New York PrincessI'd been called that damn name since the moment I was born into the Capelli family.Only, I'm not much of a princess per se, I'm more of a devil decorated with a crown.I smile when I'm supposed to.I snark when I'm asked for my opinion.And I do as my papa asks.To an extent.You see, my papa, the notorious New York Mob Boss, is a man most people fear.In a world where power is life, and death is the only way out, I'm merely a pawn between the two.Papa promised me to Milan D'Amico, the heir to the New Jersey Outfit.Traditions need to be adhered to, and rules must not be broken.Only, I don't take too well to being ordered to sign my life to an enemy.I will not be chained to him in glittering diamonds and burnished gold, until death do us part.I am Maya Capelli, and the blood that runs through my veins will not be tainted.Vengeance and bloodshed are what I offer my prospective husband.Our fates will never be entwined, and our fractured fairy tale will end in tragedy.

Welcome, Your Highness. If you’ve picked up this book, you know who you are. You have a taste for life’s finer things: champagne with breakfast, custom lingerie, and kitten heels—even in the snow. At the office, you’re a corporate merger of style and substance, flawlessly handling the most difficult clients or performing life-saving surgery wearing snakeskin stilettos. Your romances play out like De Beers moments (well, in your mind anyway). And above all, you know instinctively that the real road to enlightenment begins with entitlement. Princess is a celebration of the princess in every woman—a witty, delightful handbook for building your own happily ever after. You’ll learn (and raise!) your PQ (Princess Quotient), tackle the PSAT (Princess Self-Assessment Test), and answer the age-old princess question: Is having it all ever really enough? Paying homage to the fine art of pampering, the princess rules of entertaining, the princess pooch, and of course, Prince Charming, Princess is sure to be a favorite. After all, it’s about you.

Blow the trumpet, sound the horn, Daddy’s princess has been born! The timeless journey of a daughter and father is poignantly captured in the story of a girl’s growth from childhood to motherhood. Playful, emotive prose, enriched by the whisper of God’s scripture on each beautifully illustrated page, invites girls and dads to see themselves reflected in this keepsake book and to be reminded of the blessings and the bonds between them. Throughout tea parties, soccer games, braces, and boys, a girl is her daddy’s princess every step of the way.

Snow White had her Prince Charming and Victoria had her Albert. Who really knows how "grand" the Duke of York was? P is for Princess: A Royal Alphabet gives an enchanting A to Z tour of the world of kings, queens, and the stories behind the thrones. Monarchs real (Princesses Diana and Grace) and make-believe (Aurora and Cinderella) are examined, along with their accompanying legends and histories. Topics include castles, crown jewels, ladies-in-waiting, and that most anticipated of all royal occasions - the grand ball! Sumptuous artwork perfectly complements the majestic subject matter, making P is for Princess a visual treat for royal watchers of all ages.Steven and Deborah Layne also wrote the popular T is for Teachers: A School Alphabet, which received a Learning magazine Teachers' Choice Award for Children's Books. Well-regarded educators and literacy consultants, the Laynes live with their young children in St. Charles, Illinois. Husband and wife Robert and Lisa Papp are each established artists in their own right. Rob's previous work for Sleeping Bear Press includes The Last Brother and The Scarlet Stockings Spy. Lisa illustrated the Pennsylvania number book, One for All, and Eve Bunting's My Mom's Wedding. Rob and Lisa live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Lala dwells in a cave that lies deep below the ground, worlds away from the castle where three beautiful princesses live. She is the best krinkle-nut digger by far, but she longs for more: the dresses, the parties, the royal life. Up, up, up Lala climbs and sneaks into the castle. She tries on the princesses’ gowns…and is caught. But the princesses dress Lala up and let her attend a ball. She stumbles. She bumbles. She is laughed at. Can Lala find it in her heart to forgive the girls who tricked her? Will Lala find out what it means to be a real princess?

