Richard Herley's introduction: Here are ten short pieces of non-fiction, some about reading and writing; most have already appeared on my blog. I hope you enjoy them.Years of planning and preparations are finally culminating in the unification of the two countries of Gelendan and Treymayne. The year of Phoenix’s eighteenth birthday will mark the end of their rocky histories of blood-magic and the Order and the beginning of a new era. Being the figurehead of this momentous occasion comes naturally to Phoenix, but unsettling rumors have begun to swirl that portray her abilities in a negative light. Putting these out of her mind, she must act the Princess she is to host the lavish festivities that are her birthday party. While floating down the Great River in their moving celebration, their yacht makes an exciting discovery: They come across another ship, from a far off and unknown empire. With the heralds of the empire within the city walls, it is easy to forget rumors of the Princess reading minds. But when men start getting attacked through a power of the mind, it is more than the Princess’s reputation on the line…The Empire Trilogy is a follow-on to the BloodRunes Trilogy and The Forgotten Trilogy in the Eleventh World Saga, but may also be enjoyed on its own. For more information, please visit LauraRCole.com Views: 549
shopaholic, julia kent, chick lit, contemporary romance, romantic comedy, lauren landish, nadia lee, emily giffin, jane green, sophie kinsella, bestselling chick lit, romantic comedy, Jillian Dodd, Hallmark, stacy hart, wedding, best man romance, wedding romance, beach romance, vacation romance Views: 548
Can she cook up love?Brand-new bakery owner Sasha Manning didn't anticipate that the teenager she hired would have such an attractive father. Back home after years away, Sasha still smarts from falling for a man who seemed too good to be true. Divorced single dad Dwight Adams will have to prove to Sasha that he's the real deal...and once again learn to trust someone with his heart along the way. Views: 548
Misty is a one-girl disaster zone. Born with a Savant 'gift' that means she can never tell a lie, her compulsive truth-telling gets her into trouble wherever she goes.
So when she meets Alex: gorgeous, confident, and impossibly charming, Misty instantly resolves to keep her distance . . . Someone so perfect could never be hers, surely?
But a dark shadow has fallen across the Savant community. A serial killer is stalking young people who have these special mental powers. Soon one of them will be taken to the edge of death . . . and beyond. Views: 548
A vibrant new novel from Penelope Lively--a wry, wise story about the surprising ways lives intersect
When Charlotte Rainsford, a retired schoolteacher, is accosted by a petty thief on a London street, the consequences ripple across the lives of acquaintances and strangers alike. A marriage unravels after an illicit love affair is revealed through an errant cell phone message; a posh yet financially strapped interior designer meets a business partner who might prove too good to be true; an old-guard historian tries to recapture his youthful vigor with an ill-conceived idea for a TV miniseries; and a middle-aged central European immigrant learns to speak English and reinvents his life with the assistance of some new friends.
Through a richly conceived and colorful cast of characters, Penelope Lively explores the powerful role of chance in people's lives and deftly illustrates how our paths can be altered irrevocably by someone we will never even meet. Brought to life in her hallmark graceful prose and full of keen insights into human nature, "How It All Began" is an engaging, contemporary tale that is sure to strike a chord with her legion of loyal fans as well as new readers. A writer of rare wisdom, elegance, and humor, Lively is a consummate storyteller whose gifts are on full display in this masterful work. Views: 548
From the acclaimed author of the classics Shiloh and Other Stories and In Country comes a beautifully crafted and profoundly moving novel which follows a woman as she looks back over her life and her first love.Ann Workman is smart but naïve, a misfit who's traveled from rural Kentucky to graduate school in the transformative years of the late 1960s. While Anne fervently seeks higher learning, she wants what all girls yearn for—a boyfriend. But not any boy. She wants the "Real Thing," to be in love with someone who loves her equally. Then Jimmy appears as if by magic. Although he comes from a very different place, upper-middle class suburban Chicago, he is a misfit too, a rebel who rejects his upbringing and questions everything. Ann and Jimmy bond through music and literature and their own quirkiness, diving headfirst into what seems to be a perfect relationship. But with the Vietnam War looming and the country in turmoil, their future... Views: 548
Written by a father to his son almost three years before the father's death, the letter in question is discovered a few days after the funeral. Powerful and moving when the boy first opens the envelope, his father's sober woprds warn him against life's daily distractions. Views: 548
A darkly thrilling new novel from master storyteller Chris Wooding, about a civilization plagued by chaos and reality-rearranging storms.
