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Beauty and the Beast: The Only One Who Didn't Run Away

Wendy Mass tells the story of Beauty and the Beast, as never heard before! When you’re stuck with the name Beauty, people expect a lot from you — like beauty and grace and courage and a sense of style. But what if you have none of these things? What if all you like to do is read books and search for odd objects that other people drop? Oh, and you have a perfect older sister who really should have had your name instead of you. And when you’re a prince, you’re supposed to be athletic and commanding and brave and tall. But what if you are none of those things? What if all you like to do is play the bagpipes (badly), study the stars, and try to figure out how to make worms live forever? Oh, and you also have a perfect older brother who is a lot more princely than you’ll ever be. But when Beauty’s life turns completely upside down and she is forced to head out into the world, she has to figure out just who she wants to be. And when Prince Riley suddenly grows fur, and nails as sharp as sticks, he has to learn that appearances can be deceiving. Before Beauty and Riley can save each other, they have to save themselves. So journey back to the time when fairy tales were real, and discover the story of Beauty and the Beast like you’ve never heard it before.
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Hawkes Harbor

An orphan and a bastard, Jamie Sommers grew up knowing he had no hope of heaven. Conceived in adultery and born in sin, Jamie was destined to repeat the sins of his parents--or so the nuns told him. And he proved them right. Taking to sea, Jamie sought out danger and adventure in exotic ports all over the world as a smuggler, gunrunner--and murderer. Tough enough to handle anything, he's survived foreign prisons, pirates, and a shark attack. But in a quiet seaside town in Delaware, Jamie discovered something that was enough to drive him insane-and change his life forever. For it was in Hawkes Harbor that Jamie came face to face with the ultimate evil....
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Taking Eve

1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen is back with the first book in a chilling new Eve Duncan trilogy that asks the question: will Eve survive what lies ahead? Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan's mission is to bring closure to the families whose loved ones have vanished. She knows their anguish—her own beloved daughter, Bonnie, was taken from her when Bonnie was just seven years old. It is only recently that this mystery was resolved and Eve could begin her journey to peace. Now, Jim Doane wants the same kind of answers that Eve always longed for. His twenty-five-year old son may or may not be dead and he has only burned skull fragments as possible evidence. But he cannot go to the police for answers without risking his own secrets and dark past, so instead he chooses a bold step to find the truth—a truth that takes Eve down a twisted path of madness and evil and into the darkest heart of her own history. Doane needs Eve Duncan's skills and he'll do anything to get them. Even if it means *taking Eve. *
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Dani's Shorts 4

It’s Volume 4 of TIW shorts! The fourth collection and possibly the last of totally pointless exactly 500 Challenge and exactly 200 Weekend Quickie flash fiction stories/scenes word nonsense (plus a few specials, relays, newsflashes from the TIW blog and collaborations) to entertain you while doing whatever you do when reading.It’s Volume 4 of TIW shorts! The fourth collection and possibly the last of totally pointless exactly 500 Challenge and exactly 200 Weekend Quickie flash fiction stories/scenes word nonsense (plus a few specials, relays, newsflashes from the TIW blog and collaborations) to entertain you while doing whatever you do when reading. For myself, it was a long and tricky half year in The Iron Writer. Through troubles and difficulties, there was always the TIW Challenge waiting for me.I hope you enjoy these short snippets just as much as I enjoyed writing them, and thanks again to Brian and all the other Iron Writers for allowing me into their community…I wouldn’t.
Views: 888

Perfect Match

Picoult brings to life a female prosecutor whose cherished family is shattered when she learns that her five-year-old son has been sexually abused. *What does it mean to be a good mother? How far would you go in the name of love -- and justice?* In the course of her everyday work, career-driven assistant district attorney Nina Frost prosecutes child molesters and works determinedly to ensure that a legal system with too many loopholes keeps these criminals behind bars. But when her own five-year-old son, Nathaniel, is traumatized by a sexual assault, Nina and her husband, Caleb, a quiet and methodical stone mason, are shattered, ripped apart by an enraging sense of helplessness in the face of a futile justice system that Nina knows all too well. In a heartbeat, Nina's absolute truths and convictions are turned upside down, and she hurtles toward a plan to exact her own justice for her son -- no matter the consequence, whatever the sacrifice.
Views: 888

Group Portrait With Lady

Cited by the Nobel Prize committee as the “crown” of Heinrich Böll’s work, the gripping story of Group Portrait With Lady unspools like a suspenseful documentary. Via a series of tense interviews, an unnamed narrator uncovers the story—past and present—of one of Böll’s most intriguing characters, the enigmatic Leni Pfeiffer, a struggling war widow. At the center of her struggle is her effort to prevent the demolition of her Cologne apartment building, a fight in which she is joined by a motley group of neighbors. Along with her illegitimate son, Lev, she becomes the nexus of a countercultural group rebelling against Germany’s dehumanizing past under the Nazis ... and what looks to be an equally dehumanizing future under capitalism. From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Camera Obscura - A Doctor Who short story

The Doctor takes Clara to Edinburgh where he has to plug up a leaking energy well. Unfortunately, he is already too late and they have to pursue shadowy bird-like creatures through time to stop them consuming the raw energy of a child destined for great things...They were like birds. Large, black birds – shadowy descendants of pterodactyls – gathered in the shadows and out of sight. A movement from one of them could be dismissed as a trick of the light – the mind placing tricks with the shadows of the night. They were hungry. Ravenous. And they could feel their next meal getting close. A rip in time. Juicy energy waiting to be consumed. Gathered around one special person. A person with the potential to change the world. All they had to do was find a way through and then they could begin their feast.The Doctor takes Clara to Edinburgh where he has to plug up a leaking energy well. Unfortunately, he is already too late and they have to pursue the shadowy bird-like creatures through time to stop them consuming the raw energy of a child destined for great things...
Views: 888

