My body suuuucks. After lounging around on my butt all summer (okay, so maybe that was my bad), this body decided to become something completely foreign. So now I’m trying to make the track team and I feel like I’m a baby learning to walk again. A couple pounds wouldn’t have been so bad. Work those off, run like a mad woman, no problem, yeah? But no. I’ve also developed a couple of things that I definitely didn’t have before. And now my guy friends are all sitting in a pool of drool as they not-so-subtly stare at my chest. Combine all that drama with the fact that the new track coach is getting major flack for being a little chunky, and all I’m trying to do is convince the team that I’m not running slower because of her coaching style. Oh, and did I mention that I’m totally falling face-first in “like” with some guy I met in a cemetery? And no one understands it just because he’s also a little chunky. But he’s also adorable and wonderfully weird and I don’t care what they say, his look sure does it for me. But… I don’t know… how can I be in “like” with someone, when I have no clue how to like myself anymore?**

Meet Laura. She's the tall girl holding two stray cats. Laura loves caring for animals. But lately, the animals in the forest near her home have been acting strange. Bats swarm and attack in broad daylight. On her walks, Laura hears eerie howls and inhuman cries. And now, she is about to meet another animal. An animal so ugly and evil, it can only be described as a creature. Poor Laura. Sometimes a path through the forest can lead to The Nightmare Room

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERYSeveral days after private detective and poet Nigel Strangeways dines with Dr Piers Loudon and his family, the doctor vanishes, only for his legless corpse to be fished out of the river Thames. When his family ask Nigel to protect their interests during the police investigation, it soon becomes apparent that each member of the deceased's family, from his adopted son to his daughter's unpleasant fiancée, had a strong motive for killing him. As the winter fog swirls outside, Nigel must find his way through a maze of conflicting stories, missing diaries and red herrings.A Nigel Strangeways murder mystery - the perfect introduction to the most charming and erudite detective in Golden Age crime fiction.

In his first work of nonfiction since the acclaimed On Fire, Brown aims for nothing short of ruthlessly capturing the truth of the world in which he has always lived. In the prologue to the book, he tells what it's like to be constantly compared with William Faulkner, a writer with whom he shares inspiration from the Mississippi land. The essays that follow show that influence as undeniable. Here is the pond Larry reclaims and restocks on his place in Tula. Here is the Oxford bar crowd on a wild goose chase to a fabled fishing event. And here is the literary sensation trying to outsmart a wily coyote intent on killing the farm's baby goats. Woven in are intimate reflections on the Southern musicians and writers whose work has inspired Brown's and the thrill of his first literary recognition.But the centerpiece of this book is the title essay which embodies every element of Larry Brown's most emotional attachments-to ...

Appearances...A sad, strange coincidence...that's Dr. Kacey Lambert's initial response to the deaths of two women who bear an uncanny resemblance to herself. It's not like there was any real connection between Kacey and the B-movie actress or the elementary school teacher. But Detective Selena Alvarez suspects otherwise.Can Be...One of the bodies contained traces of poison at the time of death. Selena and her partner, Detective Regan Pescoli, can find no motive for murder. But Kacey has started to notice ties between the dead women's lives and her own-all close in age, born within miles of each other. And all have links to Trace O'Halleran, the man Kacey just started dating.Deadly...The deeper Kacey digs, the more reason she has to fear. More look-alikes are dying, and the killer is getting bolder and more brutal. And Kacey knows it's only a matter of time before hers is the next name on a list of those who were born to die...

Being a faerie princess isn't all it's cracked up to be... Ivy must go to Faerie, but the gateway to the Wisp Court is through Tech Duinn, the house of Donn--Celtic god of the dead. Just her luck. Unable to share her secret with Jinx, and with Jenna called away on Hunters' Guild business, Ivy must rely on Ceff and Torn to lead her to Death's door, literally, and back again. As if that wasn't dangerous enough, there's no saying what horrors lay in store within the Faerie realm. Too bad the Wisp Court is the one lead Ivy has in the search for her father--and possible salvation. Maybe hiding away and dodging sidhe assassins isn't so bad after all... Birthright is the fourth full-length novel in the award-winning Ivy Granger urban fantasy series by E.J. Stevens.

