**#1 New York Times Bestseller From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania** On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era’s great transatlantic “Greyhounds”—the fastest liner then in service—and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack.  Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger’s U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small—hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more—all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history. It is a story that many of us think we know but don’t, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love.  Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history. From the Hardcover edition.

To escape his abusive stepdad, bad boy Ryan Hess runs from his tiny Texas border town to Mexico. But his plans to keep his head down and stay out of trouble are shattered the minute he meets the beautiful and totally out of his league Dalila Sandoval. Dalila Sandoval shouldn’t even know someone like Ryan Hess. The daughter of one of the wealthiest lawyers in Mexico, Dalila is focused on studying and planning for her bright future. Ryan is only a distraction from her dreams, but she’s never felt more alive than when she’s by his side. Ryan and Dalila are wrong for each other in every way. And yet they can’t resist the sparks that fly when they’re together. But their love is like a flame burning too close to the fuse. Something is going to explode. Will their love be strong enough to survive? Or will it burn them both?

Katie McGarry captivated readers with her “riveting, emotional”* Young Adult debut, Pushing the Limits. In this gripping novella, she tells the story of Lila and Lincoln, who discover that sometimes it’s worth crossing the line for love… Lila McCormick, Echo's best friend from Pushing the Limits, first met Lincoln Turner when tragedy struck both their lives. But she never expected their surprise encounter would lead to two years of exchanging letters—or that she’d fall for the boy she’s only seen once. Their relationship is a secret, but Lila feels closer to Lincoln than anyone else. Until she finds out that he lied to her about the one thing she depended on him for the most. Hurting Lila is the last thing Lincoln wanted. For two years, her letters have been the only thing getting him through the day. Admitting his feelings would cross a line he’s never dared breach before. But Lincoln will do whatever it takes to fix his mistakes, earn Lila’s forgiveness—and finally win a chance to be with the girl he loves.

Nevare Burvelle was destined from birth to be a soldier. The second son of a newly anointed nobleman, he must endure the rigors of military training at the elite King's Cavalla Academy--and survive the hatred, cruelty, and derision of his aristocratic classmates--before joining the King of Gernia's brutal campaign of territorial expansion. The life chosen for him will be fraught with hardship, for he must ultimately face a forest-dwelling folk who will not submit easily to a king's tyranny. And they possess an ancient magic their would-be conquerors have long discounted--a powerful sorcery that threatens to claim Nevare Burvelle's soul and devastate his world once the Dark Evening brings the carnival to Old Thares.

An exceptional storyteller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr beautifully captures the emotionally charged, complex dynamics that come with being part of any family. Readers will laugh and shed a few tears as they discover what it means to be loved, supported and accepted by the people who mean the most. Having left the military, Dakota Jones is at a crossroads in his life. With his elder brother and youngest sister happily settled in Sullivan’s Crossing, he shows up hoping to clear his head before moving on to his next adventure. But, like every visitor to the Crossing, he’s immediately drawn to the down-to-earth people and the seemingly simple way of life. Dakota is unprepared for how quickly things get complicated. As a newcomer, he is on everyone’s radar—especially the single women in town. While he enjoys the attention at first, he’s really only attracted to the one woman who isn’t interested. And spending quality time with his siblings is eye-opening. As he gets to know them, he also gets to know himself and what he truly wants. When all the Jones siblings gather for a family wedding, the four adults are drawn together for the first time in a way they never were as children. As they struggle to accept each other, warts and all, the true nature and strength of their bond is tested. But all of them come to realize that your family are the people who see you for who you really are and love you anyway. And for Dakota, that truth allows him to find the home and family he’s always wanted.

The fourth book in bestselling author Kathryn Lasky's stunning foray into paranormal romance.

Crossing the Water and Winter Trees contain the poems written during the exceptionally creative period of the last years of Sylvia Plath’s life. Published posthumously in 1971, they add a startling counterpoint to Ariel, the volume that made her reputation. Readers will recognise some of her most celebrated poems – ‘Childless Woman’, ‘Mirror’, ‘Insomniac’ – while discovering those still overlooked, including her radio play Three Women. These two extraordinary volumes find their place alongside The Colossus and Ariel in the oeuvre of a singular talent.

The crossing of Ingo is an ancient and dangerous coming-of-age ritual: a journey to the bottom of the world. Sapphy and Conor have been called to take part, the first of human blood ever to make an attempt. But Ervys and his followers are determined to stop them: dead or alive. Helen Dunmore builds her classic, much-loved series up to a breathtaking finale.

Buy The Crossing now and receive Michael Connelly's The Brass Verdict as a bonus—two novels for the price of one!Harry Bosch crosses the line to team up with Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller in the new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly.Detective Harry Bosch has retired from the LAPD, but his half-brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, needs his help. A woman has been brutally murdered in her bed and all evidence points to Haller's client, a former gang member turned family man. Though the murder rap seems ironclad, Mickey is sure it's a setup.Bosch doesn't want anything to do with crossing the aisle to work for the defense. He feels it will undo all the good he's done in his thirty years as a homicide cop. But Mickey promises to let the chips fall where they may. If Harry proves that his client did it, under the rules of discovery, they are obliged to turn over the evidence to the...

"Volume Two of the Border Trilogy" Set on the south-western ranches in the years before the Second World War, "The Crossing" follows the fortunes of sixteen-year-old Billy and his younger brother Boyd. Fascinated by an elusive wolf that has been marauding his family's property, Billy captures the animal - but rather than kill it, sets out impulsively for the mountains of Mexico to return it to where it came from. When Billy comes back to his own home he finds himself and his world irrevocably changed. His loss of innocence has come at a price, and once again the border beckons with its desolate beauty and cruel promise.

Its truth forgotten in the mists of time, the old bridge harbors a lethal secret. Neither marble statues awakened for battle nor an ancient roadbed grown hungry, something darker and more primal haunts the stones and the wild river below. Kimmer knows the stories, but she doesn't know why the crumbling span feels so fraught with menace. Her way home lies across the ruin. Dare she take it?Its truth forgotten in the mists of time, the old bridge harbors a lethal secret. Neither marble statues awakened for battle nor an ancient roadbed grown hungry, something darker and more primal haunts the stones and the wild river below. Kimmer knows the stories, but she doesn't know why the crumbling span feels so fraught with menace. Her way home lies across the ruin. Dare she take it? Or will horror from the lost past rise up to claim her, when she does? PRAISE FOR J.M. NEY-GRIMM "...the world depicted is magical, but the people are very real." - Mary Anna Dunn, Smashwords review of Troll-magic "...left me craving more." - Paty Saternye, Amazon review of Sarvet's Wanderyar "She has an ethereal sort of quality to her writing which is extremely effective-all the more so because I can't pin down exactly why. It's almost mystical. This ephemeral tone is what sets her work apart from anything else I've read-it's absolutely unique, and absolutely engaging." - James J. Parsons, Speaking to the Eyes review of Perilous Chance "Her work compares favorably with Robin McKinley and Patricia McKillip ...I'm really pleased to have discovered her!" - Mira, Amazon review of Troll-magic PRAISE FOR CROSSING THE NAIAD "A quick, refreshing piece of literature. Like a cool sip of water after a grueling endurance marathon . . . It's swift and concise, but the prose is eloquent and deft, to the point, yet gracefully articulate . . . again I am enthralled with the completeness of the picture the author is painting. The world comes to life . . ." - Goodreads review EXCERPT FROM CROSSING THE NAIAD She stood looking across the bridge, feeling the cool breeze and . . . something wrong. The bridge was old - the leached stones worn by weather and time, a structure of ancient Silmaren. But that wasn't it. Something - sinister? - rose from its broken paving. A miasma of despair and defeat that had nothing to do with its gap-toothed balustrade, the holes in its surface giving wide views of the forested ravine and fast river below, or the crumbling statue of a toga-draped maiden from the past ages of the world. Kimmer hesitated. The new bridge, upstream and crossing low to the water rather than high from one steep brink to the other, was flooded and unsafe. Oga and Chedli and Deas - the goats - had balked. Likely they knew, and . . . only a fool would risk a span immersed in a swift current. But she had to get home somehow. ABOUT THE AUTHOR J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She's learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands.

