Sheila verbally, emotionally, and physically abused Ava for more than thirty years. Drinking lots of alcohol became Ava’s way of coping with the pain and loneliness, but she is ready for change.Ava's friend, Emily Rios, convinces her to spend two weeks at Emily’s vacation home in Ouray, Colorado. Ava is excited about being away from Houston and Sheila. She wants to clear her head and reimagine her life.Ava meets Emily’s friend and neighbor Melody Graves in Colorado. Emily asked Mel to encourage Ava to visit some interesting sites in and around Ouray. Mel is happy to help, but she didn’t expect to fall for Ava.Ava discovers a new love for the outdoors and finds confidence in herself as she and Mel become close.Ava returns to Houston feeling good about her life and ready to move forward, but Sheila is not giving up control. Ava must make some tough decisions to build a new life with the possibility of a relationship with Mel.

    With his heart turned black, he rekindles the savagery of his race. In sacking Nantes, his bravery and luck earn him a place in the skalds' songs. Word of his deeds reaches his kin in the North, and more and more sea captains sail to Francia to join him, hoping his luck might help theirs.Thor of Dublin, Hasting's old rival, will seek him out and ask him to join his new alliance of sea kings. Together, they will launch the most ambitious raids their people have ever attempted. They will sail south to the land of the Moors to test their alliance's strength and, if successful, turn their sights to an even more daring prize: Paris.The Norns make nothing easy. A secret affair will risk unraveling the alliance and bring the sea kings to the brink of civil war.

    But when a panicked baby gargoyle bursts into her studio, insisting Mika is the only person she’ll trust with her desperate mission, Mika’s carefully constructed five-year plan is shattered. Swept into the gritty criminal underworld of Terra Haven, Mika must jeopardize everything she’s worked so hard for to save the baby gargoyle from the machinations of a monster—and to stay alive…

    Then comes "The Space Between," where it is revealed that the Comte St. Germain is not dead, Master Raymond appears, and a widowed young wine dealer escorts a would-be novice to a convent in Paris. In "A Plague of Zombies," Lord John unexpectedly becomes military governor of Jamaica when the original governor is gnawed by what probably wasn't a giant rat. "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows" is the moving story of Roger MacKenzie's parents during World War II. In "Virgins," Jamie Fraser, aged nineteen, and Ian Murray, aged twenty, become mercenaries in France, no matter that neither has yet bedded a lass or killed a man. But they're trying. . . . "A Fugitive Green" is the story of Lord John's elder brother, Hal, and a seventeen-year-old rare book dealer with a sideline in theft, forgery, and blackmail. And finally, in "Besieged," Lord John learns that his mother is in Havana--and that the British Navy is on their way to lay siege to the city.Filling in mesmerizing chapters in the lives of characters readers have followed over the course of thousands of pages, Gabaldon's genius is on full display throughout this must-have collection.

    Meanwhile, Valerie Crane finds herself transported to the year 1605. Terrified and confused she turns for help to the Whitfield brothers, who take her in and offer her a home. Both Alexander and Finlay Whitfield fall in love with the mysterious woman who shows up on their doorstep creating a love triangle that threatens to consume them all. Valerie must make her choice, deciding between the brother who will lead her down the path of destruction or one who will give her a love she couldn’t find in her own time.

    Perhaps, now that she had opened my mind to another view, I should be sensitive to some similar interpretation--and possibly by way of literary expression. If I were to write about the place, I asked myself, how should I treat it? I deliberately invited an interpretation in the way that came easiest to me--writing.

    

    A beautiful rebel. A love that could topple the kingdom. The covenant protects both races. Without the elite, the infection from the poisonous ash would turn us into monsters. Without the humans, the bloodlust from the elixir would drive the elite mad. I've always been a loyal citizen. I've always believed the lies they tell us. But when it's my turn to be chosen, I find that my new home is a gilded cage, and the politics of the citadel are far more dangerous than the beasts that roam the wilderness. When the bodies start stacking up, I realize the peace between our races is far more fragile that it appears, and based on secrets that could topple the kingdom. I'll have to fight to prove my place here, to protect a system I'm not even sure I believe in anymore. Not everybody is happy to be ruled. And some will fight to be free. The only question is, I'm no longer sure of who I really am, or which side I'm fighting for. My new husband is hiding things from, and when he learns the truth about who I really am, I'm not sure even he has the power to save me. Luckily, once I embrace my newfound abilities, I might just be strong enough to save us both - as long as his father, the king, doesn't kill me first. Taste is a dystopian vampire romance. Fans of the Hunger Games, Red Queen, futuristic scifi and classic paranormal romance will love this unique twist on the 'vampire hunter' mythology.

     At age eighteen, after a potion tragically backfired, Abby Townsend left Keating Hollow and her magic behind to find redemption. Ten years later, after being summoned by her family, she’s back. As soon as she drives into town, she’s already plotting her inevitable exit, but she can’t quite escape the pull of the tightly knit magical community or the soulful gaze of the one man she’s never forgotten. And when an eight-year old witch not only leads her back to her magic, but also steals her heart, Abby’s about to learn what it means to embrace the soul of a witch.

