The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with the second installment in what is sure to become a classic series of literary fantasy. Jasper Fforde and his ever-resourceful literary detective heroine Thursday Next are back in the second installment of what promises to be one of the most talked-about series of the decade If Thursday thought she could avoid the spotlight after her heroic escapades in the pages of Jane Eyre, she was sorely mistaken. The unforgettable literary detective whom Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times calls "part Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew and part Dirty Harry" had another think coming. The love of her life has been eradicated by Goliath, everyone's favorite corrupt multinational. To rescue him Thursday must retrieve a supposedly vanquished enemy from the pages of "The Raven." But Poe is off-limits to even the most seasoned literary interloper. Enter a professional: the man-hating Miss Havisham from Dickens's Great Expectations. As her new apprentice, Thursday keeps her motives secret as she learns the ropes of Jurisfiction, where she moonlights as a Prose Resource Operative inside books. As if jumping into the likes of Kafka, Austen, and Beatrix Potter's Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies weren't enough, Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal coincidences, the authenticator of a newly discovered play by the Bard himself, and the only one who can prevent an unidentifiable pink sludge from engulfing all life on Earth. The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with Fforde's magnificent new adventure, the second installment in what is sure to become a classic series of literary fantasy.

Find your magic For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk. From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse. The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.

Joey W. Hill returns to the dark and seductive landscape of her Vampire Queen novels as a desperate woman named Anwyn finds herself trapped between the desires of two men, each with his own mission of the night: vampire hunter Gideon Green and vampire Daegan Rei. But when Anwyn is attacked by a rogue bloodsucker, Gideon and Daegan must become allies in order to save the woman they both love.

Witness the final battle for the souls of Everlost in a “compellingly readable and a worthy finale to the Skinjacker trilogy” (VOYA).While Mary lies in a glass coffin aboard a ghost train heading west, her minions are awaiting her re-awakening by bringing lots of new souls into Everlost to serve her. Meanwhile Jackin’ Jill has met Jix, a furjacker—a skinjacker who can take over the bodies of animals, most notably jaguars. Jix serves a Mayan god who collects Everlost coins to use in his Wurlitzer, which predicts the future. In the concluding volume of The Skinjacker Trilogy, Neal Shusterman reveals new sides of the characters of Everlost, who are pitted against each other in a battle that may destroy all life on Earth.

Richard Baedecker thinks his greatest challenge was walking on the moon, but then he meets a mysterious woman who shows him his past. passion for space exploration, his forgotten childhood and the loss he experienced during the death-flight of the Challenger. the moon, but the warm interior of his heart. love and loss that transports readers far beyond the confines of space and time.

Rhiow seems a perfectly ordinary New York City cat. Or so her humans think--but she is much more than she appears. With her partners Saash and Urruah, she collaborates with human wizards, protecting the earth from dark forces and helping to maintain the network of magical gateways between different realities.

Explore the unconventional, otherworldly life of psychic waitress Sookie Stackhouse in this companion to the bestselling series that takes a closer look at Sookie and her family, friends, enemies, adventures, and—of course—the lovers who set her world on fire...  Visit Bon Temps, the small Louisiana town that Sookie calls home, with a detailed map created by Charlaine herself, and learn the characteristics of the supernaturals who live there: vampires, two-natured, and fae. Examine all the branches of Sookie’s family tree. And eavesdrop on the private conversations between rival vampires Eric and Bill. Also, enjoy the compelling novella “Small-Town Wedding,” in which Sookie accompanies her shapeshifting boss, Sam, to his brother’s wedding in Texas, where happily-ever-after seems very far away.... Exclusive interviews with True Blood creator Alan Ball and author Charlaine Harris—compiled from fan questions—will satisfy your craving for all things Sookie, as will trivia questions, recipes (including Caroline Bellefleur’s famous chocolate cake!), and a concordance to the Sookie Stackhouse novels. **Review “Can’t get enough of Sookie Stackhouse? Then grab a copy of this comprehensive guide filled with a complete rundown on her many adventures and so much more.”—Monsters and Critics “Harris has whipped up a companion piece spiced nicely for a variety of palates, sprinkled deliciously with her trademark humor.”—Tulsa World “For the Sookie Stackhouse series fan, this book is an absolute must. It delves deeper into the series and it’s always fun to get the author’s point-of-view about the characters and world she has created. This book can tide fans over until the next book or next season of True Blood.”—The Parkersburg News and Sentinel “A fun read, a satisfying Sookie fix, and a good resource…Consider The Sookie Stackhouse Companion a fun addition to your Sookie library.”—Tor.com “This is a true companion book to a great urban fantasy series!...Edited by Charlaine Harris herself, this book offers the ultimate guide to the ‘Sookieverse’ and it is set out in such a way that it will please even the most hardcore fans out there… I cannot say how thankful I felt for this book and I cannot believe that anyone who has followed the series will not feel the same gratitude and pleasure for this little gift. It is really for the fans and that reflects on the quality of the work: meticulous, funny, and touching! If you praise yourself to be a Sookie Stackhouse avid (or even more moderate) fan then this book should be already devoured by you!”—Love Vampires About the Author Charlaine Harris is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse and Midnight, Texas, fantasy/mystery series and the Aurora Teagarden, Harper Connelly, and Lily Bard mystery series. Her books have inspired HBO’s True Blood, NBC’s Midnight, Texas, and the Aurora Teagarden movies for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. She has lived in the South her entire life.

