Royal Pain

      Tracy Wolff
     Royal Pain

He’s a womanizer. He’s cocky. He’s not exactly a prince. Only he technically is. Meet your new royal obsession in this addictive novel from New York Times bestselling author Tracy Wolff. Being rich opens a lot of doors. When you’re rich and royal, those doors lead to a new bedroom every night. I should know. The tabloids call me His Royal Hotness, Prince Kian of Wildemar. Women across the world see me as a naughty fairy tale, an image I’m happy to indulge. As the spare to the heir, I’m the prince with none of the power . . . and all of the perks. Then my twin brother is kidnapped, and suddenly I’m the one who could be king. The crown chasers start circling—and yet it’s a luscious waitress who catches my eye. With a smart mouth and the curves to back it up, Savannah Breslin is as brazen as I’d expect an American commoner to be. But Savvy’s not interested in playing Cinderella. As sexy as she is, she’s no stranger to heartbreak. Besides, a nice guy wouldn’t drag her into all the drama that comes along with royalty. Lucky I’m not a nice guy. And, as it turns out, I might not even be her first prince. . . .

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    See How They Run

      Ally Carter
     See How They Run

Inside every secret, there's a world of trouble. Get ready for the second book in this new series of global proportions--from master of intrigue, New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter. Grace's past has come back to hunt her . . . and if she doesn't stop it, Grace isn't the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world stand like dominoes, and one wrong move can make them all fall down. The twists get twistier and the turns get even more shocking in the second thrilling installment of Embassy Row.

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    Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

      Michael Pollan
     Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

The New York Times Top Five Bestseller - Michael Pollan's uniquely enjoyable quest to understand the transformative magic of cooking In a culture of celebrity chefs and food reality shows, in countries which are crammed with fresh ingredients flown in from every corner of the Earth, we nonetheless year-on-year wade ever deeper into a great swamp of processed foods. The more we watch food on television, the less food we actually prepare and cook. Michael Pollan's marvellous new book is a clarion-call for the virtues and values of proper cooking - an essential, defining human activity which sits at the heart of our cultures, shapes family life and is in itself hugely enjoyable. Pollan recreates the transformative fundamentals of how we cook, building from the most basic principles: cooking with fire, cooking with water, cooking with air and cooking with earth. Cooked is an extremely funny and surprising plea to Pollan's readers to take control of their own fates and revel again in what should be a lifetime's engagement with the almost magical activity of making food. And it is, of course, about so much more - how cooking can transform both how we think about ourselves and about our families and friends. Reviews: 'Pollan's book is many things, among them a memoir of learning to master the absolute basics of culinary creation: fire, water, air and earth. As Pollan chats with cheesemaking nuns and discovers Walt Whitman's views on composting, he reminds us that cooking used to be all about connection - with the world around us, with other times and cultures, and with those we cook for ... this book [is] both approachable and rewarding' Hephzibah Anderson, *Prospect* About the author: Michael Pollan is the author of Second Nature, A Place of My Own, The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defence of Food and Food Rules. He lives in California.

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    The Third Angel

      Alice Hoffman
     The Third Angel

“Alice Hoffman is my favorite writer.” –Jodi Picoult Alice Hoffman is one of our most beloved writers. Here on Earth was an Oprah Book Club selection. Practical Magic and Aquamarine were both bestselling books and Hollywood movies. Her novels have received mention as notable books of the year by the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, and People magazine, and her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, Redbook, Architectural Digest, Gourmet, and Self. Now, in The Third Angel, Hoffman weaves a magical and stunningly original story that charts the lives of three women in love with the wrong men: Headstrong Madeleine Heller finds herself hopelessly attracted to her sister’s fiancé. Frieda Lewis, a doctor’s daughter and a runaway, becomes the muse of an ill-fated rock star. And beautiful Bryn Evans is set to marry an Englishman while secretly obsessed with her ex-husband. At the heart of the novel is Lucy Green, who blames herself for a tragic accident she witnessed at the age of twelve, and who spends four decades searching for the Third Angel–the angel on earth who will renew her faith. Brilliantly evoking London’s King’s Road, Knightsbridge, and Kensington while moving effortlessly back in time, The Third Angel is a work of startling beauty about the unique, alchemical nature of love. From the Hardcover edition.

