One home that binds them together.When Edie Chadwick travels to Ireland to close up her uncle’s lakeside lodge, it’s as much to escape the burden of guilt she’s carrying as to break loose from the smart set of 1930’s London.The old house is full of memories – not just her own, but those of a woman whose story has been left to gather dust in a chest in the attic: a handwritten memoir inscribed with an elegant signature . . . Eliza DruryAs she turns the pages of the manuscript, Edie uncovers secrets she could never have imagined: an exciting tale of ambition, hardship, love and tragedy – a story that has waited a lifetime to be told. . ."A delightful story, rich, engrossing and vividly told" Rachel Hore"A compelling, atmospheric story brimming with period detail about two feisty, independent heroines who will steal your heart" Cathy Kelly"With a marvellously evocative setting, strong and believable lead characters and a pacey plot, Another Heartbeat in the House is a thoroughly compelling love story" Liz Trenow

    In this moment, a peasant girl finds herself alone after her father is killed and her mother disappears. Young Beatrice must dare to enter the city to sell her family’s olive oil in order to survive, but also to search the streets and opium dens for her missing, grieving mother. Walking barefoot from her outlying village, Beatrice is given grudging permission to pass through the city gates to sell olive oil to the artists—Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli—who toil to elevate the status of the Florentine Republic. Lonely yet defiant, the peasant girl draws on the stone walls of Florence in secret as a way to express her pain. While desperately searching the city for her mother, Beatrice befriends the upstart Michelangelo as he struggles to sculpt the David. She also comes to know a cloth merchant’s wife who is having her portrait painted by the aging Leonardo da Vinci, renowned through the land as Master of the Arts. Bonds deepen even while Michelangelo and Leonardo are pitted against each other. Set during five epic years in the early 1500s when Florence was rebranding itself through its creative geniuses, Tuscan Daughter reveals the humanity and struggles of a young woman longing to find the only family she has left and be an artist in her own right, and the way she influences the artistic masters of the time to stake everything on the power of beauty to transform and heal.

    Since the moment Taygete Bellenger met the Earl of Edvoy, she knew there would never be another for her... But when he married her eldest sister instead, he broke her heart. .Now...She has devoted her life to helping the soldiers fresh from the war in France,1- deciding to never marry,2- to never confess her love to Hugh,3- and to take an even darker secret to her grave.  . Hugh Vance married the wrong woman, yet even after the passing of his wife, he knows there is little he can do to fix his mistakes.But when opportunity shows itself in the form of escorting the younger Bellenger girls during their first season in London, Hugh finds himself drawn to the one woman who's always held his heart.Taygete Bellenger. .But their match is forbidden by English courts, and Taygete has yet to reveal the wrong she committed years ago.With little hope, it seems two will have to make a decision.Forever apart or together under the shame of Society. .Is love truly worth great sacrifice in the end?Page Count: around 330 pages

    I can never get used to this, Alexi. Having you, that is. How did I deserve you? Deserve me? You don't have to do anything to deserve me. I love you. It's as simple as that. I love you for what you are. All you need to do is love me back. You don't earn love, as a payment in return.Peter Kingsmill's life had run into the sands since the death of his wife. What was a glittering London career had lost its shine. Until, that is, his life is turned upside down by an unexpected collision of events. He inherits the family estate, meets a girl seventeen years his junior and receives an anonymous letter which casts doubt on all the certainties on which he has built his past life.What follows is a journey of discovery which takes him back in time to war-torn Europe. To a story of betrayal in the secret world of spies and double agents, and ultimately to redemption and a bright new life.The narrative moves at speed from the dusty plains of pre-war Poland to the frozen winter landscapes of German-occupied Norway and finally to the gentle pastoral of the north Yorkshire hills. It is a story of a search for the pieces that make up a human life; and of the love that binds those pieces together....Do you remember the Snow Queen story? I can complete the pattern now. I have everything I need.