A Midsummer's Nightmare? Robin Goodfellow. Puck. Summer Court prankster, King Oberon's right hand, bane of many a faery queen's existence—and secret friend to Prince Ash of the Winter Court. Until one girl's death came between them, and another girl stole both their hearts. Now Ash has granted one favor too many and someone's come to collect, forcing the prince to a place he cannot go without Puck's help—into the heart of the Summer Court. And Puck faces the ultimate choice—betray Ash and possibly win the girl they both love, or help his former friend turned bitter enemy pull off a deception that no true faery prankster could possibly resist.

Short story about a sort-of-sapphic romance with somewhat supernatural overtones.Maria has strong opinions that are challenged by a beautiful werewolf with a secret.

"[Allbeury] tells it as it is: he was there and he knows what it feels like."—The Washington PostInspired by the Soviet Union's downing of an American spy plane flown by Francis Gary Powers in 1960, one of Ted Allbeury's most explosive thrillers introduces the brilliant British spycatcher Joe Shapiro. But even Shapiro's superiors doubt his intentions when he attempts to convince the CIA to exchange a high-powered Communist agent for the seemingly unimportant pilot. Does Shapiro have more than a professional interest in the case? An intricate web of lies and deception brings the Cold War to vivid life in this intriguing work by the bestselling "master of the genre" (Booklist).

SEER TRAINING HAS BEGUN Black and white turns into gray as one secret society doesn’t play by the rules, leaving a young Seer to find her own allies and discover her destiny. Oh yeah, and stop the bad guys from using her angel-seeing power to change the course of history. When Lucy agrees to follow her new boyfriend to his home in Pennsylvania, she discovers that the Guardian regimen of Seer Training is WAY more intense than she imagined. Her visions of angels are now come with attacks by demon-shadows. The Cooper family, aka her Seer Trainers, call it a reckoning. But learning to control her visions means risking a brush with screaming wraiths and more than enough strange visions. Lucy’s loyalties are tested when the Guardians ask the impossible and she’s forced to find unlikely allies. Maybe the Nexis president isn’t as bad as she thought he was. More than that—could Will actually be on her side? All is not as it seems at Montrose Academy—where spies abound and there’s more than one secret couple on campus. With her world turned upside down, will Lucy learn to hone her powers and to fight against the Nexis Society's nefarious plans to change the course of history? Crossing Nexis is Book 2 in the Nexis Angel Series, a YA Paranormal Romance. If you love a sassy heroine, a classic love triangle set in an elite academy, and life-or-death situations with a paranormal twist, pick up a copy of Crossing Nexis today.

What’s it like to be the son of the most famous wizard of all time? James Potter thinks he knows, but as he begins his own adventure at Hogwarts, he discovers just how much of a challenge it really is to live up to the legend of the great Harry Potter. As if it wasn’t enough dealing with the delegates from the American wizarding school and figuring out the mysteriously polite Slytherins, James and his new friends, Ralph and Zane, begin to uncover a secret plot that could pit the Muggle and the Magical worlds against each other in all-out war. Now, with the help of Ted Lupin and his band of merry mischief makers (The Gremlins), James must race to stop a war that could change the world forever. His only hope is to learn the difference between being a hero and being the son of a hero.

Late at night, close to the silver town of Tombstone, Arizona, a wagon rattles down to the Mexican border laden with heavy crates full of silver ore. Two weeks later, in the town of Rawton, a man's death coincides with John Probity's arrival. By the next day another person has died and Probity is in jail, accused of murder. Freed by the enigmatic town barber, Ulysses Court, Probity sets out to discover the truth. With the number of dead rising, Probity and Court witness the gunning-down of some Mexicans at the San Pedro river and from that moment they are fighting factions from both Tombstone and Rawton. Can they make their way to safety and stay one step ahead of the furious, gun-toting outlaws?

"A marvelous addition to the literature of inspirational sports stories." - Booklist (Starred Review)"This remarkable and inspiring story shines." - Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)An inspiring memoir of defying the odds from Kareem Rosser, captain of the first all-black squad to win the National Interscholastic Polo championship. "Crossing the Line will not just leave you with hope, but also ideas on how to make that hope transferable" (New York Times bestselling author Wes Moore). Born and raised in West Philadelphia, Kareem thought he and his siblings would always be stuck in "The Bottom", a community and neighborhood devastated by poverty and violence. Riding their bicycles through Philly's Fairmount Park, Kareem's brothers discover a barn full of horses. Noticing the brothers' fascination with her misfit animals, Lezlie Hiner, founder of The Work to Ride stables, offers them their escape: an after school job in...

