Or for the intimacy and tenderness you feel as you hold the hand of a suffering friend.A generation after the height of the AIDS crisis, what is it like to be a young gay man in New York? How many words are there now for the different kinds of pain, the different kinds of love?Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance premiered in two parts at the Young Vic Theatre, London, in March 2018, and on Broadway, Oct. 2019.

    Violent, malnourished and showing signs of sexualised behaviour, the two brothers and their big sister have been left to fend for themselves by their drug-addicted parents. Maggie must use all of her skills and experience as a foster carer to help these damaged siblings to learn to be children again. With much love, care and patience, their behaviour gradually starts to improve and social services start looking for a forever family for them.But alarm bells start to ring when Maggie meets the couple who have been matched to adopt the siblings. It is clear that they're looking for the perfect, ready-made family, and they're not going to get it with these vulnerable brothers and sister. Despite raising her concerns with social services, Maggie is powerless to prevent the adoption from going ahead and she must put aside her own fears to help the siblings settle in with their new parents. But she can't shake the feeling of dread as she waves them goodbye. Six months later, Maggie's worst nightmares come true when she learns that the children have been handed back to the care of social services following the breakdown of the adoption. Maggie must fight to get the children returned to her, but is it too late to undo the damage that has been done?

    But with Shazia denying everything and social services unable to find any evidence to support the teacher's fears, Shazia is allowed to return home.But a few weeks later, Maggie is woken up in the middle of the night by a phone call from a terrified Shazia, who has managed to escape the family home through a window. Sobbing, she confesses to Maggie that her parents are planning to send her to Pakistan to be married in a few days, and have threatened to kill her if she speaks out again.Returned to Maggie's care, Shazia is petrified that her parents will track her down and kill her, and Maggie must be on constant alert. But the worst is yet to come when it emerges that Shazia is the victim of FGM. Can Maggie help this damaged and traumatised young girl understand what has happened to her and to find a way to heal?In this new book, Maggie Hartley taps into the highly topical issues of FGM and arranged marriage, and presents a sensitive and unique insight into the effect these practices have on their young victims.

     Only she doesn’t know it yet. Bear shifter, Matthew, just bought his mate at a charity auction. Okay, so what he actually bought was an afternoon of pet pampering—he doesn’t own a pet. Maybe he could pamper her instead? Only he’s the bad guy, who came to town to destroy the animal shelter, so he could build luxury houses on the land. Yes, he is the Christmas villain. But he intends to change. For Sian. Sian is done with men. Her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Peter, was a bully who never appreciated the wonderful family he was part of but won’t sign the divorce papers and hand over the money he owes her. To make things worse, he arrived in town to embarrass her at the charity auction she’d helped arrange. But then a Christmas miracle happened. Matthew Lewis, a billionaire property tycoon, paid a small fortune for an afternoon with her. Okay, so what he actually bought was an afternoon of pet pampering—but she knows he doesn’t have a pet. So maybe she could pamper him instead? Wait! Matthew is the bad guy in town. Sian has sworn off men for life. And she has two daughters who must come first. But he’s a bear shifter and they mate for life. Can she risk her heart on a man again? Is it possible they might all get their wish and get a Second Chance Christmas in Bear Creek?

    I am now under arrest like the hero I created years ago. I await the decision that will determine my future, just as he awaited his. I am unaware of my destiny, which has perhaps already been decided, just as he was unaware of his. I suffer the pathetic torment of profound helplessness, just as he did. Like a cursed oracle, I foresaw my future years ago not knowing that it was my own. Confined in a cell four metres long, imprisoned on absurd, Kafkaesque charges, novelist Ahmet Altan is one of many writers persecuted by Recep Tayyip Erdogan's oppressive regime. In this extraordinary memoir, written from his prison cell, Altan reflects upon his sentence, on a life whittled down to a courtyard covered by bars, and on the hope and solace a writer's mind can provide, even in the darkest places.

    She arrives as an emergency placement at the home of foster carer Angela, who soon suspects that there is more to the young girl's disruptive behaviour than meets the eye. Can Angela's specialist training unlock the horrors of Danielle's past and help her start a brave new life?The Girl With Two Lives is the fourth book from well loved foster carer and Sunday Times bestselling author Angela Hart. Another true story from the experienced and bestselling foster carer – sharing the tale of one of the many children she has fostered over the years. A story of the difference that quiet care, a watchful eye and sympathetic ear can make to those children whose upbringing has been less fortunate than others.

    Self-appointed rulers of all. Strong. Majestic. The most badass of all the species, and yet, the most vulnerable. Their own females died many moons ago from the dreaded clutch sickness. Desperate and desolate, they watch as the other shifters take human females as mates. They are breeding successfully with them too. Surely if the others can do it, they can too? They must if they are to survive. Human females are afraid of them, not interested in the least. It is clear that The Feral must first learn the ways of the humans. The problem is that they have kept to themselves for too long. They don’t have the slightest clue where to start. Several keythong are appointed to infiltrate human society. To learn what they can. These particular males are some of those who lost their mates. They are therefore destined to spend the rest of their days alone. Females no longer tempt them, which makes them perfect for this mission. As long as they stick to the plan and the job at hand, what can go wrong? Talon arrives in the big city. It’s bright, loud and packed with humans. By scale and by feather, he has no idea where to start. The future of his species rests firmly on his shoulders. Clueless, he enlists the services of a Love Doctor who promises to teach him everything he needs to know about the opposite sex. Vicky is desperate. Ever since her husband ran off with another woman, her business has been in the toilet. Who wants to take advice on love from someone who couldn’t keep her own husband happy? No one, that’s who. At least, no one in their right mind. On the verge of bankruptcy, a very gorgeous, nut-job of a guy walks through her door. He claims not to be human. Yeah right! Her first instinct is to kick him out. Then he hands her a suitcase full of money. Cash - and lots of it. How can she refuse to teach him everything she knows about women, about love? She can’t, that’s how. The female laughs at him when he tells her who he is and why he is there. It takes some convincing to get her to agree to help him. She proves to be highly knowledgeable and skilled in the ways of human females. His mate has long since died and yet he is tied to her as if she were flesh and blood. His heart, his body, and his soul belong only to her. Why then does this tiny human doctor tempt him so? How is it that his hunger has reawakened? This has never happened before in the history of The Feral. It is wrong, and he must fight against it with every fiber of his being. Contains hot, alpha males and therefore strong sexual themes/language

    Instead, she’s on the run from a stalker who lusts after her blood. She’d rather comb the beach for lost treasures than venture any deeper into the terrifying world of shapeshifters. There, even the good guys are hard to trust — except for the hot-blooded rebel she can’t get out of her head.Connor Hoving and his band of Special Forces shifters were planning to leave trouble behind by moving to Maui, but destiny has other ideas. His whole future — and that of his brothers — depends on acing his new job as head of security at an exclusive seaside estate. But Connor can barely get his inner dragon to focus with alluring, off-limits Jenna around. Can this rebel dragon learn to play by the rules when his fated mate’s life is at stake?The closer Connor and Jenna become, the higher forbidden passions blaze. The more they give in to simmering desire, the more impossible love seems. And the more secrets they uncover, the closer their enemies creep. Vampires and ruthless dragons lurk in the shadows, and it’s impossible to tell whose side fate will take. Only one thing is certain: great heroes don’t get to pick their destinies — only the choices they make.Maui just got hotter with this exciting new series of steamy, suspenseful paranormal romance! ALOHA SHIFTERS: PEARLS OF DESIRE is a series of sizzling paranormal romances with adult content. This series spins off from Aloha Shifters: Jewels of the Heart. It’s fun to read each series in order, but any of the books can be read as standalone title in its own right. Just be warned: hot alpha shifters, ruthless enemies, and unveiled desires ahead! No cliff hangers. Each story is a page-turner packed with action, emotion, and romance! If you like Magnum, PI and smoldering hot, alpha shapeshifters, you'll love these books! Each includes strong heroines, alpha heroes, werewolves and shapeshifters, billionaires, military romance, paranormal suspense, action-adventure romance, fantasy romance, and exotic, tropical locales!

    A close friend has offered Nessa her dream job as his personal chef. But can Gerri Wilder, Nova Aurora’s matchmaking miracle-worker, find Nessa her dream mate? After years of waiting, Nessa’s pretty sure she’s a lost cause. But then she meets strong, sexy Gaius, a bear shifter bachelor whose skills with his tools will be instrumental in building her the kitchen of her dreams. Lonely and aloof, the dominating former Arena Champion seems the perfect match for strong-willed Nessa. But if that were true, wouldn’t the matchmaker they’ve both placed their trust in have matched them up already? Gerri’s silence is telling; Nessa doesn’t want to get close to anyone she’s not going to have a future with, and Gaius isn’t sure he’s ready to have a future with anyone at all. The trouble is, the bossy she-bear has lit a fire in him that can’t easily be quenched, and her skills in the kitchen are going straight to his heart. Author’s Note: This book takes place prior to the events of “Hot Wings” but can be read as a standalone.

    But when three incredibly gorgeous men ask me out on three separate dates, right before Christmas? Staying off Santa’s naughty list just became a lot harder. Dumped just weeks before Christmas, personal shopper Holly doesn't feel so merry. But when she takes on a trio of gorgeous new clients, all looking to avoid the holiday rush? Things might be VERY jolly after all. A Texas transplant in New York City, Holly loves being surrounded by the beauty and enchantment of the holidays. But when temptation strikes in the form of three hunky clients, all hellbent on taking her on the most romantic of all Christmas dates? A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do! Enter Brody, lithe and strong, a motorcycle-driving blond with an insatiable libido. Paired with Holly's ripped personal trainer Donovan - the envy of her gym - and the tall, dark, handsome CEO of his own company, Lincoln Wallace? All three men give Holly a whirlwind weekend that could utterly wipe out any memory of her recent breakup with Malcolm. But Christmas is coming, and with it a decision. Can Holly actually choose between her three amazing suitors, each fully aware of the others? Or will a butterfly-inducing idea - that of willingly sharing her between them - turn a friendly little holiday competition into more of a steamy, indescribably hot, cooperative effort? Three powerful men... one incredible woman. No jealousy, no limits, nothing but gut-churning, heart-pounding, sensuously-charged excitement sure to give Holly the most legendary holiday season ever! Can her three amazing lovers fulfill the ultimate in white-hot fantasy Christmas wishes? Or will everyone wake up Xmas morning with coal in their stockings? Unwrapping Holly is a sexy, stand-alone reverse harem holiday romance filled with humor, drama, wonder, excitement, and a sugary-sweet helping of love. It also contains molten hot menage sex, in single and multiple partner scenes, so blisteringly intense the stockings hung by your mantle might just burst into flames! HEA guaranteed.

