How do you find the strength to save your kingdom when you've lost everything? Anya has failed in her mission to bring Prince Zabriel back to the Faerie realm of Chrior so that he can ascend his rightful throne. Instead, Zabriel, her prince, cousin and dear friend, is standing trial for crimes committed under the false name William Wolfram Pyrite. Worst of all, the last possible heir to the Faerie throne is Illumina--the cousin Anya suspects of the foulest betrayal possible. In a desperate last attempt to put things right, Anya must partner with the unlikeliest of allies and venture into ever more dangerous situations if there is to be any hope of peace for her people.

Part love story, part murder mystery, set on the cusp of the Second World War, Russell Banks' sharp-witted and deeply engaging new novel raises dangerous questions about class, politics, art, love, and madness-and explores what happens when two powerful personalities begin to break the rules. 29-year-old Vanessa Cole is a wild, stunningly beautiful heiress, scandalously linked to any number of rich and famous men. But at her parents' country home in a remote Adirondack Mountain enclave known as The Reserve, two events coincide to permanently alter the course of Vanessa's callow life: her father dies suddenly of a heart attack, and a mysteriously seductive local artist, Jordan Groves, lands his biplane in the forbidden Upper Lake... Internationally known as much for his exploits and conquests as for his paintings themselves, Jordan's leftist loyalties seem suspiciously undercut by his wealth and upper-crust clientele. But for all his worldly swagger, Jordon is as staggered by Vanessa's beauty and charm as she is by his defiant independence. He falls easy prey to her electrifying personality, but it is not long before he discovers that the heiress carries a dark, deeply scarring family secret. Emotionally unstable from the start, and further unhinged by her father's unexpected death, Vanessa begins to spin wildly out of control, manipulating and destroying the lives of all who cross her path. The Reserve is a clever, incisive, and passionately romantic novel of suspense that adds a new dimension to this acclaimed author's extraordinary repertoire.

Laureth Peak's father has taught her to look for recurring events, patterns, and numbers--a skill at which she's remarkably talented. Her secret: She is blind. But when her father goes missing, Laureth and her 7-year-old brother Benjamin are thrust into a mystery that takes them to New York City where surviving will take all her skill at spotting the amazing, shocking, and sometimes dangerous connections in a world full of darkness. She Is Not Invisible is an intricate puzzle of a novel that sheds a light on the delicate ties that bind people to each other.

In Spirit Gate and Shadow Gate, Kate Elliott took readers to the fascinating world of the Hundred, a land teeming with an array of cultures, gods, and conflicts blighted by the shadow of chaos and destruction. Now, with the same intensity and dramatic sweep that has brought this epic to life, Elliott returns to the exquisitely crafted cities and landscapes of the Hundred, in a thunderous conclusion to the saga.In the darkness of war and destruction, forces gather to reclaim the peace: Those immortal Guardians who still serve justice seek a means to end the devastating reign of one of their own; a hired outlander army struggles to halt the advance of the horde that has despoiled vast lands and slaughtered countless people in its murderous wake, while still guarding against a burgeoning threat from an aggressively expansionist empire; and the eagle reeves who have long been the only law enforcers of the Hundred struggle to reorganize after a devastating...

George Lepage, the new Director of the Hulliborn Regional Museum and Gallery, has great hopes that his tenure in the post will be short and profitable. He has visions of early retirement, and perhaps – like his predecessor, and his predecessor's predecessor – a knighthood.But circumstances do their best to snatch his happy dreams away from him. First a deranged former staff member causes a riot in the Folk Department, and then three recently purchased, ruinously expensive paintings of dubious authenticity are stolen, putting the museum's security – and judgement – into question. The fate of the upcoming Japanese Ancient Surgical Skills exhibition, and its astonishing collection of tonsil excision implements, hangs dangerously in the balance.And over everything hangs the grim specter of the former Director, "Flounce" Butler-Minton, whose body may be most definitely dead but whose legacy lives on. And with every day that passes, the rumours of what...

Josh Miller, sixth grader at Demarest Elementary School, has a secret. Everything that happens to Mascot, the superhero sidekick in the Captain Major comic books, also happens to Josh. So when Josh finds out that Mascot is slated to die in the next Captain Major adventure, he knows he has to do something—and fast! A budding comics artist and writer himself, Josh and his new friend, Kelsey (aka Large Lass), take off to find Stan Kirby, the creator of the Captain Major series, so they can save Mascot—and Josh's life.Comic-book legend Peter David teams up with the renowned comics artist Colleen Doran in their first book for young readers.

