The Greek's Runaway Bride Re-read this classic romance by New York Times bestselling author Penny Jordan previously published as Island of the Dawn in 1983 Swept into a whirlwind marriage by powerful yet remote tycoon Leon Stephanides, Chloe fears she hasn't found the happy ending she longs for. So when his possessive stepsister comes between them, Chloe flees, believing she cannot compete for her husband's love. But the Greek's pride cannot accept Chloe's desertion—he will reclaim her for their marriage bed! Leon plans to recapture the runaway by any means necessary, knowing that even if his innocent bride hates him, she can't deny how much she desires him... Views: 20
Published for the first time, here are three holiday tales by the author of Mary Poppins—a gift for all ages. P.L. Travers wrote with a signature blend of sugar and spice; her characters, including Mary Poppins, are endearing, outsized, and cozy. Her talent for capturing the perspective of children shines through Aunt Sass: Christmas Stories. Each of the stories in this book was written as a holiday gift, sent to her friends and family and never published. Now her millions of readers and generations of filmgoers will recognize how she used her life story to inform her fiction. Whether it is Aunt Sass herself—who Travers admits is partly her inspiration for Poppins—or the Chinese cook whose "heathen" ways show the narrator the path to salvation, or the crass ex-jockey whose life work is not at all what it appears, the characters are unforgettable. Views: 20
David Mitchell, who you may know for his inappropriate anger on every TV panel show except Never Mind the Buzzcocks, his look of permanent discomfort on C4 sex comedy Peep Show, his online commenter-baiting in The Observer or just for wearing a stick-on moustache in That Mitchell and Webb Look, has written a book about his life. As well as giving a specific account of every single time he's scored some smack, this disgusting memoir also details: * the singular, pitbull-infested charm of the FRP ('Flat Roofed Pub') * the curious French habit of injecting everyone in the arse rather than the arm * why, by the time he got to Cambridge, he really, really needed a drink * the pain of being denied a childhood birthday party at McDonalds * the satisfaction of writing jokes about suicide * how doing quite a lot of walking around London helps with his sciatica * trying to pretend he isn't a total at Robert Webb's wedding * that he has fallen in love at LOT, but rarely done anything about it * why it would be worse to bump into Michael Palin than Hitler on holiday * that he's not David Mitchell the novelist. Despite what David Miliband might thinkReview'He can write' Evening Standard About the AuthorDavid recently completed filming the eighth series of the award winning and critically acclaimed "Peep Show". His memoir 'Back Story' is due for publication by Harper Collins on the 11th October. David will also be recording another series of The Unbelievable Truth this Autumn. Views: 20
The case is cold but the leads are hot…And so is the attraction between detectives Lucy Hayes and Ramsey Miller.Twenty-five years ago, there was a kidnapping in Comfort Cove, Massachusetts. Neither the child nor the kidnapper was ever found.Now there are fresh leads, including one in an Indiana town. Lucy is working that end of the case…She and Ramsey are two top-notch detectives. And two people who've learned to keep an emotional distance from others. But as they explore various confusing clues in the decades-old abduction, they grow closer. Especially when they discover what really happened in Comfort Cove. Because the truth is as shocking as it is unexpected!About the AuthorThe author of more than 50 original novels, in twenty languages, Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA Today bestseller with more than six million copies sold. Known for delivering deeply emotional and psychologically compelling novels, Ms. Quinn won the 2008 Reader’s Choice Award, is a four time finalist for the RWA Rita Award, a finalist for the Reviewer’s Choice Award, the Bookseller’s Best Award, and has appeared often on local and national TV including CBS Sunday Morning. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.A bottle clinked.She knew the sound.Waking from a fitful sleep that Saturday morning in early November, Lucy jumped up from her mother's couch, pushing her short blond hair away from her face, before her eyes were fully focused."Mama…"Lucy moved toward the sound, her gun still on the coffee table where she'd set it when she'd finally dared to try and sleep.Standing in front of the closet by the front door, Sandy Hayes wore an all-too-familiar guilty look as she turned to her daughter."I wasn't going to drink it, Luce, I swear. I just.. you know how I get…and with the…thing…this morning…" Sandy continued to ramble as Lucy took the opened bottle from one of her mother's hands, and the top from the other."I… The panicky feeling was there and I just had to see that I had relief if I needed it," Sandy said, talking to Lucy's back as she followed her daughter into the old but clean kitchen.Lucy's own bungalow across the street was a bit newer than her mother's but equally clean."You promised me no more hidden stash, Mama." Lucy opened the cupboard over the sink and slid the bottle onto the lower shelf. "No more games," she said. "And no drinking until after we go down to the station this morning."Not only was Lucy tired from a night spent on her mother's rock-hard, faux-leather couch, she was angry. And a tad disappointed. "I get that you aren't going to stay sober