A tense novel from a fast-rising star, Sam Holland, The Twenty fuses a chilling race-against-time with blood-curdling crime fiction. For fans of Harlan Coben and Thomas Harris, Sam Holland offers readers a page-turning serial killer thriller with “echoes of Lisa Gardner” (AJ Finn, #1 NYT bestselling author, on The Echo Man).When DCI Adam Bishop arrives at the crime scene in the dead of night, the sight of the body is bad enough—but what Adam notices next chills him to his core. More bodies surface. And the spray-painted numbers daubed above the corpses reveal the horrific truth: the killer is counting down. But to what end?Adam has no idea—until Dr. Romilly Cole knocks on his door with damning evidence pointing to a series of murders twenty five years earlier—a case she knows intimately from her past. Now, it’s personal—and the next knock on his door could be fatal.Sam Holland’s gripping debut...

Emily is known for two things, her honest take on life in her column Everything Emily and her love of Christmas. When her boss gives her a new Christmas themed assignment, she's both intrigued and apprehensive. For the month of December, Emily has to go on twelve blind dates related to the Twelve Days of Christmas song. Her biggest question about her assignment is, how could twelve blind dates possibly be related to the song? Since the assignment isn't optional, she decides to keep an open mind, after all, how bad could twelve blind dates really be?Emily soon finds out that there are a lot of very good-looking eligible bachelors in New York City. Despite that fact, the dates are not going as planned. As Emily writes honestly about each bad date, her readers are loving her column on a scale she never could have imagined, and her boss couldn't be happier.Without her best friend, hot co-worker, and a mystery tree elf, she probably would have...

A scintillating epic fantasy …There are myths and there are legends, but none compare to those of the land of Elphamia...A scintillating epic fantasy …There are myths and there are legends, but none compare to those of the land of Elphamia...Long ago, in the age before Men, there was an ancient kingdom known as Elphamia, inhabited by a variety of creatures. Most people have heard of Elves, Faeries, Pixies and Leprechauns, but not many have ever heard of an Elphin Rabbit!From a time before memory, there was one Elphin Rabbit whose destiny was about to shape the Kingdom…

Part of the Ladybird Expert History of the Second World War series, The Eastern Front 1941-1944, is an authoritative and accessible introduction to the brutal confrontation between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union along a 1,200 mile front. Historian, author and broadcaster James Holland draws on the latest research and interviews with participants to bring colour, detail and a fresh perspective to the story of a front defined by unprecedented destruction. Inside, you'll discover how tactics, organisation and new technologies were brought to bear, about the different challenges faced by both the Axis and the Allies, and, above all, the skill, bravery and endurance of those engaged in a contest that was of critical importance to the outcome of the war.

The first Storyteller Tale about the Dreamwalkers of Larreta follows Valerie as she drives through New Mexico looking for adventure, and Leo, a cynical dreamwalker who believes his chance for love has come and gone. When Valerie and Leo are thrown together, they must forge their own destiny in a new world that looks like Earth but has astonishing differences.A romantic fantasy of finding love on interpenetrating worldsIf Larreta is your destiny, you will find your way to a portal.Valerie finds herself on Larreta, but it looks so much like California, she doesn’t believe a word anyone says. Leo knows his chance for love has come and gone, but when he meets Valerie, the beautiful newcomer makes him wonder if there are second chances. As the Storyteller begins her tales of the dreamwalkers of Larreta, Valerie and Leo are thrown together to forge their destinies on what looks like a perfect world. But as Valerie learns about Larreta, she discovers not everything is as it seems. That Day in the Desert is the first tale of the dreamwalkers of Larreta, a romantic fantasy that spans worlds and time, an adventure of eternal beings who must overcome the legacy of their journey into the human world so they can reclaim their heritage.

'A notable account of an epic human experience' Max Hastings, Sunday Times'Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war' Sir Winston Churchill, speech to the House of Commons, 18 June 1940The Nazi Blitzkrieg was unlike any invasion the world had ever seen. It hit Europe with a force and aggression that no-one could counter. Within weeks the German armies were at the French coast and looking across at Britain. It seemed impossible that she would be able to resist invasion.Between the Nazis and glory stood an apparently fragile defence, but the men and women of Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and the Royal Navy would not be cowed. Their heroics that summer would go down in history.In The Battle of Britain for the first time, James Holland tells this most epic of stories from a 360° perspective – when the fate of the world truly hung by a thread.

Debut author Jane Holland turns up the heat for the billionaire and the woman he never forgot in this marriage of convenience story! The shocking twist to their reunion...She must marry the tycoon! Playboy CEO Rafael is determined to demolish the biggest demon from his past: the Greek orphanage he once called home. It's a cruel reminder of all he's lost, including his childhood sweetheart Sabrina. But then she shows up to stop him! When Rafael offers to hand over the orphanage if Sabrina becomes his convenient bride, she scoffs. She's still healing from the heartbreak of their last passionate encounter and marrying him will test her every limit. But as long-buried secrets are unveiled, Sabrina has no choice but to trust him...From Harlequin Presents: Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds.

