This is the entry to a new world. It's highly recommended for anyone that wants an incredible adventure, but is adverse to being beaten personally. Tor Baker is a builder. A person that creates the magic that makes the kingdom of Noram function. At least he will be one, if his first project hasn't failed miserably, and if he manages not to be expelled from school for taking unscheduled time off to try it. What Tor doesn't know is that his innocent little project has caught the attention of some very powerful people, and the world he thought he knew his whole life, is a lie. Between his own innocence, and a world filled with royalty and power, the humble little baker's boy from the backwoods is going to have to scramble if he doesn't want it to all fall apart, or end up in the gallows for making a few simple mistakes. This is part one of the continuing series of full length novels, the Young Ancients. Views: 34
"Full of heart-wrenching emotion and pulse-pounding action." —Helene Young, Australian Romance Readers Association award winner for best romantic suspenseHow far would you go to save a child that wasn't yours? Mild-mannered kindergarten teacher Neve Botticelli leads a double life. Thanks to a childhood tragedy and her paranoid father, she's a trained warrior with extreme survival skills who lives off the grid. When self-made billionaire Micah Kincaid storms into town in search of his son, Rowan, he's pushy, entitled, and stands for everything she despises. Micah can't believe a kindergarten teacher is barring the way to him getting crucial information or even just a glimpse of the boy his cheating ex kidnapped. They share only one thing in common: either will do anything to protect the four-year-old, who they soon discover is being held for ransom by an outlaw motorcycle gang. But as they work together to get Rowan back, they start to see... Views: 34
From the renowned chronicler of law-and-order in Gilded Age New York City, the sensational grave robbery of A. T. Stewart, "The Merchant Prince of Manhattan," one of the wealthiest men in American history Views: 34
When Aolani Kohale agrees to be the model for eccentric CEO Gavin Fletcher's "Live Beautifully" campaign, she doesn't know what to expect. But when he hands her an envelope full of cash and expects her to leave the next day, she wonders what exactly she signed up for.When she begins to doubt the sexy millionaire's motives in hiring her, he does his best to soothe her nerves. Tensions and passions flare when they set sail, leaving them stranded together in the middle of the Atlantic. Will Aolani's fears douse the spark growing between them, or will she learn to trust Gavin when he says she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen?This 8200 word story is the second installment in the LUSH CURVES, BBW erotic romance series. Views: 34
A fresh look at the endlessly fascinating Tudors—the dramatic and overlooked story of Henry VII and his founding of the Tudor Dynasty—filled with spies, plots, counter-plots, and an uneasy royal succession to Henry VIII. 1501 England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy and civil war. Henry VII clambered to the top of the heap—a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England’s crown who managed to win the throne and stay on it for sixteen years. Although he built palaces, hosted magnificent jousts, and sent ambassadors across Europe, for many Henry VII remained a false king. But he had a crucial asset: his family—the queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. Now, in what would be the crowning glory of his reign, his elder son would marry a great Spanish princess.Thomas Penn re-creates an England that is both familiar and very strange—a country medieval yet modern, in which honor and chivalry mingle with espionage, real politik, high finance, and corruption. It is the story of the transformation of a young, vulnerable boy, Prince Henry, into the aggressive teenager who would become Henry VIII, and of Catherine of Aragon, his future queen, as well as Henry VII—controlling, avaricious, paranoid, with Machiavellian charm and will to power. Rich with incident and drama, filled with wonderfully drawn characters, Winter King is an unforgettable tale of pageantry, intrigue, the thirst for glory—and the fraught, unstable birth of Tudor England.Review''I feel I've been waiting to read this book a long time. It's a fluent and compelling account of the cost of founding the Tudor dynasty: of a clever, ruthless, enigmatic monarch, a refugee all his early life, king by right of conquest, prepared to harass and frighten his subjects into submission: a man content to be feared and not loved. The level of detail is fascinating and beautifully judged. The book shows what a mistake it is to regard these closing years of the reign simply as a curtain raiser for Henry VIII. I think that, for the first time, a writer has made me feel what contemporaries felt as Henry VII's reign drew to an end; the relief, the hope, the sudden buoyancy.'' --Hilary Mantel, Man Booker Prize-winning author of Wolf Hall''This is an exceptionally stylish literary debut. Henry VII may be the most unlikely person ever to have occupied the throne of England, and his biographers have rarely conveyed just what a weird man he was. Tom Penn does this triumphantly and in the process manages to place his subject in a vividly realized landscape. His book should be the first port of call for anyone trying to understand England's most flagrant usurper since William the Conqueror.'' --Diarmaid MacCulloch, New York Times bestselling author''A definitive and accessible account of the reign of Henry VII that will alter our view not just of Henry but of the country he dominated and corrupted and of the dynasty he founded.'' --Guardian (London)''Stunning . . . This is not a new story--but in Penn's hands, it is a revelation . . . Penn has pulled off a rare feat: a