TWELVE NIGHTS AND COUNTING DOWN TO CHRISTMAS Every Christmas the threats started again. They came delivered in red greeting cards, and this year Romana was forced to take them seriously. Even if it meant turning to Jacob Knight-the sexy detective she'd always kept at arm's length. After seven years, he was bigger, stronger and more man than she was prepared for. His dark past endangered Romana-but only his arms could provide protection from the convicted killer bent on exacting revenge. And as the nights grew longer and more difficult, their passions threatened to erupt-and expose them to dangers as irresistible as they were reckless. Views: 25
When food writer Richard Cornish was so overcome by the aroma of the roast leg of lamb he had buckled into the passenger seat next to him that he pulled over to the side of the road and tore it apart with his bare hands, he knew he had a problem. He began to examine what it means to eat meat by becoming vegetarian for a year.My Year Without Meat is a surprising and bittersweet journey that changed Richard's body, his values and how he cooks. It's a meditation on ethical meat, an ode to vegetables and a cautionary tale about our relationship to food—as told by a self-confessed meat lover.Peppered with funny anecdotes, eye-opening facts and conversations with some of Australia's best local producers, farmers and top chefs, My Year Without Meat thoughtfully explores how and why Australians consume food the way we do.It will make you rethink the contents of your supermarket trolley, how you prepare your evening meal and where your food comes... Views: 25
The 2nd Danny Lansing Adventure novel. For 65 years, the wreckage of an aeroplane has lain scattered on a remote Norwegian mountainside - a poignant and lonely memorial to the failure of its clandestine wartime mission. But when Danny and his uncle, Angus, discover that secret wartime documents are rumoured to have been within the plane, they decide they must investigate. A terrifying chain of events is set in motion that could spell disaster for thousands of people! Danny and Angus's investigation takes them from the freezing wastes of Norway to the high peaks of the Alps and on into the heart of Poland. What is the connection between the aeroplane and the extremist 'Adler Kommando'? What is their repulsive leader planning? Who is the mysterious 'Agent' and what service is he expected to provide? The closer they get to the answers, the more horrified they become... Views: 25
What delicious ingredients James Runcie has blended together in his first novel, The Discovery OF Chocolate--a picaresque, time-travelling journey of self-discovery. Told by the Spaniard, Diego de Godoy, accompanied by his faithful greyhound Pedro, Diego wanders the world, like Don Quixote bereft of his Dulcinea, in search of his beloved Ignacia--and the perfect chocolate. In 1518 the 20-year-old Diego leaves Seville bound for Mexico where he joins Cortes's conquistadors and falls in love with the beautiful Ignacia. When Diego is ordered back to Spain, Ignacia gives him a parting gift: a chocolate drink, the elixir of life, and the promise that "If you are alive, then I am alive. Never cease in your search for me." But, returning to Mexico, he finds only her grave and so begins his wanderings, sometimes dictated by the forces of history, sometimes by his own whims. Through "an eternity of travel", he and Pedro reach Chiapas, the city of Ignacia's birth, where he discovers that time has slipped by a century. Full of incident made more piquant by the introduction of significant figures along the way, Diego soon finds himself locked in the Bastille. It's 1788 and he swaps chocolate recipes with the Marquis de Sade. Then on to Vienna to create sachertorte. Fervent with questions, yet filled with despair about life's meaning, he begins his weekly visits to Freud. And all the while, his droll scrapes punctuate his slightly overdone gloom. On board ship to America, Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas solace him with talk of love and food. The early 1900s find him once more in Mexico, a man old in wisdom, but still virile in his ways. Runcie's novel is a charming addition to the hunger for chocolate in all literary forms. This is storytelling whisked into a pleasurable mix but perhaps offers more instant gratification than lingering after-taste. --Ruth Petrie Views: 25
An exquisitely crafted ensemble piece about marriage, identity, and desire set on the island of Martha's Vineyard In Chilmark, a grandmother imagines she can fly. A reclusive giant feels an immediate kinship with a boy who cannot grow. A wife who never used to worry is overwhelmed by debilitating fears. And a husband who prefers to be alone is drawn to a reckless teenage girl with the power to ruin his life. Over the course of one fateful year, these characters, as vividly drawn and expertly choreographed as any in contemporary fiction, will come together and drift apart as they experience breakthroughs, true love, and epiphanies. Alice Hoffman finds mystery and magic in our everyday world, and Illumination Night showcases her signature talent for endowing real life with the power of myth. It is one of her finest novels, radiant and emotional with a cast of characters you will never forget. Views: 25
Zeke is the fifth person to be reanimated after being cryonically preserved for ten years.But he wakes up to a world that resents his very existence.Everything he worked for is in danger of being destroyed.The last thing he needs is a well-meaning scientist with her own agenda.Michelle would rather work with anyone besides the surly scientist she's been partnered with.The man desperately needs an attitude adjustment.Too bad his penetrating glares also manage to hit a long-buried place inside her.It doesn't matter because there's no way she's going to enter a relationship with a coworker.And after his disastrous marriage, he has no interest in letting any woman get under his skin.Even in their standoff, sparks fly.Eventually they will have to face the truth because curing disease isn't their only job these days.Staying one step ahead of whoever would rather see them dead is equally important.They need each other, and it would be much... Views: 25
"Pull out the best adjectives for a luminous comic novel—Wunderli's first—about two boys coming of age in 1939 in Thistle, Utah. At his grandfather's wish, Two Moons—a Navajo—lives with Matt's family in order to go to school. When the boys are 11, Two Mooms goes through the Navajo ceremony to become a man. Matt's induction into adulthood is wilder and funnier, a wonderfully realized fantasy....The story is memorably tuned to the need for fantasy and hope in every life." —Kirkus, pointer. Views: 25
Once a gifted ballet dancer, Julia Costell buckled under the demands of a professional dance career, and has landed with a thud in an unglamorous job as a guidance counselor at a performing arts high school. Living back home with her parents and feeling lost, she is afraid she'll never soar again...until the day young Dell Jordan is sent to her office, carrying an essay. In Dell's writing, Julia sees luminous sparks of hope. But as she fights to forge a brighter future for one disadvantaged student, she is drawn into startling undercurrents of conflict and denial within the academy. Only when she is tested in ways she never could have imagined does she begin to discover where real meaning and fulfillment lie—and realize that even though her life has seemed off course, she's been on the right path all along. Views: 25
Wealthy, jaded playboy Dylan Russell had sought an isolated cabin in the woods to escape his fast-paced life and reconsider his future. He wanted solitude...but awoke to a woman in his bed! Nothing had prepared Dylan for the sight of his best friend's sister...or the sensual spark that embracing her ignited.After a canceled project, publicist Jessica McGuire looked forward to days of relaxation. She never expected to encounter the man who had stirred feelings deep in her soul years ago. Stranded with her in a storm, Dylan beckoned her closer with his bedroom eyes. But would Jessica have to be content with only a few nights of passion when she yearned for his love for a lifetime? Views: 25