Orokos is a city of chaos, lashed by probability storms that re-order the world wherever they strike. It covers every inch of the rocky island that it dominates. It has stood for so long that history has forgotten it, and its citizens no longer question what exists beyond its walls. Then three of its denizens discover a map that holds the key to the secret at the heart of Orokos. But there are others, such as the Chief of the Protectorate Secret Police who would do anything to get their hands on that power...anything at all... Views: 548
The 30,000 Dollar Bequest and Other Stories is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. Views: 548
Meet the Cooke family. Our narrator is Rosemary Cooke. As a child, she never stopped talking; now that she's started college, she has wrapped herself in silence: the silence of intentional forgetting, of protective cover. Rosemary is now an only child, but she used to have a sister the same age as her, and an older brother. Both are now gone—vanished from her life. Her once lively mother is a shell of her former self, her clever and imperious father now a distant, brooding man. And there was something unique about Rosemary's sister, Fern.
You'll have to find out for yourself what it is that makes her unhappy family unlike any other. Views: 548
For thirty years, a secret agency called the Southern Reach has monitored expeditions into Area X — a remote and lush terrain mysteriously sequestered from civilization.
After the twelfth expedition, the Southern Reach is in disarray, and John Rodriguez (aka “Control”) is the team’s newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and more than two hundred hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secrets of Area X begin to reveal themselves — and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he’s promised to serve. Views: 548
A programmer finds himself working for the self-proclaimed "Bad-Boy of Virtual-Reality Therapy." While his boss is breaking new ground and breaking the rules and his coworkers are engaging in questionable uses of the latest technology, the lonely programmer is in a state of mourning over his deep personal losses and must figure out his own form of therapy. Views: 548
The High Druid of Shannara trilogy draws to a thrilling close as a young hero nears completion of his trial by fire, a banished ruler fights for her life in a wilderness of dread, and forces of darkness and lightsquare off in a battle unto death for the right to absolute rule. Prepare to be spellbound by the masterly hand of bestselling legend weaver Terry Brooks, conjuring at the peak of his skills.
For reasonsknown only to himself, the King of the Silver River has charged young Penderrin Ohmsford, barely more than a boy, with the daunting task of rescuing his aunt, Grianne, Ard Rhys of the Druid order, from her forced exile inthe terrifying dimension of all things damned: the Forbidding. With the noble dwarf Tagwen and the prodigal elven princess Khyber Elessedil by his side-and with the outcome of the bloody war between theFederation and the Free-born at stake-Pen has accepted his mission without question. But not without risk . . . or sacrifice.
Because Shadea a'Ru, the ruthless Druid responsible forimprisoning the true Ard Rhys and usurping leadership at Paranor, has sent her agents and assassins in relentless pursuit of Pen and his comrades. And in securing the talisman he needs to breach the Forbidding, Pen haspaid a devastating price. Now if the Free-born forces-already decimated by the Federation's death-dealing new weapon-should fall, Shadea's domination of the Four Lands will beassured. Nothing short of Pen's success can turn the tide.
But Pen's challenge grows greater when he learns that his parents, Bek Ohmsford and Rue Meridian, have fallen intoShadea's hands. He must try to help them-but once within the walls of Druid's Keep, where Shadea's minions and dark magic lurk at every turn, Pen's survival is far fromassured. Yet it will all pale in comparison to the horrors that wait inside the Forbidding-horrors poised to break free upon the Four Lands when the time is right. . . . "Fromthe Hardcover edition." Views: 548
From the author of Birdsong and A Week in December comes a dazzling new Sunday Times bestseller.
Terrified, a young prisoner in the Second World War closes his eyes and pictures himself going out to bat on a sunlit cricket ground in Hampshire.
Across the courtyard in a Victorian workhouse, a father too ashamed to acknowledge his son.
A skinny girl steps out of a Chevy with a guitar; her voice sends shivers through the skull.
Soldiers and lovers, parents and children, scientists and musicians risk their bodies and hearts in search of connection - some key to understanding what makes us the people we become.
Provocative and profound, Sebastian Faulks's dazzling novel journeys across continents and time to explore the chaos created by love, separation and missed opportunities. From the pain and drama of these highly particular lives emerges a mysterious consolation: the chance to feel your heart beat in someone else's life. Views: 548
From the critically acclaimed author of Jennifer Government and Lexicon comes mind-bending speculative psychological suspense about a serial killer pursuing his victim across time and space, and the woman who is determined to stop him, even if it upends her own reality."I love you. In every world."Young real estate agent Madison May is shocked when a client at an open house says these words to her. The man, a stranger, seems to know far too much about her, and professes his love—shortly before he murders her. Felicity Staples hates reporting on murders. As a journalist for a mid-size New York City paper, she knows she must take on the assignment to research Madison May's shocking murder, but the crime seems random and the suspect is in the wind. That is, until Felicity spots the killer on the subway, right before he vanishes.Soon, Felicity senses her entire universe has shifted. No one remembers Madison May, or Felicity's encounter with... Views: 548
