What kind of assassin works pro bono? It’s hard to be a badass assassin when a giant is beating the crap out of you. Luckily, I never let pride get in the way of my work. My current mission is personal: annihilate Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who murdered my family. Which means protecting my identity, even if I have to conceal my powerful Stone and Ice magic when I need it most. To the public, I’m Gin Blanco, owner of Ashland’s best barbecue joint. To my friends, I’m the Spider, retired assassin. I still do favors on the side. Like ridding a vampire friend of her oversized stalker—Mab’s right-hand goon who almost got me dead with his massive fists. At least irresistible Owen Grayson is on my side. The man knows too much about me, but I’ll take my chances. Then there’s Detective Bria Coolidge, one of Ashland’s finest. Until recently, I thought my baby sister was dead. She probably thinks the same about me. Little does she know, I’m a cold-blooded killer . . . who is about to save her life.

For fifteen years Maria Devane has been desperately, passionately in love with Dante Romano. But despite loving him with all of her heart and soul, Maria knows that Dante can never give all of himself back-at least not all the time. Every month, Dante shifts shape, becoming a wild animal. During those times, he wanders far and wide, leaving Maria alone. He can't choose when he shifts, the transition is often abrupt and, as he gets older, the time he spends in human form is gradually decreasing. But Maria, who loves him without hesitation, wouldn't trade their unusual relationship for anything. Since the beginning, she has kept his secret, knowing that their love is worth the danger. But when a string of brutal attacks occur in local parks during the times when Dante is in animal form, Maria is forced to consider whether the lies she's been telling about her life have turned into lies she's telling herself...

For Lorelei Warner, being perfect isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. She did what her straitlaced parents wanted: became a lawyer, married her college boyfriend. But since her husband ran off with another man and her career became a nonstop bore-fest, Lorelei has turned to her best friends and Fool Me Once Investigations to find fulfillment and adventure. When a routine subpoena-delivery turns up a dead body, Lorelei knows that solving the murder is exactly what she needs to boost her confidence…until private investigator Dallas Osborne walks in and takes over the case. Dallas has always rubbed Lorelei the wrong way. It’s aggravating enough that he’s a pompous ass, but he’s also entirely too good-looking. If she wants to catch the killer, Lorelei will need to loosen up and defy her parents—not to mention the law. And she’ll need to partner with Dallas, working closer (much closer) to the sexy investigator than she ever expected. Join the feisty Fool Me Once ladies for another fun-loving romp from bestselling author Tara Sivec.

Although Chitra Divakaruni's poetry has won praise and awards for many years, it is her "luminous, exquisitely crafted prose" (Ms.) that is quickly making her one of the brightest rising stars in the changing face of American literature. Arranged Marriage, her first collection of stories, spent five weeks on the San Francisco Chronicle bestseller list and garnered critical acclaim that would have been extraordinary for even a more established author.For the young girls and women brought to life in these stories, the possibility of change, of starting anew, is both as terrifying and filled with promise as the ocean that separates them from their homes in India. From the story of a young bride whose fairy-tale vision of California is shattered when her husband is murdered and she must face the future on her own, to a proud middle-aged divorced woman determined to succeed in San Francisco, Divakaruni's award-winning poetry fuses here with prose for the first time to create eleven devastating portraits of women on the verge of an unforgettable transformation. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Ashleigh Walker is in love. You know the feeling - that intense, heart-racing, all-consuming emotion that can only come with first love. It's enough to stop her worrying about bad grades at college. Enough to distract her from her parents' marriage troubles. There's just one thing bothering her . . . Shouldn't it be her boyfriend, Dylan, who makes her feel this way - not Miss Murray, her English teacher? A thought-provoking coming out story from a highly skilled author.

Ebony and Nathaneal were in love before they were even born.… Torn apart and kept in different worlds, will they finally reunite in this exquisite conclusion to Hidden and Broken? Ebony was kept hidden on Earth for sixteen years, unaware that she was an angel. Unaware that her true soulmate, Nathaneal, was searching for her. Now ready to claim her rightful place with him, in a cruel twist of fate Ebony is captured and imprisoned in a version of hell. Knowing that Nathaneal will come for her, Ebony is determined to fight against the evil that holds her prisoner. As long as she has Nathaneal’s love, Ebony has nothing to fear. Can Nathaneal break through the gates of hell? Will these long-lost lovers finally reunite and fulfil their destiny?

