It's Christmastime in Skary, Indiana, but the holiday season has been hijacked by maverick director Lois Stepaphanopolis as she attempts to bring her horror-ific vision of A Christmas Carol to life. But the holly-decked path from page to stage is a thorny one, as Lois attempts to rally her skeptical cast, including new father Wolfe Boone, and then she learns that her reluctant marketing director, Alfred Tennison, is truly a Christmas Scrooge. Alfred's grassroots marketing plan proves more than successful as the buzz builds that Skary should anticipate an overflowing audience for their opening night-- but a crucial miscommunication leaves the visiting theatergoers expecting of a very different Christmas production. As chaos ensues, can the actors pull off an improv miracle -- and can the Skary community convince their own Scrooge to embrace the true meaning of Christmas?From the Hardcover edition.

Eleganceand wealth. Privilege and politics. The extravagance of the Butterfly Palace overwhelmed Lily's senses and nearly smothered her painful memories. She pushed away her misgivings . . . She was perfectly safe in this huge house.Austin,Texas—1904: Abandoned by the love of her life and still mourning the loss ofher mother, Lily Donaldson has turned her back on the pain and come to Austinfor a fresh start, working for the Marshall family as a kitchen maid in theirluxurious mansion, the Butterfly Palace. The tasks before her are legion, and hermistress less than pleasant, but at least Lily's new life will be, if nothingelse, distracting. But onenight, while serving at a dinner party, Lily recognizes the man who abandonedher, Andy, her liaison from the livery stable, the blacksmith's son . . .sitting among the distinguished guests. Though he recognizes her, Andy does notacknowledge her aloud, and Lily is left reeling, flabbergasted,...

Will Morgan is a creature of habit—a low-budget insurance detective who walks to and from work with the flow of one-way traffic, and for whom imagination is a thing of the distant past. When a job opportunity enters the frame in the form of the mysterious Mr. Dinsdale—curator of the ever so slightly less-than-impressive Curioddity Museum—Will reluctantly accepts the task of finding a missing box of levity (the opposite of gravity). What he soon learns, however, is that there is another world out there—a world of magic we can only see by learning to un-look at things—and in this world there are people who want to close the Curioddity museum down. With the help of his eccentric new girlfriend Lucy, Will will do everything he can to deliver on his promise to help Mr. Dinsdale keep the Curioddity Museum in business.Curioddity is Paul Jenkins' debut novel... exciting, fast-paced, and uncanny. A must-read.

Cory James has never known a life where she wasn’t running. Running from the cops, her home, her past. Running from love. The only time she’s free is when she throws on her hood and takes to the roofs to become a part of New York, to climb to a place in the city where she doesn’t feel alone. Stealing is nothing, lying inevitable, byproducts of survival. A way for Cory to provide for herself and for her younger sister, Jill, give her the life Cory couldn’t have. For five years, Cory set up a long line of teetering dominos, one by one, choice by choice. Meeting Van is the first domino to fall, and once they crash into each other, it’s only a matter of time before her whole world is in danger of falling apart. She can tell herself over and again that she doesn’t care, but it’s a lie. She knows it from the first time she says his name, but she can’t let him in, not when she has a job to do, a job that could rip her life apart at the seams. One that she’ll have to betray Van to finish.He’ll follow however high she can climb, but she can only run for so long before she has to choose.

Even before the second semester of his sophomore year at Columbia began, Trey Holland knew his life would be completely different by the end of it. He had yet to meet the pretty–yet flustered–freshman who he’d be mentoring on the school paper. He had yet to discover the despicable secrets his new best friend was hiding. All Trey knew at the time was that the relationship with his high school sweetheart was nearing its end. In those days before the spring semester began, life for Trey was simple. School was a place to learn. His fraternity was a community of like-minded brothers. Life was full of well-intentioned people. Complications were tiny bumps in the road, easily smoothed over, leaving no trace behind. In a matter of weeks, Trey is thrust into a jaded reality brought on by choices he makes and by the vile actions of those around him. It won’t take long for him to look back and see the wreckage left in the wake of wanting. AUTHOR'S NOTE: Portions of this book deal with the sensitive subject of rape and sexual abuse. While the incidents are not 'experienced' first hand, they are retold in hindsight by characters. The descriptions of the events are brief, and while they are not graphic, they may be considered disturbing to some.