I Still Dream About You

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The beloved Fannie Flagg is at her irresistible and hilarious best in I Still Dream About You, a comic mystery romp through the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, past, present, and future. Meet Maggie Fortenberry, a still beautiful former Miss Alabama. To others, Maggie’s life seems practically perfect—she’s lovely, charming, and a successful agent at Red Mountain Realty. Still, Maggie can’t help but wonder how she wound up living a life so different from the one she dreamed of as a child. But just when things seem completely hopeless, and the secrets of Maggie’s past drive her to a radical plan to solve it all, Maggie discovers, quite by accident, that everybody, it seems, has at least one little secret. I Still Dream About You is a wonderful novel that is equal parts southern charm, murder mystery, and that perfect combination of comedy and old-fashioned wisdom that can be served up only by America’s own remarkable Fannie Flagg. Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more. RandomHouseReadersCircle.com
Views: 887

Zombie

Meet Quentin P., the most believably terrifying sexual psychopath and killer ever brought to life in fiction. The author deftly puts you inside the mind of a serial killer--succeeding not in writing about madness, but in writing with the logic of madness.
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Texas by the Tail

To everyone he's every played dice with, Mitch Corley seems like the luckiest guy around. But in truth, Corley's fast hands are the only gift fate's ever given him. He's never held down a steady job, and when it comes to women, his luck might just be the worst of all--his girlfriend and partner-in-crime Red would double-cross him in a heartbeat if she knew just how short on cash they really were. And if Red ever finds out about the wife Corley neglected to mention, there's a good chance that Corley might not survive the night. At first, Mitch was sure Texas would be the perfect place for him and Red to run their game--there are players in nearly every back room and side-street across the state and here, the pockets run just a little deeper. But Corley forgot about one thing: Texans don't forgive easily. And there's nothing they hate more than a cheater.
Views: 887

The Last of the Wine

In The Last of the Wine, two young Athenians, Alexias and Lysis, compete in the palaestra, journey to the Olympic games, fight in the wars against Sparta, and study under Socrates. As their relationship develops, Renault expertly conveys Greek culture, showing the impact of this supreme philosopher whose influence spans epochs.
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The Last Gentleman: A Novel

National Book Award Finalist: A lonely Southerner forges a surprising bond with a New York family in this “brilliant” novel by the author of The Moviegoer (Time). Will Barrett has never felt at peace. After moving from his native South to New York City, Will’s most meaningful human connections come through the lens of a telescope in Central Park, from which he views the comings and goings of the eccentric Vaught family. But Will’s days as a spectator end when he meets the Vaught patriarch and accepts a job in the Mississippi Delta as caretaker for the family’s ailing son, Jamie. Once there, he is confronted not only by his personal demons, but also his growing love for Jamie’s sister, Kitty, and a deepening relationship with the Vaught family that will teach him the true meaning of home.
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Witch Grannies - The Case of the Lonely Banshee

Emily’s witch grannies have whisked her away in the night, to the village of Castleconnell in the west of Ireland. The River Shannon is home to a banshee and she’s collecting souls, including Emily’s witch sister, Edna.The witches must race against time to find the banshee’s lair and free the trapped souls.But there is an even bigger threat to the river and all her inhabitants.Emily’s witch grannies have whisked her away in the night, to the village of Castleconnell in the west of Ireland. The River Shannon is home to a banshee and she’s collecting souls, including Emily’s witch sister, Edna.The witches must race against time to find the banshee’s lair and free the trapped souls.But there is an even bigger threat to the river and all her inhabitants. Can the Salmon of Knowledge guide the witches to the nasty trio who plan to use deadly poison in their search for gold? Can they save the river?WITCH GRANNIESA STORY FOR ALL AGES
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The Road to Grace

From one of America’s most beloved storytellers comes the inspiring third installment of the bestselling series, The Walk, the ongoing story of one man’s unrelenting search for hope. Join one of America’s beloved storytellers on a walk like no other: one man’s unrelenting search for hope. Reeling from the sudden loss of his wife, his home, and his business, Alan Christoffersen, a once-successful advertising executive, has left everything he knew behind and set off on an extraordinary cross-country journey. Carrying only a backpack, he is walking from Seattle to Key West, the farthest destination on his map. Now almost halfway through his trek, Alan sets out to walk the nearly 1,000 miles between South Dakota and St. Louis, but it’s the people he meets along the way who give the journey its true meaning: a mysterious woman who follows Alan’s walk for close to a hundred miles, the ghost hunter searching graveyards for his wife, and the elderly Polish man who gives Alan a ride and shares a story that Alan will never forget. Full of hard-won wisdom and truth, The Road to Grace is a compelling and inspiring novel about hope, healing, grace, and the meaning of life.
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Public Library and Other Stories

A richly inventive new collection of stories from Ali Smith, author of How to be both, winner of the Baileys Women's Prize and the Costa Novel Award and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize Why are books so very powerful? What do the books we've read over our lives - our own personal libraries - make of us? What does the unravelling of our tradition of public libraries, so hard-won but now in jeopardy, say about us? The stories in Ali Smith's new collection are about what we do with books and what they do with us: how they travel with us; how they shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once; how they remind us to pay attention to the world we make. Public libraries are places of joy, freedom, community and discovery - and right now they are under threat from funding cuts and widespread closures across the UK and further afield. With this brilliantly inventive collection, Ali Smith joins the campaign to save our public libraries and celebrate their true place in our culture and history.
Views: 887