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

    So why does one woman occupy his mind night and day? He is being trusted to deliver a group of mail-order brides from Massachusetts all the way to the Washington Territory. Karen is one of them. She's beautiful, smart and has two young children that should scare Adam off faster than an angry rattlesnake. He was burned at the alter, left standing with his heart broken and the whole world laughing when his fiancee eloped with his best friend. A woman is more trouble than he needs. But he's the moth and she's the flame. He knows he's going to get burned. But allowing her to marry another is out of the question. And when a deranged woman from Karen's past threatens the soft-hearted woman he can't help but fall in love with--and her two precious little ones--Adam discovers that walking through fire doesn't burn anymore, not if it gets him what he really needs...his own family.

    To Kill a MockingbirdThe Shoes of the FishermanSeven Days in MayTo Catch an Angel

    We had defeated evil. But some dark realities lingered. I’m Ivanna. The fiercest of them all. I’m also cursed and in search for a remedy that could save my life. Can my team survive the new mystery, the betrayals, and most of all… the possibility of watching me die? Contains the 10 Titles: 1. The Forgotten Curse 2. Blinded by Love 3. The Secret Necklace 4. Phoenix Rising 5. Enemies Become Friends 6. Severing Ties 7. Love and War 8. Dark Magic 9. Finding Solace 10. Love Ignited

    Losing her husband in a tragic motorcycle accident put her life in a tailspin. Moments before the accident, she learned that her beloved husband had a dangerous secret. Now someone is after her and Reya has no choice but to hightail it out of town. A chance encounter with a former Green Beret may be the only thing that keeps her alive. Former military man turned Montana ranch hand, Elias Covington knows what it means to put his life on the line for others. The second he meets Reya, he knows she’s in danger—and he’ll do anything to save her. Enlisting the Brotherhood Protectors is his best bet, but protecting a woman and falling for her should never go hand-in-hand.

     With a body that can make a blind man see and a tongue slicker than oil, Kaci can easily bring a grown man to his knees and talk him right out of his pockets like a crooked preacher standing in the congregation. After her father’s untimely death when Kaci was just a little girl, Kaci, her brother Rodrick, and mother, Karen, are left to figure their lives out without the man that has always led the way and provided for them. With Karen’s new boyfriend J-Lo in the house, beating her silly, Kaci feels as though she’s living a nightmare, and the only outlet is sex, drugs, and money. She builds up strong resentment towards her mother and turns to the most dangerous streets of Houston. No longer having a father to teach her how to love herself, Kaci makes up her own rules and develops her own beliefs in how a woman is supposed to conduct herself. With a heart as cold as ice and a mind made of Teflon, Kaci lives life on the edge, that is until she finally meet her match, Kody. Not only is Kody paid, but he’s sexy and smart as hell. He also has a mind that’s just as tough as Kaci, and when their worlds collide, Kaci finds herself being swept off her feet. Kody is nothing like the men that Kaci is used to. He challenges her, makes her feel worthy, but he also plays hard to get, which only makes her want him even more. However, Kody isn’t as perfect as he seems. With Kody having a crazy baby mama straight out of hell, Kaci is now caught up in something that she never in a million years thought she would be caught up in. The rule that Kaci always taught herself was to never love a man, but now that Kody is so deep in her mind, she’s unsure of herself. Kaci has to make a decision; go back to what she knows or stick it out with Kody, knowing he comes with baggage. Find out what happened in another one of Sha Jones’ love story.

    Nell is a slum girl from Waterloo, hiding a secret pregnancy and facing a desperately uncertain future.Sensing an opportunity to exploit Nell's vulnerabilities, Alice takes her under her wing and, before long, Nell is experiencing the secret world of hoisting, with all the dangers - and glamorous trappings - that comes with this underworld existence.Alice has a longstanding feud with Billy Sullivan's all-male gang in Soho, and thinks Nell could be a useful weapon in her vendetta. But Nell has a secret agenda of her own, and is not to be underestimated. And the more she is exploited by both Alice and Billy, the more her hunger for revenge grows. As she embraces the seedy underbelly of London, will she prevail in carving out her own path to power and riches......and crown herself the Queen of Thieves?From Sunday Times bestselling author Beezy Marsh comes a thrilling new crime saga series, perfect for fans of Sam Michaels, Martina Cole and Jessie Keane.

