Toadfrogs and Elephants

How come we had so much more freedom when we were kids? How can we give our kids that freedom now?
When Lenore Skenazy wrote a newspaper column about letting her nine-year-old ride the subway alone in New York City, little did she realize that the response would spark a national movement. Her outspoken, commonsense approach to parenting galvanized a huge wave of supporters—and a counterstorm of protest from others who dubbed her “America’s Worst Mom.”

In this funny, fed-up book, Lenore encourages parents to let their kids be kids. She’s all for helmets and car seats but insists children do not need a security detail every time they go outside. Armed with stories, wisecracks, and a battery of facts, she gleefully punctures modern-day myths about rampant kidnapping, marauding germs, and poisoned Halloween candy. After exposing where these worries come from, she gives tips on how to break free. Her Fourteen Free-Range Commandments include:

KNOW WHEN TO WORRY Play Dates and Axe Murderers: How to Tell the Difference

BOYCOTT BABY KNEE PADS And the Rest of the Kiddie Safety-Industrial Complex

RELAX Not Every Little Thing You Do Has That Much Impact on Your Child’s Development

It is the most puzzling case Eve Dallas has ever faced: the founder of the computer gaming giant U-Play is found decapitated in his locked, private playroom. And now Eve and her team are about to enter the next level of police work, in a world where fantasy is the ultimate seduction-and the price of defeat is death…

The National Security Agency is the world’s most powerful, most far-reaching espionage. Now with a new afterword describing the security lapses that preceded the attacks of September 11, 2001, Body of Secrets takes us to the inner sanctum of America’s spy world. In the follow-up to his bestselling Puzzle Palace, James Banford reveals the NSA’s hidden role in the most volatile world events of the past, and its desperate scramble to meet the frightening challenges of today and tomorrow.

Here is a scrupulously documented account–much of which is based on unprecedented access to previously undisclosed documents–of the agency’s tireless hunt for intelligence on enemies and allies alike. Body of secrets is a riveting analysis of this most clandestine of agencies, a major work of history and investigative journalism.

“I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion.” A summer evening’s ghost stories, lonely insomnia in a moonlit Alpine’s room, and a runaway imagination–fired by philosophical discussions with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley about science, galvanism, and the origins of life–conspired to produce for Marry Shelley this haunting night specter. By morning, it had become the germ of her Romantic masterpiece, Frankenstein. Written in 1816 when she was only nineteen, Mary Shelley’s novel of “The Modern Prometheus” chillingly dramatized the dangerous potential of life begotten upon a laboratory table. A frightening creation myth for our own time, Frankenstein remains one of the greatest horror stories ever written and is an undisputed classic of its kind.

A collection of stories and essays: wax comic about shoes, hairdressers, makeup, travel, family and romance in prose.

A missing little girl named Maggie Rose. A family of three brutally murdered in the projects of Washington, D.C. The thrill-killing of a beautiful elementary school teacher. A psychopathic serial kidnapper/murderer who calls himself the Son of Lindbergh. He is so terrifying that the FBI, the Secret Service, and the police cannot outsmart him-even after he’s been captured.Gary Soneji is a mild-mannered mathematics teacher at a Washington, D.C., private school for the children of the political and social elite. He’s so popular that the kids all call him “Mr. Chips.” And he’s very, very smart. Growing up, he always knew he was smarter than the rest of them-he knew that the Great Ones always fooled everybody. He kidnaps Maggie Rose, the golden-haired daughter of a famous movie actress, and her best friend, Shrimpie Goldberg, the son of the secretary of the treasury, right out from under the noses of their two Secret Service agents. But Gary Soneji is not surprised at his skill. He’s done it before. Hundreds of times before.Alex Cross must face the ultimate test as a psychologist: how do you outmaneuver a brilliant psychopath? Especially one who appears to have a split personality-one who won’t let the other half remember those horrific acts?Soneji has outsmarted the FBI, the Secret Service, and the police. Who will be his next victim?

Lucky Tyler attracted trouble–and women–like a lightning rod. But the night he stepped in to rescue a mysterious redhead in a seedy bar, he got more than he bargained for!

The lady excited him, challenged him, drove him wild with desire–then vanished without a trace. Lucky was desperate to find her, to brand her with his heat–and when the police were called in to investigate a suspicious fire at Tyler Drilling, his family business, he needed her for an alibi!

Torn between anguish and ecstasy, Devon Haines tried to refuse Lucky’s pleas for help, but the reckless blue-eyed devil wouldn’t take no as an answer from her… not when his touch could make her burn, could make her his.

Framed by old enemies, Lucky knew his only hope to clear himself rested on solving the crime, but Devon feared when his innocence was proved, she would lose the handsome cowboy who possessed her heart and soul Would the tragic vow that made their love forbidden cost her forever in his arms?

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope—a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it

The Womens Murder Club returns in a shockingly suspenseful thriller. Plunging into a burning townhouse, Detective Lindsay Boxer discovers three dead bodies…and a mysterious message at the scene. When more corpses turn up, Lindsay asks her friends Claire Washburn of the medical examiners office, Assistant D.A. Jill Bernhardt, and San Francisco Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas to help her find a murderer who vows to kill every three days. Even more terrifying, he has targeted one of the four friends. Which one will it be?

On a stormy winter night, two strangers wait for a flight at the Salt Lake City airport. Ashley Knox is an attractive, successful writer, who is flying East for her much anticipated wedding. Dr. Ben Payne has just wrapped up a medical conference and is also eager to get back East for a slate of surgeries he has scheduled for the following day. When the last outgoing flight is cancelled due to a broken de-icer and a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane that can take him around the storm and drop him in Denver to catch a connection. And when the pilot says the single engine prop plane can fit one more, if barely, Ben offers the seat to Ashley knowing that she needs to get back just as urgently. And then the unthinkable happens. The pilot has a heart attack mid-flight and the plane crashes into the High Uintas Wilderness– one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States.

Ben, who has broken ribs and Ashley, who suffers a terrible leg fracture, along with the pilot’s dog, are faced with an incredibly harrowing battle to survive. Fortunately, Ben is a medical professional and avid climber (and in a lucky break, has his gear from a climb earlier in the week). With little hope for rescue, he must nurse Ashley back to health and figure out how they are going to get off the mountain, where the temperature hovers in the teens. Meanwhile, Ashley soon realizes that the very private Ben has some serious emotional wounds to heal as well. He explains to Ashley that he is separated from his beloved wife, but in a long standing tradition, he faithfully records messages for her on his voice recorder reflecting on their love affair. As Ashley eavesdrops on Ben’s tender words to his estranged wife she comes to fear that when it comes to her own love story, she’s just settling. And what’s more: she begins to realize that the man she is really attracted to, the man she may love, is Ben.

The Womens Murder Club is back! A brutal madman sprays bullets into a crowd of children leaving a San Francisco church. Miraculously-or was it intentionally – only one person dies. Then an elderly black woman is hung. Police homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer senses a connection and together with medical examiner Claire, assistant D. A. Jill, and Chronicle reporter Cindy, finds a link that sends a chill through the entire nation. This killers motives are unspeakable.

Imagine a killer who thinks, “What is the worst thing anyone has ever done?”–and then goes far beyond it. Now imagine four women –a police detective, an assistant DA, a reporter, and a medical examiner –who join forces as they sidestep their bosses to track down criminals. Known as the Women’s Murder Club, they are pursuing a murderer whose twisted imagination has stunned an entire city. Their chief suspect is a socially prominent writer, but the men in charge won’t touch him. On the trail of the most terrifying and unexpected killer ever, they discover a shocking surprise that turns everything about the case upside down.

This vibrant collection brings together an array of voices addressing the question of how one might approach the search for God. With contributors from many faith traditions, this book will be of value to all who are seeking to answer the question, “How Can I Find God?”

Descending into darkness, about to be overwhelmed by evil, those people still free are powerless to stop the coming dawn of a savage new world, while Richard faces the guilt of knowing that he must let it happen. Alone, he must bear the weight of a sin he dare not confess to the one person he loves…and has lost.

Meet Denver, a man raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana in the 1960s; a man who escaped, hopping a train to wander, homeless, for eighteen years on the streets of Dallas, Texas. No longer a slave, Denver’s life was still hopeless-until God moved. First came a godly woman who prayed, listened, and obeyed. And then came her husband, Ron, an international arts dealer at home in a world of Armani-suited millionaires. And then they all came together.
But slavery takes many forms. Deborah discovers that she has cancer. In the face of possible death, she charges her husband to rescue Denver. Who will be saved, and who will be lost? What is the future for these unlikely three? What is God doing?

Can a country known for its radical brutality become a country known for an even more radical forgiveness? More than a decade after the 1994 genocide, the Rwandan government has released tens of thousands of murderers back into the communities they ravaged. Survivors and perpetrators have had to learn to live again as neighbors. Inspired by the award-winning film As We Forgive, this book explores the pain, the mystery, and the hope through seven compelling stories as victims, orphans, widows, and perpetrators journey toward reconciliation.

The story of Jessie Sullivan—a love story between a woman and a monk, a woman and her husband, and ultimately a woman and her own soul.

Keeley Murdock’s wedding to A. J. Jernigan should have been the social event of the season. But when she catches her fiance doing the deed with her maid of honor at the country club rehearsal dinner, all bets are off. And so is the wedding. Keeley pitches the hissy fit of the century, earning herself instant notoriety in the small town of Madison, Georgia.

Even worse is the financial pressure A.J.’s banking family brings to bear on Keeley’s interior design business. But riding to the rescue — in a vintage yellow Cadillac — is the redheaded stranger who’s purchased a failing local bra plant. Will Mahoney hires Keeley to redo the derelict antebellum mansion he’s bought. Her assignment: decorate it for the woman of his dreams — a woman he’s never met.

Only a designing woman like Keeley Murdock can find a way to clear her name and give her cheating varmint of an ex-fiance the comeuppance he so richly deserves.

On January 15, 1947, the torture-ravished body of a beautiful young woman is found in a Los Angeles vacant lot. The victim makes headlines as the Black Dahlia-and so begins the greatest manhunt in California history.Caught up in the investigation are Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard: Warrants Squad cops, friends, and rivals in love with the same woman. But both are obsessed with the Dahlia-driven by dark needs to know everything about her past, to capture her killer, to possess the woman even in death. Their quest will take them on a hellish journey through the underbelly of postwar Hollywood, to the core of the dead girl’s twisted life, past the extremes of their own psyches-into a region of total madness.

Sookie Stackhouse has broken up with Bill, her vampire lover, after he cheated with the vampire who initiated him, but being telepathic, she can’t seem to get away from the supernatural. Driving home from work one day, she comes across Bill’s sexy boss, Eric, half naked and on the run. When she approaches him, he doesn’t remember her or even who he is. She gets him to come back to her house, and a call to his second-in-command, Pam, reveals that Hallow, a witch whose advances Eric spurned, robbed him of his memory. Still hoping to get her hands on him, Hallow is posting signs with his picture on them all over town, so Pam is determined that Eric stay put at Sookie’s. Sookie is apprehensive about that, especially after her brother disappears, and she comes to suspect that the coven Hallow runs is responsible. But as her attraction to Eric deepens, Sookie finds she is drawn into the vampires’ plot to attack Hallow’s coven.

Sookie Stackhouse is having man trouble. Her vampire boyfriend, Bill, has been distant and inattentive lately. Then he announces that he is going on a business trip, which clearly is more than it seems. After a werewolf tries to abduct Sookie at work, Bill’s boss, Eric, tells her that Bill fell under the sway of his–Bill’s, that is–ex, a sexy vamp named Lorena, and has been kidnapped. Eric wants Sookie’s help in getting Bill back, and despite her hurt over Bill’s betrayal, Sookie agrees to go to Jackson, Mississippi, to find her wayward lover. Eric has persuaded Alcide, a dashing werewolf, to get Sookie access to Josephine’s, aka Club Dead, the local hangout of Jackson’s supernatural element. In between dodging kidnappers, the advances of amorous Eric, and her growing feelings for Alcide, Sookie has to find out who kidnapped Bill and figure out a way to rescue him.

When a vampire asks Sookie Stackhouse to use her telepathic skills to find another missing vampire, she agrees under one condition: the bloodsuckers must promise to let the humans go unharmed.

Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life-and one of her coworkers checks out….

Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn’t such a bright idea.

Tim Carrier always thought he knew the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. But tonight everything he thought he knew—even about himself—will be challenged. For Tim Carrier is at the center of a mystery of extraordinary proportions, the one man who can save an innocent life and stop a killer as relentless as evil incarnate. But first he must discover resources within himself of which he never dreamed, capacities that will transform his idea of who he is and what it takes to be . . .

Amy Redwing has devoted her life to rescuing dogs. But the unique bond she shares with Nickie, a golden retriever she saves in the most dangerous encounter of her life, is deeper than any she has ever known. In one night, their loyalty will be put to the test, and each will prove to the other how far they will go—when the stakes turn deadly serious.

It is a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it.

Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:

It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.

The story starts there, but the book doesn’t.

And it’s what happens afterward that is most important.

Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

You will find:

• An easy-to-understand analysis of the differences between domestic and international adoption

• Advice on choosing a country, including 25 important factors to consider, such as the waiting times involved and the estimated costs for each of the top placing countries, with charts for easy comparison

• A detailed discussion of the potential health issues based on the latest research and interviews with doctors who specialize in international adoption

• Worksheets and a suggested system for preparing and organizing the extensive paperwork involved

• Parenting tips to enhance attachment and suggestions for addressing the issues that come up in raising an internationally adopted child

• Real parents’ stories and advice at every stage of the process

• Plus all of the information you need to select your agency, plan financially, prepare for the home study, travel sensibly, evaluate your child’s health and integrate your new family

A catastrophic, unexplainable plane crash leaves three hundred and thirty dead — no survivors. Among the victims are the wife and two daughters of Joe Carpenter, a Los Angeles Post crime reporter.

A year after the crash, still gripped by an almost paralyzing grief, Joe encounters a woman named Rose, who claims to have survived the crash. She holds out the possibility of a secret that will bring Joe peace of mind. But before he can ask any questions, she slips away.

Driven now by rage (have the authorities withheld information?) and a hope almost as unbearable as his grief (if there is one survivor, are there others?), Joe sets out to find the mysterious woman. His search immediately leads him into the path of a powerful and shadowy organization hell-bent on stopping Rose before she can reveal what she knows about the crash.

Recent widow Jillian Marsh wasn’t planning on killing herself that March night, but she hadn’t ruled it out, either. It had rained for the last seventeen days- days in which her jaw was locked and she was unable to speak, supposing there’d been anyone worth addressing. And then there was her cat problem. Ever since she’d been hit by lightning last October, the cats in town had been talking to her. Which mean she was insane, right?

But that night something changed. The cat Atherton appeared with something very interesting to say, and an odd accident that had occurred up the hill. And since Jillian could hardly go ot hte town’s new lawman, who’d been trained in LA and was new to this Sierra town, with a feline eyewitness, it was up to her to find out if there was indeed trouble afoot- or if this conspiracy and her newfound and unwanted attraction to Sheriff Murphy were all part of an endless hallucination.

Caught breaking into her family’s old estate to steal a valuable painting hidden by her grandmother, Meadow Szarvas thought if she claimed to have amnesia, Devlin Fitzwilliam, the new owner, would have to let her go. Instead, much to her surprise, Devlin insists that Meadow is his long-lost wife. At first, Meadow plays along with Devlin, especially since she has no other options if she wants to find the much-needed painting. Things really become complicated, though, once Meadow realizes that not only is someone trying to kill Devlin but also that she is starting to fall in love with her new “husband.”

For nearly a year after the tragedy that claimed her teenage son, Charlie, Sheridan Rosslare has lived a quiet life on Hubbard’s Point, tucked away in the beach house where they spent their happiest days. But Charlie’s girlfriend, Nell Kilvert, is determined to find out what really happened on the night none of them will ever forget. She summons the one man she believes can uncover the truth–Gavin Dawson, who long ago thought he would always be at Sheridan’s side. Now his boat sits anchored within sight of the window of the woman he once loved–and still loves. Both of them had believed in the power of love and forgiveness, connection and reconnection, to work magic. They thought they’d lost that faith forever. Can they find it one last time?

In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of “outliers”–the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.

Lara Lington has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they?

When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie—a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance—mysteriously appears, she has one request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years, because Sadie cannot rest without it.

Stephanie’s working overtime tracking felons for the bonds office at night and snooping for security expert Carlos Manoso, aka Ranger, during the day. Can she hunt down two killers, a traitor, and five skips, keep her grandmother out of the sauce, and solve Ranger’s problems and not jump his bones?

In a frozen wilderness steeped in darkness, the lines between good and evil, lover and enemy, are never black or white but drawn in Shades of Midnight.

Something inhuman is stalking the frigid Alaskan wilds, leaving unspeakable carnage in its wake. For bush pilot Alexandra Maguire, the killings stir memories of a horrific event she witnessed as a child and evoke in her the inexplicable sense of otherness she has long felt within herself but never fully understood . . . until a darkly seductive stranger with secrets of his own enters her world.

Sent from Boston on a mission to investigate the savage attacks and stop the slaughter, vampire warrior Kade has his own reasons for returning to the frigid, forbidding place of his birth. Haunted by a secret shame, Kade soon realizes the stunning truth of the threat he faces–a threat that will jeopardize the fragile bond he has formed with the courageous, determined young woman who arouses his deepest passions and most primal hungers. But in bringing Alex into his world of blood and darkness, Kade must confront both his own personal demons and the even greater evil that could destroy all he holds dear.

He comes to her more dead than alive, a towering black-clad stranger riddled with bullets and rapidly losing blood. As she struggles to save him, veterinarian Tess Culver is unaware that the man calling himself Dante is no man at all, but one of the Breed, vampire warriors engaged in a desperate battle. In a single erotically charged moment Tess is plunged into his world—a shifting, shadowed place where bands of Rogue vampires stalk the night, cutting a swath of terror.

Haunted by visions of a dark future, Dante lives and fights like there is no tomorrow. Tess is a complication he does not need—but now, with his brethren under attack, he must shield Tess from a growing threat that includes Dante himself. For with one reckless, irresistible kiss, she has become an inextricable part of his underworld realm…and his touch awakens her to hidden gifts, desires, and hungers she never knew she possessed. Bonded by blood, Dante and Tess must work together to thwart deadly enemies, even as they discover a passion that transcends the boundaries of life itself….

This is the funny and inspiring account of Kathleen Flinn’s struggle in a stew of hot-tempered chefs, competitive classmates, her own “wretchedly inadequate” French, and the basics of French cuisine. Flinn was a thirty-six-year-old middle manager trapped on the corporate ladder—until her boss eliminated her job. So she cashed in her savings and moved to Paris to pursue her lifelong dream of attending the venerable Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. Fans of Julie & Julia and the late Julia Child will be richly rewarded by this vibrant tale of self-discovery, transformation, and ultimately love.

A woman driven by blood. A man thirsting for vengeance.
A place where darkness and desire meet…

As night falls, Claire Roth flees, driven from her home by a fiery threat that seems to come from hell itself. Then, from out of the flames and ash, a vampire warrior emerges. He is Andreas Reichen, her onetime lover, now a stranger consumed by vengeance. Caught in the cross fire, Claire cannot escape his savage fury—or the hunger that plunges her into his world of eternal darkness and unending pleasure.

Nothing will stop Andreas from destroying the vampire responsible for slaughtering his Breed brethren . . . even if he must use his former lover as a pawn in his deadly mission. Blood-bonded to his treacherous adversary, Claire can lead Andreas to the enemy he seeks, but it is a journey fraught with danger—and deep, unbidden desires. For Claire is the one woman Andreas should not crave, and the only one he’s ever loved. A dangerous seduction begins—one that blurs the lines between predator and prey, and stokes the flames of a white-hot passion that may consume all in its path. . . .

A warrior trained in bullets and blades, Renata cannot be bested by any man—vampire or mortal. But her most powerful weapon is her extraordinary psychic ability—a gift both rare and deadly. Now a stranger threatens her hard-won independence—a golden-haired vampire who lures her into a realm of darkness…and pleasure beyond imagining.

A combat-loving adrenaline junkie, Nikolai dispenses his own justice to enemies of the Breed—and his latest quarry is a ruthless assassin. One woman stands in his way: the seductive, cool-as-ice bodyguard, Renata. But Renata’s powers are put to the test when a loved one, a child, is threatened and she’s forced to turn to Niko for help. As the two join forces, as desire fans the flames of a deeper hunger, Renata’s life is under siege by a man who offers the exquisite pleasure of a blood bond—and a passion that could save or doom them both forever.…

In a world of shadows and dark, cosuming hungers, desire is the deadliest weapon…

For journalist Dylan Alexander, it began with the discovery of a hidden tomb, thrusting her into the center of a gathering storm of violence and secrets. But nothing is as dangerous as the scarred, lethally seductive man who rises from the shadows to draw her into his world of dark desire and endless night.

Fueled by pain and rage over a shattering betrayal, the warrior Rio has pledged his life to the war against the Rogues. He will let nothing stand in his way—least of all a mortal woman with the power to expose the entire vampire race. For an ancient evil has been awakened, and a stunning darkness is on the rise. Suddenly Dylan is powerless to resist Rio’s touch, even as she uncovers a shocking link to her own past. And now she must choose: Leave Rio’s midnight realm, or risk it all for the man who has shown her true passion and the infinite pleasures of the heart. . . .

With a dagger in her hand and vengeance on her mind, Darkhaven beauty Elise Chase prowls Boston’s streets in search of retribution against the Rogue vampires who took from her everything she cherished. Using an extraordinary psychic gift, she tracks her prey, well aware that the power she possesses is destroying her. She must learn to harness this gift, and for that she can turn to only one man—the deadliest of the Breed warriors, Tegan.

