Since her stepmother's recent death, 17-year-old Briony Larkin knows that if she can keep two secrets—that she is a witch and that she is responsible for the accident that left Rose, her identical twin, mentally compromised—and remember to hate herself always, no other harm will befall her family in their Swampsea parsonage at the beginning of the twentieth century. The arrival of Mr. Clayborne, a city engineer, and his university-dropout son, Eldric, makes Briony's task difficult. Clayborne's plan to drain the swamp has made the Old Ones unhappy, particularly the Boggy Mun, who has plagued the village's children with swamp cough in retaliation. When Rose's lingering illness turns into a cough, Briony knows that she must do whatever it takes, even revealing her secrets, to save her sister. While thwarting the advances of an arsenic-addicted suitor, Briony must also deny her feelings for Eldric, even as he helps her solve the puzzle that has become her life. Views: 49
Epub v5During WW1 the North Sea became the principal battleground for the navies of Britain and Germany. This book explains in chronological order the major encounters between Kaiser Wilhelm II's High Seas Fleet and the Royal Navy. It also includes other important operations such as mine-laying and sweeping, the Zeppelin Offensive, the bomber offensive against the UK and complete background operational information within the area. Engagements of special note include The Battle of Heligoland Bight, the attempted first German Bombardment of Yarmouth, the German bombardments of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool, together with the Scheer's escape, and the Battle of Dogger Bank. Other actions include the Zeppelin raids, unrestricted U Boat Warfare, the Battle of Jutland and its consequences, the second Battle of Heligoland Bight, the climax and defeat of the German heavy bomber air offensive against the UK and in 1918 the Zeebrugge and Ostend raids, North Sea mine barriers and the mutiny of the High Seas Fleet.** Views: 49
A ruthless killer...an expectant mother...one determined cop. Rafe Delgado had been there for Josie Nichols her entire life. So when he turned to her one night, emotionally drained thanks to a heartbreaking case, her longtime crush on the brooding cop reached a whole new level. But afterward, Rafe went back to being untouchable and Josie didn't know how to break through his shell...even to tell him she was pregnant. Everything Rafe did was by the book and so his moment of weakness could never be repeated. He didn't deserve someone like Josie...even if it was a daily struggle to keep his hands off her. But learning she could ID a cold-blooded killer changed everything. Now she was in his protective custody and caring about her only made his job harder. And learning about his unborn child made it nearly impossible. Views: 49
The Changing The first victim lived just long enough to describe his attack. First came a deep growling...then a sudden thrust for his throat. He died...convinced he'd been attacked by a werewolf. The grisly murders of Rochester's huge film manufacturing complex puzzled Chief of Detectives Tom McCabe. A werewolf prowling the corridors of the huge facility...attacking middle-management level employees? Preposterous. But just to be on the safe side, he'd call in Ryerson H. Biergarten, the well-known parapsychologist. If Rye could deal with ghosts, eh could catch a werewolf! Views: 49
Review“Highly recommended as an engaging portrait of an individual, a family, and time.” —Library Journal, starred “This bildrungsroman is as smart as it is seductive . . . Readers will savor final scenes aboard the gilded ocean-liner Eugenie and welcome the undercurrent that perhaps Piet’s good fortune isn’t luck at all but a lesson that pleasure exists for those who seek it.” —*Booklist "As if plucked from a patisserie display case, Mr. Mason’s novel is a gorgeous confection"-New York TimesHistory of a Pleasure Seeker “is the best new work of fiction to cross my desk in many moons. Mason ... has written an unabashed romance, a classic... There is an almost magical quality to it that had me thoroughly engaged from first page to last. ... Mason has an appealingly playful quality that has never been more evident than it is here; he likes all of his characters and mostly gives them what they deserve; he conjures up early-20th-century Amsterdam and, more briefly, New York, with confidence and exceptional descriptive powers.” - The Washington Post“Mason writes in a beautifully turned, classical style that yields pleasing phrases and psychological complexity... Genuinely moving.”- The New York Times Book Review “It’s hard to imagine a better connoisseur of late 19th-century Europe’s gilded delights than Piet Barol, the bisexual hero at the heart of Richard Mason’s witty fourth novel, History of a Pleasure Seeker... Think Balzac, but lighter and sexier – an exquisitely laced corset of a novel with a sleek, modern zipper down the side.”– *Marie Claire“Richard Mason is the rare novelist who can write a very sexy book that never quite turns prurient... This book about pleasure is a provocative joy.”– O, The Oprah Magazine. Find of the Month.“Highly recommended as an engaging portrait of an individual, a family, and time... At once windswept historical romance and focused social commentary” —Library Journal, starred review “Some of the month’s best fiction... An alluring stranger liberates a wealthy Dutch family’s libido in Richard Mason’s Belle Époque Valentine, History of a Pleasure Seeker” - *Vogue“Delicious... as polished as the Vermeulen-Sickerts' silver, a literary guilty pleasure.”– Los Angeles Times“Mason displays a sharp eye and a wit to rival Oscar Wilde.”– *Kirkus Reviews“The operative word... is pleasure, which comes in abundance to both the reader and the seductively handsome Piet Barol. Mason evokes... delightful period detail... [and] writes with sensuality and humor.”