Ten years ago, the Calphesians, a warrior race from far beyond our stars, invaded Earth with the intention to kill everyone they found and take the planet’s resources for themselves. In order to prevent the destruction of the human race, a treaty was set, allowing the Calphesians to remain on Earth and use its resources as long as they didn't kill anyone or hurt the people. In addition, they would be able to pick and choose from a selection of human women to marry and have children with, in order to keep their kind from dying out. Every five years, three women are randomly selected and married off to the strongest warriors of the Calphesians, and this year Roxanne has been chosen. She's angry and bitter about having her life decided for her, and nothing changes when she meets Aedian, her husband to be. He's boorish and crude, and treats her like she's insignificant most of the time, and all they do is fight. But when another race of aliens seeks to destroy the Earth and everyone on it, everyone will have to band together to fight them off, and both Aedian and Roxanne will realize there's more to each other than they'd thought. Views: 72
His Christmas Cowgirl: A Wildflower Ranch Romance Views: 72
Each book in the Crime Through Time series is hosted by a different child member of the famous Fitzmorgan detective family. While the young sleuth unravels a fictional mystery, readers learn about the real historical setting and actual crime-solving methods from the different eras. In sidebar activities, readers take on the role of assistant, helping to crack the case. Breathtakingly suspenseful but never violent and always age-appropriate, the books read like private investigative journals, with photos, maps, news clippings and crime scene sketches.In book 2, set in 1925, G. Codd Fitzmorgan arrives at a storm-battered mansion for a party. But more than an engagement celebration seems to be afoot, as our detective unravels a mystery involving a seance, a reckless aviator, and sale of liquor banned under Prohibition. Views: 72
Wheat That Springeth Green, J. F. Powers's beautifully realized final work, is a comic foray into the commercialized wilderness of modern American life. Its hero, Joe Hackett, is a high school track star who sets out to be a saint. But seminary life and priestly apprenticeship soon damp his ardor, and by the time he has been given a parish of his own he has traded in his hair shirt for the consolations of baseball and beer. Meanwhile Joe's higher-ups are pressing for an increase in profits from the collection plate, suburban Inglenook's biggest business wants to launch its new line of missiles with a blessing, and not all that far away, in Vietnam, a war is going on. Joe wants to duck and cover, but in the end, almost in spite of himself, he is condemned to do something right.J. F. Powers was a virtuoso of the American language with a perfect ear for the telling clich? and an unfailing eye for the kitsch that clutters up our lives. This funny and very moving... Views: 72
Someone is stealing the hearts of beautiful women . . .Portland, Maine. A missing high-school athlete's mutilated body is found in a scrap metal yard. Her heart has been surgically removed. The same day a young businesswoman is abducted . . .Former NYPD Detective Michael McCabe believes both crimes are the work of one man. A killer with surgical expertise who is targeting young women. Now McCabe and his team face a race against time to rescue the missing woman and unmask this sadistic killer -- before it is too late.The Cutting is one of the scariest debuts of the year. And the first in a great new series. Views: 72
Sound is an abstract concept for most people. We spend our lives blocking out the static in order to focus on what we believe is important. But what if, when the clarity fades into silence, it's the obscure background noise that you would give anything to hold on to? I've always been a fighter. With parents who barely managed to stay out of jail and two little brothers who narrowly avoided foster care, I became skilled at dodging the punches life threw at me. Growing up, I didn’t have anything I could call my own, but from the moment I met Eliza Reynolds, she was always mine. I became utterly addicted to her and the escape from reality we provided each other. Throughout the years, she had boyfriends and I had girlfriends, but there wasn't a single night that I didn’t hear her voice. You see, meeting the love of my life at age thirteen was never part of my plan. However, neither was gradually going deaf at the age of twenty-one. They both happened anyway. Now, I'm on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life. Fighting for my career. Fighting the impending silence. Fighting for her. Every night, just before falling asleep, she sighs as a final conscious breath leaves her. I think that's the sound I'll miss the most. Views: 72
The blue-eyed boy of Indian publishing, Abhimanyu Razdan is known for his bestselling romances, which move his readers to tears. PaperInk, an up-and-coming publishing house, is looking for an A-list author who will take them to the next level. So, when Abhimanyu's contract with his current publishers comes to an end, PaperInk decides to swoop in. But Abhimanyu isn't quite like the emotional and sensitive characters in the novels he writes. Callous, egoistic and drunk on success, he gets into a hot argument with Asmita, PaperInk's literary fiction editor, even before his first meeting with them. Already put off, despite her apology, he is even more incensed when he discovers that Asmita looks down on popular fiction, especially the kind he writes. He vows to teach her a lesson that could jeopardize her job. At each other's throats, Abhimanyu and Asmita are as different as can be, but fate has something else in store and they soon find that there is no running away... Views: 72
Against the Country is a gift for fans of Southern Gothic and metafiction alike. Set in the Virginia pines, and overrun with failed parents, racist sex offenders, cast-off priests, and suicidal chickens, this novel challenges literary convention even as it attacks our national myth--that the rural naturally engenders good, while the urban breeds an inevitable sin. In a voice that evokes the old-timer's winding yarn, Metcalf's narrator leads the reader through Goochland County--a land of stubborn soil, voracious insects, and lackluster farms and forests--until it becomes clear that Goochland is not the setting. It is the living, breathing menace that warps each and every character's existence. Equal parts fiery criticism and icy farce, Against the Country is the most hilarious sermon one is likely to hear on the subject of our native soil, and the starkest celebration of the language our land produced. The result is a literary tour de force that... Views: 72