    The Goddess raised us, sheltered us, and defended us from the Demon Lord and their horrifying minions that roamed the wasteland. The sacred aurora that surrounded The City was the ultimate sign of her benevolent protection, keeping us safe.My name is Mal, and ever since I was a boy I've been treated as an outcast, a freak, and a malcontent because of my ability to see magic. For the other citizens, magic was the invisible manifestation of Goddess’s love, but to me, it was just a colorful spread of enchantments, cantrips, blessings, and hexes. And once I’ve seen a spell, I can understand it, and then I can break it apart.When I graduated from school, I had expected to be given the job of a ditch-digger. Instead, I was shocked when I was dubbed the next hero.Heroes are sent out in the wasteland, to slay monsters and to challenge the Demon Lord. It’s a suicide mission. But once I was shoved out of the aurora, I found out that the outside world was drastically different than what I had been told. The demons, dragons, and orcs might be my best shot for surviving the insanity I’ve been thrown into.Warning: This novel contains descriptions of violence, graphic sex, unconventional relationships (M/FF+ harem), and limitless adventure.

    But first he'll have to make it across the bloody north and that is easier said than done when there's a price on your head . . . For fans of gritty, action-packed fantasy in the vein of George R. R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie. Bestselling independent author Tony Healey presents The Fallen Crown series, a hard-hitting sword & sorcery epic that will blow you away and leave you gagging for the next installment!

    Lavinia herself never speaks a word. Now, Ursula K. Le Guin gives Lavinia a voice in a novel that takes us to the half-wild world of ancient Italy, when Rome was a muddy village near seven hills. Lavinia grows up knowing nothing but peace and freedom, until suitors come. Her mother wants her to marry handsome, ambitious Turnus. But omens and prophecies spoken by the sacred springs say she must marry a foreigner--that she will be the cause of a bitter war--and that her husband will not live long. When a fleet of Trojan ships sails up the Tiber, Lavinia decides to take her destiny into her own hands. And so she tells us what Virgil did not: the story of her life, and of the love of her life. Lavinia is a book of passion and war, generous and austerely beautiful, from a writer working at the height of her powers.

    Now he will make her his.When Ailith's village is raided by Vikings, it is the huge, fearsome warrior Ulrick who takes her as his prize. Though she does her best to fight him off and escape, Ailith soon finds herself over Ulrick's firm thighs with her bottom bare for a painful, embarrassing spanking.A humiliating public display of her forced submission leaves her blushing crimson, but it is only when her new master claims and ravages her for the first time that Ailith begins to truly understand what it means to belong to a rugged brute like Ulrick. She is his property, his to use as roughly and shamefully as he pleases, and he has no intention of being gentle with her.In spite of everything, Ailith cannot deny her body's response to Ulrick's stern dominance, and her need for him grows stronger each day. But when she is offered her freedom, will she take it?Publisher's Note: Rough Warrior includes sexual scenes and spankings. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.

    When one of the Duke's former lovers manipulates it so that Raff and Catherine are caught in a compromising situation the pair are forced into a hasty marriage of convenience, one that Catherine fears will end in disaster. Raff William James D'Alton, Sixth Duke of Albright had always been a huge admirer of wives --provided that they belonged to other men, of course. When his old love takes her revenge by forcing him into an unwanted marriage with a dowdy spinster, Raff vows that he will not let an inconvenient thing like a bride ruin his bachelor lifestyle. However, as time passes Raff and Catherine begin to realise that the sparks that fly between the pair have more to do with attraction than tension and that this inconvenient marriage might just have a happy ending --if only they'll allow it.

    Heiress of one empire and prisoner of another, it is up to the daughter of Cleopatra to save her brothers and reclaim what is rightfully hers... To Isis worshippers, Princess Selene and her twin brother Helios embody the divine celestial pair who will bring about a Golden Age. But when Selene's parents are vanquished by Rome, her auspicious birth becomes a curse.Trapped in an empire that reviles her heritage and suspects her faith, the young messianic princess struggles for survival in a Roman court of intrigue. She can't hide the hieroglyphics that carve themselves into her hands, nor can she stop the emperor from using her powers for his own ends.Faced with a new and ruthless Caesar who is obsessed with having a Cleopatra of his very own, Selene is determined to resurrect her mother's dreams and succeed where she failed. But in a treacherous political game where the only rule is win or die, there's no telling what success will cost her...