    He had been savagely beaten to death with a baseball bat and brick while his children slept nearby. For his sister, Tracey Corbett-Lynch, and the rest of his family in Ireland it was just the beginning of the nightmare that would involve a custody battle for his orphaned children, an online hate campaign by Molly Martens and, ultimately, the gripping trial that would lead to her conviction, alongside her father, for his murder.My Brother Jason is the story of how this seemingly all-American girl from a picture-perfect family targeted the widowed Jason Corbett, becoming nanny to his children in a desperate bid to create the family and security she craved, thus setting in motion a series of events that would lead to Jason’s brutal killing by the woman he had once loved.Here, for the first time, Tracey Corbett-Lynch tells her family’s side of the story in a book that contains shocking revelations about Molly Marten’s history of strange behaviour and the lengths she was willing to go to in order to get custody of Jason’s children.With full access to Jason’s letters, emails, keepsakes and photographs, it is the story of how an ordinary, loving family was torn apart by the brutal murder of their beloved brother.

    It’s a dream come true, and she’s so excited the joy is oozing from her. As icing on the cake, it appears the brothers that own the ranch are sexy as can be. A few months with some eye candy, is just what the doctor ordered. Beau Kipling sees the sweet young thing coming for her riding lesson, and feels a kick to his gut. What is this hot young woman doing dating a man old enough to be her father? He’s so ticked off, he can’t stop himself from being an ass to her. He’s never, in his whole life, felt the instant attraction he feels for this female, and she’s some old guys arm candy. When the truth is revealed, that Alyssa is his intern for the spring, and not the sheriff’s new girlfriend, Beau knows he’s blown it. And he can’t even explain why he was so mean. No woman wants to hear a guy thought she was a gold digger. Now they must work together all spring. Can he convince her to give him a second chance?

    One he has always kept in a silver box with a too-big lid that falls off. When it finally comes true, he wishes it hadn't...Long ago Ben dreamed of going to Africa to volunteer at a lion reserve. When he finally goes there, it isn't for the reasons he imagined...Ben and Andrew keep meeting where they least expect. Some collisions are by design, but are they for a reason? Ben's father would disown him for his relationship with Andrew, so they must hide their love. Andrew is determined to make it work, but secrets from his past threaten to ruin everything.Ben escapes to Zimbabwe to finally fulfil his lifelong ambition. But will he ever return to England? To Andrew? To the truth? A dark and poignant drama, The Lion Tamer Who Lost is also a mesmerisingly beautiful love story, with a tragic heart.

    A history of abuse and neglect has left Miller destined for life’s scrap heap. But in this turbulent story of conflict and struggle, Casey Watson is determined to help Miller overcome his demons, show him love and give him hope.Casey Watson is back, doing the job she does best – rolling up her sleeves and fostering the children who, on first meeting, seem like hopeless cases. But when she meets Miller and discovers the truth about his disturbing childhood, even Casey begins to doubt if this child will ever be able to accept love.Found naked and alone on a railway track, Miller was just five when he was first admitted into the care system. Emotionally tormented by his biological parents, Miller has never understood how to establish meaningful relationships, and his destructive past, and over 20 failed placements, is sealing his fate in society’s social scrap heap.After a torrent of violent behaviour and numerous failed attempts to help Miller, Casey decides to make an intervention, implementing a severe regime that strips Miller of all control. But soon the emotional demands of Miller’s case start to take their toll on Casey and Mike. Just how far is Casey willing to go to help Miller and save him from his inner demons?

    Ranging across history and continents, these poems operate in the spaces in between, their haunting lyrics creating new, hybrid territories.The Perseverance is a book of loss, contested language and praise, where elegies for the poet’s father sit alongside meditations on the d/Deaf experience.

    Two aunties and then her elderly grandmother take her in but it seems nobody can cope with Lucy’s disruptive behaviour. Social Services hope a stay with experienced foster carer Angela will help Lucy settle down. She misses her dad and three siblings and is desperate for a fresh start back home, but will Lucy ever be able to live in harmony with her stepmother and her stepsister – a girl who was once her best friend at school?The Girl Who Wanted to Belong is the fifth book from well-loved foster carer and Sunday Times bestselling author Angela Hart. A true story that shares the tale of one of the many children she has fostered over the years. Angela's stories show the difference that quiet care, a watchful eye and sympathetic ear can make to those children whose upbringing has been less fortunate than others.

    A water rat swims upriver in quest of the cloud god. A fisherman named Karl hunts for tuna in partnership with a seal. And a father takes form from fire. The answers to these riddles are to be found in this tale of grief and love and the bonds of family, tracing a journey across the southern island that takes us full circle.Flames sings out with joy and sadness. Utterly original in conception, spellbinding in its descriptions of nature and its celebration of the power of language, it announces the arrival of a thrilling new voice in contemporary fiction.

    Short-listed twice for the Booker Prize and the winner of a record four Miles Franklin Literary Awards for Best Australian Novel, he has a gift for language virtually unrivaled among writers in English. His work is both tough and tender, primordial and new - always revealing the raw, instinctual drives that lure us together and rend us apart. In The Shepherd's Hut, Winton crafts the story of Jaxie Clackton, a brutalized rural youth who flees from the scene of his father's violent death and strikes out for the vast wilds of Western Australia. All he carries with him is a rifle and a waterjug. All he wants is peace and freedom. But surviving in the harsh saltlands alone is a savage business. And once he discovers he's not alone out there, all Jaxie's plans go awry. He meets a fellow exile, the ruined priest Fintan MacGillis, a man he's never certain he can trust, but on whom his life will soon depend. The Shepherd's Hut is a thrilling tale of unlikely friendship and yearning, at once brutal and lyrical, from one of our finest storytellers.

    They've talked to hundreds of legendary players, such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Magic Johnson, and spoken with renowned coaches, including Phil Jackson and Coach K, as well as numerous executives, commissioners, and journalists. Most impressive was the extraordinary quality of the interviews. Again and again, players spoke candidly about secrets and told stories they'd never before discussed on the record.The book that grew out of those interviews is an extraordinary project and quite possibly the most ambitious basketball book ever written. At once a definitive oral history and something far more literary and intimate, this is the never-before-told story of how basketball came to be, and about what it means to those who've given their lives to the game.

    He also discusses the fatal attraction of what he calls, "heroic failure", once a self-deprecating cult in a hugely successful empire that could well afford the occasional disaste. Now failure is no longer heroic – it is just failure, and the author says, terrible costs will be paid by the most vulnerable of Brexit's supporters, and by those who may suffer the consequences of a hard border in Ireland and the breakdown of a fragile peace.

    There, a young autistic boy lives on his parents' farm among the salt flats, and the flamingos that live there. There are lots of things he doesn't understand: but he does know how to heal animals. He loves routine, and music too: and every week he goes to market with his mother, to ride his special horse on the town carousel.But then the Germans come, with their guns, and take the town. A soldier shoots a flamingo from the sky, and it falls to earth terribly injured. And even worse is to come: the carousel is damaged, the horses broken. For this vulnerable boy, everything is falling apart.Only there's a kind sergeant among the Germans – a man with a young boy of his own at home, a man who trained as a carpenter. Between them, perhaps boy and man can mend what has been broken – and maybe even the whole town…

    And trouble is the last thing he needs when he’s working hard to fill his daddy’s boots as the new sheriff. He doesn’t have time for frivolous fun with a sassy woman who can’t take no for an answer. But when Spring finagles her way into a position as his new assistant, Waylon realizes there’s much more to her than meets the eye. She brightens his mundane life with her sunny smile and kind heart, and he suddenly wants springtime each and every day.Spring Hadley isn’t trouble. She’s a free spirit who sometimes forgets important things—like locking up the clothing store she owns with her sisters. When her sisters get mad and call her an irresponsible ditz, she decides to go on a camping adventure to prove that she can make it just fine without her family. Unfortunately, her Jeep breaks down, and Spring ends up stranded in Bliss with no money. A temp job is what she needs, and she’s determined to get it—even if it means tangling with the new sheriff. A sheriff who is hotter than a jalapeno pepper with kisses just as spicy. But when her criminal father blows into town, trouble begins, accusations fly, and the truth comes out. Can a straight-laced lawman and a free-spirited woman make it to the church on time? Or will a secret tear through their spring romance like a Texas tornado?

    Contains previously published stories Too Scared To Cry, The Girl No One Wanted and A Family For Christmas - brought together in this heartwarming and inspiring collection for the first time. *****Maggie Hartley is one of the UK's most prolific foster mothers. This inspiring collection includes three heartbreaking, true short stories about the children who have passed through Maggie's care. TOO SCARED TO CRYWhen Ben and Damien arrive on Maggie's doorstep, the two toddlers are too scared to speak. More disturbingly still, their baby half-brother Noah is completely unresponsive - he doesn't smile or play or crawl. The three siblings have been conditioned to be seen and not heard, and it's up to Maggie to unpick what has caused this terrible void. THE GIRL NO ONE WANTEDEleven-year-old Leanne is out of control. With over forty placements in her short life, no local foster carers are willing to take in this angry and damaged little girl. Maggie is Leanne's only hope, and her last chance. If this placement fails, Leanne will be put in a secure unit. Where most others would simply walk away, Maggie refuses to give up on the little girl who's never known love. A FAMILY FOR CHRISTMASA tragic accident leaves the life of toddler Edward changed forever and his family wracked with guilt. Maggie must help this family grieve for the son they've lost and learn to love the little boy he is now. But will Edward have a family to go home to at Christmas?These heartwarming and inspiring short stories show the power of a foster mother's love, and her determination to help the children who come into her care.Note: These stories have previously been published as individual ebooks. True stories of foster care and adoption and one foster mother's attempts to help the children in her care heal from abuse, neglect and trauma.

    Alphas. Bad Boys. Protectors. Fall for the hottest men around in a collection box set of 4 Amazon Best Sellers. Picking a favorite? Impossible. Putting the Kindle down? You won’t stand a chance! Includes the following titles: Book 1 – Long Game I’m in it to win it. So when Indiana comes along, nothing changes. Not at first. What starts as a game turns into a need for more. More knowledge. More time. More of Indiana. I’m in it to win… her. Book 2 - Brute Jeanie wants her cherry popped. And I won’t let her a$shole ex be the first to break it. I don’t do second place. As long as she doesn’t learn what I’m running from, I’ll take first prize. Book 3 – Puck Buddies I found out Harper’s never had a big O. I accepted that challenge. Thanks to me, she can’t use that claim any more. I didn’t find out until after… ...she’s my Cultural Studies professor. Guess she doesn’t need to teach me everything. Book 4 - Vice New city. New case. New partner who’s one wild, fiery woman. One I can’t stop thinking about. As darkness tries to bring us down, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe...

