Find out if rock sensation Simon can break through tough-girl Devon’s steely exterior—if he can keep his head on straight, that is—in this second sizzling romance in the True series! Devon Jenkins is a feisty blonde, and Simon Cole is the arrogant, sexy guitarist playing in her brother’s band. When they met for the first time, it went something like this: He hit on her, she shot him down, he made a lewd joke, she told him he was an idiot. In the two years since then, not much has changed. From the way Simon flirts shamelessly with any set of ovaries within a 100-mile radius, Devon knows the smartest thing she can do is keep an impenetrable wall between them. But sometimes the smart choice isn’t necessarily the right one… Views: 52
Enter a world of mystery and hauntings fair and foul . the best ghost stories you will read for a long time ... from the author of the bestselling Ancient Future. Featuring characters inspired by her closest friends and relations, traci delivers a series of spine-tingling stories alongside autobiographical snippets that give fascinating insights into her life and the real-life personalities who inspire the characters for her fiction (including the fiesty model for Ancient Future's tory Alexander!) Enter a world of mystery and hauntings fair and foul . Views: 52
When scandal threatens the star of his network, media baron Maximilian Hart whisks beautiful Chloe away from the prying paparazzi. Where better to hide this innocent beauty than the Hart mansion.? But the handsome tycoon's plan isn't just about protecting his investment – he wants Chloe in his bed! Max might have swept her out of the fire, but Chloe finds herself in a raging inferno: Max is the master player when it comes to business and seduction… Views: 52
With her unique blend of courtroom drama and feverish suspense, critically acclaimed author Jonnie Jacobs has won a legion of fans for her Kali O’Brien thrillers. Now the edgy San Francisco attorney is back to handle a simple adoption – and winds up defending her client for murder . . . Straightforward and short term: that’s precisely the kind of case Kali O’Brien needs at the moment. Yet the Harper adoption makes her uneasy from the start. Maybe it’s because psychologist Steven Cross – a man whose path hasn’t crossed hers since the tragedy that shattered his life and their forbidden relationship years ago – unexpectedly referred the couple to her. Or could it be that Ted and Terri Harper’s previous brush with parenthood ended in heartache when the birth mother changed her mind? This time around, the former star quarterback and his lovely blonde wife aren’t taking any chances. They’ve even moved pregnant Melissa Burke into their lavish Pacific Heights home. As Kali watches her determined clients shower the lonesome teenager with love and attention, she can’t help wondering just how desperate they are to claim the unborn child. When Melissa delivers a health6 baby girl and promptly signs the final adoption papers, Kali breathes a sigh of relief . . . until Bram Weaver surfaces. The controversial, chauvinistic radio talk show host announces he’s the baby’s father – a claim Melissa can’t dispute. With a sinking heart, Kali prepares to defend the Harpers in a bitter custody battle that’s certain to end in the birth father’s favor – until the case takes a shocking turn when somebody murders Weaver. Despite Terri Harper’s staunch denial, the police have compelling evidence linking her to the crime, leaving Kali to wonder how far an emotion-fraught new mother will go to protect her child. Once again, Jonnie Jacobs delivers an explosive, fast-paced thriller infused with authenticity and well-drawn characters. Witness for the Defense is a razor-sharp ride through the ethical dilemmas ripped from today’s headlines.From Publishers WeeklyJacobs's latest legal thriller (Motion to Dismiss, etc.) will catch the attention of anyone captivated by current scandals involving botched adoptions and bitter custody battles. Following the collapse of her brief love affair with a married man, crackerjack attorney Kali O'Brien returns to San Francisco to single life and a languishing law practice. When psychologist Steven Cross, a grief-stricken widower from Kali's past, refers Terri and Ted Harper to her for what seems like a simple adoption case, Kali accepts. But she is wary because Ted and Terri's previous adoption attempt ended with the birth mother reclaiming her infant. This time Ted, a former quarterback, and his beautiful wife take the extra precaution of moving the pregnant girl, Melissa Burke, into their home until the birth of the baby. Melissa and the birth father both sign the requisite papers, to the Harpers' relief. But their joy is short-lived: when the baby arrives, brash, reactionary radio talk-show host Bram Weaver announces he is the father and sues for custody. Kali prepares to fight an uphill