If passing through youth was like crossing the mirage of life for Chandra and Nithya, it proved to be chasing the mirage of love for Sathya and Prema though for plain Vasavi, Chandra's pitiable sibling, it was the end of the road.As life brings Chandra, who suffers from an inferiority complex for his perceived ugliness, and Nithya, who was bogged down being jilted by Vasu, together, they script their fate of fulfillment.And as poetic justice would have it, Sathya, who caused Prema's heartburn, himself was led down the garden path by Kala, doing a Sathya on Sathya.Just not that, life has in store just deserts for Vasu owing to Nithya's retribution as he tries to stalk her. Besides, after many a fictional twist and turn, the way the story ends, challenges the perception that fact is stranger than fiction.Sign Posts to CrossShackles on PsycheEnd of the TetherBurden of FreedomOnto the TurfRespite by DeathLessons of LifeNaivety of LoveDilemma of DisclosurePerils of YouthAbsurd ProposalCrossing the MirageSetting the PaceOasis of BlissBusy bees in HoneycombTwist in the TaleLove in the BindTurn for the WorseShadows to the ForeSpurring on to ErrTempting the FateStooping to ConquerFouling the SoulPoetic JusticeAgony of PenitenceEmbrace of LoveLife of a KindJust desertsBook excerpt for a feel of its literary style:Shackles on PsycheYouth is the mirror that tends us to the reality of our looks. The reflections of our visages that insensibly get implanted in our subconscious lend shape to our psyche to define the course of our life. This is the saga of Chandra’s chequered life that mirrors this phenomenon in myriad ways.As perceived by the deprived, he had a fortunate birth. Yadagiri, his father, was the prominent pearl merchant in Hyderabad - Deccan, the seat of the Nizam’s power in undivided India. The patronage of the royals and the nobles alike, helped add gloss to his pearls making him the nawab of the trade. Besides, Princely Pearls, his outlet near the Charminar, was a draw with the rich, out to humor their wives and adorn the mistresses. When Anasuya, Yadagir's wife, was expecting her second issue, trouble brewed in Telangana, the heart of the Nizam’s province. While his subjects' surge to free themselves from his yoke clashed with the Nizam’s urge to keep his gaddi, Sardar Patel's plans for a pan India was at odds with his designs to retain the Deccan belt as his princely pelf.‘With a go by to the nobility,’ Yadagiri tried to envision his future, ‘it could be shutters down at the Princely Pearls.’Thus, at the prospect of the momentous merger, even as the populace got excited, he was unnerved perceiving a slowdown in his trade. Confounding him further, as the impending merger was on the cards, Anasuya's delivery time neared .‘Should it be a girl again,’ he thought, ‘it would be only worse. Why, without a boy, what of the surname?’Soon, as his wife was moved to the hospital, he was rattled by the prospect of her delivering another daughter. But, as it turned out, his fears proved to be liars on both counts.Anasuya delivered Chandra, the very day the Nizam, courtesy Sardar, capitulated to the Delhi sarkar. And soon, the nouveau riche, from the business class, began to outshine the old nobility, pearl for pearl. Buoyed by the bottom line, Yadagiri dreamt of building a pearl empire for his son in the Republic of India. While Anasuya lavished upon Chandra the affection due to a son born after one gave up, Vasavi, his sister, running ten then, found in her brother a soul to dote upon. Thus, toasted by his parents and pampered by his sibling, Chandra had a dream childhood.But, when he entered adolescence, the realities of life began to confound him to his discomfort. Coaxed by his father to excel at studies, he was perplexed for the lack of aptitude. What's worse, the antics of his classmates made him hapless -- they marginalized him at playtime, for his lack of reflexes, and, for want of grace, targeted him at fun-time. Well, to cap it all, the snide remarks of the have-nots, that he chose his father well, induced in him a vague sense of inadequacy.As if all this was not enough for his tender psyche to cope up with, he had to contend with the sternness of the paternal strictness. Thus, it was only time before the seeds of alienation towards his father were sown in his impressionable mind. But the support he got from his sister and the solace he felt in his mother’s lap helped soothe his ruffled feelings a little. In time, he reached the threshold of youth, but couldn’t cross the despair of adolescence.Oblivious of the possibilities of life, man goes through his journey of disarray, in the itinerary of the past, chasing the mirages of malady even amidst the sands of hope. And that despairs him forever.Into his puberty, as his biology induced in him sexual curiosity, owing to his ungainliness, his youthful urge for reciprocity remained unfulfilled. Being naïve to the feminine nuances, his eyes couldn’t comprehend the emanations of their indifference. When in dismay, as he turned to the mirror for a clue, the reflections of his self-doubts stared him in his face. Yet, goaded by desire, he ogled women but to no avail. And as he went back to the mirror to reassess his self-worth, the craft of man wouldn’t oblige where nature’s device deluded him. Thus, being in a limbo, he came to be haunted for being unwanted.Besides, as his sexual urge got augmented, his eyes became the instruments of dissection of the maiden form. Though bowled over by females, he was unable to interest them himself. Intrigued by their manner, he turned his focus onto those to whom they were drawn. And soon he realized that though the nominators of female admiration varied, the common denominator of male appeal appeared to be the dashing.As a corollary to his discovery, he shed his inhibitions and psyched himself to make a pass at a fancied lass. But in a reproach, governed by vanity, she said that she doubted his acquaintance with the looking-glass. Sadly, that fatal tease came to shape his outlook about his own looks to his detriment. Disdained thus, he shunned maidens and mirrors alike.Once when his father reprimanded him for his unkempt hair, he entrusted its upkeep to his sister’s care. And as she said, in jest, that his porcupine hair needed tins of oil to be tamed, as a way out he went for a crew cut. Though it was in the fashion then, he invited ridicule of all for the same reason. Belittled thus, he became a recluse.Perturbed by his proclivities, Anasuya alerted Yadagiri who dismissed it all as the tentativeness of youth, and advocated patience to let it pass. Unconvinced though, Anasuya suborned her female instinct for ‘action’ to the ‘inaction’ of her master’s wisdom. But, as Chandra began to even lose his appetite, her motherly love could take it no more. Thus, she took her son to the family physician and, on prescription, put him on Liv-52.As that too failed to enhance her son’s appetite, the mother was at a loss, and it showed. However, the women of the neighborhood read it all wrong and gossiped on that count.“An unwed daughter of twenty-eight,” opined a sympathetic soul, “surely is a sore.”“No less an eyesore,” said another.“What can be done,” said a fair-skinned, “when the girl is so dark?”“Don’t tell me,” said a know-all. “She got her chances but Yadagiri rode the high horse then.”“That’s the trouble with us,” philosophized a bluestocking. “We aspire for more than we can hope for. Wanting the very best is a bad idea but failing to see what the best one can get is even worse.”Unmindful of the gossip that reached her in its magnified form, Anasuya broached the subject of Chandra’s condition with that lady philosopher who professed herself as an amateur psychologist. Having read the brief, the lady of letters diagnosed the malaise as a case of ennui and as for the remedy, she prescribed a course in fiction for him.It’s thus amidst his class books, the Zolas with the Gogols, that Anasuya slipped in, started gracing Chandra’s study. Unable as he was to concentrate on his studies, he began browsing through them as a way of distraction only to end up delving deep into the fictional world pictured in them. Soon, as he was seized with novels in their scores, their fictional aberrations helped him analyze his own shortcomings. But what really hooked him to the novel was the ego gratification it afforded him in judging the characters portrayed in it. What's more, the empathy he felt for the fictional figures brought the latent sympathy he had for his sibling to the fore. This, in turn, abetted self-pity in his consciousness.Well, Vasavi remained single, not by choice. While nature deprived her of a whetting visage, her upbringing failed her in imbibing aplomb. Besides, Yadagiri’s attitude towards matchmaking didn’t help her cause either. No sooner would a well-meaning proposal come forth than he would dismiss it on the grounds of status or pedigree and/ or both. It was as if he came to see his own elevation in slighting others and as the well-wishers too lost patience with him, the leads to the prospective matches got sapped one by one. All this had dented his own efforts besides drying up the well of his daughter’s marital prospects.On the other hand, Vasavi, having failed to induce a suitable boy on her own and with nothing better to do, went on an acquisition spree of diplomas in assorted faculties. Ironically, that made her progress on the marriage front even worse, as the list of eligible bachelors on academic plane was leaner, what with the penchant of the boys to take up jobs with their basic degrees.When Anasuya saw the folly of it all, she started pestering Yadagiri to see the writing on the wall. Finding there weren’t any bachelors of over thirty left on the roll of honor, he swallowed his pride and opened his doors for all comers. However, having gone past her prime by then, Vasavi came a cropper with every proposal that came by. But, at last, fate seemed to test her character by tempting her into wedlock. And steeled by life, she said ‘no’ to the guy who said ‘yes’ for he made his mercenary intent too apparent for her liking.It appears that nature has double standards when it comes to endowing the sexes. Why, it's as if, it affords the females, the charms of youth, only to attract the males to propagate the species. Uncharitably though, so it seems, it dents the female aura on the way to menopause, leaving her to fend for herself mid-course. On the contrary, and for the same purpose, it vests virility with men well past their prime.   Anasuya, however, thought of a detour as she saw that they had reached a dead end. She said that it would be an idea to let a widower lead her daughter to the altar. But Yadagiri would have none of that for he felt it would devalue the family and demoralize their daughter. Thus, the status quo prevailed and Vasavi, to her discomfort, remained single.By the time she crossed thirty, Chandra crawled into the final year of his B.Com. With her emaciated frame and pimpled face, Vasavi seemed even more pathetic to his sympathetic eyes. The thought that they shared the ugliness, bequeathed by their father in equal measure, made him   empathetic towards her, even as he was embittered towards his parent on that very score. ‘Oh if only we had taken after our mother!’ he thought endlessly. ‘Why, we would’ve inherited her beauty, wouldn’t we have?’For its very possibility, the thought of deprivation made it all the worse for him. But, in time, the realization that ugliness was a worse curse for women than men, evoked  sympathy for the weaker sex in his empathic soul.Whenever he found himself in his sister’s presence, the pity he nursed for her insensibly surfaced in his eyes. The first time she was struck by his manner, finding his stare scaring, she gazed at him to gauge his mind. As their eyes scanned the bounds of mutual sympathy, at length, their souls got bonded in eternal empathy. In their state of fellow-feeling, fearing that speech might impair the purity of their emotion, they preferred to keep mum.‘How wretched it must be for her, in her condition!’ he thought then. ‘Hasn’t she reached the dead end, in the midst of her life? Maybe, a career would’ve provided some distraction for her. But dad would have none of that. It’s as if, the very idea scandalizes him. It is really stupid of him to stick on to the old times!’Often, as he felt his own life was no less oppressive, he became melancholic to his mother's worry. Whenever she tried to probe his mind, he put it in the wraps, lest its exposure should burden her even more. Despite finding him dismissive of her inquiries, she never ceased pestering him but to no avail. Thus feeling helpless, she kept an eagle eye on him, and whenever she found him depressed, which was often, she sent him on some errand. She had reasoned that an outing, if it did not alleviate his melancholy, would at the least help unstring him a little.That day, as Chandra was confined to his room for too long, Anasuya went up to him in concern.“What’s wrong?” she said feeling his forehead. As their eyes met, he savored her affection.“What a beautiful mother!” he thought.  “What a pity she bore us ugly.”Seeing his condition, she sent him on an errand to the Princely Pearls. When he was leaving home, he found his sister playing with the kids of the neighborhood.‘How she loves children!’ he thought with mixed feelings. ‘Won’t she be distressed for not having one of her own? Is it as an escape from boredom that she gathers them? But would that help her in any way! Maybe, it could be even worse for her. Why, wouldn't the charm of their company sharpen her lacking even more? Isn’t all this misery because she is ugly? What an angelic soul, with life so sour! Oh, ugliness is the worst of fates, so it seems.’While he crossed the Lal Darwaza, he happened to come across two burka-clad women.‘What's this Muslim custom of wrapping up woman in burkas!’ he wondered. ‘What is it that is sought to be hidden behind the veil? Is it beauty or ugliness? Whatever, the veil seems to be an ingenious leveler of the inequities of genes, at least in the public view! But, on that score, do women really care to hide themselves behind their veils? After all, it can't be, moreover, how can they be mad to endure the ordeal of breathing and the discomfort of constraint in that? Then, of what avail is it to women than to cater to the male sense of insecurity about them? Oh, how man's falsity of purpose deprives women the joys of being her free selves? Won't the burka symbolize the hold of man over woman’s body and soul, not to speak of her psyche? Well, the slaves were better off than these women in their veils, why doubt that.’As he went along, feeling sad about that, he found two hamalis toiling to push a cartload of cloth bundles.‘Why, men like these too have no way to lighten the burden of their birth,’ he thought, looking at them. ‘To be born poor and ugly is a double jeopardy really. Oh, how the color of the skin came to be the measure of the looks! Well, it could be that the white man owes his dominance of the world more to his fair skin than the grey matter of his brain.’Inexplicably, he was seized by an impulse to follow the travails of the hamalis. So, unmindful of the surrounding traffic, he kept course with the cart. As if to shorten their arduous course, the laborers exerted themselves to accelerate their motion. Lost to them, he came in the way of a speeding car.Bringing the vehicle to a screeching halt, the woman at the wheel yelled at him in her sarcastic tone, “Hi, you find life burdensome?”Muttering an apology, as he moved away in confusion, she sped past him in irritation. The poignancy of her insensitivity perturbed him as he lumbered along to the dismal destination.‘Won’t it seem the color of the skin is the measure of man's worth as well?’ he thought in humiliation. ‘Oh, how dark skin devalues man in more ways than one. Would I ever be able to induce a decent dame to become my wife? Why, even Vasavi refused to entertain ungainly men, didn’t she? How come, even the ugly seek beauty in their mates? Why not, it's the beauty that triggers the biological impulse.’At that, inadvertently, his thoughts turned to his mother.‘What should have been her compulsions to marry my father?’ he thought. ‘Being so beautiful she herself that is! If only she married another, perhaps, Vasavi and I could’ve been differently made, wouldn't we have been? Won’t mother be thinking that way, seeing the plight of her children more so her daughter that is?’But, on second thoughts, he felt ashamed that he allowed himself to think in those terms.‘The reality of life is unmistakable, isn’t it?’ he felt dejectedly. ‘It’s the fact of heredity that shapes one’s looks for good or for bad. Unfortunately for us, we took after our father. Had we acquired our mother’s features, and even a shade of her complexion, it would’ve been all too different. Vasavi would have been a mother many times over by now and I could have been the playboy of the college. Wouldn’t that have made all those who snub me envious of me?’The envisaged envy of others in his fantasy made him envious of them in reality.‘Surely, it could be a heady feeling to be admired by women,’ he thought. ‘How wanted that might make one feel! Won't the glow of the favored shows it could be infinitely fulfilling. But looks like, it's my fate to encounter indifference indefinitely. What a wretched life, I can't even dare to daydream!’In that state of depression, when he saw his father at the Princely Pearls, his state of mind ensured that he found him more oppressive than ever. The grouse he nursed that it was his father’s genes that were the source of his and his sibling’s troubles came to the fore as though to settle scores with his hapless parent.The psychic mix of hostility towards his father and empathy for his sister catalyzed by self-pity made Yadagiri's welcome words seem absurd to Chandra's pixilated mind. What was worse, the father’s show of affection appeared apologetic to his son’s afflicted mind. Unfortunately thus, in the son’s myopic vision, the paternal love seemed an embodiment of parental guilt. It was as if at that very moment the son’s alienation from his father reached a point of no return.   

