Dear Reader:
In a previous life, before the time of Plum, I wrote twelve short romance novels. Red-hot screwball comedies, each and every one of them. Nine of these stories were originally published by the Loveswept line between the years 1988 and 1992. All immediately went out of print and could be found only at used bookstores and yard sales.
I'm excited to tell you that those nine stories are now being re-released by HarperCollins. Naughty Neighbor is the eighth in the lineup, and it's presented here in almost original form. Usually when I edit these books I do some modernizing. For instance, I change VHS to DVD, and roller skates to Rollerblades, and sticks of gum are now pieces of gum. I do this because the books were meant to be contemporary (as opposed to historical), and I don't want the reader to have a time disconnect. In the beginning of the original Naughty Neighbor, my heroine throws a handheld phone into the toilet, and the next morning she goes into the bathroom and sees the "slim silver antenna caught between the toilet lid and seat." Okay, so most phones don't have extended antennas anymore, but I just loved the image . . . so I left it in. And I don't know how many women wear front-closure bras anymore, but that got left in, too.
Naughty Neighbor is probably the most romancey of all the Loveswepts I wrote, but there's still a small mystery to unravel. Louisa Brannigan is a no-nonsense, hardworking press secretary, fighting her way to the top of Capitol Hill, with no help from her annoying neighbor, Pete Streeter. He receives phone calls all night long, he steals her morning paper, he thinks jeans are formal wear, and worst of all he's involved Louisa in the disappearance of a pig. So this is the story of a pig in Witness Protection and love being found by a workaholic woman and a fun-loving man who makes terrible pots of coffee.
Enjoy!
Janet Evanovich Views: 275
Why don't the Lowells want Claudia to sit for them? Claudia becomes the target of prejudice when the Baby-Sitters Club takes on a new client who doesn't like Claudia because she's Japanese. A serious look at discrimination and how it affects teens. Views: 274
Edited by George R. R. Martin, the New York Times bestselling author of A Game of Thrones, Wild Cards X: Double Solitaire from Melinda Snodgrass, creator of Dr. Tachyon, is the first solo Wild Cards novel! Soon to be a show on Hulu! Rights to develop Wild Cards for TV have been acquired by Universal Cable Productions, the team that brought you The Magicians and Mr. Robot, with the co-editor of Wild Cards, Melinda Snodgrass as executive producer.Aboard his grandfather's spaceship and fleeing the violent turmoil between jokers, aces, and nats that his vicious ambition spawned, Blaise is headed for a new conquest: the planet Takis. Dr. Tachyon is left behind... but he's lost more than his only way of returning to his homeworld. Blaise has stolen his body, as well—leaving Tach trapped in the pregnant body of a teenage runaway.Tachyon must sell... Views: 263
Boston-Irish Paul Shanahan, part-time marine surveyor, IRA arms dealer and suspected CIA agent is a full-time scoundrel. But so is everyone else in the lethal world of terrorism, where even gold can't be trusted. Views: 263
The girls on the prowl in The Terrible Girls are indeed terrible—relentless in love, ruthless in betrayal. These thematically linked stories depict a contemporary Gothic world in which body parts are traded for love, wounds never heal, and self-sacrifice is often the only way out. Views: 260
In idyllic Taparak, young Rayojinni trains and awaits her initiation into the ranks of the soulscapers--the practitioners who heal the mental and spiritual ills of the people.
Far away in glittering Sacramente, the elite artisans of the Eloim live in isolation, hiding their true non-human nature from the public who adore their culture, art and philosophy. But all is not well for the Eloim, who are succumbing to a a disease called "The Fear", bringing death and despair among their ranks for the first time. And no soulscaper is able to help them.
Eloim actress Gimel and her brother Beth decide they need a child, a soulscaper young enough they can be trained to cope with their alien psyches--and they have chosen Rayojinni. Views: 255
It's bad enough that Bobby "the bully" Gianelli is in Karen's class at school. But now his family has moved down the street from her! Views: 233
"My notion of translation is that you try to bring it back alive. . . . If you take on a text which is somehow appropriate to you and which you may already love, what you want to do is to be as perfectly the slave of it as you can be."--Richard Wilbur
Originally inspired by a revelatory Comedie-Francaise production of "The Misanthrope" in 1948 Paris, Richard Wilbur has made translating Moliere part of his lifework. These two comedies of marriage and misunderstanding are gathered here in a single volume that is part of TCG's new series (with design by Chip Kidd) to complete trade publication of these vital theatrical works. Views: 229
Mr. Hood's Holiday House has stood for a thousand years, welcoming countless children into its embrace. It is a place of miracles, a blissful rounds of treats and seasons, where every childhood whim may be satisfied...
