While Reginald Elephant uses all his might to stop the pirates from escaping, Larry Monkey dives after an ancient artefact called a robot in the dark waters of the Gulf. The pirates still have the upper hand but there’s just a chance Flossy Fairweather can frustrate their plans long enough for help to arrive. The friends are divided but they’re not defeated, not by a long shot.While Reginald Elephant uses all his might to stop the pirates from escaping in Harry Possum’s stolen Baltimore Clipper, Larry Monkey dives after an ancient artefact called a robot in the dark waters of the Gulf. The pirates still have the upper hand but there’s just a chance Flossy can frustrate their plans long enough for help to arrive. And there’s a secret passage made by owls and hiding in plain sight that may hold the key. The friends are divided but they’re not defeated, not by a long shot.By the end of the next ice age, all that remains of the once great, world-spanning human civilisation are myths and ancient, inexplicable artefacts lying at the feet of melting glaciers. Thanks to the red-hot Heat Tree reefs that keep the ice at bay, the lands above the Gulf of Mexico are some of the few places still warm enough to support life. On the western shores of the Gulf is Port Isabel, a town conceived and built by owls who mysteriously vanished hundreds of years before without even bothering to say goodbye. The animals that live there are industrious, peaceful and vegetarian; except for those that aren't, which is where all the trouble starts. Views: 772
“In the end, only three things matter. How much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.”
- Unknown
It was a big lie. The biggest lie she’d ever told. It reverberated through her head as she said it, ringing eerily, and the girl behind her eyes—the girl who knew the truth—screamed, and her scream echoed along with the lie.
“Are you in love with Noah, Mercedes?” Cora asked. “I mean . . . I know you love him. You’ve been friends forever. We all have. But are you in love with him?”
If it had been anyone else—anyone—Mercedes would have stuck out her chest, folded her skinny arms, and let her feelings be known. She would have claimed him. But it was Cora. Brave, beautiful, broken Cora, and Cora loved Noah too.
So Mercedes lied.
And with that lie, she lost him. With that lie, she sealed her fate.
She was the best friend, the bridesmaid, the godmother, the glue. She was there for the good times and the bad, the ups and the downs, the biggest moments and the smallest parts. And she was there when it all came crashing down.
This is the tale of the girl who didn’t get the guy. Views: 772
Janet Auchincloss is nervous. She's about to have dinner with her daughter's future in-laws, Joe and Rose Kennedy, and discuss arrangements for the pending nuptials. Although she's well aware of Joe Kennedy's reputation--as both a shady businessman and an unfaithful husband--nothing could prepare Janet for the tense evening ahead.Duel at Strolling Ponds is the second installment in The Tales of Katsume Shogoro, masterless samurai, and last surviving member of his family. Shogoro’s quest is to restore his clan’s lost honor, and undo the shame that burdens his soul.Picking up where A Ronin’s Honor left off, Shogoro receives a reply from his nemesis, Matsuo Kaname, regarding his challenge to a warrior’s duel. A date and time is set for the fateful meeting. The location is the Strolling Ponds Garden.Elsewhere, an army of unknown size and intent marches towards Shinano Province. Views: 772
After pilot Philip Stenning is involved in a near-fatal plane crash, he feels he owes a debt of gratitude to the man who rescued him. However, his mysterious savior turns out to be an escaped convict and Stenning’s determination to help this man leads him into a tense and dramatic adventure of intrigue, drug-running, and murder. Views: 771
Every myth contains clues. Horus, Egyptian god, parts time's veil. Return with him to the beginning. Rediscover the truth.In The Ways of Eternity, first in the I, Horus series, Horus draws the reader back to the First Time to reveal the story behind the mythology: In an age of war, a headstrong child, filled with curiosity, burdened by fear, uncovers his powers. A defining, forbidden love sparks, fated to span millennia. The stakes are laid in the battle between the forces of good and evil. Foundations are formed. Friends stand firm. And a visionary young king lifts his mantle and claims his destiny, forging hope, bringing with him the ways of eternity and the promise of the twilight of the morning. Views: 771
For how thy memory has lingered on–
In spite of cruelest winter’s drear and howl–
By inner mirror seen; I’ve dwelled upon,
I must confess, my treachery most foul.