    Get my new brewpub up and running. 2. Ignore the wickedly handsome Dom Wilde and his kinky furniture. 3. No more carpenter puns. Screw and hammer. Tongue and groove. Nail gun. 4. Focus on the beer. 5. Remember: If I fail, I’ll have to go back to working for my evil ex-boyfriend. 6. Don’t get turned on when Dom calls me his little spitfire in his sexy, smoky growl. And above all, don’t get too attached to his...ahem...‘hard wood.’

    Taking her own experience of translating Roland Barthes’s lecture notes as a starting point, the author threads various stories together to give us this portrait of translation as a compelling, complex and intensely relational activity. She recounts the story of Helen Lowe-Porter’s translations of Thomas Mann, and their posthumous vilification. She writes about the loving relationship between André Gide and his translator Dorothy Bussy. She recalls how Robinson Crusoe laboriously made a table, for him for the first time, on an undeserted island. With This Little Art, a beautifully layered account of a subjective translating experience, Kate Briggs emerges as a truly remarkable writer: distinctive, wise, frank, funny and utterly original.

    You would run too if you were forced to be married to the cruel mob boss, Luca Capuano. There are enemies all around her, so she escapes to the one place where she knows she’ll be safe: the small town of Redemption Creek, Montana. Grizzly bear shifter, Lachlan, is busy drinking himself into a coma when his old flame shows up in a wedding dress. There’s nothing he would like more than to marry the girl he’s been thinking of for years, but his crazy bear can’t be trusted around nice delicate things like Jessie. Lachlan desperately wants to protect Jessie from the men hunting her down, but who is going to protect her from the vicious animal he has lurking inside? Is Jessie running from one monster to another? Features a new crew in a brand new town! Perfect for fans of my Colwood, Montana series.

    Now he’s finally found her, and he’ll do anything to make her is own…The evil Dragon Lord Vyrkos is about to rise from captivity in a devastating volcanic eruption. Only the Greystone brothers can stop him—and only if they find the three women who hold the keys to sealing Vyrkos’ tomb forever.Blaze McKenna is a witch hiding out from her former coven. After stealing their most powerful artifact to keep them from destroying themselves, she’s been preparing for the day when the coven leader will hunt her down and try to take it back.A battle that only one of them will walk away from. So when smoking hot dragon shifter Zane Greystone offers to help her fight the coven in return for her handing over one of the Seals to Vyrkos’ tomb, it sounds like the perfect plan—except for two problems.She doesn’t know where the Seal is.And the dragon doesn’t just want her help—he wants her heart, body and soul.Dragon’s Rogue is the first book in Anastasia Wilde’s epic new trilogy, Wild Dragons. Each book features one couple, hot steamy dragon love, HEA, no cliffhangers!Rated steamy – contains explicit sex but not erotica

    Transport has ground to a halt, flights cancelled and roads treacherous. Yet Tom must venture out into this transformed landscape to collect his son Luke, sick and stranded in his student lodgings. During this solitary journey from Belfast to Sunderland by car and boat, Tom reflects on his life: the beloved wife he leaves behind, labouring to create the perfect Christmas and mend their family’s cracks with seasonal cheer; the son he is driving towards, yet struggles to connect with; the countless small disappointments of his photography career; and the absence that is always there as a voice in his head – his other son, Daniel.In prose both lyrical and effortless, David Park vividly presents us with the inner life of a man grappling with existence’s challenges: the memories that haunt us, the secrets that divide us, and the bonds that strengthen us. Meditating on marriage, masculinity, parenthood and ambition, this novel encapsulates, with its exquisitely nuanced, precisely delineated depiction of human experience, the unsolved mystery at the heart of our lives.

    The most boring job on the planet? Check. A boyfriend of eight years who still hasn’t put a ring on it? Double check. A squirrel that can’t stop gorging itself on her tomato plants? Make that a triple. But on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Wren can’t shake the feeling that things are about to change. And they are. Just not in the way she planned. After a series of unexplainable events makes her question her sanity, a strange little man arrives to deliver an even stranger message: Wren isn’t so ordinary after all. She’s a witch, and in order to claim her powers, she must leave everything behind and journey to a place she never even knew existed. Suddenly, Wren is thrust into a fantasy world come to life, where taxis sprout wings and take to the skies, merwomen teach sold-out water aerobics classes, and scent-challenged ogres panhandle on street corners for unusual delicacies. Add in a new job, a hunky coworker, and a full schedule of magical lessons, and Wren’s formerly boring life is nothing but a distant memory. But before she’s able to even test out her training wand, Wren is confronted with a murder she feels compelled to solve, a list of suspects with plenty to hide, and a mysterious man in black who seems to be tracking her every move. Turns out even fantasy worlds have their dark sides.

    There was garbage all over. Any job I'd ever had involved garbage. I had been, and always would be, a garbageman. And yes, I took great pride in my garbage pedigree. It was my calling. My very meaning. Something dripped on my head. I touched my head. Thick, dark-green gel on my hand--like pureed spinach. Oh hello! I was just talking about you to someone! The stories in this collection take us on a journey to the rat-infested dive bars, restaurant kitchens, and alleys of Sam Pink's Chicago. Here our protagonist stacks kegs and cleans up puke. He unclogs toilets and breaks up fights. He fantasizes about killing his landlord. He impersonates a doctor to adopt a kitten. He has exact change for a sports drink. He watches a car wreck and eats a burrito. A pigeon eats a cigarette butt. A sandwich maker scratches himself with the tip of a knife. Welcome to the garbage times, where you best just shut the hell up and do what you have to do.

    She intends to question the owner, Ethan Ashford. Ethan's her last hope, but the tall, rugged bear shifter claims he doesn't know her brother. Never met him. Tansey's sure the smooth-talking cowboy knows more than he's letting on.Good thing she brought a gun.Ethan's sultry smile suggests he's imagining a hundred dirty things. He's amused by her gun, not at all concerned. If the handsome cowboy wants to pretend he can't recall seeing her brother, she'll fire off a round or two. A teensy bit of gunfire might jog his memory. He doesn't think she means business? Her brother's life is in danger.She'll show him business.The little whiskey-eyed spitfire pulls the trigger...Good thing she misses his boots by a country mile. Ethan had been having fun until that point, teasing her a little, trying to get to know her. But Tansey isn't interested in flirting. Most women think he's hot. Not this one. Tansey has questions and she demands answers.First off, her little, girly pistol has got to go. Her next shot might scuff his best boots. One quick move and she's his. The curvy girl is no match for his brute strength. Of course, she's mad as hell. He's got her wrapped up in a tight hold, keeping her prisoner. She'll need to stay put because he has a few questions of his own.Ethan's shifter instincts warn him Tansey's a terrible danger to the delicate balance he maintains with his shifter side. She squirms, fighting him hard. His bear stirs and snarls. Her lush curves and the honeyed scent of her silken skin confirm exactly what he suspects.This little spitfire is his mate.Then gunshots ring across the Montana range. Ethan knows Tansey's been set up.The danger to his feisty, fated mate is closing in...Step into the world of Shifting Destinies, where the men and women you meet might just be a little more than human. Their towns are protected by magic, and their hearts are open and ready for love. But watch your step - more than darkness lurks in the shadows.

    A singles mingle in her small Southern supernatural town should be the perfect event, but trouble with a capital T shows up when someone attempts to boost the odds of love in their favor. 
Sweet honeysuckle iced tea, it’s gonna take more than lemonade and a little magic to help Charli find out what’s wrong, solve the mystery, and save Honeysuckle Hollow from disaster again. This Southern Charms short was previously included in the paranormal cozy anthology Hexes and Ohs!

    The 2013 military coup replaced him with a new strongman, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has cracked down on any dissent or opposition with a degree of ferocity Mubarak never dared. New York Times correspondent David D. Kirkpatrick arrived in Egypt with his family less than six months before the uprising first broke out in 2011, looking for a change from life in Washington, D.C. As revolution and violence engulfed the country, he received an unexpected and immersive education in the Arab world.For centuries, Egypt has set in motion every major trend in politics and culture across the Middle East, from independence and Arab nationalism to Islamic modernism, political Islam, and the jihadist thought that led to Al Qaeda and ISIS. The Arab Spring revolts of 2011 spread from Cairo, and now Americans understandably look with cynical exasperation at the disastrous Egyptian experiment with democracy. They fail to understand the dynamic of the uprising, the hidden story of its failure, and Washington's part in that tragedy. In this candid narrative, Kirkpatrick lives through Cairo's hopeful days and crushing disappointments alongside the diverse population of his new city: the liberal yuppies who first gathered in Tahrir Square; the persecuted Coptic Christians standing guard around Muslims at prayer during the protests; and the women of a grassroots feminism movement that tried to seize its moment. Juxtaposing his on-the-ground experience in Cairo with new reporting on the conflicts within the Obama administration, Kirkpatrick traces how authoritarianism was allowed to reclaim Egypt after thirty months of turmoil.Into the Hands of the Soldiers is a heartbreaking story with a simple message: The failings of decades of autocracy are the reason for the chaos we see today across the Arab world. Because autocracy is the problem, more autocracy is unlikely to provide a durable solution. Egypt, home to one in four Arabs, is always a bellwether. Understanding its recent history is essential to understanding everything taking place across the region today--from the terrorist attacks in the North Sinai and Egypt's new partnership with Israel to the bedlam in Syria and Libya.

    Mikhail extensively interviews these women—who’ve lost their families and loved ones, who’ve been sexually abused, psychologically tortured, and forced to manufacture chemical weapons—and as their tales unfold, an unlikely hero emerges: a beekeeper, who uses his knowledge of the local terrain, along with a wide network of transporters, helpers, and former cigarette smugglers, to bring these women, one by one, through the war-torn landscapes of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, back into safety.In the face of inhuman suffering, this powerful work of nonfiction offers a counterpoint to Daesh’s genocidal extremism: hope, as ordinary people risk their own lives to save those of others.