Former pinup model, Sydney Wagner, is about to fulfill her life-long dream of publishing her first novel. Attending a writer's conference in Kansas City is more play than work. Fate factors in, when her car blows a tire on the way to the conference.Pilot and entrepreneur, Peter Kane, notices a car on the side of the road and isn't about to pass up the chance to help a stranded motorist, especially, one as sexy as Sydney Wagner. But can he deal with hot-then-cool attitude, or her tawdry past?

An incredible new unputdownable thriller which will keep you gripped from the first page to the last! He watches your every move We've all experienced it. That creeping sensation of eyes on your back, the faint echo of footsteps following yours. He controls you Across the country, a madman is carefully choosing his victims. Once he has you in his sights, he won't let go. He will make you pay You think you're in control of your own life? Think again. Because The Puppet Master is coming for you, and he won't stop until you're dead... What readers are saying about The Puppet Master 'I was gripped from the very beginning until the very last page!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I love a dark and messed up serial killer book and The Puppet Master is exactly that!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'The conclusion will have you holding your breath' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A gritty, emotional rollercoaster of a story' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Real on-the-edge-of-your-seat stuff' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Hook you in from the start and keeps you glued to the pages from beginning to end' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐...

"A new kind of vampire story, and the result is a surprising and spellbinding tale." —Laura Moriarty, New York Times bestselling author of The Chaperone"Great for fans of Interview with a Vampire and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue." —Library Journal Suspenseful and enchanting, this breathtaking debut spans history, weaving a story of love, family, history, and myth as seen through the eyes of one immortal woman.Collette LeSange has been hiding a dark truth: She is immortal. In 1834, Collette's grandfather granted her the gift of eternal life and since then, she has endured centuries of turmoil and heartache. Now, almost 150 years later, Collette is a lonely artist running an elite fine art school for children in upstate New York. But her life is suddenly upended by the arrival of a gifted child from a troubled home, the return of a stalking presence from her past, and her own mysteriously...

They were one soul in two bodies, Corban and Mav, twins born to the lord of a Irish coastal farmstead. Mav had the second sight and was her father's delight; Corban, though, was a deep disappointment, finally exiled for refusing his father's command to go and take up a sword for the High King.But on the night of Corban's exile, as he slept in the woods and brooded on injustice, the dreadful dragon ships of the Vikings bore down on his home with fire and the sword. The farm was plundered and burned; all the people were slain, save the young women--they were raped and dragged off to a life of slavery.From the coast of Ireland to the occupied village of Dublin, across the Irish Sea to a Viking stronghold in Britain, and then across the North Sea to the Kingdom of the Danes. Corban is drawn in the track of his ravaged sister, fighting for his own life and to earn the influence and money he will need to buy her freedom. His quest is not hopeless, for Mav's...

Joss Lambert has always been a loner, constrained by a secret from his past, until he finds friendship and solace firstly with Guy Liddell, a friend from school, and then with Guy's family, who welcome him into their farmhouse home. Joss increasingly comes to depend upon the Liddells and treats Alvesdon Farm as the one place where he feels not only appreciated but also truly happy. But in late 1930s England, the idyll cannot last. With war looming, Joss is forced to confront the past. He escapes through flying, becoming a fighter pilot in the RAF. But with the onset of war, even the Liddells' world is crumbling. As Joss is fighting for his life in the Battle of Britain, so he begins to fall madly in love with Stella - Guy's twin - but with tragic consequences. Leaving England and the Liddells far behind, he continues to fly amid the sand and heat of North Africa's deserts, flying above the 'Desert Rats' of the 8th Army, until his hopes and dreams are seemingly...

Corban Loosestrife's life changed the day he returned to his family steading in Ireland and found it destroyed by Vikings and his father, mother, and brothers all slain, but his twin sister, Mav, was not among the dead, and so he knew that she had been taken as a slave. Determined to redeem her, Corban found his sister, then the property of the sorcerous Lady of Hedeby and pregnant with Eric Bloodaxe's child, gotten in rape. Corban took his revenge; he killed Eric, who was the King of Jorvik, and in doing so he became bound in the net of alliances and blood debt that marked the battles for kingship among the Vikings. Upon the death of Eric Bloodaxe, Corban Loosestrife and his wife Benna fled into the west with Corban's sister Mav and her son. There they made a home for themselves in Vinland, hunting, fishing, raising crops to support themselves and their growing family. There they were happy, until one day when a ship appeared on the horizon, bringing Benna's sister and her husband, bringing a summons to Corban to return to Jorvik and intrigues of those who would be King. Along with Corban go his son, Conn, and his sister-son, Raef; both are young men ready to prove themselves in war. Waiting for them in Denmark is Gunnhild Kingsmother, a woman of great power, and her son, Harald Ericsson, the King of Norway, who has become a Christian. Also, in Hedeby there awaits the unquiet spirit of the Lady, to whom Corban swore an oath. The coming war of succession will be a clash of clan against clan, and army against army. The new power of the Christ strives with the ancient worship of Thor. Corban must tread a careful path between those who hate him and those would be his allies, while concealing Raef's true parentage. For though he is bound to the women's side, the witches' kitchen, in this power struggle, the boys are not, and they see only the glory of battle and the promise of bright gold. Meanwhile, in Vinland, the native tribes are eyeing Corban's fortified island and wondering if the strangers can finally be driven away.