No stranger to loss, Tegan knows Elise’s pain. He knows fury, but when he slays his enemies it is with ice in his veins. He is perfect in his self-control, until Elise seeks his aid in her personal war. An unholy alliance is forged—a bond that will link them by blood and vow—and plunge them into a tempest of danger, desire, and the darkest passions of the heart. . . .

A scarred recluse, Jagr makes no secret of his disdain for others’ company. But now, as a member of Chicago’s powerful vampire clan, he has certain obligations to fulfill. The latest: track down a missing were pureblood and return her to her sister. The problem: Regan Garrett has no intention of complying. And though Jagr agreed not to harm an inch of this stubborn female’s distractingly tempting body, he’ll gladly kiss her into submission, awakening an urge he hasn’t felt in years. Hell, in centuries…Regan vowed never to be at the mercy of another man. That goes double for arrogant, steel-muscled vampires with eyes of ice. All Regan wants is revenge against those who imprisoned her. She doesn’t need an ally. She certainly doesn’t need a mate. But soon Regan will have to choose – between a lust for vengeance, and a passion as dark and dangerous as the night…

He watches her from across the crowded dance club, a sensual black-haired stranger who stirs Gabrielle Maxwell’s deepest fantasies. But nothing about this night—or this man—is what it seems. For when Gabrielle witnesses a murder outside the club, reality shifts into something dark and deadly. In that shattering instant she is thrust into a realm she never knew existed—a realm where vampires stalk the shadows and a blood war is set to ignite.

Lucan Thorne despises the violence carried out by his lawless brethren. A vampire himself, Lucan is a Breed warrior, sworn to protect his kind—and the unwitting humans existing alongside them—from the mounting threat of the Rogues. Lucan cannot risk binding himself to a mortal woman, but when Gabrielle is targeted by his enemies, he has no choice but to bring her into the dark underworld he commands.

Here, in the arms of the Breed’s formidable leader, Gabrielle will confront an extraordinary destiny of danger, seduction, and the darkest pleasures of all. . . .

A woman with a talent for numbers, Alexandra Scott wanted to escape the rat race and go someplace where the men outnumber the women. Trading in her Wall Street job and fancy condo for a rundown cabin in the woods. She’s now Alaskan Wilderness Woman. It isn’t long before she finds exactly what she’s looking for: one sexy pilot named Michael Casey. But this confirmed bachelor has no intentions of getting caught in any woman’s crosshairs—especially a hunter as appealing as Alex. It’ll take skill, determination, and a little romantic persuasion for this big-game hunter to bag her prey.

Elena: transformed, the golden girl has become what she once feared and desired.

Stefan: tormented by losing Elena, he’s determined to end his feud with Damon once and for all—whatever the cost. But slowly he begins to realize that his brother is not his only enemy.

Damon: at last, he possesses Elena. But will his thirst for revenge against Stefan poison his triumph? Or can they come together to face one final battle?

Collected here in one edition are the third and fourth volumes of The Vampire Diaries, a riveting conclusion to the tale of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.

Elena: the golden girl, the leader, the one who can have any boy she wants.

Stefan: brooding and mysterious, he seems to be the only one who can resist Elena, even as he struggles to protect her from the horrors that haunt his past.

Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him. Determined to have Elena, he’d kill to possess her.

Collected here in one volume for the first time, volumes one and two of The Vampire Diaries, the tale of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.

Precious Jones, 16 years old and pregnant by her father with her second child, meets a determined and highly radical teacher who takes her on a journey of transformation and redemption.

The Reading Group follows the trials and tribulations of a group of women who meet regularly to read and discuss books.Over the course of a year, each of these women become intertwined, both in the books they read and within each other’s lives.

Inspired by a shared desire for conversation, a good book and a glass of wine-Clare, Harriet, Nicole, Polly, and Susan undergo startling revelations and transformations despite their differences in background, age and respective dilemmas.

What starts as a reading group gradually evolves into a forum where the women may express their views through the books they read and grow to become increasingly more open as the bonds of friendship cement.

In The Reading Group, Noble reveals the many complicated paths in life we all face as well as the power and importance of friendship.

Anita Blake may be small and young, but vampires call her the Executioner. Anita is a necromancer and vampire hunter in a time when vampires are protected by law–as long as they don’t get too nasty. Now someone’s killing innocent vampires and Anita agrees–with a bit of vampiric arm-twisting–to help figure out who and why.
Trust is a luxury Anita can’t afford when her allies aren’t human. The city’s most powerful vampire, Nikolaos, is 1,000 years old and looks like a 10-year-old girl. The second most powerful vampire, Jean-Claude, is interested in more than just Anita’s professional talents, but the feisty necromancer isn’t playing along–yet.

Jason Manning is content with his life as a bachelor, a slob and a sports fan. Then a precocious girl named Carrie Weston decides to play matchmaker, introducing him to her mother, Charlotte. To his relief, Charlotte is as averse to marriage as he is. But Jason’s feelings start to change once he gets to know his Bride on the Loose.
James Wilkens was almost a Manning groom—because he almost married one of the Manning sisters. With that broken engagement behind him, he spends New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas…where he meets Summer Lawton. She’s just suffered a painful betrayal, and James promises her that in a year, she’ll be over it. To prove his point, he makes a date to meet her in Vegas Same Time, Next Year. Except it turns out to be more than a date—it’s a wedding!

hen Kate discovers the stabbed body of neighbor Kitty Cavanaugh, her pursuit of the killer gives Kate’s mundane life a new sense of purpose, but her zeal puts pressure on her already wobbly marriage to Ben. She charges on, however, aided by best friend Janie, the chic, fearless daughter of a multi-millionaire. Kate soon uncovers Kitty’s second life, centered on Kitty’s search for her real father, entailing an investigation of several powerful men. Things are further complicated by the reappearance of Evan McKenna, Kate’s unrequited love interest of the past seven years, who is a charming part-time private investigator, the exact opposite of Ben. Linked to the case through work he’d done for Kitty, Evan joins Kate on the mystery, and his seductive presence leaves her torn.

Like most men of action, Navy SEAL Chief Cosmo Richter never learned how to take a vacation. So when he finds himself facing a month’s leave, he offers his services to Troubleshooters Incorporated. Founded by a former SEAL, the private-sector security firm is a major player in the ongoing war against terrorism, known for carrying out covert missions too volatile for official U.S. military action. But the first case Richter takes on is anything but under the radar.

High-profile maverick movie producer Jane Mercedes Chadwick hasn’t quite completed her newest film, but she’s already courting controversy. The World War II epic frankly portrays the homosexuality of a real-life hero–and the storm of advance media buzz surrounding it has drawn the fury of extremist groups. But despite a relentless campaign of angry E-mails, phone calls, and smear tactics, Chadwick won’t be pressured into abandoning the project. Then the harassment turns to death threats.

While the FBI appears on the scene, nervous Hollywood associates call in Troubleshooters, and now Chadwick has an army of round-the-clock bodyguards, whether she likes it or not. And she definitely doesn’t. But her stubbornness doesn’t make FBI agent Jules Cassidy’s job any easier. The fiercely independent filmmaker presents yet another emotional obstacle that Cassidy doesn’t need–he’s already in the midst of a personal tug-of-war with his ex-lover, while fighting a growing attraction to Chadwick’s brother.

Determined to succeed–and survive–on her own terms, Chadwick will face off with enemies and allies alike. But she doesn’t count on the bond she forms with the quiet, capable Cosmo Richter. Yet even as their feelings bring them closer, the noose of deadly terror all around them draws tighter. And when all hell erupts, desire and desperate choices will collide on a killing ground that may trap them both in the crossfire.

Hard-driving suspense and intense passion are the hallmarks of bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann’s pulse-pounding thrillers. In her tales of daring, danger, courage, and desire, men and women of action fight fiercely, love deeply, and time after time raise the bar for adventure to new heights. Brockmann’s latest novel is no exception.

Florida private investigator and ex-cop Ric Alvarado’s life is spiraling out of control. His beautiful new girl Friday, Annie Dugan, is far more interested in fieldwork than filing, and despite Ric’s best efforts to ignore the attraction, sparks are flying between them. Then one of Ric’s clients turns femme fatale and tries to gun down an innocent man. Thanks to quick thinking and even quicker reflexes, Ric comes to the rescue, only to learn he’s done a very good deed for some very bad people.

Suddenly Ric finds himself deep undercover with Annie, working for notorious crime boss Gordon Burns. One mistake from Ric’s painfully inexperienced partner and they’re both dead.

FBI agent Jules Cassidy’s life isn’t in much better shape. For years the FBI has been trying to prove Gordon Burns’s ties to terrorist activity. Now, thanks to Ric and Annie, Jules has found a way into the lion’s den. But in the course of his investigation he comes face-to-face with Robin Chadwick, the charismatic but self-destructive and closeted movie star for whom Jules feels a powerful attraction. Robin’s in town promoting his latest film–and Gordon Burns is a star-struck movie buff.

With Robin and Jules’s help, Ric and Annie are soon entrenched in Burns’s organization, surrounded by killers who may already have executed an FBI infiltrator. Before long the couple realizes that many more lives besides their own will be at stake if they make a false move. As the heat between them reaches dangerous levels, so do the risks they’re willing to take–in the line of duty, for the sake of loyalty, and in the name of something that runs even deeper.

As little girls MacKensie, Emma, Laurel, and Parker spent hours acting out their perfect make believe “I do” moments. Years later their fantasies become reality when they start their own wedding planning company to make every woman’s dream day come true. With perfect flowers, delicious desserts, and joyful moments captured on film, Nora Roberts’s Bride Quartet shares each woman’s emotionally magical journey to romance.

In Bed of Roses, florist Emma Grant is finding career success with her friends at Vows wedding planning company, and her love life appears to be thriving. Though men swarm around her, she still hasn’t found Mr. Right. And the last place she’s looking is right under her nose.

But that’s just where Jack Cooke is. He’s so close to the women of Vows that he’s practically family, but the architect has begun to admit to himself that his feelings for Emma have developed into much more than friendship. When Emma returns his passion—kiss for blistering kiss—they must trust in their history…and in their hearts.

Alisa has been in control of her urges for the five thousand years she has been a vampire. She feeds but does not kill, and she lives her life on the fringe to maintain her secret. But when her creator returns to hunt her, she must break her own rules in order to survive.

Her quest leads her to Ray. He is the only person who can help her; he also has every reason to fear her. Alisa must get closer to him to ensure her immortality. But as she begins to fall in love with Ray, suddenly there is more at stake than her own life….

On what at first appears to be an ordinary day, everything changes for private banker Kayla Shaw when she barely escapes a brutal kidnapping attempt and finds herself accused of a shocking crime: the illegal laundering of hundreds of millions of dollars. Damned by lies and false “evidence,” she is trapped with no place to run.

After five agonizing years, landscape painter Rand McCree has finally been offered what he desires most: the name of his twin brother’s murderer. Hungry for vengeance, he accepts a job that will place him in the killer’s orbit . . . and tantalizingly close to Kayla Shaw. The cold-blooded international criminal responsible for Rand’s brother’s death has targeted Kayla as his next victim—and only Rand can stop him from killing again.

Suspicious of each other, needing each other, they are two against the world as the violence of the past erupts in the present. And now innocence alone will not be enough to keep Kayla Shaw alive. . . .

To restore family honor the Marquess of Rotherstone faces his most dangerous mission—finding the perfect bride . . .

To London’s aristocracy, the Inferno Club is a scandalous society of men no proper young lady would acknowledge. But though they are publicly notorious for pursuing all manner of debauchery, in private they are warriors who would do anything to protect king and country.

The Marquess of Rotherstone has decided it’s time to restore the family’s good name. But as a member of the Inferno Club, he knows there is only one way to redeem himself in Society’s eyes: marry a lady of impeccable beauty and breeding, whose reputation is, above all, spotless.

Someone quite unlike Daphne Starling. True, she’s temptingly lovely, but a jilted suitor has nearly ruined her reputation. Still, Max cannot resist her allure—or the challenge of proving London’s gossips wrong. He would do anything to win her hand . . . and show that even a wicked marquess can make a perfect husband.

I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current.

So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives.

Vinh Murphy–ex-Marine and onetime operative for the elite security firm Troubleshooters Incorporated–has been MIA ever since his wife, Angelina, was caught in a crossfire and killed during what should have been a routine bodyguard assignment. Overcome with grief, Murphy blames the neo-Nazi group known as the Freedom Network for her death. Now, years later, Freedom Network leader Tim Ebersole has been murdered–and the FBI suspects Murphy may have pulled the trigger. To prevent further bloodshed, Murphy’s friends at Troubleshooters scramble to find him and convince him to surrender peacefully.

Murphy himself can’t be sure what he did or didn’t do during the years he spent mourning and lost in an alcohol-induced fog. He does know he occasionally sought solace from Hannah Whitfield, a former police officer and the very friend who’d introduced him to his beloved late wife.

But Hannah, still grappling with the deafness that resulted from an injury sustained while on duty, was fighting her own battles. For years Hannah had feelings for Murphy, and one painful night their suffering brought them together in a way neither expected–and both regretted.

Murphy is ready to rejoin the living. As always, he finds himself knocking on Hannah’s door, and as always, his longtime friend welcomes him back into her home. Yet even as Murphy slowly rebuilds his splintered life, he continues to fight his growing feelings for Hannah.

Then he learns of Ebersole’s murder and comes to believe that the Freedom Network has targeted him–and Hannah–to avenge their leader’s death to violence. Now Murphy must face the terrifying prospect of losing another woman he loves.

As the Troubleshooters desperately search for him, Murphy races toward a deadly confrontation with the Freedom Network and ultimate choice: surrender his life in hopes that Hannah will be spared, or risk everything to salvage whatever future they may have together.

Jimmy Nash has already lived two lives—and he can’t talk about either of them. Formerly an operative of a top secret government agency, he has found a new job with a shadowy company called Troubleshooters Inc. Created by a former Navy SEAL, Troubleshooters Inc. helps anyone in desperate need—which provides a perfect cover for its other, more perilous objective: covert special operations.

Now Nash and a quickly assembled team of expert operators have come to the earthquake-ravaged country of Kazbekistan in the guise of relief workers. There, amid the dust and death, in a land of blood red sunsets and ancient blood feuds, they must track down a missing laptop computer that may hold secrets vital to national security.

To get it done, Nash does what he does best: break every rule in the book and manipulate those who can help him get what he needs. But this time, Nash may have met his match in Tess Bailey, an Troubleshooters operative with all the right instincts—and zero field experience. The deep attraction between them is immediate . . . and potentially explosive, with risk at every turn. Now these two professionals must play out their dangerous games in the world’s most dangerous place—cut off from their own government, cutting deals with people they can’t trust, and guarding forbidden passions that threaten to compromise their crucial mission.

Only a handful of people in the world know that James Nash is alive.
For years, Nash performed ultra-covert “Black Ops” missions for a shadowy government agency. But when he walked away from their dirty work, his ruthless bosses weren’t about to let him go. After their attempt to assassinate him nearly succeeds, his former partner Lawrence Decker, with the FBI’s help, fakes Nash’s death to protect him.

With Nash secreted away in a safe house, Decker will risk everything–including his heart–as he races to solve the mystery of who wanted Nash dead. Passions will flare as everyone close to the deception finds themselves fighting for survival.

In his career as one of America’s elite warriors, Lt. Sam Starrett can do no wrong. In his private life, Sam–the king of one night stands–has done little right. Now, he’s waiting for a divorce and determined to stay active in his young daughter’s life. But when Sam shows up at the door of his ex-wife’s home in Sarasota, Florida, he makes a grisly discovery. His daughter is gone and the body of a woman lies brutally murdered on the floor.

FBI agent Alyssa Locke’s relationship with Sam has been overwhelmingly intense and nearly catastrophic, yet it refuses to end. The last time she saw Sam was six months earlier, when they worked together to stop terrorists from assassinating the U.S. President. Much to her dismay, Alyssa is assigned to lead the murder investigation and once again the two are face to face. When explosive information surfaces linking Sam to the still unsolved assassination plot, the stakes are raised. With her reputation hanging in the balance, and her loyalties in question, Alyssa is faced with an impossible dilemma:arrest a man she believes to be innocent, or risk her career.

While Alyssa tries to fight their intense attraction, Sam is determined to heat things up between them once again. And the complex case pushes them both to the wrong side of the law–and on the run to discover the truth. As more agents step into the chase, and with Sam’s daughter still unaccounted for, neither Alyssa nor Sam can predict just how deadly hot this situation is about to become. . . .

Laura Foster is a hopeless romantic. Her friends know it, her parents know it – even Laura acknowledges she lives either with her head in the clouds or buried in a romance novel. It’s proved harmless enough, even if it hasn’t delivered her a real-life dashing hero yet. But when her latest relationship ends in a disaster that costs her friendships, her job, and nearly her sanity, Laura swears off men and hopeless romantic fantasies for good.

With her life in tatters around her, Laura agrees to go on vacation with her parents. After a few days of visiting craft shops and touring the stately homes of England, Laura is ready to tear her hair out. And then, while visiting grand Chartley Hall, she crosses paths with Nick, the sexy, rugged estate manager. She finds she shares more than a sense of humor with him – in fact, she starts to think she could fall for him. But is Nick all he seems? Or has Laura got it wrong again? Will she open her heart only to have it broken again?

As a sportswriter, Frank Bascombe makes his living studying people–men, mostly–who live entirely within themselves. This is a condition that Frank himself aspires to. But at thirty-eight, he suffers from incurable dreaminess, occasional pounding of the heart, and the not-too-distant losses of a career, a son, and a marriage. In the course of the Easter week in which Ford’s moving novel transpires, Bascombe will end up losing the remnants of his familiar life, though with his spirits soaring.

Veronica St. John is facing the challenge of a lifetime. The media consultant has two days to teach a rugged Navy SEAL to impersonate a European prince who has been targeted by terrorists. It’s a tough assignment, but Veronica is sure she’s up to the task–until she actually meets Joe.

Despite his physical resemblance to the handsome prince, Lieutenant Joe Catalanotto is nothing like the stuffy aristocrat. Everything about the combat-hardened Navy SEAL–from the arrogant gleam in his eyes and streetwise attitude to the New York accent–says regular guy, not royalty. One conversation and Veronica knows nothing could turn this military man into nobility. Joe, on the other hand, is confident he’s got what it takes to complete his duty.

But neither of them expects their assignment to include falling in love….

It was supposed to be a “dog and pony show”—an elaborate demonstration of SEAL rescue techniques—to celebrate a presidential visit to a California naval base. Professional, no-nonsense White House staffer Joan DaCosta arrives early to scope out the area. Assigned to be her SEAL liaison is Lt. (jg) Mike Muldoon, a born leader—strong, decisive, tough, and fearless.

Against her better judgment, Joan finds herself drawn to the handsome young officer. Skilled at being “one of the guys” in the mostly male world of politics, she is dismayed when Muldoon breaks through her defenses. While tension mounts between them, fueling their growing attraction, a far more sinister danger is lurking, as terrorists plot a daring attack against the president. To protect their commander in chief, Joan and Muldoon must not only risk their hearts—but their very lives. . . .

Navy SEAL Lt. Tom Paoletti, on medical leave after a near-fatal head injury, returns to his New England hometown and is drawn into an unresolved relationship with the girl he left behind. Kelly Ashton, now a pediatrician, is caring for her dying father when Tom returns to disrupt–and enrich–her life. Then Tom glimpses a terrorist he once pursued who’s supposed to be dead, but his antagonistic superiors attribute the unlikely sighting to his head injury.

Bette Robinson is a twentysomething Emory graduate who shunned her parents’ hippie ideals in favor of a high-paying yet excruciatingly boring job at a prestigious investment bank. One day, after a particularly condescending exchange with her boss (who sends her daily inspirational e-mails), Bette walks out on her job in a huff. After a few weeks of sleeping late, watching Dr. Phil and entertaining her dog Millington, Bette’s uncle scores her a job at an up-and-coming public relations firm, where her entire job seems to revolve around staying out late partying and providing fodder for clandestine gossip columns. What follows is one episode after another of Bette climbing up the social ladder at the expense of her friends, family, and the one guy who actually seems worth pursuing.

Two out of three isn’t bad, right? Mackensie “Mac” Elliot had the perfect job and the best friends in the world, Emma, Laurel, and Parker. Together, the four were Vows, Connecticut’s hottest wedding-planning company. So what if Mac hadn’t found her own Mr. Right yet. Then Mac literally bumps into shy, scholarly, yet surprisingly sexy Carter Maguire when he turns up for his sister’s wedding-planning meeting, and Mac quickly discovers exactly what is missing from her up-until-now satisfactory life.

From afar, Sheriff Jackson Deveau has always loved Elle Drake, the youngest telepath of seven sisters. After a long time away she’s finally returning home to the small coastal village of Sea Haven. But someone has been following Elle, someone who doesn’t want her to make it back. And when Elle fails to arrive, her disappearance strikes fear in the hearts of everyone who loves her. Now it’s left to Jackson to uncover the mystery of Elle’s vanishing, and rescue her from an unseen danger. But Sea Haven is no longer safe for anyone, and it’ll take the powers of all the Drake sisters and their men to survive the coming storm.

In BLINK, Gladwell revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. How do we make decisions–good and bad–and why are some people so much better at it than others? That’s the question Malcolm Gladwell asks and answers in BLINK. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, examining case studies as diverse as speed dating, pop music, and the New Coke, Gladwell shows how the difference between good decision making and bad has nothing to do with how much information we can process quickly, but rather with the few particular details on which we focus. BLINK displays all of the brilliance that has made Malcolm Gladwell’s journalism so popular and his books such perennial bestsellers as it reveals how all of us can become better decision makers–in our homes, our offices, and in everyday life.