    A crazy one-night stand with a cowboy is leading to so much more. Little did I know he'd have three brothers! Each one is more gorgeous than the last. Plus, they're willing to share. My boss sent me to get a story. But he'd be shocked to find out the real story. The triplets are identical in every way...except... The eldest is strong with a secret soft heart, While the shy one is very giving exactly where it counts. The one who got me pregnant? A rogue playboy. And their youngest brother is surprisingly dominant. I'll do my best to wrangle them all. But when they find out I'm pregnant and someone is out to get all of us, The story I'm after gets very real. This is a steamy standalone 56,000 word novel with a HEA, and no cheating!

    But what if our job was demeaning, poorly paid, and tedious? Cracking open Britain's divisions - immigrant/British, North/South, urban/rural, working class/middle class, leave/remain - journalist James Bloodworth spends six months living and working across Britain, taking on the country's worst jobs. He lives on the meagre proceeds and discovers the anxieties and hopes of those he encounters, including working-class British, young students striving to make ends meet, and Eastern European immigrants.Reminiscent of Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier, this is a fascinating window onto a world that Britain's London-centric media rarely visits. From the Staffordshire Amazon warehouse to the taxi-cabs of Uber, Bloodworth uncovers horrifying employment practices and shows how traditional working-class communities have been decimated by the move to soulless service jobs with no security, advancement or satisfaction. But this is more than an exposé of unscrupulous employers; this is a gripping examination of post-Brexit Britain, a divided nation which needs to understand the true reality of how other people live and work, before it can heal.

    In other words, I think you’re going to love these short stories!Stories include:-One Hell of a Restaurant-Wild Horse-The Hero and the Rookie-Did You Touch Yourself?-The Gift-He was Luke Skywalker (not Han Solo)-Like Thieves in the Night-Ambrose-The Wedding-Another Boring Night at the Opera-Seize the Day-She’ll always know the truth-Let It Be You-Cuffed

    Reality and the fantastic are blended seamlessly in these immersive tales, with plenty of mystery to lead the reader on a thrilling journey. Some stories are dark and macabre while others whimsical and lighthearted, together ensuring constant surprises and terrifying twists to keep you reading until the very last page.Special edition with full page illustrations. Hand illustrated by the author herself, these images will bring the stories to life and give unique insights into the wild unknown.

    By cleverly exploiting the memory of the Soviet victory over fascism in World War II, Putin's regime has made ordinary Russians feel that their country is great again.Shaun Walker provides new insight into contemporary Russia and its search for a new identity, telling the story through the country's troubled relationship with its Soviet past. Walker not only explains Vladimir Putin's goals and the government's official manipulations of history, but also focuses on ordinary Russians and their motivations. He charts how Putin raised victory in World War II to the status of a national founding myth in the search for a unifying force to heal a divided country, and shows how dangerous the ramifications of this have been.The book explores why Russia, unlike Germany, has failed to come to terms with the darkest pages of its past: Stalin's purges, the Gulag, and the war deportations. The narrative roams from the corridors of the Kremlin to the wilds of the Gulags and the trenches of East Ukraine. It puts the annexation of Crimea and the newly assertive Russia in the context of the delayed fallout of the Soviet collapse.The Long Hangover is a book about a lost generation: the millions of Russians who lost their country and the subsequent attempts to restore to them a sense of purpose. Packed with analysis but told mainly through vibrant reportage, it is a thoughtful exploration of the legacy of the Soviet collapse and how it has affected life in Russia and Putin's policies.

    They had no other choice but to take a plunge into their deepest fear and leave the rest to destiny. Their characters was tested out of their comfort zone and it witnessed abstruse results; a PhD scholar fights to win a pizza making contest and a tennis prodigy running for his life in a war torn, bloodied Island. Extreme circumstances and their consequences made these ordinary individuals extraordinary . Was the test imposed on them by someone? Or did they invite it on themselves. The Blue Moon Day is that Once in a Blue Moon day story which questions an individual's priorities, ridicules the worldly routines and finally redefines happiness.

    In the last five years, its students have won every prize going. They have been celebrated in The Guardian ('The Very Quiet Foreign Girls Poetry Group’), and the subject of a BBC Radio 3 documentary.In this unique anthology, their mentor and teacher prize-winning poet Kate Clanchy brings their poems together, and allowing readers to see why their work has caused such a stir. By turns raw and direct, funny and powerful, lyrical and heartbreaking, they document the pain of migration and the exhilaration of building a new land, an England of many voices.In England: Poems from a School, you will find poetry as easy to read as it is hard to forget, as fresh and bright as the young poets who produced it.

    2015 World Poetry Slam Champion and Woman of the World co-Champion Emtithal "Emi" Mahmoud presents her hauntingly beautiful debut poetry collection.Brimming with rage, sorrow, and resilience, this collection traverses an expansive terrain: genocide; diaspora; the guilt of surviving; racism and Islamophobia; the burdens of girlhood; the solace of sisterhood; the innocence of a first kiss.  Heart-wrenching and raw, defiant and empowering, Sisters’ Entrance explores how to speak the unspeakable.

    Quinn: She’s mine. My muse. My fated mate. My very own virgin. My dragoness. Mine. Claiming Moira by right of capture is primitive, forbidden, instinctive…Moira: The Fae are notorious late bloomers, so I don’t do lust. Why has fate got me hot for a surly, bellowing dominant dragon? I better keep my knees locked, or we’re looking at eviction notices – or a mob wielding pitchforks.Curvy Moira returns to magical Mystic Bay, where the paranormal is normal & fairy magic is just another talent. Billionaire dragon shifter Quinn quits his job at the family investment firm to paint full-time. Feisty BBW Moira instantly catches the eye of this growling alpha male.But in Mystic Bay, it’s against the unspoken rules for the Fae to mate with shifters. Particularly apex-predators like dragons. If smouldering Quinn doesn’t want to get his entire clan run off their land, he’d better ignore luscious Moira.But once this untamed, possessive beast discovers his fairy’s a virgin, he’s obsessed by dreams of dragonlings. But Moira’s so not going to be his hybrid-baby-mama. And she’ll surely erupt in flames if she finds out about Quinn’s hoard of naked fairy pictures…Fans of light-hearted romantic comedy and the paranormal will adore this funny, spicy series with its delightful cast of quirky small-town eccentrics and sizzling happily ever afters. Enjoy snappy dialogue, fully rounded characters and a riveting plot full of twists and turns in this full-length, first-in-series page-turner.Desired by the Dragon is the first book in the lighthearted Mystic Bay series. It includes bonus chapters of the next Mystic Bay book, Cherished by the Cougar.

    My body impaired. But she makes me want to live. ----A dreg.That’s who I am.Once an elite soldier for The Company, now I am worthless. My soul blackened…my body broken.I fled with a bounty on my head. A creature of the night, I find my sanctuary in an underground maze in the woods. Then she comes to me, seeking my help. I am darkness…she is light. Her goodness makes me yearn for the impossible.Her sister is lost, the city overrun by gangs. No one will risk their lives to interfere.No one but me.I have nothing to lose.I am just a killing machine. I never lose scent of my prey.She gives me hope. A new purpose. A chance to redeem myself.I won’t fail her.This is the reason they created me.This is who I am.The Tracker. ***This is an 8-book series. These books are romantic suspense with sci-fi elements. Each contains a separate dreg's story (and no cliffhangers!) However, it is recommended that they be read in order to get the full "dreg" experience. These books contain strong language, adult situations, and a few steamy scenes. Recommended for readers ages 18 and up.***

    In almost all of Thom S. Rainer's consultations, church members perceive their church to be friendly. But as he surveyed guests, he found that the guests typically saw church members as unfriendly. The perception chasm existed because the members were indeed friendly . . . to one another. The guests felt like they crashed a private party. Bestselling author Thom Rainer (I Am a Church Member, Autopsy of a Deceased Church) has a game plan for churches to become more hospitable. In a format that is suitable for church members to read individually or study together, Rainer guides readers toward a practical framework for making a difference for those who visit their church. Churches may use Becoming a Welcoming Church to assess and audit where they are on a spectrum between welcoming and wanting. Additionally, churches can use the companion book We Want You Here to send guests home with a compelling vision for what pastors want every guest to know when they visit.

    On one hand, it is a light-hearted worm’s-eye-view of the USSR through one middle-class Soviet childhood in the 1970s - 1980s. On the other hand, it is a reflection on the mundane deprivations and existential terrors of day-to-day life in Leningrad in the decades preceding the collapse of the USSR.The author occupies a peculiar place in the Soviet world. He is the son of a dissident father and also the step-son of a politically favored Leningrad University professor and Party member. He also occupies a peculiar place in the literal geographic sense- both his home and school are only a few blocks away from the city’s KGB headquarters, where a yet-unknown officer called Vladimir Putin is learning his trade.His world is a world without flavor. Food is unseasoned. Bananas are a once a year treat. A pack of instant coffee is precious enough to be more useful as a bribe to a Party official than a consumable. Parents on business trips thousands of miles away from home schlep precious and scarce bottles of soda across the Soviet empire for their kids. Everything is bland: TV, radio, books, music, politics - life itself. The author staves away boredom the best he can, with a little help from his friends. They play in the streets of their beautiful city, still resplendent with pre-Revolutionary glory; make their own toys and gadgets; and, when they get older, pass around forbidden novels and books of poetry.But occasionally, an infinitely more exciting world makes itself briefly known. A piece of foreign bubble gum with a Disney wrapper. A short Yugoslavian cartoon. A smuggled cassette tape with mind-blowing music by someone named Michael Jackson. And these hints of a completely different life introduce small cracks into the author’s all-pervading late-Soviet boredom - cracks that widen and widen, until reality itself shatters, and a brand new world rushes in.

    The latest in that lineage, an increasingly psychotic empress, is pushing her realm toward catastrophic collapse as admirals and generals rebel against her rule. That rebellion quickly drags the once mighty Imperial Fleet into a devastating fratricidal conflict between factions. With civil war raging across human space, a Navy torn asunder can no longer protect frontier colonies, and barbarians long confined to the galactic badlands see an opportunity. After generations of hard existence on worlds beyond the bounds of human civilization, they hold life cheap, especially that of others. The barbarians will gladly steal everything they find and condemn defenseless star systems to technological and demographic collapse. That is if they don’t wipe them out entirely from sheer bloodlust or by selling survivors on alien slave markets. One man, Captain Jonas Morane of the cruiser Vanquish, saw the empire’s collapse coming years before the first admiral rebelled. When he finds himself the senior surviving officer of a loyalist Navy unit almost entirely annihilated by rebels, Morane puts in motion a plan he developed long ago. This plan was designed to not only save his ships and crews from certain death but keep humanity’s accumulated knowledge from being obliterated by the long night of barbarism. However, before his dream can become a reality, Morane must lead the remains of the 197th Imperial Battle Group through an intricate wormhole network and across a shattered empire to the sanctuary he selected, all the while dodging his former colleagues from both sides. Along the way, he rescues an Imperial Marine Corps Pathfinder battalion and the survivors of a religious order known for its mysticism, and enlists them in his cause. But will Morane’s sanctuary survive both the flames of rebellion and the depredations of invading marauders before his rag-tag fleet can reach it?