    

    Black Light is nothing like the Punishment Pit, but this exclusive club has something Lukus might need to take back to Chicago, and if he gets to use his lovely wife as a test subject, well that only makes it more fun. And just how much trouble can one bad boy Dom get into on his pit stop in L.A.?

    This edition brings together some of the best horror writers from the last few decades. Featuring stories from Ray Garton, Kelley Armstrong, Simon Clark, Gord Rollo, Chad Lutzke, Mike Duke, Christina Bergling, David Owain Hughes, P. Mattern & Kevin J. Kennedy.

    Literally. He talks to animals to see clues other people would overlook. Like when the proud owner of a pair of Scotties goes missing, Griff knows foul play has to be involved, because the dogs tell him there’s no way she’d leave her pampered pooches alone in the winter. But when he shows too much interest in what the Scotties have to say, an attractive police detective takes the wrong kind of interest in him. Viewing him as a possible suspect, she digs up secrets about Griff he would have preferred left buried. And that’s not even his biggest problem—taking the dogs into his home has made him a target of the victim’s abductor. This makes him scurry to solve the case, because as an expert on animal behavior, there’s one thing Griff knows to be true: the most dangerous animal is the human animal.

    The pair are the envy of the Dublin social scene and it looks as if Sandy's future is bright. But when her mother's health declines and she has to be hospitalised, Sandy discovers a letter in her mother's personal belongings, which unleashes a long-hidden family secret that forces Sandy to question everything she once took for granted.As Sandy sets out on a voyage of discovery that takes her from Dublin to the Costa del Sol in search of her true identity, nothing can prepare her for what lies in store...

    One by one.Even if it starts a war.A human omega, is the only one that can satisfy our desires.Book Four: Tiger TripletsWe weren’t looking for a jobBut sometimes the job finds you.We’ve been hired to be bodyguardsOf the states most wanted omegaA big pay day.Only one problem.We want her more than anyone else.And Tigers always take what they want.Book Five: Bear TripletsIf that damn wolf woman thinks her son can get away with killing our cattle,we will make her pay.We have the most productive ranch in the county,But it’s been barren without one thing—a woman we can share.So for now, we’ll let them stay.We’ll give them protection from other shifters.And we’ll be a father to her unruly wolf boy,Under one, STRICT, condition.18+ Only.

    His ranch will be a good place for her sons to grow up, a place to escape big-city influences. Then she learns—from a stranger named Sam Dakota—that her grandfather is ill. Possibly dying. Molly packs up the kids without a second thought and makes the long drive to Sweetgrass, Montana.Once she arrives, she immediately has questions about Sam Dakota. Why is he working on her grandfather’s ranch? Why doesn’t the sheriff trust him? Just who is he? But despite everything, Molly can’t deny her attraction to Sam—until her ailing grandfather tries to push them into marriage.Moving to the state of Montana is one thing; entering the state of matrimony is another! Some borders aren’t so easy to cross… Dakota Farm First published in 2012 as The Farmer Takes a Wife.Dave Stafford reckons he’s got enough to offer a woman: he’s decent and hardworking, and his farm in Buffalo Valley does all right. But there aren’t many women in town, so he places a personal ad. And he gets one single reply. Only Emma Fowler, a woman from Seattle, is interested. But when she arrives in North Dakota, she’s a little different from the picture she sent—and that’s not all Emma hasn’t been completely honest about. Emma is desperate to change her hectic, stretched-thin life, for her own sake…and for her three-year-old daughter. She’s been lonely, too, and is hoping that this practical match will be the solution for her bruised heart. Dave and Emma will discover they can make a family, once they get used to the fact that they are husband and wife!

    Heartbroken at losing her relationship with the little girl, Lucy pours all her energy into her new business, Delectable Desserts. Until she house-sits for her parents and discovers her new neighbor is even more delectable than her brownies. Reclusive history professor Bryce Wellington just wants to be left alone to lick his wounds after being left at the altar. Then his ex-fiancée abandons a baby girl on his doorstep and claims she’s his. Desperate for help, Bryce calls his new neighbor, Lucy. As Lucy teaches Bryce the ropes of parenthood, he finds himself falling for her, but the last thing he needs is a woman as unpredictable and career driven as his ex-fiancée. He's a father now and he'd rather stay single than make another mistake. And in spite of Bryce being there for her every time she needs him, Lucy’s not about to lose her heart again to a man and a little girl who aren’t hers. But sometimes, taking a chance in life brings the sweetest rewards.