Her father is dying, and her cousin is trying to force her into marriage in order to obtain her inheritance. Desperate, she seeks out the Duke of Westhaven, a widower who gossip says needs a wealthy wife immediately to save his family from ruin. She offers him a bargain: his name and protection for her money, with an assurance that she has no interest in the emotionally skittish rake’s affection. And it’s the truth. Though she did secretly hold a tendre for the man once, she wisely quashed it when she discovered he was not a noble knight in shining armor but an undeniable, uncaring rogue.Nic would rather drink poison than marry again. Yet, he’s suddenly in the untenable position of needing to wed to protect his sister’s future. So when a virtual stranger crashes the dinner party where he’s seeking a bride who wants as little to do with him as he does with her, and the woman offers a marriage with no attachments, he eagerly accepts. It’s the perfect solution for a man who believes love is for fools. They’ll wed and live their separate lives.But when a surprising stipulation to Sophia’s inheritance comes to light, the disenchanted duke and determined lady are forced to spend more time together than planned. And what started as a calculated match between a retired dreamer and a jaded rogue may end up being the very thing that brings them the love they lost faith they’d ever find.

    Telly, the bus driver, discovers all of the children are missing -- all except one very frightened Billy who has hidden in a cabinet. Where is everyone? Telly and Billy are determined to find the answers.The little town of Rocky Flats is stirred into a frenzy. Nothing like this has ever happened before! Where have the children gone? Why? As the clock ticks and the little town rallies together in the search, will they find the children before it's too late?

    He’s a man of the African bush, and coping with ‘girlie feelings’ was always Helene’s department, not his. When an orphaned baby elephant is found, Rodger sees an opportunity that might help him reconnect with his children. But interfering with the orphan goes against his usual conservation methods. It will require a new approach to save both the baby and his family.

    With a fluency of tone and a gifted eye, he examines the dark and unfathomable moments in the most committed relationships; the small distances that stretch into miles between generations and couples when long-buried secrets tumble out into the light; or the eccentricities that may label us as odd yet mark us as unique. Capturing the bewilderment and tenderness in failed connections or missed moments, his characters stand vivid in their human frailty and we warm to them almost despite ourselves. A lonely wife determined to gather her far-flung family for a reunion invents the perfect lie to persuade them; an old woman recalls how she once trained a black crow the art of thieving; and the off-duty small-town cop on his last round of the evening who does a distressed family a great service when he summons the courage to shoot their gravely injured dog.These poignant tales reveal the subtleties in love and indifference or the strange, sad, breathtaking tricks of chance that can change a life in a second. As Lychack moves among these characters with all their virtues and failings, he observes the inevitable disparity between their realities and their dreams even while investing their stories with wit, humility, and a large measure of grace. That he succeeds so remarkably in transferring it all to the page is evidence of his prodigious talent.

    More than 300,000 listeners tune in to this offering weekly to hear some of their favorite tales read aloud by distinguished actors.From a couple's rocky, college love affair that lasts a lifetime and a mother who nervously chaperones her retarded daughter's honeymoon to a supernatural tale of marriage and transformation and a grieving man who buries his young wife and makes amends with her family—this anthology captures the powerful and complicated lives of married couples. Among the stories are Sherman Alexie's "Do You Know Where I Am?" read by Keir Dullea; Karen E. Bender's "Eternal Love," read by Joanne Woodward; Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Wife's Story," read by Joanna Gleason; Shahrnush Parsipur's "Mrs. Farrokhlaqa Sadraldivan Golchehreh," translated by Kamran Talattof and Jocelyn Sharlet and read by Frances Sternhagen; and Luis Alberto Urrea's "Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses," read by Robert Sean Leonard.

    Nothing overtly mean, just uneducated folks.One of the stories is new for this edition.

    Based on the Tamil Original Vikramaadityan Kadaigal. All the 24 riddles/stories that the Betal narrated to King Vikramaadityan. Also included is the story of the origin of the Betal - Who is the Betal? How did he/she become a Betal? What is its redemption?

