She listened as he stepped forward with his belt, moving closer to her and crowding her with the musky scent he was wearing. She fought to hold back her fear as finally, he came to stand behind her. She felt his fingers gently combing her hair down over her shoulders. Then he started speaking slowly, his deep voice starting to shake her demeanor as he talked to her.“You didn’t marry a soft knight in shining armor that will cuddle, ignore and pet you every time you choose to deliberately get out of line. I will punish you thoroughly for your disobedience...” (DARK LOVE STORY: After playing a reckless game, a spoiled and gullible girl did not expect to find herself in a serious relationship with an intriguing and no-nonsense guy who starts to discipline her.

A Dark Love is the unforgettable debut of Margaret Carroll, an extraordinary new master who spins a tale of passion tinged with terror. Though Caroline has finally escaped her marriage to a cruel and controlling psychopath, she still lives in fear. Her husband will not rest until he finds her . . . and makes her pay.

A young alchemist turns to dark magic when a deadly plague sweeps through her homeland, in this epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Beth Revis. Seventeen-year-old Nedra Brysstain leaves her home in the rural northern territories of Lunar Island to attend the prestigious Yugen Academy with only one goal in mind: master the trade of medicinal alchemy. A scholarship student matriculating with the children of Lunar Island's wealthiest and most powerful families, Nedra doesn't quite fit in with the other kids at Yugen. Until she meets Greggori "Grey" Astor. Grey is immediately taken by the brilliant and stubborn Nedra, who he notices is especially invested in her studies. And that's for a good reason: a deadly plague has been sweeping through the north, and it's making its way toward the cities. With her family's lives--and the lives of all of Lunar Island's citizens--on the line, Nedra is determined to find a cure for the plague. Grey and Nedra grow close, but as the sickness spreads and the body count rises, Nedra becomes desperate to find a cure. Soon, she finds herself diving into alchemy's most dangerous corners--and when she turns to the most forbidden practice of all, necromancy, even Grey might not be able to pull her from the darkness.

A bilingual collection of fourteen love sonnets with forty pen and ink drawings at once figurative and abstract.

Intimate love opens us up to suffering, sacrifice, and loss. Is it always worth the risk? Consulting philosophers, writers, and poets who draw insights from material life, Diane Enns shines a light on the limits of erotic love, exploring its paradoxes through personal and philosophical reflections. Situating experience at the center of her inquiry, Enns conducts philosophy "by another name," elaborating the ambiguities and risks of love with visceral clarity. Love in the Dark claims that intimacy must accept risk as long as love does not destroy the self. Erotic love inspires an inexplicable affirmation of another but can erode autonomy and vulnerability. There is a limit to love, and appreciating it requires a rethinking of love's liberal paradigms, which Enns traces back to the hostility toward the body and eros in Christianity and the Western philosophical tradition. Against a legacy of an abstract and sanitized love, Enns recasts erotic attachment as an event linked to conditional circumstances. The value of love lies in its intensity and depth, and its end does not negate love's truth or significance. Writing in a lyrical, genre-defying style, Enns delineates the paradoxes of love in its relations to lust, abuse, suffering, and grief to reach an account faithful to human experience.

Colm Tóibín knows the languages of the outsider, the secret keeper, the gay man or woman. He knows the covert and overt language of homosexuality in literature. In Love in a Dark Time, he also describes the solace of finding like-minded companions through reading. Colm Tóibín examines the life and work of some of the greatest and most influential writers of the past two centuries, figures whose homosexuality remained hidden or oblique for much of their lives, either by choice or necessity. The larger world couldn't know about their sexuality, but in their private lives, and in the spirit of their work, the laws of desire defined their expression. This is an intimate encounter with Mann, Baldwin, Bishop, and with the contemporary poets Thom Gunn and Mark Doty. Through their work, Tóibín is able to come to terms with his own inner desires—his interest in secret erotic energy, his admiration for courageous figures, and his abiding fascination with sadness and tragedy. Tóibín looks both at writers forced to disguise their true experience on the page and at readers who find solace and sexual identity by reading between the lines.

Guinevere Beck, MFA student at New York University, is perhaps known more for her tragic death than for the brightyoung literary voice her work represents. This posthumouscollection for her prose, poetry and memoir is her firstpublication.You used to wrap yourselfin fairy tales like a blanket.But it was the cold youloved.Sharp shivers as youuncoveredthe corpses ofBluebeard's wives...

The Marino's, one of the most powerful mafia families in the entire world lead by one man. Mateo Marino, a powerful, controlling, ruthless psychopath mostly known for his atrocious ways. S'nazo, a woman who wasn't aware of how close she was to danger, having no clue whom exactly had set their sights on her. Her world is turned upside down when Mateo claims her as his giving her no choice because in his mind she already belongs to him and no one can stop him from claiming what's his.

Ever experienced darkness? Inside and out?I have.I have lived in this darkness for a long time feeling like I wake up in a cave every single day and have been living there for years. But even in this dark life I still find whatever ray of light I can get. To see myself. To show everyone who I am. This is what I thought I would be doing when I got the chance to participate in a dance performance in London. To go and live my dream. But what I didn't know is that my life was about to change. By him. Herold.I know I should have stayed away from him since day one. Everyone warned me and so did he. But there was something about him that made me want to be with him. We both had our own secrets. We both shared them too. But I never should have fallen in love with him. I never should have made such mistake. He came into my life being more than just a ray of light. He made me see the world through his eyes. But I was a fool to even think I could have a normal life with him. Because at the end, he did what he promised he would do if I stayed. He promised to destroy me.And now...I am destroyed by him.