Her toughest case yet DI Kate Burrows thought she'd never face a killer like the Grantley Ripper again. But she was wrong. One by one, children are being abandoned. Thankfully, they're rescued from harm. Then one victim is not so lucky, and Kate knows she's in a race against time to save lives. As a parent herself, Kate's finding the case tough and she needs the support of her lover, Patrick Kelly, more than ever. But Patrick's got problems of his own. A dead body's turned up in his Soho club and, although he insists it's a set-up, Kate begins to doubt him. It's not the first time Patrick's reputation in the criminal underworld has compromised her position. But now there's a maniac to catch and Kate can't let anyone - not even Patrick - get in her way.  

Rain Bauer has had an awful life. After living with her abusive stepfather for 15 years, she finally develops the courage to leave at 18. Now 22 and homeless, she yearns for change in her life. As a young girl, she hoped for a prince, white horse, and a HEA, but it never came.While sitting on a park bench contemplating change, her prince comes not on a white horse, but a Harley-Davidson.Ethan Hawthorne is a 32 year old Harley riding tattooed hunk. After inviting her to his apartment for dinner, Rain learns Ethan and his roommate Cade are loving, caring, kind, and compassionate.When she is invited to stay the night and wait out a terrible storm, the changes she has been hoping for begin to unfold...But is she ready for what life is going to toss her way?"I had always hoped one day love would call my name; and when it did, I’d be able to answer. I had no idea the call would come from two different directions at the same time." - Rain

In *Tesla: Man Out of Time,* Margaret Cheney explores the brilliant and prescient mind of one of the twentieth century's greatest scientists and inventors. Called a madman by his enemies, a genius by others, and an enigma by nearly everyone, Nikola Tesla was, without a doubt, a trailblazing inventor who created astonishing, sometimes world-transforming devices that were virtually without theoretical precedent. Tesla not only discovered the rotating magnetic field -- the basis of most alternating-current machinery -- but also introduced us to the fundamentals of robotics, computers, and missile science. Almost supernaturally gifted, unfailingly flamboyant and neurotic, Tesla was troubled by an array of compulsions and phobias and was fond of extravagant, visionary experimentations. He was also a popular man-about-town, admired by men as diverse as Mark Twain and George Westinghouse, and adored by scores of society beauties. From Tesla's childhood in Yugoslavia to his death in New York in the 1940s, Cheney paints a compelling human portrait and chronicles a lifetime of discoveries that radically altered -- and continue to alter -- the world in which we live. *Tesla: Man Out of Time* is an in-depth look at the seminal accomplishments of a scientific wizard and a thoughtful examination of the obsessions and eccentricities of the man behind the science.

My name is Ruby.This book is about me.It tells the deeply hideous storyof what happens when my mother diesand I'm dragged three thousand miles awayfrom my gorgeous boyfriend, Ray,to live in L.A. with my father,who I've never even metbecause he's such a scumbag that hedivorced my mom before I was born.The only way I've ever even seen himis in the movies,since he's this megafamous actorwho's been way too busytrying to win Oscarsto even visit me once in fifteen years.Everyone loves my father.Everyone but me.