    Small Town. Big Secrets. With a divorce pending and her career hanging in the balance, Holly Waterston returns to her hometown of Hanmer Springs to lick her wounds. The last thing she expects is for a series of murders to occur in the township. As each crime unfolds, Holly and her sister Crystal must roll up their sleeves and get to work if they're to track down the culprits while keeping themselves and their neighbors safe. Not to mention, they need to keep the township of Hanmer Springs well-stocked with their delicious array of freshly-baked cupcakes. This boxed set contains the following titles to keep you guessing and keep the murderers on their toes! 1: Cupcakes and Conspiracies 2: Strawberries and Suffering 3: Blueberries and Bereavement 4: Pumpkin Spice and Poisoning 5: Raspberries and Retaliation 6: Cinnamon and Sinfulness These Sweet Baked Mysteries are certified allergy-free of the following ingredients: No Swearing No Gore No Graphic Scenes and absolutely No Cliffhangers.

    You'd never notice the man. He doesn't like to be noticed. He's quiet. Calm. Never complains. If someone were to walk up and shoot him in the head... all he'd do is die. Until night falls. And someone else gets up again. The man's name is Banner. The horror is THE IMMORTAL HULK.

    You have to keep things close to your chest and be aware of what’s really important: the work, not everything around it. If you have faith in the work, then the people will come … it’s an artistic imperative, it has nothing to do with public perception or career or any of that crap. "The name, Swans, it’s synonymous with who I am, but it’s how it’s achieved and it’s achieved by people—those people need to have total commitment to making this sound and to making it utterly incisive and uncompromising. The work is everything and it has to—at least at the time—appear, to me, to be stellar. That’s the prerequisite. It’s an intangible thing where it really speaks and has some truth within it."—Michael Gira Over a span of some three and a half decades, Michael Gira’s Swans have risen from chaotic origins in the aftermath of New York’s No Wave scene to become one of the most acclaimed rock-orientated acts of recent years. The 1980s’ infamous ‘loudest band on the planet’ morphed repeatedly until collapsing exhausted, broken, and dispirited in the late 1990s. Swans returned triumphantly in 2010 to top end-of-year polls and achieve feted status among fans and critics alike as the great survivors and latter-day statesmen of the underground scene. Throughout, Gira’s desire has remained to create music of such intensity that the listener might forget flesh, get rid of the body, exist as pure energy—transcendent—inside of the sound. Through these pages, the musicians responsible tell the tale of one of the most significant bands of the US post-punk era. Drawing on more than 125 original interviews, Swans: Sacrifice And Transcendence is the ultimate companion to Swans and their work from the 1980s to the present day.

    He’s both excited and troubled by the feelings she stirs in him. She’s smart, caring, and an the hottest woman he's had his eyes on in years. His job is to run his family business with his rowdy mountain brothers and care for his boys ... Not to fall for his kids' home school teacher. But when Angela’s past follows her onto his beautiful mountain resort, Brad is forced to fight for the best things that’s happened to him in a long time.The sorry bastard that's after Angela doesn't know what's coming for him.

    Learn about the remarkable achievements and attitudes of feminist trailblazers such as Cleopatra, Amelia Earhart, Malala Yousafzai, Michelle Obama, and other brave women who overcame huge obstacles to accomplish great things.

    With student loan debt piling up and no lucrative gigs around the corner, Scott Bradlee found himself in a situation all too familiar to struggling musicians and creative professionals, unsure whether he should use the little income he had to pay his rent or to avoid defaulting on his loans. It was under these desperate circumstances that Bradlee began experimenting, applying his passion for jazz, ragtime, and doo wop styles to contemporary hits by singers like Macklemore and Miley Cyrus--and suddenly an idea was born. Today, Postmodern Jukebox -- the rotating supergroup devoted to period covers of pop songs, which Bradlee created in a basement apartment in Queens, New York--is a bona fide global sensation, having collected more than three million subscribers on YouTube while selling out major venues around the world and developing previously unknown talent into superstar singers. From its Etta James-inspired rendition of Radiohead's "Creep" to its New Orleans jazz interpretation of Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass," the group has established a sound like no other, crafting hits as exquisitely sublime as they are humorously absurd. But it wasn't always as easy as the YouTube videos make it look. As he worked to establish Postmodern Jukebox, Bradlee struggled through the obstacles that every self-employed artist or entrepreneur with a vision faces: how to collaborate successfully on teams with divergent visions, how to outrun the naysayers, how to chase the next innovation when your reputation makes others start to pigeonhole you, and so many of the other challenges lining the path to success. Taking readers through the false starts, hilarious backstage antics, and unexpected breakthroughs of Bradlee's journey from a lost musician to a musical kingmaker -- and presenting all the entrepreneurial insights he learned along the way -- Outside the Jukebox is an inspiring memoir about how one musician found his rhythm and launched a movement that would forever change our relationships to our favorite songs.

    And when Alice is expelled and sent away to an isolated boarding-school, she'll do whatever it takes again to get away. But Stormy Loch Academy isn't quite what she expected. With its strange rules and eccentric headmaster and rag-tag mix of students and teachers, it has a way of growing on you. Still, when Barney goes missing (all that not strictly legal business) she knows she has to rescue him. Armed with two new friends, she sets off on an epic quest through the wild Scottish highlands and islands to finally get her heart's desire - but does she know anymore exactly what that is?Both hilarious and heartfelt, this is the classic adventure story brought bang up to date, and told in Natasha's inimitable voice.

    When she answers an ad for a nanny, she finds herself living with an impossibly hot man called Kian and caring for his sweet baby girl, Ember.A dragon prince ...Kian knows, the instant he meets Everly, that she’s his mate. He also knows that no matter how much he longs to tell her the truth, he can’t reveal his secrets to this unsuspecting human. Instead of confessing that he’s an alien refugee from another planet, he tries to give her everything she could possibly want. An ancient enemyA shocking discovery leads to Everly and Ember being kidnapped by vampires. Can Kian find them in time? And even if he does, will Everly accept the truth of who he is?Everly and Kian’s story begins another exciting, steamy series from Scarlett Grove!

    There he finds a spirit of joyful absurdity and resolve, surrounded by people who take strangers’ hands as they walk down the road, people who―with sweetest face―drop the dirtiest jokes in the southern hemisphere. But Lesotho is also a place where shepherds exact Old Testament retribution, where wounded pride incites murder and families are devastated by the AIDS epidemic.Driven by a spirit of openhearted cultural exchange in the style of Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country and Alexandra Fuller’s Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, Will McGrath’s Everything Lost Is Found Again is a love-drunk ballad to Lesotho, infusing humor and heart into pop ethnography.

    It was one of the first published collections of poetry written by a woman in England. The little we know of Emilia Bassano is restricted to the possibility that she may have been the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's Sonnets - and the rest of HerStory has been erased by History.Commissioned specifically for Shakespeare's Globe, and with an all-female cast, this world premiere will reveal the life of Emilia: poet, mother and feminist. This time, the focus will be on this exceptional woman who managed to outlive all the men the history books tethered her to.

    Thrown objects. Dodged burgers.After someone threw a burger at them and shouted a transphobic slur, performance artist Travis Alabanza became obsessed with burgers. How they are made, how they feel, and smell. How they travel through the air. How the mayonnaise feels on your skin.Burgerz is the climax of their obsession – exploring how trans and gender non-conforming bodies exist and how, by them reclaiming an act of violence, we can address our own complicity.

    Three very different houses. But which is the happiest home?

     I’m a girl from Amish country. That means I was supposed to sit down, shut up, and follow orders. That’s not me. I’m a bad bitch, and I left that life for good. Now I own my own company, and I call the shots. I never wanted a man to tie me down—and I’m never getting married. But my parents are in town to make amends, and I just need one little lie to ease the tension. A fake boyfriend. Just for one night. And it’s only pretend. Justin: I don’t trust anyone. That’s not how I built my billion-dollar fortune. And I don’t date. Casual encounters only—and I never share my real name. When Sarah walks into my life, it’s no different. My first mistake is agreeing to her little game. Fool her parents once, and then her friends, and now we’re falling in bed together, And she’s screaming my name. But I don’t want the wrong name on her lips. This whole fake boyfriend thing has gone way off the rails, And we’re caught in a web of lies together. When she sees me for who I really am—will she leave? Or will she see the broken man inside and give me a chance at love? Deception is a 60k+ full length novel with no cliffhangers, no cheating, lots of humor, heart, and good Amish cooking. It’s the fun beach read you’ve been hoping for!

    One weekend. Everything is about to change... The sparkling and spellbinding new novel from Number One bestselling author Roisin MeaneyLily and Charlie separated after twenty-six years of marriage. Now, with their divorce due to come through in a matter of months, Lily, newly engaged to the dependable Joe, decides to get the whole family together for one last weekend at Land's End, their old summer home by the sea. Lily has to break some news to Charlie, her daughter Poll and son Thomas -- news she knows they're not going to be happy about.But as the family makes their way to Land's End with their new partners, Lily's best laid plans are about to go awry.As Charlie's much younger girlfriend Chloe guards her own secret, Poll seems intent on sabotaging her apparently perfect relationship, while Thomas wrestles with a decision he knows could break his family apart.And amid the drama, they've forgotten that this weekend also just happens to be Lily and Charlie's wedding anniversary ...Will all the couples survive the weekend intact? 'Just about everything in this good-humoured book will keep you engrossed and in for a satisfying surprise at the end' Irish Independent

    She tells no one, but their hum follows her as she struggles to survive against the Institute’s cold and damaging methods, as she meets an outspoken and unapologetic fellow patient named Sheffield Schoeffler, and as they run away, toward the freewheeling and accepting glow of 1960s Greenwich Village, where they create their own kind of family among the artists and wanderers who frequent the jazz bars and side streets.As Gloria tries to outrun her past, experiencing profound love—and loss—and encountering a host of unlikely characters, including her Uncle Eddie, a hard-drinking former boyfriend of her mother’s, to Madame Zelda, a Coney Island fortune teller, and Jacob, the man she eventually marries but whose dark side threatens to bring disaster, the bees remain. It’s only when she needs them most that Gloria discovers why they’re there.Moving from the suburbs of New Jersey to the streets of New York to the swamps of North Carolina and back again, Lost in the Beehive is a poignant novel about the moments that teach us, the places that shape us, and the people who change us.