Leonard Marnham is assigned to a British-American surveillance team in Cold War Berlin. His intelligence work—tunneling under a Russian communications center to tap the phone lines to Moscow—offers him a welcome opportunity to begin shedding his own unwanted innocence, even if he is only a bit player in a grim international comedy of errors. Leonard’s relationship with Maria Eckdorf, an enigmatic and beautiful West Berliner, likewise promises to loosen the bonds of his ordinary life. But the promise turns to horror in the course of one terrible evening—a night when Leonard Marnham learns just how much of his innocence he’s willing to shed.

In Richmond, Virginia, young lovers are dying. So far, four couples in the area have disappeared, only to be found months later as mutilated corpses. When the daughter of the president’s newest drug czar vanishes along with her boyfriend, Dr. Kay Scarpetta knows time is short. Following a macabre trail of evidence that ties the present homicides to a grisly crime in the past, Kay must draw upon her own personal resources to track down a murderer who is as skilled at eliminating clues as Kay is at finding them….

Smithy Ide is a really nice guy. But he’s also an overweight, friendless, womanless, hard-drinking, 43-year-old self-professed loser with a breast fetish and a dead-end job, given to stammering “I just don’t know” in life’s confusing moments. When Smithy’s entire family dies, he embarks on a transcontinental bicycle trip to recover his sister’s body and rediscover what it means to live. Along the way, he flashes back to his past and the hardships of his beloved sister’s schizophrenia, while his dejection encourages strangers to share their life stories. The road redeems the innocent Smithy: he loses weight; rescues a child from a blizzard; rebuffs the advances of a nubile, “apple-breasted” co-cyclist after seeing a vision of his dead sister; and nurtures a telephone romance with a paraplegic family friend as he processes his rocky past.

urely there’s more than one way to get to heaven? Bestselling author Andy Stanley addresses this popular belief held even among Christians. But believing that all good people go to heaven raises major problems, Stanley reveals. Is goodness not rewarded, then? Is Christianity not fair? Maybe not, he says. Readers will find out why Jesus taught that goodness is not even a requirement to enter heaven – and why Christianity is beyond fair. Andy Stanley leads believers and skeptics alike to a grateful awareness of God’s enormous grace and mercy.

Good People Go to Heaven…Don’t They?

Sure they do. It only makes sense.

Actually, it doesn’t really make any sense at all. Smart, educated, accomplished men and women everywhere are banking their eternities on a theory that doesn’t hold water. Chances are, you’ve never really thought it through. But you owe it to yourself to do so.

Find out now what’s wrong with the most popular theory about heaven—and what it really takes to get there.

Novella Carpenter loves cities—the culture, the crowds, the energy. At the same time, she can’t shake the fact that she is the daughter of two back-to-the-land hippies who taught her to love nature and eat vegetables. Ambivalent about repeating her parents’ disastrous mistakes, yet drawn to the idea of backyard self-sufficiency, Carpenter decided that it might be possible to have it both ways: a homegrown vegetable plot as well as museums, bars, concerts, and a twenty-four-hour convenience mart mere minutes away. Especially when she moved to a ramshackle house in inner city Oakland and discovered a weed-choked, garbage-strewn abandoned lot next door. She closed her eyes and pictured heirloom tomatoes, a beehive, and a chicken coop.

What started out as a few egg-laying chickens led to turkeys, geese, and ducks. Soon, some rabbits joined the fun, then two three-hundred-pound pigs. And no, these charming and eccentric animals weren’t pets; she was a farmer, not a zookeeper. Novella was raising these animals for dinner. Novella Carpenter’s corner of downtown Oakland is populated by unforgettable characters. Lana (anal spelled backward, she reminds us) runs a speakeasy across the street and refuses to hurt even a fly, let alone condone raising turkeys for Thanksgiving. Bobby, the homeless man who collects cars and car parts just outside the farm, is an invaluable neighborhood concierge. The turkeys, Harold and Maude, tend to escape on a daily basis to cavort with the prostitutes hanging around just off the highway nearby. Every day on this strange and beautiful farm, urban meets rural in the most surprising ways.

Sensible advice and caring encouragement on raising boys from the nation’s most trusted parenting expert, Dr.James Dobson. With so much confusion about the role of men in our society, it’s no wonder so many parents and teachers are at a loss about how to bring up boys. Our culture has vilified masculinity and, as a result, boys are suffering. Parents, teachers, and others involved in shaping the character of boys have lots of questions. In Bringing Up Boys, Dr. Dobson tackles these questions and offers advice and encouragement based on a firm foundation of biblical principles.

Woven just under the surface of this simple parable, Philip Keller presents profound spiritual truth. It is the story of Lass, a worthless animal thought to be untrainable, who becomes a magnificent and valuable sheepdog—not terribly unlike how God’s love can transform our worst characteristics into blessings that serve to further His Kingdom.Woven just under the surface of this simple parable, Philip Keller presents profound spiritual truth. It is the story of Lass, a worthless animal thought to be untrainable, who becomes a magnificent and valuable sheepdog—not terribly unlike how God’s love can transform our worst characteristics into blessings that serve to further His Kingdom.

n this unique and groundbreaking book, business consultant and New York Times best-selling author Patrick Lencioni turns his sights on the most important organization in our lives—the family. As a husband and the father of four young boys, Lencioni realized the discrepancy between the time and energy his clients put into running their organizations and the reactive way most people run their personal lives. Having experienced the stress of a frantic family firsthand, he and his wife began applying some of the tools he uses with Fortune 500 companies at home, and with surprising results.

Claire Laurent is a vibrant beauty and the founder of French Silk, a succesful lingerie company. But a TV evangelist has attacked French Silk as sinful and vows to ruin the company. When the preacher is killed, Claire becomes the prime suspect. Now nothing can save Claire unless she reveals a shocking truth that she has sworn to take to the grave.

Maris Matherly-Reed, an executive at Matherly Press, the publishing house that her father runs, is going through the slush pile of unsolicited manuscripts when she encounters one that intrigues her. But the author has submitted only the prologue and has put only his initials on it and the name of the island off the coast of Georgia where he lives. To the befuddlement of her husband, Noah, a writer who only published one novel and now works at Matherly Press, Maris is determined to pursue the manuscript. Maris has been concerned by her husband’s inattentiveness and lately has been feeling dissatisfied with their marriage. Impulsively, she decides to go to Georgia to find the author, now identified as Parker Evans. At first, Parker puts off Maris–he’s rude, abrasive, ruggedly handsome, and wheelchair bound from an accident he won’t discuss. Nevertheless, Maris is totally drawn in by his novel, the story of the friendship between two young men that ends tragically when only one makes it back from a boating accident. Nor can Maris deny her attraction to Parker. Meanwhile, her two-faced husband, Noah, is back in New York, trying to secure a deal that will essentially allow him to sell Matherly Press out from under Maris and her father. As her marriage crumbles and her attraction to Parker grows, Maris finds that Parker and his novel are much more closely related to her life than she could have ever imagined.

An unidentified skull…

A trail of terrifying secrets…

And a woman whose talented hands could reveal the shocking truth…

As a forensic sculptor, Eve Duncan helps identify the dead from their skulls. With her own daughter was murdered and her body never found, the job is Eve’s way of coming to terms with her personal nightmare. But more terror lies ahead when she accepts work from billionaire John Logan. Beneath her gifted hands a face emerges from the skull he has given her to reconstruct–a face no one was ever meant to see. Now Eve is trapped in a frightening web of murder and deceit. Powerful enemies are determined to cover up the truth, and they will make certain that truth goes to the grave…even if Eve gets buried with it.

A merciless killer on the hunt…an innocent child in his sights…a woman driven to the edge to stop him…

The killer knows Eve Duncan all too well. He knows the pain she feels for her murdered daughter, Bonnie, whose body has never been found. He knows that as one of the nation’s top forensic sculptors she’ll insist on identifying the nine skeletons unearthed on a bluff near Georgia’s Talladega Falls. He knows she won’t be able to resist the temptation of believing that one of those skeletons might be her daughter’s. But that is only the beginning of the killer’s sadistic game. He wants Eve one on one, and he’ll use his ace in the hole to make sure she complies. And he won’t stop playing until he claims the prize he wants most: Eve’s life.

Eve Duncan has turned down the job twice already. Her skill and devotion in identifying murder victims and helping bring their killers to justice may be world-renowned. But Eve works exclusively for law enforcement and the families of the innocent, and the man on the other end of the phone is many things—none of them law-abiding or innocent.

One of the world’s most wanted men, little is really known about Luis Montalvo except that he is extraordinarily dangerous and that he never takes no for an answer. Now he wants Eve’s help in the worst way. For he believes they have something in common—and he’s about to prove it with a grisly warning.

Eve will leave everything and everyone behind, even the man she trusts and loves the most, Atlanta detective Joe Quinn, to travel to Montalvo’s luxurious armed compound in the Colombian jungle to identify the skull he has recovered. She has agreed to this devil’s bargain to save an innocent family, but also for a reason she can’t admit to Joe, to the CIA, to anyone. For the man in the jungle has promised to be able to give Eve what she wants most of all—the key to unlocking the darkest and most painful mystery of her past.

But Eve is in more danger than she can imagine. As she gets closer to identifying the skull, she finds herself caught between two ruthless killers with no way out. Now, with everything on the line, Eve Duncan must make the most chilling choice of all. And if she’s wrong…she’s dead.

A serial killer has one obsession . . .

Claire Lambert walked into a nightmare on a rainy night in Washington, D.C. Stumbling upon a killer in the midst of his latest bloody crime, she ran for her life — but not before a head injury caused her to lose her memory, along with her purse and ID. Now a monster knows who Claire is . . . and where she lives.

Waking up in a hospital room the day after being attacked — her mind stripped of all memory of what happened to her — Claire can only listen with horror to the scenario Detective Sean Richter unfolds before her. A law officer fiercely dedicated to ending the wave of brutal killings that has struck the city, Sean knows that this brave and beautiful woman holds the key to stopping the murderer before he can strike again. Claire is the only victim who has seen the killer’s face and lived — which is why Sean needs her help and will risk everything to protect her . . .

And why a depraved, relentless animal is determined that Claire Lambert must die.

Paige has only a few vivid memories of her mother, who abandoned her when she was five. Now, having left her father behind in Chicago, she dreams of art schol, marries an ambitious doctor – and soon becomes a mother herself. Overwhelmed by the demands of having a family, Paige cannot forget her mother’s absence and the shameful memories of her own past, which make her doubt both her ability to give and her sense of self-worth.

Emilia Greenleaf believed that she had found her soulmate, the man she was meant to spend her life with. But life seems a lot less rosy when Emilia has to deal with the most neurotic and sheltered five-year-old in New York City: her new stepson William. Now Emilia finds herself trying to flag down taxis with a giant, industrial-strength car seat, looking for perfect, strawberry-flavored, lactose-free cupcakes, receiving corrections on her French pronunciation from her supercilious stepson – and attempting to find balance in a new family that’s both larger, and smaller, than she bargained for.

Rebecca Blackburn caught a glimpse of the famed Jupiter Stones as a small child. Unaware of their significance, she forgot about them—until she discovered the priceless, long-missing gems were the key to a deadly chain of events spanning thirty years and three continents…sparing no one.

When a seemingly innocent photograph reignites one man’s simmering desire for vengeance, Rebecca turns to Jared Sloan, the love she lost to tragedy and scandal. His own life has changed forever because of the secrets buried deep by their two families.

Their relentless quest for the truth will dredge up bitter memories and shocking revelations of misplaced loyalty, dangerous pride and naked ambition…and they will stop at nothing to expose a cold-blooded killer.

Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a human monster strikes, leaving a gruesome trail of stranglings that has paralyzed the city. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst: a deliberate campaign by a brilliant serial killer whose signature offers precious few clues. With an unerring eye, she calls on the latest advances in forensic research to unmask the madman. But this investigation will test Kay like no other, because it’s being sabotaged from within and someone wants her dead.

Turn on all the lights and check under your bed. Things are about to get spooky in Trenton, New Jersey. According to legend, the Jersey Devil prowls the Pine Barrens and soars above the treetops in the dark of night. As eerie as this might seem, there are things in the Barrens that are even more frightening and dangerous. And there are monkeys. Lots of monkeys. Wulf Grimoire is a world wanderer and an opportunist who can kill without remorse and disappear like smoke. He’s chosen Martin Munch, boy genius, as his new business partner, and he’s chosen the Barrens as his new playground. Munch received his doctorate degree in quantum physics when he was twenty-two. He’s now twenty-four, and while his brain is large, his body hasn’t made it out of the boys’ department at Macy’s. Anyone who says good things come in small packages hasn’t met Munch. Wulf Grimoire is looking for world domination. Martin Munch would be happy if he could just get a woman naked and tied to a tree. Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has Munch on her most-wanted list for failure to appear in court. Plum is the all-American girl stuck in an uncomfortable job, succeeding on luck and tenacity. Usually she gets her man. This time she gets a monkey. She also gets a big guy named Diesel. Diesel pops in and out of Plum’s life like birthday cake – delicious to look at and taste, not especially healthy as a steady diet, gone by the end of the week if not sooner. He’s an über bounty hunter with special skills when it comes to tracking men and pleasing women. He’s after Grimoire, and now he’s also after Munch. And if truth were told, he wouldn’t mind setting Stephanie Plum in his crosshairs. Diesel and Plum hunt down Munch and Grimoire, following them into the Barrens, surviving cranberry bogs, the Jersey Devil, a hair-raising experience, sand in their underwear, and, of course . . . monkeys.

Bred by capricious parents for his innate leopard-shifting abilities, billionaire Jake Bannaconnni has spent his life in an emotional vacuum – especially after a tragic twist of fate left him to raise his infant son alone. But when his path crosses that of an enigmatic young woman, Jake’s life takes a detour he never fathomed.

There is something irresistible about Emma Reynolds – something Jake can’t live without. Hiring her as his son’s nanny will keep her close. And warm. And under watch. She’s the first human to stir something in Jake, something he’s never felt before. But Emma may not be at all what she seems. And what’s raging between them is pure animal instinct – out of control, burning wild and as hot as the lick of a flame.

A striking beauty with a taste for diamonds and dangerous men, Drea Rousseau is more than content to be arm candy for Rafael Salinas, a notorious crime lord who deals with betrayal through quick and treacherous means: a bullet to the back of the head, a blade across the neck, an incendiary device beneath a car. Eager to break with Rafael, Drea makes a fateful decision and a desperate move, stealing a mountain of cash from the malicious killer. After all, an escape needs to be financed.

Though Drea runs, Salinas knows she can’t hide–and he dispatches a cold-blooded assassin in hot pursuit, resulting in a tragic turn of events. Or does it?

Left for dead, Drea miraculously returns to the realm of the living a changed woman. She’s no longer shallow and selfish, no longer steals or cheats or sells herself short. Both humbled and thrilled with this unexpected second chance, Drea embraces her new life. But in order to feel safe and sound–and stop nervously looking over her shoulder–she will need to take down those who marked her for death.

Joining forces with the FBI, supplying vital inside information that only she can provide, Drea finds herself working with the most dangerous man she’s ever known. Yet the closer they get to danger, the more intense their feelings for each other become, and the more Drea realizes that the cost of her new life may be her life itself–as well as her heart.

If you close your eyes, he’ll get you. Sophie Dunston knows all too well how dreams can kill. As one of the nation’s top sleep therapists, she specializes in the life-threatening night terrors that her ten-year-old son, Michael, suffers from. But she is also an expert in another kind of terror–the kind that can turn a dream life into a living nightmare in the blink of an eye.

Someone is watching. He’s a shadowy figure from out of her darkest fears and he hasn’t forgotten her. In one shocking moment of violence, he’d shattered Sophie’s world forever and left her with only one thing to live for: her son. But the nightmare isn’t over for Sophie Dunston. It’s just begun. He’s been waiting. Sophie was supposed to die the first time around, but fate intervened. This time he’ll make sure that not even a miracle will save her.

It wasn’t a miracle that saved Jock Gavin, but it was pretty close. A semiretired hit man, commando, and jack-of-all-deadly-trades, he knows what Sophie is up against–and that she’ll need help. But the man he’s chosen for the job is as unpredictable as he is dangerous. Matt Royd is a wild card–hard, cool, merciless–and putting him into play changes the game completely. But to whose advantage?

Sophie will soon find out. She will have to trust Royd because she has no choices left. Because the bogeyman haunting her dreams is all too real and he’s on the hunt again. Because the nightmare he’s got planned for Sophie won’t end when she wakes up screaming. It won’t end. Ever.

Dr. Marc Weissbluth, a distinguished pediatrician and father of four, offers his groundbreaking program to ensure the best sleep for your child. In Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, he explains with authority and reassurance his step-by-step regime for instituting beneficial habits within the framework of your child’s natural sleep cycles. Rest is vital to your child’s health growth and development. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child outlines proven strategies that ensure good, healthy sleep for every age.

She wanted to save lives. The killer wanted to end hers.

The first warning was triggered hundreds of miles away. The second warning exploded only yards from where she and her son stood. Now Kate Denby realizes the frightening truth: She is somebody’s target.

Danger has arrived in Kate’s backyard with a vengeance. And the gifted scientist is awakening to a nightmare world where a ruthless killer is stalking her…where her innocent son is considered expendable…and where the medical research to which she has devoted her life is the same research that could get her killed. Her only hope of protecting her family and making that medical breakthrough is to elude her enemy until she can face him on her own ground, on her own terms–and destroy him.

Her passion is flying. As one of the best helicopter pilots in the naval reserves, Lieutenant Teri Howe is strong, dedicated, and highly skilled–until a past mistake surfaces, jeopardizing everything she’s worked for.

Rock steady Senior Chief Stan Wolchonok has made a career of tackling difficult challenges. So it’s no surprise when he comes to Teri’s aid, knowing that his personal code of honor–and perhaps his heart–will be at risk. But when a jet carrying an American senator’s daughter is hijacked, Stan’s unflinching determination and Teri’s steadfast courage are put to the ultimate test. The rescue mission will be daring and dangerous. But somewhere between peril and resolution, the line between friends and lovers begins to blur, pushing both their lives over the edge. . . .

She expected sunshine and balmy breezes. What she saw was everyone’s worst nightmare.

Bess Grady has heard the unmistakable sound before. She knows what it means. But not even the eerie lament of the howling dogs can prepare her for what has taken place in the small village. The seasoned photojournalist had been sent there on an easy assignment, and now she has stumbled upon something she was never meant to see. Amid chaos and fear, she joins forces with an intimidating stranger, a man whose alliances are unclear but whose methods have a way of leaving bodies in his wake. For what she has witnessed is only the first stage in a plan of terror that may kill us all. And she has no choice but to stop it–or die trying….

He is the most terrifying of killers: ruthless, cunning, charismatic. And he has the means to get whatever he wants. And what Rico Chavez wants most is Elena Kyler—and he wants her dead. Trained as an assassin, Elena didn’t need anyone to survive. But now she finds herself on the run from one dangerous man and turning for help to another.

Sean Galen was a man without illusions. He knew it was only desperation that caused Elena to accept his help—a mother’s desperation to save her young son from a psychopath father who would raise their son in his own chilling image. And yet he was determined to get this woman who had never been able to trust anyone or anything in her whole life to accept him as her ally. But both Galen and Elena know that Chavez’s power and wealth mean there is no place they can be safe and no one they can trust—not even each other. Already Chavez’s assassins and connections to those in the highest positions of power have turned this into a war with no rules.

With two shocking acts of brutal violence, Chavez shows he will stop at nothing and that nothing will stop him. Soon a trail of horrifying murders will follow Galen and Elena across country to a last stand and a shattering showdown. For Chavez is a master of control and he wants more than just to take Elena’s life. He wants her alive long enough to see him destroy every reason she has for living. He wants her to turn against everything and everyone she ever believed in. He wants her to commit the ultimate act of betrayal. And by the time he is through, he wants her to beg him to take the only thing she’ll have left to give: her life.

Jessica Riley is a psychiatrist whose experience with catatonic trauma is personal as well as professional: she brought her beloved sister Melissa back from total mental withdrawal with her patience and skill. When the daughter of the president retreats into blankness after seeing her nanny and her Secret Service protector murdered, Jessica is summoned to treat the little girl. Although Jessica can’t reach into her young patient’s frightened mind, Melissa can–and only Melissa understands why Cassie’s so afraid. When Michael Travis, the mysterious and not totally benign stranger who rescued Cassie from the kidnap-assassination that traumatized her, arrives at Jessica’s Virginia estate, he’s able to stop the child’s nightmares long enough for Melissa to join Cassie in her self-imposed darkness and pull her back into the light. But the price he asks for his continued presence is one that Jessica, Melissa, and the president may not be able to meet. Is he an ally or an enemy? Even Melissa isn’t sure–and her complicated feelings for Travis and Cassie are especially tortured because her unusual gifts allow her to see a bloody future for both of them, one she may not be able to prevent.

The CIA put Grace Archer and her young daughter, Frankie, under protective custody on a small horse farm in Alabama. When their cover is blown, the CIA wants to use Grace and Frankie as bait to smoke out Marvot, an old enemy. The only person who can help is Jake Kilmer, a rogue agent. Years ago, he trained Grace as an operative so that the CIA could benefit from her uncanny talent for handling horses. They wanted to find out why a French Moroccan underworld kingpin wanted to train two beautiful, wild, and extremely dangerous horses known as “the Pair.” The mission was a failure, and Grace, then pregnant, went into hiding, distrusting Kilmer, with whom she was having an affair. Now Marvot has put a bounty on Grace and Frankie’s heads, wanting to bring them back to Morocco to train the horses. Kilmer wants to kill Marvot and use “the Pair” himself. Frankie trusts Kilmer; now Grace must find out if she can do the same.

