"My heart sank. I dumped my father’s ashes in the heart of communist Vietnam – over a thousand miles from the death of his comrades – over a thousand miles from the smile of that girl. How could I have been so stupid?" Only the bumbling, overweight, thirtyish, stay-at-home Martin Kinney could have mistakenly flubbed his dying father’s request with such gusto. This thousand mile mistake awakens the ghosts of long-held family secrets and puts Martin on a fateful course with an unlikely romantic interest – a young, beautiful, yet troubled Vietnamese woman named My Phuong. With its cross-cultural setting and unlikely romance, the 61,000 word novel Beauty Rising creates a powerful, unique voice in today’s literature. In a swift- moving, dialogue-driven prose which is funny, honest, tragic and unpredictable, Beauty Rising explores the depths of culture, family, and love as the Vietnam War, a generation removed, continues to hang on the periphery of society, cursing families and causing destruction.Review"Author Mark W. Sasse has written an emotionally charged and engrossing story. . . .The two main characters, Martin and My Phoung, are portrayed with great depth of emotion and their quest for redemption and self-acceptance is stunning.... I can't say enough about this book; it's a story that you don't want to miss!!" - Marilou George, Kindle Book Review"...a one-night read." "This is a tragic story . . . written so beautifully." 5 STARS - Charlene, Literary R & R About the AuthorMark W. Sasse teaches drama, history, and English when he isn't writing. He lived in Vietnam for nearly ten years which provided the rich background of modern day Vietnam in his first novel "Beauty Rising" released in December 2012. He is passionate about live theater and has published a series of plays of different genres including "Spy Blue", "Take Two: Who Directs Your Life", "Life with Stewart" and "Fifteen 10-Minute Plays for the Stage." He also produced and directed all of these as original stage productions. His dramatic production, "Drive All Night" premiered in November 2012 at the Penang Performing Arts Centre. He currently resides in Malaysia. Views: 68
A year 2000 computer glitch got her $1 million and a cowboy--and the wildest adventure of her life . . .P.R. whiz Tess O'Mara is burned out. She's looking for a change. Something wild and crazy. The year 2000 has arrived. And that's when the trouble begins. A computer glitch has deposited one million dollars into her bank account. Problem is, it's somebody else's money, somebody who's willing to kill to find it--and Tess has already spent a big chunk of it on a new wardrobe and a powder-blue Mercedes convertible. Suddenly Tess is running for her life, as fast and as far as she can go . . . . . . until she reaches the sleepy desert town of Almost, Arizona. Sheriff Jake McCall, a dead ringer for Mel Gibson, is there to catch her as she careens into town and collapses from heatstroke in his arms. Jake's prepared for anything--except the spoiled city slicker with trouble in her wake. The last thing he expects is to fall for her. But as danger tracks Tess to her... Views: 68
New York Times bestselling author Jane Stanton Hitchcock's Social Crimes is a riveting thriller of manners, obsession, and revenge that scales the heights and plumbs the depths of the New York social scene. When Jo Slater, one of New York's premier socialites and a patron of the arts, befriends a French countess, she ignores warnings from friends about the mysterious newcomer. Soon, the young woman knocks Jo off her Park Avenue throne. But using her knowledge of the greatest historical swindle of all time—a true story involving Marie Antoinette—Jo sets out to reclaim her fortune and her place in society. For the plan to work, however, she must resort to the most desperate of measures: murder. Social Crimes is a savvy social satire bursting with money, betrayal, and passion that will thrill readers of sophisticated mysteries. Views: 68
Some women walk their own paths through the ages, even when mayhem follows. Follow two of these women as they each walk the Paths Less Traveled.In "Lightning Strikes", Falcon, a disinherited princess, wants to be the king's spy. The theft of a prize stallion is her chance. But when her best friend stands accused, far more than her dreams are at risk. Falcon races to catch a thief before fatal vengeance falls on an innocent man.Worlds away, Psyonics Corporation controls all paranormals and psychics in "Flashes of Life." Its highest-testing but still latent psychic, Vonna accepts an assignment with the D.C. police to avoid the company's breeding program. The company works to ensure failure in her first case – a homicide. If she can't unlock her talents, a murderer will go free and she'll be consigned to slavery.The Paths Less Traveled. Strange universes. Kick-butt heroines. Views: 68
It’s Edinburgh, it’s New Year and Ailsa is on the verge of a new improved sex life! She’s unveiling a sassy resolution - a sex life makeover to turn her into a ‘va va voom vamp’. Nick is the Aussie Adonis she lusted over when he was her boss. Thanks to Nick, Ailsa’s about to achieve her ‘vamp’ aspirations. But Nick has to spoil the fun by developing deep feelings for Ailsa... Views: 68
This is a Regency romance with a hint of magic. Merry and Annabel visit the well at night and make their wish. They are convinced of its magical powers because Miss Merlin told them so and they beleive their head teacher is a white witch.Fun and games in Regency days Views: 68
The first book in a fun and exciting series by award-winning author Frances Watt and Kate Greenaway Medal winner Gregory Rogers, introducing Tommy - a feisty kitchen hand who longs to be a knight. When Tommy is finally promoted to Keeper of the Blades, will a missing sword ruin everything?Tommy, a kitchen girl at Flamant Castle, dreams of becoming a knight - and when she is made the Keeper of the Blades, caring for all the swords in the castle armoury, it seems like her dream might come true. But then Sir Walter's most valuable sword goes missing from the sword room. Will Tommy be able to find it before she is sent back to the kitchen in disgrace?Introducing a feisty new character for girls (and their parents and teachers) who love adventure and want an alternative to 'pink' books. Created by Frances Watts, a CBCA Award Winner and author of the huge bestseller Kisses for Daddy. Views: 68
The moon is full, the time has come for cursed souls to fall to their knees and become bloodthirsty creatures of the night. Welcome to this collection of werewolf and shifter tales, where nothing is as it seems and nowhere is safe from the recently transformed. With stories from some of the best writers in the genre, one thing is for sure.
When it's all over...
...you'll be left howling for more. Views: 68
Through Anne Perry’s magnificent Victorian novels, millions of readers have enjoyed the pleasures and intrigue of a bygone age. Now, with the debut of an extraordinary new series, this New York Times bestselling author sweeps us into the golden summer of 1914, a time of brief enchantment when English men and women basked in the security of wealth and power, even as the last weeks of their privileged world were swiftly passing. Theirs was a peace that led to war.
On a sunny afternoon in late June, Cambridge professor Joseph Reavley is summoned from a student cricket match to learn that his parents have died in an automobile crash. Joseph’s brother, Matthew, as officer in the Intelligence Service, reveals that their father had been en route to London to turn over to him a mysterious secret document—allegedly with the power to disgrace England forever and destroy the civilized world. A paper so damning that Joseph and Matthew dared mention it only to their restless younger sister. Now it has vanished.
What has happened to this explosive document, if indeed it ever existed? How had it fallen into the hands of their father, a quiet countryman? Not even Matthew, with his Intelligence connections, can answer these questions. And Joseph is soon burdened with a second tragedy: the shocking murder of his most gifted student, beautiful Sebastian Allard, loved and admired by everyone. Or so it appeared.
Meanwhile, England’s seamless peace is cracking—as the distance between the murder of an Austrian archduke by a Serbian anarchist and the death of a brilliant university student by a bullet to the head of grows shorter by the day.
Anne Perry is a sublime master of suspense. In No Graves As Yet , her latest haunting masterpiece, she reminds us that love and hate, cowardice and courage, good and evil are always a part of life, in our own time as well as on the eve of the greatest war the world has ever known.
From the Hardcover edition. Views: 68