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    Rascals in Paradise

      James A. Michener
     Rascals in Paradise

In a thrilling collection of nonfiction adventure stories, James A. Michener returns to the most dazzling place on Earth: the islands that inspired Tales of the South Pacific. Co-written with A. Grove Day, Rascals in Paradise offers portraits of ten scandalous men and women, some infamous and some overlooked, including Sam Comstock, a mutinous sailor whose delusions of grandeur became a nightmare; Will Mariner, a golden-haired youth who used his charm to win over his captors; and William Bligh, the notorious HMS Bounty captain who may not have been the monster history remembers him as. From lifelong buccaneers to lapsed noblemen, in Michener and Day’s capable hands these rogues become the stuff of legend. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James A. Michener's Hawaii. Praise for *Rascals in Paradise  * “The best book about those far-scattered islands that has appeared in a long time . . . a portfolio of rare and ruthless personalities that is calculated to make the curliest hair stand straight on end.”—The New York Times  * “[Combines] research and scholarship (A. Grove Day was a professor at the University of Hawaii) with a gift for spinning a yarn and depicting character (Michener, journalist and novelist, needs no introduction).”—*Kirkus Reviews

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    Alice the Brave

      Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
     Alice the Brave

A month before eighth grade begins, Alice realizes she is going to have to face something she's been afraid of forever. Everybody, she knows, is afraid of something: elevators, dogs, planes, spiders... but her fear is worse. It's going to bring absolute disaster to the rest of her summer, maybe to the rest of her life. The truth is she's afraid of deep water! It's a hot August, and everyone in Alice's gang goes to Mark Stedmeister's swimming pool almost every day. Alice sits at the shallow end. She plays badminton. She makes excuses, and keeps her problem secret. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Pamela, Alice's two best friends, tackle problems of their own, and are more or less successful. Life is changing for everyone but Alice. Bravery begins in little ways, with small steps. That's what Alice finally discovers. And after she faces this particular fear, she knows she can summon the courage to face other fears as well. As in her previous adventures, Alice tackles some of the big problems of growing up with humor and enterprise and learns once again that a brother, a father, and friends can offer amazing amounts of help.

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    The Last Jihad

      Joel C. Rosenberg
     The Last Jihad

Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy are two of the shrewdest strategists on Wall Street and close friends of the president of the United States. Their secret project: a billion-dollar oil deal off the coast of Tel Aviv and Gaza that could form the basis of a historic peace treaty and bring enormous wealth to every Israeli and Palestinian. But nothing has prepared Jon or Erin for the terror that lies ahead. •Terrorists hijack a jet plane and fly a kamikaze mission into an American city. •Israeli commandos foil a nuclear attack, but find evidence that the next targets could be Washington and New York. •And suddenly the United States finds itself in a war in the Middle East over terrorism and weapons of mass destruction that will forever change the course of human history.

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    Safe With Me

      Kristen Proby
     Safe With Me

Keeping others safe is what Caleb Montgomery does. He's never had a problem taking on an assignment, whether it was during his dangerous SEAL days or his most recent job of training war mercenaries. But being assigned to keep Brynna Vincent and her adorable daughters, Maddie and Josie, safe from an unknown threat has thrown Caleb off his axis. Hot for the tall brunette since she came back to town more than a year ago, being close to her day in and day out is cracking Caleb's resolve to keep his hands off her gorgeous body and his head in the mission. Brynna is sick and tired of being afraid. All she wants is a normal, quiet life for her and her precious girls. Just as she's settling into her new home in Seattle and feeling safe again, Caleb shows up on her doorstep insisting the danger is as high as ever. But whether she needs to be sheltered from the threat in her past, or from the intense emotions she feels for the sexy, protective man sleeping in her home, remains to be seen. What will happen if Brynna and her girls fall in love with a man so broken he may not be able to protect them from the danger that threatens, much less himself?" SAFE WITH ME is the fifth book in the With Me In Seattle series, and continues to follow this tight-knit, loving family through life's trials and tribulations with humor, passion and everlasting love.