Amazon.com ReviewBernie Rhodenbarr, burglar with a heart of gold, returns for this 10th installment in a reliable Burglar on the Prowl, Bernie is recruited by an old friend to burgle the home of a crooked plastic surgeon, removing some off-the-books cash from a wall safe. A simple enough job, but Bernie complicates matters by going "on the prowl" one restless evening―-randomly cruising for an easy job. While he's pawing through a woman's empty apartment, she returns home; Bernie hides hastily, only to overhear an act of violence that draws him into a hunt for the perpetrator and a deepening role in the victim's life.Lawrence Block's prose is merely serviceable, but his plotting and storytelling are first-rate. He constructs a complex puzzle, yet weaves in each new development so seamlessly that you almost don't see it happen. Like its Bernie predecessors, The Burglar on the Prowl is droll and charming, and at times you can feel Block trying a bit too hard with the charm. However, a few truly horrific bad guys and some ugly violence keep the sweetness from cloying. And it's impossible not to like Bernie, a gentleman criminal with few peers in contemporary fiction. --Nicholas H. AllisonFrom Publishers WeeklyYou'd think that Block, with more than 50 books to his credit, would run out of ideas, but as this 10th in his Burglar series shows (after 1999's The Burglar in the Rye), he's as fresh, witty and inventive as ever. The author builds his plot on stupefying coincidences, but not to worry—everything eventually meshes. A friend asks Bernie Rhodenbarr, confirmed New Yorker, used-book dealer and gentleman burglar, to rob a mob-connected plastic surgeon who stole the friend's mistress. He agrees, and cases the doctor's house in Riverdale, the Bronx. But Bernie is restive and, uncharacteristically (because he plans carefully), he breaks into a Manhattan apartment on a whim and almost gets caught, hiding under the bed while a woman is date-raped. Next day a customer is shot near his bookstore, a mysterious émigré couple is murdered, a former Latvian war criminal is reported in New York and Bernie's apartment is ransacked. These crimes seem unrelated in such a large city, but Bernie finds a common thread. In the end, Bernie assembles 22 people (including lawmen) in the surgeon's living room and, Charlie Chan style, explains each participant's role and, where appropriate, crime. Lesser hands would not bring off this breathtaking performance, but in Block's it's seamless and hilarious. Quirky characters like Bernie's pals Carolyn Kaiser, the dog groomer, and cop Ray Kirschmann; an insider's love of New York; and a slew of wonderful puns add to the fun.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The pressure builds for Kia, Georgie, Micki and Ace in the sequel to J.C. Burke's acclaimed novel Starfish Sisters. 'Starfish who surf together stick together ...' It was Ace who wrote that in Kia, Georgie and Micki's blue booklets on the last day of camp. Yet it's Ace who's ended up ruining everything - ending the Starfish Sisters before they've even begun. The Starfish Sisters should be happy that they're on track to make the Australian Junior Female Surfing Team. But will lies, secrets, fighting - and love - keep them apart?

WELCOME TO NOWHERE.Danny's dad takes a job as caretaker at a marina on the shore of a vast, frozen lake in Harvest Cove, a tiny town tucked away in Canada's Big Empty. If you're looking for somewhere to hide, this is it.It's the worst winter in years. One night, running in the dark, Danny is attacked by a creature so strange and terrifying he tries to convince himself he was hallucinating. Then he learns about Native American legends of a monster that's haunted the lake for a thousand years. And that every generation, in the coldest winters, kids have disappeared into the night. People think they ran away.Danny knows better. Because now the beast is after him.From the Hardcover edition.

Love Ramona or Judy Moody? Then you definitely need to know Piper Green! The girl with the fairy tree in her backyard returns, and this time the fairies have left her a mysterious pirate patch. Every year, Piper Green looks forward to a visit from the Sea Star, a community boat that docks at Peek-a-Boo Island and hosts a dinner. And best of all? Piper and the other kids get to serve the meal. Most years, Piper has to settle for being "mashed potato girl." But this year her mom made dessert, and everyone knows that being Pie Girl is the best role to have. But when a doctor makes a surprising diagnosis, Piper's dream of being Pie Girl may be in jeopardy. Will a gift from the fairy tree help save the day? Praise for Piper Green: "Piper has a winning combination of stubbornness, loyalty, and independence." —Publishers Weekly, Starred "Following in the fine tradition of spunky...

Mysterious, elusive, unforgettable. The Hurst Amulet continues to lure lovers into peril as New York Times bestselling author Karen Hawkins spins her newest scintillating tale of danger and desire. AN ENTRANCING THIEF For beautiful, seductive Moira MacAllister, the stakes have become terrifyingly high. Her daughter has been abducted and a priceless ancient relic is the ransom. Moira must acquire it at any cost, even if it means confronting the man she once duped and left, a man who still doesn't know she has a child . . . and that he is the father. A DASHING RAKEHELL Robert Hurst, an operative in the king's service, has never forgiven the mysterious spy who seduced him into marriage and then disappeared without a trace. Now, as he pursues the onyx box that will save his brother's life, their paths cross again. But Robert isn't sure which he longs for more--to satisfy his lust for revenge or to quench his relentless...