Maddie's life is a tangled mess of secrets. She's grieving for Nan, struggling for Mum's attention, and scared she's losing Dad too. She keeps everything knotted up inside, unable to find her voice... until she's paired with Kieran Black - the bad-boy troublemaker in her class - and finds her confidence growing. But when Maddie's hit by a secret that could bring her whole world crashing down, can she find the strength to face her fears? A captivating new mystery from the author of the bestselling Butterfly Summer.

'West Kensington - grey area of rot, and caretaking, and cat-slinking basements. West Kensington - drab asylum for the driven and cast-off genteel!' Patrick Hamilton was acutely conscious that his third novel (first published in 1928) was longer and 'much grimmer' than his previous and well-received productions. Twopence Coloured is the story of 19-year-old Jackie Mortimer, who leaves Hove in search of a life on the London stage, only to become entangled in 'provincial theatre' and complex affairs of the heart with two brothers, Richard and Charles Gissing. The novel, unavailable for many years, is a gimlet-eyed portrait of the theatrical vocation, and fully exhibits Hamilton's celebrated gift for conjuring London - the 'vast, thronged, unknown, hooting, electric-lit, dark-rumbling metropolis.

They say good intentions pave the road to Hell. 1890: A killer stalks the Isle of Faxfleet - a tiny, independent kingdom on the River Humber in Yorkshire. Faxfleet is inhabited by eccentrics, oddballs and Victorian dropouts, and is ruled by King Ludwig, a man obsessed with creating an academy of geniuses. When one of the academy members is killed by an arrow while climbing a tree, Scotland Yard despatches Inspector Abberline, the world-famous 'Ripper Detective', and his assistant Thomas Lloyd, to investigate. The case is as fascinating as it is perplexing, and leads to a series of decidedly peculiar crimes and a thrilling climax that plunges both men into danger.

In this hilarious follow-up to School of Fear, eccentric headmaster Mrs. Wellington demands requests the presence of Madeleine, Theo, Lulu, and Garrison for a mandatory summer of retraining after discovering that each of her former students has secretly regressed. Facing their fears was terrifying enough, but when the foursome learns they'll be joined by a fifth student, things start to get even scarier.To make matters worse, the students quickly find themselves tasked with saving their school. And because failing means spending the rest of their lives with unresolved phobias, this is one test they all plan to ace.

As noted by Quill & Quire, Frances Itani is an award-winning writer. Most recently, she won the Tilden/Saturday Night/CBC Literary Award for two consecutive years; an impressive feat as the stories are submitted to the jurors for evaluation anonymously. Now, Itani expands her control of the short story medium, with her new novel, Leaning, Leaning Over Water, a series of connected short stories.Almost all the narration is by Trude, the middle child of the King family. She has been told that her position in the family makes her the family collector and teller of stories. The stories she recounts crystallize crucial moments during the life of her family, the people around them, and the social climate of pre-Quiet Revolution Quebec.The stories begin after the father has moved his family to a rural area on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, where he has taken a job painting fleur-de-lis on tin trays in a nearby factory. For the children this means they grow up in delightful wilderness surrounded by people and customs which are completely new, but leaves their English speaking, non-swimming mother in isolation. The family is cut off from much of the world, but there is much of the world around them. They learn of their individuality through the cultural differences they find between themselves and their nearest neighbours, the Roman Catholic family down the way. They learn about sex and despair first hand through the few adults around them. And they are constantly exposed to life and death, and miracles through their constant contact with the river itself.The Ottawa River (the "water" referred to in the title) borders the King family abode and wends its way through every story in the novel -- always rushing past, bringing with it joys and sorrows, its power never to be underestimated, nor taken lightly -- underscoring the frailty of life lived on its banks.

