As the Son of Sam and a scorching heat wave plague New York City, Laila Levin, a Jewish sociologist from Long Island, meets Dr. Eduardo Quintana while giving a speech on the epidemic problem of teenage pregnancies. Laila is relationship-shy after a disastrous marriage, and Eduardo has never completely recovered from his high school sweetheart’s desertion. He is finishing up a residency in New York City and plans to open a family practice near his hometown in New Mexico.The unlikely pair share strong family values and an interest in helping prevent teen pregnancy. Their mutual passion is so intense it stuns them both. After a brief courtship, Eduardo persuades Laila to accompany him to his family ranch near Española, New Mexico, a rural area with one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in North America.  Once in New Mexico, Laila is blatantly rejected by Sylvia, Eduardo’s controlling mama. Sylvia desperately wants Eduardo to marry Violet, his high school sweetheart. Violet has just returned to New Mexico after a failed flight attendant career, and a walk on the dark side of Hollywood. Her mama and Sylvia cook up a plan to get rid of Laila and reunite their children. The Quintanas hold a large pig roast and invite a menagerie of tattooed cousins, rodeo stars, and mariachis, where the drop-dead gorgeous Violet makes a grand entrance.In the midst of the pandemonium that results, a shocking family secret is revealed, and Laila and Eduardo’s love for each other is severely tested. Can their relationship survive the fierce clash of cultures, the murderous intentions of a Son of Sam copycat who has stalked Laila from New York City, and their own uncertainties about the upheavals that their union will cause in their lives?

    Firstly, she scandalises society by refusing to wear the mandatory widow’s weeds. She then sets her sights on marrying Nicholas Fontenoy. But Nicholas is already engaged to Bishop Staffordshire’s daughter, Constance. But is there something darker behind Milandra’s professed love for Nicholas? As Milandra attempts to lure Nicholas away from Constance, a chain of events is set off that leads to bribery, blackmail and murder. 1916 - Milandra Carter, now in her seventies, is one of the wealthiest and most respected women in Dublin. After attending a family reunion at Easter, on arrival back to her mansion on Sackville Street she is confronted by a gunman. Milandra fears he has come to avenge a past grudge. But quickly realises she has been caught up in something much bigger. 1916 - As Dublin explodes with the Easter Rising, Amelia Robinson desperately tries to rescue her grandmother, Milanda, trapped in her house. But the events unfolding on Sackville Street will unravel a decades old mystery, a secret that was to be carried to the grave.

    The encounter alters all of their lives in different ways, but none of them will ever be the same. The novel follows the four: three white teenagers and a young Mojave Indian, as their lives spin off in different directions. A deputy sheriff, a liquor store owner and a woman living a marginalized life are part of the unfolding story. The narrative provides a look into small-town life in an isolated desert railroad town. A member of the Mojave Tribal Council, her wheelchair-bound son, a politically ambitious school superintendent, a lonely man grieving his wife, and a mysterious, wealthy family play prominent roles in the novel.

    Things don’t always go as planned. Bianca, oblivious to Stu’s amorous intentions, takes the adorable pooch back to California where she goes on to become a celebrated author, writing books about little Lo-Lou.Bianca thinks she’s living the good life with her Norse god of a fiancé, former fashion photographer Lars Lundgren. When she realizes Lars has spent all their money and committed her to a new book with a looming deadline, Bianca pulls out all the stops to get the job done. But she doesn’t know about all of Lars’ deals.To make matters worse, Stu is informed that gifting Lord Louis broke the kennel club bylaws and he now must get the pup back before his father’s legal team takes action against the woman he still loves.Stu needs Lo-Lou to satisfy his father. Bianca needs Lo-Lou to finish her book. Lars needs Lo-Lou to work out a secret deal with a movie producer. Lo-Lou can’t be in three places at the same time. Or can he?

    Now she builds on those insights to show us how to give our animals the best and happiest life—on their terms, not ours.It’s usually easy to pinpoint the cause of physical pain in animals, but to know what is causing them emotional distress is much harder. rawing on the latest research and her own work,Grandin identifies the core emotional needs of animals. Then she explains how to fulfill them for dogs and cats, horses, farm animals, and zoo animals.Whether it’s how to make the healthiest environment for the dog you must leave alone most of the day, how to keep pigs from being bored, or how to know if the lion pacing in the zoo is miserable or just exercising, Grandin teaches us to challenge our assumptions about animal contentment and honor our bond with our fellow creatures.Animals Make Us Human is the culmination of almost thirty years of research, experimentation, and experience.This is essential reading for anyone who’s ever owned, cared for, or simply cared about an animal.

