Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers' souls: Goblin Fruit In Victorian times, goblin men had only to offer young girls sumptuous fruits to tempt them to sell their souls. But what does it take to tempt today's savvy girls? Spicy Little Curses A demon and the ambassador to Hell tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test her curse. Hatchling Six days before Esme's fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons?

After Anne has car trouble, a chance encounter with an undercover policeman and a crime boss totally changes the course of her life. One brief encounter binds these three people from different lifestyles and backgrounds together into a strange 'family' group. Their relationships evolve and grow closer after they meet under mysterious circumstances. Do the lips tell lies or are their words true?Meddlers In Time- The Cockatoo River IncidentThis is part two of the 35th century tales, where Wayne’s team has been sent on a covert mission by the League of Travelers, their 52nd century allies. The mission:Bring two mighty empires to a state of total war.This book covers the period during which Jenny DeVries inserted under very deep cover into the empire, tasked with gaining acceptance in the elite Imperial War Academy. This tale runs concurrently with Wayne Jamieson’s privateering activities, many of which are arranged to support Jenny’s mission.Several of the other characters from the first Meddlers in Time book play a role in the tale and there are several interludes into 21st century New Zealand, where the agent provocateurs take the occasional time out from their missions.Space battles, slavers, desperate rescues and plenty for the fan of military science fiction here.Wayne Watson’s milieu of the 35th century Empire of Man further unfolds.

The Count of Monte Cristo meets... her wife? Lucia is a succubus, a demon with the power to shape the emotions and passions of mortals. Summoned often into the world of Melodia, she takes pride in upholding her demonic contracts to the best of her abilities. She likes to think she does her job well... though a string of recent failures say otherwise. Talia, the recently elevated Duke of Fallmire, summons Lucia for a simple reason: to pose as her wife and fulfill marital obligations to the satisfaction of Parliament. All to say, just a few weeks of walking around the estate and playing nice with the neighbors before a conveniently tragic death. Quick and easy. But immediately, Lucia smells blood in the water. Behind closed doors, the Duke plots vengeance upon those who killed her father—and the demon wants in. Revenge, after all, is much more fun... and more lucrative, to boot. But can Lucia predict how hard she'd...

Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers' souls: Goblin Fruit: In Victorian times, goblin men had only to offer young girls sumptuous fruits to tempt them to sell their souls. But what does it take to tempt today's savvy girls? Spicy Little Curses: A demon and the ambassador to Hell tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test her curse. Hatchling: Six days before Esme's fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons?Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers' souls: Goblin Fruit: In Victorian times, goblin men had only to offer young girls sumptuous fruits to tempt them to sell their souls. But what does it take to tempt today's savvy girls?Spicy Little Curses: A demon and the ambassador to Hell tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test her curse.Hatchling: Six days before Esme's fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons?Laini Taylor is the author of DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE. She is also the creator of the Laini's Ladies line of gifts and stationery. Laini lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and her daughter.

Meet Macon. Tattoo artist. Athlete. Family man.He's planning to run a marathon, but the event becomes something terrible.During a warm-up run, Macon falls prey to a bizarre man and his wife who dwell in an underground drug-smuggling tunnel. They raise their twin children in a way Macon couldn't imagine: skinning unexpecting victims for food and money.And Macon, and his family, are next."An ordinary running trail becomes the most terrifying place on the planet for Mark Matthews' troubled, likeable, marathon-running, tattooed, hipster protagonists and their young daughter. But, for the horror-show clan living under that trail — who subsist on flesh and bath salts in a nightmare orgy of blood and crazy — the hipsters are a rare treat indeed. As the family v. family showdown transpires underground and off the beaten path, the vulnerability of running on a trail — alone but for the watchers in the woods — makes the setting unique and well-crafted. Written with verve, surprising...

High up in the Conrad Flats that loom bleakly over Acton, two future stars of the literary scene - or so they assume - are hard at work, tapping out words of wit and brilliance between ill-paid jobs writing captions for the Cat Calendar 1985 and blurbs for trashy novels with titles like Brothel of the Vampire. Just twenty-one but already well entrenched in a life eked out on dole payments, pints and dollops of porridge and pasta, Llewellyn and Cunningham don't have it too bad: a pub on the corner, a misdirected parental allowance, and the delightful company of Aoife, Llewellyn's model fiancée, mother of his young baby - and the woman of Cunningham's increasingly vivid dreams. Alan Warner's superb new novel sees the author of Morvern Callar at the top of his game.

