This year she will stop at nothing to ensure that she and the Woodlea community have the best holiday season ever. But from the moment Freya hangs the first piece of mistletoe, her plans unravel faster than red Christmas ribbon...Home For Christmas – Fiona Greene [FIRST TIME IN PRINT]When Sergeant Tate McAuliffe, stationed in Afghanistan, opens his Christmas care package from Australia, he is stunned by both its contents and the sender, Layla Preston. Little could Layla know that this impersonal-but-cheerful holiday gift is set to be the start of something big…The Kissing Season – Rachael Johns A wild past, a secret pregnancy and a disastrous marriage: every family has a black sheep...and Hannah Elliot is it. But when she returns to her home town of Wildwood Point, she is determined to stay on the straight and narrow. Then gorgeous Italian Matteo Della-Bosca walks into her life and Hannah’s resolve starts to slip…12 Daves Of Christmas – Juliet Madison [FIRST TIME IN PRINT]Can love transcend time and space? An uplifting story of a lonely writer, her grandmother’s ghost and a Christmas road trip to visit 12 different Daves.Christmas At Remarkable Bay – Victoria Purman [BRAND NEW STORY]Prickly Sofia has hit a crossroads and is hoping a Christmas alone in idyllic Remarkable Bay will help. Police officer George is also alone at Christmas. Drawn together unwillingly, they try and stay out of each other’s way. But Remarkable Bay is a small place…

    With a mix of traditional, literary prose and bold – some might even say irresponsible – experimentation, Ben Greenman explores the ins and outs of modern romance. Expect tears, nudity, and recrimination.Both familiar in their humanness and wholly original, these imaginative stories take us all over the map in time, place, and circumstance. From the halfhearted summer affair between a part-time bartender and a married doctor in a Miami hotel to the cryptic pseudo-erotic love letters to a friend who is “more than a friend,” we experience the love of pop songs, the love of cohabitation in Chicago, and love that is so transporting it takes us to the moon–literally.

    This bundled version also includes nine holiday recipes inspired from the series! The Boss Who Stole Christmas, Book 1Dear Santa, Please bring me a new boss for Christmas. Mine is the worst. The worst, hidden in a six foot tall package of male perfection. It’d be easier if he looked like an old Scrooge, wouldn’t it? Nick Saint-Croix doesn’t look like an old scrooge. He’s hot as-Um, never mind. Just bring me a new boss. Please. Sincerely, Holly WinterIf You Give a Jerk a Gingerbread, Book 2Dear Santa, I do not want Keller James for Christmas. I will not fall for him, no matter how charming or irresistible or famous he is. I will not be swayed by his skills in the kitchen or by his British accent. I’m going to win the Great Gingerbread Bake Off and no one is going to stand in my way. Not even Keller. All kisses are off. I mean all bets. All bets are off. And all his clothes. Grr, never mind. I’ll figure this out myself. XOXO, Ginger WinterThe One Night Stand Before Christmas, Book 3Dear Santa, Please stop by my house and pick up your suit. If you thought I was going to run it to the dry cleaners for you after you left it on my bedroom floor, you’ve got another thought coming. Best, Noel Winter

    Her first assembly as school captain is slightly ruined by her new bright orange hairdo – thanks to her father’s inability to choose correct permanent hair dye. The local Blonde Brigade is already giving her a hard time (and affectionately dubbed her ‘ranga’) and her teachers have done the unthinkable and handed out assignments on the first day back. The one bright spot in Daisy’s first day back is the appearance of a private school boy hottie. Oh, and her best friend and vice-captain, Roman, who she can count on to hold her temper and have her back. But the winds of change are sweeping through Daisy’s small town of Twin Rocks. Turns out the private school hottie is new in town and fast friends with her brothers. His name is Nate and he turns Daisy’s legs to jelly. But her totally platonic best friend, always reliable Roman, is starting to act strange. This is Daisy’s senior year. She’ll learn hard truths and lose small battles on the path to adulthood . . . but, hey, nobody said it was going to be easy. (Stole this wonderful blurb from Danielle from ALPHAreader. Because she did it so much better than me!)

    A. Suleiman, and Paul Melniczek treat readers to some spooky tricks with a hair-raising assemblage of tales gathered together by author, editor, and master of the macabre Brian James Freeman. THE MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE by Kealan Patrick Burke For some, office parties are the highlight of the season. For others, they can paralyze with dread. Theo is determined not to let his anxiety stop him from attending—though maybe he’s right to be afraid. ACROSS THE TRACKS by Ray Garton The candy’s always better on the other side of town, even if it means crossing paths with bullies. But a rich house with an unlocked door might just be too good to be true. . . . THE HALLOWEEN TREE by Bev Vincent Every town has one: a house or a field or an old tree that just gives off a bad vibe. Of course, those feelings are just silly superstition, nothing to take seriously. Right? PUMPKIN EATER by C. A. Suleiman Peter loves Halloween—almost as much as he hates his wife. Luckily, his favorite holiday presents an opportunity to fix his problem. After all, putting his wife in her place should be as easy as pie. WHEN THE LEAVES FALL by Paul Melniczek Haverville always seemed like a typical town to me: a place where people work hard, and no one ever really leaves. Until the night I went to Graver’s Farm—and discovered what Haverwille was really hiding.

