Delicious.”—Maxine Hong Kingston The story of two women whose lives intersect in late-nineteenth-century Japan, The Teahouse Fire is also a portrait of one of the most fascinating places and times in all of history—Japan as it opens its doors to the West. It was a period when wearing a different color kimono could make a political statement, when women stopped blackening their teeth to profess an allegiance to Western ideas, and when Japan’s most mysterious rite—the tea ceremony—became not just a sacramental meal, but a ritual battlefield. We see it all through the eyes of Aurelia, an American orphan adopted by the Shin family, proprietors of a tea ceremony school, after their daughter, Yukako, finds her hiding on their grounds. Aurelia becomes Yukako’s closest companion, and they, the Shin family, and all of Japan face a time of great challenges and uncertainty. Told in an enchanting and unforgettable voice, The Teahouse Fire is a lively, provocative, and lushly detailed historical novel of epic scope and compulsive readability.

    When he embarks on his final mission with NASA, Curt figures there's no curveball that life has left to throw him.But when the role of spacecraft communicator is passed to a young engineer back in Houston who he's never met, Curt's mission takes on a new trajectory.--- "CAPCOM to commander. Do you read?" ---Patrick Harte's life is turned upside down when he's called to fill in at mission control, working directly under his hero, Curtis Larkin.Falling for Curt is just a small step for Patrick -- but it's one giant leap to think that the astronaut could ever return his feelings.---"The more I talk to you, the more I know that we understand each other." --- After Curt connects with Patrick from worlds away, he can't imagine life on earth without the other man... Despite the fact that he's never laid eyes on Patrick. And their problems won't stop once he's cleared for landing.The bad-boy astronaut is no stranger to controversy -- but will the genuine and soft-spoken man of his dreams be able to keep up with the trouble Curt seems to stir everywhere he goes?---One Giant Leap is a slow burn m/m contemporary romance novel with a May-December theme, lots of humor, medium angst, medium heat, and a happily-ever-after ending -- plus a sexy bonus chapter.

    From this interaction, John meets a variety of characters, each with their own values and ideas of "self-actualization." However, Liz begins to fall in love with John's best friend, and John realizes his journey of self-discovery has only just begun.

    Thirty years later, one of the brothers-the only remaining survivor of a family he seeks both to leave behind and to preserve in words forever-narrates these precise and heartbreaking tales. Suffused with the beauty of Richard McCann's extraordinary language, Mother of Sorrows introduces us to an elegant writer like no other in contemporary fiction.

    Once he gets over his shock, Sobran decides that Xas, the male angel, is his guardian sent to counsel him on everything from marriage to wine production. But Xas turns out to be a far more mysterious character. Compelling and erotic, The Vintner's Luck explores a decidedly unorthodox love story as Sobran eventually comes to love and be loved by both Xas and the young Countess de Valday, his friend and employer at the neighboring chateau.