When werewolf Maicoh is ejected from his wolf pack in the Four Corners area of Colorado, he travels north, crossing the river into the canyon that he thinks is Glenwood Springs. He needs some time to recover, be at peace and think. What he gets is a whole bunch of shifters, an alternate reality and his ex-lover Ashkii. Ash had fled the pack years before, knowing he would never be anything but their punching bag, as an Omega wolf the pack found him to be a less than perfect mate for Mai. Now Mai is in his territory and Ash has to decide if he'll let Mai back into his life and if he thinks Mai is worth fighting for once the pack decides they want Mai back. This book has been previously published. The publisher has changed.

Billy's family has fallen on hard times, what with his da hospitalized after the war and his ma barely scraping by. But it's no hardship for him when there's not enough money to pay the tuition for Nativity of Our Lord, the private Catholic school everyone in his neighborhood attends. Billy's not big on education.When he transfers to James Ward, a Chicago public school, he finds out there's a big difference at public school: the kids aren't all Irish—in fact, they aren't even all white. It isn't long before Billy's found a new best friend in Foster, another fifth grader who also doesn't have any money, loves baseball, and just happens to be black. Billy is pretty sure skin color doesn't matter. Not when he and Foster are just horsing around, playing baseball, working on the docks of the canal, and building a raft at their secret hideout on Bridgeport's Bubbly Creek. But in the Red Summer of 1919, it does matter.

An underground trap. A magic gift, waning. Death, waiting in the wings.Arthur, Maude and twenty-four children are trapped beneath the earth when the portal to their underground home is destroyed by one of the king’s men. Now they face certain death, though death is what they hoped to avoid in hiding where no eye could see them. There is no way out, for the children’s magic has steadily faded, because they are hungry and thirsty and most of all tired. Yes, most of all tired.But one of the girls has a plan. And while she hatches her plan, the people of Fairendale make plans of their own, even as the king’s own son, who misses the missing children, vows to save the friends he lost, the friends for whom the king searches, the friends who could very well, even now, be lost forever. But his plan may cost him his life. Is a prince willing to sacrifice his life? Perhaps. Or perhaps this is another’s decision entirely.The...

A fake pregnancy, a real baby, and a madcap adventure: This follow-up to The Thin Pink Line is "even better than the first book" (Booklist). London editor Jane Taylor pretended to be pregnant for months. Now she has rescued an actual abandoned baby—which would have come in handy for keeping up her charade, except that the infant is black and Jane is white. Finally giving up her ruse, Jane comes clean to the people in her life—but she wants to keep this precious little one. To do that, she'll have to battle Social Services and take on anyone who tries to get in her way, with some help from her ex-boyfriend Tolkien. But as she tries to reassure others—and herself—that she would make a fit mother, it's clear that she'll always be crazy Jane . . . This is a delightfully comic and touching tale from an author with a "deft touch and sure eye for character" (Elizabeth Letts, New York...

