Christmas crept into Pine Cove like a creeping Christmas thing: dragging garland, ribbon, and sleigh bells, oozing eggnog, reeking of pine, and threatening festive doom like a cold sore under the mistletoe. 'Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas, and all through the tiny community of Pine Cove, California, people are busy buying, wrapping, packing, and generally getting into the holiday spirit. It is the hap-hap-happiest time of the year, after all. But not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed; no, his dog hasn't run away from home. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead. But hold on! There's an angel waiting in the wings. (Wings, get it?) It's none other than the Archangel Raziel come to Earth seeking a small child with a wish that needs granting. Unfortunately, our angel's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch, and before you can say "Kris Kringle," he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen. Only Christopher Moore, the man who brought you the outrageous lost gospel Lamb and the hysterical fish tale Fluke could have devised a new holiday classic that tugs at the heartstrings and serves up a healthy slice of fruitcake to boot. Move over, Charles Dickens — it's Christopher Moore time. Views: 51
"Much like Donna Tartt's The Secret History, M. L. Rio's sparkling debut is a richly layered story of love, friendship, and obsession...If We Were Villains will keep you riveted through its final, electrifying moments."—Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The NestOliver Marks has just served ten years in jail – for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he's released, he's greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting... Views: 51
These fourteen funny stories tell the tale of a beleaguered boyhood down home where the dogs still run loose. As a boy growing up in the tiny backwater town of Forty-Five, South Carolina (where everybody is pretty much one beer short of a six-pack), all Mendal Dawes wants is out.It's not just his hometown that's hopeless. Mendal's father is just as bad. Embarrassing his son to death nearly every day, Mr. Dawes is a parenting guide's bad example. He buries stuff in the backyard—fake toxic barrels, imitation Burma Shave signs (BIRD ON A WIRE, BIRD ON A PERCH, FLY TOWARD HEAVEN, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH), yardstick collections. He calls Mendal "Fuzznuts" and makes him recite Marx and Durkheim daily and befriend a classmate rumored to have head lice.Mendal Dawes is a boy itching to get out of town, to take the high road and leave the South and his dingbat dad far behind—just like those car-chasing dogs.But bottom line, this funky, sometimes outrageous, and... Views: 51
I love her, but I also love him.She's everything to me.He sets my world on fire.It's our dirty little secret, and it's about to blow our record deal sky high.I'm Tommy Blade, the Prince of Punk Rock, and this is our story.Warning: This book is for mature audiences only.Tommy Blade is a man with a secret. It's a secret he only shares with one person, Jessi Blade, and the men he surrenders to in the bedroom. Jessi's only condition to their tumultuous sex life is that the men are one night stands. But when Angel Garcia enters his life, it's like a match to gasoline.Mega-talented punk rock singer Angel Garcia, with his smoldering ebony eyes, tight leather pants and unstoppable stage presence, is a man who's used to getting what he wants. He has his eyes set on Tommy Blade as his new lead guitarist, and as his life partner.Jessi Blade, sympathetic to her husband's bisexual needs, loves him enough to share him, but she never counted on Angel Garcia to test the threshold of her marriage. He makes her life hell . . . and heaven. He's her damnation and her salvation. She wants to hate him. She wants to despise him. But his charm and raw sex appeal are impossible to resist. Without warning, she finds herself falling in love with her husband's gay lover.At the height of it all, their punk rock band catapults to stardom.Their lives are marred by secrecy, deception and sacrifice. Feelings of betrayal, backlash from the sensationalistic media and threats of blackmail send them down a hard road filled with tough decisions.They aren't your ordinary rock stars. They're radical rock stars. And they have a big story to tell. Views: 51
SUMMARY:In the late summer of 1831, in a remote section of southeastern Virginia, there took place the only effective, sustained revolt in the annals of American Negro slavery...The revolt was led by a remarkable Negro preacher named Nat Turner, an educated slave who felt himself divinely ordained to annihilate all the white people in the region.The Confessions of Nat Turner is narrated by Nat himself as he lingers in jail through the cold autumnal days before his execution. The compelling story ranges over the whole of Nat's Life, reaching its inevitable and shattering climax that bloody day in August. The Confessions of Nat Turner is not only a masterpiece of storytelling; is also reveals in unforgettable human terms the agonizing essence of Negro slavery. Through the mind of a slave, Willie Styron has re-created a catastrophic event, and dramatized the intermingled miseries, frustrations--and hopes--which caused this extraordinary black man to rise up out of the early mists of our history and strike down those who held his people in bondage. Views: 51
Charlie Tristan Moore isn't a hero. She's a survivor. Already wrestling with the demons of her past, she finds herself tested as never before when she arrives home one night to find herself under attack by three monstrous skinhounds straight out of a nightmare. Just as hope seems lost, she is saved by a sinister Man in Black, dressed in a long, dark coat that seems to possess a life of its own and wielding a black-bladed sword in his grisly red right hand.But her rescue comes at a cost. The Man in Black, a diabolical Elder God, demands she become his Acolyte and embrace a dark magick she never knew she possessed. To ensure her obedience, he takes her friend and possible love, Daniel, in thrall as a hostage. Now she must join The Man in Black in his crusade to track down and destroy his fellow Elder Gods, supposedly to save humanity from being devoured for all eternity.But is The Man in Black truly the lesser of two evils–or a menace far more treacherous than... Views: 51
Book 3 of bestselling Shenandoah Sisters. Katie, the daughter of a plantation owner, and Mayme, the daughter of a slave, find themselves with only each other after the Civil War. They devise a scheme to keep Katie’s plantation going, disguising the fact they are all alone. Now in book three, the girls face new threats to their security. A long-lost uncle appears and then disappears as suddenly, taking their secret with them. Then a flood threatens to destroy the remaining cotton crop they need to save the plantation from foreclosure. Filled with fascinating period details, challenging questions of faith, and heartwarming friendship, this series has all the elements historical fiction fans love.Review"...another powerful installment in the SHENANDOAH SISTERS series...Mayme's voice is unique and insightful." -- romantictimes.comAbout the AuthorMichael Phillips has written three dozen books, including the Secrets of Heathersleigh Hall, with sales totaling over four million copies. He and his wife have been CBA retailers for over 30 years and make their home in Eureka, California. Views: 51
Shifters Unbound - 0.5 Alanna, sister to a Fae prince, is sent on a thankless mission--to return to medieval Ireland and coerce a Shifter to craft an incredible sword. Niall O’Connell, master sword maker of the old Kingdom of Ciarraí, hates Fae, resenting the time when Shifters were little better than Fae slaves. But Alanna's heartbreaking story and her beauty are difficult to resist. Together, she and Niall forge a sword that changes Shifter history, at the same time forging an unbreakable bond between themselves. Views: 51
Ellie Karlson is new to Deep Haven. As the town's interim fire chief, she is determined to lead the local macho fire crew in spite of their misconceptions about her. But when someone begins setting deadly fires, Ellie faces the biggest challenge of her life. Especially when sparks fly with one of the volunteers on her crew: Pastor Dan Matthews. As Ellie battles to do her job and win the respect of her crew, she finds that there is one fire she can't fight—the one Dan has set in her heart.** Views: 51