Did Shakespeare pen a series of passionate sonnets, unknown to modern scholarship, ardently praising a mysterious dark-haired beauty? This tantalizing question is raised in a letter to literature professor Rose Asher. But the letter’s author, Rose’s star pupil, is not telling. A troubled, enigmatic young man, he plunged to his death in front of the college’s entire faculty, an apparent suicide. Determined to find the truth, Rose journeys from New York to Italy, back to the magnificent Tuscan villa where as an undergraduate she first fell in love.
La Civetta is a dreamlike place, resplendent with the heady scent of lemon trees and the sunset’s ocher wash across its bricks and cobbles. Once there Rose finds her first love still in residence. Torn between her mission and her rekindled feelings, Rose becomes enmeshed in a treacherous tangle of secrets and scandal. A folio containing what some believe to be one of Shakespeare’s lost sonnets has vanished, and literary immortality awaits whoever finds the manuscript–as do a vast Italian estate and a Hollywood movie deal. Uncertain whom she can trust and where she can turn, Rose races against time and unseen enemies in a bid to find the missing masterpiece.
Lush, lyrical, and enthralling, The Sonnet Lover vividly brings to life the Tuscan countryside and the fascinating world of the Renaissance poets. Unmatched in her ability to evoke atmosphere and intrigue, Carol Goodman delivers her most ambitious and satisfying work to date, a seductive novel that skillfully propels its reader headlong to the final suspenseful page.
From the Hardcover edition. Views: 771
"Pure magic. The mystery turns on the convoluted history of an old master toy maker will makes his toys with such skill that they have lives of their own. It would be advisable to sit down while reading what the toys finally do."
--Playboy
At the fashionable salon of Ric Lazare you can have your fortune told by an amazing machine of unerring accuracy. But the Paris police think Lazare is a con man and send Inspector Picard to investigate. Inspector Picard prefers lemon tarts and prostitutes to high society; and he is unprepared for the string of murders that pulls him across the continent until he is tangled in the killer's last seductive knot. A landmark in the history of detective fiction, mystery is taken to the level of enchantment in this lyrical thriller set in the glitter of nineteenth century Paris.
"Alternately dark and glittering...a first rate vaudeville turn, a comedic mask lightly stretched over enigmatic questions...a witty sendup of the detective story, an intriguing meditation on illusion and the conjurer's art, an antic fantasy done with a richness of invention that doffs a hat to Dickens... Inspector Picard's quest takes him across a vividly imagined Europe, a continent of the mind, peopled with wonderfully baroque characters. The illusion, in all its myriad forms abounds. Everywhere there are magical happenings...and everywhere, there is the magic wrought by Kotzwinkle himself."
--Chicago Tribune Views: 771
Carey's most ambitious novel since True History of the Kelly Gang: a celebration and interrogation of the Australia of Peter's childhood. He takes us on a wild ride around the country in 1954 by way of the famous Redex car trial, during which our protagonist, Willy Bachhuber, learns the poignant truth of his troubled past.
It's a tender and wonderfully wry portrait of Australia in the 1950s, reminiscent of Illywhacker in concerns and some characters. We're in Bacchus Marsh in the 1950s, with car salesmen, an early aviator, and the lives of Irene Bobs and Willy Bachhuber. The striking Irene is ahead of her time, a fearless, big-hearted, independently minded woman. Her next door neighbour Willy seems to be constantly in flight from his own life. He lacks social confidence but is extremely well read, so much so that he's a radio quiz champ. And he has a particular fondness for maps.
When Irene's husband Titch decides to enter the Redex trial, Irene goes with him as co-driver, and Willy as navigator. A fantastically fun and funny read, Peter's new novel is a major achievement. Views: 771
A descendant of Ceres, goddess of the harvest, was dumped a year ago by her fiance. Bad idea, be careful around a goddess! Now he wants to reconcile but nothing is simple where goddesses are concerned. Or is it?This short story was the inspiration for the novel Earth Legend. In it, a descendant of Ceres, goddess of the harvest, was dumped by her fiance. Not a good idea if your fiancee is a goddess! Now, a year later, he wants to reconcile but nothing is simple where goddesses are concerned. Or is it? Views: 770
A whirlwind romance from the New York Times bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.
