With The Testaments, the wait is over. Margaret Atwood's sequel picks up the story more than 15 years after Offred stepped into the unknown, with the explosive testaments of three female narrators from Gilead. The Handmaid's Tale: Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead, a religious totalitarian state in what was formerly known as the United States. She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford - her assigned name, Offred, means 'of Fred'. She has only one function: to breed. If Offred refuses to enter into sexual servitude to repopulate a devastated world, she will be hanged. Yet even a repressive state cannot eradicate hope and desire. As she recalls her pre-revolution life in flashbacks, Offred must navigate through the terrifying landscape of torture and persecution in the present day, and between two men upon which her future hangs.

     A Texas Ranger, relegated to deskwork due to past recklessness, petitions to regain custody of his five-year-old daughter, and his case is assigned to a family court judge who is as attractive as she is ambitious. When a masked gunman barges in during the custody hearing with his sights on the judge, the Ranger reacts instinctually and goes after him. But authorities apprehend the wrong man, and the real gunman remains unknown, at large, and a threat. Will this take-charge lawman jeopardize his chances of custody by going after the would-be assassin? And will this unlikely pair be able to deny the forbidden attraction building between them?

    Her beautiful but leaky old house is in need of total restoration, then her relationship with lawyer Todd collapses and he moves out. As the owner of a struggling art gallery she can't possibly manage the mortgage alone, so she is forced to do the one thing she never imagined she would: she advertises for lodgers.And so Francesca finds that her house has become a whole new world - and as things begin to turn around, she realises that her accidental tenants might become the most important people in her life. Over their year together, the house at 44 Charles Street fills with laughter, hope and heartbreak and Francesca discovers that she might be able to open her heart again after all...MaliceOn the night of her mother's funeral, Grace Adams is attacked. A young woman with secrets too horrible to tell, Grace will not reveal the truth about what happened. After a lifetime of being a victim, she must now pay the price for other people's sins.From a small town in Illinois to the depths of a women's prison; from a Chicago modelling agency to a challenging career in New York, Grace carries the past with her wherever she goes. When Grace meets Charles Mackenzie, she finds a man who wants nothing from her - except to heal her and to give her the family she so desperately wants. But with happiness finally within her grasp, Grace is at her most vulnerable - in danger of losing everything to an enemy from her past, an enemy bent on malice...

    Here in remotest Wyoming, where elk roam the pine forests and cougars prowl the mountains, everyone owns a gun. But when Joe Pickett hears two sharp cracks ring out months before hunting season, it's his job to investigate the first murder he's ever encountered. Battling grudge-holding neighbours, corrupt officials and out-of-town activists, Joe begins to unravel a mystery that threatens the life and the family he loves.Savage Run:Game warden Joe Pickett is called to a bizarre crime scene deep within the forests of Twelve Sleep County, Wyoming. The case is wrapped up too quickly, and Joe's search for the truth leads him ever deeper into the wilderness of the Bighorn Mountains. With two unlikely allies at his side, and two hired killers on his heels, Joe can't avoid the legendary Savage Run - a treacherous, isolated canyon with no crossing...Winterkill:It's an hour away from darkness, a bitter winter storm is raging, and Joe Pickett is deep in the forest edging Battle Mountain, shotgun in his left hand, his truck's steering wheel handcuffed to his right - and Lamar Gardiner's arrow-riddled corpse splayed against the tree in front of him. Lamar's murder and the sudden onslaught of the snowstorm warn: Get off the mountain. But Joe knows this episode is far from over. Somewhere in the dense timber, a killer draws his bowstring - with Joe as his prey...