It's more than just a cold draft, a simple shadow out the corner of the eye; the sound of movement when no one's there.Olivia Strange just moved into her new apartment with her cat Lexington and already strange things are happening! But can Olivia figure out what's going on or will she be the next person to disappear?It's more than just a cold draft, a simple shadow out the corner of the eye; the sound of movement when no one's there.Olivia Strange just moved into her new apartment with her cat Lexington and already strange things are happening! But can Olivia figure out what's going on or will she be the next person to disappear?Excerpt:A scurry across the floor jerked her head to the side where she saw nothing. She couldn't see the floor well at all from where she was sitting so she eased forward, still holding onto her blanket, to check. She wanted to be sure there wasn't a rat running across her floor. Just as she leaned her body over the edge of the bed is when she felt a shift in the bed around her. It seemed to depress. Her hair stood on end and her arms became riddled with goose bumps, than the light snapped off with a metallic sound.She jumped turning to look at the lamp which was still semi visible in the dark thanks to both the moon light from the open curtains of the windows and her clock. She reached out to turn the lamp back on but nothing. The bulb had blown. A second sound of movement slid across the floor.“It’s okay. Get a hold of yourself.” She mumbled in the darkness letting out another hot breath between her trembling teeth. Her eyes strained to see before she remembered her flashlight tucked away.She reached down to the floor and eased her hand under the bed. Her fingers reaching out for the flashlight she knew should have been within reach, but now, when she needed it most she struggled to find the darn thing.

Avery Leigh will stop at nothing to get her boyfriend, Carter Thomson, back. A high school girl who has no problem saying the first thing that pops into her head, no matter how crazy, she finds Carter has not only stopped taking her calls, he’s started avoiding her altogether. Could it have been something she said?Book Genre: Dark ComedyAvery Leigh will stop at nothing to get her boyfriend, Carter Thomson, back. A high school girl who has no problem saying the first thing that pops into her head, no matter how crazy, she finds Carter has not only stopped taking her calls, he’s started avoiding her altogether. Could it have been something she said? Carter, a sometimes naïve but always gorgeous basketball player, doesn’t mind playing the field if it makes him look good in front of his friends, but he’s really trying to figure out what qualities he wants most in a woman. Unfortunately for Avery, impulsive and outrageous don’t make the list.In Loose Lips Sink Ships, expect the unbelievable as these high school teens cross every conceivable boundary and breach every ethical code. If you like your romances to be tongue-in-cheek, you’ll love the non-stop innuendo and flirting, because at that age there’s really only one thing on everybody’s mind. If you like your comedies to be over the top, you won’t be able to stop laughing when you see what kind of ridiculousness these two get up to. Because when it comes to Avery and Carter’s train wreck of a relationship, the only safe way to get involved is through a book.Loose Lips Sink Ships is intended for mature audiences and is not recommended for those who are easily offended.

A first-time thief breaks into a lonely little place. She didn’t really think things through, though, and finds out too late it’s the Witch’s house. Now trapped inside, she’s desperate to get out.The City of Malva is rife with puritanical hatred for witches. It is said they embody the Seven Deadly sins of mankind. Amelia's only chance of saving her brother Nathaniel, a born witch, is to become a professed nun at Cathedral Reims. Enduring a series of trials including starvation, isolation, physical abuse and blood-sucking leeches, she will sacrifice all that she is to save him. Complicating all of this is the fact that Amelia can see what is lurking in the shadows. Shadowmen, seeking witches like Nathaniel to join their ranks. This group of Shadowmen begins planning. The results could be devastating.Oliver Cromwell, a dashing priest at Cathedral Reims, is the only one who can protect Amelia, her brother and save Malva. Yet, he may prove to be more dangerous than the shadows themselves.

Longarm’ll have to pay some lip service to this sassy señorita!When two prominent politicos turn up dead, one self-righteous Arizona town pins it on the local madame, “Big Lips” Lilly, faster than she can say “not guilty.” So Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long hurries on down to ensure that justice is carried out. Unfortunately, Longarm’s train ride down to Williams, Arizona, takes a mite longer than it should, what with three murderers on board—and an avalanche on the train tracks. But Longarm reckons he can pass the time, seeing as how one pretty traveler is paying a pretty penny to share a berth with him.   Once he reaches Williams, time is almost up for lovely “Big Lips” Lilly—and Longarm still has some snooping to do before he’ll call the case closed: it seems that both of the deceased had some unfinished business with the Pink Lady Saloon. And Longarm, for one, would like to find...