WELCOME TO LOOMIS FALLS... Todd Flanagan is living the dream. Once a nerdy outcast obsessed with the paranormal, Todd has shaken off his past and become a high school football star with growing popularity. But that dream becomes a nightmare. When Todd's old friends mysteriously vanish one by one after investigating the creepy old abandoned Holland House, Todd must make a choice: sit and do nothing or save the friends he turned his back on. And Todd can't face the evil of Holland House alone. He's going to need the help of Shirley James, a reclusive, eccentric and washed up paranormal investigator. Together, they must enter the nightmarish walls of Holland House and face a terrifying evil that neither are prepared for. Enter the world of THE GHOST HUNTERS APPRENTICE, a young adult horror series that will leave you living in fear of that...

For fans of Harlan Coben and “Mindhunter,” Sam Holland’s chilling debut draws inspiration from infamous serial killer cases, culminating in the ultimate, heart-pounding copycat tale.Detectives Cara Elliott and Noah Deakin are on the case of a series of seemingly unconnected murders, each different in method, but each shocking and brutal. As the body count increases, they can’t ignore the details that echo famous cases of the past—Manson, Kemper, Dahmer, and more. As Elliott and Deakin get closer to unmasking the killer, the murders are moving closer to home. Meanwhile, Jessica Ambrose is on the run. She’s been implicated as the arsonist who killed her neglectful husband and injured her young daughter. With the help of disgraced and suspended detective Nate Griffin, Jess discovers a shocking link between her case and that of the ultimate copycat killer working on his horrifying masterpiece. 

Moscow, 1939. In the recesses of the infamous Lubyanka prison, a young archivist is sent to authenticate an unsigned story confiscated from one of the many political prisoners there. The writer is Isaac Babel. The great author of Red Cavalry is spending his last days forbidden to write, his final manuscripts consigned to the archivist, Pavel Dubrov, who will ultimately be charged with destroying them. The emotional jolt of meeting Babel face-to-face leads to a reckless decision: he will save the last stories of the author he reveres, whatever the cost.From the margins of history, Travis Holland has woven a tale of the greatest power. Pavel’s private act of courage in the face of a vast bureaucracy of evil invigorates a life that had lost its meaning, even as it guarantees his almost certain undoing. A story of suspense, courage, and unexpected avenues of grace, The Archivist’s Story is ultimately an enduring tribute to the written word.

Libby Bennet-Cross has clawed her way out of minor league press boxes, fueled by caffeine, sharp analysis, and one very viral tweet. Her reward? An emergency assignment covering the Boston Steel—and their infuriatingly perfect captain, Liam D'Arcy. He is wealthy, stoic, and hockey royalty. His family owns the team, his interviews are a masterclass in saying nothing, and his post-game persona has earned him the nickname "hockey robot." To Libby, he’s an arrogant obstacle standing between her and the career she deserves. But when a charity gala photo threatens Libby's credibility and lands them both in the headlines, they are forced into a solution that mortifies them a fake relationship to keep the playoff coverage on the ice instead of their personal lives. The rules are Sell the romance to the cameras.Keep the team focused on the Cup. Don’t let the lines blur. It’s a perfect plan—until Libby discovers that Liam's cold exterior hides something she never a man who's been protecting everyone but himself. And Liam realizes that in vain has he the only thing harder than winning the Stanley Cup is pretending he isn't falling for the one woman who sees the man behind the jersey. Then a family scandal explodes across the tabloids, and suddenly their fake relationship is the least of their problems. A Pride and Prejudice retelling served on ice.

