While Europe enters a brutal conflict unlike any waged before, the Duncan household in Baltimore, Maryland, is the setting for a different struggle. Ruth and Elise Duncan long to escape the roles that society, and their controlling father, demand they play. Together, the sisters volunteer for the war effort--Ruth as a nurse, Elise as a driver.Stationed at a makeshift hospital in Ypres, Belgium, Ruth soon confronts war's harshest lesson: not everyone can be saved. Rising above the appalling conditions, she seizes an opportunity to realize her dream to practice medicine as a doctor. Elise, an accomplished mechanic, finds purpose and an unexpected kinship within the all-female Ambulance Corps. Through bombings, heartache and loss, Ruth and Elise cherish an independence rarely granted to women, unaware that their greatest challenges are still to come.Illuminating the critical role women played in the Great War, this is a remarkable story of resilience, sacrifice and the bonds that can never be vanquished.

    Stories he’d heard as a child had led Hertmans to suspect that their contents might be disturbing, and for years he didn’t dare to open them.When he finally did, he discovered unexpected secrets. His grandfather’s life was marked by years of childhood poverty in late-nineteenth-century Belgium, by horrific experiences on the frontlines during the First World War and by the loss of the young love of his life. He sublimated his grief in the silence of painting.Drawing on these diary entries, his childhood memories and the stories told within Urbain’s paintings, Hertmans has produced a poetic novelisation of his grandfather’s story, brought to life with great imaginative power and vivid detail.War and Turpentine is an enthralling search for a life that coincided with the tragedy of a century—and a posthumous, almost mythical attempt to give that life a voice at last.

    He flees … and plunges headlong into an epic quest of even greater danger. Talon, ruthlessly pursued by the warrior band, returns to the land of his birth. He finds it threatened by an army. The mountain fortress that guards the narrow pass into the realm is undermanned. Worse, the kingdom’s soldiers are fighting a battle on another front. There are no reinforcements. The fortress will soon fall. When it does, the enemy will ravage an entire kingdom. Talon risks his life to bring word to allies who might help. But to reach them, he must somehow pass through the very army set to destroy his homeland. He begins the quest, but the warrior band has not given up the hunt. Nor is the invading army led by a man, but by a sorcerer ready to risk anything for victory. Talon is beset by enemies at every step, including a creature of dark power that stalks him. The road to safety is long, and the hope of success is short. Yet, in the darkest hour of his life, he finds an unexpected ally. A girl of striking courage helps him, and he falls in love with her. But if his quest fails, only smoke and ash will remain of the future they might have shared. This boxed set contains the entire Swordmaster trilogy, previously released as Fortress of the Forgotten. This is a remastered and expanded edition.

    Orphaned at 16 and widowed at 23, she longs to escape poverty, start a new life, and find true love. When she corresponds with mercantile owner, Jake, she feels drawn to him. But Jake only wants a marriage of convenience and a helper in his store. Believing she will come to accept a loveless marriage, Virginia travels to California. But her dreams of a peaceful life soon fade. Nothing will melt Jake's cold heart, and when Virginia finds herself falling in love with Jake, she realizes she must leave California, and all that she's ever wanted, behind.

    

    She is fed up with his lying, cheating and manipulating ways and is finally leaving him. She meets Hasaan who appears to be the perfect match for her; unfortunately, he comes with baggage as well. Jackie, who is his ex doesn't take the breakup well and will do anything to sabotage what he is trying to build with Serena including; showing up at his house unannounced in hopes of rekindling what they used to have. Tanisha and Gary have been together off and on for some years but not without the constant breaking up that most couples do. Three months before the wedding Tanisha finds out some devastating news and calls it off. However, that news is nothing compared to what Gary will have to confess to, which will hurt his woman so much and destroy everything. The journey with these two couples will have you in shock when the secrets come pouring out and one person will have the last laugh through it all.

    

    While similarities aren't considered weaknesses, it's the sole possessions of one human than attracts them to another... that one thing that someone their opposite can find inside of their core, but not within themselves. It's what attaches them, intrigues them as a flame does a moth. It's the bridge that gaps them together in a manner that other's may be ignorant to, while the details are in plain sight for the two basking in the afterglow. Ripleigh, a young single mother, has been beat down by the biggest villain of all. Life has gutted her of her most valuable vessel, the heart. After suffering through the death of her counterpart, and daughter's father, she's left with merely a shell to call home for the rest of the organs that are keeping her amongst the living. Ripleigh packed her things and moved down south for a more modest living and to place the pain of loss as many miles behind her as she could. While life seemed to be plentiful closer to the boarder, Ripleigh's funds were diminishing. Quick on her feet, she reduced her pride and laced up her highest heels to tread the stage of ILLUSION, the most sought out dwelling for upscale nightlife. Semaaj, prominent medical provider and face of Northcross Pediatric Care, stumbles into a dimly lit atmosphere full of hookah smoke, chest rocking base, and clad women with insane skills and enough strength to help him lay the final bricks to his newly purchased children's clinic. Though he feels as if he's worlds away from his comfort zone, he feels a familiar tugging of his heartstrings after setting his eyes on the talented Blyss. Semaaj, later, finds himself frequenting the underworld at an alarming rate, and the staff soon knows him by name. His request is simple, Blyss. Two strangers, two completely different worlds, two bizarre parties discover that there is likeness even in their oppositions. While Ripleigh decides to run, Semaaj exchanges his stethoscope and lab coat for joggers and tennis shoes. He accepts the challenge of digging up Ripleigh's, as known as Blyss, heart -the vessel that had been buried along with her previous lover. Bruised, cut, leaking, and dysfunctional as it may come packaged, he cares nothing for it's appearance. The purity of it's inside is what he's most desirable of.

