Ali” to friends and family. Janelle Jennings: a forty-nine-year-old bestselling romance author, Botox-stuffed narcissist, four-time ex-wife (but who’s counting?), and all-around spoiled brat. What could these two possibly have in common? Uncork the wine. Bring out the calming chocolate. Ali Lawrence’s diva sister, Janelle Jennings, is making an unexpected visit to their hometown of Willoughby, Georgia, and Ali needs help. Since they were schoolgirls, Ali has suffered ridicule and criticism from her prom queen, beauty pageant older sister, whom their mother still coddles at Ali’s expense. Ali is suspicious of her sister’s motives for visiting Willoughby, and especially her odd behavior and uncharacteristically long stay. Something’s not quite right, and Ali is both curious and concerned. During this visit, Ali vows to stop being a bitter doormat and stand up to Janelle. But when Ali discovers a secret that has the potential to destroy Janelle’s career and tarnish her reputation, will she expose her sister, or, for the sake of family unity, will she protect her? Can the sisters finally come to terms with each other, admire their achievements, and ignore their faults, or will their relationship continue to disintegrate, bringing bedlam to Willoughby in the process? Someone has to take the first step: Will it be Janelle in her stepladder stilettos or Ali in her ratty, old running shoes?

    He’d die the lowest of society, a Knotted, buried with their thin cord still around his neck. He would never advance as a mage, never to learn of the forbidden runes of the kingdom magicians. But when he looks away from the northern mountains, he allows himself to dream that one day, he’d buy his freedom and escape the mines forever.But the mines don’t relinquish claimed lives so easily. They draw him in deeper, pulling him into their depths, and when Draysky discovers the source of their treasures, he’s left with a choice.Return to his labor, and be grateful for the years he has left, or risk his life by seizing the mines’ power. Becoming a threat to those who thrive supported on the backs of his people.And discovering why runes are forbidden.

    Inside you'll find 30 Daily Lessons, 20 Fun Activities, 180 Multiple Choice Questions, 60 Short Essay Questions, 20 Essay Questions, Quizzes/Homework Assignments, Tests, and more. The lessons and activities will help students gain an intimate understanding of the text; while the tests and quizzes will help you evaluate how well the students have grasped the material.

    

    The son of Neptune and a mortal woman, he’s spent millennia as an outcast of both worlds. As king of the ocean, all Julian wants to do is protect the denizens deep and drown the humans for their crimes against sea creatures. He doesn’t care about the Consortium of Chaos’s new jobs as “heroes.” He still hates everyone, which is kinda unfortunate since he’s just become the one person responsible for keeping the world safe. He’d probably just ignore the human’s plight and go for a swim, except the beautiful woman he’s been searching for for years has shown up to help fix his “image problems.” Which means Julian might have to actually pretend to be a hero, after all. Bridget: Bridget is a public relations specialist. Kind of. She’s not exactly at the top of her field, but she’s giving it her best shot. The curvy, average, dateless human is going to help Julian and his bizarre group of semi-insane, super-powered friends reach their full potential as heroes. And not JUST because he’s the handsomest man she’s ever seen. Years ago, Julian saved her life. In an age where good guys and bad guys seem way too much alike, Julian is the only person she’s ever seen act heroically. He can do anything. He just needs to believe that. …And stop telling all the humans that he’s going to conquer the planet. …And maybe not worry so much about seafood restaurants murdering his underwater subjects. …And actually pay attention to all the people trying to take over the city. New enemies are rising and nearly everyone else in the Consortium is MIA. Now, it’s up to Julian and the Consortium members who are too old, weird, evil, or headless to be invited on the REAL missions to save the city. Except they suck at it. Humans are whining about the death-toll, the Consortiums screw-ups are all over the news, and their evil garage sale isn’t helping to pay the bills. Bridget’s going to fix all that. She’s determined to make the world see them for the heroes they are. Julian’s certainly willing to go along with her ideas, no matter how many public appearances he has to make at elementary schools and shopping malls. He knows he’s a villain and he couldn’t care less about what the rest of humanity thinks, but he sure loves the idea of being a hero to Bridget.

    He'd spent years learning to live in a minimalist and sustainable way. He'd changed careers, and he had a plan. A plan just in case the worst happened. Unfortunately for Jack, he was far from home when disaster struck, when the end of the world as we know it came. Now he is on foot, with winter coming. Jack and his two dogs will need to trek over 750 miles to get home. How do you cope when almost everything you depend upon is lost? When everything you've come to rely on stops working. There was no way to predict a Solar Storm. There was no way to predict its enormous magnitude or the damage that it would do. What do you do when you can't call for help? When transportation stops and the lights go out? How hungry do you have to be to steal, to kill? What will people do when there is no law? Who can you trust? Jack would most likely run out of food before he got home, even if nothing went wrong. But something had already gone wrong, and it was just the beginning. He had choices to make and no information. Every decision was a trade-off. Would he survive if he chose wrong? Jack was about to find out.