    Our Dads are not in the picture and our Mom passed away two years ago from an overdose. She taught me that men only stick around until they get what they want from you, then they are gone. But what do you do, when you find the man that promises you forever, but you think you are not enough for him. Zach I’m an ex-baseball player. I can have my pick of any woman. The one I want is a curvy, sweet, young woman that is raising her brother. I want her as mine… forever. But somehow I have to convince her… she’s more than enough. #1 bestselling short romance author Hope Ford writes short, steamy, sweet romances. There is always an alpha male (because who doesn’t love an alpha male) and a woman he makes his queen. Sit back, grab a glass of wine, and get lost in this happily ever after story – that’s also a little naughty.

    Examining how trauma becomes a part of the language we use, Scott takes us back to our roots: childhood incidents, the violence our scars betray, forgotten forebears and histories. The hungers of sexual encounters are underscored by the risks that threaten when we give ourselves to or accept another. But the poems celebrate joy and tenderness, too, as in a sequence re-imagining the love poetry of Verlaine.The collection crescendos to Scott's tour de force, 'Oh My Soho!', where a night stroll under the street lamps of Soho Square becomes a search for true lineage, a reclamation of stolen ancestors, hope for healing, and, above all, the finding of our truest selves.

    Starting a billion-dollar company to keep her secure. That’s all that’s ever mattered. Now she’s at college, I take one night for myself…a little wild freedom… Guess what happens? It was only supposed to be one night - but she left me desperate for more. Searching for the girl with the sparkling blue eyes and wild passion. Ava Lockley. The one who danced and kissed and cried out with total abandon in my arms. When she walked out in the middle of the night, I thought I’d never find her again. Until she turns up at my office days later. Part of a new team - working for me and totally off-limits. My business has ruled my life for years…but I can’t stay away. One night turns into two, stealing moments together and sneaking around. Then she says she’s pregnant. A baby. My baby. If anyone finds out, my once-in-a-lifetime business deal is screwed. She’ll lose the one chance she’s got at her dream job. So now we have this secret - and all I want to do is tell people. I’m going to be a Daddy. The only thing that stops me is putting her career in jeopardy. It can’t stay hidden forever - but that doesn’t matter. This baby is mine. Ava is mine. And I’ll do whatever it takes for us to be a family. Even if I have to give up my life’s work. Accidental Baby is a full, standalone romance with a sexy billionaire hero and a determined, fiery heroine. No cheating or cliffhangers, and a Happily Ever After guaranteed.

    American sentiment seems to be leaning increasingly toward withdrawal in the face of such disarray. In this powerful, urgent essay, Robert Kagan elucidates the reasons why American withdrawal would be the worst possible response, based as it is on a fundamental and dangerous misreading of the world. Like a jungle that keeps growing back after being cut down, the world has always been full of dangerous actors who, left unchecked, possess the desire and ability to make things worse. Kagan makes clear how the "realist" impulse to recognize our limitations and focus on our failures misunderstands the essential role America has played for decades in keeping the world's worst instability in check. A true realism, he argues, is based on the understanding that the historical norm has always been toward chaos--that the jungle will grow back, if we let it.

    *** An entertaining and eye-opening look at the French Revolution and what went wrong, by Stephen Clarke, author of 1000 Years of Annoying the French and A Year in the Merde *** Legend has it that, in a few busy weeks in July 1789, a despotic king, his freeloading wife, and a horde of over-privileged aristocrats, were displaced and then humanely dispatched. In the ensuing years, we are told, France was heroically transformed into an idyll of Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité.In fact, as Stephen Clarke argues in his informative and eye-opening account of the French Revolution, almost all of this is completely untrue.In 1789 almost no one wanted to oust King Louis XVI, let alone guillotine him.While the Bastille was being stormed by out-of-control Parisians, the true democrats were at work in Versailles creating a British-style constitutional monarchy.The founding of the Republic in 1792 unleashed a reign of terror that caused about 300,000 violent deaths.And people hailed today as revolutionary heroes were dangerous opportunists, whose espousal of Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité did not stop them massacring political opponents and guillotining women for demanding equal rights.Going back to original French sources, Stephen Clarke has uncovered the little-known and rarely told story of what was really happening in revolutionary France, as well as what went so tragically and bloodily wrong.

    The Penguin Classics Book is a reader's companion to the largest library of classic literature in the world.Spanning 4,000 years from the legends of Ancient Mesopotamia to the poetry of the First World War, with Greek tragedies, Icelandic sagas, Japanese epics and much more in between, it encompasses 500 authors and 1,200 books, bringing these to life with lively descriptions, literary connections and beautiful cover designs.

    BONUS BUNDLE:Book 1: IMMORTAL MATCHMAKERS, INC.Book 2: TOMMASOBook 3: GOD OF WINEBonus Novella: ACCIDENTALLY...CIMIL?BOOK ONE: IMMORTAL MATCHMAKERS, INC.SEVEN DAYS TO GO FROM LETHAL IMMORTAL ASSASSIN TO PRINCE CHARMING. DOES HE STAND A CHANCE?Demigod Andrus Gray may look like every woman's dream, but when it comes to charm, he sees no point in pretending: He has none and makes no apologies for it. Behaving nicely hasn't made him the deadly assassin he is today. But is that really the reason he's still single?The Goddess Cimil--owner of Immortal Matchmakers, Inc.--thinks yes. So when she foresees a mate in Andrus's near future, she's determined to make the match happen. That means hiring aspiring actress Sadie Townsend to help the barbarian "act" a little more civilized.But are seven days really enough? And why does he suddenly have the urge to throw away an eternity of love for just one night with Sadie?BOOK 2: TOMMASOSOMETIMES, HOT MEN CAN BE REAL MONSTERS...Tommaso Fierro is used to the finer things in life--nice suits, nice car, nice house. Okay, his past isn't so nice, but that's in the past. Or at least it was until he blacked out after meeting the woman of his dreams.Annnd possibly capturing her.Annnd possibly terrorizing her before she got away.Annnd discovering that he's turning into a horrible creature he loathes with all his heart.Luckily, there's a cure. Unluckily, it will require him to track this woman down and convince her to give him a second chance. But if he finds her, will she ever believe that he's really not a monster?BOOK 3: GOD OF WINECAN ROCK-HARD ABS SAVE THE WORLD? HE SURE THINKS SOReckless and wild, the God of Wine has been partying for over ten thousand years. And New Year's Eve, when humans around the world succumb to his naturally occurring spike in powers, is his biggest night. Only this year, things are a bit different. A plague is sweeping the immortal community, and he's turning downright evil. All those New Year's bashes will turn into bloodbaths if he doesn't stop the transformation. Sadly, the only known cure is finding a mate. Not so easy for a rude, beer-bellied mess who's definitely not husband material.But can a little gym time and help from the pros at Immortal Matchmakers, Inc., turn him into a divine sex machine? Absolutely! So watch out, ladies! The God of Wine is lookin' for love. And he has absolutely no clue what he's doing.Bonus Novella: ACCIDENTALLY...CIMIL?DO A POWERFUL KING AND A CRAZY GODDESS STAND A CHANCE?Meet Cimil. Yeah, she's the Goddess of the Underworld, harbinger of all things evil and deadly, yadda yadda . . . but she's also crazy fun! While minding her own business in Giza, Egypt, around 3000 BC (give or take a few centuries), she spots the hottest mortal her immortal eyes have ever seen. And he's not just any guy--he's the strong, powerful pharaoh. But when he kills her pet unicorn, Cimil vows revenge, even if takes thousands of years to get even.

    This is a spectacular debut trying to puzzle though the insurgencies, context, and kinesis of our present, from the workplace to the pop charts but most of all to the politics of struggle.Copies for purchase now available: https://communeeditions.com/cruel-fic...

    Fletcher, an explosive and thought-provoking novel about the far-reaching repercussions of an illicit relationship between a young girl and a man twenty years her senior.A rising star in the London arts scene of the early 1970s, gifted composer Ralph Boyd is approached by renowned novelist Edmund Greenslay to score a stage adaptation of his most famous work. Welcomed into Greenslay’s sprawling bohemian house in Putney, an artistic and prosperous district in southwest London, the musical wunderkind is introduced to Edmund’s beautiful activist wife Ellie, his aloof son Theo, and his nine-year old daughter Daphne, who quickly becomes Ralph’s muse.Ralph showers Daphne with tokens of his affection—clandestine gifts and secret notes. In a home that is exciting but often lonely, Daphne finds Ralph to be a dazzling companion. Their bond remains strong even after Ralph becomes a husband and father, and though Ralph worships Daphne, he does not touch her. But in the summer of 1976, when Ralph accompanies thirteen-year-old Daphne alone to meet her parents in Greece, their relationship intensifies irrevocably. One person knows of their passionate trysts: Daphne’s best friend Jane, whose awe of the intoxicating Greenslay family ensures her silence.Forty years later Daphne is back in London. After years lost to decadence and drug abuse, she is struggling to create a normal, stable life for herself and her adolescent daughter. When circumstances bring her back in touch with her long-lost friend, Jane, their reunion inevitably turns to Ralph, now a world-famous musician also living in the city. Daphne’s recollections of her childhood and her growing anxiety over her own young daughter eventually lead to an explosive realization that propels her to confront Ralph and their years spent together.Masterfully told from three diverse viewpoints—victim, perpetrator, and witness—Putney is a subtle and enormously powerful novel about consent, agency, and what we tell ourselves to justify what we do, and what others do to us.

