The Summer of Chasing Mermaids

      Sarah Ockler
     The Summer of Chasing Mermaids

The youngest of six talented sisters, Elyse d'Abreau was destined for stardom - until a boating accident took everything from her. Now, the most beautiful singer in Tobago can't sing. She can't even speak. Seeking quiet solitude, Elyse accepts a friend's invitation to Atargatis Cove. Named for the mythical first mermaid, the Oregon seaside town is everything Elyse's home in the Caribbean isn't: an ocean too cold for swimming, parties too tame for singing, and people too polite to pry - except for one. Christian Kane is a notorious playboy - insolent, arrogant, and completely charming. He's also the only person in Atargatis Cove who doesn't treat Elyse like a glass statue. He challenges her to express herself, and he admires the way she treats his younger brother, Sebastian, who believes Elyse is the legendary mermaid come to life. When Christian needs a first mate for the Cove's high-stakes Pirate Regatta, Elyse reluctantly stows her fear of the sea and climbs aboard. The ocean isn't the only thing making waves, though - swept up in Christian's seductive tide and entranced by the Cove's charms, Elyse begins to wonder if a life of solitude isn't what she needs. But changing course again means facing her past. It means finding her inner voice. And scariest of all, it means opening her heart to a boy who's best known for breaking them...

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    One Night: Promised

      Jodi Ellen Malpas
     One Night: Promised

One night will never be enough...Livy notices him the moment he walks into the coffee shop. He's heart-stoppingly stunning, with a blue-eyed gaze so piercing she's almost too distracted to take his order. When he walks out the door, she thinks she'll never see him again. Then she finds the note he left on his napkin... signed M.All he wants is one night to worship her. No feelings, no commitment, nothing but pleasure. Every defense mechanism Livy has adopted during her solitary life is at risk of being obliterated by this confounding man. He's obnoxious but well-mannered. He's a gentleman but aloof. He's passionate but emotionless. Yet the fascination is so powerful, Livy can't deny him... or herself.M awakens something in Livy, something deep and addictive that she never knew existed-and that she fears only he can satisfy. But she senses that behind the fast cars, fancy suits, and posh apartment, he's aching inside. To have him, body and soul, she'll have to brave his dark secrets. Delving into his world and breaking down his defenses become her obsession-an obsession that could shatter her heart beyond repair...

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    Paradise World

      Dan Edmund
     Paradise World

Concert musician David Eliot is murdered only to awake in a beauteous paradise where death, pain and sorrow no longer exist. However, he discovers even in Christ’s Millennium there are challenges, including convincing an atheist that he is not dreaming, as well as meeting up with his murderer and helping him to reform to a life of love and peace.Concert musician David Eliot is murdered only to awake in a beauteous paradise where death, pain and sorrow no longer exist. He immediately falls in love with his new life, although he sorely misses his beloved wife, Jenny. Yet being in Christ’s Millennium, he is certain of her imminent resurrection. However, he must first accomplish two missions. The first entails helping an atheistic historian to believe that life in paradise is real, not merely a dream. Yet persuading the brilliant but eccentric and traumatized Professor Harry Marston, a chronic lucid dreamer, is no easy task. If the first task proves to be difficult for David, the second is horrendous. He must also meet up with his murderer and help him to reform. However, Paradise World is not just a story; it is also a spiritual odyssey, a quest to attempt to understand the great mysteries of life and death, but from a millenarian Christian perspective. Yet the story is not dogmatic, nor is the Christian perspective the only one to be explored. Through the characters of Professor Harry Marston, Dr Roger Farthing and Thomas More, other avenues and subjects are also traversed, from philosophy and history, to ancient western and eastern religions, as well as studies into the paranormal. Yet interwoven into the story is also the discovery of beauty, love, faith, forgiveness, peace and happiness. In a world filled with so much suffering, pain and uncertainty, Paradise World may seem to be a mere dream. However, great dreams are worth pursuing, and in the end it may be that this life may be the dream, even the nightmare from which we will all one day awake.

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    Grum!

      Robyn Hill
     Grum!