It's around 15,000–12,000 BC, the Late Stone Age, and an orphan boy is surviving on the fringes of a hunters' camp. A passion to find mammoths has been ignited in him by Old Mother, the ancient crone who guards the camp fire and cares for him. In his travels to find the mammoths, he is adopted by a mysterious hunchback, Agaratz, who lives alone in a cave and is perhaps the last of a vanished people. Urrell learns survival and instinct as a stone-age hunter as well as gaining insight into the meaning of the cave paintings of deer, bison, mammoths and other creatures. The story culminates in a long journey to the Great Meet of the Clan Groups where rites de passage are held in caves, goods traded and mates secured. Time sometimes slips, and when the powers that Agaratz holds are transferred to Urrell, they will be a match for those of the leader of the rites, the horned shaman and his acolytes. But who will win? Mammoth Boy recreates the semi-magical world of...

Packed-off to boarding school and bullied by his peers, Felix feels sad and trapped. Although he has a home in England, his heart lies in Spain - so he runs away. But Felix's journey is cut short when his ship is caught in a storm off the French coast. Despite being shipwrecked and then held prisoner in a remote monastery, Felix's spirit is far from broken - and he needs all the strength he can muster to battle against the demonic Abbot Vespasian and his evil powers . . .

In the West of Ireland in 1939 a young novelist rents a lonely cottage to write his new book in peace. Almost at once, and without great resistance, he is seduced by the wife of the local squire. Harriet's husband is an older man - hot-tempered, impoverished, gone to seed - who once fought famously against the Black and Tans. Soon this eternal triangle becomes a local scandal, and the atmosphere of threat and violence, intensified by the approaching war in Europe, leads to a horrific murder. The Private Wound is Nicholas Blake's last book, written with such intensity of feeling and depth of character that it is widely regarded as his best.

Alex Thompson's life is following the script. A pre-law student at Columbia University, she's focused on her grades, her life and her future. The last thing she needs is to reconnect with the boy who broke her heart. Dylan Paris comes home from Afghanistan severely injured and knows that the one thing he cannot do is drag Alex into the mess he's made of his life. When Dylan and Alex are assigned to the same work study program and are forced to work side by side, they have to make new ground rules to keep from killing each other. The only problem is, they keep breaking the rules. The first rule is to never, ever talk about how they fell in love.

Fleeing dark forces and unfounded accusations across Europe in the years between World Wars, a young man named Vango has been in danger for as long as he can remember. He has spent his life running along rooftops, fleeing to isolated islands, and evading capture across Russia, Paris, New York, and Italy. Narrow escapes, near misses, and a dash of romantic intrigue will rivet adventurous teens to their seats as Vango continues to unravel the mysteries of his past. In the shadow of a rapidly changing world, can Vango find those who have hunted him for so long and uncover his true identity?

City players know they aren't well-liked in Greece, but they never expected to face death on the football pitch.Scott Manson and London City are in Athens battling for the UEFA Champion's League title. The situation in Athens is tense, and some of City's players are so unpopular in Greece they've been assigned bodyguards.Karaiskakis Stadium is packed to the rafters when tragedy strikes. Christoph Bundchen collapses and dies mid-match. Is it a heart attack? Or something more sinister? The team have a crucial match in England - but they can't go home until the investigation is complete. The Greek authorities are dragging their heels... Can Scott Manson find the truth and get the team home in time?The second Scott Manson thriller from bestselling crimewriter Philip Kerr.

A powerful new novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Widow of the South and A Separate Country.In the years following the Civil War, Mariah Reddick, former slave to Carrie McGavock—the "Widow of the South"—has quietly built a new life for herself as a midwife to the women of Franklin, Tennessee. But when her ambitious, politically-minded grown son, Theopolis, is murdered, Mariah—no stranger to loss—finds her world once more breaking apart. How could this happen? Who wanted him dead?Mariah's journey to uncover the truth leads her to unexpected people—including Robert Cannon, a recent arrival to town, fleeing a difficult past of his own—and forces her to confront the truths of her own past. Brimming with the vivid prose and historical research that has won "master storyteller" (San Francisco Chronicle) Robert Hicks an avid following and critical acclaim, THE ORPHAN MOTHER is an...