Photograher Clint McCade was a rugged free spirit with the perfect life, until he realized something vital was missing—Sandy Kirk. Since grade school, Sandy had been Clint’s best friend and closest confidante. She was smart, beautiful, shy—and clueless about her power over men. But when Clint finally seeks her out to declare his love, he finds she’s fallen for another man.

Sandy knew she was a lot of things to Clint—except what she’d always longed to be: the woman he loved. So it comes as no surprise when he encourages her pursuit of another, even offering to coach her in the art of seduction. But soon the friends find themselves engaged in a series of crossed signals, mixed messages, and unbearably titillating close encounters that prove only one thing is certain: body language doesn’t lie.

“The United States refuses to negotiate with terrorists.” Meg Moore remembered the warning from her job as a translator in a European embassy. Those same words will spell out a death sentence for her daughter and grandmother who have been kidnapped by a lethal group called the Extremists. Meg will do anything to meet their unspeakable demands; anything–even kill–to save her child.

When Navy SEAL Lieutenant, junior grade, John Nilsson is summoned to Washington, D.C., by the FBI to help negotiate a hostage situation, the last person he expects to see holding a foreign ambassador at gunpoint is Meg. He hasn’t seen her in years, but he’s never forgotten how it feels to hold her in his arms. John could lose his career if he helps her escape. She will lose her life if he doesn’t. . . .

“When Maggie opened her eyes that New Year’s Day some seventeen months ago, I felt like I could see again. The fog lifted off my soul, and for the first time since our son had died and she had gone to sleep–some four months, sixteen days, eighteen hours, and nineteen minutes earlier–I took a breath deep enough to fill both my lungs.”

Life began again for Dylan Styles when his beloved wife Maggie awoke from a coma. A coma brought upon by the intense two-day labor that resulted in heartbreaking loss. In this poignant love story that is redolent with Southern atmosphere, Dylan and Maggie must come to terms with their past before they can embrace their future.

Eve is dismayed to discover at a Manhattan crime scene that the victim is a friend, Det. Amaryllis Coltraine, who’s been fatally zapped by her own stun gun. Dallas uncovers a connection to Coltraine’s ex-boyfriend, Alex Ricker, whose father, a notorious criminal serving a life sentence at the Omega Penal Colony, blames Dallas and her husband, Roarke, for his imprisonment. Humorous touches, like the wild poolside wedding shower Dallas must abruptly leave after receiving word of a prime suspect found shot to death, provide relief from the intensity of the murder investigation.

A sleepy rural town in South Carolina. The end of summer and a baby about to be born. But in the midst of hope and celebration comes unexpected tragedy, and Dylan Styles must come to terms with how much he’s lost. Will the music of his heart be stilled forever–or will he choose to dance with life once more, in spite of sorrow and heartbreak?

“Tucker, I want to tell you a secret,”

Miss Ella curled my hand into a fist and showed it to me.

“Life is a battle, but you can’t fight it with your fists. You got to fight it with your heart.”
An internationallly famous photographer, he has traveled the world and seen both the serious and the strange. But when his brother escapes from a mental hospital and an old girlfriend appears with her son and a black eye, Tucker is forced to return home and face the agony of his own tragic past.

Back in rural Alabama, Tucker comes to terms with the ghosts he left behind. Miss Ella Rain once loved Tuck and his brother like they were her very own. Hiring her to take care of Waverly Hall and to keep them out of sight was the only good thing their father ever did. And though Miss Ella has been gone for many years, Tuck can still hear her voice.

Savannah von Hopf has no choice. To save her uncle’s life, she goes in search of Ken “WildCard” Karmody, a guy she barely knew in college who is now a military operative. She must convince him to help her deliver a cache of ransom money into the hands of terrorists halfway around the world. What she doesn’t expect is to end up in WildCard’s arms before she can even ask for his help.

WildCard has always had a soft spot for beautiful women. But when he discovers Savannah’s hidden agenda, he is determined to end the affair. But Savannah is bound for Indonesia with or without his protection, and he can’t just walk away. When her plan goes horribly wrong, they are trapped in the forsaken jungle of a hostile country, stalked by a lethal enemy. As time is running out, they scramble to escape, risking their lives to stop a nightmare from spinning even further out of control. . . .

Born and raised on idyllic Sullivan’s Island, Susan Hayes navigated through her turbulent childhood with humor, spunk, and characteristic Southern sass. But years later, she is a conflicted woman with an unfaithful husband, a sometimes resentful teenage daughter, and a heart that aches with painful, poignant memories. And as Susan faces her uncertain future, she realizes that she must go back to her past. To the beachfront house where her sister welcomes her with open arms. To the only place she can truly call home.

Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever.

They have one summer to find what was lost long ago. “Never settle for less than the truth,” she told him. But when you don’t even know your real name, the truth gets a little complicated. It can nestle so close to home it’s hard to see. It can even flourish inside a lie. And as Chase Walker discovered, learning the truth about who you are can be as elusive–and as magical–as chasing fireflies on a summer night. A haunting story about fishing, baseball, home cooking, and other matters of life and death.

As commander of the nation’s most elite FBI counterterrorism unit, agent Max Bhagat leads by hard-driving example: pushing himself to the limit and beyond, taking no excuses, and putting absolutely nothing ahead of his work. That includes his deep feelings for Gina Vitagliano, the woman who won his admiration and his heart with her courage under fire. But when the shocking news reaches him that Gina has been killed in a terrorist bombing, nothing can keep Max from making a full investigation–and retribution–his top priority.

At the scene of the attack, however, Max gets an even bigger shock. Gina is still very much alive–but facing a fate even worse than death. Along with Molly Anderson, a fellow overseas relief worker, Gina has fallen into the hands of a killer who is bent on using both women to bait a deadly trap. His quarry? Grady Morant, a.k.a “Jones,” a notorious ex-Special Forces operative turned smuggler who made some very deadly enemies in the jungles of Southeast Asia . . . and has been running ever since. But with Molly’s life on the line, Jones is willing to forfeit his own to save the woman he loves.

Together with Max’s top agent Jules Cassidy as their only backup, the unlikely allies plunge into a global hot zone of violence and corruption to make a deal with the devil. Not even Jones knows which ghosts from his past want him dead. But there’s one thing he’s sure of–there’s very little his bloodthirsty enemies aren’t willing to do.

Games should be fun, but for two expert teams across the country, they’re murder – because the winning team is the one that gets the most kills. The participants in this violent challenge are rumored to be GhostWalkers. And Kadan Montague isn’t happy about it.

Kadan is a GhostWalker and he’s determined to clear the GhostWalker name of the rumors. To do it, he’s going to need the help of psychic Tansy Meadows. But as soon as he sees her, he knows his mission will be more complicated than he imagined – and the “murder game” may not be at all what it seems.

Sophie Rose, a tough and determined newspaper reporter, is the daughter of Bobby Rose, a suave, charming, and handsome gentleman who also happens to be a notorious big-time thief sought by every law-enforcement agency in the country. When the major Chicago daily where she works insists she write an exposé about her roguish father, Sophie refuses, quits her job, and goes to work at a small newspaper. Far from her onetime high-powered crime beat, she now covers local personalities such as the quirky winner of several area 5K runs whose trademark is goofy red socks.

Those red socks–with Sophie’s business card neatly tucked inside–are practically all that’s found after runner William Harrington is killed near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, seemingly the victim of a brutal death by polar bear. The Alaska cops want to know why Harrington carried Sophie’s card. With an unerring nose for a good story, she heads north.

What Sophie doesn’t realize is that on her journey from Chicago to Prudhoe Bay, danger follows in her wake. After one attempt on her life, she’s been assigned brash but sexy Jack MacAlister as a bodyguard by the cautious FBI. Amid great peril and deadly intrigue in the unforgiving Alaskan terrain, she and Jack form an uneasy alliance sparked with sensual attraction. But they will soon be fighting more than their growing passion for each other. Powerful forces will stop at nothing to prevent the exposure of the sinister conspiracy Sophie and Jack are about to uncover.

When Detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas confirms that the consecrated wine contained potassium cyanide, she’s determined to solve the murder of Father Miguel Flores, despite her discomfort with her surroundings. It’s not the bodegas and pawnshops of East Harlem that bother her, though the neighborhood is a long way from the stone mansion she shares with her billionaire husband, Roarke. It’s all that holiness flying around at St. Christobal’s that makes her uneasy.

A search of the victim’s sparsely furnished room reveals little— except for a carefully hidden religious medal with a mysterious inscription, and a couple of underlined Bible passages. The autopsy reveals more: faint scars of knife wounds, a removed tattoo—and evidence of plastic surgery, suggesting that “Father Flores” may not have been the man his parishioners had thought. Now, as Eve pieces together clues that hint at gang connections and a deeply personal act of revenge, she believes she’s making progress on the case. Until a second murder—in front of an even larger crowd of worshippers—knocks the whole investigation sideways. And Eve is left to figure out who committed these unholy acts—and why.

For Princess Gabrielle of St. Biel, Scotland is a land of stunning vistas, wild chieftains, treacherous glens, and steep shadows–skullduggery, betrayal, and now murder. Prized for her exquisite beauty, the daughter of one of England’s most influential barons, Gabrielle is also a perfect bargaining chip for a king who needs peace in the Highlands: King John has arranged Gabrielle’s marriage to a good and gentle laird. But this marriage will never take place.

For Gabrielle, everything changes in one last burst of freedom–when she and her guards come upon a scene of unimaginable cruelty. With one shot from her bow and arrow, Gabrielle takes a life, saves a life, and begins a war.

Within days, the Highlands are aflame with passions as a battle royal flares between enemies old and new. Having come to Scotland to be married, Gabrielle is instead entangled in Highland intrigue. For two sadistic noblemen, underestimating Gabrielle’s bravery and prowess may prove fatal. But thanks to a secret Gabrielle possesses, Colm MacHugh, the most feared man in Scotland, finds a new cause for courage. Under his penetrating gaze, neither Gabrielle’s body nor heart is safe.

In Renaissance Italy, intrigue is as intricate as carved cathedral doors, but none is so captivating as that surrounding the prized Wind Dancer, the lost treasure of a family–and of the man who will stop at nothing to reclaim it. Lionello Andreas is bound by his vow to guard the exquisite statue. But to recover what is rightfully his, he will need the help of a thief–one he can control body and soul. He finds his answer on the treacherous backstreets of Florence, in a sharp-witted young woman whose poverty leaves her no choice. But in the end, the allure of the Wind Dancer, and the ruthlessness of those who would possess her, will catapult them both into a terrifying realm where death may be the most merciful escape.

The infant management concepts presented in this book have found favor with over two million parents and twice as many contented babies. On Becoming Babywise brings hope to the tired and bewildered parents looking for an alternative to sleepless nights and fussy babies. The Babywise Parent Directed Feeding concept has enough structure to bring security and order to your baby’s world, yet enough flexibility to give mom freedom to respond to any need at any time. It teaches parents how to lovingly guide their baby’s day rather than be guided or enslaved to the infant’s unknown needs. Healthy sleep in infants is analogous to healthy growth and development. Find out for yourself why a world of parents and pediatricians utilize the concepts found in On Becoming Babywise.

Threatened by underworld boss Michael Trotta, Alessandra Lamont is nearly blown to pieces in a mob hit. The last thing she wants is to put what’s left of her life into the hands of the sexy, loose-cannon federal agent who seems to look right through her yet won’t let her out of his sight.

FBI agent Harry O’Dell’s ex-wife and son were tragic casualties in his ongoing war against organized crime. He’ll do whatever it takes to bring Trotta down – even if it means sticking like glue to this blonde bombshell who unwittingly married into the mob. She needs him if she wants to stay alive. But staying alive is nothing next to the explosive attraction that threatens to consume them both – and puts them into the greatest danger of all…falling in love.

Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan has been summoned to Baton Rouge by a high-ranking government official to identify the remains of an unknown murder victim. Eve wants nothing to do with the project. She has finally found peace from her own tragic past, living a quiet life with Atlanta detective Joe Quinn and her adopted daughter, Jane. Then a stunning series of seemingly unrelated events turns Eve’s new world upside down.

Now, in a special government facility, she takes on the project of identifying the victim’s skeleton. But she hasn’t even begun when the first death occurs. Someone totally ruthless, someone who can strike anywhere at any time and with seeming immunity, is determined to put a halt to her work, her life, and the lives of those she loves. Eve has stumbled onto a chilling conspiracy. There is only one person who can give her the devastating truth…and he is already dead.

Josie and Cooper were one of those couples everyone envied: gorgeous, successful, and so deeply devoted. Even though Josie tended to work too hard, putting in long hours to lift her fledgling company off the ground, and Cooper could be wild and unpredictable, the two complimented one another. It seemed their love would last forever.
But sometimes love just isn’t enough. When a tragic accident leaves Josie and Cooper with two young children to care for, their bond will be tested. Now the pressures of their commanding careers are compounded by the needs of the children, and they find themselves drifting further and further apart. They will have to work to find the way back to each other, to the incredible passion that was once at the center of lives-and still burns deep in their hearts.

It’s Christmastime in Boston, and this year the silver bells will be wedding bells as FBI agent Jules Cassidy ties the knot with the man of his dreams, Hollywood heartthrob Robin Chadwick.

The pair plan a quiet, intimate ceremony, to be witnessed by family and close friends from the FBI, SEAL Team Sixteen, and Troubleshooters, Incorporated, including Sam Starrett and Alyssa Locke. But the holiday season brings more to the happy couple than they expect.

A waterfall coming through their kitchen ceiling, a bat colony in the attic, old family tensions . . . even an international incident can’t dampen their spirits. But add to that a parade of unexpected guests, including a reporter looking for a scoop, an ex-lover hell-bent on causing trouble, and a dangerous stalker, and suddenly the wedding is poised to unravel in chaos.

But nothing will stop Jules and Robin from getting their happy ending, because along with a guest list featuring the most elite counterterrorism force in the world, they have their own secret weapon–true love.

He must control her or destroy her. . . .

For as long as she can remember, successful young physician Megan Blair has tried to silence the voices in her head—voices that bring her to the edge of madness and terror. Megan possesses psychic powers that have been dormant for years, hidden deep in the past she’s tried so desperately to forget. But now everything has come to a boiling point—someone is trying to kill her, and others are trying to use her, including the deadly and seductive Neal Grady. Shocking secrets about her life and her mother’s death bombard her as she fights to take control of her heritage and save herself and everything she believes in. Grady holds the key to understanding her future, a future in which Megan’s life will never be the same.

If she survives to have a future.

Do you still miss your little Bonnie? This one sentence, spoken by a male voice in anonymous phone call, is all it takes to drag Eve Duncan right back to that horrifying moment years ago when her only daughter vanished without a trace. Since then, Eve’s life has become an obsession to find her daughter’s remains. Only one man—a brilliant, ruthless killer—knows the truth about what happened to Bonnie. But taunting Eve might be his first and last mistake…

For Eve is armed with more than just her talent as a forensic sculptor. She brings with her former Navy SEAL Joe Quinn, an Atlanta detective who will do anything to help Eve put the pain of Bonnie’s death to rest. Even if he has to lie to the woman he cares about the most. And even if this killer wants nothing more than to lure Eve further and further into his swamp of madness…

Eve Duncan’s job is to put a face on the faceless victims of violent crimes. Her work not only comforts their survivors—but helps catch their killers. But there is another, more personal reason that Eve Duncan is driven to do the kind of work she does—a dark nightmare from a past she can never bury. And as she works on the skull of a newly discovered victim, that past is about to return all over again.

The victim is a Jane Doe found murdered, her face erased beyond recognition. But whoever killed her wasn’t just trying to hide her identity. The plan was far more horrifying. For as the face forms under Eve’s skilled hands, she is about to get the shock of her life. The victim is someone she knows all too well. Someone who isn’t dead. Yet.

Instantly Eve’s peaceful life is shattered. The sanctuary of the lakeside cottage she shares with Atlanta detective Joe Quinn and their adopted daughter Jane has been invaded by a killer who’s sent the grimmest of threats: the face of his next victim. To stop him, Eve must put her own life in the balance and question everything and everyone she trusts. Not even Quinn can go where Eve must go this time.

As the trail of faceless bodies leads to a chilling revelation, Eve finds herself trying to catch a master murderer whose grisly work is a testament to a mind warped by perversion and revenge. Now she must pit her skills against his in a showdown where the stakes are life itself—and where the unbearable cost of failure will make Eve’s own murder seem like a mercy killing.

If fate suddenly made you more beautiful that you ever dreamed possible, would it be the beginning of a fairy tale, or your worst nightmare?

The brutal attack should have killed anybody, but Nell Calder did more than survive. She emerged a woman transformed, with an exquisite beauty found only in fairy tales. Nell Calder deserved a happy ending. Instead, her descent into terror has just begun.

Her attacker is still on the hunt, determined to finish what he’s started. And Nell, protected by a new face, is just as determined to fight back and take her revenge. But to catch her prey, she will have to expose herself–even if it makes her a killer’s prime target.

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

Abducted from her convent school, headstrong Scottish beauty Jennifer Merrick does not easily surrender to Royce Westmoreland, Duke of Claymore. Known as “The Wolf,” his very name strikes terror in the hearts of his enemies. But proud Jennifer will have nothing to do with the fierce English warrior who holds her captive, this handsome rogue who taunts her with his blazing arrogance. Boldly she challenges his will…until the night he takes her in his powerful embrace, awakening in her an irresistible hunger. And suddenly Jennifer finds herself ensnared in a bewildering web…a seductive, dangerous trap of pride, passion, loyalty, and overwhelming love.

A prominent ambassador is killed in a suspicious hit-and-run in Washington, D.C.

Hours later, his stepdaughter vanishes in the mountains of northern New England.

Back in her hometown of Black Falls, Vermont, to do damage control on her career, Secret Service agent Jo Harper is drawn into the search. But her efforts face an unexpected challenge: Elijah Cameron.

With his military training and mountain rescue experience, Elijah knows the unforgiving terrain better than anyone. But he and Jo have been at odds forever—and Elijah believes the missing teenager isn’t just lost…she’s on the run.

Forced to work together, Jo and Elijah battle time and the elements in a race into the unforgiving mountains. The twists and turns awaiting them will take them closer to the explosive truth…and into the sights of a killer.

Instead of preaching what mothers ought to do, psychotherapist Naomi Stadlen explains what mothers already do in the course of any exhausting day’s work. Drawing from countless conversations with hundreds of mothers spanning more than a decade, What Mothers Do provides lucid insight into the true experience of motherhood and answers the perennial question common to mothers everywhere: What have I done all day?

Stadlen’s wise reflections, threaded throughout with the voices of real mothers, explore unsentimental reactions to motherhood-resentment, guilt, splintered identity, crippling inefficiency, and deadening fatigue. Yet the overriding sentiment is one of empowerment and wonder, as Stadlen illustrates how seemingly insignificant skills such as responding to a baby’s colicky cry, being instantly interruptible, or soothing an overstimulated child to sleep profoundly contribute to an individual’s socialization, self-worth, and curiosity. Remarkably perceptive and heartening, What Mothers Do will resonate with mothers everywhere in search of understanding and wisdom.

Darci has never given up searching for her kidnapped husband, Adam Montgomery. But her quest has taken her deeper into the world of psychic phenomena than she ever dreamed — or dared to go. When the FBI enlists her help in locating the missing father of undercover agent Jack Rose, Darci signs on for the covert operation, not knowing that her attraction to handsome, sexy Jack is about to lead her into deadly territory — and into an era long past. For Jack has a protector, a mysterious nineteenth-century lady who pulls them into a time and place where Darci is stripped of her abilities. Can she find the key that links to the modern-day crimes she’s set out to solve? And will a showdown with a wicked force from the past hold her hostage…for all eternity?

Darci’s psychic abilities have always guided her through hardship…and into a once-in-a-lifetime love with her rich, powerful husband, Adam Montgomery. When Adam vanishes in a mysterious accident, a grief-stricken Darci is left alone to raise their young daughter. But her instinct tells her the reports of Adam’s death are untrue. When the FBI enlists her intuitive talents to solve a heinous crime, she agrees — if they’ll help to uncover the truth about Adam. It may be a tougher deal than Darci imagined: she must go head-to-head with Jack Rose, a criminal whose mind power matches Darci’s at every turn. Now Darci must discover if those in the highest circles of authority have her best interests at heart — or if someone intends to sever the everlasting bond she shares with her one true love.

Darci Monroe overcame a childhood of neglect with an ebullient spirit, a positive attitude…and extraordinary determination. Now the resourceful young woman, hired as Adam Montgomery’s personal assistant, devotes more than just professional attention to this devastatingly handsome millionaire. But one thing bars Adam from accepting Darci’s love: he is intent on discovering the secret of his parents’ disappearance, for she possesses the otherworldly abilities needed to help him fight a terrifying mistress of the dark arts. What Darci ends up offering is a gift greater than Adam ever hoped for, for Darci loves with all her heart, and all her soul, forever….

Emily Jane Todd has just found her guardian angel. Actually, the small-town librarian had just been stood up by her fiancé when she ran into the errant angel with her car. And while he appears to be unscathed, “Michael” continues to insist that his pedigree is quite legitimate. Emily just hopes his brain hasn’t been scrambled in the accident; besides, she’s not inclined to believe that an angel could be so dangerously sexy.

Yet Michael quickly reveals the most astounding things about her, and makes her laugh in a way she never has before. What’s more, he declares that he’s been sent to save her. At this point, the only rescue Emily has in mind is her upcoming marriage, and she’s ready to bid her most attractive angel good-bye. But when he lets slip that he also looks at souls — and hers is a rare beauty — Emily’s ready to risk heaven in his arms. Their journey will break every angelic and earthly rule before it yields her one wish: a love divine.

A hard-driving businessman sees love with new eyes when a sweet young widow and her son change his life — and his heart — forever.