Dockyard mansex adventurer Olli Turner has stowed away on the biggest ship the world has ever known, forced to set sail incomplete. Built up rivet by rivet through his formative years, RMS Queen Elizabeth watched over Olli's sexual awakening. Staying with her seems to promise passage to a new world of landed men. Yet in March 1940 war is churning. That short coastal voyage to Southampton he was expecting turns into a daring dash across the Atlantic and plants instead seeds of a years-long life at sea. Conspiring undercurrents sabotage his troopship to troopship bounce as need for a place, however perilous, in arms of to-war men proves a powerful piece in this war's chess match of primal evils.

Playboy saloon owner Boyd Grayson is intrigued by Claire Ashier, and considers her temperance crusade to shut down his noisy tavern nothing more than a game. While matching wits with the beautiful, aloof widow, he uncovers her torturous secrets. Boyd never expected that the love of one abused woman would affect him so deeply and force him to face his own painful wounds.

Sally Kellerman’s portrayal of Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H remains a landmark performance.  Throughout her long career Kellerman has been a real dame—honest, down-to-earth, sultry, funny, and unfiltered.  In READ MY LIPS, Kellerman shares colorful tales of her years as an up-and-coming actress in the early 60s, when Hollywood was a small neighborhood full of chance encounters. To pay for acting classes (ten dollars each, alongside the likes of Jack Nicholson) she waited tables at a coffee house on the Sunset Strip that was a hangout for Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, and Warren Beatty.  While she watered her lawn one morning in her bathrobe, Ringo Starr stopped in his convertible to say he’d just moved into the neighborhood and she should drop by; during the Vietnam War, she dated Henry Kissinger. Over the years, there were drugs, affairs, diets, and therapy, a...

Newly divorced and smarting, Riley Hart takes off on a solo adventure to Europe. Secretly she yearns for a Venice affair but her barriers to love are too solidly erected. Not even a pair of masked lady-killers in the throng of carnival can liberate her. Riley can't let go. She's ours now. Those sensual sexy-as-F- curves. Hard to pin down only makes her more enthralling. Because eventually she will be caught in our net. A butterfly pinned in our box. Because once we select our woman we never let go. Ever. Ripped is a duet novella. This is the first part of 25,000 words. The second part will be published July 15**

Mick Lord had the world by the tail until his beautiful wife died. He was young, rich and handsome, a star in Hollywood and in the banking world. But when his wife was killed by a five-time loser driving drunk, everything changed. Mick is trying everything to tempt death, but nothing's working. He's even on an uncanny gambling streak that is just making him richer.When Mick is attacked by a man claiming that Mick "stole" his home, Mick discovers that the company he sold his banks to has been forging his name in order to kick people out of their houses. Beautiful Kinley Baron wants him to keep quiet, but that's against everything Mick stands for. And when a rich old man maims a young woman right in front of him, Mick decides to use his fortune and his desire for death to settle some scores.

In World War II Washington, Miss Della Davis toils on the night shift in the President's typing pool. She likes the quiet as she goes about transcribing sensitive documents into an embarrassingly erotic government code. She also likes a certain Secret Service Agent Jones, who frequents her lonely office with a debonair smile and a sack of hamburgers.

Read Lips Like Sugar in private or aloud to your favorite bedmate. Or turn down the corner of your favorite story's opening page and slip the book into just the right spot, where someone is sure to discover it... Violet Blue is known for erotica anthologies depicting joyful, unabashed sex dished up without qualifiers or apologies. The stories in this volume, written by both veterans and new voices, feature women on top, bottom, and everyplace in between. Running the gamut from sweet to scintillating to downright raw, they cover just about every conceivable sexual scenario. Debra Hyde’s “Accidental Exhibitionist” explores the thoughts of corseted slavegirl Cara as she models her new fetish gear and services her master in public. Teresa Lamai’s “Idyll” finds poetry and passion in a scorching three-way set in Croatia. And Carolina John’s “The 9:30 to Edinburgh” shows just how accommodating a British train compartment can be to a...