**WARNING: THE RANDY ROMANCE NOVELIST IS OVER THE TOP, RIDICULOUS, AND IS MEANT TO MAKE YOU BURST OUT IN LAUGHTER, QUESTION THE SANITY OF THIS AUTHOR, AND WELCOME OVER-DRAMATIZED COMEDY INTO YOUR LIFE. PLEASE PROCEED IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ ABOUT ABSURD TOMFOOLERY TYPE EVENTS, BE EXPOSED TO THE BOOK WORLD AND OTHER AUTHORS, AS WELL AS SEE THAT EVEN IN THE MIDST OF A COMICAL COMBUSTION OF NONSENSICAL CRAZINESS (AND NAÏVE CHARACTERS) LOVE WILL ALWAYS PREVAIL. It finally happened, I lost my virginity. Cue applause and cheers. For a while life was all rainbows and kittens prancing in a sky full of cotton candy clouds…that was until the demands of the real world set in. My best friend is getting married and she asked me to be her maid of honor. She’s not worried about flowers, or the dress, or the food at the venue. No, she’s worried about the bachelorette party, what kind of penis crown she will wear, and the nipple size of the stripper who will be attending. I’m in way over my head trying to balance life with a boyfriend, planning a penis party, and writing my romance novel. Something is bound to give. This is my life after my happily ever after…**

When Silas House made his debut with Clay's Quilt last year, it touched a nerve not just in his home state (where it quickly became a bestseller), but all across the country. Glowing reviews-from USA Today (House is letter-perfect with his first novel), to the Philadelphia Inquirer (Compelling. . . . House knows what's important and reminds us of the value of family and home, love and loyalty), to the Mobile Register (Poetic, haunting), and everywhere in between-established him as a writer to watch.His second novel won't disappoint. Set in 1917, A PARCHMENT OF LEAVES tells the story of Vine, a beautiful Cherokee woman who marries a white man, forsaking her family and their homeland to settle in with his people and make a home in the heart of the mountains. Her mother has strange forebodings that all will not go well, and she's right. Vine is viewed as an outsider, treated with contempt by other townspeople. Add to that her brother-in-law's fixation on her, and Vine's life becomes more complicated than she could have ever imagined. In the violent turn of events that ensues, she learns what it means to forgive others and, most important, how to forgive herself.As haunting as an old-time ballad, A PARCHMENT OF LEAVES is filled with the imagery, dialect, music, and thrumming life of the Kentucky mountains. For Silas House, whose great-grandmother was Cherokee, this novel is also a tribute to the family whose spirit formed him.From Publishers WeeklyHouse offers a poignant, evocative look at the turmoil that plagues a rural Kentucky family during WWI in his solid second novel, which begins when Saul Sullivan takes a shine to a mysterious, beautiful Cherokee woman named Vine. Courtship quickly leads to marriage and a newborn girl named Birdie, but trouble surfaces when Saul's younger brother, Aaron, an unfocused dreamer who longs for a more fulfilling life than his country existence as a laborer, also becomes attracted to Vine. Aaron's opportunity to express his longings comes when Saul leaves to work at a logging camp, hoping to provide some luxuries for his family while supporting the war effort. Vine spurns Aaron's initial advances and manages to drive him away, but the younger brother returns with a young mixed-race bride from East Tennessee who looks exactly like Vine, and soon he is drinking heavily and exercising his formidable temper on his newly pregnant wife. Saul returns briefly to try to straighten out his brother but, when he departs, Aaron turns his attentions on Vine again, who shoots Aaron after he rapes her and goes after Birdie, then buries the body on top of a mountain near the family homestead. A slightly more original story line would have made this an exceptional novel, but House's lovely storytelling, graceful prose, strong characters and his feel for Southern rural life distinguish it. Agent, ICM. (Oct. 18) Forecast: Solid local sales are the bedrock on which this novel's success will rest, but strong reviews, a 15-city author tour and House's NPR connection (he is a frequent contributor) are certain to broaden House's audience. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalIn 1917 rural Kentucky, a young Cherokee woman named Vine, rumored to cast spells on unsuspecting men, falls in love with local Irishman Saul Sullivan, whom she eventually marries. This second novel by Appalachian writer House (Clay's Quilt) tells the story of Vine and Saul's tender relationship and the prejudice they face and eventually overcome. While Vine was not raised according to Cherokee customs, she is still aware of being seen as an outsider when she leaves her Cherokee community to be with her husband. People are drawn to her gentle and generous personality, however, and soon she forms enduring friendships with her hard-working mother-in-law, Esme, and feisty and independent midwife Serena. When World War I erupts and Saul temporarily takes a better-paying job far from home, Vine finds herself trying to ward off the unwanted advances of Saul's restless younger brother, Aaron, who declares his own love for Vine. A deep respect for the natural world and the enduring spirit of the human heart are what make this book worth reading and remembering. Recommended for all fiction collections.Maureen Neville, Trenton P.L., NJ Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.