In The Soul Thief, and its spellbinding sequel, The Witches' Kitchen, celebrated historical novelist Cecilia Holland began an enthralling new tale of adventure, conflict, and passion set against the turbulent backdrop of the Viking invasions of Ireland in the ninth century. When Norse raiders slaughtered his family and abducted his sister, Corban Loosestrife set out on an odyssey that took him across half the world, from the Viking fortress of Jorvik to the wild and desolate shores of Vinland in the New World. Now, with The Serpent Dreamer, Holland continues this powerful epic, as Corban struggles to make a new life alone in this strange land amid bloody clashes between warring native clans. His service to the King of the Danes concluded, Corban returned to his new home in Vinland to find the colony destroyed, his beloved wife dead, and his twin sister Mav, with whom he shared a mystic bond, transfigured into a numinous being caught between this world and the next. Seeking shelter with a nearby tribe, Corban was shunned for his pale skin and dark, coarse hair, and feared for his strange powers to make fire and cut through the toughest skins with his magic blade. Epashti, the tribe's healer, came to love Corban, and in time bear him children. But Miska, the proud and cunning chief of the Wolf clan, despised Corban - in part because of his strangeness, but more because of Corban's bond with his twin sister, who Miska loves. Mav gave Miska a daughter, but spurned him ever after. Now, Mav's young daughter Ahanton has begun to show some of her mother's strange gifts. When her dream of a mighty army that worships a serpent convinces Miska that his old enemies, the Sun People, are approaching, he sets out to the east to unite the warring tribes into a force that may stand up to the invading army. But another vision compels Corban to travel west, toward the home of the Sun People, taking Espashti and young Anhaton with him. Hailed as an incarnation of Ixewe, the White Buffalo god, and kept as a curiosity by Itza Balam, the Lord of the Serpent Wand,. ruler of the great city of Cibal, Corban will play a pivotal role in a great destiny that will forever alter the world he has come to know.

Arriving late in Kyoto Patrick Holland cannot find a room for the night. Homeless and disorientated and in a place where loitering is not encouraged his only solution is to ride the trains. The train journey is the starting point for a book?that also describes travels through Vietnam, mountains in the Chinese Himalaya, lost cities of the Silk Road,?mist-swathed cemeteries in Japan and the flat plains of Australia, and subtly questions the nature of travel and identity through reflections on place, mortality and the changing Asian landscape.

ReviewTargeted print advertising Product DescriptionThirty-year-old Casey Holland likes being a transit security cop. It brings out the best of her compassion, perseverance and courage. After capturing a suspect who’s been groping female bus passengers, Casey learns that her father was murdered in his West Vancouver home the previous evening. The trouble is, Casey buried her dad at an open-casket funeral service three years earlier, and he never owned a house in pricey West Van. Convinced that the police are mistaken, Casey accompanies them to the morgue. When she sees the body, her certainty dissolves.Against her better judgment and the wishes of the investigating detective, Casey starts asking questions about her father and the strange house in West Van, placing her life, and her friends’ lives, in jeopardy. Her search for answers takes her to England, Europe and Vancouver Island, and Casey uncovers a scheme her father was involved in that may have led to his death—which death, though, is still unclear. One thing is certain: Casey’s life is in danger.

At the approach of the first millennium, the Christians of Europe did not seem likely candidates for future greatness. Weak, fractured, and hemmed in by hostile nations, they saw no future beyond the widely anticipated Second Coming of Christ. But when the world did not end, the peoples of Western Europe suddenly found themselves with no choice but to begin the heroic task of building a Jerusalem on earth.In The Forge of Christendom, Tom Holland masterfully describes this remarkable new age, a time of caliphs and Viking sea kings, the spread of castles and the invention of knighthood. It was one of the most significant departure points in history: the emergence of Western Europe as a distinctive and expansionist power.From the Trade Paperback edition.

In an exotic ancient land, a foreign stranger's sworn mission of vengeance leads him into the perilous circle of a ruthless Byzantine empress In the early years of the ninth century, the road home from Jerusalem winds through Constantinople for two Frankish noblemen-warriors. But when an encounter with a young woman running for her life results in the murder of Hagen the White's brother, he vows to find the perpetrators, no matter how highborn or powerful, and take his revenge. His hunt will carry him into the royal circle of the Basileus Irene, a ruthless despot who blinded her own son to force him off the throne. The beautiful and calculating empress is fascinated by this supposed barbarian who has sworn allegiance to the great Charlemagne, and she welcomes him into the imperial court—and into the dangerous fires of countless royal conspiracies. Suddenly Hagen must tread carefully through a vipers' nest of plots, lies, and bloodthirsty power plays, for if...

Thirty-year-old Casey Holland likes being a transit security cop. It brings out the best of her compassion, perseverance and courage. After capturing a suspect who’s been groping female bus passengers, Casey learns that her father was murdered in his West Vancouver home the previous evening. The trouble is, Casey buried her dad at an open-casket funeral service three years earlier, and he never owned a house in pricey West Van. Convinced that the police are mistaken, Casey accompanies them to the morgue. When she sees the body, her certainty dissolves. Against her better judgment and the wishes of the investigating detective, Casey starts asking questions about her father and the strange house in West Van, placing her life, and her friends’ lives, in jeopardy. Her search for answers takes her to England, Europe and Vancouver Island, and Casey uncovers a scheme her father was involved in that may have led to his death—which death, though, is still unclear. One thing is certain: Casey’s life is in danger.