     Rookie Bear Puma shifter Stephanie Page can’t find a mate. Tired of waiting, Stephanie takes a Christmas cruise to the Caribbean. Meeting Stephanie interrupts Max’s mission and changes everything for the shell shocked shifter. Can Max save the girl, save the day, and learn to let himself be loved? Fly Bear Fly Bear, Rider Hendrix, is a decorated military pilot working with the Justice Squad. As dare devil and risk taker, Rider never thought he wanted a mate. Then a close call changes everything. Darcy Lane worked her way up from nothing to head chef at a top Denver restaurant. No matter how far she’s come, the insecurities of her past run deeper than her freckled skin. will Darcy ever come to understand that the beauty Rider wants to see is what shines so brightly from within? Bodyguard Bear Titus Sawyer has a secret. He's lived his whole life building a tough guy facade, but underneath the bulging muscles, he couldn't be more different. Arabella Fernandez built her career as a pop star on sexy, sultry songs, but the truth behind the mask is far more innocent than anyone could imagine. Will Titus and Arabella find their happily ever after, or will their secrets keep them apart as danger looms from every side. C.O. Bear Colonel Hawk Barlow has been waiting many years for his mate. But when he goes undercover on the most important mission of his career, he can't let anything distract him. Elena has no illusions about what her mobster father does, but she is ready to move on with her life, find a man, settle down to start a family. Will Hawk be able to protect her from the looming threat, or will Elena's doubt be disastrous for them all? Brainy Bear Sampson Reed is on a mission: take down the hacker who is the last stand between the Justice Squad and the remaining hyena terrorists. But Sampson is in for a surprise when a social worker knocks at his door with a two-year-old boy she claims is his nephew. Megan Moore is on a mission of her own: take down the man who destroyed her sister. Will Sampson complete his mission and claim his mate, or will Megan's need for vengeance keep them apart and destroy their chance at happiness? Builder Bear Jamison Stone has been waiting for his mate for ten long years. With the Justice Squad on down time, he will have to occupy himself with a new real estate project. Romance author Ruby Wilson never expected to be left at the altar. But the most humiliating moment of her life might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Jamison and Ruby are both surprised to find the person they've been matched with on a shifter dating app show up at the same property at the same moment. But Ruby wants nothing to do with the handsome real estate developer who could take her farmhouse from her. Will Jamison be able to prove to Ruby he is the man she really wants, or will the pain of her past prove too big a hurdle for even the spirit of Christmas to overcome? Sly Bear Zander Shaw isn’t expecting murder for New Year's, but as a consultant for law enforcement, that's exactly what he gets. Running scared and chased by a killer, Emma falls down a cliff only to wake without memory of who she is or how she got there. Will Emma recover her memories so that she and Zander can find their happily ever after? Or will the killer find her first?

    Joe's never forgotten the girl who broke his heart, so he proposes an outrageous plan—for every day she survives his family camping trip, Keri can ask one question. Will a little blackmail, a whole lot of family and some sizzling interludes make Keri reconsider the old dream of Keri & Joe 2gether 4ever?Undeniably Yours (Book Two of The Kowalskis)Bar owner Kevin Kowalski is used to women throwing their phone numbers at him, but he's more interested in finding Mrs. Right than Miss Right Now. Enter Beth Hansen. They may have started out all wrong, but Kevin knows there's more to their relationship than a one-night stand. Especially when Beth winds up pregnant…Yours to Keep (Book Three of The Kowalskis)Emma Shaw needs a husband, stat! Grandma Shaw is coming to town, and she'll have nonstop questions about Emma's (stagnant) love life. A little pretend kissing with recruited fake fiancé Sean Kowalski won't hurt anyone—but when innocent kisses lead to very real sparks, Emma and Sean discover that their big ruse might just lead to happily-ever-after…

    Cervantes, and Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee.Check out the first three exciting novels from Rick Riordan Presents: ARU SHAH AND THE END OF TIME by Roshani Chokshi (Hindu stories), THE STORM RUNNER by J. C. Cervantes (Maya mythology), and DRAGON PEARL by Yoon Ha Lee (Korean mythology).

     Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection If You Liked School, You'll Love Work.

    Who! This Mad Libs is 48 pages with 21 original stories.

    But soon the sexy sheriff isn’t laughing. Someone—or something—is stalking the beautiful defense lawyer, turning her once-grand mansion into a house of horrors. The Betrayed One day on the job and contractor Zach Sargent is ready to believe the dilapidated old LeBeau mansion is haunted. Some intruder—earthly or not—is threatening the youngest LeBeau sister, back to claim her inheritance. And though Danae keeps her distance from the sexy hired hand, he falls for her in a heartbeat. The ReunionBodyguard to an heiress is Tyler Duhan’s idea of hell. The steely, sexy ex-marine has heard—and dismissed—the gossip about the haunted old LeBeau mansion and its “cursed” heiresses. Now headstrong Joelle has arrived to reunite with her long-lost sisters. And as much as he wants her, he needs to keep his distance—or suffer the fatal consequences.