    Grounded in authority and brimming with style, Playing Changes is the first book to take the measure of this exhilarating moment: it is a compelling argument for the resiliency of the art form and a rejoinder to any claims about its calcification or demise."Playing changes," in jazz parlance, has long referred to an improviser's resourceful path through a chord progression. Playing Changes boldly expands on the idea, highlighting a host of significant changes--ideological, technological, theoretical, and practical--that jazz musicians have learned to navigate since the turn of the century. Nate Chinen, who has chronicled this evolution firsthand throughout his journalistic career, vividly sets the backdrop, charting the origins of jazz historicism and the rise of an institutional framework for the music. He traces the influence of commercialized jazz education and reflects on the implications of a globalized jazz ecology. He unpacks the synergies between jazz and postmillennial hip-hop and R&B, illuminating an emergent rhythm signature for the music. And he shows how a new generation of shape-shifting elders, including Wayne Shorter and Henry Threadgill, have moved the aesthetic center of the music.Woven throughout the book is a vibrant cast of characters--from the saxophonists Steve Coleman and Kamasi Washington to the pianists Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer to the bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding--who have exerted an important influence on the scene. This is an adaptive new music for a complex new reality, and Playing Changes is the definitive guide.

    It consists of two books.In Book One, Rob Young gives us the full biography of a band that emerged at the vanguard of what would come to be called the Krautrock scene in late sixties Cologne. With Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay - two classically trained students of Stockhausen - at the heart of the band, CAN's studio and live performances burned an incendiary trail through the decade that followed: and left a legacy that is still reverberating today in hip hop, post rock, ambient, and countless other genres. Rob Young's account draws on unique interviews with all founding members of CAN, as well as their vocalists, friends and music industry associates. And he revisits the music, which is still deliriously innovative and unclassifiable more than four decades on. All Gates Open is a portrait of a group who worked with visionary intensity and belief, outside the system and inside their own inner space.Book Two, Can Kiosk, has been assembled by Irmin Schmidt, founding member and guiding spirit of the band, as a 'collage - a technique long associated with CAN's approach to recording. There is an oral history of the band drawing on interviews that Irmin made with musicians who see CAN as an influence - such as Bobby Gillespie, Geoff Barrow, Daniel Miller, and many others. There are also interviews with artists and filmmakers like Wim Wenders and John Malkovitch, where Schmidt reflects on more personal matters and his work with film. Extracts of Schmidt's notebook and diaries from 2013-14 are also reproduced as a reflection on the creative process, and the memories, dreams, and epiphanies it entails. Can Kiosk offers further perspectives on a band that have inspired several generations of musicians and filmmakers in the voices of the artists themselves.CAN were unique, and their legacy is articulated in two books in this volume with the depth, rigour, originality, and intensity associated with the band itself. It is illustrated throughout with previously unseen art, photographs, and ephemera from the band's archive.

    With a midlife crisis looming, Kido’s life is upended by the reemergence of a former client, Rié Takemoto. She wants Kido to investigate a dead man—her recently deceased husband, Daisuké. Upon his death she discovered that he’d been living a lie. His name, his past, his entire identity belonged to someone else, a total stranger. The investigation draws Kido into two intriguing mysteries: finding out who Rié’s husband really was and discovering more about the man he pretended to be. Soon, with each new revelation, Kido will come to share the obsession with—and the lure of—erasing one life to create a new one.In A Man, winner of Japan’s prestigious Yomiuri Prize for Literature, Keiichiro Hirano explores the search for identity, the ambiguity of memory, the legacies with which we live and die, and the reconciliation of who you hoped to be with who you’ve actually become.

    I have a bad history with men. I trusted one and he destroyed my trust and my self-esteem… until I meet Jason. He’s older than me, knows exactly what he wants, and what he wants is me. Can I trust myself and him to do right by me? Jason It is instant attraction. She shows up on my doorstep seeking help. And I want to help her. I want to take care of her, protect her, claim her. I want her, and I want her as mine. She doesn’t know it yet… but she’s taken. #1 bestselling short romance author Hope Ford writes short, steamy, sweet romances. There is always an alpha male (because who doesn’t love an alpha male) and a woman he makes his queen. Sit back, grab a glass of wine, and get lost in this happily ever after story – that’s also a little naughty.

    Taking control of a pride filled with hate and fear hasn’t been easy, especially when those still loyal to his father try to cause problems, but he and his brothers are determined to live in peace. With so much going on in his life, dating is the last thing on his mind…until he sits down in an empty diner and comes face-to-face with his mate. Curvy girl, Ivy Morgan, doesn’t need to work for her father, but when her ex walked out six months ago, he left more than harsh words in his wake, and she’s been living as a shell of her former self ever since. When she sees Xander for the first time, something inside her shifts, and for the first time in months, she realizes she’s tired of hiding. At first, Ivy is determined to refuse Xander’s proposal. She might be ready to start thinking about her dreams again, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to start dating the sexy stranger in her dad’s eatery. Except she really is. Unfortunately, trouble always finds Xander, and secrets must be revealed in order to protect—and defend—his mate.

    He’s insufferable. Cocky. And hotter than sin itself. I’ll say yes—to get my family out of debt. Then I’m gone. But I’m pregnant with two heirs to the throne. And this king-size lie is starting to feel real. Owen: I never wanted to be king—and I never planned on having a wife. But my big brother abdicated, and this playboy prince is stuck with the job. There are a thousand airbrushed duchesses knocking on my door, But I’ve got a different kind of woman in mind. Norah’s wild, loud-mouthed, and American. Everything about her turns me on. It's a marriage of convenience. A fake wife for a real king. That’s what I told her. She says she hates me, but her body tells a different story when I get her behind closed doors. With each taste of her luscious lips, each sassy turn of her hips, I want her even more. Not just for now. Forever. When a man shows up at my coronation, telling me he owns her— He’s going to be sorry he ever stepped foot in my kingdom. Norah is my queen. And I’ll be d@mned if I let anyone else get their hands on her. I’ll sacrifice everything to protect her, even if she is the most royal pain I’ve ever met.

    This will be the go-to guide for aspiring sommeliers, wine aficionados who want to improve their blind tasting skills, and amateur enthusiasts looking for a straightforward and visceral way to understand and describe wine.In this seminal addition to the wine canon, noted experts Rajat Parr and Jordan Mackay share everything they've learned in their decades of tasting wine. The result is the most in-depth study of the world's greatest wine regions ever published. There are books that describe the geography of wine regions. And there are books that describe the way basic wines and grapes should taste. But there are no books that describe the intricacies of the way wines from various subregions, soils, and appellations should taste. Now, for the first time ever, you can learn about the differences between wines from the 7 grand crus and 40 premier crus of Chablis, or the terroirs in Barolo, Champagne, and Bordeaux. Paying attention to styles, winemakers, soils, and the most cutting-edge of trends, this book explains how to understand the wines of the world not in the classical way, but in the modern way--appellation by appellation, soil by soil, technique by technique--making it an essential reference and instant classic.

    Bright new aqua-plants are generating electricity for the streetlights; news can be easily had on the radio-viz; and in Gundisalvus' Land, the war is over and the soldiers are beginning to trickle home. Amongst these is Lt. Benjamin Braddock, survivor of the massacre that ended the war, and begrudgingly ready to return to a world that, well, doesn't seem to need him any more than it did in peacetime. His friends have homes and families to return to, while he's got nothing but his discharge papers and a couple of unwanted medals. Oh, and one new thing: the furious ghost of his commanding officer. Fortunately, since the officer's family is so vehemently adamant that Braddock join their rich and carefree fold, he doesn't have much time to fret about being haunted. But the secrets of the war are about to catch up to them all. "A steaming heap of self-indulgent drivel" - the author

    Help us set a record! On December 10 at 5:00 pm, we need your help setting a Guinness World Record for the most couples kissing under the mistletoe! Chase Spencer had been firmly planted in the friend-zone ever since he first met Rachel Anthony back when they were in grade school and it looks like that’s where he’s destined to remain. And her latest scheme is bound to be torture. She wants them to help break the Guinness World Record for the most couples kissing under the mistletoe at one time. How should he handle this? Should the kiss be a chaste, friendly kiss like she envisions? Or should he do it in a way that leaves Rachel without a doubt that he wants to be more than friends? It had always been Rachel’s dream to break a world record, and who better to do it with than her best friend Chase? And it wasn’t as if they hadn’t kissed before—sixth grade, spin-the-bottle at Iona Puckett’s party—a peck of the lips and it’d be over. Except she missed the part where they had to hold the kiss for ten seconds. And no one warned her of how she would feel afterwards—confused and longing for more. How can she convince Chase to change her status from friend to girlfriend?

    Those killers lead. That is the nature of war, which ravages the province of Evigönda. For a breath, there is peace, but the gods’ demands pull at the strings. Amos is a mystic who guards Bo, a seer who sacrificed her physical sight to see spirits. Together, they must use her judgment to harvest souls for the Reaping, a sacred mission and necessary evil to maintain the safety of their homeland. Every move they make throws the world into further chaos, and when a scarred veteran makes it his mission to stop the Reaping so he can save his own struggling nation, the body count rises. Shady allies and passionate enemies challenge the morals of piety and righteousness in this gripping fantasy tale.

    From creating your own starter from scratch, you'll then move on to basic breadmaking techniques, before progressing to using sprouted grains and experimenting with flavours to produce Fig and Earl Grey and Cherry Plum loaves. With step-by-step photography, detailed instructions, specialist advice and Vanessa's indispensable encouragement, The Sourdough School celebrates the timeless craft of artisan baking.

    That is, until her parents brought Julissa to Texas to live with them. From then on, Julissa secretly lived as an undocumented immigrant, went on to become a scholarship winner and an honors college graduate, and climbed the ladder to become a vice president at Goldman Sachs.This moving, at times heartbreaking, but always inspiring story will show young readers that anything is possible. Julissa's story provides a deep look into the little-understood world of a new generation of undocumented immigrants in the United States today-kids who live next door, sit next to you in class, or may even be one of your best friends.

     British Columbia's political arena has always been the site of dramatic rises and falls, infighting, scandal, and come-from-behind victories. However, no one was prepared for the historic events of spring 2017, when the Liberal government of Christy Clark, one of the most polarizing premiers in recent history, was toppled.A Matter of Confidence gives readers an insider's look at the overconfidence that fuelled the rise and fall of Clark's premiership and the historic non-confidence vote that defeated her government and ended her political career. Beginning with this pivotal moment, the book goes back and chronicles the downfall of Clark's predecessor, Gordon Campbell, which led to her unlikely victory in 2013, and traces the events leading up to her defeat at the hands of her NDP and Green opponents. Told by reporters Richard Zussman and Rob Shaw, who covered every moment of the election cycle, and illustrated by candid and extensive interviews with political insiders from both sides of the aisle--including Christy Clark and John Horgan--this book is a must read for anyone who cares about BC politics and the future of the province.