Wealthy corporate genius Jason Wilding reluctantly takes a break from his high-powered world to visit his hometown of Abernathy, Kentucky. As a favor to his physician brother David, he finds himself spending one week as a live-in baby-sitter in the ramshackle home of Amy Thompkins, who has captured David’s heart. Courting the whimsical, artistic Amy has been difficult with her adorable but demanding baby, Max, in tow, and Jason’s help is just what David needs.

But stepping into Amy’s patched-together world has the most remarkable effect — on Jason….Amy’s joy for life, her love for her son, and her sparkling humor are irresistible — and tiny Max adores Jason beyond reason. Soon, the enigmatic CEO is thawing. And his newfound smile reminds Amy of a Mount Rushmore monument finally cracking up — in the best possible way.

Their mutual attraction is glowing bright, but what to do about David? In this heart-warming and unforgettable bestseller, Jude Deveraux celebrates the unexpected paths on the heart’s journey toward love, and the eternal bond between mother and child.

It was her father’s dying wish that Samantha Elliot search for her grandmother, who’d disappeared from Louisville when she was a baby. So here she was, in big, dirty New York City…her parents were dead, her divorce was final, and she was all alone….

Michael Taggert was Samantha’s landlord, and he was easily the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. He was charming, too — his zest for life was so contagious that in his presence Sam bloomed like a flower after the rain. Yet Mike could only get so far with her — when he tried to get closer, it was like running into a brick wall.

But Mike wouldn’t give up. As they probed her grandmother’s past, he was slowly uncovering the joy and affection Samantha had buried long ago — and leading them closer to the dangerous truth about a bloody spring night in 1928, and a seductive blues singer named Maxie….

Claire Willoughby risked losing millions in her inheritance if, as decreed by her grandfather, she did not wed an “acceptable” man. Harry Montgomery, the eleventh Duke of MacArran, seemed perfect. He owned a historic castle, he looked manly in a kilt, and he was as much a titled Scotsman as Bonnie Prince Charlie himself.

Their engagement announced, Claire’s future as a duchess was assured — and she set off with her family to meet the Montgomery clan in Scotland. Bramley Castle was a damp, chill place, overgrowing with eccentric relatives. But there was also Trevelyan, a secretive, brooding man who lived in Bramley’s ancient halls. Whoever he was, he wasn’t at all like Harry: Trevelyan was the most exasperating, arrogant, know-it-all of a man Claire had ever met. And the most fascinating…

Her wedding fast approaching, celebrated chef Kady Long knew she was the luckiest woman alive…until she slipped into a delicate satin wedding dress she found in an antique flour tin and was overcome by an odd dizzy spell. When she came to, Kady was in the dusty western town of Legend, Colorado — where a hanging was about to commence! With quick wits and more than a little moxie, Kady halts the proceedings, much to the relief of one Cole Jordan, a tall, thankful, and very appealing man.

Now it’s Kady’s turn to enlist his help to find a way back home. But before long, Kady discovers a passion that she knows can only live in Legend — until Cole reveals a secret that unites them in a way Kady never could have imagined.

Jamie Montgomery, an impoverished Elizabethan knight, is elated when he is assigned to escort Axia, the Lancaster heiress, to the castle of her betrothed. If only she will fall in love with Jamie 00 as Jamie’s devoted older sister predicts 00 the family’s financial woes will be solved. But Axia, who has spent her life closely guarded by her father’s servants, is not the shy, cossetted flower Jamie expects. She’s a hoyden, hell-bent on enjoying her precious moments of liberty before her marriage to a man chosen by her remote, eccentric father. After curtly informing Jamie not to bother declaring his love for her — as all poor, handsome men seem wont to do — Axia makes his life a misery, sneaking off to the marketplace, nearly breaking her neck on a runaway horse, and doing everything possible to delay the trip. Though she dare not admit it, even to herself, Axia dreads being wed to a stranger. Suddenly Jamie realizes that he savors even her most barbed words life the rarest nectar..that he is falling desperately in love with this bold, maddening beauty. Now he must contrive a daring plan to win her freedom — and win her proud, defiant heart for his own!

Lovely Zared Peregrine was the pride of her family, a treasure her rough-hewn brothers would strive at any cost to protect from their ancient enemies, the Howards. The Peregrines had suffered loss enough. Thus Zared’s brothers trained her in the arts of war, and dressed her in boy’s clothing. Beyond the castle walls, none knew that the youngest Peregrine was a girl….

Yet when the magnificent Knight Tearle Howard returned from a lengthy sojourn in France, it took him but one glance to discover that Zared was most definitely female, and beautiful. Now, as the enmity between their families raged on, Tearle would mount a bold campaign to win the ravishing spitfire’s heart — and save her from his brother’s dark and deadly obsession!

Carrie Montgomery had grown up with seven adoring older brothers, and she was used to getting her way rather easily. Joshua Greene was only looking for a hardworking, practical mail-order bride to help with the farm and feed and clothe his children. Yet from the moment Carrie saw his photograph, saw his devastatingly handsome, sorrowful smile, the petite and pampered beauty knew she was the perfect wife for him.

Josh didn’t see it that way. Wed by proxy, he refused to be charmed by his new bride’s blond curls and effervescent laughter, or impressed by her trappings of wealth…even if his son and daughter believed she was a fairy princess come to life. He was furious — and ready to send her packing, until a near tragedy convinced him that her beauty was more than skin-deep. But even after he had yielded to the wild desire that surged between them, Josh could not admit how much he truly needed her. Then an old scandal threatened to re-emerge, and he realized that he could lose her forever….

New York City, 1909: A woman ahead of her time, Temperance O’Neil is happily married to her work — helping single mothers on the city streets — which she funds with her inheritance. When her disapproving stepfather, Angus McCairn, cuts off her income, an infuriated Temperance has no choice but to do as he commands: live, as a proper unmarried lady, in the family’s home in Edinburgh. She soon strikes up a bargain with the elder McCairn to win her passage home by agreeing to žnd a wife for his nephew, James — a task few would dare undertake.

A brusque, strapping man, James McCairn has little use for the new “housekeeper” on his Highlands farm — though the place could surely use a woman’s touch. But as she attempts to match James with his ideal mate, Temperance makes a surprising discovery: behind his gruff exterior is a kind, intelligent, caring soul. And his perfect match may surprise Temperance most of all….

Bestselling romance writer Hayden Lane has never been so obsessed with one of her fictional heroes before so entranced that she barely notices when her fiancé breaks their engagement. Desperate to discover more about him, she visits a psychic who tells har that in a past life, Hayden was Lady de Grey, a promiscuous woman of Edwardian England whose ghost is said to haunt her husband’s home. Warned not to investigate further, Hayden is more intrigued than ever and can’t resist being subject to a hypnotist’s magic. But the trick goes wrong, and instead of merely remembering her past as Lady de Grey, Hayden is living it right down to her too-tight corset. Now, Hayden will discover quite a different story about a woman history considered a trollop, a spectacular, brooding man, and the rapturous love that would be hers if she dared open her heart to the most mysterious adventure of all….

was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn’t stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an “excitement addict.” Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.

Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town — and the family — Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents’ betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.

Something Borrowed tells the story of Rachel, a young attorney living and working in Manhattan. Rachel has always been the consummate good girl—until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend, Darcy, throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy’s fiancé. Although she wakes up determined to put the one-night fling behind her, Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for the one guy she should run from. As the September wedding date nears, Rachel knows she has to make a choice. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren’t always neat, and sometimes you have to risk all to win true happiness.

Jacob Jankowski says: “I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other.” At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn’t always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn’t a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn’t write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.

When US Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling woman half-buried in the dirt during his third tour of duty in Iraq, his first instinct is to toss it aside. Instead, he brings it back to the base for someone to claim, but when no one does, he finds himself always carrying the photo in his pocket. Soon Thibault experiences a sudden streak of luck, winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat that kills two of his closest buddies. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph – his lucky charm.

Back home in Colorado, Thibault can’t seem to get the photo – and hte woman in it- out of his mind. Believing that she somehow holds the key to his destiny, he sets out on a journey across the country to find her, never expecting the strong but vulnerable woman he encounters in Hampton, North Carolina – Elizabeth, a divorced mother with a young son – to be the girl he’s been waiting his whole life to meet.

Sam and Hadley West are both trying in their own ways to survive after the unthinkable loss of their only son in Alaska. For Sam, a sports journalist, acceptance means an arduous trek by dogsled across the bleak and beautiful arctic wilderness to find the place where Paul died. For Hadley, it means renting a benignly haunted, salt-soaked cottage off the Maine coast where she begins to paint again.

Now, at opposite ends of the country, waiting for their divorce to be finalized, they begin to exchange letters by post, missives filled with longing and truths they’ve never before voiced, as they recall their marriage—its magic moments and its challenges—and begin to rediscover the reasons they fell in love in the first place.

As Sam risks his life to reach the remote crash site, Hadley begins an equally hazardous inner journey to a rendezvous with the mad grief of a mother’s heart. At the place where all else is lost, they will meet again….

Concordia Glade, a teacher with past secrets and unconventional ideas about educating women, meets Ambrose Wells, a “private inquiry agent” with secrets of his own and an unusual tattoo, as she and her four orphaned pupils flee Aldwick Castle, which they have set on fire to hide their escape. Ambrose escorts the lovely fugitives to safety, protecting them from the criminal mastermind and his aristocratic partner who’d kept them as part of a dastardly plan to use them for profit and pleasure. Concordia returns the favor by helping Ambrose investigate the mysterious death of a London woman.

Natalie and Tom have been best friends forever, but Tom wants them to be much more. When Natalie’s longtime boyfriend walks out on her just when she thinks he’s going to propose, Tom offers her a different and wildly romantic proposition. He suggests that they spend twenty-six weekends together, indulging in twenty-six different activities from A to Z, and at the end of that time Tom’s convinced they’ll be madly in love. Natalie, however, is not so sure.

As Natalie’s touring the alphabet with Tom, her mother’s going through her own romantic crisis—while Tom’s unhappily married sister-in-law, Lucy, struggles with temptation. And over the course of six amazing months, three generations of passionate dreamers are going to discover that, no matter how clever they are, love—and life—is never as easy as A, B, C . . .

The tempestuous marriage of Alexandra Lawrence, an innocent country girl, and Jordan Townsende, the rich and powerful Duke of Hawthorne, is about to face its ultimate test of tender loyalty. Swept into the endlessly fascinating world of London society, free-spirited Alexandra becomes ensnared in a tangled web of jealousy and revenge, stormy pride and overwhelming passion. But behind her husband’s cold, arrogant mask, there lives a tender, vital, sensual man…the man Alexandra married. Now, she will fight for his very life…and the rapturous bond they alone can share.

After the Music – Terrified by mysterious threats, Jessica Fitzpatrick takes her twin wards to the island mansion of their estranged father, Dillon Wentworth, a famous musician who shut out the world after a fire claimed his wife’s life and left him disfigured. With Christmas approaching, the spark between Dillon and Jessica might light the future, but the evil machinations of those who share his late wife’s love of the occult may plunge the family into darkness — unless a Christmas miracle occurs. . . .

The Twilight Before Christmas – Bestselling novelist Kate Drake, one of seven sisters with amazing powers of witchcraft, wants to open a bookstore in a charming but run-down mill in her California hometown. Decorated former U.S. Army Ranger Matt Granite, now a contractor, doesn’t mind helping — and getting closer to Kate. But when an earthquake exposes a crypt in the mill’s foundation, a centuries-old evil threatens to destroy both Christmas and the gift of soul-searing passion Kate’s hometown hero wants her to keep forever. . . .

Rocky Mountain Miracle – When Cole Steele, a womanizer rumored to have killed his father, meets Maia Armstrong, a veterinarian rumored to practice magic, the sparks that fly could melt all the snow on his Wyoming ranch. And when an injured horse brings them together, Cole can’t help but believe that Maia casts spells on animals and men. What else could explain the burning passion he feels for her and the thawing of his heart around the holidays?

In “The Awakening,” a beautiful naturalist’s dream comes true-to live among the feral jungle creatures. But an untamed, irresistible beast of another sort inspires her to explore her own wild side.

Wild Rain’s Rachel Lospostros has escaped from a faceless assassin and found sanctuary thousands of miles from home, under the towering jungle canopy. In this world teeming with unusual creatures she encounters Rio, a native of the forest imbued with a fierce prowess, and possessed of secrets of his own. When Rio unleashes the secret animal instincts that course through his blood, Rachel must decide if he is something to be feared-or desired.

Born into a world of ice, slave to her evil father, Lara Calladine knew only paralyzing fear as a child. Only by escaping with her mysterious gifts unbroken would she survive to claim her great Carpathian heritage as a Dragonseeker…

Now, Lara is in search of the source of her nightmares—the cold, dark corners of her childhood just on the edges of her memory. Only one man has the power and the will to help her: dangerous, arrogant Nicolas De La Cruz.

Together, Lara and Nicolas search the treacherous Carpathian landscape for the truth about their pasts—and discover a passion that neither has ever known before.

When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?

To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.

Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella’s life-first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse-seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed… forever?

Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) is pregnant! She couldn’t be more overjoyed–especially since discovering that shopping cures morning sickness. Everything has got to be perfect for her baby: from the designer nursery . . . to the latest, coolest pram . . . to the celebrity, must-have obstetrician.

But when the celebrity obstetrician turns out to be her husband Luke’s glamorous, intellectual ex-girlfriend, Becky’s perfect world starts to crumble. She’s shopping for two . . . but are there three in her marriage?

“Sarah Drake has come home.” Ever since Damon Wilder sought refuge in Sea Haven, he’s heard the same breathless rumor pass the lips of nearly every local in the sleepy coastal town. Even the wind seems to whisper her name-a reverie so powerfully suggestive that it carries the curious Damon to Sarah’s cliff-top home, and seeks to shelter him there. But Damon has not arrived alone. A killer has tracked him to Sea Haven, and into the shadows of Drake House. But Sarah has her own secrets, and danger-as well as a desire more urgent than either has ever known-is just a whisper away…

From the glittering ballrooms of Regency England to the sapphire waters of the Mediterranean, the dazzling finale of Gaelen Foley’s Spice trilogy unfurls the passionate tale of a rebel princess and the powerful warrior destined to become her champion.

Princess Sophia was only a child when Napoleon conquered the island paradise ruled by her father. Raised in England and now twenty-one, she means to claim the throne that is rightfully hers and bring peace to her war-torn land. But an ambush by enemies forces Sophia into hiding outside London. Disguising herself as a peasant girl until she can safely return, she meets Major Gabriel Knight, a wounded warrior whose brush with death has utterly changed him.

Heir to a great fortune, and a master swordsman, Gabriel has given up his worldly possessions and laid down his arms. Sophia is fascinated by his brooding magnetism, and Gabriel, lured by her fiery beauty and healed by her touch, is drawn back inexorably toward the world of the living.

But when Sophia’s royal destiny is revealed, Gabriel knows he must take up his sword again, whatever the cost, to protect his princess from those who would destroy her. And as longing blossoms into passion, Gabriel discovers the one cause that is truly worth fighting for. . . .

Jordan Buchanan is thrilled that her brother and best friend are tying the knot. The wedding is a lavish affair–for the marriage of Dylan Buchanan and Kate MacKenna is no ordinary occasion. It represents the joining of two family dynasties. The ceremony and reception proceed without a hitch–until a crasher appears claiming to be a MacKenna guest. The disheveled and eccentric professor of medieval history warns that there’s “bad blood” between the couple’s clans, stemming from an ancient feud that originated in Scotland, and involving the Buchanan theft of a coveted MacKenna treasure.

Jordan has always led a cautious life and has used her intelligence and reason to become a successful businesswoman. So she is intrigued but skeptical of the professor’s claims that the feud has been kept alive by the grave injustices the Buchanans have perpetrated over the centuries. But when Noah Clayborne, a close family friend and a man who has never let a good time or a pretty girl pass him by, accuses Jordan of being trapped in her comfort zone, she determines to prove him wrong and sets out on a spontaneous adventure to the small, dusty town of Serenity, Texas, to judge the professor’s research for herself.

Maneuvering through a close-knit community in which everyone knows everyone else’s business, Jordan never anticipates the danger and intrigue that lie in her path, nor the threat that will shadow her back to Boston, where even in familiar surroundings, her life is at risk.

Gator Fontenot of the Special Forces paranormal squad must reel in the elusive Iris “Flame” Johnson, a victim of the same horrific experiments that warped Gator–and a red-haired weapon of unimaginable destructive powers bent on revenge in the sultry bayous of New Orleans. But can two people haunted by violent betrayals trust the passion that soon ignites between them? Or is one of them just playing another seductive and deadly night game?

Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley is a long way from Hollywood. And that’s exactly how Cilla McGowan wants it. Cilla, a former child star who has found more satisfying work as a restorer of old houses, has come to her grandmother’s farmhouse, tools at her side, to rescue it from ruin. Sadly, no one was able to save her grandmother, the legendary Janet Hardy. An actress with a tumultuous life, Janet entertained glamorous guests and engaged in decadent affairs—but died of an overdose in this very house more than thirty years earlier. To this day, Janet haunts Cilla’s dreams. And during waking hours, Cilla is haunted by her melodramatic, five-times-married mother, who carried on in the public spotlight and never gave her a chance at a normal childhood. By coming east, rolling up her sleeves, and rehabbing this wreck of a house, Cilla intends to find some kind of normalcy for herself.
Plunging into the project with gusto, she’s almost too busy to notice her neighbor, graphic novelist Ford Sawyer—but his lanky form, green eyes, and easy, unflappable humor (not to mention his delightfully ugly dog, Spock) are hard to ignore. Determined not to perpetuate the family tradition of ill-fated romances, Cilla steels herself against Ford’s quirky charm, but she can’t help indulging in a little fantasy. But love and a peaceful life may not be in the cards for Cilla. In the attic, she has found a cache of unsigned letters suggesting that Janet Hardy was pregnant when she died—and that the father was a local married man. Cilla can’t help but wonder what really happened all those years ago. The mystery only deepens with a series of intimidating acts and a frightening, violent assault. And if Cilla and Ford are unable to sort out who is targeting her and why, she may—like her world-famous grandmother— be cut down in the prime of her life.

Bewitching rock superstar Joley Drake can have any lover she wants. But when her life is threatened, her dangerously sexy bodyguard is the only man she needs. There’s just one problem: his shadowy reputation as a secret Russian hit man may put Joley in even greater peril…

Jill Breck was just doing her job as a river guide when she saved the life of Lane Faroe, son of two of St. Kilda Consulting’s premier operators. But when a string of ominous events—including a mysterious fire that kills her great-aunt and a furor in the Western art world raised by a dozen Breck family paintings—culminates in a threat to her life, Jill reluctantly calls in a favor.

Zach Balfour works part-time as a consultant for St. Kilda. His expertise is gathering and analyzing information from unlikely and often dangerous sources. Though he’s got the skills to be a highly effective bodyguard, being a bullet catcher isn’t his preferred way to spend time.

Protecting Jill will take him into familiar territory—among a strange, savagely competitive bunch of collectors who’ll do anything to stay at the top. But Jill is in deeper waters than she’s ever known; as she soon discovers, the perils of running wild rivers are tame compared with the hidden dangers in the high-stakes game of art collecting.

From the cozy rooms of the Breck homestead cabin to the cold multimillion-dollar galleries of the Western art circuit, Zach and Jill must race against time to unmask a ruthless killer hidden in a blue smoke of money, threats, lies, and death. . . .

Lilly and Dutch Burton’s marriage didn’t withstand the loss of their three-year-old daughter, despite their attempt at a fresh start with the purchase of a vacation cabin in bucolic Cleary, N.C., where the novel opens on the divorced couple discussing its sale. Dutch is now Cleary’s chief of police, and Lilly is a magazine editor in Atlanta. As she races back to the city to beat a blizzard, her car skids out, striking a hiker emerging from the woods. Turns out he’s a man she knows: handsome freelance writer Ben Tierney, whom she met and flirted with the summer before. With no choice but to wait out the storm in the cabin with Ben, who is injured, Lilly calls Dutch, but he can’t reach her via the now impassable mountain road. Meanwhile, Cleary is haunted by the case of five missing women—all now feared dead. With Lilly still stranded, Dutch goes ballistic when the FBI arrives in town with evidence that Tierney is the serial killer.

A rootless foster child, Julie Mathison had blossomed under the love showered upon her by her adoptive family. Now a lovely and vivacious young woman, she was a respected teacher in her small Texas town, and she passionately lived her ideals. Julie was determined to give back all the kindness she’d received; nothing and no one would ever shatter the perfect life she had fashioned.

Zachary Benedict was an actor/director whose Academy Award-winning career had been shattered when he was wrongly convicted of murdering his wife. After the tall, ruggedly handsome Zack escaped from a Texas prison, he abducted Julie and forced her to drive him to his Colorado mountain hideout. She was outraged, cautious, and unable to ignore the instincts that whispered of his innocence. He was cynical, wary, and increasingly attracted to her. Passion was about to capture them both in its fierce embrace…but the journey to trust, true commitment, and proving Zack’s innocence was just beginning….

High atop a snow-covered hill, the stately old Wyatt mansion is perched like a crown, its stone spires pointing upward, its stained glass windows glowing like colorful jewels. Such opulence means success and, surely, happiness. But on the eve of wealthy philanthropist Cecil Wyatt’s eightieth birthday, all the money in the world won’t bring back his missing grandson, William Wyatt. The only thing for certain: Foul play was involved.

The family, the police, the media–all have tried in vain to discover the young man’s fate. Now suspicion has turned shockingly toward William’s own half-brother, the rather distant and enigmatic Mitchell Wyatt.

Kate Donovan never dreamed that a chance romantic encounter on a tropical island paradise would tag her as a suspect in a high-society murder case. But after Kate tangles with the darkly charismatic Mitchell Wyatt, she finds herself cast in a shadow of guilt and mistrust. As the Chicago police tighten their net, it will take all of Kate’s ingenuity to clear her name. With her calm, cool wit, and the help of a man who may or may not be a dangerous catch, Kate vows to claim the life and love she desires.

