In this collection of personal essays, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood reveals stories about life, love, and working as a woman in Hollywood—along with behind-the-scenes dispatches from the set of the new Gilmore Girls, where she plays the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore once again. In Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham hits pause for a moment and looks back on her life, sharing laugh-out-loud stories about growing up, starting out as an actress, and, years later, sitting in her trailer on the Parenthood set and asking herself, "Did you, um, make it?" She opens up about the challenges of being single in Hollywood ("Strangers were worried about me; that's how long I was single!"), the time she was asked to audition her butt for a role, and her experience being a judge on Project Runway ("It's like I had a fashion-induced blackout"). In "What It Was Like, Part One," Graham sits down for an...

Tangled Reins by Stephanie LaurensMiss Dorothea Darent had no intention of ever getting married - until a dashing stranger with hazel eyes kissed her under a blackberry tree.Haunted by their kiss, the Marquis of Hazelmere - a notorious scoundrel - was determined to win Dorothea's heart while she dazzled London socialites. Amidst shocked whispers, he swept Dorothea into her first waltz and sparked the jealous plots of lesser suitors.Now Dorothea had a choice to make: stick with her plan to stay a respectable spinster, or run into the arms of her dashing stranger...The Secrets Of A Courtesan by Nicola CornickThe epitome of privilege and power, the handsome Duke of Welburn sets all the ladies' hearts aflutter as he strides into the village of Fortune's Folly.For Eve Nightingale, this fluttering is a mixture of wariness and wonder. Once his glittering society mistress - caught up in his glamorous world by day and tangled in his bed sheets by night - she is now no more than a penniless yet proud shopkeeper.It's a world Eve can't go back to - she has secrets to keep. But this determined duke seems very keen on unravelling them...How To Woo A Spinster by Kasey MichaelsStill unmarried at twenty-eight, Lady Emmaline Daughtry has resigned herself to spinsterhood. Then Captain John Alistair arrives at her door - the very image of her perfect lover. But can a man with a secret and a woman who's never known love find happiness when they least expect to?

Amazon.com ReviewThe hero of Daniel Woodrell's Tomato Red is the most endearingly out-of-control loser you're likely to meet. Sammy Barlach looks like a person "who should in any circumstances be considered a suspect"; clerks follow him through the supermarket when he shops, and the police pull him over simply from habit. But in spite of his looks, Sammy only wants to be loved, even if it's just by "the bunch that would have me"--and in the hardscrabble world of West Table, Missouri, that's a bunch you wouldn't necessarily want to meet. The novel begins with a heady Methedrine rush, as Sammy celebrates payday by letting himself be talked into robbing a nearby mansion. Even when his newfound friends disappear as he's breaking in, he persists: "You might think I should've quit on the burglary right there, but I just love people, I guess, and didn't." The break-in leads Sammy into an unlikely alliance with the Merridew family: Jamalee and Jason and their mother Bev, a prostitute in the town's ironically named Venus Holler. Flame-haired Jamalee dreams constantly of a different kind of life, and she plans on using Jason's extraordinary beauty as her ticket out of West Table. Jason, however, seems to be shaping up as what Sammy calls "country queer"--which, as Sammy observes, "ain't the easiest walk to take amongst your throng of fellow humankind."Unfortunately for Jamalee, Woodrell's Ozarks is a place that rewards ambition with disaster. Here as in his five previous "country noir" novels, Woodrell writes with a keen understanding of class and a barely contained sense of rage. The residents of West Table's trailer parks and shotgun shacks share Sammy's sense of limited possibilities. "I ain't shit! I ain't shit! shouts your brain," Sammy thinks while wandering around the mansion, "and this place proves the point." Even when Jason sticks up for his own family, the way he does so is heartbreaking: "This expression of utter frankness takes over Jason's beautiful face, and he says, 'I don't think we're the lowest scum in town.' He didn't argue that we weren't scum, just disputed our position on the depth chart." With her mildewing etiquette guides and grandiose plans, Jamalee is the only character who doesn't share their sense of defeat, and she's the only one who, in the end, gets away--though she leaves behind her a trail of betrayal and heartache. By the time the novel's final tragedy rolls around, it seems both senseless and inevitable, as tragedies do in real life. Told in a voice that crackles with energy and wit, Tomato Red is sharp, funny, and more importantly, true. --Mary ParkFrom Publishers Weekly"You're no angel, you know how this stuff comes to happen: Friday is payday and it's been a gray day sogged by slow ugly rain and you seek company in your gloom...." So begins the bravura first paragraph of Woodrell's sixth novel (after Give Us a Kiss). As readers of Woodrell's previous fiction will expect, we are in the Ozarks?in West Table, Mo., to be specific. Sammy Barlach, our narrator, is a case?at the moment, he's employed in the dog food industry, but he's just met a girl "with teeth the size of shoe-peg corn" who's well supplied with crank and, toward the end of their weekend spree, suggests that they rob a mansion whose owners are (notoriously) on vacation. In the course of executing this plan, Sammy meets fellow burglars Jamalee and Jason Meridew?a sister and brother pair from Venus Hollow who break into wealthy houses in order to try on clothes and make believe they are rich. Jamalee, however, plans to make it big by using her brother's remarkable looks to seduce, then blackmail, the wives of the rich. (The hitch: Jason's tenuous, possibly nonexistent, interest in hetero sex.) Meanwhile, Bev Meridew, their mother, supports herself as a freelance goodtime girl and occasional snitch. Sammy moves in with this incestuous group as Jamalee's idea of muscle until even he can't protect them or their dreams from the nastier elements of Venus Hollow. The dialogue and characters are what keeps this awkwardly plotted little number plugging along. Woodrell isn't interested in Li'l Abner cutouts. These figures are all bluff and sorrow, and Woodrell succeeds in giving their misfit poetry a genuine C&W resonance that lingers beyond the last page. (Aug.) FYI: Ang Lee is currently directing a movie from Woe to Live On, Woodrell's second novel.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