legal battle until Bram is murdered and police arrest Terri based on evidence found at the crime scene. As Kali gathers information about Bram, uncovering his many enemies, her relationship with Cross becomes more personal. And when an eyewitness with a shady past surfaces, she must convince him to testify. Though the deus ex machina ending disappoints, swift pacing, multiple motives and twisting plot lines will satisfy and keep readers guessing. (Apr.)Forecast: The Kali O'Brien series is gaining in popularity Motion to Dismiss was a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller and while sales won't rival those of Lisa Scottoline, Jacobs has picked a hot topic that should pique the interest of readers outside the usual legal-thriller crowd. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.From BooklistWhen Oakland attorney Kali O'Brien decides to finish adoption paperwork for Terri Harper, the case seems straightforward. But Harper's brother is Kali's old lover, and Bram Weaver, a right-wing talk show host, contests the adoption, claiming to be the biological father of the child Harper wishes to adopt. Then Weaver is murdered, shifting Harper from prospective parent to prime suspect. This fourth Kali O'Brien thriller combines solid Bay Area atmosphere with a complex and fascinating legal case. Jacobs capably shows the hard work and uncertainty facing both the prosecution and the defense. Kali's poor judgment in the area of romance strains credulity, but otherwise she is an appealing protagonist. Jacobs has a knack for pacing and making the law suspenseful and compelling, though her ending seems a bit contrived. A respectable entry in a solid series that seems just on the verge of jumping to the next level. John RowenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 52
2004 Barry Award Winner and 2004 Anthony Award Nomineefor Best Paperback OriginalMickey Prada's a nice kid. He works hard at a neighborhood seafood market in Brooklyn putting fish on ice. He’s got a nice girlfriend. He even delayed college a year, to help his sick dad. But Mickey’s got a problem. A customer at the fish store, Angelo Santoro, keeps asking Mickey to place bets for him and Angelo keeps losing. As Angelo gets further in the hole, his bad luck is turning out to be Mickey’s too.Now Mickey’s got his bookie after him and Angelo’s showing him the butt of his pistol rather than paying him back. So when his best friend, Chris, asks Mickey to join him on a can’t-lose caper, Mickey decides to go along. But, surefire schemes often have a way of backfiring, and this one is sending Mickey into an uncharted part of Brooklyn, where fish like Chris and Mickey have trouble just staying alive. Views: 52
Evolution is a collection of short stories that work together to form an episodic science fiction novel. It follows 565 million years of human evolution, from shrewlike mammals 65 million years in the past to the ultimate fate of humanity (and its descendants, both biological and non-biological) 500 million years in the future. The primary protagonist in Evolution is evolution itself (although primates as a group constitute another protagonist). The book follows the hero’s course as it shapes surviving pre-humans into tree dwellers, remoulds a group that drifts from Africa to a (then much closer) New World on a raft formed out of debris, and confronting others with a terrible dead end as ice clamps down on Antarctica. The stream of DNA runs on elsewhere, where ape-like creatures in North Africa are forced out of their diminishing forests to come across grasslands where their distant descendants will later run joyously. At one point, hominids become sapient, and go on to develop technology, including a universal constructor machine that goes to Mars and multiplies, and in an act of global ecophagy consumes Mars by converting the planet into its descendants. Human extinction (or the extinction of human culture) also occurs in the book, as well as the end of planet Earth and the rebirth of life on another planet. (The extinction-level event that causes the human extinction is, indirectly, an eruption of the volcano Rabaul, coupled with various actions of humans themselves, some of which are only vaguely referred to, but implied to be a form of genetic engineering which removed the ability to reproduce with non-engineered humans.) Also to be found in Evolution are ponderous Romans, sapient dinosaurs, the last of the wild Neanderthals, a primate who witnesses the extinction of the dinosaurs, symbiotic primate-tree relationships, mole people, and primates who live on a Mars-like Earth. Views: 52