In the final book of the whimsical Polar Bear Explorers' Club series, Stella and the gang go on their most perilous adventure yet to find a cure for their cursed friend. Stella Starflake Pearl has been expelled from the Polar Bear Explorers' Club. But that's not going to stop her and the rest of the junior explorers from embarking on another exceptionally perilous expedition. It hasn't been long since Shay was bitten by a witch wolf, but he's in danger of turning into one himself. Only an ice queen's long-lost spell book and Stella's ice princess magic has the power to break the curse. The one thing standing in their way is a treacherous monolith no explorer has ever returned from...the Black Ice Bridge. In this final, daring installment of the Polar Bear Explorers' Club series, Stella and the rest of the gang embark on their most fearsome quest yet, plagued by distrustful mermaids, screeching red devil squids, irksome trolls, and a centuries-old curse.

A burnt-out warewolf cop…An innocent human teacher…Two weeks of passion… Chaz Ferguson has sat on the Twilight Crossing Council for the last ten years, policing the paranormal world, making sure that injustices to humans as well as paranormal creatures are punished to the fullest extent of the law. There is nothing he loves more than his job. So, when he’s forced to take a vacation, he has no idea what to do with his time. A friends set him up with an appointment with Gerri Wilder at the Paranormal Dating Agency, telling him it will change his life. Chaz doesn’t necessarily want to change his life.But he is tired of the rat race and wouldn’t mind a warm female body, even if for only short period of time. Daphne Jade hasn’t had good luck with men her entire life. She has a tendency to attract the whackos of this world. When she takes a date arranged by Gerri Wilder, she has no idea she’d be dating someone from out of this world. The paranormal realm was something she avoided the majority of her life. She never expected to have a fling with a werewolf, much less one being her soul-mate. And just when she thought things couldn't get any weirder, she finds out she's not who she thought she was... A burnt-out warewolf cop… An innocent human teacher… Two weeks of passion… Chaz Ferguson has sat on the Twilight Crossing Council for the last ten years, policing the paranormal world, making sure that injustices to humans as well as paranormal creatures are punished to the fullest extent of the law. There is nothing he loves more than his job. So, when he’s forced to take a vacation, he has no idea what to do with his time. A friends set him up with an appointment with Gerri Wilder at the Paranormal Dating Agency, telling him it will change his life. Chaz doesn’t necessarily want to change his life. But he is tired of the rat race and wouldn’t mind a warm female body, even if for only short period of time. Daphne Jade hasn’t had good luck with men her entire life. She has a tendency to attract the whackos of this world. When she takes a date arranged by Gerri Wilder, she has no idea she’d be dating someone from out of this world. The paranormal realm was something she avoided the majority of her life. She never expected to have a fling with a werewolf, much less one being her soul-mate. And just when she thought things couldn't get any weirder, she finds out she's not who she thought she was...

In the middle of a moonless night on a deserted beach east of Havana three men lash inner tubes together to make a flimsy raft they slide into the surf. Desperate to escape a society gone wrong, they risk an incredible journey across the more than ninety miles of treacherous waters that separate the island of Cuba from the Florida Keys.In this powerful and lyrical novel, J. Joaquin Fraxedas has crafted an epic story of three courageous men, men willing to endure the hazards of the open sea, men caught in the mindless violence of a hurricane with nothing to hang on to but an inner tube, men willing to die in their attempt to gain freedom.Superbly written, The Lonely Crossing of Juan Cabrera is profoundly moving tribute to one of the great tragedies of our time.

Can two wounded hearts find peace in a time of war? 1944. Widow Poppy Guilford is fighting to save her farm, the one thing tethering her to her husband - and the legacy promised for their young son. But a devastating secret from her husband's past threatens to derail her struggle to save the property and keep her son by her side.Former soldier JB Beaton's wartime injuries and personal losses have left him with scars, both inside and out. Believing he's too damaged to be the father his son deserves, he leaves him with his sister and takes on a job as a farmhand, far away from the city and his failures.Poppy, battling the elements and the heartache of her husband's secret, finds the new farmhand is never far from her thoughts, and JB's world is thrown into disarray by one of the most beautiful and capable women he has ever met. Neither can battle the surge of attraction they both feel.In a small town where gossip reigns, will they surrender to...

This book is not only a complete history of the Zulus but also an account of the way the British won absolute rule in South Africa. In the early decades of the nineteenth century, Shaka Zulu established a nation in south-east Africa which was to become the most politically sophisticated and militarily powerful black nation in the entire area. Although the Zulus never had any quarrel with their British neighbours, the rulers of the Cape Colony could not conceive of them as anything but a threat. In 1879, under dubious pretences, the British finally crossed the Buffalo River, and embarked on a bloody war that was to rock the very foundations of the British Empire. The story is studded with tales of incredible heroism, drama and atrocity on both sides: the Battle of Isandlwana, where the Zulus inflicted on the British the worst defeat a modern army has ever suffered at the hands of men without guns; Rorke’s Drift, where a handful of British troops beat off thousands of Zulu warriors and won a record 11 VCs; and Ulundi, where the Zulus were finally crushed in a battle that was to herald some of the most shameful episodes in British Colonial history. Comprehensive, vast in scope, and filled with original and up-to-date research, this is a book that is set to replace all standard works on the subject.

"Moving and powerful, this is an important book which everyone should read." Ann Cleeves"The Last Crossing is a brilliant excavation of the recent past." Adrian McKintyTony, Hugh and Karen thought they'd seen the last of each other thirty years ago. Half a lifetime has passed and memories have been buried. But when they are asked to reunite - to lay ghosts to rest for the good of the future - they all have their own reasons to agree. As they take the ferry from Northern Ireland to Scotland the past is brought in to terrible focus - some things are impossible to leave behind.In The Last Crossing memory is unreliable, truth shifts and slips and the lingering legacy of the Troubles threatens the present once again.

Best friends and partners through high-stakes missions . . . And the biggest risk they'll take is falling in love. Eight months ago, black ops operative, Magician, infiltrated a sex-slave ring. Little did she realize the mission would not only change her life forever, but kick off a series of events no one saw coming. Romeo still can't wipe the image of Magician's battered body nearly dying in his arms. Since then, one-night stands have lost their appeal. Now, his best friend and partner stars in fantasies he has no business envisioning. When a pro-American Oil lobbyist and a Saudi Arabian Oil Sheikh—two natural enemies—join forces to destroy new legislation allowing America to gain independence from foreign oil, they utilize bombings to throw the country into chaos. Magician's intuition knows there's a connection between the two, but she's forbidden to investigate since she has no evidence....

Based on the real life of Edith Warner, who ran a tearoom at Otowi Crossing, just below Los Alamos, The Woman at Otowi Crossing is the story of Helen Chalmer, a person in tune with her adopted environment and her neighbors in the nearby Indian pueblo and also a friend of the first atomic scientists. The secret evolution of atomic research is a counterpoint to her psychic development.In keeping with its tradition of allowing the best of its list to thrive, Ohio University Press/Swallow Press is particularly proud to reissue The Woman at Otowi Crossing by best-selling author Frank Waters. This new edition features an introduction by Professor Thomas J. Lyon and a foreword by the author's widow, Barbara Waters.The story is quintessential Waters: a parable for the potentially destructive materialism of the mid-twentieth century. The antidote is Helen Chalmer's ability to understand a deeper truth of her being; beyond the Western notion of selfhood,...

A family from the States, on their way to Costa Rica, run into trouble crossing the border into Guatemala.Conrad and Margot, having driven the length of Mexico from the States with two small children, are crossing the border between Mexico and Guatemala at Christmas time. He has hunting weapons, and permits from all the interveneding countries to carry them into Costa Rica. An incident in Guatemala has caused all gun permits to be canceled, and something strange has happened to the colonel who signed the gun permit—he doesn’t exist any more. What would have been a lengthy process at that time of year, turns into a day-long ordeal.

