A collection of seven magical and heart-warming animal stories, specially for World Book Day, by the nation's favourite storyteller. From the author who brought you Joey the War Horse, Shadow the dog and Kaspar the cat comes a pocket-sized collection of perfect animal stories – proving that it's not just dogs that are man's best friends... Taken from the length of Michael Morpurgo's career, the tales in this charming book will delight any child who loves animals ... or stories! Readers will return to the best mates in this little book again and again. From dogs to cats, and from horses to dolphins and whales, it's all here in this timeless treasury. Contains the stories: The Silver Swan It's a Dog's Life Snug Didn't We Have a Lovely Time? Dolphin Boy This Morning I Met a Whale Conker

The 'Lincoln Lawyer' grapples with a haunting case in a gripping thriller from bestselling author Michael Connelly. Mickey Haller gets the text 'Call me ASAP - 187', and the California penal code for murder immediately gets his attention. Suddenly, Mickey's not just trying to get his client off a murder charge, but there is a more personal connection: the victim was Gloria Dayton - his own former client, a prostitute he thought he had rescued and put on the straight and narrow. Far from saving her, Haller may have been her downfall. Haunted by the ghosts of his own past, and with his own guilt or redemption on the line, he desperately needs to find out who Gloria really was and who, ultimately, was responsible for her death.

Flint is tall, gorgeous and dangerous. He's a cyborg-the absolute ultimate alpha male. He takes what he wants and holds what is his. Mira is his now. He takes her aboard his ship and has her branded with his mark. He captured her, owns her, and she will serve his every need. Mira is instantly drawn to Flint, fascinated by his seductive appeal. The sex between them is smoking hot. Until she finds out he is a breeder, contracted to a dozen cyborg women, and she is no more than a possession. Mira won't share her cyborg and she belongs to no one-not even to a man who has captured her heart. She doesn't know if cyborgs feel... anything. Can Flint love her? Mira is determined to find out, no matter how much trouble she makes for the big guy.

[Suncoast Society book 10, MF, BDSM, edge play (knife play, piercing), bondage] Mallory has a crazy, overbearing uncle, college, a job, and the best friend any woman could ask for. She enjoys her time at the BDSM club, but she’s no skinny rope bunny. She certainly isn’t looking for love when handsome rigger and photographer, Kel, volunteers to play with her. Had Kel known the beautiful, curvaceous woman wanted to be suspended, he would’ve volunteered a long time ago. She’s a gorgeous, full-figured woman he’d love to put his hands—and marks—all over. Still, her personal situation makes him reluctant to get involved. Not to mention he worries his darker side and love of edge play will scare her away. When push comes to shove and another rigger moves in, Kel stakes out his territory, pleasantly surprised to discover Mallory wants to become his canvas—and nurture her own darker desires. The problem is, can they overcome the legal nightmare her uncle tosses at her, or will it tear them apart?

The second entry in an all-new, mesmerizing adventure from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Gordon Korman! Jax Opus knows he's not like other kids. And it isn't his skill on the basketball court or his test scores that set him apart. No, Jax is different because he can hypnotize people. In fact, he might be the best hypnotist the world has seen in a very long time. You would think Jax would be happy about this. But really? It's ruining his life. He and his family are hiding from a master hypnotist who wants Jax out of the picture . . . forever. And the FBI is also starting to ask questions about Jax and his abilities. Jax thinks life might be getting a little better when a very rich, very powerful man asks him to help out with something. The reward will be great. And the price -- well, the price is that Jax starts taking on the man's memories. And some of them are pretty deadly. 1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Gordon Korman keeps the thrills coming and the adventure nonstop as the past and the present collide to build a memory maze that Jax Opus may never escape. . .

In this bone-chilling digital original story set in the world of Madeleine Roux's New York Times bestselling novel Asylum, a Louisiana teen tries to make tuition money working for a sinister organization but finds that leaving comes at a terrible cost. When Dan, Abby, and Jordan meet Oliver in Catacomb―the third book in the Asylum series―he is a mysterious young antiques dealer with a dark past. But before he was stuck in America's most haunted city, he was a teenager with a bright future ahead of him. In this story, we find Oliver saving up to attend his dream college in the fall and leave behind his family's New Orleans antique shop for good. And if his job just happens to involve robbing graves for a group calling themselves the Bone Artists, well—money is money, and it's only for now. But Oliver soon learns that the Bone Artists don't take kindly to deserters. And there are some debts that can never be repaid. With a mounting sense of dread that builds to a terrible end, The Bone Artists is a thrilling installment in the Asylum series that can stand on its own for new readers or provide a missing piece of the puzzle for series fans. Epic Reads Impulse is a digital imprint focused on young adult short stories and novellas, with new releases the first Tuesday of each month.