A kingdom at risk, a crown divided, a family drenched in blood. The erratic decisions of a prophecy-obsessed king have drained Innis Lear of its wild magic, leaving behind a trail of barren crops and despondent subjects. Enemy nations circle the once-bountiful isle, sensing its growing vulnerability, hungry to control the ideal port for all trade routes. The king's three daughters—battle-hungry Gaela, master manipulator Reagan, and restrained, starblessed Elia—know the realm's only chance of resurrection is to crown a new sovereign, proving a strong hand can resurrect magic and defend itself. But their father will not choose an heir until the longest night of the year, when prophecies align and a poison ritual can be enacted. Refusing to leave their future in the hands of blind faith, the daughters of Innis Lear prepare for war—but regardless of who wins the crown, the shores of Innis will weep the blood of a house divided.

New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen delivers a powerful novel of romantic suspense that proves no price is too high, no risk too great, for love.... Knowing she’d have only one chance to enlist his help, Kira Rubinoff plotted her approach carefully. Formidable, seductive, handsome to the point of dangerous, Zack Damon didn’t suffer fools gladly, but Kira was no one’s fool. In this day and age, even a bona fide princess had to be more than just a pretty face. But from the moment of their first encounter at his mountaintop lodge, Kira's well-laid plans—and her life—were turned inside out. For the self-made international financier had been watching her for as long as she'd been watching him. Together they will embark on an adventure to a country as exotic as it is treacherous, linked by a shared destiny and a secret Zack has been keeping until the time is right. And with danger closing in on all sides, the time to reveal it could be now...or never.

The City of Numbered Days By Francis Lynde

Malcolm is missing. Levi is taken. And all the light from the world has gone with them. Kendall Malcolm thought the world ended when her marriage ended and her life fell apart. She was wrong. Things could be a lot darker. She stands at the precipice—leader, mother, warrior—placing herself between the world and darkness. But does she have to do it alone? It’s looking that way.

Jai Stone... I met him in the shadows first. He was tall and broad-shouldered, a man walking a dangerous path of rage and revenge, barreling toward certain death. The more time we spent together, the more he showed me who he was. Captivating… Charming… Ferocious in his own way… I had no right following Jai into the abandoned industrial site, but I did, and that stupid mistake was all it took to rip me from my world of semi-normalcy and thrust me headfirst into the gritty criminal underground with Stone as my only ally. Above ground, I'm a student nurse painfully dragging herself through an unfulfilling life, but down here, where men wear tattoos on their faces and kill without remorse, I'm a fraud living on borrowed time... ...and not much of it.

From New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper comes a classic love story about a man who lives by his own strict code—and the headstrong woman who’s determined to crack it. When car trouble leaves her stranded in a deserted corner of the Rockies, love is the last thing on Teddy Tyler’s mind. But there’s no denying the attraction that grips her the minute she lays eyes on Zach Steele, a rugged security expert staking out a gang of gunrunners in a remote mountain cabin. Zach has survived this long by adhering to a few simple principles: Travel light, travel fast, and travel alone. Now, to keep from blowing his cover, he must hold Teddy hostage for a week—if, that is, he can keep at bay his own simmering feelings for her. Teddy’s not that easily confined, especially when her man’s in danger. So when a simple surveillance job turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, she must convince the original lone wolf to let her help—or see their chance at love fall prey to one of Zach’s deadliest enemies. From the Paperback edition.

A Colorado lawman finds himself doing more protecting than arresting when he rescues a beautiful fugitive in this classic tale of romantic suspense from New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo... When Deputy Sheriff Jake Madigan was called to duty to bring in an escaped convict, he thought it would be a routine search-and-rescue mission. He was wrong. Turns out capturing Abby Nichols was a cinch compared to hauling her out of the Rocky Mountains during a treacherous blizzard. His pretty-as-sin prisoner was not the hardened criminal he had expected but a violet-eyed seductress who could almost make him forget his by-the-book ways. Jake knew that come hell or high water he would turn this woman over to the authorities once the storm passed. So why was he dodging bullets on her behalf and buying into her claim of innocence? Why was he so willing to warm her shivering body with his heated caresses? Why was he foolishly falling for his fugitive? Originally published in 2002**

Jillian Conrad never believed in vampires-until she was unwillingly injected with a serum that was supposed to act as a deadly poison to them. Now, tormented half-vampire Declan Reese wants her blood to destroy the undead kingdom. Unfortunately, the serum has also made her blood irresistible to all vampires-including Declan, whose desire for Jillian is more than mere hunger.