When Lord Gregor MacLean learns his childhood friend, Venetia Oglivie, has beenabducted by a fortune hunter, he rides off to Scotland in hot — and very annoyed — pursuit. Venetia’s soft heart has gotten her in major trouble this time: if hedoesn’t rescue her swiftly, the scandal will ostracize the provocative wench!

The only sensible member of her family, Venetia is sure she can fix any problem,even this one. So when an irate Gregor catches up with her, arrogantly expectinga hero’s welcome, the sparks between them begin to fly. Then an unexpected snowstorm traps them at an inn, and Gregor discovers his feelings for the lovelyVenetia are far warmer than he realized — fiery enough to burn down the inn! Nowif he can only convince Venetia that his motive for marriage isn’t duty…but desire.

Having a baby gets the chick-lit treatment in this first novel about first-time motherhood. No glowing madonnas here. Frannie confirms her unexpected condition at the Gap when she throws up on a sweater display. Not trusting any of the doctors in her adopted city of New York, she flies home to Toronto. While trying to re-enter the U.S. she is informed that her visa has expired. Left jobless and homeless, Frannie camps out at her brother’s posh mansion and contemplates how to tell Calvin, an experimental jazz musician on tour in Europe, about his impending fatherhood. During her major life crises, Frannie experiences all the minor travails associated with pregnancy–shopping for nursing bras, learning to operate a breast pump, and unhappily comparing herself with her fellow Lamaze classmates, all “paragons of Sears catalog motherhood.”

Imagine that Alaska became its own country and that it is the present day and Alaska has a royal family, who, although they live in a palace in Juneau, are down-to-earth. The king, especially, enjoys going “native,” growing a beard and chartering a fishing boat incognito. It is during one of these excursions that he decides that a fellow passenger would make a perfect wife for his eldest son, David. Christina is a wandering soul alone in the world, who not only ends up at the palace but quickly becomes a valued member of the household. She and David hit it off, but the day after their wedding, they are confronted with a crisis of major proportions. What’s difficult to believe (once you get past picturing Alaska as a country) is that anyone would envision Christina as a princess: she has a mouth like a longshoreman. But it’s fun to watch her and David, two opposite personalities, come together in Davidson’s quirky tale.

On the eve of his 30th birthday, Crown Prince Raffaele Giancarlo Ettore di Fiore feels more like a prisoner than a prince. With his every wish granted and no real work required of him, Rafe is bored. Fate intervenes when his coach is set upon by The Masked Rider, a mysterious highwayman adored by the common folk for his Robin Hood ways. Rafe foils the bandit’s attack only to later discover that he’s unmasked a lovely young noblewoman. Lady Daniela Chiaramonte is as strong-willed and brave as she is beautiful and when she’s drawn into Rafe’s world of luxury and power, she becomes an invaluable ally in the storm of events that threaten his once predictable life. With an unknown assassin plotting against the royal family, Rafe’s wit, courage, and endurance is tested beyond reason. Perhaps no one but Rafe and Daniela believe that he can save the kingdom; in the end, even the powerful prince might not be able to save the woman he loves.

Imperious and beautiful, Princess Serafina has loved Darius Santiago, the king’s most trusted warrior, since she was a child. But Darius was plucked from the gutter by the king to be trained as a spy, and although he loves Serafina beyond reason, he conceals his heart for he believes his background forbids a union between them. When Serafina is betrothed to a ruthless Russian aristocrat in a bargain that gains her tiny island kingdom protection from Bonaparte’s armies, Darius intervenes to save her. His actions set in motion a sequence of events that will challenge the strength of their love and threaten their lives as well as the survival of the kingdom.

On a calm moonlit night, as the scent of jasmine and pine embraced the island of Ascension, the pirate prince Lazar di Fiori returns with lethal grace to avenge what was stolen from him: his kingdom, his birthright, his soul. . . .

Allegra Monteverdi, the daughter of Lazar’s sworn enemy, proves an uncommonly powerful adversary. She throws herself on his mercy, her courage and beauty touching his cold, unforgiving heart. He agrees to spare the lives of her family–but only if Allegra sails away with him as his captive. For his quest for vengeance still burns fiercely, and he will settle for nothing less than Allegra’s body and soul.

Alone at sea with this dark, intriguing man, moving between seduction and fear, Allegra gazes into eyes as deep and mysterious as the night and sees who this pirate really is. Lazar–the prince of her childhood dreams. Though he was rumored to be murdered years ago, she always believed someday he would return. But it will take more than her love for this pirate prince to bring peace to her beloved home. For Lazar must face the demons of his shattered past–if he is to forge the destiny that is theirs to claim. . . .

Plum is a bounty hunter from Trenton, NJ and as usual, her life is utter chaos. She ends up babysitting the teenaged son of a skip, Zook. Zook is addicted to an interactive Internet game called Minionfire. He also likes to spray paint everything. Ranger (a fellow bounty hunter and owner of a security firm) hires Stephanie to help babysit an aging singer, Brenda, who acts like a diva and is inclined to get into trouble. Plum also finds herself in the middle of a 10-year-old $9 million unsolved bank robbery, and it appears that the money might be somewhere in boyfriend Joe Morelli’s house. Brenda decides to start a reality show and follows Plum around as she’s trying to do her job. And when things couldn’t get any worse, Lula is engaged to boyfriend, Tank, and is driving Plum crazy with wedding plans.

Strange, twisted carvings and hideous gargoyles adorned the palazzo of the great Scarletti family. But a still more fearful secret lurked within its storm-tossed turrets. For every bride who entered its forbidding walls was doomed to leave in a casket. Mystical and unfettered, Nicoletta had no terror of ancient curses and no fear of marriage…until she looked into the dark mesmerizing eyes of Don Scarletti. She had sworn no man would command her, had thought her gift of healing set her apart, but his was the right to choose a bride from among his people. And he had chosen her.

Impoverished aristocrat Isabella Vernaducci will defy death itself to rescue her imprisoned brother. She’ll even brave the haunted, accursed lair of the lion–the menacing palazzo of legendary, lethal Don Nicolai DeMarco. Rumor says the powerful don can command the heavens, that the beasts below do his bidding…and that he is doomed to destroy the woman he takes as his wife. But Isabella meets a man whose growl is velvet, purring heat, whose eyes hold dark, all-consuming desire. And when the don commands her to become his bride, she goes willingly into his muscled arms, praying she’ll save his tortured soul…not sacrifice her life.

After centuries as the Prince of the Carpathians Mikhail Dubrinsky fears he can’t protect them for long from their greatest threat: the extinction of their species- a fate that has become the wicked prayer of his enemies. To ensure it, they are devising a scheme to slaughter Carpathian females. But even with his own lifemate, Raven, and their daughter, Savannah, vulnerable to the encroaching evil, Mikhail’s hope is not lost…

In this desperate season, Carpathians from around the world are gathering to join their strengths, their souls, and their powers to bring light to the darkness. But so too are their adversaries uniting – hunters, vampires, demons, and betrayers – bringing untold dangers into the fold of the Carpathian people.

After centuries as the Prince of the Carpathians Mikhail Dubrinsky fears he can’t protect them for long from their greatest threat: the extinction of their species- a fate that has become the wicked prayer of his enemies. To ensure it, they are devising a scheme to slaughter Carpathian females. But even with his own lifemate, Raven, and their daughter, Savannah, vulnerable to the encroaching evil, Mikhail’s hope is not lost…

In this desperate season, Carpathians from around the world are gathering to join their strengths, their souls, and their powers to bring light to the darkness. But so too are their adversaries uniting – hunters, vampires, demons, and betrayers – bringing untold dangers into the fold of the Carpathian people.

For as long as she can remember, Natalya has been fighting demons: first in the form of childhood nightmares, then later, immortal creatures that kill and prey on the innocent—including her own twin brother. Whether Carpathian or vampire, she slays those who murder by night, and has no equal—until she is seduced by the very thing she considers her enemy…

A Carpathian who has seen nearly everything in his endless existence, Vikirnoff didn’t think he could be surprised anymore—until he faces a woman who rivals him as a vampire hunter. A formidable and gifted warrior in her own right, Natalya has a nature that is strangely familiar—yet alien—to his own. Who is this mysterious female who fears no one—not even him? Natalya could be the key to the survival of the Carpathians, but all Vikirnoff is certain of is that she is the key to his heart and soul…

Rafael De La Cruz has spent centuries hunting vampires with his brothers, and with each passing year his capacity to feel emotions has grown weaker and weaker until finally there’s barely been a memory left-until only sheer willpower keeps him from turning into the very abomination he hunts. But it’ll take more than will to keep him away from the woman who is meant to be his and his alone…

For five years, rancher Colby Jansen has been the sole protector of her younger half-siblings, and with fierce determination and work she has kept her family together and the ranch operational. Now, the De La Cruz brothers are threatening that stability. They claim that her siblings belong with their father’s family, not with her. Colby vows to fight them-especially the cold and arrogant Rafael De La Cruz. But Rafael is after more than her family-he wants Colby and will not let anything stand between them. After ages of loneliness, the raw desire to possess her overwhelms his very soul, driving him to claim her as his lifemate….

In a dark jungle a beautiful activist liberates animals from a secret laboratory-and stumbles across an unexpected prisoner. She releases the Carpathian from his bonds-only to unleash his voracious appetite on herself….

Her childhood had been a nightmare of violence and pain until she heard his voice calling out to her. Golden and seductive. The voice of an angel.

He had shown her how to survive, taught her to use her unique gifts, trained her in the ancient art of hunting the vampire. Yet he could not bend her to his will. He could not summon her to him, no matter how great his power.

As she battled centuries-old evil in a glittering labyrinth of caverns and crystals, he whispered in her mind, forging an unbreakable bond of trust and need. Only with him can she find the courage to embrace the seductive promise of her… Dark Destiny.

Lead guitarist of the Dark Troubadors, Dayan was renowned for his mesmerizing performances. His melodies stilled crowds, beckoned, seduced, tempted. And always, he called to her. His lover. His lifemate. He called to her to complete him. To give him the emotions that had faded from his existence, leaving him an empty shell of growing darkness. Save me. Come to me.

Corrinne Wentworth stood at the vortex of a gathering storm. Pursued by the same fanatics who’d murdered her husband, she was risking her life by keeping more that one secret. Fragile, delicate, vulnerable, she had an indomitable faith that made her fiery surrender to Dayan all the more powerful. This was the one woman whose loss would destroy him, even as her love promised to heal his soul.

Dark Descent tells the story of Joie Sanders, a bodyguard and Traian Trigovise, an ancient hunter, meeting after a battle in a deep cave filled with mystery and wonder. Set in the Carpathian Mountains, Joie, with her brother and sister go caving and come across the ancient warrior beset upon by several vampires. They have no choice but to throw their lot in with the hunter and do their best to escape with their lives from the underground labyrinth filled with ancient traps left behind by a powerful race.

This time around the focus is on Carpathian vampire hunter Byron Justicano, a “good” vampire who feeds only to sustain himself. He is drawn to the haunting music created by Italian concert pianist, Antonietta Scarletti, the woman he has chosen to be his “lifemate.” Blinded and orphaned as a child by an explosion on the family yacht, Antonietta, a strong psychic, is heir to the Scarletti family fortune and the massive Scarletti palazzo, which accommodates all her relatives. When Byron learns that someone within the family is siphoning off the family treasures and slowly poisoning Antonietta, her grandfather and her cousin, he draws upon his supernatural powers to catch the villain.

For centuries, Lucian Daratrazanoff has been the dark guardian of his people, living a bleak existence of violence and horror. But now his kind, the Carpathians, are dying out or falling prey to the souless life of vampires. Only by finding and claiming his destined life mate can Lucian stave off the ever present lure of the soulless evil. Part man, part predator, Lucian will stop at nothing in order to find his mate. Jaxon Montgomery is anything but ordinary. She is stubborn, independent, but a damn good cop with an unerring sense of impending danger. Honed by a traumatic childhood and years of training in Special Forces, she is determined to sacrifice everything to protect others. But now the monster from her childhood has returned, and anyone who befriends her is in mortal danger. The last thing she needs is to become involved with a man, even one as mesmerizing and bewitching as Lucian Daratrazanoff. But Lucian will not be rebuffed, and is determined to possess her, to guard her for all time, to make her his life mate…and save his soul.

Gabriel wakes deep within the ground, and the first sensation he feels is an overwhelming hunger for blood. But as he hunts the dark streets of Paris for prey, a voice calls to him, soothing, calming, giving him the strength to control his craving. Francesca Del Ponce is a healer, a woman who radiates goodness as powerfully as the sun does light. Though Garbriel knows she will be like hot silk in his arms, though he knows the taste of her will be addictive, he fears for her life and his soul if he takes her. Then with one mind-shattering vow she gives herself– I offer freely, without reservation, I offer my life for yours as is my right–and with a firestorm of long-forgotten feelings, he glimpses salvation.

She’s known him since she was fifteen. Every night, he is with her: his face, his voice. Tonight, Sara Marten will meet the man who is both angel and demon, salvation and temptation: Falcon—the Carpathian, the banished hero. Tonight, Sara will meet the dark-eyed destroyer destined to be her mate.

There is Always a Price to Pay

So Darius warned her when she accepted a position with his traveling troupe. And gazing mesmerized at the merciless slash of his mouth, the implacable resolve on his face, the soulless emptiness of his black eyes, Tempest was afraid to ask what it was.

She had always been different, apart from others. From the moment his arms closed around her, enveloping her in a sorcerer’s spell, Darius seemed to understand her unique gifts. But did his kiss offer the love and belonging she sought, or a danger more potent than his own panthers?

Somewhere deep inside herself, Tempest realized she knew the answer. She had no choice but to accept the velvet stroke of his tongue, submit to the white-hot heat piercing her skin, welcome an erotic pleasure like no other…

Their innocent bonding ritual led to seven days of madness, every seven years. And now, as the dreaded seventh month looms before them, the men can feel the storm brewing. Already they are plagued by visions of death and destruction. But this year they are better prepared, joined in their battle by three women who have come to the Hollow. Layla, Quinn, and Cybil are somehow connected to the demon, just as the men are connected to the force that trapped it.

Since that fateful day at the Pagan Stone, town lawyer Fox has been able to see into others’ minds, a talent he shares with Layla. He must earn her trust, because their link will help fight the darkness that threatens to engulf the town. But Layla is having trouble coming to terms with her newfound ability – and with this intimate connection to Fox. She knows that once she opens her mind, she’ll have no defense against the desire that threatens to consume them both…

car accident—in a Mercedes no less—Lexi has lost a big chunk of her memory, three years to be exact, and she’s about to find out just how much things have changed.

Somehow Lexi went from a twenty-five-year-old working girl to a corporate big shot with a sleek new loft, a personal assistant, a carb-free diet, and a set of glamorous new friends. And who is this gorgeous husband—who also happens to be a multimillionaire? With her mind still stuck three years in reverse, Lexi greets this brave new world determined to be the person she…well, seems to be. That is, until an adorably disheveled architect drops the biggest bombshell of all.

Suddenly Lexi is scrambling to catch her balance. Her new life, it turns out, comes complete with secrets, schemes, and intrigue. How on earth did all this happen? Will she ever remember? And what will happen when she does?

Julian Savage was golden. Powerful. But tormented. For the brooding hunter wakled alone, always alone, far from his Carpathian kind, alien to even his twin. Like his name, his existence was savage. Until he met the woman he was sworn to protect…

When Julian heard Desari sing, rainbows swamped his starving senses. Emotions bombarded his hardened heart. And a dark hunger to posses her flooded his loins, blinding him to the danger stalking him. And even as Desari enflamed him, she dared to defy him – with mysterious, unparalleled feminine powers. Was Desari more than his perfect mate? Julian had met his match in this woman, but would she drive him to madness….or save his soul?

As a little girl, Jane has no one. Her mother, the powerful head of a Broadway theater company, has no time for her. She does have one friend-a handsome, comforting, funny man named Michael-but only she can see him.

Years later, Jane is in her thirties and just as alone as ever. Then she meets Michael again-as handsome, smart and perfect as she remembers him to be. But not even Michael knows the reason they’ve really been reunited.

Late one night, a teenage couple drives up to the big white clapboard home on the Blessing estate and leaves a box. In that instant, the lives of those who live and work there are changed forever. Skip Cuddy, the caretaker, finds a baby girl asleep in that box and decides he wants to keep the child . . . while Lydia Blessing, the matriarch of the estate, for her own reasons, agrees to help him.

Rick Dockery was the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the AFC Championship game against Denver, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually got into the game. With a 17-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provided what was arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL. Overnight, he became a national laughingstock and, of course, was immediately cut by the Browns and shunned by all other teams.

But all Rick knows is football, and he insists that his agent, Arnie, find a team that needs him. Against enormous odds Arnie finally locates just such a team and informs Rick that, miraculously, he can in fact now be a starting quarterback. Great, says Rick—for which team?

The mighty Panthers of Parma, Italy.

Yes, Italians do play American football, to one degree or another, and the Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL player—any former NFL player—at their helm. So Rick reluctantly agrees to play for the Panthers—at least until a better offer comes along—and heads off to Italy. He knows nothing about Parma—not even where it is—has never been to Europe, and doesn’t speak or understand a word of Italian.

To say that Italy—the land of opera, fine wines, extremely small cars, romance, and Football Americano— holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement.

Young Savanna Dubrinski is a mistress of illusion. A world-famous magician capable of mesmerizing millions. But there was one–Gregori, the Dark One–who held her in terrifying thrall. Whose cold silver eyes and heated sensuality sent shivers of danger, of desire, down her slender spine. With a dark magic all his own, Gregori-the implacable hunter, the legendary healer, the most powerful of Carpathian males-whispered in Savannah’s mind that he was her destiny. That she had been born to save his immortal soul. An now, here in New Orleans, the hour had finally come to claim her. To make her completely his in a ritual as old as time…and as escapable as eternity.

Alexandria Houton would sacrifice anything, even her life, to protect her orphaned little brother. But when both encountered unspeakable evil in the swirling San Franscisco mists, Alex could only cry to heaven for their deliverance. Out of the darkness swooped Aidan Savage, a golden being more powerful, more mysterious than any other creature of the night. The ageless Carpathian male snatched them from a hideous fate. But was Aidan a miracle…or a monster? Alex’s salvation…or her sin? If she surrendered to Aidan’s savage, unearthly seduction and became his mistress of light, would he truly save her brother? Make them the whole family they both craved? Or would she end up sacrificing more than her life?

The stranger silently summoned her from across the continents, across the seas. He whispered of eternal torment, of endless hunger, of dark, dangerous desires. Somehow, American surgeon, Shea O’Halloran could feel his anguish, sense his haunting aloneness, and she ached to heal him, to heal herself. Drawn to the Carpathian mountains, Shea found a ravaged, raging man, a being like no other, and she trembled. In his burning eyes, his icy heart, she recognized the beloved stranger who’d already become a part of her. This Carpathian made had compelled Shea to his side. But was she to be his healer…or his prey? His victim…or his mate? Was he luring her into madness…or would his dark desire make her whole?

Mikhail Dubrinsky is the prince of his people, the Carpathians. But they are dying out, there are few women, and the men are either falling prey to vampires, or are choosing the soulless life. Losing all hope, Mikhail is no longer sure he can bear the bleak future laid before him. The only thing that can add light to his life, can relieve the terrible and haunting loneliness, is to find a life mate. But he has given up believing one exists. Raven Whitney has a rare gift. She not only can read minds, but she can communicate telepathically. But her talent is not always a gift. Her job is to track the twisted mental paths of serial killers, and those evil thoughts drain her both mentally and physically. Now, she is hoping to heal and seek a quiet escape in the Carpathian Mountains, but when she mentally hears the anguished cry at dawn, she can not ignore it, unaware that her life is about to change forever.

Una Cavan doesn’t believe in ghosts. But ghosts seem to believe in her. At least, her father’s ghost does, walking into and out of her life as casually as if he were entering and exiting a room. Una has always believed the Cavan women had the power of witches, and from the beaches of Connecticut to the bustle of New York City they’ve shared the special unbreakable bond of sisters. No man has been able to come between them…until Lily marries the “perfect” man and begins to drift away and Margo gets engaged. With another failed relationship behind her, and a thriving career as an actress ahead of her, Una wonders if she’s destined to be alone–or if there isn’t something more, something magical that life has in store for her. Then an unexpected encounter gives her the answer she’s been seeking….

A Rhode Island fishing family rides out some rough seas, both emotionally and literally. Cass Keating, third daughter and third generation of the family that’s controlled a big hunk of the Mount Hope waterfront for decades, works for the family business and is married to her high-school sweetheart, Billy Medeiros, a fisherman. Cass and Billy have three children, two teenagers and four-year-old Josie, who has a severe hearing impairment. Josie’s problems have shaken the very fabric of the Medeiros and Keating families, stirring tensions and highlighting the weak spots. The troubles seem contagious, affecting the older children, Cass and Billy’s marriage, and even the very future of the Keating enterprise.

An artist in glass and light, Angel has loved with passion and fire—and learned the true depths of sadness when what she loved was taken from her. When she first meets Miles Hawkins—a solitary, distant man—their mutual mistrust seems insurmountable. Hawk has never known what Angel has freely enjoyed, having experienced only cruelty and betrayal from the women in his life. But Angel is willing to risk everything that proud, silent Hawk cannot, as she strives to bring truth and love to a tormented soul who believes in neither. Yet giving her heart again could be a gamble with stakes too high and too painful for her to endure—for she fears that, by loving Hawk, she will surely lose him.

What an awesome book! Wade’s parents gave it to him for Valentine’s Day and we have both just finished reading it. It is the story of Chette Williams, former player and current chaplain for the Auburn Football team.