After their father's death, Miss Judith Taverner and her brother Peregrine travel to London to meet their guardian, Lord Worth, expecting an elderly gentleman. To their surprise and utter disgust, their guardian is not much older than they are, doesn't want the office of guardian any more than they want him, and is determined to thwart all their interests and return them to the country. "With altogether too many complications" But when Miss Taverner and Peregrine begin to move in the highest social circles, Lord Worth cannot help but entangle himself with his adventuresome wards...

I was once told that I was like an animal. Animals were naturally conditioned, just like the rodent that I was, I needed to be conditioned. Aristocrats in our class had a trained way of living. Women had their place beside their hard-working spouses and weren't allowed to rock the boat. As a small child, I believed in the preparation requirements. Once learned, a conditioned response is hard to get past. No matter how much I tried, it was a part of me - deep within my subconscious. No matter how much I wanted it to be different, it never was, and nobody could change what had been acclimatized profoundly in my mind. I knew what I did was wrong. I knew what I hid from the world was dirty. And I knew Garrison would never understand. However, I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t control it. No matter how hard I tried. It was always there, always a part of me, and who I was.

He’s thirty-eight. I’m twenty-three. He speaks Spanish. I speak English. He lives in Spain. I live in Canada. He dresses in thousand-dollar suits. I’m covered in tattoos. He’s married and has a five-year old daughter. I’m single and can’t commit to anyone or anything. Until now. Because when they say you can’t choose who you fall in love with, boy ain’t that the f*#king truth. To a restless dreamer like Vera Miles, it sounded like the experience of a lifetime. Instead of spending her summer interning for her astronomy major, she would fly to Spain where she’d spend a few weeks teaching conversational English to businessmen and women, all while enjoying free room and board at an isolated resort. But while Vera expected to get a tan, meet new people and stuff herself with wine and paella, she never expected to fall in love. Mateo Casalles is unlike anyone Vera has ever known, let alone anyone she’s usually attracted to. While Vera is a pierced and tatted free spirit with a love for music and freedom, Mateo is a successful businessman from Madrid, all sharp suits and cocky Latino charm. Yet, as the weeks go on, the two grow increasingly close and their relationship changes from purely platonic to something…more. Something that makes Vera feel alive for the first time. Something that can never, ever be. Or so she thinks.

Fall deeper into the journey as mysteries begin to unravel...* Return to the lives of the Novaks.  Pre-order now!

Wicca has changed my life. I've lost old friends, made new ones. Discovered my true heritage. Found love - and betrayal. But there's so much more to learn. I know wicca can be used for good or for evil. The hard part is knowing which is which.

It is enough to break any man: watching what could have been my future slip away before it was ever in my grasp.The possibility of losing someone I loved, before she was even mine, is something I never would have imagined. Certainly nothing I'd ever wish on anyone. I go to her every day and wait. Wait for the impossible, for a sign, for her to look at me . . . hoping that sinners are granted miracles, too. Just one glimpse of him was all it took. In the next lane, at a stop light, was the man I would fall in love with and marry. People talk about the kind of love that takes time, love you fall into. We were more like a crash and burn, and when our lives intertwined I would never be the same. He was the man I would cherish the rest of my life, who would father my children. In an instant our life together began, and in an instant it would end. The late nights; the excuses; the lies. And in the blink of an eye, it was like we never were. Contains mature themes

To satisfy his late father’s wishes, hot and single billionaire Michael Conte must find a bride—someone who will fit into his traditional family back home in Italy—and fast, so his engaged sister will be allowed to wed. With no intention of being tied down, Michael “proposes” to fiery, free-spirited photographer Maggie Ryan: if she will play the part of his fiancée during her trip to Milan for a photo shoot, he will keep away from her married best friend, Alexa, and stop making Maggie nuts with their too-close-for- comfort flirtations. But once in Italy, sexual tension sparks the hottest no-strings- attached arrangement on any continent. Could marriage be the most enticing trap of all?

A free ebook-only edition of Neil Gaiman's short story 'How To Talk To Girls At Parties' and an exclusive preview of the new THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE, a novel about memory and magic and survival, about the power of stories and the darkness inside each of us - available in June 2013. 'How To Talk to Girls At Parties' was previously published in FRAGILE THINGS

Marly's love for Cade has spanned her teenage years, and survived strong and intact into womanhood. Her fantasies and daydreams have sustained her, but she's no longer content with merely imagining the touch of his hands, the taste of his kiss. It's time to seduce the tough, sexy cowboy. She's heard the rumors for years, the tales of his sexual preferences. She's prepared herself to accept his desires. Prepared her body for his touch. But she wasn't prepared for the choice to come... Cade's dark desires, his sexual excesses are based in the past. In a time when pain, shame, and blood stains his very soul. He carries a secret shared only with his brothers. A secret that has scarred the bond, the ability to be a brother or to accept the love of the men he was raised with. He knows the only way to prove his loyalty, his love for those brothers and Marly will be the key. She has a choice. She can surrender to Cade's needs, his soul deep desires, or she can walk away. A choice only Marly can make. A choice that will change her life forever.

