It also explores the circumstances surrounding the true-life event of my grandmother's gift of a concubine to my grandfather on his birthday to enhance the chance of an heir to the Family.

    Despite her Mormon faith, seventeen-year-old Dakota hates her new home in Arizona, sabotages her mother's remarriage, and plots revenge against the boys who have worsened her poor self-esteem by publicly insulting her.

    One weekend, Mark escapes to Moganshan, a dilapidated mountaintop village built by foreigners in the early 1900s as a summer retreat. Mark falls in love with the place and decides to restore one of the villas, as if he were in Tuscany or Provence.

    The young cast -- including Teen Choice Award Winner Chad Michael Murray -- is tremendously appealing and commands a huge teen following.Lucas Scott is a moody rebel. Nathan Scott is a privileged preppy. Luke grew up poor, on the outskirts of town. Nathan grew up wealthy and owns the town. Now the two half brothers are basketball teammates and sometime rivals for the same girl.Novelization #2 is an exclusive original story you won't see on TV.https://openlibrary.org/works/OL58875...

    The Iron Fey Series Collection comes five books.The titles in this set are: The Lost Prince, The Iron Knight, The Iron King, The Iron Daughter, The Iron Queen.

    Seeking revenge, she attacks the villages, destroying houses and prompting the King to gather his army together. But a seer named Lao Lao warns the King that if he angers the tigress further she will destroy the kingdom. Lao Lao counsels the King to give his own son to the tigress and promises that no harm will come to the prince. The next morning, the king brings the boy prince to the edge of the Great Forest and tells him, "Now you must go on alone." To end the war between man and animal, the prince must forget his human ways and begin to learn what tigers know. The Tiger Prince was inspired by "The Tigress," a late Shang dynasty bronze vessel in the Cernuschi Museum in Paris depicting a scene from the Chinese folktale of a baby raised by a tigress.

    PEN Translation Prize-winner Burton Watson presents here an eloquent translation -- the first in the English language -- of this seminal classic, "The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-chi." The work is an exacting depiction of Lin-chi's words and actions, describing the Zen master's life and teaching, and includes a number of his sermons. Because Lin-chi's school outlasted other forms of early Chinese Zen to become dominant throughout China to this day, this translation bears unique significance within the literature of this great Asian nation. With Watson's lucid introduction to the work, a glossary of terms, and notes to the text, "The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-chi "is a generously constructed and accessible model of translation that will stand as the definitive primary material on Lin-chi for many years to come.

    in a long-sealed cave in a remote region of China. Among them, written in Chinese, were scrolls that recounted a history of Jesus' life and teachings in beautiful Taoist concepts and imagery that were unknown in the West. These writings told a story of Christianity that was by turns unique and disturbing, hopeful and uplifting. The best way to describe them is collectively, with a term they themselves use: The Jesus Sutras. The origins of Christianity seem rooted in Western civilization, but amazingly, an ancient, largely unknown branch of Christian belief evolved in the East. Eminent theologian and Chinese scholar Martin Palmer provides the first popular history and translation of the sect's long-lost scriptures--all of them more than a thousand years old and comparable in significance to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Gathered, deciphered, and interpreted by a team of expert linguists and scholars, these sacred texts present an inspiring use of Jesus' teachings and life within Eastern practices and meditations--and provide an extraordinary window into an intriguing, profoundly gentler, more spiritual Christianity than existed in Europe or Asia at the time, or, indeed, even today. Palmer has devoted more than a decade to seeking the extant writings and other evidence of this lost religion. His search was triggered by an encounter with an immense, mysterious carved (stele) stone from the 8th century that resides in a Chinese museum collection called the Forest of Stones. The Chinese text on this stonecommemorates the founding of a " religion of light" in China by a great Western teacher and features a unique cross that merges Taoist symbolism with the Christian cross. The scrolls, the stone, and a strange map of the area around a hallowed temple (where Lao Tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching before disappearing forever) gave Palmer enough information to rediscover one of the earliest Christian monasteries. At the site was an 8th century pagoda still intact, and within it, in 1998, Palmer and his team found more evidence, including statues, underground passageways, and artifacts, that helped them uncover and recreate the era and rituals of the Taoist Christians. The Taoist Christians, who wrote the Jesus Sutras recognized equality of the sexes, preached against slavery, and practiced nonviolence toward all forms of life. In particular, this tradition offered its followers a more hopeful vision of life on earth and after death than the dominant Eastern religions, teaching that Jesus had broken the wheel of karma and its consequent punishing, endless reincarnations. Vividly re-creating the turbulence of a distant age that is remarkably evocative of our own times, Palmer reveals an extraordinary evolution of spiritual thought that spans centuries. A thrilling modern quest that is also an ancient religious odyssey, The Jesus Sutras shares a revolutionary discovery with profound historical implications--imparting timeless messages and lessons for men and women of all backgrounds and faiths.

