She only has to last thirty days, and suppress her growing feelings for the waitress. Just thirty days, but to a billionaire, that's a lifetime.

    At the center of the collection is a series of stories narrated by a young American woman in the wake of a divorce; wry and shy but never less than open to the world, she recalls the places and people she has been close to, the dreams she has pursued and those she has left unfulfilled. Interspersed with these intimate first-person stories are stand-alone pieces where the tight focus on the narrator's life gives way to closely observed accounts of the lives of others. A book about belonging, and how much of yourself to give up in the pursuit of that, Cities I've Never Lived In offers stories that reveal, with great sadness and great humor, the ways we are most of all citizens of the places where we cannot be.Cities I've Never Lived In is the second book in Graywolf's collaboration with the literary magazine A Public Space.

    They don't even know about her ex-girlfriends or her fake IDs.But it's that fake ID that leads her to the hottest club in the city. While her friends tear up the dancefloor, however, Audrey meets the foil to her suppressed desires and curiosity.Dylan. The resident bad girl with an affinity for good girls like Audrey.What begins as a torrid fling soon transforms into something that opens Audrey's eyes to the life she's always wanted. The longer she's with Dylan, the more she realizes the sources of her suffocation. A toxic family. Airheaded friends. Caring for nothing but the trappings of wealth. "A bad girl is someone who refuses to accept the status quo." Dylan has dated her fair share of heiresses, but Audrey is the first one to make her believe in a chance at love.Yet it's not easy to give over to someone like Audrey. She represents everything Dylan has spent her whole life rejecting, for she knows all too well what it's like to be forced into the good girl role.And her past is constantly threatening to ruin everything she's built for herself since her darkest days. "Good girls don't go bad. They save themselves." The fatalistic love that haunts both Dylan and Audrey will last the summer. After that? Someone will have to give up the only life they've ever known.Easier said than done.Please note that this book contains examples of transphobia and growing up in an abusive cult.

    Slaves and prostitutes had more rights than the average female. What if one woman had the power to change all that? One female warrior, Aedon, known as The Lion to her people, changes history in this alternate look at Ancient Greece.As terrible as she was strong, The Lion soon earned a reputation that caused women and children to cower in fear within her presence. No mortal man could match her in battle. Cursed by the Gods when she was still a teenager, a dark demon controlled the warrior's soul during times of battle to the point where she lost herself entirely. The darkness that fell upon her in battle turned her from honorable warrior, defending her homeland, into the evil Lord Conqueror.That was before Cassandra entered Aedon's life.

    She’s dedicated her life to chasing storms and saving as many lives as possible in the process. Her fast—paced job doesn’t leave much room for anything other than hopefully sleep and making it to the next storm in time. Sarah Phillips started out on the safe side as a meteorologist, but a chance encounter with Remy has her yearning for something far more exciting. She not only falls for Remy’s same career, but falls into bed with her much to her chagrin. For the last eight years, she remembers that night if only to keep from repeating the same mistake. The only thing more unpredictable than a tornado is love and the two women soon realize that outrunning the perfect storm is a lot easier than outrunning love.

    When they meet, there is a connection for them both. But can they overcome their fears, regrets and an old love to find a future in each other?BadSquirrel's Page on The Athenaeum

    The debut collection from the vibrant voice of Roxane Gay is a unique blend of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, all interwoven to represent the Haitian diaspora experience.

    But she’s hit a snag. In the midst of a new project that promises to spread her teachings worldwide, Mae and her business are running out of money. Through a bit of serendipity, Mae is connected with one of her idols—wealthy technology goddess Audrey Addison. Audrey worked for the biggest tech giant out there, and now she owns her own angel investment firm. But she’s a serious and severe woman, a keen business mind, and she’s known to be an ice queen despite her fiery red hair. As they grow the company together, Mae sees through Audrey’s stern reputation and discovers the real woman underneath. Can Mae melt Audrey’s heart and succeed both in business and in love?