An impossible truth. An impossible love. After a summer spent reclaiming her sanity and trying to forget the boy she fell in love with--the boy who must not exist, cannot exist, because she knows that he is dead--Abbey returns to Sleepy Hollow, ready to leave the ghosts of her past behind. She throws herself into her schoolwork, her perfume-making, and her friendship with Ben, her cute and funny lab partner, who just might be her ticket to getting over Caspian once and for all. But Abbey can never get over Caspian, and Caspian has no choice but to return to her side, for Caspian is a Shade, and Abbey is his destiny. They are tied not only to each other, but also to the town of Sleepy Hollow, and to the famous legend that binds their fates--a legend whose dark truths they are only beginning to guess.... “Spectacular! The Hollow keeps you reading from beginning to end without coming up for air.” --L.J. Smith, bestselling author of The Vampire Diaries and Night World

A treasure trove of new poems by one of our most sought-after poets: poems that range from descriptions of the Detroit of her childhood to her current life on Cape Cod, from deep appreciations of the natural world to elegies for lost friends and relationships, from a vision of her Jewish heritage to a hard-hitting take on today’s political ironies. In her trademark style, combining the sublime with the gritty, Marge Piercy describes the night she was born: “the sky burned red / over Detroit and sirens sharpened their knives. / The elms made tents of solace over grimy / streets and alley cats purred me to sleep.” She writes in graphic, unflinching language about the poor, banished now by politicians because they are no longer “real people like corporations.” There are elegies for her peer group of poets, gone now, whose work she cherishes but from whom she cannot help but want more. There are laments for the suicide of dolphins and for her beloved cats, as she remembers “exactly how I loved each.” She continues to celebrate Jewish holidays in compellingly original ways and sings praises of her marriage and the small pleasures of daily life. This is a stunning collection that will please those who already know Marge Piercy’s work and offer a splendid introduction to it for those who don’t.

The Light of Day combines a powerful love story and a narrative of intense suspense into a brilliant and tender novel about what drives people to extremes of emotion. As in his Booker-winning novel Last Orders, Swift transforms ordinary lives through extraordinary storytelling. This new novel from Graham Swift -- his first since the Booker Prize-winning Last Orders -- is the work of a master storyteller. The Light of Day is a luminous and gripping tale of love, murder and redemption. George Webb is a divorced ex-policeman turned private investigator, a man whose prospects seemed in ruins not so long ago. Following the course of a single, dazzling day in George’s life, the novel illuminates not only his past but his now all-consuming relationship with a former client. Intimate and intricate in its evocation of daily existence, The Light of Day achieves a singular intensity and almost unbearable suspense. Tender and humorous in its depiction of life’s surface, Swift explores the depths and extremities of what lies within us and how, for better or worse, it’s never too late to discover what they are. Excerpt from *The Light of Day Two years ago and a little more. October still, but a day like today, blue and clear and crisp. Rita opened my door and said, “Mrs. Nash.” I was already on my feet, buttoning my jacket. Most of them have no comparisons to go on -- it’s their first time. It must feel like coming to a doctor. They expected something shabbier, seedier, more shaming. The tidy atmosphere, Rita’s doing, surprises and reassures them. And the vase of flowers. White chrysanthemums, I recall. “Mrs. Nash, please have a seat.” I could be some high-street solicitor. A fountain-pen in my fingers. Doctor, solicitor -- marriage guidance counsellor. You have to be a bit of all three. The usual look of plucked-up courage, swallowed-back hesitation, of being somewhere they’d rather not be. “My husband is seeing another woman.”*

Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE (14 March 1869 – 10 December 1951) was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre. He was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T. Joshi has stated that "his work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures (1914) "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century"

On the day I turned fifteen years old I knew I loved James Blakney. There was a look in his eye that told me he’d finally noticed I existed in a realm beyond best-friend’s-much-younger-off-limits-don’t-even-think-about-it-little-sister. Call it womanly intuition, despite the fact I was barely qualified for being an actual woman at just fifteen—and only in the biological sense—but still, I knew I loved him. What I never expected from him was a proposal of marriage nearly eight years later. I know it's not supposed to be a real marriage, but James is certainly making it feel that way. He's also hiding something from me. But I've hidden the truth from him as well. Lies. So many filthy lies. ~Winter Blackstone