Everything you want in rural romance - heart, humour and hope' Sandie Docker, author of the much-loved The Kookaburra Creek CafeAn unexpected inheritance, a traumatic past and a family whose secrets are kept by the town.After a fractured childhood spent in foster homes, city-girl Roni has convinced herself that she has no need of anyone - other than her not-as-tough-as-he-looks rescued street cat, Scritches, and her unborn baby, who she's determined will feel all the love she's been denied.Despite facing a bleak future, Roni distrusts the news of a bequest from an unknown aunt, Marian Nelson. But, out of options, she and Scritches leave Sydney behind, bound for the 800-acre property on the edge of the wheat fields of South Australia.However, this is no simple inheritance: Marian seeks to control her legacy from beyond the grave by setting tasks that Roni must complete before she can claim the property and a life that could change her future. With everything...

Reuben Taylor has worked his whole life for a dream—to play for the New Zealand All Blacks. But is that dream worth losing the love of his life?

Honorable Mention for the Tofte/Wright Children's Book Award of WisconsinSilver Finalist in Children's Fiction for the Midwest Book AwardsSilver Winner in Young Reader Fiction for the Independent Book Publishers Association Benjamin Franklin AwardsTwelve-year-old Clare Burch has just lost the person she loves most in the world. She wonders if her feelings of sorrow and self-blame over her grandfather's death will ever go away.Out of the blue, a special request sends Clare on a journey from her home in Chicago to the Northwoods of Wisconsin. She knows that she must honor Grandpa Anthony's last wishes, even though they completely upend her summertime plans.Clare heads to rural Alwyn with her little blind dog and a duffel bag full of worries. What will she do without her best friends and swim team? Who will take her fishing and spoil her with candy now that her grandfather is gone? And most...

How can you describe unspeakable evil? A narcotice detective murdered In her first case after nine months recovering from her involvement in a fatal shooting, Sammy Greyfox is tasked with finding the killer - a straight forward task. Or is it? A dominatrix An addict who has abandoned her children...a blackmailer who delivers pain for pleasure. But is she a victim or a killer? A sefe with secrets The discovery of a secret list which was never meant to be found, will compound Sammy's case and result in a race against time to prevent more deaths. A twist of fate Two young women enter Sammy's life. One will enrich it, the other will save it.

Cody Walsh leaves Arkansas for California. Lured by stories of opportunity, even for women, Cody disguises herself as a man and prepares for the arduous journey west. Lillie Ellis leaves New York to accept a post as a schoolteacher on the frontier near a small homestead she just inherited from her uncle. Lillie's ultimate desire is to become a painter, and she hopes the Kansas frontier will offer her the freedom to follow that dream. In the nineteenth century, a young woman has few options in the East that don't revolve around marriage and motherhood. Lillie is interested in neither. Cody rescues Lillie after a chance encounter in Independence, Missouri. Their destinies and desires become entwined as they face the perils of the untamed West. Despite their differences, they discover that love's uncharted frontier is not for the weak in spirit or the faint of heart.

The Four Hooper Brothers Find Love In Unexpected Places....Connie has always been the plain one. The responsible one. The dutiful one. She always stood in her beautiful cousin’s shadow, but now her cousin is dead. Connie is left to pick up the pieces and do right by her little niece, Megan, which means delivering the girl to her father. But nothing is as it seems. Jake denies being the father. Worse, the attraction Connie once felt for the enigmatic rancher still exists, though she has always been invisible to him.Jake Hooper lost his mother, his father, and then his sweetheart, who left him without so much as a word of explanation. When Connie shows up with a child she claims is his, he knows it can’t be true.Jake determines to take Connie and Megan to Fort Macleod. They aren’t his responsibility. And after all the loss he has suffered, he can’t bear to open his heart again.But the more time they spend together, the more one charming little girl and her fiery aunt sneak into Jake’s heart. Will he be able to cut ties and leave them on their own? Or will his honor–and his heart–require a different answer?

Wet Socks Anonymous Vs. High Socks AnonymousRound 3Who ever thought that love could erupt just at a fringe of sight? Almost each person (mostly males) debate most on love at first sight. . .although such might be said; mine though begun with a single blink of my eyes. Do female angels exist? Why doesn't the bible mention anything to clear our conscious if really female angels do exist? All we get to read about is Angel Micheal, Angel Gabriel, and Angel Lucifer. I guess female angels are divine, and might even be among us. And sure worth the search.

Luke Tulane knew better than to touch her. Much less spend the night with her. But when he returns to Tennessee for yet another brother's wedding and discovers his little sister's best friend pregnant with his child, he knows he's really crossed the line. Doing the right thing is obvious—at least to him. But how do you convince a woman who's past is so traumatized by family drama that marriage to him might be worth facing her worst fears?

When Anson Jones discovers one of the men who embezzled money from his family's company hid the loot near Morgan's Crossing in Montana Territory, he leaves Oregon and travels there under the guise of setting up a horse ranch. Then all he has to do is wait for the culprit to slink into town, dig up the money, and have him arrested. There's only one problem. Anson just sent train fare to the Pettigrew Bridal Agency for his mail-order bride! He can't bring a woman into such danger and telegraphs the agency to stop everything. But when his message to Mrs. Pettigrew is altered, she thinks he wants her to send his bride to Montana! Misunderstandings, a loony villain, plenty of romance and a few surprises make for a fun romp.

369 pagesDesperate times call for desperate measures.On her way home from yet another failed job interview, Abigail Winters, a young, single mother on the verge of homelessness, accepts a proposition from a rich, handsome stranger.Soon, Abigail is leading two very different lives that have to be kept separate at all costs: one in which she’s a loving mother to her young son, and one in which she caters to the needs of the assertive and mysterious Mr. Thorne, both in and out of the bedroom.Their relationship is meant to be strictly business but as lines are crossed and secrets revealed, Abigail finds herself struggling not to fall head over heels in love with her reclusive Sir, thus putting their arrangement in jeopardy.Crossing the Lines is an older man, younger woman BDSM romance. 18+

Luella Jones has never been one to hold back. So when she sees the pain in the eyes of her brother’s hired hand, she sets out to discover the cause. Perhaps, that wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had.Jonas Cummings finally has a chance to better himself, make a new start, and leave his past behind. He’d be a fool to let one slip of a girl ruin all he’s accomplished. Yet, his employer’s sister has other ideas. But how can he deter Luella without putting his job in jeopardy or, even worse, risking his heart? 

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, to a Cree mother and a French father, Réauna, affectionately known throughout Tremblay’s work as “Nana,” was sent with her two younger sisters, Béa and Alice, to be raised on her maternal grandparents’ farm in Sainte-Maria-de-Saskatchewan, a francophone Catholic enclave of two hundred souls. At the age of ten, amid swaying fields of wheat under the idyllic prairie sky of her loving foster family, Nana is suddenly told by her mother, whom she hasn’t seen in five years and who now lives in Montreal, to come “home” and help take care of her new baby brother.So it is that Nana, with her faint recollection of the smell of the sea, embarks alone on an epic journey by train through Regina, Winnipeg, and Ottawa, on which she encounters a dizzying array of strangers and distant relatives, including Ti-Lou, the “she-wolf of Ottawa.”To our delight, Michel Tremblay here takes his reader...

It's hard enough for a teenager to navigate through his high school years without having to deal with a sudden, unexpected physical change, like say, two pronounced humps protruding from one's upper back. Now, imagine finding out such an oddity wasn't just some cruel courtesy of nature, but actually a pair of wings growing just beneath the skin. For Jacob Parrish, this is only the beginning of a sequence of events he suddenly faces after the death of his beloved mother, and he is visited by a mysterious visitor clad in a long, dark overcoat with eyes the color of two golden suns, who not only reveals himself to be an angel (and a fallen one at that), but informs the boy that he is the son of an angel. Naturally, the revelation is met with disbelief until his grandmother reluctantly brings forth a box, secreted away inside an old trunk, that holds the unbelievable truth long kept from Jacob — that he is indeed, a Nephilim. So begins Jacob's astonishing journey as he...