A vampire killer with a Las Vegas beat, Candace Steele has risked everything to vanquish the forces of darkness–and to resist her own passionate desire for Ash, a dark and seductive vampire. But suddenly the stakes are raised. Candace has been attacked by a member of the Board, an ancient, powerful, and secret vampire sect with a vendetta against Ash. Now the only way she can save her life is to give herself to Ash–body and soul–and become a vampire.

Lusting for blood and starving for Ash’s embrace, Candace is pulled deeper and deeper into his world. She no longer trusts his promise that she will not have to remain a vampire forever. And as the hunger threatens to overwhelm her, it may be too late for her to leave the darkness behind.

Four sisters, a Manhattan brownstone, and a tumultuous year of loss and courage are at the heart of Danielle Steel’s new novel about a remarkable family, a stunning tragedy—and what happens when four very different young women come together under one very lively roof.

Candy–it’s the only name she needs—is blazing her way through Paris, New York, and Tokyo as fashion’s latest international supermodel. . . .

Her sister Tammy has a job producing the most successful hit show on TV, and a home she loves in L.A.’s Hollywood Hills. . . . In New York, oldest sister Sabrina is an ambitious young lawyer, while Annie is an American artist in Florence, living for her art. . . . On one Fourth of July weekend, as they do every year, the four sisters come home to Connecticut for their family’s annual gathering. But before the holiday is over, tragedy strikes and their world is utterly changed.

Suddenly, four sisters who have been fervently pursuing success and their own lives—on opposite sides of the world—reunite to share one New York brownstone, to support each other and their father, and to pick up the pieces while one sister struggles to heal her shattered body and soul. Thus begins an unscripted chapter of their lives, as a bustling house is soon filled with eccentric dogs, laughter, tears, friends, men . . . and the kind of honesty and unconditional love only sisters can provide. But as the four women settle in, they are forced to confront the direction of their respective lives. As the year passes and another July Fourth approaches, a season of grief and change gives way to new beginnings—as a family comes together to share its blessings and a future filled with surprises and, ultimately, hope.

Shannon Flannery trains dogs, she lives alone and has a partner in her business. She is a widow, her husband being murdered three years earlier. When she was very young she got pregnant and when her boyfriend wanted nothing to do with the baby, she gave her up for adoption. Now 13 years later her baby has been kidnapped. Shannon is a gutsy redhead who is finding her way back to a life after the abuse and death of her husband.

Travis Settler is a man with a mission, his daughter, Dani has been kidnapped. A widower she is his life and he means to find her and find her safe. Following a hunch he travels to Shannon’s town thinking she might have something to do with the kidnapping. Even though he is drawn to the beautiful woman he finds he must keep in mind that she may be involved.

When the clues begin to mount up with the bodies, they know someone is after Shannon and her family and Dani is being used to get to the woman. Coming from a family of fire fighters, Shannon begins to suspect there are some dark secrets in her own back yard.

Technology may be different in 2060 New York, yet the city is still a place of many cultures and great divides. But as ever, some murders receive more attention than others-especially those in which the victim is a prominent businessman, found in his Park Avenue apartment, tied to the bed-and strangled-with cords of black velvet.

It doesn’t surprise Lieutenant Eve Dallas that Thomas Anders’s scandalous death is a source of titillation and speculation to the public-and of humiliation to his family. But while people in the city are talking about it, those close to Anders aren’t so anxious to do the same. With some help from her billionaire husband, Roarke, Eve’s soon knocking on doors-or barging through them-to find answers.

But the facts don’t add up. Physical evidence suggests that the victim didn’t struggle. The security breach in the apartment indicates that the killer was someone known to the family, but everyone’s alibi checks out. Was this a crime of passion in a kinky game gone wrong-or a meticulously planned execution? It’s up to Dallas to solve a case in which strangers may be connected in unexpected, and deadly, ways.

Saber Wynter is running from her past when she meets Jess Calhoun, an ex-Navy SEAL who is physically and emotionally compromised by his own mysterious and violent history as a GostWalker. What Jess senses in Saber is a kindred spirit, a lost soul desperate for sanctuary. He offers her a home, a job, and a haven where she can safely reveal the secrets that shadow her. But danger follows her, too. Now, the riddles of both their pasts are about to collide, shattering the promise of their future with the ultimate betrayal.

Briony Jenkins, who performs in a trapeze act with her four brothers, was adopted and diagnosed as autistic as a toddler. In reality she was one of the infamous Dr. Whitney’s victims enhanced with both physical and psychic talents. Her extreme empathy makes it painful for her to be around people, but her career puts her into the midst of crowds every day. Performing in Africa, she sneaks away from the hotel for some necessary solitude and is saved from rebel troops in the jungle by Jack Norton, a member of the armed forces who has the ghostwalker enhancements. He has escaped from a rebel camp where he had been horribly tortured. She saves him, and he shields Briony from the sensory overload that torments her. They go their separate ways, but Briony is pregnant, and Dr. Whitney’s minions want her baby.

NYPD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is on the trail of a serial killer terrorizing the city during the holidays. The only link between the victims–all are patrons of an exclusive dating service, Personally Yours. Working with her aide Officer Peabody, Peabody’s nemesis Ian McNab, and her own intriguing husband, Roarke, Eve uncovers secrets that link the victims: secrets that involve both the owners and the clients of Personally Yours and which might be worth killing for.

“Blood Price” by Tanya Huff is the first book in a five book series revolving around Vicki Nelson, an ex-policewoman turned Private Investigator because of a degenerative condition that is slowly causing her to go blind. Add in Henry Fitzroy, a 450-year-old vampire romance writer and bastard son of Henry VIII and Mike Celluci, Vicki’s ex-partner on the force and sometime lover, and you have the recipe for a compelling, exciting, and fun story.

Nicolas Trevane, who sets out to rescue Dahlia Le Blanc, a government operative with astonishing telekinetic talents, from her secluded residence in the Louisiana bayou. Nicolas’s mission is fraught with danger. Not only is Dahlia emotionally unstable (she can make objects go up in flames when she’s particularly upset), she’s also been targeted by a traitor who has hired mercenaries to kill her. As Nicolas and Dahlia evade their pursuers and attempt to unmask the traitor, they forge a strong emotional bond. Dahlia fears her psychic powers may rage out of control if she makes love to Nicolas, but their passion culminates in a love scene that, while hot, only involves a handful of harmless flames.

The third daughter of seven in a magical bloodline, Abigail Drake was born with an affinity for water and a strong bond with dolphins. After she witnesses a murder, she flees right into the arms of Alexsandr Volstov. On the trail of stolen Russian antiquities, he’s a relentless Interpol agent–and the man who once broke Abby’s heart. But he isn’t going to let the only woman he’s ever loved slip away again.

It is 1821, and all who know the beautiful, mysterious Ann Van Helsing believe she is insane. Yet Ann’s curse is the deep psychic ability that allows her to know everything about another human being-their history, thoughts, and desires-simply by touching them. Overwhelmed by a power she can barely control, Ann roams the woods and caves near her estate, searching for an elusive peace. Here she encounters the man who will change everything…To atone for an unforgivable transgression against his own kind, vampire Stephen Sincai has become a vigilante who must hunt and kill those whom other vampires have made. When Ann discovers Stephen bleeding in the woods, she reaches to touch him before she can stop herself. In an instant, Ann knows every fiber of Stephen’s being-and the knowledge is at once frightening and irresistible…Ann and Stephen are drawn together by a powerful force. As Stephen and Ann fight against the evil surrounding them, an enemy bent on destroying them will make them choose between what they love and fear the most…

In the realm of the Dark-Hunters there is a code of honor that even immortal bad boys must follow:Harm no human. Drink no blood. Never fall in love. But every now and again a Dark-Hunter thinks himself above the Code. That’s when I’m summoned. Who am I? I’m the one thing the fearless fear. Step over the line and it’s my wrath you will face. Nothing can touch me. Nothing can sway me. I am relentless and unfeeling.Or so I thought until I met a female Dark-Hunter who goes by the name of Danger-it’s not just her name, it’s how she lives her life. She doesn’t trust me at all. And who could blame her? She alone knows that I’m here to be judge, jury and most likely executioner of her friends. Yet she is my key to saving some of them. Without her, they all will die.Dangereuse St. Richard is a deadly distraction. Something about her is reawakening a heart I thought was long dead. But in a race against evil, the only hope mankind has is that I do my duty. And how can I do my duty when it means that I will have to sacrifice the only woman I’ve ever loved?

When Lily Whitney’s adopted father asks her to act as consultant on a project involving the development of advanced psychic powers, she is stunned to learn that he is experimenting on men from an elite military squadron. The men, lead by Capt. Ryland Miller, are separated and caged like lab rats in an underground facility where they have learned to communicate with each other telepathically, a talent Lily has had since birth. In true romance form, Lily and Ryland share an instant attraction, which leads to a few intriguing sexual liaisons (such as the sequence where Ryland enters Lily’s dream). After Lily’s father is murdered, she discovers that he harbored some despicable secrets, but that doesn’t stop her from searching for his killer.

Ever since an accident turned her into a knockout vamp, Elvi Black’s been catching her z’s in a coffin, staying out of the sun, and giving up garlic. She knows there’s more to being undead than what she saw in Dracula, but she can’t very well ask her mortal friends about proper biting etiquette. But when her neighbors placed a personal ad for her in the local paper, she never imagined she’d meet Victor Argeneau, a vampire who could have his pick of any woman—dead or alive.

Rich, powerful, and drop—dead gorgeous, Victor’s the perfect man for a novice neck—biter like Elvi. He’s willing to teach her everything he knows, but he’ll have to do it fast. Someone’s out to put a stake through her new vamp life, and only Victor can keep her safe—and satisfied—for all eternity.

The “circle of six” warriors—the sorcerer Hoyt, Hoyt’s vampire brother Cian, the witch Glenna, the warrior Blair, the shape-shifter Larkin and Larkin’s scholar-princess cousin Moira—prepare for battle against the evil vampire, Lilith. Having traveled back through time to Moira and Larkin’s ancient kingdom of Geall, Moira raises the sword from the stone to take her place as queen. With her five warrior companions by her side, Moira leads her people into battle against Lilith’s army of vampires, who are intent on destroying Geall. Meanwhile, Moira and Cian give in to powerful feelings of love, stealing nights of passion that could spell ruin for both of them. As war befalls the kingdom, Roberts brings the same precise, resonant energy to battle scenes that make her sexual interludes shine, grounding magic, dragons and vampires in a believable world.

The six members, culled by the goddess Morrigan from the past and the present, include the wizard Hoyt and his vampire brother Cian, the witch Glenna, ancient Geallian princess Moira and her shape-shifting cousin Larkin, and demon hunter Blair. Preparing for the showdown in modern-day Ireland, the group split their time among training, defending against Lilith’s agents, bickering fitfully among themselves and, for some, doing their best to ignore mounting sexual tension. The relationship between the bigheaded, anachronistic Larkin and the hot-tempered, thoroughly modern lone-wolf Blair gives the proceedings a satisfying emotional core, especially rewarding when their anger turns—finally—to lust. Fulfilling their destiny, the six warriors enter the stone circle to travel backward in time to Geall for the fateful battle with Lilith.

In 12th-century Ireland, sorcerer Hoyt Mac Cionaoith does battle with a centuries-old vampire named Lilith, who has turned Hoyt’s twin brother, Cian, into a fellow bloodsucker. Unable to defeat her, Hoyt is visited by the goddess of battle, Morrigan, who charges him with the task of leading a battle, “the greatest ever waged,” against Lilith and her demons. Hoyt must gather five others to fight alongside him: “the witch, the warrior, the scholar, the one of many forms, and the one you’ve lost.” He travels in time to present-day New York, where he encounters his vampire brother, Cian, and Glenna, a beautiful red-haired witch. Two more warriors, Moira and Larkin, join them back in the Mac Cionaoith ancestral home. Romance ignites between Hoyt and Glenna as enemies emerge from the shadows, and the “circle of six” prepare for the big showdown with Lilith.

Their lives were a tapestry woven together by love and loss, tragedy and hope. On the windswept coast of Nova Scotia, Lily and her eight-year-old daughter, Rose, are struggling to embrace a new life even as Lily tries to let go of painful memories of the past. Among the lives that will touch theirs are those of Liam Neill, a dedicated teacher living in self-imposed isolation; Maeve Jameson, mourning the loss of a granddaughter she devoted her life to protecting; and Mark Murphy, a dogged police detective obsessed with a woman who vanished years ago–who may or may not have found what he seeks in a tiny, out-of-the-way maritime village.

During this eventful summer of roses, the paths–and fates–of these unforgettable characters will intersect in ways that none of them could ever expect–and shape a future none of them could possibly foresee. For each of them it will be a time of renewal and transformation that will circle inevitably to a past left behind, a mystery unsolved, and a love reclaimed.

The planet Menx must soon decide for or against membership in the Galactic Concord. Thus begins Rhane’s personal quest back to a planet he is haunted by. He must form a truce with Shiya and try to understand the mysteries of the forbidden mountains where only the gods survive. For only then can he hope to learn from the complex differences between cultures.

From emerald jungles to the high seas to the glittering ballrooms of Regency London, beloved author Gaelen Foley tells a sweeping, sensual tale of the ruggedly handsome Lord Jack Knight and the passionate beauty who lays claim to his heart.

An English rose blooming in the untamed jungles of South America, Eden Farraday lives a life of independence–unheard of for a lady–with her doctor-turned-scientist father. But Eden misses England desperately. When the dangerous and darkly charming Lord Jack Knight sails into her life, she seizes her chance to return to civilization, stowing away aboard his London-bound ship.

Roguish and charismatic, a self-made shipping tycoon with a shadowy past and a well-guarded heart, Jack is sailing on a vital secret mission. When the redheaded temptress is discovered aboard his vessel, he reacts with fury–and undeniable lust. Forced to protect her from his rough crew, the devilish Lord Jack demands a scandalous price in exchange for Eden’s safe passage across the sea. As his wicked kiss ignites an unforgettable blaze of passion between them, Jack and Eden confront a soul-searing love that cannot be denied.

Lord Alec Knight, the most daring and handsome rogue in all of London, is a smooth-talking aristocrat with an abundance of high-society lady admirers. With his irresistible wit, lucky hand at the gaming tables, and enticing charisma, he can have any woman he wants. But when the only girl he would have considered marrying ties the knot with someone else, Alec realizes he doesn’t want to be with just any lady–he wants to find the love of his life.
The boldly spirited, beautiful Miss Becky Ward takes his life by storm after he rescues her from peril. Alec soon learns that she is on the run from her cousin, the murderous Prince Mikhail Kurkov. Becky has uncovered a menacing secret about the prince–now nothing will stop him from hunting her down. In the midst of danger, Alec and Becky find themselves deeply drawn to each other. After the two spend an all-consuming night of sin, Becky’s knight in shining armor vows on his honor to protect her until the end. But before long, Alec is protecting her with more than honor–and it seems the once untamed rake of London just may have found what he has been searching for all along . . . true love.

This is an excellent, little known detective-type novel series involving the beautiful Fiora, the financial wiz, and the rough, former cop Fiddler whose fortune is based on a deceased relative’s drug money. Fiddler not only has to deal with his ex-wife, he has to deal with his ex-wife’s lover when his ex-wife’s twin is pulled into an international espionage scheme.

It begins as a mission to protect a politician from an assassination threat. But the operation takes an unexpected turn when Mari, a mysteriously beautiful GhostWalker, is taken hostage. At the same time, Ken Norton, expert assassin and himself a GhostWalker warrior, is on a mission of his own-one that reaches into Mari’s own past. No stranger to the ways of violent warfare, Mari must join forces with Ken and trust his every move-each one more intimate than the last.

Selena Christian has spent her life concealing the awesome talents that make ordinary humans fear her. But she can’t hide her incandescent beauty–and rebel-spy Mark Curien can’t resist her allure. Rescuing Selena from a hostile Earth, he takes her to a place of last resort–Change, a faraway planet filled with creatures who hold the secret of …

She is Rheba, the sole survivor of a blaze that destroyed her planet–harnessing energy with her body and dazzling men with her sensuality. He is Kirtn, the Bre’n warrior sworn to protect the fire dancer as they embark on a journey to a far-off planet, where the greatest danger is losing each other.

As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob–knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Recovered from the vampire attack that hospitalized her in the conclusion of Twilight (Little, Brown, 2005), Bella celebrates her birthday with her boyfriend Edward and his family, a unique clan of vampires that has sworn off human blood. But the celebration abruptly ends when the teen accidentally cuts her arm on broken glass. The sight and smell of her blood trickling away forces the Cullen family to retreat lest they be tempted to make a meal of her. After all is mended, Edward, realizing the danger that he and his family create for Bella, sees no option for her safety but to leave. Mourning his departure, she slips into a downward spiral of depression that penetrates and lingers over her every step. It’s not until Bella befriends Jacob, a sophomore from her school with a penchant for motorcycles, that both the pace and her disposition begin to take off. Their adventures are wild, dare-devilish, and teeter on the brink of romance, but memories of Edward pervade Bella’s emotions, and soon their fun quickly morphs into danger, especially when she uncovers the true identities of Jacob and his pack of friends.

Headstrong, sun-loving, 17-year-old Bella declines her mom’s invitation to move to Florida, and instead reluctantly opts to move to her dad’s cabin in the dreary, rainy town of Forks, WA. She becomes intrigued with Edward Cullen, a distant, stylish, and disarmingly handsome senior, who is also a vampire. When he reveals that his specific clan hunts wildlife instead of humans, Bella deduces that she is safe from his blood-sucking instincts and therefore free to fall hopelessly in love with him. The feeling is mutual, and the resulting volatile romance smolders as they attempt to hide Edward’s identity from her family and the rest of the school. Bella and Edward’s struggle to make their relationship work becomes a struggle for survival, especially when vampires from an outside clan infiltrate the Cullen territory and head straight for her.

On what is supposed to be a quiet long weekend in New Hampshire, Deputy U.S. Marshal Mackenzie Stewart is viciously attacked at the lakefront cottage of her friend, federal judge Bernadette Peacham. Mac fends off her attacker, but he manages to escape. Everything suggests he’s a deranged drifter—until FBI special agent Andrew Rook arrives.

With Rook, Mac broke her own rule not to get involved with anyone in law enforcement, but she knows he isn’t up from Washington, D.C., to set things straight between them. He’s on a case.

As the hunt for the mysterious attacker continues, the case takes an unexpected turn when Mac and Rook return to Washington and find Bernadette’s ex-husband, a powerful attorney, shot to death. Then Bernadette disappears, and Mac and Rook realize the stakes are higher than either had imagined, and a master criminal with nothing left to lose is prepared to gamble everything.

Devlin “Devil” Kimball, Viscount Strathmore, has one goal in life: to find and punish the fiends who killed his parents and young sister. Devlin infiltrates the Horse and Chariot Club, searching for the murderers among the dissolute members only to be pulled away from his mission of vengeance by a hasty missive penned by Lizzie, his Aunt Augusta’s companion. When Devlin arrives at his aunt’s home he discovers the letter is merely a ruse on Lizzie’s part to get him to visit, but her plan brings some unexpected consequences when Lizzie finds herself being seduced by the devilishly sexy Devlin. At first Devlin has no intent of seriously pursuing Lizzie, but when his matchmaking aunt adds an interesting twist to her will, Devlin and Lizzie are forced to consider an arrangement neither would have imagined: marriage.

In Robb’s opener, a courageous female cop with a troubled past clashes with a bloodthirsty, unnaturally powerful mystery man who promises his enthralled victims immortality: charismatic con artist, or much worse? Blayney follows with the story of an enigmatic old coin that transports an American tourist and an oddly aristocratic bartender into a Regency-era adventure. In Langan’s, another unsuspecting American time-traveler stumbles into romance with a 15th-century Scottish warlord who believes she’s his kidnapped wife. And in McComas’s, a bored housewife takes a magic carpet ride to an alternate universe do-over of her marriage.

He might help her…if the price is right.

Surrounded by potential enemies, Hannah McGarry faces the mystery of her husband’s suspicious death, the prospect of bankruptcy…and the disappearance of the fabulous Black Trinity necklace that was to be her financial security. Desperate, she calls Archer Donovan, a silent partner in Pear Cove, her late husband’s pearl farm venture. He might help her…if the price is right.

Archer Donovan would rather forget he’d ever heard of Pearl Cove…its memories of living on the dark side, the soul-numbing certainty that there was no law, no justice, no mercy; just hunters and the hunted. That life taught him to trust no one but family. But when Hannah McGarry calls in an old debt Archer is back in the game. And at his side in pursuit of the stolen fortune is a woman he shouldn’t want, yet cannot resist…a woman who may know more than she’s telling about her husband’s death…and more than is safe to know about the dark and elusive black pearls. With deadly competitors on their tails, Archer and Hannah race through uncharted waters in search of the fabulous Black Trinity. And the closer they come to finding the coveted pearls, the closer they come to danger and death…and to each other.

NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas keeps the streets of a near-future New York City safe in this extraordinary series. But even she makes mistakes, and is haunted by those she couldn’t save-and the killers she couldn’t capture. When the body of a young brunette is found in East River Park, artfully positioned and marked by signs of prolonged and painful torture, Eve is catapulted back to a case nine years earlier. The city was on edge from a killing spree that took the lives of four women in fifteen days, courtesy of a man the media tagged “The Groom”-because he put silver rings on the fingers of his victims.

When it turns out that the young brunette was employed by Eve’s billionaire husband, Roarke, she brings him in on the case-a move that proves fitting when it becomes chillingly clear that the killer has made his attack personal. The victim was washed in products from a store Roarke owns, and laid out on a sheet his company manufactures.

