Allegra Grey is the daughter of a powerful American Mafia Leader. Trained since birth to take over the family business, she is ruthless, heartless, and one of the best assassins in the industry. She's completed thousands of assassinations in her career, completing every assignment... except for one. Ace De Luca is her one and only failed mission. He's an arrogant womanizer, who also happens to be the heir and best assassin of the notorious Italian Mafia. When both of their Mafias are threatened, they are forced to work together to protect their families. Will they be able to take down their enemies, or will they kill each other first?

In this “gritty, heart-pounding” (John Gwynne) conclusion to the New York Times bestselling fantasy trilogy, The Covenant of Steel, Alwyn must make a difficult decide between his heart and his morals as he prepares for his final battle. It’s been a long journey for Alwyn Scribe. Born a bastard and raised an outlaw, he’s now a knight and the most trusted advisor to Lady Evadine Courlain. Together they’ve won countless battles and helped to bring order to a fractured kingdom. Yet Evadine is not the woman Alwyn once knew. As puritanical fury increasingly replaces her benevolent faith, Alwyn begins to question what her true motives really are. As the kingdom braces itself for one final battle, Alwyn’s conscience fights its own war with his heart. Now, more than ever, he must decide whose side he’s really on. "This makes a rich treat for George R. R. Martin fans." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Pariah

Coming home to find a dead body in your living room isn’t the best way to end a long day’s work, especially when that work is as New Never City’s premier blue-haired PI. It’s even worse when the corpse is your intern, electrocuted to death, and you’re the one with enough voltage flowing through your veins to power Fairyland. Blue Reynolds has nabbed his fair share of criminals—with and without the help of his alluring half-fairy partner Isabella Davis—but this one is proving to be more slippery than most. As Blue and Izzy investigate who might have wanted a lowly intern dead—and why—they begin to uncover a diabolical plan that could put both of their lives in danger...and unearth shocking secrets that stretch deep into Blue’s shadowy family history.

Drew Williams continues the Universe After series with A Chain Across the Dawn, an epic space opera chase across the galaxy with witty banter, fantastical planets, and a seemingly unbeatable foe. "The only thing more fun than a bonkers space battle is a whole book packed with bonkers space battles. Come for the exploding spaceships, stay for the intriguing universe."—Becky Chambers, on The Stars Now Unclaimed It’s been three years since Esa left her backwater planet to join the ranks of the Justified. Together, she and fellow agent Jane Kamali have been traveling across the known universe, searching for children who share Esa’s supernatural gifts. On a visit to a particularly remote planet, they learn that they’re not the only ones searching for gifted children. They find themselves on the tail of a mysterious being with impossible powers who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the very children that Esa and Jane are trying to save. With their latest recruit in tow—a young Wulf boy named Sho—Esa and Jane must track their strange foe across the galaxy in search of answers. But the more they learn, the clearer it becomes—their enemy may be harder to defeat than they ever could have imagined. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

On a trip to Scotland with their father, Meghan and William Ross explore an ancient and crumbling castle-and step in to a world in the midst of a titanic battle for the future. The inhabitants of the castle are planters, using the vast power held within the fragile shells of seeds to fight against the raging power of the growing Dark. Their Prophecy foretells the coming of the Planter, a figure of immense power that will awaken the Four Guardians, and with their aid put down the rising Evil. Unknown to Meghan and William, a simple act identifies one of them as the Planter, and as the Dark descends to destroy them, they must fight to understand their role within the Prophecy, to realize their own self-worth, and to stay alive long enough that they might stand up to the Dark