    Magazine and consciousness raising. As the post-World War II era of peace, prosperity, and pointy bras gives way to the life-expanding changes of the women’s movement, four women meet and over the course of two decades, create a space that allows them all to thrive, with humor and irreverence, as they each struggle to reconcile the realities of adult life with the expectations of youth. “Virginia DeLuca’s captivating novel, 'As If Women Mattered', fuses compelling social drama with page-turning storytelling. Four women, whose consciousness-raising group becomes a life-long, life-saving family of the heart, wrestle with marriage, motherhood, careers and sex, during a time when no one knew the rules anymore, and it was all up for grabs. The entwined stories of these women will keep you up way past midnight, experiencing the extraordinary era when women rose up and found their voices, and each other.” Randy Susan Meyers, International Bestselling Author of "The Murderer’s Daughters" and "The Comfort of Lies" “'As If Women Mattered' takes me vividly back to my own experiences in the early second-wave women’s movement and, in its characters’ lives, highlights many of the dynamics and issues that made those years so fascinating, so fraught and so fruitful. Thank you especially, Ginny DeLuca, for following the ongoing friendship between these four women over time.” Wendy Sanford, cofounder and coauthor, "Our Bodies, Ourselves"

    What a difference a week makes in a heartfelt, laugh-out-loud novel by the Washington Post bestselling author of The Overdue Life of Amy Byler.Celeste Mason is the Pinterest stay-at-home supermom of other mothers’ nightmares. Despite her all-organic, SunButter-loving, free-range kids, her immaculate home, and her volunteering awards, she still has time to relax with a nice glass of pinot at the end of the day. The only thing that ruins it all is her workaholic, career-obsessed neighbor, who makes no secret of what she thinks of Celeste’s life choices every chance she gets.Wendy Charles is a celebrated productivity consultant, columnist, and speaker. On a minute-by-minute schedule, she makes the working-mom hustle look easy. She even spends at least one waking hour a day with her kids. She’s not apologizing for a thing. Especially to Celeste, who plays her superior parenting against Wendy whenever she can.Who do Celeste and Wendy think they are? They’re about to find out thanks to one freaky week. After a neighborhood potluck and too much sangria, they wake up—um, what?—in each other’s bodies. Everything Celeste and Wendy thought they knew about the “other kind of mom” is flipped upside down—along with their messy, complicated, maybe not so different lives.

    For those caught in the middle, it means death. For centuries humans and dragons existed side by side in Alveria, bonded by their care of one another. But no longer. After decades with no viable eggs, humans far outnumber dragons, and the survival of the species appears bleak. The outlook for everyday humans is little better as rogue dragons raid and torment villages. Yet it’s far worse for the tamers, beaten and killed simply for serving the noble dragons. But eking by at the bottom of Alverian society isn’t any easier for seventeen-year-old Kaelan Younger. Harder still when her loyalty to the dragon crown is no secret. But when her dying mother reveals a horrifying truth about her identity, Kaelan is thrust into a world for which she is ill prepared. Faced with a new life at the proving grounds for humans and dragons alike, Kaelan must reconcile not just her past but embrace the future laid out before her. When her responsibilities as an Akademy tamer collide with her feelings for a powerful dragon shifter, it will take everything she has to prepare for the danger threatening them both. The fate of the dragons she has sworn to serve rests in her hands.

    War and rebellion roil the nation, sowing chaos among the surrounding kingdoms. Darkness often finds a foothold when chaos reigns, thriving on the torment of the mortal realm. In times of great need, the light calls upon beings of destiny to stem the tide. Though you may blaze your own path, know that you have the power to shape the future. Choose well.Forced to join a virtual world, Luke Rivers delves into Drezkarn, a land of swords and magic. For a fantasy game, things don't start off the way he imagined and he quickly finds himself in terrible situations. While his frame of reference for fantasy RPGs was limited by a rough childhood, the experience of a life spent fighting for survival pays off.

    

    Dangerous. Gruesome.I’ve earned this reputation.I’m mafia.My rules are simple:Rule #1: I take what I want, when I want.Rule #2: Don’t get in my way, ever, or you’ll see the beast inside.Rule #3: Love is out of the question.I didn’t ask for this life. I was born into it.Who knows? Maybe I’ll die in it.But before that, there is one thing I have to do…Make sure my daughter can escape the life I couldn’t.She is the only thing I live for.Until I meet Lizzie, the owner of the local shifter dating agency.Full lips, beautiful smile and gorgeous curves to die for.The night I touched her innocent skin,my mouth pressing against hers,I knew it…I had to make her mine.Remember rule #3? Screw it.But my origin is coming back to haunt me.Danger creeps in closer on every side.Now, I also live to save her and the babies she’s carrying.My babies.My family is mine to protect and mine to hold.Author’s Note:✦ this is a stand-alone paranormal romance story✦ with HEA, so no cliff-hangers✦ this story contains mature themes and language, and is intended for 18+ readers only

    Without the money for better care, Shore doesn’t know why her spells occurs. She finds herself in a small unknown town with hidden secrets, looking for a cure to her illness. Zambezi is a twenty-one-year-old ladies man. He grew up in a small town called, Oland. He works for his father who has one of the biggest markets in Oland. But, that isn’t enough for Zambezi. He embarks on his own journey to be the man he wants to be instead of following his father’s footsteps. With his mother’s strict rules and discipline tactics, Zambezi finds himself rebelling against his family by falling for the new girl. Sabrina suffers from memory loss. Waking up on a beach, naked and pregnant is the only thing she remembers from her past until a water spirit haunts her. The water spirits will not stop at any cost until Sabrina gives them her daughter. How far will she go to keep her safe? Lake Deep is an magical lake in Oland that will change the lives of three people, by showing them their truths and changing them forever. Will Shore find a cure before it’s too late? Will Zambezi’s newfound love destroy his family? Will Sabrina remember her past before the water spirits take her daughter away? There is someone who has the answers to it all as she watches the people on land from the bottom of Lake Deep. This is an urban paranormal story of love, lust, sex, betrayal and romance.