Millionaire businessman Rafael Loro dominates everyone around him, until dowdy but determined Sophie Frey is assigned to work with him for a fortnight...He is used to beautiful women who agree to his every whim. So Sophie's feistiness--and innocence--are driving him crazy! Views: 30
November 1694. The streets of Edo are erupting in violence as two factions struggle for control over the ruling Tokugawa regime. One is led by the shogun's cousin, Lord Matsudaira, and the other by the shogun's second-in-command, Chamberlain Yanagisawa. Each side pressures Sano Ichiro, the shogun's most honorable investigator, to join its ranks.When one of the shogun's most trusted advisers is found dead, Sano is forced to honor a posthumous request for a murder investigation. Senior Elder Makino believed that his death would be the result of assassination rather than natural causes. Although he and Sano were bitter enemies, Makino knew that the incorruptible Sano would be duty-bound to oblige his final wish.Under the watchful eyes and thinly veiled threats of both Lord Matsudaira and Chamberlain Yanagisawa, Sano moves with caution. Each is eager to implicate the other in Makino's death. Sano must discover whether the death was indeed murder, and if so,... Views: 30
"Every child knows how the story ends. The wicked pirate captain is flung overboard, caught in the jaws of the monster crocodile who drags him down to a watery grave. But it was not yet my time to die. It's my fate to be trapped here forever, in a nightmare of childhood fancy, with that infernal, eternal boy."Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan's rules. From the glamour of the Fairy Revels, to the secret ceremonies of the First Tribes, to the mysterious underwater temple beneath the Mermaid Lagoon, the magical forces of the Neverland open up for Stella as they never have for Hook. And in the pirate captain himself, she begins to see someone far more complex than the storybook villain. With Stella's knowledge of... Views: 30
*There's no telling where a quest might lead...* Jilly Hart is used to being called an unsavory thing or two. Gold digger. Serial bride. You name it. All because Jilly doesn't believe in love...or magic. Just cold hard cash. There's no way she's going to go back to living a life of poverty. But when she finds herself a widow - for the fourth time - all she has left is a nineteenth-century inn in South Fork, Arkansas. Her plan is to sell the inn to make enough money to hunt for wealthy husband number five. Jilly's plan unravels when she finally lays eyes on the place. It's a wreck. And locals say the building is haunted. But can Evan Luchetti, the local handyman, turn the place around? Even more, can Evan convince Jilly there's magic in their love - a love that could make her far richer than any life money can buy? Views: 30
Mark’s evening with Monica awaits, and having to strip naked for his former high school classmate may be the least of his concerns. He worries that his own stepsister might find out about his situation or that she might even participate in his subjugation. Brooke continues to scheme her way into Mark’s penalty. Is the young blonde trying to help or does she simply enjoy watching his strip naked. Views: 30
Call Home the HeartShannon FarrellIreland, 1845Widowed by a shooting accident on her honeymoon, Muireann Caldwell discovers that her wastrel husband Augustine has left her penniless, and almost homeless. She now faces returning to her overprotective family back in Scotland, or charting her own course with the crumbling Caldwell estate in Ireland.Deciding to remain in Ireland to tackle Barnakilla and its mountain of debt, Muireann turns to the handsome, capable Lochlainn Roche, her late husband’s estate manager, for support.Lochlainn worries that with Augustine dead, his lifelong home will be forfeited, especially if the young widow decides to run home to Scotland.But he’s surprised by the strength Muireann displays, and grows to admire her courage and determination, especially as the Irish Potato Famine begins to spread its blight on the land he loves so well.Muireann struggles to re-build the estate and create a sanctuary all can call home. She grows to love Barnakilla as much as Lochlainn does. Dare he hope she returns the love he has found for her? Or will the sacrifices she is forced to make prove too much for her?And dare Lochlainn even trust her? When her husband’s cousin Christopher begins to ask questions about the fatal shooting accident, Muireann and Lochlainn must trust to love if they are ever to save Muireann and Barnakilla from certain doom….An Excerpt from Call Home the Heart:Muireann’s lips parted with a sigh, deepening the sweet kiss into something much more compelling as he raised one hand to hold her chin tenderly and explored her mouth with a leisurely thoroughness that thrilled them both to the core.At last Lochlainn lifted his lips, knowing he couldn’t hide his throbbing desire for her forever. But she seemed untroubled by the kiss, stroking her hand down the long column of his neck with her eyes closed.“How long will it take us to get to Enniskillen?” she asked sleepily.“We should be there by tea time if we have clear roads, but then we’ll have to hope for a lift out to Barnakilla,” he whispered against her silken hair, now a mass of curls which he tousled with this hands, savoring the soft feel of her all over.Like a rose without thorns. The thought came to him suddenly, and he found the simile apt.Muireann nodded, and stroked the hand around her as she returned her head to the pillow. She reflected somewhere in the back of her drowsy mind how wonderful Lochlainn felt in the bed beside her. How they just seemed to fit together.She had had the strangest sensation when she had first met him on the docks in Dun Laoghaire, and their hands had touched in greeting. She had trembled then as though the ground under her were shaking. She had felt almost as if she had come home, though of course she had never before set foot in Ireland. As though they belonged together for all time…Call Home the HeartShannon FarrellSetting: Ireland, 1845Genre: Historical RomanceWord Count=117,000Rating: Quite Sensual==... 4.5 out of 5 starsTop Pick September 2000, Reviewer's Choice Award Nominee 2000, Romantic Times"Widowed by a shooting accident on her honeymoon, Muireann Caldwelldiscovers that her wastrel husband has left her penniless, andalmost homeless. She now faces returning to a smothering family orcharting her own course with the crumbling Caldwell estate.Deciding to tackle Barnakilla and its mountain of debt, Muireannturns to the handsome, capable Lochlainn Roche, her late husband'sestate manager, for support.Lochlainn worries that with Augustine dead, his lifelong home willbe forfeited, especially if the young widow decides to run home toScotland. But he's surprised by the strength Muireann displays, andgrows to admire her courage and determination. She grows to love Barnakilla as much as he does. Dare he hope shereturns the love he has found for her?The author weaves a wonderful tale of survival and love that defeatsseemingly insurmountable odds." Views: 30