Will Self, whom the Los Angeles Times calls “the hottest young novelist in England,” demonstrates his razor-sharp wit in these nine new stories. Self’s method depends upon taking an ordinary aspect of the world and then pushing it to its limit in furious absurdity. The short stories in Grey Area reflect the technical brilliance and satiric voice that have made him one of the most highly praised comic writers in a decade. These are stories that delve into the modern psyche with unsettling and darkly satiric results. “Inclusion®” tells the story of a doctor who is illegally testing a new antidepressant made from bee excrement. “A Short History of the English Novel” brings us face to face with a pompous publisher who is greeted at every turn by countless rejected authors. In “The End of the Relationship” a woman who has been left by her boyfriend provokes—“like some emotional Typhoid Mary”—that same reaction among all the couples she goes to for comfort. The narrator of “Between the Conceits” declares without hesitation that London is controlled by only eight individuals, and, thankfully, he is one of them. Self’s world in these pieces is both curiously familiar and hauntingly strange. Published to critical acclaim in England, Grey Area is a dazzling collection by one of the most talented and original writers of his generation.

Teenager Toni Brown lives a boring existence. She helps her single mother run a roadside motel after school, listens to music, and dreams of leaving the small town of Big Arcadia. All that changes when a rock god E. Mandanny checks into the motel. Now she must deliver a package for him that inter-dimensional creatures would kill for. The package: A mischievous yellow-eyed baby that eats grass and causes earthquakes. The destination: Munki Moo Moo. Where ever the hell that is. Munki Moo Moo is the first in a series of surreal, absurd, and dark fantasy novellas from the author of the Radicci Sisters Series and the Blunt Force Kharma Series.

They are the most feared mecenary company the kingdom has ever known. Led by Yulan, their charismatic captain, the Free have spent years selling their martial and magical skills to the highest bidder -- winning countless victories that have shaken the foundations of the world. Now they finally plan to lay down their swords. Yet when Yulan is offered a final contract, he cannot refuse -- for the mission offers him the chance to erase the memories of the Free's darkest hour, which have haunted him for years. As the Free embark on their last mission, a potent mix of loyalty and vengeance is building to a storm. Freedom, it seems, carries a deadly price.

The theocratic state of Argacia offers Braya a choice: sacrifice or banishment. But even a repressive regime cannot quell her desire for something more — neither Braya’s nor the two men on whom her destiny depends. *** In the theocratic state of Argacia, where ears listen behind closed doors and the watchful eye of the Sect sees all, Braya Farroe is one of Gaia’s Chosen. Braya can harness the immense energy trapped within sylla crystals. But oftentimes, her power feels less like a blessing and more like a curse. CHOSEN TO KEEP THE DARKNESS AT BAY The Sect Elders have spent years preparing Braya to enter an endless sleep wherein her body will be used as a vessel to extract the syllan flames that fuel Argacia’s forges. But Braya is secretly sceptical about the rhetoric the Sect spews. She wants more than a life of service and solitude. She wants to be free. And when two masked men from the dreaded Mollakai arrive early to perform the sacrificial ceremony, Braya strikes a bargain with an underground resistance movement to escape. However, when she places her faith in the wrong person, someone close to her is captured. NO ONE CAN OUTRUN THEIR DESTINY Grief-stricken and alone, Braya jumps at an offer to save her loved ones, but there’s a catch. She must win the Rite of Radnick, a once-in-a-generation quest to discover a new deposit of sylla. And when she finds herself thrust into a sacred land surrounded by competitors more vicious than the mythical creatures trying to kill her, Braya must discover who is worthy of her trust and her heart. Because once you enter the Rite of Radnick, there are only two choices: RISE OR DIE The Rite of Radnick is the first book in a new adrenaline-fuelled, epic fantasy romance series, perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, The Serpent and the Wings of Night and A Fate Inked in Blood.

This unique reference provides a primary source for osteologists and the medical/legal community for the understanding of burned bone remains in forensic or archaeological contexts. It describes in detail the changes in human bone and soft tissues as a body burns at both the chemical and gross levels and provides an overview of the current procedures in burned bone study. Case studies in forensic and archaeological settings aid those interested in the analysis of burned human bodies, from death scene investigators, to biological anthropologists looking at the recent or ancient dead. - Includes the diagnostic patterning of color changes that give insight to the severity of burning, the positioning of the body, and presence (or absence) of soft tissues during the burning event - Chapters on bones and teeth give step-by-step recommendations for how to study and recognize burned hard tissues