Now Sophia’s alone, and she can’t help but wonder. Will the magic be gone, or will this year’s love be even stronger? Brew a cup of tea, grab a Christmas cookie, and prepare for a treat. You won’t want to miss this one!

    In 1985, a volcano erupted in Colombia. The heat of the volcano melted sheets of ice, resulting in mudslides. More than 23,000 people were killed. The media focused much attention on a thirteen-year-old girl trapped in the mud. In this story, the girl is called Azucena, and her rescuer is named Rolf Carlé.

    Witness a father who takes his two boys out to sea, in flight from some menace at home, thus launching their adventures in a strange and dangerous territory. Artist Matthew Ritchie's striking images blend scientific diagramming with vivid, colorful renderings of the apocalypse, while writer Ben Marcus's cold prose plumbs the inner workings of two boys caught out at sea with a father whose costumes grow increasingly menacing. In this collaborative work, Ritchie's and Marcus's shared obsessions of mythology, physics and ancient texts have produced a conjunction of text and image in which people themselves are merely costumes for the darker needs that drive them.

    The 2009 Sawtooth Poetry Prize, selected by Rae Armantrout, is Julie Carr's provocative 100 NOTES ON VIOLENCE. Carr obsessively researches intimate terrorism, looking everywhere from Whitman and Dickinson to lists of phobias and weapon-store catalogs for answers. This book is a dream-document both of light and innocence babies and the urge to protect them and of giving in to a wrenching darkness, where despair lies in the very fact that no single factor is to blame."

    The pay isn't great, and grouting and plumbing aren't dream work, but the rent is free, and it gives her more time to work with the disadvantaged inner-city kids she tutors.One of those kids, Travis, confides in Dana that he believes a fatal fire in a low-income housing building was actually the work of an arsonist, and not the accident it was deemed. Dana begins investigating, but her snooping unearths more questions than it answers. What does a wealthy real-estate mogul have to do with the fire? What does a teenage drug lord know about it? And can Dana-with the help of her wisecracking friends-solve the case between leaky faucets, loose tiles, and whiny tenants?

    Salrich.Gray Mountain by John Grisham is finally here! If you’d like to enhance your experience while reading Gray Mountain then this book review and study guide is perfect for you! Yes, in Gray Mountain, John Grisham once again takes us on an action packed roller coaster ride that you’re sure to enjoy. When you read Gray Mountain by John Grisham - Reviewed you will get a deeper understanding of the characters and plot found in Gray Mountain as well as the themes and symbolism included in the novel. You also get a detailed chapter by chapter breakdown and analysis of the events as they unfold along with a glossary of the important characters and terms used in the original book. Just in case that’s not enough for you I’ve also included a list of possible study questions (book club discussions topics) and quotes from the book that I found interesting. Wrapping it all up is a discussion of the critical reviews for Gray Mountain as well as my overall opinion of the book. Plus much more! Whether you’re reading this for a book club, school report, or just want to find out what happens before diving into the full length book, you can use this book review and study guide to get most out of your experience reading Gray Mountain by John Grisham.

    The colony where she had grown up, her family, was gone, dead under circumstances the authorities seemed keen to hide. To find the truth, Kaya must team up with a mercenary and a rag-tag group of smugglers. And the truth is something which will change her life forever.

    

    Vassanji. That fateful evening in Kenya becomes “the obsessive and dark centre” of the young man’s existence and leads him, years later in Toronto, to unearth an even darker family secret.In “The Girl With The Bicycle,” a man witnesses a woman from his hometown of Dar es Salaam spit at a corpse as it lies in state at a Toronto mosque. As he struggles to fathom her strange behaviour, he finds himself prey to memories and images from the past–and to perilous yearnings that could jeopardize his comfortable, middle-aged life.Still reeling from the impact of his wife’s betrayal, a man decides to stop in on an old college friend in “Elvis, Raja.” But he soon realizes that it’s not always wise to visit the past as he finds himself trapped in a most curious household, where Elvis Presley has replaced the traditional Hindu gods. The other stories in the collection also feature exceptional lives transplanted. A young man returns to his roots in India, hoping to find his uncle and, perhaps, a bride. Instead, he becomes a reluctant guru to the residents of his ancestral village. A mukhi must choose between granting the final sacrilegious wish of a dying man and abiding by religious custom in a community that considers him a representative of God. A woman is torn between the voice of her dead husband–a cold and grim-natured atheist–and her new, kind and loving husband whose faith nevertheless places constraints on her as a woman. On Halloween night, a scientist lays bare his horrifying plan to seek vengeance on the man who thwarted his career. Set variously in Kenya, Canada, India, Pakistan, and the American Midwest, these poignant and evocative stories portray migrants negotiating the in-between worlds of east and west, past and present, secular and religious. Richly detailed and full of vivid characters, the stories are worlds unto themselves, just as a dusty African street full of bustling shops is a world, and so is the small matrix of lives enclosed by an intimate Toronto neighbourhood. It is the smells and sentiments and small gestures that constitute life, and of these Vassanji is a master.Vassanji’s seventh book and his second collection of short stories, When She Was Queen was shortlisted for the 2006 Toronto Book Award. The jury said: "Vassanji's Naipaulian language is like a sharp short knife that cuts through the superficial and gets to the heart and soul of the narrative.”From the Hardcover edition.

    Marriages unravel, well-laid plans dissolve, and placid lives are turned upside down in this sharp, funny, and profound collection of short fiction.

    find out what happens in the next installment of The Hunted - Addiction by Ivy Smoak.Temptation has quickly turned into addiction. Penny Taylor fell hard for the sexy, brooding Professor Hunter. But he's not a professor anymore.James losing his job isn't the only backlash that their illicit affair has caused. Relentless press, a hostile campus, and an investigation gone awry put tension on Penny and James' newly healed relationship. And James' younger brother moving in doesn't make things easier.Will the hardships bring Penny and James closer together or tear them apart? Find out if it was all worth it.This book is intended for mature audiences.

    But things take a dramatic turn when they become acquainted with the well known, rich, and sexy Quintons, TQ, Lendsey, Britain, and Rhys. The four boys, along with their parents and sister run the infamous Quinton Crime Family, committing all types of crimes from green card fraud to importing illegal drugs. Life is smooth sailing for both sets of people, that is until their worlds start to become one. With drama at every corner, and haters lurking in the shadows, will these unions be able to build a strong bond? Or will the brothers prove to be just another disappointment for the girls?

    Chosen as one of the best stories of 1952

    A sexy, steamy story of lesbian sex and seduction between two women, redhead and a blonde.