The Trail of the Serpent

      Mary Elizabeth Braddon
$value['title']

Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1837--1915), Victorian England's bestselling woman writer, blends Dickensian humor with chilling suspense in this "exuberantly campy" (Kirkus Reviews) mystery. The novel features Jabez North, a manipulative orphan who becomes a ruthless killer; Valerie de Cevennes, a stunning heiress who falls into North's diabolical trap; and Mr. Peters, a mute detective who communicates his brilliant reasoning through sign language. This edition includes a critical Afterword and endnotes by Victorian scholar Dr. Chris Willis.

Read online

  • 120

    The Best American Travel Writing 2014

      Paul Theroux
$value['title']

"Travel connoisseurs divide the world into those places they've been dying to visit or revisit and places they'd never set foot in but are glad someone else did. This year's volume of travel writing . . . focuses mostly on the latter with derring-do dispatches." — USA Today A far-ranging collection of the best travel writing pieces published in 2013, collected by guest editor Paul Theroux. The Best American Travel Writing consistently includes a wide variety of pieces, illuminating the wonder, humor, fear, and exhilaration that greets all of us when we embark on a journey to a new place. Readers know that there is simply no other option when they want great travel writing.

Read online

  • 120

    Owning Violet

      Monica Murphy
$value['title']

New York Times bestselling author Monica Murphy begins a sexy new contemporary romance series—perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Emma Chase—that introduces three sisters born to wealth, raised to succeed, ready to love, destined to make waves. I’ve moved through life doing what’s expected of me. I’m the middle daughter, the dutiful daughter. The one who braved a vicious attack and survived. The one who devoted herself to her family’s business empire. The one who met an ambitious man and fell in love. We were going to run Fleur Cosmetics together, Zachary and I. Until he got a promotion and left me in the dust. Maybe it’s for the best, between his disloyalty and his wandering eye. But another man was waiting for me. Wanting me. He too has an overwhelming thirst for success, just like Zachary—perhaps even more so. He’s also ruthless. And mysterious. I know nothing about Ryder McKay beyond that he makes me feel things I’ve never felt before. One stolen moment, a kiss, a touch . . . and I’m hooked. Ryder’s like a powerful drug, and I’m an addict who doesn’t want to be cured. He tells me his intentions aren’t pure, and I believe him. For once, I don’t care. I’m willing to risk everything just to be with him. Including my heart. My soul. My everything.

Read online

  • 120

    Scream of the Evil Genie

      R. L. Stine
$value['title']

"Reader beware—you choose the scare! GIVE YOURSELF GOOSEBUMPS! As usual, it was a pretty long day at school. So before you do your homework you decide to grab a soda. But when you open the can, out pops a genie who offers you three wishes. She seems pretty cool, so you accept. If you start out with an easy one—like wishing to be gorgeous—she turns you into something that everyone wants to see! But that something isn't exactly human. If you still think she's cool and wish to be rich, you'll definitely find out the hard way that money isn't everything. Will you get back to normal before you're ""all wished up""? The choice is yours in this scary GOOSEBUMPS adventure that's packed with over 20 super-spooky endings!"

Read online

  • 120

    One Night in Doom House

      R. L. Stine
$value['title']

Product DescriptionDragged into a haunted house by his friend Aaron, Max finds some objects that he thinks might help his ghost friends Nicky and Tara. But when he takes them home for further research, he upsets a whole colony of evil ghosts—and sends a crazy human-melting Heat Ghost after the girl of his dreams! When Max realizes what he’s done, he embarks on a wild ride across town to keep the ghost from melting his classmates. Will he make it in time—or will his whole school melt into the ground, with all his friends inside?From the Hardcover edition.About the AuthorR. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children’s author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide media phenomenon.R.L. Stine has received numerous awards of recognition. He lives in New York, NY.