*
“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”*
16-year-old Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on her favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. Dash, in a bad mood during the holidays, happens to be the first guy to pick up the notebook and rise to its challenges.
What follows is a whirlwind romance as Dash and Lily trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations all across New York City. But can their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions, or will their scavenger hunt end in a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions? Views: 770
Clarissa Farrell awakens one morning with the certain knowledge that a friend has died. Coincidental dream or precognition? Investigating the phenomena leads to recognizing more of her own uncanny perceptions. But when an interested reporter turns out to have fraudulent motives, she is left to question all of her new found abilities.Clarissa Farrell awakens one morning with the certain knowledge that a friend has died. Was it a coincidental dream or precognition? Investigating the phenomena leads to recognizing more of her own uncanny perceptions. But when a reporter interested in her story turns out to have fraudulent motives, she is left to question all of her new found abilities. Looking ahead, she faces a choice: retreat to her old safe ruts or jettison her middle aged holding pattern. Views: 770
Aileen knew her son Bobby had always been a rebel and hated authority growing up. . But at 29, he found a woman she hoped would settle him down. Until the phone call came, saying that he had killed the mother of his children during one of their many violent fights when the knife she threatened him with with was turned on her during the struggle, causing her death.The day of Bobby's sentencing came and she arranged to work the evening shift at the Horsey. She refused Joyce's offer to accompany her to the courthouse. It was Aileen's intention of getting through the ordeal as quickly as possible with a minimal amount of stress. Flashbacks of Bobby's earlier years haunted her. All her efforts to help him ended in failure. She had asked herself many times where she went wrong, but deep down, she knew she hadn't. There were just those people who chose a different path than the one you hoped they would take. Views: 770
Joshua Then and Now is about Joshua Shapiro today, and the Joshua he was. His father a boxer turned honest crook, his mother an erotic dancer whose greatest performance was at Joshua’s bar mitzvah, Joshua has overcome his inauspicious beginnings in the Jewish ghetto of Montreal to become a celebrated television writer and a successful journalist. But Joshua, now middle-aged, is not a happy man. Incapacitated by a freak accident, anguished by the disappearance of his WASP wife, and caught up in a sex scandal, Joshua is besieged by the press and tormented by the ghosts of his youth. Set in Montreal, the novel chronicles the rocky journey we all make between the countries of the past and the present. Raucous, opinionated, tender, Joshua Then and Now is a memorable excursion into Mordecai Richler's comic universe. Views: 770
She has been bucketed by two large Swabbies. She had forgotten it was the 1st of the month, and was caught for relocation. Worse, once the Swabbies find out who she really is, she makes a quick decision to run into Tunnel W. The tunnel is home to some of the city's most lawless Relos. The Swabby High Commander has ordered her capture, and the Relos are depending on her to get them out of Tunnel W.She has been bucketed by two large Swabbies. She had forgotten it was the 1st of the month, and was captured for relocation. Worse, once the Swabbies find out who she really is, she makes a quick decision to run into Tunnel W. The tunnel is home to some of the city's most lawless captives called Relos. The Swabby High Commander has ordered her captured. The Relos in Tunnel W are depending on her to get them all out of Tunnel W. Views: 769
Evy can telepathically understand horses, a “gift” that enables her to rescue a mustang filly from certain death. Now can she let the filly she loves return to the wild?Evy can telepathically understand horses, but she’s not sure if it’s a blessing or a curse. Her secret “gift” certainly seems to get her in a lot of trouble. When some starving mustangs wander close to the wilderness cabin that she shares with her hermit mother she knows she must help them. Her act of kindness quickly snowballs into a series of events that forever changes her life and the life of a very special mustang filly. Views: 769