    A grieving missionary becomes obsessed with a creature rumoured to live in the forests of the Congo. And, in the title story, a young woman travelling with her scientist mother in Madagascar confronts her burgeoning sexuality and her dream of becoming a long-distance swimmer.

    Already an award-winning writer, ZZ Packer now shares with us her debut, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. Her impressive range and talent are abundantly evident: Packer dazzles with her command of language, surprising and delighting us with unexpected turns and indelible images, as she takes us into the lives of characters on the periphery, unsure of where they belong. We meet a Brownie troop of black girls who are confronted with a troop of white girls; a young man who goes with his father to the Million Man March and must decides where his allegiance lies; an international group of drifters in Japan, who are starving, unable to find work; a girl in a Baltimore ghetto who has dreams of the larger world she has seen only on the screens in the television store nearby, where the Lithuanian shopkeeper holds out hope for attaining his own American Dream.With penetrating insight that belies her youth—she was only nineteen years old when Seventeen magazine printed her first published story—ZZ Packer helps us see the world with a clearer vision. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is a striking performance—fresh, versatile, and captivating. It introduces us to an arresting and unforgettable new voice.Brownies --Every tongue shall confess --Our Lady of Peace --The ant of the self --Drinking coffee elsewhere --Speaking in tongues --Geese --Doris is coming

    Few know these characters—and their creators—better than Sarah Weinman. One of today’s preeminent authorities on crime fiction, Weinman asks: Where would bestselling authors like Gillian Flynn, Sue Grafton, or Tana French be without the women writers who came before them? In Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, Weinman brings together fourteen hair-raising tales by women who—from the 1940s through the mid-1970s—took a scalpel to contemporary society and sliced away to reveal its dark essence. Lovers of crime fiction from any era will welcome this deliciously dark tribute to a largely forgotten generation of women writers.

    She risks everything and sets out to pierce the deep shroud of mystery surrounding the woman she has come to love.

    Most of her two weeks will be free to explore the beautiful Italian city with her friend Deena, but if she’d known who recommended her for the trip, she might have stayed home.An award-winning painter, Chandler Cardin also gives private art lessons. She’s the last person Joanna expects to run into so far from Boston. Equally unexpected is the attraction that resurfaces, reminding Joanna of old times. But far too much water has flowed under those bridges.Maybe she’d be better off taking Deena’s advice, and view Venice as her chance to experience the love ‘em and leave ‘em life—with anyone but Chandler.Bestselling author Kenna White Romancing the Zone, Comfortable Distance takes readers on a breathless journey through the beauties of Venice and the romance of a lifetime.

    What’s more, Kendal has willingly agreed to it. Holly needs a wife to remain in the US despite an expired visa. Now it’s their wedding day. Kendal is about to marry the woman she secretly loves, but she is afraid. What if she fails Holly by getting last-minute cold feet? Holly McAllister tries to keep up her usual stern demeanor. If she doesn’t marry, all she’s worked for is lost. She is surprised that the only person she can imagine marrying is her assistant, Kendal, whose loyalty she always relied on. Now Holly’s heart and conscience insist she must talk to Kendal and call off the wedding. She can’t take advantage of the woman she’s grown to love. Kendal deserves more.Romance, Novella

    Which doesn't mean the pain is less – quite the opposite, as we discover in this extraordinary collection of heartfelt fiction and non-fiction works that put female friendship in the spotlight. Nikki Gemmell looks at the hardwiring that keeps us bonded in tightly knit packs, but makes us feel oh-so-claustrophic in mothers' groups and at the school gate. Melina Marchetta reveals the peculiar shame of being overlooked for the high-status netball positions of Centre and Goal Attack. Liz Byrski conducts a forensic examination of her own friendship history, and finds some uncomfortable patterns. And Merridy Eastman pens a letter from Helena to Hermia from A Midsummer Night's Dream , which shines the light on one of literature's most famously dysfunctional female friendships.