Liz has a big class project to complete but how can she focus on it when her nosy new neighbor seems to be popping up everywhere? Liz must solve both problems in the nineteenth book of the Critter Club series.When a boy Liz's age moves in next door, Liz hopes they might become friends. But right away Liz can tell the boy has no interest in being friendly. So why does he keep showing up everywhere she is? Plus, Liz has a big class project to complete—an animal habitat diorama—but she can't think of anything to create and her nosy new neighbor isn't helping! With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, The Critter Club chapter books are perfect for beginning readers! Views: 52
Is life about accomplishing plans . . . or wishes coming true . . . or something more?Dr. Kendall Haynes's plans to have it all--a career, a husband, a family--are eluding her. Now that she's thirty-six, she needs to stop wishing upon a star and face reality: Some dreams just never come true. Air Force pilot Griffin Walker prefers flying solo in the air and on the ground--until a dangerous choice ejects him from the cockpit. His life becomes even more complicated after the sudden death of his parents makes him the guardian of his sixteen-year-old brother. There's no way his life will ever get back on course now. When their lives collide during a near tragedy, Kendall and Griffin must decide if they can embrace the unexpected changes God has waiting for them. Views: 52
Two guys. 19 experiments. Five continents. 91,000 miles. And a book that will forever change the way you think about humor. Part road-trip comedy and part social science experiment, a scientist and a journalist detail their epic quest to discover the secret behind what makes things funny. Dr. Peter McGraw, founder of the Humor Research Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, teamed up with journalist Joel Warner on a far-reaching search for the secret behind humor. Their journey spanned the globe, from New York to Japan, from Palestine to the Amazon. Meanwhile, the duo conducted their own humor experiments along the way—to wince-worthy, hilarious, and illuminating results. In their quixotic search, they questioned countless experts, from comedians like Louis C.K. to rat-tickling researchers, and answered pressing (and not-so-pressing) questions such as, "What's the secret to winning The New Yorker cartoon caption... Views: 52
Mystery/Crime. 52343 words long. Views: 52
The small town of Black Falls, Vermont, finally feels safe again - until search-and-rescue expert Rose Cameron discovers a body, burnt almost beyond recognition. Almost. Rose is certain that she knows the victim's identity.and that his death was no accident. Nick Martini also suspects an arsonist's deliberate hand. Another fire killed an arson investigator in California months ago. Now the rugged smoke jumper is determined to follow the killer's trail.even if it leads straight to Rose. Nick and Rose haven't seen each other since they shared a single night of blind passion, but they can't let memories and unhealed wounds get in the way of their common goal - stopping a merciless killer from taking aim straight at the heart of Black Falls. Views: 52
In this dazzling prequel to the New York Times bestsellers The Cowboy and The Texan, Joan Johnston takes us back to a time when Texas was a young and wild republic, and three strong-willed sisters carved out a destiny that would spawn two legendary dynasties. Here is the spellbinding tale of a woman captured by Comanches--and of the proud warrior who vows to make her love him.Born to a white father and his Indian bride, Long Quiet believed his destiny lay with his Comanche brothers. But his heart secretly belonged to Bayleigh Stewart, daughter of the richest cotton planter in Texas, who'd been abducted by a marauding brave and sold to the highest bidder. For years he'd searched for the violet-eyed beauty, and now a strange twist of fate led him to her. Called Shadow by her captors, Bay had almost given up hope of rescue, when a rugged stranger in buckskins appeared, risking his life to bring her home...and awakening a passion that... Views: 52
How do you start a new life when the person you love is about to die?At the age of thirty-six, Gordon Darroch's wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a devastating blow just as he, and their two children with autism, were preparing to move to her native Holland. Eighteen months later, as their plans seemed to be back on course, came the second blow: Magteld was terminally ill and possibly had only a few months to live. As her health rapidly deteriorated, they became caught up in a race against time to get a dying mother home and give their children a future in a country they hardly knew. How could they build a new life in the midst of grief and loss? How would their two sons adjust to such enormous changes? And what would remain of Magteld once she was gone? All the Time We Thought We Had is a story of love and loss and a meditation on grief and memory. It's about how events shape our lives and how we cope with them. And it raises important... Views: 52
