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.

The first novel in the spellbinding Landry family series. The only family Ruby Landry has ever known are her loving grandparents. Although her mother is dead and she has never met her mysterious father, Ruby is grateful for all she has, especially when her attraction for handsome Paul Tate blossoms into a wonderful love. But Paul's wealthy parents forbid him to associate with a poor Landry, and when Ruby's grandmother dies, she is forced to seek out the father she has never known in his vast New Orleans mansion. There, in a house of lies, madness and cruel torment, a shameful deception comes to light, and Ruby must cling to her memories of Paul: for only their love can save her now.

Her high school graduation just days away, Gabriel Landry is blissfully happy - until rich cannery owner Octavious Tate waylays her near a secluded pond and shatters her innocence, forever. Pregnant and desolate, Gabriel agrees to a shocking plan that will allow Octavious' frigid wife, Gladys, to claim the baby as her own. But nothing can prepare Gabriel for the terrible moment when Gladys takes her baby away. Drifting in a world of gloom, Gabriel is only comforted by chance glimpses of her son, until a hunting party brings handsome Creole millionaire Pierre Dumas to the bayou. Falling desperately in love, Gabriel will not heed the voice warning her that their joy may bring her more grief than she can bear.

Pearl hopes for happiness, but destiny is drawing her deep into the shadows of her family's tainted past. Raised in a New Orleans mansion filled with kindness and laughter, Ruby Landry's daughter Pearl dreams of becoming a doctor. But, after a cruel accident befalls one of Pearl's twin brothers, her tormented mother flees back to her Cajun roots, and Pearl's dreams of success swirl away with the hurricane winds. In the warm embrace of a gentle Cajun man, she discovers a refuge. But until the shocking truths of her heritage are finally uncovered, Pearl will never be able to find true peace of mind.

Laura Logan dreams of a glorious Cape Cod day when all the dark secrets are swept away.... For Laura Logan, life on Cape Cod has been nearly perfect, full of magical days spent enjoying the sea with her beloved twin brother, Cary. But then, like the creeping of the tides, the vicious rumors at school begin -- cruel voices saying unspeakable things about the Logans. Laura tries to ignore them, but not until handsome, gentle Robert Royce moves to their town does she feel truly carefree and happy again. While Robert's smile drives the shadows from Laura's heart, she still worries about Cary, whose gloomy moods drift in like the coastal fog. And then Grandma Olivia issues a chilling threat, forbidding Laura to see Robert ever again. Alone to suffer because of dark secrets no one will explain, Laura obeys...until the miracle of a glorious summer leads her back into Robert's arms. But dark thunderclouds have been gathering on the horizon, and when they suddenly burst with tragedy, they howl a name from the Logans' shameful past that plunges Laura into a silent, terrible agony. Now Laura can only dream of the warm, sun-filled life she so desperately desires....

After immigrating to Harlem from the West Indies, 18 year old Ruby builds a friendship with Daphne through which they both learn and grow.

Kundala is Miina's world, created by that Goddess with the help of the dragons. But Miina is missing, and her people have been enslaved by the alien V'ornn. Now a savior has come, the Dar Sala-at, a messiah promised by prophecy yet unlike anyone's expectations: within the body of a beautiful young woman is the mind and spirit of a unique Kundalan female who is joined in mystical partnership with the mind and spirit of Annon Ashera, a V'ornn male, the last survivor of a noble family. Together the two adolescents have matured and merged into a new joint identity. Now their common destiny, and Kundala's, is in their own hands. In Lustbader's richly imagined saga The Pearl, magic and science clash on an epic scale. As in the Midkemia novels of Raymond Feist, the juxtaposition shows that neither is inherently good or evil. It is the people using magic or science who give them meaning, and Lustbader has created people you will never forget: Riane, the Dar-Sala-at; Eleana, the woman she loves twice over; Kurgan, the V'ornn usurper who raped Eleana and sired her child; Marethyn Stogggul, Kurgan's defiant sister, an artist who joins the Kundalan resistance; Marethyn's lover, chief trader Sornnn SaTrryn, who secretly helps the resistance as well; and the fabulous Krystren, the Sarakkon woman from the mysterious southern continent, who comes north on a secret mission and will change the lives of everyone she meets. All the while, the evil Sauromicians threaten the world as they seek to use banestones to bind a dragon. With each new volume, The Pearl has bloomed and ramified like a gorgeous flowering vine. The Mistress of the Pearl is the best yet, and those who have read the previous books will find new sources of excitement and enlightenment, but this is also a great place to begin catching up with the series, as the Pearl shines ever brighter. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

For use in schools and libraries only. Kamala Khan, a Pakistani American girl from Jersey City who lives a conservative Muslim lifestyle with her family, suddenly acquires superhuman powers and, despite the pressures of school and home, tries to use her abilities to help her community.

Fate has whisked Ruby Landry from a simple life in the Louisiana bayou. But her new riches bring more treachery than happiness. After a year spent living in his splendid New Orleans mansion, Ruby is still rejoicing in the love of the father she had never known. But she has some venomous enemies in the household: her stepmother Daphne, who sneers at her backwater upbringing, and her twin sister Gisselle, who is full of bitterness and backstabbing. Ruby hopes she will find some peace at the exclusive girls' boarding school her father has chosen for her. But the legendarily strict headmistress, Mrs Ironwood, plots with her stepmother to make Ruby's life a misery. Still Ruby doesn't lose hope - until a terrible tragedy leaves her all alone, forcing her to summon every last ounce of strengh to reclaim her home, her future and the happiness she once knew.