    And certainly what Melville did for whaling Austen does for marriage--tracing the intricacies (not to mention the economics) of 19th-century British mating rituals with a sure hand and an unblinking eye. As usual, Austen trains her sights on a country village and a few families--in this case, the Bennets, the Philips, and the Lucases. Into their midst comes Mr. Bingley, a single man of good fortune, and his friend, Mr. Darcy, who is even richer. Mrs. Bennet, who married above her station, sees their arrival as an opportunity to marry off at least one of her five daughters. Bingley is complaisant and easily charmed by the eldest Bennet girl, Jane; Darcy, however, is harder to please. Put off by Mrs. Bennet's vulgarity and the untoward behavior of the three younger daughters, he is unable to see the true worth of the older girls, Jane and Elizabeth. His excessive pride offends Lizzy, who is more than willing to believe the worst that other people have to say of him; when George Wickham, a soldier stationed in the village, does indeed have a discreditable tale to tell, his words fall on fertile ground. Having set up the central misunderstanding of the novel, Austen then brings in her cast of fascinating secondary characters: Mr. Collins, the sycophantic clergyman who aspires to Lizzy's hand but settles for her best friend, Charlotte, instead; Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Darcy's insufferably snobbish aunt; and the Gardiners, Jane and Elizabeth's low-born but noble-hearted aunt and uncle. Some of Austen's best comedy comes from mixing and matching these representatives of different classes and economic strata, demonstrating the hypocrisy at the heart of so many social interactions. And though the novel is rife with romantic misunderstandings, rejected proposals, disastrous elopements, and a requisite happy ending for those who deserve one, Austen never gets so carried away with the romance that she loses sight of the hard economic realities of 19th-century matrimonial maneuvering. Good marriages for penniless girls such as the Bennets are hard to come by, and even Lizzy, who comes to sincerely value Mr. Darcy, remarks when asked when she first began to love him: "It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley." She may be joking, but there's more than a little truth to her sentiment, as well. Jane Austen considered Elizabeth Bennet "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print". Readers of Pride and Prejudice would be hard-pressed to disagree. --Alix Wilber

    But it's not Christian charity that's driving Sister Genevieve--she wants Micah to take her to a place called the Valley of Fire, deep in the most lawless and perilous part of New Mexico Territory. It was here where an order of nuns met their Maker, and it's Sister Genevieve's mission to see that they are given a proper funeral. Or so she claims. Micah's not in the habit of helping nuns, but it turns out the only true vow Genevieve ever took was to get rich--and there's a fortune in gold buried along with the sisters. With kill-crazy bandits and blood-hunting bounty hunters after them, it'll take a miracle to reach the Valley of Fire, let alone get the gold. But sometimes, the Almighty does work in mysterious ways. . ."Johnny Boggs has produced another instant page-turner...don't put down the book until you finish it." --Tony Hillerman on Killstraight "Johnny D. Boggs tells a crisply powerful story that rings true more than two centuries after the bloody business was done." --The Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier on The Despoilers Raves For The Westerns Of Johnny D. Boggs "Another dramatic story by a finalist for the Spur award of Western Writers of America." --Amarillo Globe-News (on Once They Wore the Gray)"An entertaining western in the classic mold. The characters possess enough human frailty to be believable, the author includes interesting stuff on the weaponry of the times, and there is enough gunplay to satisfy genre purists." --Booklist on Ten and Me"Boggs has once more written a humdinger of a book with wonderful characters, even the villains. The Despoilers tears at one's heart, which is what really good fiction should do." --Roundup on The Despoilers"Boggs' unique approach to the Lincoln County War's legal skirmishing is both eye-opening and memorable." --True West on Law of the Land"... a finely crafted historical novel with fully developed characters playing out their lives against the backdrop of early Texas settlement." --American Cowboy on Spark on the Prairie"Boggs delivers a colorful, clever and arresting tale." --Santa Fe New Mexican on Camp Ford

    

    These warriors, femme fatales, magicians, and devils each have uniquely lethal powers.It’s kill or be killed—and they’re coming for me.To survive, I’ll have to embrace my own terrifying abilities—and team up with dangerously handsome Jack Deveaux. He wants to fight by my side, facing off against the ruthless and seductive Death Card, but in a world without rules, villains become allies, and allies can turn…This boxed set includes paperback editions of:Poison PrincessEndless KnightDead of Winter

    Even more exciting, each of these stories will spin off into a series of its own. Maggie Shayne’s CHRISTMAS BLUESA true believer returns the music to a lonesome drifter’s soul.Miranda’s Shayne’s FINDING CHRISTMASA small-town coffee shop owner melts a humbug hero’s wounded heart.River Shayne’s A HERO FOR HANNAHCan a woman in grave danger learn to trust one more time?Jessica Lewis’s THE SOLDIER’S CHRISTMAS BABYA lonely serviceman comes home for a holiday he’ll never forget.Grab a cup of eggnog, curl up near the tree, and fall in love with the holidays all over again!