Lexi Andrews keeps her erotic writing a secret but she'll gladly risk exposure for the chance to work with "Killer" spy creator Jake Stone. While Jake is hesitant to work with anyone, he'll meet Lexi to appease his female fans. Jake doesn't expect to connect with Lexi on a creative level, but when they hatch a plan to rehearse love scenes in order to give Jake's novel realism, what starts out as an experiment takes on a life of its own. Jake's deadline suddenly doesn't seem as pressing as Lexi's lovely body. Can Jake and Lexi keep their hands off each other long enough to "Sex up the Spy"?

A breathtaking novel of primitive England and the astonishing birth of the miracle called Stonehenge In a time before recorded history, on an island that many centuries later would come to be known as Britain, Moloquin, the Unwanted One, dreams of a pathway to the heavens. Cast out as a child, he survives by his wits alone on the fringes of tribal society and grows into manhood driven by one powerful and unshakable ambition: to build a link between the earthly and the spiritual worlds through the raising of an impossible structure. But to accomplish such a momentous feat in this primitive age of stone will not only require superhuman strength, it will entail unraveling the very fabric of life. Still, Moloquin will not be deterred in his quest, and he will stand courageously against all enemies, court untold disaster, sacrifice what he must, and remake his entire world to see his great vision gloriously realized. One of today's foremost historical...

Patrick's Holland's haunting new novel arises from his experiences in Indochina. An atmospheric literary thriller, it tells the story of Joseph, an Australian journalist living in Saigon who, shortly after reporting on a murdered girl washed up in Saigon River, is approached by a foreign businessman describing a brothel known as 'the darkest little room in Saigon'. This mysterious informant shows him a photograph of a beautiful woman covered in wounds. Joseph sets out to investigate, not only to uncover the mistreatment of these women, but in the hope of at last finding the one woman he cannot forget. Rich in setting and characterisation, and pure in voice, The Darkest Little Room explores the elemental dilemmas of being an outsider, the nature of desire, and the risks of loving, especially in a world where no one is who they seem. A page turning, tightly wound mystery from the author of The Mary Smokes Boys and Riding the Trains in Japan.

This special limited time edition, at a special price, contains the four novellas from The Auction collection, including “Sold,” “Bought,” “Claimed,” and “Taken.” Beautiful women and sexy men find themselves on the auction block at an exclusive charity auction that has some discreet BDSM club participants.

In THE DEATH OF ATTILA, the great Hun leader dominates the late Roman world; in his shadow a Hun warrior and a German princeling form a fragile comradeship. When Attila dies, the world around them crumbles, and the two men face terrible choices. Cecelia Holland has published non-fiction historical/biographic works, children's novels, a contemporary novel and a science fiction novel as well as a number of historical essays but she is best known for more than two dozen historical novels set in time periods ranging from from the middle of the first millennium CE up through parts of the early 20th century and from Egypt, through Russia, central Europe, Scandinavia, Great Britain and Ireland to the West Coast of the U.S. The hallmark of her style is a vivid recreation of time, place and character, all true to known facts...

Cecelia Holland's epic historical novels have been hailed as "brilliant" (New York Times Book Review), "excitingÖgrand" (Boston Sunday Herald), and "stylish, subtle" (Saturday Review). In UNTIL THE SUN FALLS, she invites readers to China in early thirteen century, for an adventure as exotic as the land it recreates. Genghis Khan has just died, leaving his empire between two men: his heir to the title of high king, his son, Ogotai; and to Batu, his eldest grandson of his oldest son. As the land from the East China Sea settles for peace, the western provokes are gearing up for invasion—of Russia and whatever other lands lay west. At the heart of the story, though, is Psin, the king of a tribe that calls itself the Merkits. It is Psin who, along with his wives and family, finds himself on the brink of history. As seemingly invincible armies prepare for fierce battles along the Volga River, Russia—and in truth, all of Eastern Europe—Psin and his clan ready...

Egypt 1922, the Valley of the Kings. The archaeologist Howard Carter discovers a mysterious tomb, sealed and marked with a curse. But what is the nature of the tomb's secret? And what is the web of strange connections spreading back throught millennia to the heart of Egypt's fabulous past?

Of the women in King Richard's life, she is the least known-and the most powerful.During the Third Crusade, deaths from fever and starvation are common, but King Richard the Lion-Hearted has a secret ally against these impassable enemies-a mysterious healer by the name of Edythe.She was sent to him by his mother Eleanor, and Richard first assumes that Edythe is a spy. But when her medical knowledge saves his life, she becomes an indispensable member of his camp-even as his loyal soldiers, suspicious of her talent for warding off death, call her a witch.

