
John Flanagan, author of the international phenomenon Ranger's Apprentice, creates a new cast of characters to populate his world of Skandians and Araluens, a world millions of young readers around the world have come to know and admire. Full of seafaring adventures and epic battles, Book 1 of The Brotherband Chronicles is sure to thrill readers of Ranger's Apprentice while enticing a whole new generation just now discovering the books.
Perfect for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series, and George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire series.
With the head-to-head battle against the villainous Lokesh behind her, Kelsey confronts a new heartbreak: in the wake of his traumatic experience, her beloved Ren no longer remembers who she is. As the trio continues their quest by challenging five cunning and duplicitous dragons, Ren and Kishan once more vie for her affections--leaving Kelsey more confused than ever.
Crime, psychological twists, and dark humor await you in this enthralling collection by Matthew Iden.
Three the Hard Way is a short story collection featuring three original tales brimming with dirty motives, relentless ambitions, and a uniquely skewed perspective of the world.
The Wrong Job
Lily and Ted are at the bank to stop the foreclosure on their home. Brothers Jerry and Donny are at the bank to rob it. Someone picked the wrong job today.
Dead Letter
It's mail call at Edinburgh state prison, and Sam Klegg needs to find out if what he put in his last letter home will get him killed. Or worse, kill someone he loves...
Appalachian Love Story
Ayla knew that Buddy has always loved her, but he'd never needed to say it before. Then, one day, in a fit of tears, he proclaims his undying passion for her. Which can only mean one thing: Buddy wants her dead.
If you enjoy gritty, unexpected journeys—sometimes violent, sometimes funny, always entertaining—Three the Hard Way is for you.
Written four hundred years before the birth of Christ, this detailed contemporary account of the long life-and-death struggle between Athens and Sparta stands an excellent chance of fulfilling its author's ambitious claim. Thucydides himself (c.460-400 BC) was an Athenian and achieved the rank of general in the earlier stages of the war. He applied thereafter a passion for accuracy and a contempt for myth and romance in compiling this factual record of a disastrous conflict.
Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected.
With its imperfect but charming heroine and its witty and subtle exploration of relationships, Emma is often seen as Jane Austen's most flawless work.
My name - my True Name - is Ashallayn’ darkmyr Tallyn. I am the last remaining son of Mab, Queen of the Unseelie Court. And I am dead to her. My fall began, as many stories do, with a girl…
To cold faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.
Then Meghan Chase - a half human, half fey slip of a girl - smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive.
With the unwelcome company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end - a quest to find a way to honor his vow to stand by Meghan's side.
To survive in the Iron Realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. And along the way Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Thinking, Fast and Slow presents a groundbreaking tour of the mind, as Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman explains the two systems that drive our thinking. System 1 operates quickly, intuitively, and emotionally; in contrast, System 2 is slower, more deliberate, and more logical.
Kahneman unveils the remarkable capabilities—and the biases and faults—of quick thinking, along with the profound influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behaviors. He delves into the impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulty of predicting our future happiness, and how biases affect everything from stock market trading to vacation planning.
Engaging readers in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman demonstrates where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can benefit from slow thinking. He provides practical insights into how decisions are made in our personal and business lives and offers strategies to guard against the mental glitches that often lead us astray. Thinking, Fast and Slow is a transformative book that will change the way you think about thinking.
Wrong side of the tracks—that’s where Kayla’s life has been. Her only saving grace was her sister, Braylin. When Braylin dies, Kayla goes on a mission to avenge her death.
Nick is the mysterious stranger with the alluring devil’s eyes. He is attractive, powerful, and dangerous. If not for her obsession with revenge, Kayla would never dare go near him. To lure Nick into her trap, she has to become what he needs while trying to fight against her growing desires.
On a destructive path, Kayla enters a secret world of underground crime. As Kayla falls deeper into Nick’s world, she becomes the target of many enemies, and the only one who can save her is the one she has set out to destroy.
They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbor, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them.
THE HEROES
For glory, for victory, for staying alive.
Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its protagonists, the fiery and unforgettable Lila, and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflictual friendship. Book one in the series follows Lila and Elena from their first fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years and adolescence.
Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her protagonists.
Ferrante is one of the world’s great storytellers. With My Brilliant Friend she has given her readers an abundant, generous, and masterfully plotted page-turner that is also a stylish work of literary fiction destined to delight readers for many generations to come.
Bestselling author Donna Tartt returns with a grandly ambitious and utterly riveting novel of childhood, innocence and evil. The setting is Alexandria, Mississippi, where one Mother's Day a little boy named Robin Cleve Dufresnes was found hanging from a tree in his parents' yard. Twelve years later Robin's murder is still unsolved and his family remains devastated.
So it is that Robin's sister Harriet - unnervingly bright, insufferably determined, and unduly influenced by the fiction of Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson--sets out to unmask his killer. Aided only by her worshipful friend Hely, Harriet crosses her town's rigid lines of race and caste and burrows deep into her family's history of loss.
Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home from the Great Barrier, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected -- and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What -- or who -- will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?
For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it's not Lena -- and the mysterious figure is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself -- forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and he's afraid to ask.
Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.
Welcome to Hell! Meet Madison, a thirteen-year-old girl who finds herself in the underworld with no clear reason why she's there for eternity. But Madison isn't one to sulk. Instead, she embarks on an adventure that will redefine her afterlife.
Madison is the daughter of a narcissistic film star and a billionaire. She's left at her Swiss boarding school during Christmas, while her parents are off pursuing their own endeavors. Over the holiday, she dies of a marijuana overdose, only to wake up in Hell.
Once in Hell, Madison bands together with a group of young sinners—a cheerleader, a jock, a nerd, and a punk rocker. Together, they navigate the bizarre and treacherous landscape of the afterlife, encountering the Dandruff Desert and the Mountain of Toenail Clippings.
Join Madison and her motley crew as they confront Satan in his citadel, discovering that Hell is as much about the friendships you make as it is about the eternal damnation.
Ever since Tory Brennan and her friends rescued Cooper, a kidnapped wolf pup with a rare strain of canine parvovirus, they've turned from regular kids into a crime-solving pack. But now the very place that brought them together - the Loggerhead Island Research Institute - is out of funding and will have to shut down. That is, unless the Virals can figure out a way to save it.
So when Tory learns of an old Charleston legend about a famous she-pirate, Anne Bonney, whose fortune was never found, she can't believe her luck - buried treasure is exactly what she needs to save the Institute on Loggerhead! Trouble is, she and her friends aren't the only ones looking for it. And this time, the Virals' special powers may not be enough to dig them out of trouble.
Sing You Home tells the poignant story of Zoe Baxter, a music therapist who has spent a decade longing to start a family. Her dreams shatter when she suffers infertility issues, leading to the heartbreaking end of her marriage with her husband, Max.
As Zoe navigates the complexities of her new life, she unexpectedly finds love again with Vanessa, a school counselor. Together, they envision a future filled with hope and the possibility of raising a family. However, Zoe's past is not entirely behind her. Max, now influenced by newfound religious beliefs, challenges Zoe's right to her embryos, leading to a gripping court battle.
Jodi Picoult masterfully explores themes of love, identity, and what truly defines a family. Sing You Home is a powerful narrative that questions societal norms and the rights of individuals to choose their path.