for yourself," she said. Crankiness made her add, "Or for me. But this is for Allie, Mama. This man took Allie."Dressed in last night's dark slacks and a wrinkle-free pinstriped blouse—her daily detective attire—she faced her mother down. "This is important, Mama. Maybe more important than anything we've ever done. The prosecutor says that if you ID this guy, his case is open and shut. And once he knows he's going to prison for life, maybe he'll talk to us. Maybe he'll make a deal."Sandy stared straight at Lucy, who knew what was coming next. Yep, there they were. The big pools of tears that spoke of a pain so deep her mother couldn't find a way out of its grip."You said they have his DNA.""And the prosecutor is afraid that the defense might be able to lay some doubt regarding the sample they took from you twenty-eight years ago. Apparently there's some question about the collection process they used. You know this, Mama. I told you all about it.""You also said you thought you'd be able to get the guy to confess and I wouldn't ever have to appear.""He lawyered up before I got to him the second time. There was nothing I could do about that.""I can't face him in court, Luce. Not after what he did to me.""You promised you'd come through for me, Mama." Lucy stopped short of stamping her foot—not that the gesture would have had much impact coming from five foot two inches in stocking feet."I promised I'd stay sober and I am, Luce, I promise.""I know you are. Because I've been awake most of the night making certain that you would be sober this morning. I need you to keep it together until we get this done.""I will.""You'd better.""You're angry with me.""Yeah, I guess I am. It'll pass. How about you go get in the shower, put on those jeans with the embellished back pockets that you like and your new fleecy sweater, and I'll take you out to breakfast and for a drive down by the river as soon as we're finished this morning.""Can we stop in at the Belterra?"A casino on the Ohio River. Another place an addict could find escape for a while."Yes, but only for a little while. I have to work today."Sandy turned toward the bedroom, and then stopped. "When are you going to shower?"So Sandy would have a chance to hit the bottle?"I showered and changed last night before I came over," she said drily. "I'll wash my face and do my makeup alongside you. My suit jacket will cover up any wrinkles the night brought."Sandy's shoulders slumped and contrition hit Lucy hard."I wouldn't put you through this if I didn't have to, Mama.""I just wish… I've spent almost thirty years trying to forget everything about that man, Luce. I'm scared." She shuddered and her eyes glazed. "I don't want to see his face again. The nightmares will come back and… His hands…oh, God, Luce."Sandy started to cry, buckling in on herself, and Lucy stepped forward, using her body to hold her mother upright as she wrapped her arms around Sandy's upper arms and back. "Shhh. I'm right here, Mama. And I'm always just across the street. If the dreams start again, I'll sit with you. Remember all the good times we had, sitting up watching movies and eating ice cream and popcorn in bed when I was little?"Sandy lifted her head, wiping her eyes as she tried to smile. "Yes, of course I do. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, Luce. I just wish I'd given you a better life.""You gave me a fine life. You were always there for me, too, Mama." Not always sober, but always there. "I had what I needed." Food, nice clean clothes, help with homework and projects. A parent sitting in the front row during the Christmas play. And on the sidelines the year she'd taken up cheer-leading. In the bleachers the year she'd gone out for volleyball. And at her police academy graduation, too."We have to do this for Allie, Mama. Try not to think about what this jerk did to you. Think of him as the man who can tell us where Allie is."Sandy's chin stiffened, her eyes hardening. "Yes. He will pay for taking Allie from us."Lucy was hoping he was eventually going to lead them to her older sister. Allison Elizabeth Hayes. A girl she'd never known. A baby who'd been abducted before Lucy was born."You have to hold it together this morning, Mama. If you exhibit signs of instability that the defense will be able to use to discredit your testimony, the prosecutor might choose not to use you. Then we'd be left taking our chances with the possibly contaminated sample of DNA. This guy could walk."Nodding, Sandy backed up a couple of steps. "I'll try."Lucy straightened to her full five-feet-two. "'I'll try' isn't good enough this time, Mama. I have to know I can depend on you.""I won't let you down."Lucy didn't relent, her gaze boring into her mother as if she could inject Sandy with the strength she didn't have. Lucy had lost count of the number of times she'd heard her mother's promises only to end up on the other side of another broken vow."Do you hate me, Luce?""No, Mama." Pulling the slightly taller woman back into her arms, Lucy held her tightly, held her in the cradle of her heart, just as Sandy had done for Lucy in years past—both sober and drunk. "I love you.""I love you, too, Luce. More than anything." Sandy clung to her, burying her face in Lucy's neck. "You know that you are the most important thing to me on earth. The only important thing."Because Allie was gone. "I know."She did know.Just as she knew she'd never be enough. They needed Allie."Ramsey, is that you?"Leaning back in the well-used rolling desk chair, Ramsey Miller looked around the vacant office of the Comfort Cove detective squad early Saturday morning. There were six