There is a price to be paid, of course, but young Harvey Swick, bored with his life and beguiled by Mr. Hood's wonders, does not stop to consider the consequences. It is only when the House shows it's darker face -- when Harvey discovers the pitiful creatures that dwell in its shadows -- that he comes to doubt Mr. Hood's philanthropy.
The House and its mysterious architect are not about to release their captive without a battle, however. Mr. Hood has ambitious for his new guest, for Harvey's soul burns brighter than any soul he has encountered in a thousand years... Views: 228
Sent to the icebound planet of Nordstral to investigate a mysterious outbreak of insanity, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise find themselves drawn into another, even deadlier mystery upon their arrival. A team of research scientists has disappeared on Nordstral's frozen wasteland, leaving no clue to their whereabouts, and no hint of their fate.WHile Uhura and Chekov tackle the mystery surrounding the scientists' disappearance, Kirk and McCoy search for the truth behind the outbreak of mental illness. But both teams soon find themselves in danger, as the planet undergoes a series of massive earthquakes and electromagnetic disruptions. Unable to contact he U.S.S. Enterprise, both teams must fight for their lives as they try to solve the mystery of Nordstral -- before the world tears itself apart! Views: 227
"Denise Levertov fulfills the eternal mission of the true Poet: to be a receptacle of Divine Grace and a 'spendor of that Grace to humanity.'" —World Literature TodayDenise Levertov's New & Selected Essays gathers three decades' worth of the poet's most important critical statements. Her subjects are various––poetics, the imagination, politics, spirituality, other writers––and her approach independent minded and richly complex. Here in a single volume are recent essays exploring new ground broken by Levertov in the past decade as well as the finest and most useful prose pieces from The Poet in the World (1973) and Light Up the Cave (1981). This is a book to read and reread. With their combination of sensitivity and practicality, the New & Selected Essays will prove enormously helpful to the writer and reader of poetry. As Kirkus Reviews remarked about her prose: "This is humanism in its true sense––her attitude as evidenced... Views: 226
Do you want to live forever? the Travellers asked humanity, and only one in ten thousand said no. Their ship had been in orbit around the earth for a year, but their only communication came one night via an enigmatic dream of immortality. And the next day everything was changed. Most of the world prepared to put away their earthly lives as children put away their toys. And the few who remained fully human began to know fear.
In coastal Buchanan, Oregon, physician Matt Wheeler is one of only ten who said no to eternity. As he watches his friends, his colleagues, even his beloved daughter transform into something more—or less—than human, he finds that his concepts of life and death, good and evil, god and mortal must undergo a similar change if he is to retain his bittersweet hold on life.
Others, however, find such introspection to be self-defeating—perhaps even treasonous. If we’ve been invaded by aliens, reasons Col. John Tyler, we’ve got to fight back. Even if they are in human form. And sifting through the remnants of the United States, he finds those who agree with him.
And so, at the end of the world, it is like it was at the beginning. There are those who choose heaven, those who choose earth, and those who choose hell. And as these three groups move toward their fates, humanity finds itself on the bring of a destiny that may forever change the face of the universe itself. Views: 225
Being a "total spaz" in gym is bad enough, but now Mallory's worst nightmare has come true. Gym class has gone co-ed! Pre-teen girls are sure to relate to this latest book in the phenomenally popular Baby-sitters Club series. Views: 224
Douglas Sherbrooke, Earl of Northcliffe, is a man besieged. He must have an heir. Thus, he must first provide himself with the requisite bride. Alexandra Chambers, youngest daughter of the Duke of Beresford, has loved Douglas Sherbrooke since she was fifteen. Unfortunately, it is her sister, the incomparable Melissande, he wishes to wed.
But life never ladles out what one expects, and Douglas finds himself wed to the wrong sister. If having an unwanted wife isn't enough, he is also plagued by The Virgin Bride, a ghost that is reputedly seen in the countess's bedchamber. Does the willowy phantom really appear to Douglas? Does she speak to him? Views: 223
For as long as Josephine Alibrandi can remember, it’s just been her, her mom, and her grandmother. Now it’s her final year at a wealthy Catholic high school. The nuns couldn’t be any stricter—but that doesn’t seem to stop all kinds of men from coming into her life.
Caught between the old-world values of her Italian grandmother, the nononsense wisdom of her mom, and the boys who continue to mystify her, Josephine is on the ride of her life. This will be the year she falls in love, the year she discovers the secrets of her family’s past—and the year she sets herself free.
Told with unmatched depth and humor, this novel—which swept the pool of Australian literary awards and became a major motion picture—is one to laugh through and cry with, to cherish and remember.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 222