"Moving and powerful, this is an important book which everyone should read." Ann Cleeves"The Last Crossing is a brilliant excavation of the recent past." Adrian McKintyTony, Hugh and Karen thought they'd seen the last of each other thirty years ago. Half a lifetime has passed and memories have been buried. But when they are asked to reunite - to lay ghosts to rest for the good of the future - they all have their own reasons to agree. As they take the ferry from Northern Ireland to Scotland the past is brought in to terrible focus - some things are impossible to leave behind.In The Last Crossing memory is unreliable, truth shifts and slips and the lingering legacy of the Troubles threatens the present once again.

Best friends and partners through high-stakes missions . . . And the biggest risk they'll take is falling in love. Eight months ago, black ops operative, Magician, infiltrated a sex-slave ring. Little did she realize the mission would not only change her life forever, but kick off a series of events no one saw coming. Romeo still can't wipe the image of Magician's battered body nearly dying in his arms. Since then, one-night stands have lost their appeal. Now, his best friend and partner stars in fantasies he has no business envisioning. When a pro-American Oil lobbyist and a Saudi Arabian Oil Sheikh—two natural enemies—join forces to destroy new legislation allowing America to gain independence from foreign oil, they utilize bombings to throw the country into chaos. Magician's intuition knows there's a connection between the two, but she's forbidden to investigate since she has no evidence....

Carlos Torres agreed to guest host his aunt's Crossing the Bar podcast on a whim. That's how he'd run most of his life to date, so why not. Petty officer Sarah Goodwin fought long and hard to achieve the rank of US Coast Guard Surfman. It made her the best driver that the National Motor Lifeboat School has trained in years. Carlos joins her on a training ride, that turns into a desperate rescue in the treacherous waters over the Columbia River Bar. A rescue that charts a new life's course for them both.

Paisley has been attracted to gorgeous billionaire Hercules since high school, but she's accepted that they'll never be more than friends — until giving in to their desires just one last time changes everything... This sizzling romance is a recent release! He calls me PG, and my heart skips a beat.Nobody calls me that but Hercules Lord, a man I've had a crush on since high school.He and I could never be together, though. A romance between us is strictly forbidden. The Lords are old money, and my family, the Groves, is new money—and the Groves and the Lords don't mix. The hate between our families runs deep. Deep enough to create an invisible line in the sand that neither of us ever dared to cross.But that's never stopped us from staring at each other from across a crowded room. And we've always been cordial.Oh... There was that one night seven years ago. I bet Hercules doesn't know he's my first.Yet here we are again, gazing...

He's a killer able to reach even the most untouchable marks and she's his new obsession. Watching from his balcony, Hunter can't fight the force pulling him toward the girl who just moved in across the street. The sexy little brunette bouncing around her apartment unpacking boxes has him searching for a way to get closer. He never expected to be watching from the shadows as the police take her away. If he wants a chance with her, he has no choice but to follow.All Addy wanted was a new beginning and a chance at a normal life after leaving her cheating ex. She never expected her new start to include witnessing a brutal crime and being forced to relocate while the police searched for the killer. Finding herself waiting tables alone in a new town isn't exactly the start she was hoping for until the handsome stranger at table four turns her world upside down.Crossing the Line is a standalone Romantic Suspense / Mystery novel with a guaranteed HEA and no...

(Can be read as a stand alone novel)Brian is unashamedly Bi. He doesn't see the point in hiding who he chooses to sleep with so long as they don't expect a relationship. Brian doesn't do relationships, long-term commitment or whatever you want to name it; the people he dated chosen for their usefulness – a judge's son, a lawyer's daughter – to help solve cases or make evidence disappear. Family comes first and keeping his father and his cronies out of jail is a fulltime job by itself.But when his best mate Jamie returns to New Zealand he brings chaos to Brian's world – Kennosuke Kitayama. Kennosuke tugged at Brian in ways he desperately wanted to deny; and it only got worse when he allowed himself to indulge in a summer fling. What harm could it bring? Wasn't like Kennosuke would be here for long. Brian could have his fun, Kennosuke would leave and life would continue as normal.However, fate had other plans and so does his...

She's been through hell, so risking her heart should be easy...Anxious to rid herself and her twins of the dark memories from their past, twenty–three–year old Antonia moves to the small rural town of Flynn's Crossing. Antonia is frightened but determined to be independent for the first time in her life, so she rents Mango House and settles in to the community to begin the process of healing.Town councilor and local real estate agent Flynn has secrets. Guilt–ridden over a tragic childhood event, he fled the city and devotes his life to assisting others. He has big plans for Flynn's Crossing. Without change, the town will shrivel and die. But the townspeople are resistant to his ideas, and his discussions with a luxury resort developer.When Flynn first meets Antonia, he doesn't know her sensationalised past, and Antonia feels normal for the first time. Slowly, as they get to know each other, to trust each other, Antonia begins to...

In 'Beyond the Crossing', Liz and her partner Martin, lived together in Melbourne in the early 1970s. Nearly everyone was attending antiwar protests and smoking dope in dimly lit folk clubs. They found they had inadvertently joined the rat race and decided to move to outback Australia and work in an Aboriginal community. It changes their lives forever.Lorraine Watts, author, is passionate about the regional, rural, and remote parts of Australia and the people who live there. She has lived in capital cities too, but it is the outback of Australia that captures her heart and provides much of the raw material for her writing. In this short story, Beyond the Crossing, two of the main characters, Liz and Martin, met and started their lives together in 1972 in Melbourne. This was a time when it seemed that nearly everyone was attending anti- Vietnam war protests, and smoking dope in dimly lit folk clubs in city basements. Liz and Martin, along with thousands of other young people, saw a need and opportunity to change the world to a kinder more loving place. They wanted a revolution.A few short years later, they married, had two young children, and were grinding their way through the rat race along with the rest of the population. That is, until an exciting opportunity arose for them to go north to a remote Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land. This experience was to shape their future together: for better or worse. They returned to Melbourne in 1981 but not for long. Next time they went to Fitzroy Crossing in West Australia's North West. This very different experience brought about a crisis in their lives. This story commences with the main character, Liz, in 2003, as she reflects on her time at the Crossing and wonders what the future holds for her. I hope you enjoy this story and that it gives you some insight into the human condition we all share.

A warrior fighting his destiny.A woman desperately seeking hers.And a magic portal that joins them both. Dál Cruinne is a world of warriors and mages, clan kings and sages.Asleep since the Dragon Wars of millennia past, the beasts have now awoken. Arlan, warrior son of the High King of the Sovereignty of Dál Gaedhle, is destined to be the war chief of his clan. But the cost is a future that ignores his desire to choose his own path. Scottish librarian, Rhiannon, adrift after losing her job due to economic cuts, now lives a second-rate life, feeling more out of place than ever. When Arlan bursts into her world on his war horse and brandishing weapons, he turns her existence up-side-down. He thinks he's found the perfect woman. She can't understand why he's delaying his return. Now with his world on the brink of war, and...

Johnstone Men on a Treacherous Trail. Riding Shotgun. Settling the American West required true grit, fortitude, and when necessary, shedding blood. It also required men like Preacher and MacCallister to enforce peace in a land where the law was scarce—and justice was delivered from the barrel of a gun . . . THE DEVIL'S CROSSING Wagon trains carrying immigrants along the Oregon Trail are falling prey to outlaws. Most families surrender their valuables and goods peacefully, but anybody brave enough to resist gets a bullet. The gang's latest victim was a wagon master who sought to protect his charges only to die in the dust. With the blood of good men being spilled and families being terrorized, Preacher and Jamie MacCallister volunteer to escort the next wagon train. Preacher travels with the settlers while MacCallister trails along at a distance, scouting for trouble. Their odyssey across the unforgiving territory takes them...