Award-winning poet, critic, editor and academic Sarah Holland-Batt takes the helm again as editor of this year's Best Australian Poems. Previous contributors include Judith Beveridge, Stephen Edgar, Fiona Wright, Clive James, Lisa Gorton, Robert Adamson, Dorothy Porter, John Kinsella, David Malouf, Cate Kennedy and Les Murray.Sarah Holland-Batt is the author of The Hazards (UQP, 2015), which won the poetry prize at the 2016 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, and Aria (UQP, 2008), which won the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize, the Arts ACT Judith Wright Award, and the FAW Anne Elder Award and was shortlisted in both the New South Wales and Queensland Premiers' Literary Awards. She is presently a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Queensland University of Technology and the poetry editor of Island.

Chandra keeps her gift hidden from the Paranormal Intelligence Agency or her life would not be her own. A PIA undercover agent, Wade is a shadow shifter and must hide his own abilities from the agency he works for. Passion and desire bring Chandra and Wade together, fulfilling her erotic visions. The two face danger and a traitor bent on murder, while finding strength in each other’s arms.

Navy SEAL Logan Ambrose has come home for the holidays, ready and willing to propose to his longtime girlfriend and leave the military. Only, the homecoming he expected is suddenly derailed when he discovers her in bed with his best friend. So what’s a guy to do, but head home, get drunk… and wake up in Vegas, married to a woman he doesn’t recognize. Willow Vaughn has been in love with Logan forever, but when he left town, she gave up hope of ever making him hers. So when fate strikes and the two run into each other in Vegas, Willow jumps at the chance to be with him. But never in her wildest dreams did she expect to wind up married to the hot military man. This should be easy to explain to their families … only, the two of them are not sure what to say or do—stay married or pretend the whole thing never happened?

An enthralling fictional account of Howard Carter's famous search for the tomb of King Tut and the mystery behind the tragic death and disappearance of ancient Egypt's child ruler In ancient times, a boy king occupied the throne in a troubled desert land. His name was Tutankhamun. Both his reign and his life were shockingly brief, and his burial place was unknown—mysteries that would intrigue the inquisitive for centuries to come. An English archaeologist irresistibly drawn to Egypt and her secrets, Howard Carter arrives in the Middle East in the second decade of the twentieth century to uncover the hidden final resting place of the tragic child pharaoh. But from the outset his search is plagued by misfortune and obstruction—a corrupt and unbending Egyptian bureaucracy, a British lord and patron more interested in profit than in knowledge, and Carter's own inability to connect with his fellow human beings. Still, he will not be deterred...

In THE FIREDRAKE, an Irish mercenary knight in the eleventh century, in a constant personal battle with the rest of the world, joins William of Normandy for the invasion of England. There at Hastings he has to choose between power and wealth, and his personal demons of pride and honor. The NY Times called Cecelia Holland "a literary phenomenon" in their review of this book, recognizing a stellar creative achievement by a young writer in her first published work. Cecelia Holland has published non-fiction historical/biographic works, children's novels, a contemporary novel and a science fiction novel as well as a number of historical essays but she is best known for more than two dozen historical novels set in time periods ranging from from the middle of the first millennium CE up through parts of the early 20th century and from Egypt, through Russia...

Guy Fawkes, born in York in 1570, is one of the key figures in British history, taking a central role in a plot that would have destroyed the ruling class and changed the nation forever. Today protesters wear his mask, families burn his effigy, and he is an instantly recognizable name and face. But just who was the real Guy Fawkes? In this new book, we take an exciting look at the flesh and blood person behind the myth. We find out what radicalized the man who was born a Protestant, and yet planned mass murder for the Catholic cause. The book takes a fresh look at Guy's early life in York and beyond, and examines how that led to him becoming a Catholic mercenary and a key member of the 1605 Gunpowder treason. This fresh new biography of Guy's life removes the layers of complexity that can cloud the British history of this time: an era when fearful Catholics hid in tiny priest holes, government spies were everywhere, and even your closest friends could send you to be hung, drawn and quartered. Guy and his conspirators were prepared to risk everything and endanger everyone, but were they fanatics, freedom fighters, or fools? This explosive read, accompanied with beautiful illustrations, is accessible and engaging, combining contemporary accounts with modern analysis to reveal new motivations behind Guy's actions. About the Author: Nick Holland was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire in 1971\. He is a best selling fiction writer, who has now become a successful non-fiction author. His recent biography of Anne Brontë was critically acclaimed, with the _Mail On Sunday_ calling it 'an excellent book full of passion and pathos'. Nick has long been fascinated by the story of his fellow Yorkshire Catholic Guy Fawkes, and this new biography allows him to reveal the man behind the myth.

Welcome to Glendoch! Hidden to most, this glacial world once crackled with alchemy. Now it waits for war—divided and bound by strict rules. So when twelve-year-old Meylyne falls from a tree onto Glendoch's sickly prince, she must flee or face imprisonment in the Shadow-Cellars. The only way she may return home is with a cure for the prince's peculiar disease. Convinced she will perish, Meylyne and her companions embark on their journey—and before they know it, they are knee-deep in a plot to sink Glendoch into shadow, like other worlds before it. Poisoned guardians, cursed wizards, and cunning witch-spirits bound into wands are just some of the dangers that dot the way of their travels. And behind it all is the Thorn Queen. Mysteriously magnetic (or murderously vengeful, depending on whose side you're on), she is always one step ahead of them . . .