brilliant and haunting evocation of the Tudor world, with irresistible echoes of the age of fear in which we now live.'' --Telegraph (London)''With a sharp eye for detail and adroit use of a gifted historical imagination . . . [Thomas Penn] lets us hear the creak of oars and the scratch of pens, as well as the tubercular king fighting for every breath . . . Vigorous and thoroughly enjoyable.'' --Economist''Winter King offers us the fullest, deepest, most compelling insight into the warped psychology of the Tudor dynasty's founder to have appeared since [Francis] Bacon wrote.'' --Financial Times''Succeeds brilliantly . . . [A] finely drawn portrait . . . Penn's deft turn of phrase superbly re-creates the drama and personalities of the court.'' --Sunday Times (London)''A tour de force.'' --Spectator''A wonderful read, as rich in character and drama as Wolf Hall, only shorter and true.'' --John Carey, author of William Golding: The Man Who Wrote ''Lord of the Flies''Review“I feel I’ve been waiting to read this book a long time. It’s a fluent and compelling account of the cost of founding the Tudor dynasty: of a clever, ruthless, enigmatic monarch, a refugee all his early life, king by right of conquest, prepared to harass and frighten his subjects into submission: a man content to be feared and not loved. The level of detail is fascinating and beautifully judged. The book shows what a mistake it is to regard these closing years of the reign simply as a curtain raiser for Henry VIII. I think that, for the first time, a writer has made me feel what contemporaries felt as Henry VII’s reign drew to an end; the relief, the hope, the sudden buoyancy.”—Hilary Mantel, Author of Wolf Hall“A wonderful read, as rich in character and drama as Wolf Hall, only shorter and true.” —John Carey, author of William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies“A definitive and accessible account of the reign of Henry VII that will alter our view not just of Henry, but of the country he dominated and corrupted, and of the dynasty he founded.”—Philippa Gregory, The Guardian (UK)"As Thomas Penn shows us so vividly in Winter King, the first Tudor monarch is as fascinating as his son and his life story nearly as full of drama and incident."—Martin Rubin, The Wall Street Journal"Penn's book presents readers with the world of realpolitik as it was played out in the earliest years of the Tudor dynasty. . . . Here is a skillful reclamation project, an absorbing picture of the oft-overlooked architect behind one of the greatest, most controversial dynasties in English history. . . . Penn's story offers a rich pageant of players — agents and adversaries, courtiers and scholars, thugs and young aristocrats."—Nick Owchar, Los Angeles Times“A masterful account of a pivotal moment in English history. In this remarkable debut, Thomas Penn brings to life the reign of Henry VII, a fascinating ruler too long eclipsed by the tyrant he defeated and the famous son who succeeded him.” —James Shapiro, Professor of English, Columbia University, and author of Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?“This is an exceptionally stylish literary debut. Henry VII may be the most unlikely person ever to have occupied the throne of England, and his biographers have rarely conveyed just what a weird man he was. Tom Penn does this triumphantly, and in the process manages to place his subject in a vividly-realised landscape. His book should be the first port of call for anyone trying to understand England’s most flagrant usurper since William the Conqueror.” —Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years"Stunning. . . . This is not a new story—but in Penn's hands, it is a revelation. . . . Penn has pulled off a rare feat: a brilliant and haunting evocation of the Tudor world, with irresistible echoes of the age of fear in which we now live."—Helen Castor, The Telegraph (UK)“Winter King offers us the fullest, deepest, most compelling insight into the warped psychology of the Tudor dynasty’s founder to have appeared since [Francis] Bacon wrote.” —John Guy, Financial Times“Succeeds brilliantly . . . [a] finely drawn portrait . . . Penn’s deft turn of phrase superbly re-creates the drama and personalities of the court.” —Tracy Borman, Sunday Times (London) Views: 34
Matchmaker--Matched!For Ellie O'Brien, finding the perfect partner is easy--as long as it's for other people. Now the townsfolk of Peppin want to return the favor. But how could Lawson Williams be the right choice? The handsome ranch foreman was her childhood friend, but he's the man Ellie deems least likely to court a tomboy with a guilty secret.Lawson can't help enjoying the town's efforts to push him together with Ellie, though marriage isn't in his plans. Yet Ellie's become a warm, spirited woman who could chase away the clouds of his past. And with a whole town on their side, they could claim a love as big and bold as Texas itself.... Views: 34
With these words Ailsa Piper's journey begins. Less than a month later she finds herself hiking through olive groves and under translucent pink blossoms, making her way from the legendary city of Granada, towards the cliffs at Finisterre in the far north-west of Spain.On her back she carries an unusual cargo - a load of sins. In the tradition of medieval believers who paid others to carry their sins to holy places, and so buy forgiveness, Ailsa's friends and colleagues donated sins in order to fund her quest. She's received anger and envy, pride and lust, among many.Through glorious villages and inspiring landscapes, miracles find her. Matrons stuff gifts of homemade sausages into her pack. Angels in both name and nature ease her path.Sins find her too. Those in her pack and many others tempt her throughout her journey.And she falls in love: with kindness, with strangers, and with Spain.Sinning Across Spain celebrates the mysteries of faith, the possibilities... Views: 34