    When Grace and Hopes pa dies he asks them to write to two men he has picked out of the paper, and that they must promise to marry them soon. So the sisters part and become mail order brides. Grace ends up on a ranch with Dempsey, a handsome man but somehow there is a wall between them. Maybe it is her grief but she does not know. One night they hear a cry in the storm and find Rose and baby Violet almost frozen in the rain. Rose is a young widow with a troubled past. She was on her way to an orphanage when she took the wrong road. Believing that everyone has abandoned her even God she was ready to give in. Maybe God had plans for her all along. Grant Hawkins works on the ranch and he is taken by baby rose and her ma, but can he break down the barriers of Rose’s past or will it destroy them both? Hope had been married to a miner just like her pa, and just like him he is dying. He makes her promise that she will live life to the full and find love. After his death Hope goes to her sisters house and falls in love with Dempsey’s cousin, only his past is making things difficult. When he lies to her she runs out into a storm and becomes lost. Will he find her in time? Can she forgive him? With Christmas fast approaching is there hope for these three couples. Will they find the faith they need to reclaim their happiness? This is a sweet and clean western romance and is suitable for all ages.

    Come take a ride through your wildest fantasies!Crow, pretending to be someone else gets old. He’s ready to be himself with her. Sasha, a veteran who wants to find peace from the memories for her and the secret inside of her. Can he show her that the war might not be over, but he’s willing to fight by her side until it is? The Graffiti Street Guardians MC series features bikers who step in to save veterans, domestic violence victims, and runaways. Taking the law into their own hands when necessary. This is a instalove, short story, standalone romance. No cliffhangers. No cheating.If you love short romances with steamy sex scenes and a suspenseful love story, then you’ll love this book.

    So when the senior partner of one of the premier legal firms in Grand Rapids approaches Hardin about a job protecting his niece from her soon-to-be ex-husband for a couple of days, Hardin isn't exactly eager to take on the job. However, Hardin finds that the fee offered to too great to pass up. After a hatchet attack, a house burnt down, and a few violent encounters with some crooked cops, Hardin can hardly wait for the case to be over. But when the husband is found murdered, the niece attempts suicide, and Hardin is brought in on a trumped-up warrant for the crime, it is no longer a case that he is willing to walk away from -- even if he could.

    Includes contributions by David Treuer, Anne Carson, Anthony Doerr, Thomas McGuane, Martin Amis, Andrew Motion, Callan Wink, Claire Vaye Watkins, Melinda Moustakis, andMona Simpson.

    Beautiful, perfect Tranai, a perfect utopia, where wealth is distributed without governmental intervention, based on individual choice, and there is no poverty…

    Or is it just lust? Yea, it's probably just lust. Ari & Logan don't know each other. Yet. They're thrown together at the singles table by the sheer misfortune of not having a plus one and quickly discover that champagne and tequila shots are just the excuse they needed to find themselves on the brink of the best – or worst – idea ever. Logan's a running back for the North Carolina Hogs and isn't looking for a relationship. Ari totally agrees as she doesn't have time to integrate his busy schedule with her own. F*ck buddies it is. Simple and easy – no strings. Sounds perfect, right? Or is it too good to be true?

    With all the heartbreaking earnestness of a Wilco song, these eighteen stories by Chad Simpson roam the small-town playgrounds, blue-collar neighborhoods, and rural highways of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky to find people who’ve lost someone or something they love and have not yet found ways to move forward. Simpson’s remarkable voice masterfully moves between male and female and adolescent and adult characters. He embraces their helplessness and shares their sad, strange, and sometimes creepy slices of life with grace, humor, and mounds of empathy. In “Peloma,” a steelworker grapples with his preteen daughter’s feeble suicide attempts while the aftermath of his wife’s death and the politics of factory life vie to hem him in.  The narrator of “Fostering” struggles to determine the ramifications of his foster child’s past now that he and his wife are expecting their first biological child. In just two pages, “Let x” negotiates the yearnings and regrets of childhood through mathematical variables and the summertime interactions of two fifth-graders. Poignant, fresh, and convincing, these are stories of women who smell of hairspray and beer and of landscapers who worry about their livers, of flooded basements and loud trucks, of bad exes and horrible jobs, of people who remain loyal to sports teams that always lose. Displaced by circumstances both in and out of their control, the characters who populate Tell Everyone I Said Hi are lost in their own surroundings, thwarted by misguided aspirations and long-buried disappointments, but fully open to the possibility that they will again find their way.

    Abe's request was specific. He wanted a widow and someone to teach his unruly daughter. While she's up for the task, there's also the lingering pain of Abe's last wife.Abe doesn't really want another bride in his life. The first one walked out on him with a barely one year old daughter to care for. He's gruff and he knows it's because he doesn't want to care about anyone, until Anna dances through his house singing out of tune...Anna tries to keep her feelings out of their marriage, but Abe's sudden kindness is a balm to her young and mourning soul.Can two hearts so opposed to love, find their happily ever after?Don't miss this sweet, western, Christian romance, full of action, adventure, and cowboys with heart. Scroll up to buy your copy now!