    Julie Klam was thirty, single, and working as a part-time clerk in an insurance company, wondering if she would ever meet the man she could spend the rest of her life with. And then it happened. She met the irresistible Otto, her first in a long line of Boston terriers, and fell instantly in love.You Had Me at Woof is the often hilarious and always sincere story of how one woman discovered life's most important lessons from her relationships with her canine companions. From Otto, Julie realized what it might feel like to find "the one." She learned to share her home, her heart, and her limited resources with another, and she found an authentic friend in the process. But that was just the beginning. Over the years her brood has grown to one husband, one daughter, and several Boston terriers. And although she had much to learn about how to care for them-walks at 2 a.m., vet visits, behavior problems-she was surprised and delighted to find that her dogs had more wisdom to convey to her than she had ever dreamed. And caring for them has made her a better person-and completely and utterly opened her heart. Riotously funny and unexpectedly poignant, You Had Me at Woof recounts the hidden surprises, pleasures, and revelations of letting any mutt, beagle, terrier, or bulldog go charging through your world.

     Animal lovers and sports fans were shocked when the story broke about NFL player Michael Vick's brutal dog fighting operation. But what became of the dozens of dogs who survived? As acclaimed writer Jim Gorant discovered, their story is the truly newsworthy aspect of this case. Expanding on Gorant's Sports Illustrated cover story, The Lost Dogs traces the effort to bring Vick to justice and turns the spotlight on these infamous pit bulls, which were saved from euthanasia by an outpouring of public appeals coupled with a court order that Vick pay nearly a million dollars in "restitution" to the dogs. As an ASPCA-led team evaluated each one, they found a few hardened fighters, but many more lovable, friendly creatures desperate for compassion. In The Lost Dogs, we meet these amazing animals, a number of which are now living in loving homes, while some even work in therapy programs: Johnny Justice participates in Paws for Tales, which lets kids get comfortable with reading aloud by reading to dogs; Leo spends three hours a week with cancer patients and troubled teens. At the heart of the stories are the rescue workers who transformed the pups from victims of animal cruelty into healing caregivers themselves, unleashing priceless hope.Includes an 8-page photo insert.Watch a video

    First up is Elias, a Moroccan man living in Rome. He discovers that a black magic spell was cast upon him but starts to doubt whether it was the real cause of the break-up between him and his long-lost love Malika. He decides to search for her in the shadows of Marrakesh after eight years of separation. Nadia, a single mother from Jordan, is battling her ex-husband in the courts and doing all she can to secure freedom for herself and her only son. Her dream is to take her son to see his idol, Adele, live.Finally, Yaser, a married man living in Las Vegas, realizes that his marriage is crawling all over him like a slow, painful death, so he starts to rebel against his wife. While faith initially brought them together, it is now causing them to drift apart. These three characters are on a journey to break free of everything that has haunted them, learning harsh truths about fate, religion, courage, desire and guilt along the way.

    

    Has your dog ever surprised you by doing something you said the first time? You are not alone! Here are 50 stories about amazing dogs who understood what their humans said. Some even saved lives in the process!Chloe the golden Beagle braved a hurricane to obey the new command, "I need Dad, Girl." Ellie the Coonhound helped her human family escape from an angry bear by obeying the new command, "Get it!" When her human brother said jokingly, "Maybe Cocoa could dig again and find it," Cocoa did just that!

    They disappear from the hamper, from the bedside, from anywhere and everywhere! Is there a sock monster afoot?

    We feel love for our companions, certainly, and happiness at the thought that we’re providing them with a safe, healthy life. But there’s another emotion, less often acknowledged, that can be nearly as powerful: guilt. When we see our cats gazing wistfully out the window, or watch a goldfish swim lazy circles in a bowl, we can’t help but wonder: are we doing the right thing, keeping these independent beings locked up, subject to our control? Is keeping pets actually good for the pets themselves?   That’s the question that animates Jessica Pierce’s powerful Run, Spot, Run. A lover of pets herself (including, over the years, dogs, cats, fish, rats, hermit crabs, and more), Pierce understands the joys that pets bring us. But she also refuses to deny the ambiguous ethics at the heart of the relationship, and through a mix of personal stories, philosophical reflections, and scientifically informed analyses of animal behavior and natural history, she puts pet-keeping to the test. Is it ethical to keep pets at all? Are some species more suited to the relationship than others? Are there species one should never attempt to own? And are there ways that we can improve our pets’ lives, so that we can be confident that we are giving them as much as they give us?   Deeply empathetic, yet rigorous and unflinching in her thinking, Pierce has written a book that is sure to help any pet owner, unsettling assumptions but also giving them the knowledge to build deeper, better relationships with the animals with whom they’ve chosen to share their lives.