    He wants to fail.All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing.Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come . . .From the remarkable imaginations of bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare comes a heart-stopping, mind-blowing, pulse-pounding plunge into the magical unknown.

    The Runaway Mommy imagines what life would be like if she ran away. She learns flamenco dancing in Barcelona, joins a tech startup in San Francisco and hits the campaign trail interning for a presidential candidate. All the while, her little one follows with a captivating eagerness that brings the runaway mommy back where she belongs.

    He returned with stories of exotic people, tremendous riches, and the most powerful ruler in the world – Kublai Khan. The explorer told of inventions ranging from gunpowder to paper money. The intellectual ferment and cultural diversity he described helped move Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance. In his lifetime, people scoffed at his stories. But as this book explains, he changed the world.

    In Central Asia in World History, Peter B. Golden provides an engaging account of this important region, ranging from prehistory to the present, focusing largely on the unique melting pot of cultures that this region has produced over millennia. Golden describesthe traders who braved the heat and cold along caravan routes to link East Asia and Europe; the Mongol Empire of Chinggis Khan and his successors, the largest contiguous land empire in history; the invention of gunpowder, which allowed the great sedentary empires to overcome the horse-based nomads;the power struggles of Russia and China, and later Russia and Britain, for control of the area. Finally, he discusses the region today, a key area that neighbors such geopolitical hot spots as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China.

     Hadley Parrish is having the worst luck ever. Her boyfriend dumped her for social media fame, her stepsister got into Harvard the day Hadley failed chemistry, and now she’s been blamed for a crime she didn’t do. As punishment, she’s sent to Sterling Beach for the summer to learn some “work ethic” and “manners” from her grumpy grandfather who she barely knows. The beautiful beach is no match for Hadley’s epically bad mood, and she’s determined to spend every second of the summer locked in her room brooding. Her grandfather’s only rule is that she has to come out once a week, for Friday night poker. Hadley wants to protest, but then she meets her grandfather’s favorite poker player, Jeremy, the unbelievably cute guy who lives next door. Jeremy sees things differently after being granted a miraculous second chance at life. He’s not about to let Hadley’s bad mood ruin the best years of her life. In fact, he’s going to make it his mission to save her this summer. Even if it’s the hardest thing he’ll ever do. Saving Hadley is a Boys of Summer novella. If you like enemies-to-lovers, flirty banter, and page-turning sweet romance, this story is for you. The Boys of Summer series is a collaboration between several YA authors. They are all standalone stories that take place in the same fictional town. Escape to Sterling Beach today! Saving Hadley by Amy Sparling Beach Town Bad Boy by Maggie Dallen Riptide by Jordan Ford Don’t Fall for the Summer Fling by Tammy Andresen Flirting with the Enemy by Sally Henson Beauty and the Beach by Kayla Tirrell Falling for the Rich Boy by Yesenia Vargas Summer Love and Basketball by Seven Steps

    It’s been three years since Eleanor last stepped foot in Sterling Beach, and some things haven’t changed. Her old friend Deacon isn’t one of them. Gone is the nice boy she remembers. In his place is a burly, tattooed bouncer with a chip on his shoulder and a grudge against the girl who left and never looked back. He’s not a kid anymore, and his kisses? Those are far from friendly.Eleanor is looking for answers, but what she finds revisiting her favorite beach town haunts has her more confused than ever. The sites look the same but everything that matters has changed. Eleanor and Deacon might not be able go back to the past, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a future...This is a novella in the Boys of Summer series, a collaboration between several YA authors. They are all standalone stories that take place in the same fictional town. Escape to Sterling Beach today!Saving Hadley by Amy SparlingBeach Town Bad Boy by Maggie DallenRiptide by Jordan FordDon’t Fall for the Summer Fling by Tammy AndresenFlirting with the Enemy by Sally HensonBeauty and the Beach by Kayla TirrellFalling for the Rich Boy by Yesenia VargasSummer Love and Basketball by Seven Steps

    For Marjorie Glatt, being thirteen years old isn't quite the same as it is for everyone else. Responsible for running her family's laundromat while trying to survive middle school, Marjorie's daily struggles include persnickety customers, snippy classmates, agonizing swim lessons, and laundry... always, always laundry. Wendell is a bit different, too. Wendell is a ghost. His daily struggles include Dead Youth support groups and unavoidable stains. But when he escapes from the Land of Ghosts and bumbles into Marjorie's laundromat--the perfect ghost playground--his attempts at fun and friendship begin to harm the family business. Sheets is a powerful story about a young girl's perseverance, even when all the odds are stacked against her. It shows that forgiveness and second chances can result in unlikely friendships. Above all, it is an invitation into an unusual, haunted laundromat that brings family, friends, and--yes--sheets to life.