Blood sings to blood, Froi . . . Those born last will make the first . . . For Charyn will be barren no more. * Three years after the curse on Lumatere was lifted, Froi has found his home... Or so he believes... Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has been trained roughly and lovingly by the Guard sworn to protect the royal family, and has learned to control his quick temper. But when he is sent on a secretive mission to the kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds. Here he encounters a damaged people who are not who they seem, and must unravel both the dark bonds of kinship and the mysteries of a half-mad Princess. And in this barren and mysterious place, he will discover that there is a song sleeping in his blood, and though Froi would rather not, the time has come to listen. Gripping and intense, complex and richly imagined, Froi of the Exiles is a dazzling sequel to Finnikin of the Rock, from the internationally best-selling and multi-award-winning author of Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca, On the Jellicoe Road and The Piper's Son.

The delicate peace between Wizards and the underguilds (Warriors, Seers, Enchanters, and Sorcerers) still holds by the thinnest of threads, but powerful forces inside and outside the guilds threaten to sever it completely. Emma and Jonah are at the center of it all. Brought together by their shared history, mutual attraction, and a belief in the magic of music, they now stand to be torn apart by new wounds and old betrayals. As they struggle to rebuild their trust in each other, Emma and Jonah must also find away to clear their names as the prime suspects in aseries of vicious murders. It seems more and more likely that the answers they need lie buried in the tragedies of the past. The question is whether they can survive long enough to unearth them. Old friends and foes return as new threats arise in this stunning and revelatory conclusion to the beloved and bestselling Heir Chronicles series.

The world has turned upside down for Thad and Ari Glavan, the bastard twins of Súndraille’s king. Their mother was murdered. The royal family died mysteriously. And now Thad sits on the throne of a kingdom whose streets are suddenly overrun with violence he can’t stop. Growing up ignored by the nobility, Ari never wanted to be a proper princess. And when Thad suddenly starts training Ari to take his place, she realizes that her brother’s ascension to the throne wasn’t fate. It was the work of a Wish Granter named Alistair Teague who tricked Thad into wishing away both the safety of his people and his soul in exchange for the crown. So Ari recruits the help of Thad’s enigmatic new weapons master, Sebastian Vaughn, to teach her how to fight Teague. With secret ties to Teague’s criminal empire, Sebastian might just hold the key to discovering Alistair’s weaknesses, saving Ari’s brother—and herself. But Teague is ruthless and more than ready to destroy anyone who dares stand in his way—and now he has his sights set on the princess. And if Ari can’t outwit him, she’ll lose Sebastian, her brother…and her soul.

When she's awake in the world, the Young Dread can hear an enemy approach from a mile away, manipulate a whipsword into a thousand forms, and attack with it faster than the human eye can see. And yet, the Young Dread is not often awake. She, like the Old and the Middle Dreads, lives outside the stream of time, frozen for vast stretches. She was a child in the 1400s, but she's alive today, and aged only into a teen. She wakes for short bursts, to observe the training of the families known as Seekers. Past and future intertwine in Seeker traditions--they are the keepers of both ancient knowledge and advanced weapons--and the Dreads must oversee it all, testing their skills, swearing them to loyalty, bringing them justice. Master storyteller Arwen Elys Dayton takes readers centuries into the past to follow this ageless Dread's footsteps. This time, when the Young Dread wakes, things will change. She is about to discover the first threads of a web in which she and so many others will be trapped. A ruthless killer to some, an enigmatic upholder of justice to others, the Young Dread is destined to shape the future in ways she is only beginning to understand.

In The Jewel, we followed Violet in her servitude under the Duchess of the Lake. Now we'll hear Raven's story and her time as a surrogate for the Countess of the Stone in this digital novella from Amy Ewing. When Raven is bought at the Auction, she knows immediately that things will not go well. And when she arrives at the Countess's palace, Raven quickly discovers that the Countess is much less interested in having a baby than experimenting with Raven's mind and body. Raven can only hope for an escape…and to see Violet again, all the while reminding herself that she is Raven Stirling, and she does matter. HarperTeen Impulse is a digital imprint focused on young adult short stories and novellas, with new releases the first Tuesday of each month.

For centuries, the world of Safehold, last redoubt of the human race, lay under the unchallenged rule of the Church of God Awaiting. The Church permitted nothing new-no new inventions, no new understandings of the world. What no one knew was that the Church was an elaborate fraud--a high-tech system established by a rebel faction of Safehold's founders, meant to keep humanity hidden from the powerful alien race that had destroyed old Earth. Then awoke Merlyn Athrawes, cybernetic avatar of a warrior a thousand years dead, felled in the war in which Earth was lost. Monk, warrior, counselor to princes and kings, Merlyn has one purpose: to restart the history of the too-long-hidden human race. And now the fight is thoroughly underway. The island empire of Charis has declared its independence from the Church, and with Merlyn's help has vaulted forward into a new age of steam-powered efficiency. Fending off the wounded Church, Charis has drawn more and more of the countries of Safehold to the cause of independence and self-determination. But at a heavy cost in bloodshed and loss--a cost felt by nobody more keenly that Merlyn Athrawes. The wounded Church is regrouping. Its armies and resources are vast. The fight for humanity's future isn't over, and won't be over soon... David Weber's Like a Mighty Army is the hotly anticipated seventh volume in the New York Times bestselling Safehold series.

A new hero will rise... From the ruins of the final battle, a new hero has emerged. A hero who will take The Shade into unchartered territories. Who will usher in a new world order, in which no predator may ever be safe again. And who will experience and learn to love, like no man has ever done before...

Something is happening to me that I don't understand. I see things, feel things in a new way. I can do things normal people can't do. Powerful things. Magical things. It scares me. I never chose to learn witchcraft. But I'm starting to wonder if witchcraft is choosing me.