    But not her, she is mine to claim...JAYNE: I've dedicated my life to defending clients against injustice, but the imposing alien male that's captured me doesn’t believe in innocent until proven guilty. All Commander Rexitor cares about is his precious Empire and I'm its biggest threat.This alien is going to make sure I pay for my crime. Haalux justice is swift and brutal, just like him. But I believe in justice and I'm prepared to do anything to survive, even if it means defying him or the Empire.But the one thing I'm not going to do is ask for his help, because what I see in his eyes means I'm going to have to give up far more that I bargained for if I do.REXITOR: I didn't want anything to do with the criminal. She says she's innocent, but so do all the rest. She insists she understands justice, but what could a human know of justice?The evidence speaks for itself - she's the killer. Jayne faces execution, and I'll lose the soft curves and quiet voice that calls to my primal side in a way I never thought possible.Marked Haalux warriors like me don’t deserve a mate, I accepted that.But she's here and destined to be destroyed in front of me.Unless I claim her first.Taken: Alien Commander's Captive is the first in the new Haalux Empire series from Hattie Jacks. A full length steamy sci-fi romance with a feisty human lawyer plucked from Earth and her beast of an alien captor.No cliffhanger, no cheating and HEA guaranteed.

    The House On Gable Street is a fast-paced supernatural story about 30,000 words long, almost a novella. Stephen Leather is one of the UK's most successful thriller writers, an ebook and Sunday Times bestseller and author of the critically acclaimed Dan “Spider’ Shepherd series and the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novels.

    But the events of City of Heavenly Fire left him stripped of his memories, and Simon isn’t sure who he is anymore. He knows he was friends with Clary, and that he convinced the total goddess Isabelle Lightwood to go out with him…but he doesn’t know how. And when Clary and Isabelle look at him, expecting him to be a man he doesn’t remember…Simon can’t take it.So when the Shadowhunter Academy reopens, Simon throws himself into this new world of demon-hunting, determined to find himself again. His new self. Whomever this new Simon might be.But the Academy is a Shadowhunter institution, which means it has some problems. Like the fact that non-Shadowhunter students have to live in the basement. And that differences—like being a former vampire—are greatly looked down upon. At least Simon is trained in weaponry—even if it’s only from hours of playing D&D.Join Simon on his journey to become a Shadowhunter, and learn about the Academy’s illustrious history along the way, through guest lecturers such as Jace Herondale, Tessa Gray, and Magnus Bane. These ten short stories give an epilogue to the Mortal Instruments series and provide glimpses of what’s in store in the Dark Artifices.

    When Julie, a new client, comes to her about a disturbing recurring dream, Pauline has a murder case on her hands. The souls of three ghosts are at stake: Mack is the household haunter who irritates Pauline with his habit of knocking over furniture, but she's secretly comforted by his friendship. Mack has an amusing request, and what he does in return for her reveals more of the secret life of spirits. Mack brings Carla to Pauline for help. She's a little girl with a tragic ending and an old soul. Carla touches Pauline's heart with her stunning idea of how to set things right. Michael is a vile young man with a dark past, and worst of all, the light has never come for him. And perhaps, it never will...

    Mostly, she blames her dad. Her mother disappeared from Ireland when she was five and he’s been a human handcuff ever since. Cora’s life suddenly propels into the extraordinary when she begins to see colorful lights around people. Everyone, that is, except herself—instead, she glows only a brilliant, luminous silver. Cora has reason to believe that someone is hunting and killing people like her—if there are any others like her who are still alive…While investigating the danger associated with these auras, Cora is inexplicably drawn to Finn, a gorgeous Irish exchange student. Their attraction is instant, magnetic, and primal—but her father disapproves, and Finn’s mother abruptly orders him back to Ireland. As mysteries add up, Cora realizes that the small life she’s always known was a lie. On the run from a supernatural killer, she flees to Ireland to look for her missing mother and learn the truth about herself. There she meets another silver-haloed person and, amidst threats and danger, discovers the meaning of her newfound powers and their role in a conspiracy spanning centuries—one that could change mankind forever…if it doesn’t kill her first.

    Code name Iris.It’s Testing Day. The day that comes without warning, the day when all juniors and seniors at The Peel Academy undergo a series of intense physical and psychological tests to see if they’re ready to graduate and become government operatives. Amanda and her boyfriend Abe are top students, and they’ve just endured thirty-six hours of testing. But they’re juniors and don’t expect to graduate. That’ll happen next year, when they plan to join the CIA—together.But when the graduates are announced, the results are shocking. Amanda has been chosen—the first junior in decades. And she receives the opportunity of a lifetime: to join a secret government organization called the Annum Guard and travel through time to change the course of history. But in order to become the Eighth Guardian in this exclusive group, Amanda must say good-bye to everything—her name, her family, and even Abe—forever.Who is really behind the Annum Guard? And can she trust them with her life?