    Over a 100 five-star reviews. Over 600 pages of heart-melting romance. Find out why legions of readers have fallen in love with award-winning author Alexa Bloom's stunning contemporary romance series! The Harrisons Prequel: Once In A Big Dream The Harrisons Book 1: Once In A Blue Kentucky Moon (NATIONAL READERS' CHOICE AWARD WINNER) The Harrisons Book 2: Once In A New York Minute ONCE IN A BIG DREAM After 5 long years inside, Joe Harrison is finally about to taste the freedom he's been dreaming about for so long, except that the outside world doesn't exactly look too kindly on ex-cons. Now, he's keeping his head down at Keeneland trying to stay out of trouble--except trouble finds him in the form of Rose Parmenter. Rose's perfectly ordered life is bubbling along very nicely. Except for the fact that she hates her mother's endless snobby society lunches, she'd rather be a photographer than an accountant and she doesn't love her successful businessman fiancé, Geoffrey. When her photography group heads to Keeneland one day, a chance encounter with gorgeous stablehand Joe, sends their lives skittering in a direction that neither one of them could have imagined. But even as they dream of what could be, the shadows of Joe's violent childhood are about to explode into their lives with savage fury. ONCE IN A BLUE KENTUCKY MOON Tatum O'Connor thought she'd found her happy ever after with the guy of her dreams—but now her life is more like a waking nightmare than the fairy tale ending she'd dreamed of. Fleeing for her life, she winds up at enchanting Lockwood Farm—the place she'd always dreamed of as a kid, only to find that dealing with Lockwood's good-looking but cocky owner Blake Harrison, is a whole lot more than she bargained for. When her presence is unexpectedly discovered, events take a swift and ugly turn. Blake Harrison's relentless hard work turned his late father’s legacy Lockwood Farm, in the heart of bluegrass Kentucky, into a thriving five-star racehorse training facility—until a freak run of bad luck pushed it to the verge of bankruptcy. But even as his cherished family farm plunges further into debt, Blake finds himself magnetically drawn to the enigmatic new stable-hand with the endless doe-eyes. After a passionate waterfall encounter, Tatum's tangled web of secrets starts to unravel and Blake is rocked by the discovery of a devastating secret that leaves him with an impossible choice: does he try and save the family farm he cherishes...or the woman he’s come to love? ONCE IN A NEW YORK MINUTE Laura Harrison is reeling from a failed marriage and a failed business - and the humiliation of her New York days still burns like it was yesterday. Drowning herself in work at the family's Kentucky thoroughbred farm has helped keep her demons at bay, but when her sister unexpectedly turns up from Manhattan, the mysterious letter she delivers forces Laura back to the city she swore she'd never return to. Back in New York, Laura's conniving ex-husband swipes the rug out from under her all over again and she decides to leave the treacherous NYC fashion scene once and for all. Only a chance encounter with old family friend—tall, handsome Marcus, has her thinking twice. She soon finds herself falling for her cute new roomie and his adorable young son, but when the fashion sharks start to circle again and Laura turns to the one guy she thought she could count on - can she survive the worst betrayal of them all? “Alexa Bloom draws you into her richly compelling world of characters so seductively, you'll be rooting for Tatum and Blake like you've

    Yet, each year, community shelters take in six to eight million unwanted dogs and cats who face an uncertain fate. With compelling photos and moving vignettes, this book chronicles the true stories of 75 animals who entered a typical U.S. animal shelter during one week witnessed and documented by the authors.

     Arthur is a small dog, lost and alone on the streets of Warrington, simply trying to survive. Afraid and hungry, he runs constantly away from trouble, until he finds an unusual escape, into the house of a family, and underneath a young boy's bed. That is when the fun really begins... Unknown to Stan, Nancy, Abigail and Billy, this little doggy has hidden himself well, and so begins his adventure to stay hidden, for once warm and safe, snug under the bed. Read as Arthur sneaks around the house, barely avoiding being caught as he secretly raids the fridge, drinks from the only source of fresh water, and plays with a room full of cuddly toys. Find out why he was lost and alone, and how he rediscovers himself. The Dog Under The Bed is a heart-warming tale that touches on all of our love and affection for man's and woman's best friend, and how one lucky dog uses all of his wily instincts to find out once and for all what it is to be a part of a loving family. Funny, surprising and full of love, the Dog Under The Bed will remind us all just why we love them so much. Quote from the novel: "Carefully he went, not wishing to be discovered, but also because he didn’t want to spoil the little boy’s dreams, envious of being so happy, able to sit and allow his mind to wander off to something amazing, without a care in the world of it ending. Such was the life of a child." "The air blowing up was cool and fresh, a constant reminder of the life he had lived, offering a kind of freedom to do as he pleased, but still it came at a cost. Unable to ignore the call any more he crept down the stairs, constantly on the lookout for trouble. Light filtered through from the lounge door and the kitchen, but everywhere else helpfully was dark. Feeling even bolder he continued, down again, until he stood on the last step, just able to peer out. He could hear Billy running and playing, enjoying himself so much. It was quite dark out, but the snow brought a vibrance to everything, offering an illumination combined with the grace of winter which no other season could quite provide."