A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR * A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR * A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR * A DAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE YEAR 'An original, memorable and substantial achievement' TLS'A masterpiece' Mail on Sunday'I honked so loudly the man sitting next to me dropped his sandwich' ObserverShe made John Lennon blush and Marlon Brando clam up. She cold-shouldered Princess Diana and humiliated Elizabeth Taylor. Andy Warhol photographed her. Jack Nicholson offered her cocaine. Gore Vidal revered her. John Fowles hoped to keep her as his sex-slave. Dudley Moore propositioned her. Francis Bacon heckled her. Peter Sellers was in love with her. For Pablo Picasso, she was the object of sexual fantasy. "If they knew what I had done in my dreams with your royal ladies" he confided to a friend, "they would take me to the Tower of London and chop off my head!" Princess Margaret aroused passion and indignation in equal measures. To her friends, she was witty and regal. To her enemies, she was rude and demanding. In her 1950's heyday, she was seen as one of the most glamorous and desirable women in the world. By the time of her death, she had come to personify disappointment. One friend said he had never known an unhappier woman. The tale of Princess Margaret is pantomime as tragedy, and tragedy as pantomime. It is Cinderella in reverse: hope dashed, happiness mislaid, life mishandled. Combining interviews, parodies, dreams, parallel lives, diaries, announcements, lists, catalogues and essays, Ma'am Darling is a kaleidoscopic experiment in biography, and a witty meditation on fame and art, snobbery and deference, bohemia and high society. 'Brown has been our best parodist and satirist for decades now ... Ma'am Darling is, as you would expect, very funny; also, full of quirky facts and genial footnotes. Brown has managed to ingest huge numbers of royal books and documents without losing either his judgment or his sanity. He adores the spectacle of human vanity' Julian Barnes, Guardian

An engagingly contemporary approach to Buddhism—through the lens of an iconic film and its memorable characters Humorous yet spiritually rigorous in the tradition of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Tao of Pooh, drawing from pop culture and from personal experience, The Dharma of “The Princess Bride” teaches us how to understand and navigate our most important personal relationships from a twenty-first-century Buddhist perspective. Friendship. Romance. Family. These are the three areas Ethan Nichtern delves into, taking as departure points the indelible characters from Rob Reiner’s perennially popular film—Westley, Fezzik, Vizzini, Count Rugen, Princess Buttercup, and others—as he also draws lessons from his own life and his work as a meditation teacher. Nichtern devotes the first section of the book to exploring the dynamics of friendship. Why do people become friends? What can we learn from the sufferings of Inigo Montoya and Fezzik? Next, he leads us through all the phases of illusion and disillusion we encounter in our romantic pursuits, providing a healthy dose of lightheartedness along the way by sharing his own Princess Buttercup List and the vicissitudes of his dating life as he ponders how we idealize and objectify romantic love. Finally, Nichtern draws upon the demands of his own family history and the film’s character the Grandson to explore the dynamics of “the last frontier of awakening,” a reference to his teacher Chogyam Trungpa’s claim that it’s possible to be enlightened everywhere except around your family. With The Dharma of “The Princess Bride” in hand, we can set out on the path to contemporary Buddhist enlightenment with the most important relationships in our lives.

Aisin Gioro Xianyu (1907-1948) was the fourteenth daughter of a Manchu prince and a legendary figure in China's bloody struggle with Japan. After the fall of the Manchu dynasty in 1912, Xianyu's father gave his daughter to a Japanese friend who was sympathetic to his efforts to reclaim power. This man raised Xianyu, now known as Kawashima Yoshiko, to restore the Manchus to their former glory. Her fearsome dedication to this cause ultimately got her killed. Yoshiko had a fiery personality and loved the limelight. She shocked Japanese society by dressing in men's clothes and rose to prominence as Commander Jin, touted in Japan's media as a new Joan of Arc. Boasting a short, handsome haircut and a genuine military uniform, Commander Jin was credited with many daring exploits, among them riding horseback as leader of her own army during the Japanese occupation of China. While trying to promote the Manchus, Yoshiko supported the puppet Manchu state established by the Japanese in 1932-one reason she was executed for treason after Japan's 1945 defeat. The truth of Yoshiko's life is still a source of contention between China and Japan: some believe she was exploited by powerful men, others claim she relished her role as political provocateur. China holds her responsible for unspeakable crimes, while Japan has forgiven her transgressions. This biography presents the richest and most accurate portrait to date of the controversial princess spy, recognizing her truly novel role in conflicts that transformed East Asia.