While exploring an abandoned, broken down factory, two girls stumble across a mysterious package that reads, "Grum, do not open-not ready for sale." Curiosity soon prevails (as it often does) and soon... grown ups who act like children, giant slugs, magical desert restaurants, and many other amazing adventures unravel. One reviewer- " It's like Chalie, Coroline, and Wimpy Kid all rolled into one!"Grum is a chapter book for grades 3-6. It is a story of two girls who discover magical bubble gum. The gum takes them on a series of magical and hilarious mishaps, such as sleeping with slugs, a magic pizzaria in the middle of the desert, a troll who needs help fixing his bridge. Children love this book.One reader commented about her favorite part of this book, "It is as adventurous as "Coraline", as delicious as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and funnier than "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" Enjoy!

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    Make Believe

      Angela Hope
     Make Believe

Gemma sat alone in her bedroom, her favorite teddy bear “Gruff” in her arms. Other toys were positioned on the bed as she played her game "Make Believe" exchanging secrets in a world of her own. A new baby brother changes everything but he took a lot of getting used to.In a time before Knight Graham adventured for the three magical artifacts, a magical kingdom named Daventry was ruled by King Edward.The king ruled with his beloved wife using the three magical treasures which were the all seeing mirror, the all mighty shield and the always full chest.But bad times are upon Daventry as it becomes a Kingdom in Distress, as evil entities spawn their own plans.This book was written by King's Quest fans (the game series which were created in the late eighties), to King's Quest fans, as a prequel to the game series, this book enrolls the events which led to the first King's Quest.Please visit my site and subscribe for any future updates, news and freebies: daventrytales.com

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    Christmas Ghosts - a short story

      EH Walter
     Christmas Ghosts - a short story

After the end of World War One Margaret is finding Christmas hard - she has to do the work of two men on the family farm. Can the arrival of a stranger lend some Christmas cheer?This is the original which I have not edited. It is work in progress and one day I will find time to turn it into something.I have plans for more of the storyline to follow but that will have to wait until I have more time to write it.This was what I wrote in the 30 days of November 2011.

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    Simulation (Bootleg)

      Marlynn Swanigan
     Simulation (Bootleg)

A free grayscale version of 'Simulation: Massively Multiplayer' from the 'Groove Fighter' series.More haunting...more biting...more interrogating! All your favorite characters from 'Axe' are back in this explosive masterpiece. Play as a Hollownaut and stay plugged into over 15 maps, with an action RPG style combat system and risky gambling maps called 'deprivation' with a high stakes multiplayer rush! Don't get unplugged! Not only is the board game a thrill - the read is also an amusement ride! Marlynn Swanigan takes group reading to the next level with the Hollownaut film academy, which adds right to your level score and rank! All you have to do is connect, play Hollownaut film academy, and count the trophies at the end of the goal sequences to add them to your rank. If you haven't yet purchased this book, get it now, you don't want to be left out. Get it now, and race against your friends to become the number one Hollownaut. See why this book is not a book at all, unlock your inner nuke in this full-fledge RPG! Don’t like the nukes? That’s ok, play as a Dark Gawnden. In the lone-dark missions, you have no clones, but you only gain clones for the exiles in exchange for extra lives in deprivation, where you use their clones to earn respect. The dark saga actually has a great story behind it. You’re just putting in work to get money for the boss, just like the mobsters...

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    Shingaling: A Wonder Story

      R. J. Palacio
     Shingaling: A Wonder Story

Almost 2 million people have read the  New York Times  bestseller  Wonder and fallen in love with Auggie Pullman. Readers have also been given a special look at another side of his story with  The Julian Chapter and a peek at his life before Beecher Prep in  Pluto. In this third Wonder Story, they’ll get to see his first year of school and what follows in the beginning of the next year through the perspective of reader-favorite Charlotte.

