55 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more – everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Beauty's Release. This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion and a Free Quiz on Beauty's Release by Anne Rice.

    Doomed to live an existence alone, she commits a selfless act and sacrifices her own life to save a baby. However, her good deed isn’t enough. When she gets to the afterworld her past misdeeds come under fire. Marci is placed on trial to decide where she should spend eternity. She is to be judged by the same council, who have shunned her most of her life; Marci knows she is doomed.Grave is the King of Death and head of the council. Being the man of the afterworld has afforded him money, power, and the most beautiful bedmates in the realm, but never the love of a mate. He had held the fate of many souls in his court for centuries in the Underworld. But never had he run across someone like Marci. With her fate in his hands, Grave finds himself drawn to the unstable half-fae beauty. But will Marci be too much for even the King of Death to handle?

     That isn’t going to work for him. He is nowhere near done with her yet. She’s warm, willing and eager to please. Now, all he has to do is convince her that having him around is a good thing, both in and out of her bedroom. Maggie has never, ever had a night like she did with Terry. She’d love to keep seeing him, but she has too much to do. She has kids to care for, a job, and a house to pack because she has to move. Unfortunately, there’s no time for a hot, sexy, man in her life. Now, she just has to convince him of that.

    He announces he is the Lord of Misrule and appoints his Court of Fools.Very quickly odd things start to happen.Previously unseen magic is revealed, and paranormal characteristics are unveiled.And unfortunately, darker events occur, too.Unless Avery, Alex, and the other witches can find a solution, Yuletide may not be as joyous as they hoped.

    A short story from Franz Kafka, celebrated author of dark haunting tales of transformation and the horrors of life.Sometimes translated as "A Country Doctor."

    Like her ancestors she would be nothing more than a tool for the government to exploit. Not only must she hide her gift from the PIA, but she has also been forced to spend her life avoiding touching people’s hands. The results can be mentally crippling as she sees what the future has in store for them.Until dark and sexy Wade Branson takes her hand. In that moment she sees her own future… She sees herself with Wade in erotic episode after erotic episode. A total stranger meant to be in her bed.Wade is an agent for the PIA, but he has a secret. He is a shadow shifter and would be in danger himself if the agency he works for had any idea of what he is and what he is capable of doing. He works from inside the agency to help protect those with paranormal talents. Passion and desire bring Chandra and Wade together, fulfilling her erotic visions, but putting her in harm’s way at the same time. As they fight to protect hundreds of paranorms from exposure, Chandra and Wade face danger and a traitor bent on murder, while finding strength in each other’s arms.This is a 25,000 word novella plus excerpts!

    Then they took her as theirs.When Carolina di Angelo ends up banished by her pack as a result of her sister's scheming, she is sent to stay in the home of Neil and Duncan MacDonald. But the two devilishly handsome Scottish shifters have no interest in a ward or a houseguest. They plan to take her as their mate.Carolina is given no choice in the matter, and when the feisty she-wolf disobeys the two firm-handed Highlanders they do not hesitate to strip her bare and paddle her thoroughly. But their stern correction leaves her not only sore and sorry but also burning with need, and as they master her quivering body ever more shamefully she cannot help longing to be marked and claimed.Publisher's Note: Taken by the Wolves is a stand-alone novel set in the same world as The Alpha's Mark, Marked by the Wolf, and Claimed by the Alpha. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.

    

    Illustrator and writer's Carolyn Marie Castagna's first shared short story.A small icicle hanging from a roof peers inside a window at a small reading room, and learns about magical human qualities, and the importance of the one most special human feeling.

    She assumes that her guy is the one who’s dressed more casually, in jeans and sport coat, but she soon realizes her man is the complete opposite, dressed in a fine-tailored suit, waiting with the air of confidence of the man who owns the place. His name is Stephan Hale, and though he doesn’t own the hotel, Chardonnay quickly learns that he’s just as suave as he is in complete control of everything. Stephan begins to explore the object he’s admiring all night long, and he decides to take her to a botanical garden where he’s sure they’ll have privacy. But will Chardonnay put a stop to the evening before things even really get going? Will she allow herself to submit to Stephan and his dominant touch in the way her body is telling her to? And what will happen when Chardonnay and Stephan realize that the details behind their blind date aren’t exactly what they seemed to be?

    Worse, she lives in the small Alaska town of Moose Point, which never lets her forget it. From the annual Moose Madness Festival to the moose bumper stickers to the giant sign for the Moose Point Pub where she works, this town loves its moose.Worst of all? Maggie really is a moose. A moose shifter, to be specific. It's just that no one knows. No one can ever know.Except one person ...Wolf shifter Fiona Barton was one of the mean girls in high school ... and Maggie's desperate crush. Years after shaking the dust of Moose Point off her heels, she's back in town for a pack event and runs headlong into Maggie—and this time she recognizes what she didn't before: the tall girl with the shy, beautiful smile is her fated mate.Fiona is openly out; Maggie isn't. But Fi has a lot to make up for, and Maggie has a lot of soul-searching to do before a wolf and a moose can ride off into the sunset together.A hilarious and heartwarming enemies-to-lovers lesbian romcom, with a guaranteed HEA!

    An encounter with a man who is as dangerous as he is sexy leaves her with mixed feelings about Connor. However, she is determined to keep her distance until fate steps in, or rather Connor's Beta, Jazz, and she finds that distance is the last thing she is going to get. When Annie uncovers the shocking truth of what Connor is hiding, Connor fears that he has lost his mate forever. Can Annie see past the wolf to the man or will he lose her?

    My mind will go mad with lust. Then he'll consume my soul. I thought I knew how to handle a man like him, but there are no men like him. Though he is a billionaire, when he desired me he did not try to buy me, and when he wanted me bared and bound he didn't call his bodyguards. He did it himself, even as I fought him, because he could. He told me soon I would beg him to ravage me... and I did. But it wasn't the pain of his belt searing my naked backside that drove me to plead with him to use me so shamefully I might never stop blushing. I begged because my body knew its master, and it didn't give me a choice. But my body is not all he plans to claim. He wants my mind and my soul too, and he will have them. He's going to take so much of me there will be nothing left. He's going to consume me. Publisher's Note: Inferno includes spankings, rough, intense sexual scenes, and strong D/s themes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book. Also note that Inferno was previously published under the title Consumed.

    Join Micah as she takes a walk through her past, leathers and all, for a night she soon won't forget. What can we say? Some fantasies can't be put to sleep until they are put to bed.

    Both their solids worlds are about to get shaken up. Their morals, lives, and status will come into question. Something brews on the horizon for the country of Gildemer. Will Gabby follow Etu's plans? Will Koi come to terms with his feelings? How does Luca play into it all? Will Gabby receive the affection from Amon that she's been longing for? Will it be everything she dreamed it to be? Read on in the world of the Gate.