Annabelle has a five mile rule: She must keep her friends from coming within five miles of her home. That's because Annabelle's mom is a hoarder. Their house is full of stuff: canned goods, broken toys, old newspapers... It's everywhere except for Annabelle's spotless room. Annabelle can't let anyone find out what her house is like. They'll realize that her mom is crazy. They'll make fun of her. Or feel sorry for her. Or try to help. But when the newspaper piles come crashing down on her sister's head one morning, it kicks off an epic fight between her parents that ends up with her dad taking off — and her fix-it-all grandmother stepping in. As Annabelle realizes how bad things have gotten for her little sister, while trying to navigate her first crush, not to mention stay sane herself, she's forced to come to terms with the fact that maybe she can't keep all her secrets to herself. Maybe she can't just throw her mom's things out... maybe she has to let some people in. Views: 30
From Publishers WeeklyThe first part of Traub's learned cultural history focuses on Times Square (originally Longacre Square before it was renamed in 1904) when it was the center of New York'sâ€"and the nation'sâ€"entertainment industry. Evoking the Runyonesque worlds of vaudeville, burlesque, speakeasies, gangsters and molls, the author provides lots of glamorous information about old Times Square and its most recognizable inventionâ€"oversized electronic signs or "spectaculars." Part two opens in the 1970s after Hollywood, suburbanization and television had marginalized live entertainment and its capital, turning Times Square into a haven for drug dealers and prostitutes, "a disease to be cured." This section, on the rebirth of Times Square, is particularly valuable for showing how private interests and the public sector joined forces to create a capital for corporatized fun. In part three, some readers may become impatient with Traub's tortured indecision about whether to enjoy this weird, overblown world, as his 11-year-old son does, or to decry it as a plot by global capitalism, as well as with his tendency to obsessively analyze the place (he visits Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum with a professor who's "a deconstructionist, or perhaps a postdeconstructionist"). Despite the sometimes overly intellectual approach, this book should appeal to those looking for some of the joy and excitement that even the new "sanitized" Times Square has to offer. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistStarred Review Traub has made a career out of writing about New York and its institutions. He has the right: he lives and breathes the city, and his prose tumbles out sparkling and effortless. His history of Times Square--its name was changed from Longacre Square in the spring of 1904 for the newspaper headquartered there--is a vivid and remarkably nonjudgmental tale. The "iron law" of Times Square, he writes, is "real estate turned to its most profitable use," and he carries that idea from rooftop gardens, vaudeville, and the magical year of 1927 through the speakeasies and nightclubs of the 1930s to the sinkhole of the 1970s and the square's current incarnation as the site of a family carnival. He doesn't miss a character--what made Times Square happen were personalities from reporter Walter Winchell and nightclub queen Texas Guinan to designer Tibor Kalman and the real estate Dursts. He segues smoothly from the assignations of boxer Primo Carnera at the Forrest Hotel to the effect of crowds on MTV's Total Request Live. He pauses in his archaeological reconstruction long enough to marvel at the length and depth of Irving Berlin's career and to admire the Ferris wheel inside the Toys R Us store. A fabulous read that quite nearly captures the "gorgeous disarray" and "epic higgedly piggedly" of the world's gathering place. For other slices of New York life, see Donna Seaman's Read-alike column, "Walkabout, New York Style," in the February 1, 2004, Booklist. GraceAnne DeCandidoCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 30
The human was an expert sniper — and a psychopath. He had never failed in the past when he stalked human prey. But now he is on an enemy planet, and his prey is anything but human. The Darhel are a race with a highly developed empathic sense. Long ago, they learned that they cannot deal death to another intelligent being without being destroyed by the death agonies of their victim. Even though they have been manipulating other species behind the scenes for millennia, including the humans of planet Earth, they cannot bear to kill another being, and depend on other, less sensitive beings to do their dirty work. But now one of the Darhel must kill or be killed. And the fate, not only of his own race, but all of humanity, is riding on his survival. The course of the next thousand years will be determined by whether or not he can learn to fight back. If he cannot, it will be too late… for the entire galaxy. Views: 30
Most sixteen-year-old girls are obsessed with their looks, but Jazz Hooper's obsessed for a different reason. After a car accident that kills her mum, Jazz is left with severe facial scars and retreats into a dark depression.Fearing what will happen if Jazz doesn't recover, her dad makes a drastic decision to move them from England to a game reserve in Kenya for a new start. And when Jazz finds an orphaned leopard cub, it sets off a chain of events that lead her on a two year journey of discovery, healing, and love."A percentage of the royalties from the sale of this book will be contributed to Panthera, a leading international conservation organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the world's big cats." — Sibel Hodge, Author Views: 30
Katherine Daniels, advice columnist for High Fashion Magazine, had the life she always wanted in New York: A good job, a city apartment, and a secret crush. On a trip back home to Connecticut to care for her father, one man turned her whole world upside down, Dr. Warren Vance. After being humiliated in New York, and pulled into her father's match-making antics, Kat had to rethink her life. What she didn't know was that this wasn't just a second chance, it was her last. Views: 30
