Shapeshifter Mercy Thompson has friends in high places—and in low, dark, scary ones. And in this must-have collection of short stories, you’ll meet new faces and catch up with old acquaintances—in all their forms... Includes the new stories... “Silver” “Roses in Winter” “Redemption” “Hollow” …and reader favorites “Fairy Gifts” “Gray” “Seeing Eye” “Alpha and Omega” “The Star of David” “In Red, with Pearls” “One of the best urban fantasy anthologies I’ve ever read.”—The BiblioSanctum

What would you do to protect everyone you love? Anything. Everything. Whatever it takes. The final battle is here. With the star elves marching on Pernula, the Oncoming Storm and her friends must gather their allies and make one last stand. But it won't be easy. Their enemies have legions of soldiers, chemical weapons, and a powerful magic spell on their side. Not to mention a dragon. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat will be costly, and should they fail, everyone they love will suffer. For most of her life, the Oncoming Storm has only opened her cold black heart to very few people. But now, after all her adventures and everything she has been through, she has found friends and family all across the world whom she would do anything to protect. The only problem is that in war, people are bound to die and get hurt. Fear gnaws at her soul, because even with her considerable powers, the Oncoming Storm knows that she might not be enough to protect everyone she loves. Every weapon will count, every ally will be vital, every skill will be used, and every single card will be played before the end. But will it be enough? And who will be left standing when the streets are running red with blood? Because the war will end. One way or another. But not everyone will be there to see a new world born...

What could you learn to live without? Your heart? Your mind? Your soul? Having lost her purpose in life, the Oncoming Storm leaves behind everything and everyone she has ever known, and takes off across the continent. But there is one thing from which she can't run. Trouble. When Shade and Elaran track her down, she manages to get them all captured by the star elves. During their stay in the star elves' capital, the Oncoming Storm must learn to navigate a world far outside her comfort zone: court life. With no frame of reference to go by, she desperately scrambles to keep up appearances while also trying to find a way out. But nothing is quite as straightforward as it first seems. When secrets about herself and the world around her are revealed, she is forced to question whether the star elves really are the bad guys. It might actually be someone else entirely. Namely, the Oncoming Storm herself. Can she figure out the truth before she gets her friends killed? Or will she lose herself in the darkness first?

What is more important to you? Wealth? Peace? Freedom? With her powers finally under control, the Oncoming Storm returns to Pernula. But not everything is as she left it. There is a new King of the Underworld and he is out for blood. And submission. The Oncoming Storm has no intention of bending the knee to anyone but she is still reluctant to enter yet another power struggle. However, not getting involved turns out to be impossible when her enemy can turn every single underworlder against her. Staying on the sidelines has always been the way she survives, but now the Oncoming Storm might have to step out of the shadows and become something else. A leader. In this fight, the Oncoming Storm will have to draw on everything she has. Skills, wits, friends, and old contacts. And maybe a wicked knife or two. She is determined to win this battle by herself, but her enemy has the Underworld in an iron grip and breaking it on her own sounds more like a desperate dream. Maybe it is time to accept that sometimes, even an arrogant selfish thief must bow to someone?

A powerful, layered weaving of myth, prose and pure imagination – The Ships of Merior continues an epic fantasy series perfect for enthusiasts of The Dark Tower and Earthsea.

One of the most popular storytellers of all time, V.C. Andrews (Flowers in the Attic, My Sweet Audrina) continues an engrossing saga of psychological suspense with this second book of the Landry Family series—soon to be a Lifetime movie! Fate has whisked Ruby away from a simple life in the Louisiana Bayou but her new riches bring more treachery than happiness in this unputdownable and darkly evocative novel. Even a year removed from living in the bayou, Ruby still wonders at the splendor of her family’s New Orleans mansion. She rejoices in the love of the father she had never known, even as true happiness remains as elusive as swamp mist. Her stepmother sneers at her backwater upbringing, and while discovering she has a twin sister should be a cause for joy, Gisselle has greeted Ruby with nothing but a bitter heart. When Ruby’s father chooses an idyllic boarding school for his daughters’ senior years, a fresh start with Gisselle seems possible. But Ruby’s kind isn’t welcome at Greenwood, and the legendarily strict headmistress plots with her stepmother to make life miserable. Worse, with her twin on a mission to break every school rule, Ruby is left to suffer the humiliating punishments. So when a terrible tragedy leaves Ruby alone in a world that never really wanted her, only her Cajun strength can give her daring escape plan any hope of success. The weather on the bayou was nothing compared to the storm about to tear through her family.

What would you do to protect your home? Lie? Manipulate? Kill? War awaits across the sea. In order to ensure their survival, the Oncoming Storm and a band of misfits set sail for the land beyond the horizon. In a country where the power structure is as strange as the language, their desperate mission to secure a lasting peace will take them on a journey through halls of power and dark back alleys alike. Trusting the wrong person could get them all killed, but without help from the locals they have no chance of succeeding. They can only hope that they have placed their faith in the right people. In addition to the constant outside threats, tensions also run high within the group. Working together turns out to be far harder than anticipated, and cracks form in the bonds between them as personalities clash and weapons are drawn. Relationships will be tested and strained to the breaking point when a surprise betrayal forces secrets long buried into the light. The deck is stacked against them and hidden threats lurk around every corner. Can they accomplish their mission despite the overwhelming odds? Or will they end up killing each other instead?

An unusual book with a lasting charm, with a broad focus ranging from observations on the natural environment to the early settlement of Upper Canada.