The voice of an extraordinary new fantasist sings out strong and true in this epic and magical tale of intrigue, forbidden love, and shocking betrayal in a wondrous, barbaric realm where beauty is a weapon . . . and treachery an art. The river god had spared the infant girl the villagers found drifting on a boat with a dead man and dying woman, so the superstitious townsfolk believed it would be a sacrilege to let the child die as well. The name Lale, meaning "lucky," is the last good thing they give her, and she grows up abused, unloved, and resented -- until, at age eleven, she comes to the attention of Makina Seval, "Mother Midnight," the absolute ruler of the Despotate of Tamurin. Enrolled in Three Springs, the Despotana's special school for orphaned and unwanted girls, young Lale finally finds what she has always coveted: respect, affection, community . . . a home. But Three Springs is an institution of dark and shadowy purpose, a place where the wards of Mother Midnight are trained to become perfect spies and cold-blooded, ruthlessly efficient killers. And Lale has learned her lessons well. At age twenty, she stands poised to play her role in the Despotana's grandest scheme: vengeance. Years earlier Makina Seval's entire family -- including her infant son, the rightful heir to the Bethiyan throne -- was brutally slain through the plots of a devious chancellor, who then raised up a young usurper to be the Sun Lord. Now it is Lale's duty to insinuate her way into the court -- and the bed -- of that same usurper, Terem Rathai, no longer a child but a powerful and dangerous foe. And after she has earned Terem's trust, Lale is to kill him. Bound by the blackest sorcery to remain loyal to her beloved Mother, Lale will suffer nightmarish torment -- even death -- if she fails. But once enmeshed in the web of deceit and treachery that has been spun around her, the young assassin begins to doubt the righteousness of her sworn mission. For not only will the Despotana's grand design bring doom upon the world itself, there hangs over Lale yet another appalling catastrophe -- one that threatens all that she is, all she has ever believed. Lale has fallen in love with the man she must destroy. . . .

"I left my wedding dress hanging in a tree somewhere in North Dakota. I don't know why that particular tree appealed to me. Perhaps it was because it looked as if it had given up and died years ago and was still standing because it didn't know what else to do. . ."In her deliciously funny, heartfelt, and moving debut, Cathy Lamb introduces some of the most wonderfully eccentric women since The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and The Secret Life of Bees, as she explores the many ways we find the road home.From the moment Julia Bennett leaves her abusive Boston fiancé at the altar and her ugly wedding dress hanging from a tree in South Dakota, she knows she's driving away from the old Julia, but what she's driving toward is as messy and undefined as her own wounded soul. The old Julia dug her way out of a tortured, trailer park childhood with a monster of a mother. The new Julia will be found at her Aunt Lydia's rambling, hundred-year-old farmhouse...

Prize-winning journalist and the co-author of smash New York Times bestseller I Am Malala, Christina Lamb, now tells the inspiring true story of another remarkable young hero: Nujeen Mustafa, a teenager born with cerebral palsy, whose harrowing journey from war-ravaged Syria to Germany in a wheelchair is a breathtaking tale of fortitude, grit, and hope that lends a face to the greatest humanitarian issue of our time, the Syrian refugee crisis.For millions around the globe, sixteen-year-old Nujeen Mustafa embodies the best of the human spirit. Confined to a wheelchair because of her cerebral palsy and denied formal schooling in Syria because of her illness, Nujeen taught herself English by watching American soap operas. When her small town became the epicenter of the brutal fight between ISIS militants and US-backed Kurdish troops in 2014, she and her family were forced to flee.Despite her physical limitations, Nujeen embarked on the arduous trek to safety and a...