full-time detectives, among the more than fifty officers who made up the Comfort Cove Police Department. Others would be filing in soon, but for now he had the partitioned detectives' office to himself. "Yeah, Dad, it's me.""How are you, son? It's great to hear from you! You getting enough rest?""Yeah.""And enough to eat, too? You know your mother's going to ask.""How is Mom?""She has her good days and her bad days, but overall we're doing just fine."He wanted to ask if she knew his father. If the dementia had robbed his mother of her memories of Earl yet. But he didn't. Just like he hadn't during last month's call. Or the calls before that. If his mother had worsened to that extent, his father would only lie to him about it.And to himself, too.Earl Miller was never going to admit that his wife was leaving him, slowly but surely, one day at a time. He wasn't going to give up on her.Or see that she didn't have enough love left in her heart to keep her with him. He had love enough for both of them.At least, that was Ramsey's take on the situation."What are you guy's doing today?" he asked now, avoiding the pile of paperwork on his desk—two cold-case records that had been his evening fun the night before."Mom's doing the dishes right now and then we'll be heading over to Louisville for their leaf festival. You know how she loves the colors.""And you like the fudge," Ramsey said, figuring his dad must have been right—his mother had to still be hanging in there if she was cognizant enough to do the dishes before seven in the morning."Yep. I get to sample all the flavors. Only thing that would make it better was if you were here to go with us, son.""I know, Dad. I'll try to get some time off soon."How long had it been since he'd been back to his Southern Kentucky home? One year? Two?"We'd love to have you here for Thanksgiving, Ramsey. Your mother's cooking.""Mom doesn't need me around giving her more work to do." Reminding her of the daughter she'd lost because of him."She needs you, son."Every time he'd been home in the thirteen years since his sister's death—a tragedy du... Views: 20
Eighteen years ago, Jake Lassiter crossed paths with a teenage runaway who disappeared into South Florida's sex trade. Now he retraces her steps and runs head-on into a conspiracy of Miami's rich and powerful who would do anything to keep the past as dark as night and silent as the grave. In this tale of redemption and revenge, Edgar-nominated author Paul Levine delivers his most powerful thriller yet.Jake Lassiter, second-string linebacker turned low-rent lawyer, is cynical about the law, but if you hire him, he'll take a punch for you . . . and maybe a swing at the prosecutor, too.Amy Larkin - beautiful, angry, and mysterious - accuses Lassiter of involvement in the disappearance of her sister eighteen years earlier. What does Lassiter know about Krista Larkin, the runaway teen turned porn actress? More than he's saying. Seeking to atone for his own past, Lassiter follows the cold trail of the missing Krista and butts head with the powerful men who also knew her: a former porn king turned philanthropist, a slick Cuban-born prosecutor who'd love to be governor, and an aging mobster who once worked for the infamous Meyer Lansky. The evidence leads to a long-ago night of kinky sex, designer drugs - and possible murder. But before Lassiter can nail the truth, a gun goes off, a suspect falls dead, and Amy is charged with murder.The state has an eyewitness and a slam-dunk case. Lassiter has a client he doesn't trust and a case he can't win. Did Amy shoot the man who killed her sister? Or the wrong man? And what really happened to Krista? The answers, buried under years of deceit and corruption, are revealed in an explosive courtroom finale proving that rough justice is better than no justice at all. Views: 20
Ever had your heart blown to smithereens? Ever wondered if happy-ever-after only happens to other people?Lindsay Davidson is not your usual angst-ridden thirty-something. She's got life sussed. She's just about to marry Paul Hayes - think Johnny Depp meets Colin Firth with a hint of Brad Pitt - when a phone call rips her life apart. Cue bucketloads of tears and self-doubt, until, amazingly, a chink of light in the form of the job of a lifetime.Working behind the scenes on one of the top-rated TV chat shows opens up a fascinating new world, with as much sex and scandal off-screen! A fairytale weekend with a hot new presenter gives Lindsay reason to hope again, until a misunderstanding means her heart takes another battering. Soon, there's a life-changing decision to be made and meanwhile, Paul wonders if he's made a mistake... Views: 20
Review"Alice Walker is a lavishly gifted writer."--The New York Times Book Review"Almost no one has tried to tell us about the early lives, the INNER early lives of Black people.... Alice Walker is a storyteller." -- Robert Coles, The New Yorker"Alice Walker is exceptionally brave, and takes on subjects at which most writers would flinch and quail..." -- Alice Adams, The San Francisco Chronicle "Walker dares to reveal truths about men and women, about blacks and whites, about God and love.... And we, like Alice Walker's marvelous characters, come away transformed by knowledge and love but most of all by wonder." --EssenceAbout the AuthorBest-selling novelist ALICE WALKER is the author of five other novels, five collections of short stories, six collections of essays, seven volumes of poetry, including the most recent Hard Times Require Furious Dancing, and several children’s books. Her books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. Views: 20