CAREER ADVICE TO ASPIRING SPIES: IF YOU WANT TO JOIN THE CIA, DON'T FALL IN LOVE. AND IF YOU DO FALL IN LOVE, WATCH YOUR MOUTH.Few books about life inside the Central Intelligence Agency have been written by women, and none have the wit, suspense, and authenticity of Loose Lips, Claire Berlinski's dazzling first novel about a love affair between intelligence officers.New Yorker Selena Keller has just completed a doctorate in Oriental studies. Unemployed and dismayed by her dull job prospects, she sends her résumé to the CIA on a whim. Within weeks, she is contacted by an Agency recruiter, who asks her how she would feel about convincing another human being to commit treason.Despite her checkered past, Selena passes the background investigation, the polygraph, and a battery of bizarre CIA aptitude tests. Living under cover as a government budget analyst, she begins her education in espionage at the Farm, the CIA's covert facility. All...

Six months into her marriage, Tamara Evans-Cooper knew there would be threats on her life because she was a human married to a vampire and a werewolf. But she didn’t count on innocent people being murdered, bombs going off around her and the male line of Lars’ family hating her. With her belongings gone and her mother executed, Tamara is barely holding it together as she searches for those responsible. Gage Evans and Lars Cooper love their new wife, but trying to keep up with her is a full-time job. Not only do some of Lars’ family disapprove of this woman, there was now a threat against her and his Grandfather. With death knocking on their doors, Lars, Gage and Tamara flee to Gage’s wolfpack family home, the one place she is safe for now. But for how long? And if that wasn’t enough they all have to throw the ancient Blood Ball on Valentine’s Day to satisfy the Prince of hell and his new Spider-consort or no one will survive until the next day. Find out how this saga started in Surrender Your Independence: Book One of the Surrender Series, http://riverdaleavebooks.com/books/20...

Oh my God he was fine, just blew my mind, this stranger I met in a park. And in less than two nights, he made me his wife, a move that would rip him apart. 'Cause what he didn't know, and what I couldn't show, is the imposter I really was. So I lied and deceived, I played make-believe, in a duplicitous game of love. Then secrets came out, and I was found out, my truth was finally revealed. But imagine my shock, when my fraudulence was topped, by his predisposition to kill!

Caleb As a photographer, I appreciate contrasts. The stiff, snobby brat on the flight from New York turns out to be a scared, vulnerable woman who warms my heart. The icy cold soda she dumps in my lap leads to the hottest sex of my life in an LA dressing room. When I watch her walk away, I feel something I’ve never felt before. A twinge of regret that I’ll never see her again. Except we do meet again. And she’s driving me insane. Heather Clearly, I’ve lost my mind. Turns out the owner of the deep, sensual voice that kept me from needing the airline barf bag, who lured me completely out of character to indulge in anonymous, semi-public sex, is the photographer for my designs’ first photo spread in Bella fashion magazine. Worse, our artistic visions clash. And every time we butt heads, our butts somehow get naked. I can’t let my hormones cloud my judgment. I tried having it all, and it didn’t work out. I have to stop envisioning a life with him, and get my head back in the game…before I lose everything.

What happens when a journalist joins an online dating site for research? Find out in the uproariously funny romantic comedy, Sexy Lips 66 by USA Today bestselling romantic comedy author Dakota Cassidy. This laugh-out-loud contemporary erotic romance will keep you laughing as Callie Winston discovers men from all over the world think she has oh so sexy lips!When Callie Winston researched on-line dating at Heavenly Hook Ups for her magazine column she had no idea she would end up receiving over 400 emails from men who had a fixation with her lips. She sure didn't consider herself any Angelina Jolie. Not with her thighs. Callie's research uncovered more than her share of men desperate for a good woman to meet and have coffee, shop the K-Mart Blue Light Specials and then there's those two for one coupons for a romantic evening out! She wondered what happened to candlelight and dinner. Except Callie discovered much more than fodder for a...

A mystery is brewing in Helena, Montana, and amateur sleuth Lucy Mathews is in the center of it... again.An ex-reporter turned antiques shop owner, Lucy prides herself on being a true and loyal friend. So, when she discovers a new coffee kiosk is stealing business from a friend she is determined to help.But, things are never that simple. At least not for Lucy.The "Cuties" running the kiosk are a tad too cute for a group of do-gooding ladies. Kiska, Lucy's Alaskan malamute, downs a bakery's worth of cupcakes. And no one seems willing to help Lucy get the collectibles she needs to win the upcoming downtown window decorating contest.Then, of course, just when Lucy thinks she can't take any more... she lands on top of yet another dead body.And this time more than one of Lucy's friends is at the top of the suspect list.Murder, antiques, romance. How will Lucy balance it all?

