In this e-novella kicking off the brand-new Destination Wedding series, Bellamy, a bride-to-be who dreams of a one-of-a-kind Manhattan wedding, gets caught up in all the planning, and things quickly spin out of control.What is the true cost of an ultimate uptown wedding? Bellamy grew up in a large, boisterous family. The Hillmans may not have had it all, but Bellamy learned how to stretch a dollar and make it look like she did. Now she’s marrying Reid Stanton, the man of her dreams. While planning their one-of-a-kind Manhattan destination wedding, Bellamy gets caught up in all things Pinterest. It starts out simply enough with a “Save the Date Destination Wedding” board. Then it’s the “Destination Wedding Dresses” and “Invitations” boards. As her ideas multiply, so does the cost of the wedding. Before she realizes it, all her creative planning has decimated the budget. Can Bellamy make things right,... Views: 68
She's heard all the lines. Now it's time for the truth!Charlie has to keep pinching herself to believe she's leaving Australia for a trip to Europe--a generous gift from her family, who know how tough her life has been lately. But the last person Charlie expects to bump into on the plane is Jasper Ash, international celebrity, rock-star sex-god--and Charlie's former best friend, flatmate and...almost-lover!It's been three years since Charlie impulsively jumped into bed with Jas, then a struggling student. But their nearly-one-night stand had just been warming up when Jas began the male "backing off" ritual, practically sprinting out the door with the classic excuse, "It's not you, it's me." Yeah, right. Everyone knows what that means: It is you! Not pretty enough, not successful enough--just not enough.Charlie has dealt with it--and a whole lot more--but the unanswered questions still niggle. Acting on impulse once... Views: 68
Sally's husband has been dead for eight years; his remote ancestor, the witch Sarah Good, died on the scaffold in Salem more than four hundred years ago. Yet the president of Sally's college is afraid the story will reflect on the institution. Sally is annoyed. Sarah Good wasn't her ancestor; she was the forbear of Sally's dead husband. That the president of a college should be concerned that one of his faculty might be thought the descendant of a woman who was hanged as a witch four hundred years ago seems ludicrous to her. In one way, the president has reason to be concerned. Their town is in a very conservative part of Texas---a considerable number of citizens are trying to get the Harry Potter books removed from the library. Now a bond issue for the college is coming up, and nothing is more important to the president than to get it approved. Returning to her office, Sally learns from her boyfriend that "the Garden Gnome" has been murdered. The Garden Gnome (so-called because he looks like one) was consistently honored by the students, who gave him the worst evaluations any faculty member had ever received, and Sally was eventually effective in securing his departure. Nor does it help her that he was one of the staunchest opponents of the bond issue. With the aid of the Internet, most of the local population have convinced themselves that Mrs. Sally Good and "Witch" Sarah Good are practically one and the same---maybe Sally is a reincarnation of "her" ancestor. And you know what witches can do. With the help of her lover, Jack, and some complications thrown up by a covey of wiccans ("No, no, it's a religion. We are not witches"), Sally may avoid being hanged, but it certainly looks like she is in real trouble. Views: 68
In The Outstretched Shadow, which was named by VOYA as Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror book for 2003, Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory introduced readers to a complex new fantasy world populated by humans, centaurs, elves, talking unicorns, and demons. The Golden City of the Bells, where only humans live, is ruled by the Mage Council, practitioners of High Magic--a powerful magic that is stable and reliable, though rigidly controlled and performed only by men. Outside the City's walls, humans and magical beings mix freely and call upon Wild Magic--a system sometimes erratic, always driven by desire and need, and performed by both men and women. Now, in To Light a Candle, the Demon Queen sends her forces against her human and elven enemies, sowing distraction and death. In the human City, the Queen's agents work to divide the Council and foment rebellion among the City's citizens. In the countryside, they target the most vulnerable and valuable--the young Elf Prince and the Wild Mages who might be the Demons' most dangerous enemies. To his own surprise, young Kellen, once the disappointing son of the great Mage who leads the City's Mage Council, has become a powerful Knight-Mage. Valued for his bravery and his skills as both wizard and warrior, Kellen joins the Elves' war councils. Yet he cannot convince the City of his birth that it is in terrible danger. Kellen's sister Idalia, a Wild Mage with great healing ability, has pledged her heart to Jermayan, a proud Elven warrior. Someday Idalia will pay a tragic Price for a world-saving work of Wild Magic, but until then, she will claim any joy life can offer her. Jermayan, who has learned muchwhile fighting at Kellen's side and loving the human Idalia, finds that everything changes when he Bonds with a dragon while rescuing the Elf Prince and becomes the first Elven Mage in a thousand years. Furious at her enemies' success with the dragon, the Demon Queen attacks in force. Light struggles against Dark, like flickering candleflames buried deep in the shadow of Obsidian Mountain. Views: 68
Maloney Investigation's new client? An eccentric vineyard owner convinced his even more eccentric neighbor is siphoning off his precious water. But of course it's not as simple as that. Or as dignified. Sofia and Aidan soon find out these Merlot messiahs are turning water into wacky, plowing more than fields, and sowing more than grapes. But there's no putting the cork back in when the opposing vintner turns up naked and face down in a trough of sour grapes. Can Sofia and Aidan clear their client and unmask the killer? Or will they, too, perish in the Pinot Noir? Views: 68
Stephen Jay Gould borrowed from Winston Churchill when he described the conodont animal as a "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." This animal confounded science for more than a century. Some thought it a slug, others a fish, a worm, a plant, even a primitive ancestor of ourselves. The list of possibilities grew and yet an answer to the riddle never seemed any nearer. Would the animal that left behind these miniscule fossils known as conodonts ever be identified? Three times the animal was "found," but each was quite a different animal. Were any of them really the one? Simon J. Knell takes the reader on a journey through 150 years of scientific thinking, imagining, and arguing. Slowly the animal begins to reveal traces of itself: its lifestyle, its remarkable evolution, its witnessing of great catastrophes, its movements over the surface of the planet, and finally its anatomy. Today the conodont animal remains perhaps the most disputed creature in the zoological world. Views: 68
Cassie’s job as a locksmith often puts her in odd and scary situations. She was behind the Lilliput Bar when the owner was shot. Sheriff Ben wants to solve the case by arresting her. Homicide Detective Chance burned out on violence in Minneapolis, so took a small town job to find peace. Instead, he’s in charge of solving this murder. He can’t believe she’s involved. But can he prove it? Views: 68
In Matthew Costello's widely acclaimed post-apocalyptic thriller, Vacation, NYPD cop Jack Murphy leaves the city with his wife, Christie, and kids, Kate and Simon. Retreating to the supposed safety of a bucolic camp for families, Jack discovers that the plague of cannibalism that has claimed so many cities, is here as well. And only his self-sacrifice will enable his wife, his kids...to get out.In Home Christie tries to return to the gated security of their home. At least in that world, there were security guards with AR-15s, and electric fences. But when Christie returns, she discovers that — for them — home has vanished, replaced by what is left of the civilized world quickly collapsing around them. Worse, another change has taken hold with humanity – and that very word...humanity did not apply any more.Now in the last volume in the series, Family, a wounded Christie, Kate and Simon....more like equals than a mother and kids...must flee that... Views: 68