    A master of condensing grand, highbrow themes into one- to eight-panel comics, his weekly strips embody his trademark British humor while simultaneously opening comics to an audience unfamiliar with the artistry that cartooning has to offer. Funny but serious, these comics allow Gauld to put his impressive knowledge of history, literature, and pop culture on full display—his impeccable timing and distinctive visual style setting him apart from the rest.This postcard set celebrates more than a decade of Gauld’s contributions to The Guardian, with fifty of his most beloved strips, on everything from Samuel Beckett’s sitcom pitches (such as Waiting for Kramer: a show where two men await the arrival of a man named Kramer who never comes), “Procrastination for Creative Writers, a 10-Week Course,” and “Poetry Anthologies for People Who Don’t Like Poems.” Witty and beautifully drawn, The Snooty Bookshop will make you chuckle at least fifty times, guaranteed.

    Into dark world that hollows the soul. Into Satan’s Spawn MC - where corrupt laws rule. Deke Outlaws aren’t born. They’re made. Into the unknown, I walked away from my past. And as I stepped into a new life I covered my eyes. A life where brotherhood runs deeper than blood. And one mistake can end your life… Together, we were fire, burning through the trees. Wreaking havoc and mayhem on innocent lives. Soon, I felt the heat of this anarchy on my skin. It burned at me until I could no longer stand idly by. Should die for I fighting injustice, then so be it. Raise a glass to my brothers. The men I call family. Who will surely burn in hell as I will. The past is remembered every year. When my soul seeks out echoes from the past… they call to a girl who got too close to the flame. A girl. We don’t even know her name….

    That is, until Mason Stone enters her bakery and sweeps her off of her feet. Unfortunately, she's been jilted one too many times, and the fact that Mason is the lead guitarist for a popular rock band just complicates things… especially when she sees the type of groupies they attract. Will the sparks they’ve ignited last, or will her own insecurities end their relationship before it even begins?

    Authoritarian governments, moneyed elites and fringe hackers are exploiting our digital infrastructure and the vulnerabilities in our democratic system to influence our politics and elections. In just a few years, it has become a perpetual information war.Inherently unstable and prone to wild volatility, our digital ecosystem has at its heart a vacuum open to the influence of those with the motivation, money or expertise to exploit it. Played successfully it can lead to unprecedented swings of public opinion.Martin Moore explains how hackers interfere in our democratic processes, why they can do it and outlines what we need to do to save democracy for the digital age. This is a story about active measures, data mining, psy-ops, mercenaries, microtargeting, the alt-right, plutocrats, the collapse of local news, Silicon Valley, Trump, trolling, surveillance – and you.

    At a holiday party, I bumped into my naked sworn enemy. Everyone in my town knows Ronan as the dashing football star. I get it. He’s hot. And he can throw a ball. Big deal. He’s been my nightmare since I was nine. Now he’s a six-foot, drop-dead gorgeous version of the menace who terrorized me. So naturally, he’s my companion to every-single-freaking Christmas event this year. I’m Mrs. Claus in the annual parade. Ronan is Santa. Our nonstop banter should drive me insane. His cocky attitude should be a huge turn-off. But if there’s one man who can pull off seductive in a Santa suit—it’s Ronan. Let's just say, stockings aren’t the only thing hung at his house. If I can make it through the week without kissing him, it’ll be a Christmas miracle.

    His work visa has expired and he may soon be forced out of the United States and back to his home country of Bangladesh. Clinging to the remaining weeks he has left with his young American daughter, Shar reflects upon his family’s history, beginning in a village on the Bay of Bengal, where a poor fisherman, Jamir, and his wife, Honufa, prepare to face a storm of historic proportions.Spilling across tense, crucial moments in history, Jamir and Honufa’s story intersects with other lives, like that of Ichiro, a Japanese pilot fighting in a war he does not understand; Claire, a British doctor in danger during the anti-colonialist Burmese rebellions; and Rahim and Zahira, a privileged couple in Calcutta uprooted to East Pakistan by the Partition of India.With a narrative sweep mirroring the storm’s devastating path—leading to the eye’s calamitous landing—The Storm explores hope, loss, sacrifice, and the many ways in which families honor, betray, and ultimately love one another.

    She was my high school sweetheart. The first and only person to have my heart. But she left. She took the easy way out, leaving me behind with nothing but memories.Now, four years later, I’ve managed to fill my time with meaningless flings and a poor excuse for an engagement. Ready to drown my sorrows with a turkey dinner, the last thing I expect to find is her sitting at the table.She’s just as beautiful as she always was, and still has that cheeky smile that always melted me. This is our second chance.By the time the turkey’s gone cold and the trifle’s been eaten, Poppy is going to be mine once again.***** ** ****** This short story is part of the Second Helpings series, a Thanksgiving dinner-themed stand-alone series. Check out all the short, sexy and fun holiday stories by these eleven incredible and acclaimed authors: Sierra Hill, Frankie Love, Alexis Adaire, Tessa Blake, Olivia Hawthorne, Laney Powell, Vivian Ward, Derek Masters, Dori Lavelle, Sher Dillard and Tracy Lorraine.** Each book is a second-chance romance -- all guaranteed sweeter than sweet potato pie -- and dirtier than a sink full of dishes!*** After reading this series, you’ll never look at drumsticks or gravy in quite the same way again!***** ** *****

    Here we encounter a tutor and his pupil, whose lives are thrown into turmoil when they meet again years later; a young girl who discovers the mother she believed dead is alive and well; and a piano-teacher who accepts her pupil's theft in exchange for his beautiful music.

    With a foreword by John W. Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and full of lush photographs of gorgeous life-size birds painted in exacting detail, The Wall of Birds lets readers explore these amazing creatures family by family and continent by continent. Throughout, beautifully crafted narratives and intimate artistic reflections tell of the evolutionary forces that created birds' dazzling variety of forms and colors, and reveal powerful lessons about birds that are surprisingly relevant to contemporary human challenges.From the tiny five-inch Marvelous Spatuletail hummingbird to the monstrous thirty-foot Yutyrannus, The Wall of Birds is a visual feast, essential for bird enthusiasts, naturalists, and art lovers alike.

    Rowling!The eagerly awaited sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them once again opens the doors to the famous wizarding world. Written by J.K. Rowling and directed by David Yates, discover what adventures are next in store for Magizoologist Newt Scaramander.

    It’s the case of a lifetime for brilliant and headstrong forensic detective Laura Badía. The crime is brutal and baffling. The victim is Julio Ortega, a local heartthrob and an old flame of Laura’s. The apparent motive is the theft of a collection of ancient and mysterious iridescent arrowheads that Ortega had recently acquired. Carved nearly six thousand years ago out of Amazon opal, they are now missing from Ortega’s home, vanishing once again into legend.With the help of a Buenos Aires archeologist, Laura begins to assemble the pieces of a deadly puzzle. It starts in Puerto Deseado with the secrets of Ortega’s friends, enemies, and lovers. Where it leads is the panoramic reach of the Perito Moreno Glacier and far beyond, to the most remote corners of Patagonia. Can they uncover the dark history of the most infamous lithic art collection in the world? Generations have killed and died trying to solve its mystery, and now Laura will risk her career, her life—and her own secrets—to be the one to do it.

    Reporting the Troubles brings together over sixty stories from the journalists who were on the ground. This remarkable, important book spans the thirty-year conflict, from the day in 1969 that the violence erupted on Duke Street in Derry, to the Good Friday Agreement and the Omagh bomb. Contributions include: Anne Cadwallader (BBC, RTE, Reuters) on the 1983 Maze breakout, Denis Murray (former BBC Ireland Correspondent) on one of the less-remembered deaths of the Troubles that has stayed with him, John Irvine (ITV News Senior International Correspondent) on covering ten funerals in one week, Paul Faith (Press Association) on taking the famous `Chuckle Brothers' photograph of McGuinness and Paisley, Conor O'Clery (Irish Times) on Ian Paisley, Martin Bell (BBC) on working in Belfast, and staying at the Europa one of the many times it was bombed, Kate Adie (BBC) on a lesson learned from the Troubles, David McKittrick (BBC, Independent) on the peace line.

    After he was set up on a blind date, he left early to go to his part-time job for the last time. There, he meets Choi Jeongwoo who was crying in heartbreak after confessing to the guy he liked, and Eungi decides to comfort him.Some time later, their paths cross again in college, and they slowly begin to gravitate towards each other once more. When feelings start to spark between them, what will happen?This volume collects issues 1 to 19.

    Created over 3 years and inspired by each other’s promptings and shared ideas, Nobody is a watery world from which Tillyer and Oswald gave expression to the shared belief that tension is the essence of form, or as Tillyer eloquently describes, ‘Not competing, but traveling side by side; a shared path.’.Their theme is water, which they recreate in a collage of words and images; a rush of selves and other life forms where fluidity is given voice and form. The choice of watercolour is particularly apt, described by Oswald as ‘an absence – as if the thing depicted were already elsewhere and what’s left is merely a tidemark’. In Oswald, this quality is expressed in waves of language where the un-named characters assume the quality described by Oswald as ‘the weather’s or water’s leavings’.‘Nobody’ is an alias of Odysseus, one of his lost selves, adrift and unable to get home. Oswald’s words are his rhapsody, a circling shoal of sea voices which ends where Homer’s epic begins. Caught between The Odyssey and The Oresteia and not knowing either story’s conclusion, the poet goes on speaking surrounded by water. Perhaps he is only an alias of Odysseus, one of his lost selves, unable to get home?This poem is a circling shoal of sea voices, inspired by Homer’s descriptions of the sea – ‘the bodiless or unbounded thing’ which ends at The Odyssey’s beginning whilst the paintings immerse us in a visionary experience of an elusive, almost abstract, lyrical and romantic world. Springing from Tillyer’s belief in the shared essence of all things, the paintings are a tangible accompaniment to Oswald’s poem, explored through paper, water, and pigment, resulting in a single dazzling work of words and watercolour.

    S. Eliot in all its complexity. Major poems range from 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock', through the post-war desolation of 'The Waste Land' and the spiritual struggle of 'Ash-Wednesday', to the enduring charm of 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'. The Spectator praised Jeremy Irons's interpretation as 'so accessible, reading Eliot as if finding his words for the first time, grappling with them, relishing them, using them to express feelings that we all share as we struggle to accept, to recognise or relinquish'. Dame Eileen Atkins also appears alongside Jeremy Irons in the reading of 'The Waste Land'.These are the readings, as heard on BBC Radio 4 over Christmas 2016/17.Six programmes gather together the verse: Prufrock and Other Observations; Poems (1920); The Waste Land; The Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday and Ariel Poems; Four Quartets; and Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.