Spencer Collins lives life virtually, keeping the real world—and everyone in it—at a distance. When she’s given a chance to spend a week surrounded by sun, sand, and hundreds of women on a lesbian cruise, she has the opportunity to venture outside her comfort zone. If, that is, she can muster the courage. When Amy Donovan is named cruise director for a trip to the Caribbean, her mission is twofold: keep her scandal-plagued company’s reputation afloat and her hands off the passengers. Both prove problematic when she’s blindsided by her attraction to the sweet and adorably shy Spencer, only to discover a stranger’s quest for revenge threatens to turn their dream trip into a nightmare. Sailing the high seas might turn the tide of romance their way, if the killer doesn’t get there first.

A Ceaseless Watch: Australia’s Third Party Naval Defense, 1919–1942 illustrates how Australia confronted the need to base its post–World War I defense planning around the security provided by a major naval power: in the first instance, Britain, and later the United States. Spanning the period leading up to Australia’s greatest security crisis—the military threat posed by Japan throughout the majority of 1942—the work takes the reader all the way up to the defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy by the United States Navy in the Solomon Islands campaign. Angus Britts focuses on Anglo-Australian defense relations from 1919–42 when the British were Australia’s primary naval protectors until they were superseded in the Pacific by the United States in May 1942 at the battle of the Coral Sea. Britts traces the process of the alignment or divergence of differing strategic interests between Australia and Britain in particular. Taking place against the backdrop of Imperial Japan’s expansionism debates within Australian political and defense circles during this period, namely the nature of the most likely threat to the continent itself, what became an important subplot to the events then unfolding in the Pacific. Looking at the development of the “Singapore strategy” which utilized the British fleet at Singapore to protect Australia’s interests, Britts lays out how the cornerstone for Australian defense planning was based on the continued assurances from successive British governments that they would honor their naval commitments should Australia itself eventually come under serious threat from Japanese aggression. The Australian-American defense relationship evolved at a later stage within the timeframe in this work, but the varying interactions between both nations throughout the interwar years are likewise addressed, as is the foundation of their wartime relations. Britts illustrates the difficulty in forming a defense relationship between small and great powers, where the needs of the former are not subsumed by the interests of the latter, from the interwar years to the start of World War II. In an era when the entire Pacific region was at war, the inability of a larger power to fulfill its side of a defensive pact with a smaller power shaped the future of the region itself.

The uproarius companion to "The Schwa was Here" and "Antsy Does Time" In honor of Old Man Crawley’s eightieth birthday, the Bonano family has been invited to celebrate with a weeklong cruise to the Caribbean aboard the world’s largest, grandest ship. But whether on land or at sea, Antsy can’t manage to stay out of trouble: He quickly finds himself the accomplice of stowaway and thief Tilde, whose self-made mission it is to smuggle onto the ship and across the U.S. border illegal immigrants from her native Mexico. When Antsy steps in to take the fall for Tilde, he becomes the focus of a major international incident and the poster child for questionable decisions. Equal parts clever and riotous, Ship Out of Luck brings back the beloved cast of characters from Neal Shusterman’s acclaimed The Schwa Was Here and Antsy Does Time.

"What's the matter?" Vereker asked breathlessly, and at the same moment realised that the mass lying at Ricardo's feet was the body of a woman. "Has she fainted?" "It's Mrs. Mesado, Algernon," replied Ricardo, "and if I'm not mistaken, she's dead." Algernon Vereker's best friend Manuel Ricardo is looking forward to a cruise on the luxury liner Mars, and persuades an overwrought Vereker to join him. Once on board, Ricky's mind is on romance while the amiable and eccentric Vereker is keener to relax with a cigar and a good book - until murder at sea means an abrupt detour into spine-chilling mystery. Vereker starts to investigate Mrs Mesado's demise, which presents many baffling features - beneath borrowed gloves, the lady's hands were cut and bruised; and where was the diamond necklace she had been wearing earlier that evening? These and other conundrums must be solved before Vereker can bring the culprit (or culprits) to justice, but as Ricky sagely observes: "half the fun of eating a nut is cracking the shell". The Pleasure Cruise Mystery (1933), a light-hearted but lethal maritime whodunit, is the third Algernon Vereker detective novel. It is republished here for the first time in over 70 years, and includes a new introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. 'Before all is cleared up the reader has raced excitedly through a thoroughly sound and quite unusual yarn.' Aberdeen Press

Be careful what you reap. You might fall in love with her... Get four sizzing-hot reaper romance novels in one incredible box set from award-winning author Lori Sjoberg! Welcome to the addictive world of Grave Desires, with forbidden passions, fated mates, sexy reapers, rogue demons, alpha heroes, and strong, smart heroines. Each full-length book features a separate couple and their own happily forever after. Books included in this reaper romance box set: Grave Intentions Grave Destinations Grave Vengeance Grave Attraction "A fun and satisfying read for fans of paranormal and supernatural romance." ~ Library Journal "Grave Intentions has great characters, a very entertaining story line and a good amount of action. I really enjoyed this story. I laughed, got choked up and sighed in appreciation…Lori Sjoberg definitely did a fantastic job making her characters relatable." ~ Tome Tender "If you are looking for a light paranormal romance that weaves in suspense this series is a lot of fun." ~ Caffeinated Book Reviewer "Bottom line: if you are a paranormal romance junkie, this is a must read series." ~ Book Briefs "There's so much to offer in this book- excellent story telling, good action, great suspense, and a steamy as all get out romance!" ~ Happy Tails and Tales

Breaking with the traditionally white-centric and politician-, military leader-, business magnate-dominated portrayal of American history, Still Casting Shadows: A Shared Mosaic of U.S. History presents a holistic overview of American history, giving equal weight and emphasis to the viewpoints and experiences of Native Americans, African Americans, and other marginalized groups. Rather than simply parading forth facts and figures of what "important" people accomplished or perpetrated, Still Casting Shadows delves into what life was like for "average" families in America-from 1620, when the Mayflower landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, up to the present day. The lives of the individuals portrayed are cast in the context of hundreds of events of national import that occurred in the times and places in which they lived. Among those whose lives are thus illuminated in this broad outline of American history are John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley, passengers on the Mayflower who subsequently married; Capt. John Gorham, a notorious Indian fighter in Colonial New England; Susan Lucky, an Indian woman whose tribe was massacred in northern California; James Shannon, a Civil War sharpshooter who was at Gettysburg and Appomattox; and Theodore Shannon, a California Highway Patrol officer who was awarded that state's Medal of Valor in 1980.

In A Lady Mathematician, the distinguished mathematician and physicist, Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat, at the urging of her children, recounts and reflects upon various key events and people from her life — first childhood memories of France, then schooling, followed by graduate studies, and finally her continuous research in the mathematics of General Relativity and other fundamental physical fields. She recalls conversations, collaborations and even arguments shared with many great scientists, including her experiences with Albert Einstein. She also describes some of her numerous trips around the world, spurred by a passion for travel, beauty and mathematics. At once reflective, enlightening and bittersweet, this book allows readers a look into the life and thought processes of an esteemed female academic.