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    Cat's Eye

      Margaret Atwood
     Cat's Eye

*Cat’s Eye* is the story of Elaine Risley, a controversial painter who returns to Toronto, the city of her youth, for a retrospective of her art. Engulfed by vivid images of the past, she reminisces about a trio of girls who initiated her into the fierce politics of childhood and its secret world of friendship, longing, and betrayal. Elaine must come to terms with her own identity as a daughter, a lover, an artist, and a woman—but above all she must seek release from her haunting memories. Disturbing, hilarious, and compassionate, *Cat’s Eye* is a breathtaking novel of a woman grappling with the tangled knot of her life. *From the Trade Paperback edition.*

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    The Guardian

      Nicholas Sparks
     The Guardian

Julie Barenson's young husband left her two unexpected gifts before he died: a Great Dane puppy named Singer and the promise that he would always be watching over her. Now, four years have passed. Still living in the small town of Swansboro, North Carolina, 29-year-old Julie is emotionally ready to make a commitment to someone again. But who? Should it be Richard Franklin, the handsome, sophisticated engineer who treats her like a queen? Or Mike Harris, the down-to-earth nice guy who was her husband's best friend? Choosing one of them should bring her more happiness than she's had in years. Instead, Julie is soon fighting for her life in a nightmare spawned by a chilling deception and jealousy so poisonous that it has become a murderous desire

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    Priceless

      Raine Miller
     Priceless

Ivan Everley, 13th Baron Rothvale, will tell you himself he's the LAST person on earth who should have custody over a priceless collection of art, but since when does the irony of life ever fall in line with what somebody wants? Ivan might be a Lord according to British law, but he's just a regular guy with an appetite for speed...and women...and some dominating kink in the bedroom. Yeah, just a regular guy who happens have Olympic gold medals stashed away in his house. Riiiight. His public profile is merely a sham--his private life a carefully guarded secret borne out of the pain of betrayal. Even his famous cousin, Ethan Blackstone, doesn't know the whole story about the man he considers a brother. Lord Ivan has a plethora of problems piled up to his aristocratic eyeballs--that only get more complicated when a beautiful art conservationist shows up to appraise his inherited collection of paintings--but that doesn't stop him from digging himself in deeper. Nope, not a bit. Once Ivan gets a taste of Gabrielle Hargreave, mistaken identity or not, he can't think of anything else but how perfect she felt in his arms the night he first laid his eyes on her. He wants her, and what Ivan wants, Ivan gets. He is Lord Ivan after all. Gabrielle soon discovers that the Dom in him isn't taking 'no' for an answer. But, yet, Gabrielle Hargreave might just teach our discontent lord a thing or two about life, and about himself, and help them both discover the undeniable truth in what it means to find something genuinely...priceless.

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    The Right Stuff

      Tom Wolfe
     The Right Stuff

Tom Wolfe began The Right Stuff at a time when it was unfashionable to contemplate American heroism. Nixon had left the White House in disgrace, the nation was reeling from the catastrophe of Vietnam, and in 1979--the year the book appeared--Americans were being held hostage by Iranian militants. Yet it was exactly the anachronistic courage of his subjects that captivated Wolfe. In his foreword, he notes that as late as 1970, almost one in four career Navy pilots died in accidents. "The Right Stuff," he explains, "became a story of why men were willing--willing?--delighted!--to take on such odds in this, an era literary people had long since characterized as the age of the anti-hero." Wolfe's roots in New Journalism were intertwined with the nonfiction novel that Truman Capote had pioneered with In Cold Blood. As Capote did, Wolfe tells his story from a limited omniscient perspective, dropping into the lives of his "characters" as each in turn becomes a major player in the space program. After an opening chapter on the terror of being a test pilot's wife, the story cuts back to the late 1940s, when Americans were first attempting to break the sound barrier. Test pilots, we discover, are people who live fast lives with dangerous machines, not all of them airborne. Chuck Yeager was certainly among the fastest, and his determination to push through Mach 1--a feat that some had predicted would cause the destruction of any aircraft--makes him the book's guiding spirit. Yet soon the focus shifts to the seven initial astronauts. Wolfe traces Alan Shepard's suborbital flight and Gus Grissom's embarrassing panic on the high seas (making the controversial claim that Grissom flooded his Liberty capsule by blowing the escape hatch too soon). The author also produces an admiring portrait of John Glenn's apple-pie heroism and selfless dedication. By the time Wolfe concludes with a return to Yeager and his late-career exploits, the narrative's epic proportions and literary merits are secure. Certainly The Right Stuff is the best, the funniest, and the most vivid book ever written about America's manned space program. --Patrick O'Kelley

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    Two Is Lonely

      Lynne Reid Banks
     Two Is Lonely

Jane's son David is eight years old and Jane is filled with doubts as he grows up without a father. Toby, her first love, has gone to Israel after the collapse of his marriage to Melissa. Then there is Andy, close at hand, a complex personality with his own problem son. In the background is Terry, David's father, an amorphous shadow hanging over them. This intense, compassionate novel completes the the trilogy which began with The L-Shaped Room

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