Read online

  • 120

    English as a Second Language

      Megan Crane Simon Clark Sarah Pinborough W. Michael Gear Shauna Singh Baldwin Giles Milton Kate Le Vann Isuna Hasekura Isuna Hasekura Nathan Lowell
$value['title']

In this wickedly funny first novel-think Legally Blonde in Oxford-a young New York woman exchanges her corporate job for a year of books, blokes, beers, and new best friends in graduate school in England. Alexandra Brennan is fed up with her dead end New York City job-and even more fed up of running into her smug ex-boyfriend. So when he crosses the line by telling her that she'll never get into graduate school in the United Kingdom, that's precisely what she does. Armed with imported cigarettes and extra strength coffee, Alex leaves home and crosses the Atlantic to face all that Great Britain and grad school have to offer, including ill-considered romantic interludes, a red-headed nemesis with intellectual pretensions and ulterior motives, a preponderance of eighties music, and more books than she can possibly read in a year. What she discovers, however, is that instead of running away from home - she may have actually found it. Video scriptwriter Richard Young is looking forward to a week at home with his wife and their little daughter. He thinks it's going to be a pleasant time of barbecues and lazy summer days. It isn't. It is going to be hell.Because the stranger who arrives at their home, begging to be driven to the nearest police station, is being hunted. Hunted by something that cannot be seen, cannot be heard—yet which has the power to move across the land crushing flat everything in its path. Stalking and killing remorselessly.Within minutes, Richard Young, his family and the stranger (who is not the innocent victim he seems) are being pursued relentlessly by a malignant occult force that pounds and pulps its victims like the Hammer of God itself...p>Darker, first published in 1996, is another gripping horror from Simon Clark. His dead brother has set DI Cass Jones a task from beyond the grave: to find his baby, Cass’ nephew, stolen at birth … DI Cass Jones is still dealing with the fallout of uncovering a major conspiracy within his own police station when a terrorist attack rocks London and he finds himself called on to help with the investigation. At the same time he has his own investigation to worry about: young people are dying, apparently committing suicide - and they're all linked by the phrase Chaos in the Darkness, scrawled or sent as their last message to the world. Then he’s given a note from his dead brother Christian, written before his murder: the three words - ‘They took Luke’ - opens up a whole new can of worms, because Cass knows immediately who They are: Mr Bright and the shadowy Network. His dead brother has set him a task from beyond the grave - to find the baby, his nephew, stolen at birth. And as Cass tries to divide his time between all three investigations, it’s not long before he discovers links, where there should not be. The mysterious Mr Bright is once again pulling his strings, and there’s nothing DI Cass Jones hate more … Once again, New York Times and internationally best-selling author W. Michael Gear turns his master's hand to the frontier West. In the vein of his best-selling Coyote Summer, Gear now takes us to the 1812 Missouri Fur Trade. An intimate of the Burr conspiracy, the condemned and hounded John Tylor signs on as boatman with Manuel Lisa's expedition. But the river is now contested as the British, Spanish, and other fur companies prepare to break Lisa's hold. As the expedition battles its way up the violent river, Fenway McKeever lurks in Tylor's shadow. Not only is the half-mad McKeever paid to kill Tylor, but he's convinced himself that by destroying Lisa's expedition, he can sell his services to the highest bidder. Ten years after her stunning debut, Shauna Singh Baldwin returns to Goose Lane with an outstanding new collection of ten stories. Migrating from Central America to the American South, from Metro Toronto to the Ukraine, this book features an unforgettable cast of characters. In the title story, 16-year-old Megan hates her Pakistani grandmother — until Grandma disappears. In the enchanting magical realism of "Naina," an Indo-Canadian woman is pregnant with a baby girl who refuses to be born. "The View from the Mountain" introduces Wilson Gonzales, who makes friends with his new American boss, the aptly named Ted Grand. But following 9/11, Ted's suspicions cloud his judgment and threaten his friendship with Wilson. Each containing an entire world, these stories are marked by indelible images and unforgettable turns of phrase — hallmarks of Baldwin's fictional world.

Read online

  • 120