    In The Road Show we meet Zachary Edge, a Confederate soldier, on his way home at the war's close. He stumbles upon a traveling troupe, a chance encounter that is the start of an unforgettable odyssey. Edge hits the road with bawdy showgirls, roguish tricksters, and a host of colorful characters. He soon finds himself in the arms of Autumn Auburn, the lithesome artiste known for her breathtaking sensuality.

    The reader is swept into the whirlpool of pageantry, passion, splendor, chaos and earth-shattering upheaval that was ancient Rome. Here is the story of Marius, wealthy but lowborn, and Sulla, aristocratic but penniless and debauched -- extraordinary men of vision whose ruthless ambition will lay the foundations of the most awesome and enduring empire known to humankind.A towering saga of great events and mortal frailties, it is peopled with a vast, and vivid cast of unforgettable men and women -- soldiers and senators, mistresses and wives, kings and commoners -- combined in a richly embroidered human tapestry to bring a remarkable era to bold and breathtaking life.

    Conn Iggulden is just such a writer, bringing to vivid life one of the most fascinating eras in human history. In a true masterpiece of historical fiction, Iggulden takes us on a breathtaking journey through ancient Rome, sweeping us into a realm of tyrants and slaves, of dark intrigues and seething passions. What emerges is both a grand romantic tale of coming-of-age in the Roman Empire and a vibrant portrait of the early years of a man who would become the most powerful ruler on earth: Julius Caesar. On the lush Italian peninsula, a new empire is taking shape. At its heart is the city of Rome, a place of glory and decadence, beauty and bloodshed. Against this vivid backdrop, two boys are growing to manhood, dreaming of battles, fame, and glory in service of the mightiest empire the world has ever known. One is the son of a senator, a boy of privilege and ambition to whom much has been given and from whom much is expected. The other is a bastard child, a boy of strength and cunning, whose love for his adoptive family-and his adoptive brother-will be the most powerful force in his life. As young Gaius and Marcus are trained in the art of combat-under the tutelage of one of Rome's most fearsome gladiators-Rome itself is being rocked by the art of treachery and ambition, caught in a tug-of-war as two rival generals, Marius and Sulla, push the empire toward civil war. For Marcus, a bloody campaign in Greece will become a young soldier's proving ground. For Gaius, the equally deadly infighting of the Roman Senate will be the battlefield where he hones his courage and skill. And for both, the love of an extraordinary slave girl will be an honor each will covet but only one will win. The two friends are forced to walk different paths, and by the time they meet again everything will have changed. Both will have known love, loss, and violence. And the land where they were once innocent will be thrust into the grip of bitter conflict-a conflict that will set Roman against Roman...and put their friendship to the ultimate test. Brilliantly interweaving history and adventure, Conn Iggulden conjures a stunning array of contrasts-from the bloody stench of a battlefield to the opulence of the greatest city in history, from the tenderness of a lover to the treachery of an assassin. Superbly rendered, grippingly told, Emperor, The Gates of Rome is a work of vaulting imagination from a powerful new voice in historical fiction. "From the Hardcover edition."

    Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal.Nearly thirty years later, Hugo’s estranged daughter, Joanna, has returned home to the English countryside to arrange her father’s funeral. Among his personal effects is an unopened letter addressed to Sofia. In it is a startling revelation.Still dealing with the emotional wounds of her own personal trauma, Joanna embarks on a healing journey to Tuscany to understand her father’s history—and maybe come to understand herself as well. Joanna soon discovers that some would prefer the past be left undisturbed, but she has come too far to let go of her father’s secrets now…

    As Stefano, an Italian POW, heads toward home across war-ravaged Germany, he encounters a young child beside his dead mother. Unable to leave him to an unknown fate, Stefano takes the boy with him, finding refuge in a seemingly abandoned house in a secluded woodland.But the house is far from vacant. Stefano wakes at the arrival of its owner, Erich, a former German soldier, who invites the travelers to stay until they can find safe passage home. Stefano cautiously agrees, intrigued by the disarming German, his reclusive neighbor Rosalind, and her traumatized husband, Georg. Stefano is also drawn to Monique, the girl in a photograph on Rosalind’s wall, who went missing during the war.But when he discovers letters written by Monique, a darker truth emerges. This place of refuge could be one of reckoning, and the secrets of the past might prevent the travelers from ever getting home.