New York Times Bestselling author, Tess Oliver, brings you a brand new, sexy new adult romance. The story of a first love so strong it never fades. A coal miner’s son, Kellan Braddock always knew he’d follow in his late dad’s steel toed boots. He also always knew that he’d never love anyone as much he loved Rylan Merritt. But sometimes love isn't enough. Seven years ago, Rylan Merritt left Bluefield Ridge with her heart in tatters. Now she’s back. And Kellan Braddock, the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, the boy who she loved beyond anything has grown into a man. Will she risk her heart again?

In the personality and exploits of the Special Messenger, the author has been assured that a celebrated historical character is recognizable - Miss Boyd, the famous Confederate scout and spy. It is not uncommon that the readers of a book know more about that book than the author. R. W. C. Includes vintage illustration!

Fanny Burney was one of England's most acclaimed authors during the early 19th century. A playwright, novelist, and diarist, Burney wrote across a variety of genres, and many of her works were extremely popular in her time.

Articles and resources from SENG's National Parenting Gifted Children Week. Topics include identifying and recognizing giftedness, the challenges of parenting a gifted child, underachievement issues and twice exceptionalism, gifted minorities and gifted boys and girls, misdiagnosis and depression in gifted youth, advocacy, and parenting supports and resources.Articles and resources from SENG's National Parenting Gifted Children Week. Topics include identifying and recognizing giftedness, the challenges of parenting a gifted child, underachievement issues and twice exceptionalism, gifted minorities and gifted boys and girls, misdiagnosis and depression in gifted youth, advocacy, and parenting supports and resources.Featured individual authors include: Edward R. Amend, Paul Beljan, Lori Comallie-Caplan, Rosina Gallagher, Jean Goerss, Tiombe Kendrick, Carolyn Kottmeyer, Linda Neumann, F. Richard Olenchak, Vidisha Patel, James T. Webb, and Nadia E. Webb

A satirical fable of small-town America centers on a builder's wife and the erotic power she exerts over her neighbors, transforming before their eyes and changing forever their notions of right and wrong.