If you crossed Mitford, North Carolina, with Peyton Place, you might come up with Runnymede, Maryland, the most beguiling of Southern towns. In Loose Lips, Rita Mae Brown revisits Runnymede and the beloved characters introduced in Six of One and Bingo, serving up an exuberant portrayal of small-town sins and Southern mores, set against a backdrop of homefront life during World War II."I'm afraid life is passing me by," Louise told her sister."No, it's not," Juts said. "Life can't pass us by. We are life."In the picturesque town of Runnymede, everyone knows everyone else's business, and the madcap antics of the battling Hunsenmeir sisters, Julia (Juts) and Louise, have kept the whole town agog ever since they were children. Now, in the fateful year of 1941, with America headed for war, the sisters are inching toward forty...and Juts is unwise enough to mention that unspeakable reality to her sister.The result is a huge brawl that litters Cadwalder's soda fountain with four hundred dollars' worth of broken glass. To pay the debt, the sisters choose a surprisingly new direction. Suddenly they are joint owners of The Curl 'n' Twirl beauty salon, where discriminating ladies meet to be primped, permed, and pampered while dishing the town's latest dirt.As Juts and Louise become Runnymede's most unlikely new career women, each faces her share of obstacles. Restless Juts can't shake her longing for a baby, while holier-than-thou Louise is fit to be tied over her teenage daughter's headlong rush toward scandal. As usual, the sisters rarely see eye to eye, and there are plenty of opinions to go around. Even the common bond of patriotic duty brings wildly unexpected results when the twosome joins the Civil Air Patrol, watching the night sky for German Stukas. But loose lips can sink even the closest relationships, and Juts and Louise are about to discover that some things are best left unsaid.Spanning a decade in the lives of Louise, Juts, and their nearest and dearest, including the incomparable Celeste Chalfonte, Loose Lips is an unforgettable tale of love and loss and the way life can always throw you a curveball. By turns poignant and hilarious, it is deepened by Rita Mae Brown's unerring insight into the human heart.From the Hardcover edition.Amazon.com ReviewIn Bingo and Six of One, Rita Mae Brown made a name for herself--and the unforgettable Hunsenmeir sisters--with her talented depictions of early 1940s life in a small southern town. Now, in Loose Lips, we follow the continuously strained relationship of the outrageous siblings, Julia (Juts) and Louise (Wheezie). Juts and Wheezie can't pass up a chance to push each other's buttons, and their joint ownership of a beauty salon in this latest installment creates many opportunities to do so. As Wheezie faces her 40th birthday with grim denial, Juts considers motherhood, and the rest of the town braces for their inevitable clashes.Brown's snappy dialogue and artful situations skillfully communicate the surprising complexity of small town life and sibling relationships. Between the moments of straight comedy (a panicked confusion between bombers and geese makes a great running joke), the meatier issues of adoption, fidelity, piety, and, most importantly, loyalty, are considered, making Loose Lips both a hilarious and heartfelt read. --Nancy R.E. O'BrienFrom Library JournalThey're back! The irrepressible Hunsenmeir sisters of Runnymede, the fictional town straddling the Maryland-Pennsylvania line, are literally in fighting form after a long hiatus. Louise and Julia (Juts), both in their thirties in 1941, squabble at the town soda fountain and cause almost $400 (in 1941 dollars!) in damages in just the opening pages. In the 11 years spanned here, Hansford Hunsenmeir returns years after abandoning his wife and daughters, Louise copes with daughter Mary's first love and daughter Maizie's confusion, childless Juts and husband Chester adopt Nicole, and the sisters' Civil War Patrol duty provides endless town gossip after Louise mistakes a flock of geese for German Stukas and the alarm rouses Chester from his mistress's bed. This is neither prequel nor sequel to either Six of One (LJ 9/1/78), which introduces Runnymede's residents, or its sequel Bingo (LJ 10/15/88) but basically a loving, laugh-provoking expansion of years covered in the former. Time has honed Brown's literary skills but not lessened her love for these characters, and she has a winner here.-AMichele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Arlington, VA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A new book from Bony Blithe award–winning mystery author Cathy Ace where her sleuth Cait Morgan investigates a chilling cold case from a university in Budapest.A gig as guest lecturer at the university in Budapest should have been a dream job for a travelling criminologist and food lover. But wherever Cait Morgan goes, murder seems to follow. One of Cait's new students pleads with her to solve the mystery of her grandmother's brutal slaying. She agrees, but when she is repeatedly hassled by a weird colleague, and as bizarre details about the student's family members come to light, Cait is beset by uncertainty.As she gets closer to the truth, Cait's investigation puts the powers-that-be on high alert, and her instincts tell her she's in grave danger. Bud races to Budapest to come to Cait's aid, but will it be too late?