     After a long and savage winter the Western Front braces itself for a new offensive. This time it will be different, this time both the British and the French will launch a simultaneous assault against the Germans, this time they will break the deadlock of the trenches. In the north the British attack at Arras. In a stunning display of skill and courage they punch a hole through the enemy lines, forcing the Germans to fall back in disorder. The British look poised on the brink of success. One more hammer blow and the enemy must surely crumble. Despite their losses the Germans hold on stubbornly, causing the attack to stall. Then, in the south, the French offensive meets with slaughter and mutiny forcing the British to continue the assault at Arras alone. Harry is just one of the thousands who finds himself thrust into the savage battle. What awaits him is a struggle of untold cruelty and suffering. Every day thousands are lost amongst the mud and snow, but the fight is unrelenting. With his section by his side Harry must overcome his fears and survive the horror that is, Bloody Arras.

     Spring 1918: in the skies above the Western Front a new science was taking shape in action. Unheard of only months before, aerial warfare was rapidly coming of age, bringing a new breed of heroes who would transform the face of battle for ever. Time was running out for the old rulers of the air – the Richthofens, Mannocks and McCuddens who had terrorised the skies unchallenged, secure in their individual genius and daring. New tactics, designs and men were taking to the air, and the newly-formed RAF was introducing a professionalism that would change the course of the war. This is the story of the men who fought in that fateful year – the men whose bitter struggle was to bring about the aces’ twilight and the dawn of modern warfare. Robert Jackson was born in 1941 in the North Yorkshire village of Melsonby. A former pilot and navigation instructor, his active involvement with aviation lasted many years. Following his retirement from the RAFVR in 1977 as a squadron leader, he became a full-time aviation writer and aerospace correspondent and lectured extensively on strategic issues. He speaks five languages, including Russian, and has written more than forty nonfiction works on military affairs. He is also the author of the popular Yeoman series.

    The action of this period romantic mystery takes place in the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne two years after the end of the war, as Britain is caught in the grip of the worst winter in a thousand years. As blizzards rage and the country grinds to a frozen standstill, on Tyneside a young German woman, Elsa Platten, goes on trial for her life, accused of deliberately burning a man to death... Alexander Galbraith is the lawyer hired to defend her, a man undergoing a personal crisis of his own, since his vengeful wife, Virginia, has discovered evidence of a homosexual affair and is threatening to ruin him... Jack Raisbeck is the owner of the Tyneside shipyard where the murdered man, a Dutchman called Jeroen van Rijn, worked. Jack is a physically scarred and cynical survivor of the war in the North Atlantic but his developing romantic relationship with Elsa in the months before the murder has rejuvenated him. Yet, as Elsa begins her trial, Jack is also struggling to keep his shipyard business alive, beset with a rebellious workforce led by union leader Ernie Wilmot, and with the financial future of his yard hanging in the balance after a recent arson attack and an act of embezzlement by his former chief accountant, George Hetherington. As the evidence against Elsa unfolds in the course of the trial, she re-lives her past life in Germany and Holland: the rise of the Nazis and the invasion of Holland, her subsequent betrayal and deportation to the East, and her escape and struggle to survive the fall of Berlin. Jack and Alexander Galbraith both believe in Elsa’s innocence but that belief is strongly tested as the evidence against her grows. The trail to find the truth leads both men in unexpected directions. For Jack it leads to a confrontation with his brother-in-law on a frozen cliff top, and to other disturbing family revelations. For Galbraith it is something even worse - he has to make the ultimate choice between preserving his own career and reputation, or saving his client from the hangman...

    

    Caleb himself falls into a dark place. Brilliant, athletic, and charismatic, he begins to use his talents to manipulate those around him. Turning his back on everyone, Caleb descends into a world of drugs, sex, and violence. Rising to be the greatest college quarterback in the nation and playing for the National Championship, Caleb has power, wealth, and women but he continues to inflict pain on everyone around him until in the depths of despair he finds hope. THE MANIFESTATION OF CALEB LEWIS is a magical story of triumph, hope, love and perseverance

    

    In fate. Or in soul mates. But I believe in Hawke. My life has never been whole since my parents left forever. I have my brother, someone I can barely tolerate most of the time, and I have my best friend, Marie. And I have myself. But when Hawke walks into my life, there’s an immediate connection. Our eyes lock and an unspoken conversation is exchanged. For the first time in my life, I actually feel something. But he doesn’t. He keeps me at arm’s length and pretends there’s nothing between us when there clearly is. I’m not the kind of girl to wait around for any guy, so I don’t. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t in the back of my mind. Our paths cross again in a way neither one of us expect and it changes everything. Was it destiny that made it happen? Was it fate? Or was it something else? TUESDAY Getting over Hawke is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I couldn’t breathe, sleep, or eat. Every day was more agonizing than the one that followed. But somehow, after two years of suffering, I finally got back on my feet. And I moved on. Now I’m living in the city and running my own bakery. Life is good again. I’m surrounded by good friends that I love, and every day is even better than the last. Until everything changes. Now I have to face him after two years of silence. I have to look him in the eye and act like he has no effect on me. I have to hold my head high and pretend he didn’t shatter me into a million pieces. I have to act like he doesn’t mean a damn thing to me. Can I fool him? Can I fool myself? WEDNESDAY It took me a long time to forgive Hawke—a very long time. But now that I have, I feel nothing but unbridled joy. Everything is exactly as it should have been two years ago. He’s just what I need, and not just now, but forever. Until disaster strikes. We promised each other forever, but will Hawke honor that promise when his world comes crumbling down? When the ground cracks below his feet, will we still stand? Or will we fall?