"What can you do? You can do a lot. You can support justice for all by speaking out loudly to your family, friends, community, politicians and religious leaders. You can support foundations that do good work. You can volunteer for humanitarian organizations. You can vote regressive politicians out of office. You can do many things to move the world toward greater harmony…"I know that what I have lost, what was taken from me, will never come back. But as a physician and a Muslim of deep faith, I need to move forward to the light, motivated by the spirits of those I lost. I need to bring them justice… I will keep moving but I need you to join me in this long journey."-from I Shall Not HateDr. Izzeldin Abuelaish - now known simply as "the Gaza doctor" captured hearts and headlines around the world in the aftermath of horrific tragedy: on January 16, 2009, Israeli shells hit his home in the Gaza Strip, killing three of his daughters and a niece.By turns inspiring and heartbreaking, hopeful and horrifying, this is Abuelaish's account of a Gazan life in all its struggle and pain. A Palestinian doctor who was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Abuelaish is an infertility specialist who lived in Gaza but plied his specialty in Israeli hospitals. From the strip of land he calls home (a place where 1.5 million refugees are crammed into 360 square kilometres of land), the Gaza doctor has been crossing the lines that divide the region for most of his life, as a physician who treats patients on both sides of the border and as a humanitarian who sees the need for improved public health and education for women as the way forward in the Middle East.But it was Abuelaish's response to the loss of his children that made news and won him humanitarian awards around the world. Instead of seeking revenge or sinking into hatred, in this personal account of his life, Izzeldin Abuelaish is calling for the people of the Middle East to start talking to each other. His deepest hope is that his daughters will be the last sacrifice on the road to peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

All it took was for the right, older man to sit next to me. That flight changed my life. What started out as boring, small talk swiftly changed to flirting. Things got out of hand for a while, but he made sure to leave me with memories I'll never forget. Then he took me home to meet his twin brother and introduce me to what it's like to have the full attention of two men at the same time. *Erotic Short Story about Older MEN and younger woman - M/F/M*

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and prophecy.Kim thought majoring in divination would prepare her for the future. But even with her foresight warning her of trouble, she's taken by surprise when an unknown force attacks Julian, her enigmatic classmate and friend. Her gifts can't protect him against further attacks and an inexplicable string of disappearances . . . and if she's reading the omens right, Julian isn't the only one in danger.Kim knows she isn't ready for this. But if she wants to save Julian - and herself - she'll have to prove her own prophecies wrong.

Violet and Nate may have escaped the labyrinth, but only one of them came out unscathed. Nate is now the bearer of a mysterious eye-shaped tattoo, a mark he has no memory of receiving and no desire to investigate further. But Vi has never been one to let a mystery go unsolved, and she’ll do whatever she can to discover who’s behind the tattoo—even if it means leaving Nate out of her plan.

Joey Halloway is looking to the future Freshly married to her high-school sweetheart, Joey is excited for an uncomplicated life, free from the paranormal terrors she and Tristan have endured. But first, she must face her past She's never known where her unique supernatural abilities came from, and she also doesn't know anything about her father – could these be related? In search for answers, she stands to lose it all Enrolling at 'The Gathering', an event where witches from all over the globe unite to develop their powers, it's not long before news of a secret League reaches Joey's inquisitive ears. But there is someone – or something – that doesn't want her to find out, and will go to any lengths to stop her... The thrilling finale to The Lost Boys...

Translated from the French, (Contre Dieu), Against God, is the gripping, dark tale of a man searching for answers. What happens in the mind of a man when, all of a sudden, he loses all reason for living? When everything in his life collapses around him and he is left with nothing, wondering why fate has been so scornfully unremitting. What stops one from becoming monstrous when morality is no longer an issue? Those are the questions facing the central character of Against God.About the AuthorPatrick Senecal was born in 1967 in Drummondville, Quebec. He began writing in high school and self-published his short fiction while there. In 1994 he published his first novel, 5150 rue des Ormes, and he has since published dozens of novels, thick and dark, many winning prizes and several becoming films. Patrick published his first novella, Contre Dieu, in 2010, and now Contre Dieu has come to the Anglophone masses with a masterful translation.

The bestselling author of the award-winning international sensation Deafening returns to the period following the First Great War with a tour de force -- an extraordinary novel of secrets withheld and secrets revealed. In 1919, only months after the end of World War One, the men and women of Deseronto struggle to recover from wounds of the past, both visible and hidden. Kenan, a young soldier who has returned from the war damaged and disfigured, confines himself to his small house on the Bay of Quinte, wandering outside only under the cover of night. His wife, Tress, attempting to adjust to the trauma that overwhelms her husband and which has changed their marriage, seeks advice from her Aunt Maggie. Maggie, along with her husband, Am, who cares for the town clock tower, have their own sorrows, which lie unacknowledged between them. Maggie finds joy in her friendship with a local widow and in the Choral Society started by Lukas, a Music Director who has moved to...

