Kearn's hand came up to her chin and lifted it so he might peer into her eyes. He wanted to know what she wanted in life and he wanted to be the one to get it for her. He opened his senses and searched for her responses. Immediately she reacted and her eyes locked with his. Again she felt as though she was melting into him. She was becoming a part of him. Then he blinked and she felt released. Shelly blinked a couple times to try and clear her mind. What had just happened? She wasn't sure, but she knew it had something to do with Kearn's eyes. She was afraid to look at them again for fear she would lose herself there. Was she so sensitive that she could know when he opened his senses? When Kearn had followed Sarah, she led him right to where Gabe was lying, unconscious again. He was astounded to discover that Shelley may be as sensitive as well. Kearn wasn't happy about Shelley feeling fearful around him. She didn't understand what was going on when he opened his senses and after she felt the drawing, she was afraid. He didn't know how to explain it to her without telling her the whole story. Their relationship wasn't secure enough for him to do that yet. But somehow he needed to gain her trust sufficiently so she would not be so fearful. He almost wished she didn't feel when his senses opened to scan. But it was such a special sharing. One in which very few couples might have the opportunity to share, that he also didn't want to lose that. It seemed to mark them as a couple. And if that was taken away, then perhaps they might never be a couple.

My Forever Guardian teaches children how to heal with friends from the loss of a loved one. This book is for children who are looking for ways to mentally and emotionally heal and transition a loved one from the physical world to being their Forever Guardian. The book also teaches children how to speak openly about healing after experiencing a death. This is the perfect book for your home, community center, church, school or counselor’s office.

A Scottish isle hosts a literary festival in this humorous yet tragic novel by the author of A Method Actor's Guide to Jekyll and Hyde. On an island like no other, populated by writers, the annual Brilliant & Forever Festival is a much anticipated event; its participants a story away from either glory or infamy. This year, three best friends—two human, one alpaca—are chosen to compete, so victory is not only about reward. This is a novel like no other; a wonderful, provocative tussle, a whip-cracking, energetic, laugh-out-loud satire on what we value in culture, and in our lives. And yet, written with exquisite warmth and empathy, it’s also a moving exploration of integrity, friendship and belonging. It’ll split your sides and break your heart. Praise for The Brilliant & Forever “Laugh-out-loud funny. It’s so refreshing to read a book that isn’t like anything else.” —David Robinson “A wise warm-hearted meditation on the human condition.” —TheScotsman (UK) “Full of wry detail and satirical flourish, a demonstration of virtuoso storytelling. MacNeil atomizes the process of othering by which communities define themselves. All of that makes it sound overly serious, which it isn’t: MacNeil’s prose style keeps things light, lyrical, and funny.” —The Skinny “The reader will realize that this charming, sad novel is inspired by Italo Calvino . . . . It is a joy to read such an engaging, luminous novel, which dissects rather than enacts our cultural cringe.” —The Guardian (UK)

"Private William Mandella hadn't wanted to go to war against the Taurans ...."--p. [4] of cover.

When the world was first formed, the Lord and Satanel made an agreement that each would have one thousand years of dominion over the Earth. Now, it is the new millennium, and Satanel has refused to give up his hold. His decision starts an unprecedented spiritual war that could very well claim the lives of every human being on Earth-unless God's warriors can stop him. God sends twelve archangels to Earth in the guise of infants born to human parents, thus escaping Satanel and his legions' notice. Their mission is to recover the gemstones originally set in the Breastplate of Aaron, which were stolen by Satanel to prevent their use in battle. With the arrival of Ariel, the twelfth archangel, the strike is ready to commence. The perilous search for the jewels is fraught with danger for men and angels as they encounter physical and magical confrontations. But when it is time for the final battle, the denizens from the various realms of air, earth, fire, and water join the fight to determine the fate of the world.

A “searing debut” about three young women coming of age, experiencing “the absurdities of life and love on the precipice of violence” (Vogue) Yael, Avishag, and Lea grow up together in a tiny, dusty Israeli village, attending a high school made up of caravan classrooms, passing notes to each other to alleviate the universal boredom of teenage life. When they are conscripted into the army, their lives change in unpredictable ways, influencing the women they become and the friendship that they struggle to sustain. Yael trains marksmen and flirts with boys. Avishag stands guard, watching refugees throw themselves at barbed-wire fences. Lea, posted at a checkpoint, imagines the stories behind the familiar faces that pass by her day after day. They gossip about boys and whisper of an ever more violent world just beyond view. They drill, constantly, for a moment that may never come. They live inside that single, intense second just before danger erupts. In a relentlessly energetic and arresting voice marked by humor and fierce intelligence, Shani Boianjiu, winner of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35,” creates an unforgettably intense world, capturing that unique time in a young woman's life when a single moment can change everything.

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The definitive account of America's conflict with Islamic fundamentalism and a searing exploration of its human costs—an instant classic of war reporting from the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. Through the eyes of Dexter Filkins, a foreign correspondent for the New York Times, we witness the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, the aftermath of the attack on New York on September 11th, and the American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Filkins is the only American journalist to have reported on all these events, and his experiences are conveyed in a riveting narrative filled with unforgettable characters and astonishing scenes. Brilliant and fearless, The Forever War is not just about America's wars after 9/11, but about the nature of war itself.

'Completely original, raw and warm' Evening Standard Books of the Summer 'Poignant... written with intelligence and tears' Ben Okri 'Nuanced, absorbing and moving... extraordinary' Observer 'Raw, poetic, beautifully formed' Daisy Johnson When Xanthi Barker's father died when she was in her mid twenties, she could make no sense of her grief for a man who had been absent for most of her life. Her father, poet Sebastian Barker, had left Xanthi, her mother and her brother to pursue writing and a new relationship, when Xanthi was a baby. Growing up she had always struggled to reconcile his extravagant affection - a rocking horse crafted from scavenged wood, the endless stream of poems and drawings and letters, conversations that spiralled from the structure of starlight to philosophy to Bruce Springsteen - with the fact that he could not be depended upon for more everyday things. Though theirs was a relationship defined by departures, he always returned, so why should this farewell be any different, or more final? WILL THIS HOUSE LAST FOREVER? is a heartfelt and wholly original memoir about the pain of having to come to terms with a parent's mortality, the way grief so utterly defies logic, and about learning to see the flaws in those that we love, and let them go.

The modern world has been transformed into a land of myth, a magical place where fabulous beasts soar on the air currents, a terrifying place where shape-shifting monsters stalk the cities. Mankind’s days appear numbered. Our only hope—the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons —are scattered and broken after a terrible defeat. Their last chance may lie in the great court of the old gods, reached by an otherworldly ship filled with fantastical and frightening creatures. But if our champions fail, the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain will dawn, and the dark god Balor will usher in the eternal night.

A New York Times Notable Book of 2015: From the writer of the hugely acclaimed Love, Nina comes a sharply funny debut novel about a gloriously eccentric family. Soon after her parents' separation, nine-year-old Lizzie Vogel moves with her siblings and newly single mother to a tiny village in the English countryside, where the new neighbors are horrified by their unorthodox ways and fatherless household. Lizzie's theatrical mother only invites more gossip by spending her days drinking whiskey, popping pills, and writing plays. The one way to fit in, the children decide, will be to find themselves a new man at the helm. The first novel from a remarkably gifted writer with a voice all her own, Man at the Helm is a hilarious and occasionally heartbreaking portrait of childhood in an unconventional family.