With the Groom’s monstrous return, Eve is determined to finish him once and for all. Familiar with his methods, Eve knows that he has already grabbed his next victim. Time is running out on another woman’s life.

And chances are he’s working up to the biggest challenge of his illustrious career-abducting a woman who will test his skills and who promises to give him days and days of pleasure before she dies: Eve.

This is the intriguing mystery of the supermodel slasher, who attacks shy-but-smoldering Hannah, one of the sisters, at New York’s annual Fashion Week. Hunky Sheriff Jonas Harrington, a longtime family friend, is fresh from a life-threatening encounter with the Russian mob when he witnesses, on live TV, Hannah getting cut down by a madman with a knife. After the sisters rush to her side, saving her with their combined powers, Jonas vows to hunt down the assailant—but his unrequited love for Hannah complicates matters.

Dr. Libby Drake is the “good girl” of seven sisters, never living dangerously. She has the gift of healing but also uses her brilliant mind and physician’s training to help others. When one of her teenage patients winds up at the bottom of a cliff, he is rescued by the fire department via helicopter. Ty Derrick, brilliant biochemist and part-time rescue worker, receives mortal injuries when his harness fails. He has always fascinated Libby, and she uses all her energy and healing power to save him. Sparks fly since Ty has always had a crush on Libby, but someone is out to get them. Was Ty’s fall an accident? Is a reputed mobster trying to kill her? Who snapped photos of Libby and Ty making love and sold them to the tabloids?

Bestselling novelist Kate Drake is one of seven sisters gifted with amazing powers of witchcraft. Returning home in time for her northern California town’s annual Christmas pageant, Kate catches the spirit of the season and decides to open a bookstore in a charming but run-down historic mill. Decorated former U.S. Army Ranger Matt Granite, now a local contractor, doesn’t mind working in the undeniably eerie house — not if it means getting closer to Kate. There’s something about the quiet, sensual woman that powerfully attracts him.

When an earthquake cracks the mill’s foundation and reveals a burial crypt, Kate senses that a centuries-old evil has been unleashedŠand that it’s coming after her. Though Matt vows to guard her from dusk till dawn, Kate knows she will have to summon all of her and her sisters’ powers to battle the darkness threatening to destroy both Christmas and the gift of soul-searing passion her hometown hero wants her to keep forever….

Christine Feehan focuses on a different kind of sensual predator—a half-human/half-leopard species of shapeshifters. Mysterious freelance paramilitary operative Rio Santana is a member of this breed, but he’s been banished from his clan and lives in a solitary rainforest dwelling. Enter Rachel Lospostos, who has marooned herself in the jungle to escape a group of murderers. Blood runs hot between the two, both emotionally and literally—their first meeting is a near-terminal cat fight that leaves Rachel bedridden with a mangled leg and a broken wrist. As Rio cares for her, it becomes clear that their relationship is fated, but it may soon be cut short if they don’t figure out who wants Rachel dead.

A mysterious loner tries to find love and peace of mind in rural South Dakota in Waller’s latest, a tepid, unfocused novel that begins when a handsome, independent drifter, Carlisle McMillan, arrives in the tiny town of Salamander. McMillan is the son of Bridges of Madison County photographer Robert Kincaid; he previously appeared in A Thousand Country Roads, in search of his father. The California native and master carpenter with a Stanford degree finds his interest piqued by Salamander, and he buys an abandoned house just outside town, making plans to rebuild it. But trouble comes calling when a corrupt developer decides to seize McMillan’s house as part of a potentially lucrative highway project; McMillan fights back with a well-organized battle plan that gets him in trouble with most of the town’s residents. Romance is in the offing, too, of course: McMillan takes up with comely Gally Deveraux shortly after her brutish husband dies, but the real object of his desire is beautiful Susanna Benteen, a wild, mysterious woman who keeps company with the local Sioux as they observe McMillan in his fight against the highway project.

jumping from airplanes to put out the wildfires that a local arsonist keeps setting. Soon, however, she begins to suspect that there’s a connection between these fires and the one that resulted in a family tragedy when she was a teenager. Coble attempts to balance several complex plot threads, mostly successfully, though readers may find themselves exhausted by the many catastrophes that befall Tess and those she loves. The final third of the novel is filled with surprising plot twists as well as some starry-eyed romance. But to get there, readers will have to overlook abrupt scene shifts and hackneyed lines like “She’d been a burr under his saddle from the day he first clapped eyes on her.”

In the town of Hawkins Hollow, it’s called The Seven. Every seven years, on the seventh day of the seventh month, strange things happen. It began when three young boys-Caleb, Fox, and Gage-went on a camping trip to The Pagan Stone. And twenty-one years later, it will end in a showdown between evil and the boys who have become men-and the women who love them.

1954. Vixen 03 is down. The plane, bound for the Pacific carrying thirty-six Doomsday bombs—canisters armed with quick-death germs of unbelievable potency—vanishes. Vixen has in fact crashed into an ice-covered lake in Colorado. 1988. Dirk Pitt, who heroically raised the Titanic, discovers the wreckage of Vixen 03. But two deadly canisters are missing. They’re in the hands of a terrorist group. Their lethal mission: to sail a battleship seventy-five miles up the Potomac and blast Washington, D.C., to kingdom come. Only Dirk can stop them.

Katherine Tylers cross-country train trip is unexpectedly derailed when she is kidnapped by an unscrupulous band of outlaws. Her worried father calls out the Texas Rangers, but only a cowboy named T. C. Castle knows the bend of south Texas well enough to catch the ringleader whos responsible. After freeing Katherine, T. C. spirits her away to his remote ranch, where he lives with his 5-year-old handicapped daughter Emily. As their attraction blossoms and with the kidnappers closing in, T. C. and Katherine must risk love and limb to save the ranch and a future Katherine never could have imagined back on the TRAIN FROM MARIETTA

Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job, loyal friends, even a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life – boating, swimming , and regular barbecues with his good-natured buddies — he holds the vague conviction that a serious relationship with a woman would only cramp his style. That is, until Gabby Holland moves in next door. Spanning the eventful years of young love, marriage and family, THE CHOICE ultimately confronts us with the most heartwrenching question of all: how far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?

with a vengeance by women’s libbers) to enter the pantheon of American girlhood. As beloved by girls today as she was by their grandmothers, Nancy Drew has both inspired and reflected the changes in her readers’ lives. Here, in a narrative with all the vivid energy and page-turning pace of Nancy’s adventures, Melanie Rehak solves an enduring literary mystery: Who created Nancy Drew? And how did she go from pulp heroine to icon?

The brainchild of children’s book mogul Edward Stratemeyer, Nancy was brought to life by two women: Mildred Wirt Benson, a pioneering journalist from Iowa, and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, a well-bred wife and mother who took over as CEO after her father died. In this century-spanning story, Rehak traces their roles—and Nancy’s—in forging the modern American woman.

So is its newest entrepreneur, Annie Fortenberry, who has inherited her grandmother’s Bamp;B (and its eccentric handyman Erdle Thorney). According to a local psychic she also inherited a spirit from its glory days as a brothel-not the kind of publicity the Peach Tree Bed amp; Breakfast needs if it’s hosting millionaire Max Holt’s upcoming wedding! If rumors of a naughty, prank-playing ghost aren’t stressful enough, a mysterious man has arrived with an eye on Annie and her master suite. Wes Bridges is all leather and denim, sporting a two-day beard, straddling a Harley, and sending the Bamp;B’s testosterone level through the roof. Annie’s cool demeanor may be dropping as fast as Wes’s jeans, but leave it to her missing ex-husband to dampen the passion! Turns out someone has done him in, and all evidence points to Annie! Wrapped up in a murder plot, Annie must find the killer, save her own neck, and get back to where she was-wrapped up in Wes’s strong loving arms….

According to resident psychic-slash-astrologer, Destiny Moultrie, Mercury’s in retrograde; Venus is in the seventh house, and the combination has turned Cupid wacko! Chaos rules as tempers flare and lust runs rampant. Newlyweds Max Holt and Jamie Swift-Holt are trying to make a baby, but their recently purchased antebellum mansion is under renovation and filled with feuding contractors. Vera has a crush on her new mailman, and is bent on looking ten years younger. Destiny is marked for marriage by the changing planets, and she’s running for her life as the local redneck and bait shop owner is determined to make her his. Meanwhile, local pediatrician Maggie Davenport has considerably bigger problems now that her wild-girl past has caught up in the form of ex-boyfriend and jailbird who just flew the coop-and is determined to track her and her daughter down. If he doesn’t expose her secrets, there’s a good chance Jamie’s editor, intent on getting the Full Scoop, will. Fortunately, FBI agent Zack Madden is on hand for protection; but the new danger is the wild attraction he and Maggie share. Fleas the hound dog is experiencing his first crush on Maggie’s adorable and alluring…um…pygmy goat? Add to that an Elvis convention and a local root doctor and hoodoo practitioner who decides it’s time she take charge; only to have one of her spells backfire, and you’ve got a gut-busting, laugh-out-loud story we hope you won’t forget!

Jamie and Max have intense chemistry-even though they drive each other crazy. Max thinks Jamie is a magnet for trouble and Jamie thinks Max is the most annoyingly sexy, mysterious man she’s ever met. She knows she should stay away from him. But boy, oh boy, do the sparks fly when they get together. Jamie is a newspaper owner from a small southern town. And in Full Speed, she’s after the story of a lifetime. Max Holt is right in the middle of that story, and so Jamie tracks down the millionaire playboy, forcing him to take her on as partner. What follows is a story of a corrupt minister, a gang of mobsters on the loose, a hound dog called Fleas, a wise-cracking computer genius, and lots of love in the fast lane. Not to mention plenty of steamy action between Jamie and Max.

Here is yet another Cussler epic–his twenty-eighth, for those who are counting. And it is the eighteenth entry in the Dirk Pitt adventure series, this one coauthored by Cussler’s son. The story begins toward the end of World War II, and the Japanese have sent two submarines to the West Coast of the U.S. They are carrying a lethal new strain of biological virus, but neither vessel makes it to the designated target. Then, in 2007, a number of sea-lion deaths are reported along the western Alaska Peninsula, and birds and people in the area become sick and die, although no known environmental catastrophe or human-induced culprit is suspected. Called to the scene is Dirk Pitt, the head of the National Underwater Marine Agency, and his two sons, one a marine biologist, the other a marine engineer. Their task is to locate and recover the two subs from the ocean floor. There are the usual harrowing encounters, close calls, daring exploits, and–in the end–annihilation of the bad guys. Another win for NUMA.

Wealthy newspaper owner and horseman Nick Kaharchek meets divorced mom Billie Pearce when she makes polo lessons at his stables part of her summer self-improvement program. Though she’s hopeless at polo, Billie is so cute that Nick begins to invent excuses to spend time with her. First, he takes care of her when a horse steps on her foot; then, he arranges for his nutty cousin Deedee, a self-absorbed airhead, to board with Billie while her kids are away. As if that isn’t enough, Billie must also contend with a bomb-setting teenager, professional wrestlers, an outbreak of spiders and threats from a mysterious intruder.

Alexandra (Barney) Barnaby roars onto the Miami Beach scene in hot pursuit of her missing baby brother, “Wild” Bill. Leave it to the maverick of the family to get Barney involved with high-speed car chases, a search for sunken treasure, and Sam Hooker, a NASCAR driver who’s good at revving a woman’s engine.

Engaged in a deadly race, Bill has “borrowed” Hooker’s sixty-five-foot Hatteras and sailed off into the sunset…just when Hooker has plans for the boat. Hooker figures he’ll attach himself to Barney and maybe run into scumbag Bill. And better yet, maybe he’ll get lucky in love with Bill’s sweetie pie sister.

The pedal will have to go to metal if Barney and Hooker want to be the first to cross the finish line, save Bill, Hooker’s boat…and maybe the world.

John Banville introduces us to Max Morden, a middle-aged Irishman who has gone back to the seaside town where he spent his summer holidays as a child to cope with the recent loss of his wife. It is also a return to the place where he met the Graces, the well-heeled family with whom he experienced the strange suddenness of both love and death for the first time. What Max comes to understand about the past, and about its indelible effects on him, is at the center of this elegiac, gorgeously written novel.

“Bored, fat and unhappy” Jemima Jones is a hack writer on a small London paper, whose weight precludes both promotion (which she richly deserves, because she’s smart) and getting together with the man of her dreams: kind, modest and gorgeous reporter Ben Williams. The Web opens a new world to Jemima, and when she begins an online correspondence with L.A. gym owner Brad, identifying herself as JJ, her friend Geraldine encourages her to send Brad a doctored photo of what she would look like if she were thin. Jemima joins a gym, goes on a diet and even becomes a blonde, preparing to accept Brad’s invitation to come to L.A. Lucky JJ: Brad turns out to be a hunk, and the sex is great… but JJ senses that something is wrong. Meanwhile, Ben has become a celebrity “presenter” on British TV, but while the whole country goes gaga over his looks, he too feels that something is missing. By the time several coincidences produce a dreams-come-true ending, readers are fond of plucky Jemima, but somewhat tired out by her adventures. Green’s determination to provide texture results in too many scenes that brim with London and L.A. local color, but fail to add verve to the narrative. Outside of Geraldine, who, surprisingly, is both beautiful and a true friend, the other characters tend to be stereotypes: Jemima’s roommates, airheads on the make; the predatory female TV producer; the editor who offers Jemima a promotion once she is blonde and svelte.

Barnaby Gaitlin is one of Anne Tyler’s most promising unpromising characters. At 30, he has yet to graduate from college, is already divorced, and is used to defeat. His mother thrives on reminding him of his adolescent delinquency and debt to his family, and even his daughter is fed up with his fecklessness. Still, attuned as he is to “the normal quota for misfortune,” Barney is one of the star employees of Baltimore’s Rent-a-Back, Inc., which pays him an hourly wage to help old people (and one young agoraphobe) run errands and sort out their basements and attics. Anne Tyler makes you admire most of these mothball eccentrics (though they’re far from idealized) and hope that they can stave off nursing homes and death. There is, for example, “the unstoppable little black grandma whose children phoned us on an emergency basis whenever she threatened to overdo.” And then there’s Barnaby’s new girlfriend’s aunt, who will eventually accuse him of theft–”Over her forearm she carried a Yorkshire terrier, neatly folded like a waiter’s napkin. ‘This is my doorbell,’ she said, thrusting him toward me. ‘I’d never have known you were out here if not for Tatters.’” These people are wonderful creations, but their lives are more brittle than cuddly, Barnaby knows better than to think of them as friends, because they’ll only die on him. Yet his job offers at least glimpses of roots and affection. Helping an old lady set up her Christmas tree (on New Year’s Eve!) gives him the chance to hang a singular ornament–a snowflake “pancake-sized, slightly crumpled, snipped from gift wrap so old that the Santas were smoking cigarettes.” And Barnaby himself is sharp and impatient at painful–and painfully funny–family dinners, apparently unable to keep his finger off the auto-self-destruct button every time his life improves. As much as his superb creator, he is a poet of disappointment, resignation, and minute transformation.

Alexandra “Barney” Barnaby has a degree in engineering and a passion for the way cars work. Her passion for NASCAR driver Sam Hooker, for whom she works as a spotter and R & D person, has been put on hold since his one-night stand with a salesclerk made it onto the Internet. When Hooker loses a race and Barney thinks cheating is involved–the fancy, electronic kind–a wild ride commences, one that begins in Miami, then moves to the Carolinas and back again A corpse shows up along the way, and there’s lots of NASCAR detail (fascinating even if you’re not a devotee) and lots of doggy subplot (Hooker’s St Bernard Beans eats a box of prunes that ends up having a great deal to do with the plot). Barney and Hooker find themselves in one outrageously hilarious situation after another: saved by tough granny Felicia and her myriad Cuban American family members; clocking a bad guy with a six-pack; disposing of corpses in some remarkably icky but entertaining ways.

The President’s secret task force has developed an unprecedented defensive weapon that relies on an extremely rare radioactive element–and Dirk Pitt has followed a twisted trail to a secret cache of the substance. Now, racing against brutal storms, Soviet spies, and a ticking clock, Pitt begins his most thrilling mission–to raise from its watery grave the shipwreck of the century…

This sequel to McCaffrey’s Crystal Singer continues the story of Killashandra Ree, a failed musician whose perfect pitch has given her entree to the glamorous but dangerous profession of mining and cutting rare, valuable crystal. She is grateful for a new assignment that takes her off the oppressive crystal world of Ballybran, but when she arrives on Optheria to replace and tune the crystals of a famous organ, she steps into a new adventure. Abducted by the very subversives she had been trying to help, she eventually falls in love with one of her kidnappers and manages to uncover the Optherian Elders’ subliminal brainwashing that had held the population captive and docile.

I bought this book by mistake. Anne Maxwell and Anne McCaffrey are side by side and I was in a rush. I do like the Anne McCaffrey books I’ve read so I’ll give it a shot, but it looks overly like a sci-fi romance novle….

She’d been kidnapped — torn from Earth by a bizarre and nameless black force. Sara had no idea where she was or why she was in a beautiful new body…
She’d been enslaved — controlled by brutal guards and tamed by terror. She could not comprehend her role as a nurse for a man who appeared to be an idiot…
She’d been awakened. But once she discovered that the planet she had been brought to was Lothar and that the man she was caring for was its Regent, Sara knew they had to escape — and fast.
And when they did, they became fugitives on a world of multiple evils — bound together on a daring adventure that would either join them for all time… or separate them forever!

Her cheating husband, Bradley, lobbed the final insult when he stood her up in divorce court. A dye job gone wrong has left her hair green. And someone is trying to kill her. To top it off, sexy cop Zack Warren is certain the very same man Lucy is trying to wash right out of her hair is the same Bradley he wants to arrest for embezzlement.

When someone shoots at her and then her car blows up, Zack decides she needs twenty-four-hour police protection. Next thing Lucy knows, Zack has moved in to her big Victorian house, making them both sleepless . . . and not just from things that go bump in the night!

An extraordinary story about the adventure of faith and the power of persevering prayer…

On a summer’s day in 1727 a community of Moravians started praying and didn’t stop for more than 100 years. Throughout history God has mobilised such movements and moments of 24/7 prayer – from the Upper Room of Pentecost to Azusa Street in Los Angeles, through ancient Celtic saints and extraordinary characters like Alexander the Sleepless.

This is the story of a movement of the Spirit in our time, a move as ancient as it is modern.

As young people desert the church and AIDS orphans Africa, a new generation is learning to pray and obey like never before. From Communist China to Washington DC and from the ranks of the Salvation Army to anarchic German punks, the 24-7 Prayer movement has been interceding continually, night and day, since 1999 in more than fifty countries. This is their extraordinary story; an honest account of pain and perseverance alongside pioneering mission and miraculous answers to prayer.

Obviously I have stumbled on some very early writings by Elizabeth Lowell. This was definitely a romance novel (too much of one). The story was decent and the dialogue was great, but I need a little more plot.

Book Description:

The most gruelling challenge of Raine Smith’s equestrian career looms before her : the Olympic Games. Little does she realise that she’s about to face greater perils in the arms of a stranger than she’s ever found on the back of her horse.

Cord Elliot is a man trained to deflect disaster and his mission is to ensure that Raine Smith remains untouched by sudden gunfire at the Summer Games. Yet from the moment Raine Meets Cord’s ice–blue glance, she knows he’s more hazardous to her heart than a sniper’s bullet. Falling for a man who answers to the call of intrigue and holds secrets that can never be shared is to endure the broken promises, unexplained absences, and constant danger that come with his profession. But in the fiery passion of irresistible love, a summer to remember seems worth any risk.

The last book in the Harry Potter series. It was a fun, quick read. Good triumphed over evil. Some bad people ended up being good. There were no shocking twists, but still very entertaining. I don’t reread the previous books beforehand so I forgot some details that would have been good to know. I have to admit that I would have liked the book a little better without the epilogue. That seemed to tie the story up in too neat of a bow.

Georgie Swift Symonds is crazy in love with her Wall Street lawyer husband Nickso “crazy” in fact, that she has paranoic fantasies that he is unfaithful, and she hounds him with obsessive suspicions. And, she so cherishes her familyher pugnaciously senile grandmother Pem; her TV-celebrity mother Honora; her sister Clare, brother-in-law Donald and two nephewsthat she spends much of her time dreading any change or loss in their close intimacy. The three generations of women and the men who have married into the clan live in a family compound on the Sound in Connecticut. Though she is childless and nearly devoid of domestic responsibilities, Georgie doesn’t want a job that will remove her from the family nest. She conceives of a project she dubs the Swift Observatory: interviewing people whose lives have been radically altered by sudden tragedy. But try as she might to avoid it, change does come to Georgie and her family in unpredictable ways.

A Christmas tree farmer from Nova Scotia and a lonely New York widow come together in this Christmas weepie by bestseller Rice (Beach Girls, etc.). Catherine Tierney, a corporate librarian who lives in a 19th-century townhouse on a quaint street in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea, used to love Christmas until her husband, Brian, died of cancer. Each year, she awaits a sign from him that’ll let her know he’s watching over her. Christy Byrne, a widower from Nova Scotia, is in Manhattan with his 12-year-old daughter, Bridget, to sell his Christmas trees. Every night he leaves his boarding house in Chelsea to go looking for his estranged 16-year-old son, Danny, who ran off the year before. When Danny resurfaces and it’s revealed that he’s been living on the streets with the help of Catherine and her friend Lizzie, they all realize that their paths have crossed many times, and that they’ve touched each other’s lives more than they could imagine. Thrown together in their shared concern for Danny, Christy and Catherine help each other forget their troubled pasts and move toward the future together. Rice’s romanticized vision of Manhattan is sharpened by local detail, and her heartwarming Christmas story will please readers who like a nice dose of pathos with their holiday fare.

Dani Warren is a textile expert who is such a dilettante she will chase a rare and mythical piece of antique silk to the most remote