When Alan Hammerstun inherits a quaint ranch house in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, he and his wife Heather seize the opportunity to leave New York and the haunting aftermath of two miscarriages. Eager to start over in the rural North Carolina town, they hope this new beginning will be the antidote to Heather's severe depression. For a time everything seems perfect. Too perfect, in fact. The neighbors are all young, handsome, healthy, and friendly. While surveying his new property, Alan finds a dirt path through the forest designated by stone markers carved with strange symbols, which culminates in a grassy clearing. One night Alan dreams the path ends at the foot of a lake and dives in; when he awakes gritty with lake grime and improved health and strength, he wonders if it could cure Heather's depression and infertility as well. When the townspeople warn Alan of the lake's powers, he must decide if the community's secret is a nightmare or a miracle.

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS...When a spring storm rolls through Freedom, Ohio, landscape designer Nina Quinn expects to get her hands dirty with the mess left behind.But after high winds uproot a tree, revealing the corpse of a man inside its rotted hollow, Nina quickly realizes that cleaning up after Mother Nature’s fury is the least of her worries.It soon becomes clear that there is no lack of suspects in the man’s untimely death. As a shady contractor and philanderer, he’d angered a lot of people before he disappeared, including some of Nina’s closest friends.With the help of her police detective ex-husband, a mysterious coroner’s investigator, her formerly-felonious employees and her zany neighbors, Nina sets out to uncover a killer...before another victim ends up planted six feet under. “Nina’s sarcastic, witty, and a wonderfully well-written character within an amazing supporting cast.” - Surrounded by Books ReviewsOther titles in the Nina Quinn Mystery Series:A Hoe Lot of TroubleTrouble in SpadesDigging up TroubleTrouble in BloomWeeding out TroubleTrouble Under the Tree

Lonesome Howl is a taut and tender thriller: a suspenseful adventure, a drama of two different families, a love story and a journey of self-discovery.Jake's dad saw the wolf, before Jake was born. They say wolves don't live in this country, yet in the night Jake hears it howling, long and lonely.When Jake and Lucy hike to Sheldon Mountain in search of the wolf, Jake is out to prove his dad right or wrong; Lucy is escaping her father's cruelty. Both are tested - physically, emotionally, spiritually - but what they find on that dangerous, dark mountain surprises them both.Lonesome Howl is taut and tender; a gripping blend of physical adventure, family drama, love story and journey of self-discovery. Steven Herrick's new YA novel follows on the success of By the River and his other popular and award-winning books.

Stolen from her fiancé, and forced to commit unspeakable evil, Willa vows to destroy the king that ruined her life.Silence kept her alive.Magic will set her free.Willa Avery created the serum that changed the world as humans, witches, and vampires knew it. Sun Serum 99, the cure for a vampire’s death by sunlight. Many tried to create it, but it took the magic and science of a Grand Elite Caster to perfect it. Despite the fame and recognition that came with this new discovery, the fact remains: Willa was forced by the vampire king of the West to create the one thing she could have used to kill him.After hiding from the king and his spies for years, she's tired of living in the shadows. She vows to end his reign of terror and return to the man she was stolen from a century ago.With her two best friends—witches of high rank by her side, and the love of a vampire seeking his own freedom, can Willa destroy the king that ruined her life?

Terrifying psychological chiller featuring clinical psychologist Tony Hill of The Mermaids Singing and The Wire in the Blood. A twisted killer targeting psychologists has left a grisly trail across Europe. Dr Tony Hill, expert at mapping the minds of murderers, is reluctant to get involved. But then the next victim is much closer to home...Meanwhile, his former partner, DCI Carol Jordan, is working undercover in Berlin, on a dangerous operation to trap a millionaire traffiker. When the game turns nasty, Tony is the only person she can call on for help. Confronting a cruelty that has its roots in Nazi atrocities, Tony and Carol are thrown together in a world of violence and corruption, where they have no one to trust but each other.