'Above all, poetry – for both its readers and its writers – is a form that demands attentiveness and active intelligence. It treats language as a volatile and charged commodity, and one whose subtleties and nuances are worth puzzling over.' —Sarah Holland-BattAward-winning poet, critic, editor and academic Sarah Holland-Batt takes the helm as editor of this year's Best Australian Poems. Demonstrating the diversity, inventive brilliance and dynamism of our country's finest poets, this collection features work from both rising stars and well-known figures, and presents a dazzling array of themes and styles. Whether addressing biotechnology or domestic violence, migrant experience or the natural world, the poems in this anthology are sure to inspire, provoke and move.Poets include Martin Harrison, Judith Beveridge, Clive James, Keven Brophy, Joanne Burns, Les Murray, Pam Brown, Eileen Chong, Luke Davies, Laurie Duggan, Geoff Page, Ali Cobby...

The acclaimed author of Rubicon and other superb works of popular history now produces a thrillingly panoramic (and incredibly timely) account of the rise of Islam.No less significant than the collapse of the Roman Republic or the Persian invasion of Greece, the evolution of the Arab empire is one of the supreme narratives of ancient history, a story dazzlingly rich in drama, character, and achievement.  Just like the Romans, the Arabs came from nowhere to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion—except that they achieved their conquests not over the course of centuries as the Romans did but in a matter of decades. Just like the Greeks during the Persian wars, they overcame seemingly insuperable odds to emerge triumphant against the greatest empire of the day—not by standing on the defensive, however, but by hurling themselves against all who lay in their path.ReviewPraise for *In the Shadow of the Sword:"[Tom Holland's] conclusions may be tentative, but they are convincing. His book is elegantly written and refreshingly free from specialist jargon. Marshaling its resources with dexterity, it is a veritable tour de force."—Malise Ruthven, Wall Street Journal*"Those unwilling to struggle through academic texts have long needed a guide to the story of Islam as it's understood by those with the fullest access to the latest linguistic and archaeological evidence. Now at last in Tom Holland's In the Shadow of the Sword, they finally have it.... Holland—author previously of Rubicon and Persian Fire—is about as exciting a stylist as we have writing history today.... [This book is] accessible but delightful...as fun to read as any thriller, and with far richer intellectual nutritional content."—David Frum, Daily Beast"*The life of Muhammad and the rise of Islam are boldly re-examined in this brilliantly provocative history.... [An] ambitious and...important book.... Holland is a skilful and energetic narrator, and while he guides us along the more intricate twists and turns of the period, he also keeps our eyes on the bigger story."—Anthony Sattin, Guardian Observer* (London)"*[An] elegant study of the roiling era of internecine religious rivalry and epic strife that saw the nation of Islam rise and conquer.... Holland confronts questions in the Quranic text head-on, providing a substantive, fluid exegesis on the original documents. Smoothly composed history and fine scholarship."—Kirkus Reviews*"This is a book of extraordinary richness. I found myself amused, diverted and enchanted by turn. For Tom Holland has an enviable gift for summoning up the colour, the individuals and animation of the past, without sacrificing factual integrity. He writes with a contagious conviction that history is not only a fascinating tale in itself but is a well-honed instrument with which we can understand our neighbours and our own times, maybe even ourselves. He is also a divertingly inventive writer with a wicked wit – there's something of both Gibbon and Tom Wolfe in his writing... [and] he possesses a falcon eye for detail.... [A] spell-bindingly brilliant multiple portrait of the triumph of monotheism in the ancient world."—Barnaby Rogerson, the Independent (London)"This dramatic investigation of the origins of Islam is both a thrilling narrative history and a compelling piece of detective work.... A compelling detective story of the highest order, In the Shadow of the Sword is also a dazzlingly colourful journey into the world of late antiquity. We encounter brain-eating demons; a caliph with such oral-hygiene problems that he could kill a fly with one breath; and that old favourite, StSimeon Stylites, rotting away on his pillar but still managing to miraculously cure a man with unfeasibly large testicles, “like a pair of clay jars”. Every bit as thrilling a narrative history as Holland's previous works, In the Shadow of the Sword is also a profoundly important book. It makes public and popular what scholarship has beendiscovering for several decades now: and those discoveries suggest a wholesale revision of where Islam came from and what it is."—Christopher Hart, Sunday Times (London)"[M]agnificent...and brave....The historian and author of Rubicon and Persian Fire has now, after five years’ work, come up with In the Shadow of the Sword. His story is so compellingly told that it could almost be Dan Brown, except that Holland writes brilliantly, with a simultaneously dashing, meticulous and at times ravishingly camp style, and his tale is true."—Michael Bywater, The Week (London)"Tom Holland is a writer of clarity and expertise, who talks us through this unfamiliar and crowded territory with energy and some dry wit.... [T]he emergence of Islam is a notoriously risky subject, so a confident historian who is able to explain where this great religion came from without illusion or dissimulation has us greatly in his debt."—Philip Hensher, The Spectator (London)Praise for The Forge of Christendom“An entertaining account of the fraught last years of the Dark Ages.”— The Wall Street Journal“An enjoyable and exuberantly argued book . . . Holland combines sound scholarly credentials with a gift for storytelling on a magisterial scale . . . In a tightly woven and sometimes witty narrative, [Holland demonstrates] the subtle interplay of genuine religious sentiment and cynical power politics.”—The Economist“[This] is narrative history in the grand manner, written with the panache and confidence we associate with the great historians of the 18th and 19th centuries.”—Allan Massie, The Daily Telegraph“A superb, fascinating and erudite medieval banquet.”—Simon Sebag-Montefiore, Evening Standard Praise for Persian Fire“Excellent . . . Holland is a cool-headed historian who writes here no less authoritatively and engagingly on classical Greece than he did on ancient Rome in his last book, Rubicon.”—Mary Beard, The Times Literary Supplement“It is . . . a testament to Holland’s superlative powers as a narrative historian that he brings this tumultuous, epoch-making period dazzlingly to life, and makes the common reader familiar again with one of the most thrilling periods in world history.” —William Napier, The *IndependentPraise for Rubicon*“Not since Ronald Syme's The Roman Revolution has there been such an original and enlivening piece of Roman history. Tom Holland has the rare gift of making deep scholarship accessible and exciting. A brilliant and completely absorbing study.”—A.N. Wilson“A book that really held me, in fact, obsessed me . . . Narrative history at its best.” –Ian McEwan, The Guardian, Books of the Year “Richly resonant. . . . Ancient history lives in this vivid chronicle.”—Booklist (starred review) About the AuthorHistorian Tom Holland is the author of the works of history Rubicon, Persian Fire, and The Forge of Christendom.  He reviews regularly for the TLS, and has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Virgil for BBC Radio. Rubicon was short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize and won the 2004 Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History, and Persian Fire won the Anglo-Hellenic League’s 2006 Runciman Award.@holland_tomwww.tom-holland.orgwww.doubleday.com