I saved him. Well, maybe he saved me. Or perhaps we saved each other. All I knew was that one second, I was bickering with the man I pretended to despise—a man I secretly wanted more than my next meal—and the next the world was exploding around us. KTS, the secret military agency I worked for, was under attack by a former agent turned traitor and everything we thought we knew about being the good guys was getting more complicated by the minute. As was my relationship with Linc. I'd asked him out once, bared my feelings for him, and . . . he'd turned me down. Not gently, either. But now we were fighting for our lives, and I discovered that perhaps his rejection wasn't quite so simple. Maybe he'd pushed me away because once I was in his heart, there was no letting me go. Ever.

The Brotherband Chronicles meets the Wild West in this rip-roaring middle-grade adventure series filled with dark magic, scrappy heroes, and diabolical villains. Keech Blackwood and his band of fellow orphans demand justice for their fallen families. But the road to retribution is a long and hard-fought journey. After defeating Bad Whiskey Nelson, the man who burned Keech's home to the ground, the Lost Causes have a new mission: find Bonfire Crossing, the Osage land that holds clues to the whereabouts of the all-powerful Char Stone. Along the way they'll have to fend off a shapeshifting beast, a swarm of river monsters, and a fearsome desperado named Big Ben Loving who conjures tornadoes out of thin air. It's an epic standoff between the Lost Causes and the outlaw Reverend Rose, a powerful sorcerer who would be unstoppable with the Stone in his possession. With the world—and vengeance—hanging in the balance, the Lost...

A heartfelt middle grade novel about the stories that heal us, and about having the courage to let go of the past.Ato has always seen his father as a real-life Superman, maybe even with a bit of Iron Man and the Hulk mixed in. When he dies, Ato and his mother are devastated, and struggle to put the pieces of their lives back together. So when Ato's mother decides he should spend the summer with his grandmother, he isn't sure what to expect. It certainly isn't arriving to find her preparing to bury the family sofa. As the summer goes by, Nana tells stories about the couch that span generations and that are by turns hilarious and heartbreaking. In listening, Ato discovers his father's vibrant, complicated life, and learns to honor his past with hope for his future.Whimsical and wise, Crossing the Stream is a big-hearted story of loss and love set in contemporary Accra, from one of Ghana's most lauded children's book authors.

At age 54, Yana Pickering is comfortably and firmly rooted in Seattle. On the other side of the world, Elias is neither comfortable nor rooted. His once-secure life as head of surgery at a major Aleppo hospital has been destroyed by the Syrian conflict. Now he's on a desperate quest to locate his son and daughter-all that's left of his family. The thread that draws these two together forms an engrossing story that spans Seattle, Beirut, Syria, and France. Yana finds herself on a personal journey of new borders-from refugees crossing countries in search of safety, to a young woman facing risks in crossing the transgender border. Ultimately, Yana must decide what she values most, and which borders she is willing to cross, decisions that will profoundly shape her future. With humor and kindness, The Risk in Crossing Borders pulls the reader into the complex lives and harrowing experiences of those who stand up for the things in life that matter.

SEER TRAINING HAS BEGUN Black and white turns into gray as one secret society doesn’t play by the rules, leaving a young Seer to find her own allies and discover her destiny. Oh yeah, and stop the bad guys from using her angel-seeing power to change the course of history. When Lucy agrees to follow her new boyfriend to his home in Pennsylvania, she discovers that the Guardian regimen of Seer Training is WAY more intense than she imagined. Her visions of angels are now come with attacks by demon-shadows. The Cooper family, aka her Seer Trainers, call it a reckoning. But learning to control her visions means risking a brush with screaming wraiths and more than enough strange visions. Lucy’s loyalties are tested when the Guardians ask the impossible and she’s forced to find unlikely allies. Maybe the Nexis president isn’t as bad as she thought he was. More than that—could Will actually be on her side? All is not as it seems at Montrose Academy—where spies abound and there’s more than one secret couple on campus. With her world turned upside down, will Lucy learn to hone her powers and to fight against the Nexis Society's nefarious plans to change the course of history? Crossing Nexis is Book 2 in the Nexis Angel Series, a YA Paranormal Romance. If you love a sassy heroine, a classic love triangle set in an elite academy, and life-or-death situations with a paranormal twist, pick up a copy of Crossing Nexis today.

What makes a life worth living? True love. But what makes life worth dying? Compared to the #1 New York Times Bestsellers "A masterpiece of narrative fiction” “An enthralling story of the dying awake.”With nothing in common, love sets the trap and they have everything to lose . “Gripping and powerful Dead Awake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of true love as it is thrust down to HellCompared to the #1 New York Times Bestsellers "A masterpiece of narrative fiction” “An enthralling story of the dying awake.”With nothing in common, love sets the trap and they have everything to lose . . .“Gripping and powerful Dead Awake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of true love as it is thrust down to dark realms of self-doubt and despair - where the delicate details of intimate meaning are torn and obscured by human error.” Los Angeles Book DailyStunning sense of physical detail and elegant metaphors” (New York Reader) interweaving two lives from opposite ends of the globe, illuminating the way against tradition. A deeply magnificent novel from an author “whose sentences never fail to make you catch your breath” (Los Angeles Reviewer).In the style of A Doerr, a masterpiece.For readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, this inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir of a dying man as he hopes for beauty in the face of insurmountable odds and attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? True love. But what makes life worth dying?

Sailing and soldiering around the world has taken Caleb O'Shea far from his native Ireland, so he never imagined that a promise to see a fellow crewman safely home would practically land him on his brother's doorstep. After spending years away from his family, Caleb isn't certain what kind of reception he will receive when he steps foot in Natchez, Mississippi. The one thing he knows for sure is that he won't stay long.Since her sister was kidnapped by river pirates six months ago, Alanah Adams has taken special care to avoid drawing attention to herself. Those living in the rough-and-tumble settlement of Cypress Creek might even think she's addled. But when she stumbles into Caleb and his friends in Natchez, she appears to be the picture-perfect lady.Caleb only catches glimpses of the mysterious and beautiful Alanah before she disappears. But a chance encounter with her at his brother's logging camp near Cypress Creek leaves him uncomfortable at the thought of the young...

Hardcover, no dustjacket. Macmillan & Co., 1904

Luke Tulane knew better than to touch her. Much less spend the night with her. But when he returns to Tennessee for yet another brother's wedding and discovers his little sister's best friend pregnant with his child, he knows he's really crossed the line. Doing the right thing is obvious—at least to him. But how do you convince a woman who's past is so traumatized by family drama that marriage to him might be worth facing her worst fears?

Partners...with benefits. Your partner knows your secrets. Your partner watches your back. Your partner...is the star of your fantasies? Linc Dalton knows that he is supposed to keep his hands off his partner...well, unless he is protecting Blair Kincaid's gorgeous body. She's his partner at an elite security and protection firm. Their job is to guard the wealthy, to take out the bad guys, and to generally kick butt. He trusts Blair completely. He admires her strength and courage. And he wants her desperately. Not that he ever intends to let her know that fun fact. Instead, he keeps up a fake persona where he offers her jokes and flippant comments. Blair is straight-laced. By-the-book. Always by-the-book. Linc likes things a bit wilder. Control isn't his strong suit, but, with a massive effort, he's kept his control in place around Blair. With Blair, he's on his best behavior... Until he isn't. Until they get...

Colson Hunter had a plan, and it didn't include a starving widow and two neighboring children. But that's exactly what he got stuck with when his plans came to naught. Then again, "stuck with" might not be the best way to put it. After all, he was the one that got himself shot, found by the waifs, and was now at the mercy of the Widow Bright. If not for her tender loving care he'd be dead.Maybe everyone else would be better off is he was...Merry Bright didn't have much. Okay, much was too generous a word. Unless you counted the cow, the only thing in her possession of value. But a winter spent living off cow's milk alone wasn't appealing. The alternative even less so. To make matters worse, now she had a big, hulking stranger to take care of? What else could possibly go wrong in her world?What else indeed!