    Through the lens of Link's vivid imagination, nothing is what it seems, and everything deserves a second look. From the multiple award-winning The Faery Handbag, in which a teenager's grandmother carries an entire village (or is it a man-eating dog?) in her handbag, to the near-future of The Surfer, whose narrator (a soccer-playing skeptic) waits with a planeload of refugees for the aliens to arrive, Link's stories are funny and full of unexpected insights and skewed perspectives on the world. Her fans range from Michael Chabon to Peter Buck of R.E.M. to Holly Black of Spiderwick Chronicles fame. Now teens can have their world rocked, too!

    Geraint is brave and kind, a good teacher and master - but he has a secret that he has kept from his family. He is bisclavret, a born werewolf. When Geraint is betrayed, Etienne must ally with the local wise-woman and her daughter, themselves bisclavret, to save his lord. But time is running out. If Geraint's enemies have their way, Geraint will soon be trapped in his wolf form.And Etienne has his own secret. The decisions he makes will change his life forever . . .Inspired by a medieval romance, this engaging novel forces us to question everything we thought we knew about werewolves.

    the Purple Hordes / James Kochalka --Sunbird / Neil Gaiman --The Aces phone / Jeanne DuPrau --The sixth borough / Jonathan Safran Foer.Interspersed with charts, graphs, and various crossword puzzles, A Book of Noisy Outlaws, Evil Marauders, and Some Other Things . . . features some of today's best authors spinning new tales ranging from the spooky to the strange. George Saunders tells the story of a father who takes caution to dangerous extremes in "Lars Farf, Excessively Fearful Father and Husband." In "ACES by Phone," a small boy finds a cell phone that lets him listen in on the thoughts of dogs, and in "Small Country," Nick Hornby introduces a country too small for a postal system but, unfortunately for one bookish boy, just big enough for a football team. Each story features full-color illustrations by artists including Barry Blitt, Lane Smith, David Heatley, and Marcel Dzama.The collection includes previously unpublished children's stories from Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything is Illuminated), Nick Hornby (High Fidelity), Neil Gaiman (Sandman), George Saunders (CivilWarLand in Bad Decline), Kelly Link (Stranger Than Fiction), and Jon Scieskza (Stinky Cheese Man). The dust jacket folds into a unique aerogram, which factors into a special contest involving a story written partly by Lemony Snicket, partly by thousands of children.

    Written in a lean and muscular style and brimming with both violence and compassion, these stories unflinchingly explore the lives of those — MMA fighters, the institutionalized, small-town criminals — who exist on the fringes of society, unveiling the blood and guts and beauty of life in our flyover regions.

    That's not unusual. Isola Wilde sees a lot of things other people don't. But when the girl appears at Isola's window, her every word a threat, Isola needs help.Her real-life friends – Grape, James and new boy Edgar – make her forget for a while. And her brother-princes – the mermaids, faeries and magical creatures seemingly lifted from the pages of the French fairytales Isola idolises – will protect her with all the fierce love they possess.It may not be enough.Isola needs to uncover the truth behind the dead girl's demise and appease her enraged spirit, before the ghost steals Isola's last breath.

    Ice Study tells a short story after Fire Study and another short story Power Study. After the events of Fire Study, Yelena and Valek's sabattical is cut short when they become entangled in a plot to prevent the Ice Moon from falling into the hands of a rogue magician.

    McKillip and Connie Willis.Much Ado about (Censored) - Connie WillisWho's Gonna Rock Us Home? - Nancy SpringerLose Now, Pay Later - Carol Farley A Quiet One - Anne McCaffreyMoby James - Patricia A. McKillip If I Had the Wings of an Angel - Joe Haldeman You Want it When? - Kara Dalkey Ear - Jane Yolen The Last Out - Resa Nelson and David Alexander Smith Free Day - Peg KerrBeggarman - Susan ShwartzOld Glory - Bruce Coville

    You keep lying to cover your tracks. The lie grows. It becomes huge. Savage. Hungry.’Gabbie likes her life just the way it is. She has a cool best friend and parents she can tell anything, and she’s just met the perfect guy.But there are some things you can’t control. When her best friend starts to go off the rails, Gabbie finds it harder and harder to share the truth with her parents. Her family is changing, and that may become the biggest problem of all . . ."Losing It" was shortlisted for the Young Adult Fiction Prize in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, 2006.

    With stories told in 140 characters or less, A Small Fiction delivers brilliant yet brief tales destined to stick with readers long after they turn the page. Through the genre lenses of science fiction, fantasy, contemporary fiction, folklore, and humor, each of these illustrated micro-fictions is a peephole that reveals a bigger world.

    Keep away from strangers. Don't stay at home alone. And never, ever go into the water. All she wants is to be like everyone else. But when a mysterious stranger comes to the door, Tully discovers the horrifying secret her father has been trying to protect her from...Ages 10+.