– *Publishers WeeklyProduct DescriptionFrom the acclaimed author of The Drowning People (“A literary sensation” —The New York Times Book Review) and Natural Elements (“A magnum opus” —The New Yorker), an opulent, romantic coming-of-age drama set at the height of Europe’s belle époque, written in the grand tradition with a lightness of touch that is wholly modern and original. The novel opens in Amsterdam at the turn of the last century. It moves to New York at the time of the 1907 financial crisis and proceeds onboard a luxury liner headed for Cape Town.It is about a young man—Piet Barol—with an instinctive appreciation for pleasure and a gift for finding it. Piet’s father is an austere administrator at Holland’s oldest university. His mother, a singing teacher, has died—but not before giving him a thorough grounding in the arts of charm. Piet applies for a job as tutor to the troubled son of Europe’s leading hotelier: a child who refuses to leave his family’s mansion on Amsterdam’s grandest canal. As the young man enters this glittering world, he learns its secrets—and soon, quietly, steadily, finds his life transformed as he in turn transforms the lives of those around him. History of a Pleasure Seeker is a brilliantly written portrait of the senses, a novel about pleasure and those who are in search of it; those who embrace it, luxuriate in it, need it; and those who deprive themselves of it as they do those they love. It is a book that will beguile and transport you—to another world, another time, another state of being. Views: 49
Two high-school sweethearts, a wedding reenactment, and one absent-minded preacher. Is it a recipe for disaster or a chance for a new beginning? Shay Brandenberger is a survivor. She's lived through a crazy childhood, a failed marriage, and single parenthood-with her confidence intact.But not for long. Because when Shay participates in her town's Founder's Day wedding reenactment, she finds herself face-to-face with the one man who takes her breath away and leaves her weak in the knees: Travis McCoy.Travis is back in town after years way on the rodeo circuit. His one regret in life is breaking Shay's heart when they were high-school sweethearts. He's determined to get it right this time.So when their Founder's Day "marriage" is accidentally made official, Travis seizes the day. Can Shay put aside her pride to let Travis help her, or will their accidental marriage be dissolved before it can begin? Views: 49
This epic novel of beauty and brutality, set in a landscape at once strange and alluring, paints a portrait of a people whose fierce passions break the rigid confines of their ancient traditions. The farmers of Paradise County have been leading a hardscrabble life unchanged for generations. The Communist government has encouraged them to plant garlic, but selling the crop is not as simple as they believed. Warehouses fill up, taxes skyrocket, and government officials maltreat even those who have traveled for days to sell their harvest. A surplus on the garlic market ensues, and the farmers must watch in horror as their crops wither and rot in the fields. Families are destroyed by the random imprisonment of young and old for supposed crimes against the state. The prisoners languish in horrifying conditions in their cells, with only their strength of character and thoughts of their loved ones to save them from madness. Meanwhile, a blind minstrel incites the masses to take the... Views: 49
In this sequel to STORK, Katla Leblanc has to employ her grit, spirit, and special gifts to rescue the boy she loves. After the drama of finding out that she's a Stork, a member of an ancient and mystical order of women, and that her boyfriend, Jack, is a descendent of the Winter People able to control the weather, Katla Leblanc is delighted when all signs point to a busy and peaceful Christmas. That is, until the snowstorm Jack summons as a gift to Katla turns into the storm of the century, attracting Brigid, a gorgeous scientist who, in turn, attracts Jack. Between the school play, a bedridden, pregnant mother's to-do lists, and keeping an eye on her aging grandfather, Katla doesn't have time to question Brigid's motives or deal with Jack's increasingly cold behavior. But Katla's suspicions mount when Jack joins Brigid on a research expedition to Greenland, and when the two of them go missing, it becomes clear that Katla is the only one who can save her beloved Jack from... Views: 49
When journalist Josh Wittmore moves from the Illinois bureau of Farm Country News to the newspaper's national office in Wisconsin, he encounters the biggest story of his young career—just as the paper's finances may lead to its closure.Josh's big story is that a corporation that plans to establish an enormous hog farm has bought a lot of land along the Tamarack River in bucolic Ames County. Some of the local residents and officials are excited about the jobs and tax revenues that the big farm will bring, while others worry about truck traffic, porcine aromas, and manure runoff polluting the river. And how would the arrival of a large agribusiness affect life and traditions in this tightly knit rural community of family farmers? Josh strives to provide impartial agricultural reporting, even as his newspaper is replaced by a new Internet-only version owned by a former New York investment banker. And it seems that there may be another force in play: the vengeful... Views: 49
When the spaceship colony Buzz Aldrin spots an ice planet, although it's no good for long-term habitation, it is a great place for a winter holiday! Armed with skis, snowboards and sledges, the children are taken for a fun-filled field trip, which quickly turns to disaster when an avalanche strikes. Luke, Yuri and Yasmin think that being trapped in an ice cave is bad enough, but then discover that actually they're inside the mouth of an enormous alien creature! Will the trio of young adventurers ever manage to escape? Or will they become the human equivalent of a frozen TV dinner? Views: 49
Sound of Butterflies, The Views: 49