"A feverishly paced action adventure" (The New York Times) about a long-lost Shakespeare work and a killer who reenacts the Bard's most bloody murdersJennifer Lee Carrell's highly acclaimed debut novel is a brilliant, breathlessly paced literary adventure. The action begins on the eve of the Globe's production of Hamlet when Shakespeare scholar and theater director Kate Stanley's eccentric mentor Rosalind Howard gives her a mysterious box, claiming to have made a groundbreaking discovery. Before she can reveal it to Kate, the Globe is burned to the ground and Roz is found dead...murdered precisely in the manner of Hamlet's father.Inside the box Kate finds the first piece in a Shakespearean puzzle, setting her on a deadly, highstakes treasure hunt. From London to Harvard to the American West, Kate races to evade a killer and solve a tantalizing string of clues hidden in the words of Shakespeare, which may unlock one of history's greatest secrets.

The party was at her house. The photos were posted to her Facebook account. That's all the evidence anyone needed to condemn Nikki Baylor for a cyberbullying incident that humiliated a classmate and nearly resulted in the girl's suicide. Now Nikki's been expelled from her old school, her friends have abandoned her, and even her own parents can't look her in the eye. With her plans for the future all but destroyed, Nikki resigns herself to being the girl everyone hates - almost as much as she hates herself. But then Nikki meets Pax, a spirited wheelchair rugby player who knows what it's like when one mistake completely shatters your life. Refusing to judge her because of her past, he shows her that everyone deserves a second chance... and everyone deserves to be loved.

The stunning sequel -and conclusion-to Sarah Crossan's Breathe. A haunting and provocative dystopian adventure in which three teens confront danger, uncertainty, and the yearning to live-and breathe-freely. For fans of Veronica Roth and Patrick Ness.What would you do if you were desperate? Bea, Alina, and Quinn are outlaws. They started a rebellion and have been thrown out of the pod-the only place where there's enough air to breathe. Bea has lost her family. Alina has lost her home. And Quinn has lost his privileged life. What will they find, now that they are refugees in the perilous Outlands? Their final safe haven may be harboring dark secrets. But together, the three teens find the will to keep fighting, to save one another, and to break free from everything that's holding them back. Sarah Crossan has created a dangerous, shattered society, and brought to life three heartbreakingly relatable teenagers who come into their own. A wrenching, thought-provoking, and unforgettable post-apocalyptic novel. Sarah Crossan is the author of Breathe. She has taught high school English and creative writing, and has also been a freelance magazine writer, a book reviewer, and an educational writer. She lives in New Jersey.@sarahcrossanhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarah-Crossan/266594186686482www.sarahcrossan.com

Deadly power lurks beneath Marina’s skin, wildness, a magical creature born of fire and ice. Crossing dimensions to the Dragon Lands where she is a Princess and descendant from a powerful Phoenix, Marina has chosen to enter the tournament Aver to win the Frost Wreath. She must conquer four savage quests to be crowned Queen of the Ice Realm and win the right to hunt her mate, Dragon King Koen Raad. Assassination attempts, a growing darkness in her adopted son, and the bloodthirsty quests of Aver itself. Marina's chances of survival grow dimmer by the day.

Romance > HumorKat Larson never intended to fall in love online. Then she met Nick Appelby.To outsiders their relationship seems doomed. Nick is a sophisticated, wealthy, and athletic writer who lives in London. Kat is an overweight PR assistant from Tennessee. But Kat is deeply and profoundly in love, and she'll do anything to keep Nick. So in a moment of panic, Kat lies to about her weight, pretending to be a slim and fit size 4 with a "flat stomach." She's terrified of what will happen when Nick learns the truth.Kat’s prayers are answered when she lands a spot on a new American reality show called “From Fat to Fabulous.” Now a team of nutritionists, personal trainers, and professional stylists will attempt to make Kat over into a more glamorous (and much skinnier) version of herself while a camera crew documents the process. Kat is elated! All she has to do is postpone meeting Nick until she's undergone her "fabulous" transformation; then they'll live together happily ever after.Or so that's the plan. The reality might prove to be a little different....

Andiron Tales

In the future computer enhancements are the only way to keep up with the pace of development and ever increasing work demands. When our character can't keep up he is removed from his job and his home and sent to a work camp outside the metro. His efforts at improving his work performance lead to the modification of an android work 'companion' and a near disaster which only makes things worse.

SUMMARY: The success of the Battletech TV series, comic books, and toys has led to a huge demand for the Battletech books. In this second book of the trilogy, the Clans have wreaked destruction across the Inner Sphere, forcing the Five Successor Houses to accept an uneasy alliance.