Grey's mother dies giving birth to his sister Irene and he prays that she will be returned to him so he might protect her from the world as his father did not. This prayer, Grey believes is answered in his sister Irene. He becomes obsessed with protecting her purity and innocence while befriending the wild boys of the small town of Mary Smokes — horse-handlers and fox hunters and part-time timber workers — members of a small, vanishing tribe who find themselves caught between an old relationship with place and a new one that is exemplified by the highway that threatens their town.Holland's kinship with Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses is palpable. The Mary Smokes Boys is heart-rending and unforgettable, a suspenseful story of horse thieves and broken promises, of love and tragedy, of the fragility and grace of small town life and how one fateful moment can forever alter the course of our lives.

April 1940. Nazi Germany has invaded neutral Norway. Fleeing north from their brutal Blitzkrieg advance are three officers of the Kings Guard men who have been entrusted by the Norwegian King with a vitally important mission.The only military force which stands between the Nazi forces and total victory are the poorly equipped, undertrained squaddies of the British 148th Brigade. Among them is Sergeant Jack Tanner, recently returned from the Middle East. As the British are pushed back from Lillehammer, Sergeant Tanner and his patrol are left stranded in the mountains in the chaos of retreat. Trying to rejoin their unit, they stumble first across Sandvold and his protectors, and then a French patrol of alpine troops. Trekking through snow-clad mountains with the Germans dogging their every move, Tanner is forced to try and out-fox and out-fight not only their pursuers but the best efforts of his own side. And as the Allies' resistance collapses, it quickly becomes clear that the small band of fugitives can rely on no-one but themselves.

From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Marquita Valentine, comes the Brides of Holland Springs, a sweetly sexy series set in the town that readers have come to love. It’s not easy being the woman most likely to be married to a fortune hunter, but Kate Von Lichtenstein has a plan to deter even the most determined gold digger. She’ll take a page right out of her favorite historical romance novel—with her own unique spin—and marry a man of her choosing before the public gets wind of how much money she actually inherited from her grandparents. And who fits the bill better than the sexy and charming American businessman, Noah Sawyer? After selling his share of the successful tech company, Noah Sawyer lost everything when an unscrupulous real estate lawyer stole the money he intended to use to purchase a huge swath of land worth millions. So, when a chance meeting with a hot brunette at a friend’s wedding turns into a mutually beneficial business arrangement, Noah jumps at the chance to salvage his business. However, the sexy land developer has no intention of his marriage to Kate being in name only…