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    The Complete Short Stories

      Flannery O'Connor
     The Complete Short Stories

Featuring all of American author Flannery O’Connor’s short stories, this collection reveals the author’s contemplations on religion, morality, and fate, set against the backdrop of the American South. The collection contains O’Connor’s most famous works of short fiction, including “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” and reveals her many significant contributions to the Southern Gothic genre. Though she met with only mild popularity during her short life, Flannery O’Connor’s short stories have since been recognized as important works of American literature, and the original anthology of her complete stories won the National Book Award for fiction in 1972, seven years after her death. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

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    I Am the Cheese

      Robert Cormier
     I Am the Cheese

Before there was Lois Lowry’s The Giver or M. T. Anderson’s Feed, there was Robert Cormier’s I Am the Cheese, a subversive classic that broke new ground for YA literature. A boy’s search for his father becomes a desperate journey to unlock a secret past. But the past must not be remembered if the boy is to survive. As he searches for the truth that hovers at the edge of his mind, the boy—and readers—arrive at a shattering conclusion. “An absorbing, even brilliant job. The book is assembled in mosaic fashion: a tiny chip here, a chip there. . . . Everything is related to something else; everything builds and builds to a fearsome climax. . . . [Cormier] has the knack of making horror out of the ordinary, as the masters of suspense know how to do.”—The New York Times Book Review   “A horrifying tale of government corruption, espionage, and counter espionage told by an innocent young victim. . . . The buildup of suspense is terrific.”—School Library Journal, starred review An ALA Notable Children’s Book A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Horn Book Fanfare A Library of Congress Children’s Book of the Year A Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award Nominee From the Trade Paperback edition.

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    Bang

      Barry Lyga
     Bang

One shot ruined his life. Another one could end it. Sebastian Cody did something horrible, something no one—not even Sebastian himself—can forgive. At the age of four, he accidentally shot and killed his infant sister with his father’s gun. Now, ten years later, Sebastian has lived with the guilt and horror for his entire life. With his best friend away for the summer, Sebastian has only a new friend—Aneesa—to distract him from his darkest thoughts. But even this relationship cannot blunt the pain of his past. Because Sebastian knows exactly how to rectify his childhood crime and sanctify his past. It took a gun to get him into this. Now he needs a gun to get out.

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    The Cost of Lunch, Etc.: Short Stories

      Marge Piercy
     The Cost of Lunch, Etc.: Short Stories

In this collection of short stories, bestselling author Marge Piercy brings us glimpses into the lives of everyday women moving through and making sense of their daily internal and external worlds. Keeping to the engaging, accessible language of Piercy’s novels, the collection spans decades of her writing along with a range of locations, ages, and emotional states of her protagonists. From the first-person account of hoarding and a girl’s narrative of sexual and spiritual discovery to the recounting of a past love affair, each story is a tangible, vivid snapshot in a varied and subtly curated gallery of work. Whether grappling with death, familial relationships, friendship, sex, illness, or religion, Piercy’s writing is as passionate, lucid, insightful, and thoughtfully alive as ever.

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    Our Father

      Marilyn French
     Our Father

"FRENCH'S MOST FOCUSED, DARING, AND POWERFUL NOVEL." --New Woman Famed presidential advisor Stephen Upton has suffered a stroke, and his four very different daughters gather in his perfectly appointed mansion outside Boston to await his death or recovery. Elizabeth, cold and calculating, fights hard for every success and pays a high price; beautiful Mary has always needed a man to support her tastes, but time is catching up with her; Alex can't remember her childhood and wants to know why; and Ronnie, illegitimate and proud, refuses to acknowledge her feelings for the man they all love and hate. In the weeks to come, they will learn one another's terrible secrets, and the astonishing truth about the life they might have shared.... Once again, Marilyn French has written an extraordinary novel of our times--a novel of family love and resentment, of sisterhood and fatherhood, of acceptance and rejection and the search for peace. "SHOULD STRIKE A CHORD WITH EVERY WOMAN who is willing to think honestly about the place of femaleness in the world." --Chicago Tribune

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    Come Home

      Lisa Scottoline
     Come Home

Jill Farrow is a typical suburban mom who has finally gotten her and her daughter's lives back on track after a divorce. She is about to remarry, her job as a pediatrician fulfills her---though it is stressful---and her daughter, Megan, is a happily over-scheduled thirteen-year-old juggling homework and the swim team. But Jill’s life is turned upside down when her ex-stepdaughter, Abby, shows up on her doorstep late one night and delivers shocking news: Jill’s ex-husband is dead. Abby insists that he was murdered and pleads with Jill to help find his killer. Jill reluctantly agrees to make a few inquiries and discovers that things don’t add up. As she digs deeper, her actions threaten to rip apart her new family, destroy their hard-earned happiness, and even endanger her own life. Yet Jill can’t turn her back on a child she loves and once called her own.

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