There are no secrets in tall pines… Sheriff Andrea Jackson can't afford to become the subject of small-town gossip. With an election coming up and her job on the line, public opinion is crucial. That means keeping her distance from newspaper editor Mark Taylor. Effortlessly handsome and dangerously charming, Mark is hard to resist, but his sudden interest makes Andi wonder if his dinner invitations are for business or pleasure. Andi has to admit she could use his help in solving a local theft, but working with Mark would make her the talk of the town, or worse[unknown-8230]it could land her on the front page.

Troy Heathgate has it all—brains, brawn & the kind of smile that just begs a ribbon. Everything but the woman he loves. But now he’s back & determined to possess her.There’s just one catch— she’s married to another man. This short teaser story (9,500 words, 38 pages) is a re-telling of select scenes from the novel, 53 Letters For My Lover. It is narrated from the male point of view—raw and uncut.

Indulge yourself in this naughty, steamy standalone Stepbrother Romance between a BBW and her sexy Military SEAL Stepbrother, Forbidden.Charlie is finally reuniting with Ash, who is coming home after years of military service. The two met five years ago when their parents married, and even though they knew it was taboo, they fell hard for each other. It was tough enough for Charlie to see him go, but when she was struck with cancer during his deployment, she wasn’t sure if she would ever see him come home. Luckily, she’s a fighter and managed to make it through the chemo, and three years later, she’s back to her old, curvy self.After being away and lonely, Ash has come back to make Charlie his. Although there is stigma around the fact that she’s his stepsister, he won’t give up until he gets want he wants. Find out what happens when the two finally surrender to their desires once and for all. Warning: contains mature themes and language. Intended for 18+ readers only.Standalone. No Cliffhangers.

From a noted science journalist comes a wonderfully witty and fascinating exploration of how and why we kiss. When did humans begin to kiss? Why is kissing integral to some cultures and alien to others? Do good kissers make the best lovers? And is that expensive lip-plumping gloss worth it? Sheril Kirshenbaum, a biologist and science journalist, tackles these questions and more in THE SCIENCE OF KISSING. It's everything you always wanted to know about kissing but either haven't asked, couldn't find out, or didn't realize you should understand. The book is informed by the latest studies and theories, but Kirshenbaum's engaging voice gives the information a light touch. Topics range from the kind of kissing men like to do (as distinct from women) to what animals can teach us about the kiss to whether or not the true art of kissing was lost sometime in the Dark Ages. Drawing upon classical history, evolutionary biology, psychology, popular culture, and more, Kirshenbaum's winning book will appeal to romantics and armchair scientists alike.From Publishers WeeklyIn the vein of Stephen Pinker's The Language Instinct, scientist Kirshenbaum examines one of humanity's fondest pastimes. Divided into three parts, the book covers the evolutionary and cultural history of the kiss, the chemistry of kissing, and the future of kissing. In part one, "The Hunt for Kissing's Origins," Kirshenbaum examines the role kissing played in the Middle Ages--a businesslike kiss was employed as a legal way to seal contracts and business agreements. Many men did not know how to read and write, so their signature X was kissed to make it legal. Part two, "Kissing in the Brain," will appeal to anyone who has ever been curious about the chemical properties of butterflies in the stomach. Kirshenbaum writes just as gracefully about prostitutes in pop culture as she does the myriad of complicated biological and chemical processes that science uses to explain osculation. Part three, "Great Expectations," covers Kirshenbaum's personal attempt to further investigate the kiss and leaves a long list of fascinating questions that demand further research. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. From BooklistWhat’s the big deal? You pucker up, and there you are—right? Turns out there’s a lot more to kissing than you might think. For instance, you never forget your first kiss isn’t just a sappy sentiment; it’s apparently quite literally true, and the fact that we remember more details about that first kiss than about our first sexual experience speaks volumes about the nature of memory. Men and women kiss differently; that’s also true, but you might be surprised to learn why. Why is kissing important to some human societies, and unimportant—just plain foreign—to others? University of Texas research scientist and Discover magazine blogger Kirshenbaum draws on psychology, biology, history, and other disciplines in this highly engaging, highly informative book. --David Pitt