The Duke of Ravenstock is the most attractive and elusive bachelor in London - and the most notorious. His exploits and romantic escapades keep the salons of the Social world buzzing - but never more so than when he announces that he will marry. His friends soon realise that what has captured the Duke's heart is the purity and innocence of his intended bride. The wedding date has been fixed when the Duke discovers by accident that his fiancee has taken a lover, a close friend of his. Shattered and disillusioned, the Duke plots a cruel revenge. When he reveals to his sister, the Mother Superior of a Convent in Paris, that he seeks the most innocent girl he can find for his bride, she introduces him to Anoushka, a novice in her care at the Convent. Anoushka has a mysterious background, having been brought secretly and anonymously to the Convent as a child. Somewhat reluctantly Anoushka agrees to marry the Duke, but, to his amazement, her beauty and innocence prove more of a challenge than he could possibly have imagined.

Julianna Baggott presents her beautifully written, riveting, breakout novel, PURE, the first volume in her new post-apocalypse thriller trilogy. We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . . Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run. Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . . There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her. When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

Book 2 of The Amoveo Legend SHE SHOULD BE SEEN, BUT NEVER TOUCHED... Kerry Smithson's modeling career ensures that she will be admired from afar, which is essential since mere human touch sparks blinding pain and terrifying visions. EVERY GOOD MODEL NEEDS A HEAVENLY BODYGUARD... Dante Coltari is hired to protect Kerry from those who know who she is—or more importantly what she is—and want her dead because of it. Nothing could have prepared him for the challenge of keeping her safe. But, strangely, his lightest touch brings her exquisite pleasure rather than pain, and Dante and Kerry have an otherwordly connection that might just pull them through. The Amoveo Legend Series: Unleashed (Book 1, The Amoveo Legend) Untouched (Book 2, The Amoveo Legend) Untamed (Book 3, The Amoveo Legend) Undone (Book 4, The Amoveo Legend) Unclaimed (Book 5, The Amoveo Legend) Undenied (e-Novella) Praise for the Amoveo Legend series: "Sizzling sexual chemistry that is sure to please."—Yankee Romance Reviews "A moving tale that captures both the sweetness and passion of romance."—Romance Junkies, 5 Blue Ribbons "Fascinating...the characters haunted my dreams...I'm dying for the sequel."—Long and Short Reviews Best Book

After her mother’s death, Libby has been trying to eke out a living in a small English village with her baby half brother, Gino. One day, the rich Raul Carducci visits her store and mistakes her for Gino’s mother, informing her that Gino’s father was a millionaire who died recently, leaving his company shares to Gino. Worried that Raul will take Gino away if he finds out she’s not Gino’s mother, she keeps up the charade. When she moves to Italy with Raul, he begins to seduce her, but little does she know that his eyes are on Gino'’s inheritance, not her love.

Bestselling author Julianna Baggott presents the second volume in her new post-apocalyptic, dystopian thriller trilogy. We want our son returned. This girl is proof that we can save you all. If you ignore our plea, we will kill our hostages one at a time. To be a Pure is to be perfect, untouched by Detonations that scarred the earth, and sheltered inside the paradise that is the Dome. But Partridge escaped to the outside world, where Wretches struggle to survive amid smoke and ash. Now, at the command of Partridge's father, the Dome is unleashing nightmare after nightmare upon the Wretches in an effort to get him back. At Partridge's side is a small band of those united against the Dome: Lyda, the warrior; Bradwell, the revolutionary; El Capitan, the guard; and Pressia, the young woman whose mysterious past ties her to Partridge in ways she never could have imagined. Long ago a plan was hatched that could mean the earth's ultimate doom. Now only Partridge and Pressia can set things right. To save millions of innocent lives, Partridge must risk his own by returning to the Dome and facing his most terrifying challenge. And Pressia, armed only with a mysterious Black Box containing a set of cryptic clues, must travel to the very ends of the earth, to a place where no map can guide her. If they succeed, the world will be saved. But should they fail, humankind will pay a terrible price . . .

In Pure, Linda Kay Klein uses a potent combination of journalism, cultural commentary, and memoir to take us “inside religious purity culture as only one who grew up in it can” (Gloria Steinem) and reveals the devastating effects evangelical Christianity’s views on female sexuality has had on a generation of young women. In the 1990s, a “purity industry” emerged out of the white evangelical Christian culture. Purity rings, purity pledges, and purity balls came with a dangerous message: girls are potential sexual “stumbling blocks” for boys and men, and any expression of a girl’s sexuality could reflect the corruption of her character. This message traumatized many girls—resulting in anxiety, fear, and experiences that mimicked the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—and trapped them in a cycle of shame. This is the sex education Linda Kay Klein grew up with. Fearing being marked a Jezebel, Klein broke up with her high school boyfriend because she thought God told her to and took pregnancy tests despite being a virgin, terrified that any sexual activity would be punished with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. When the youth pastor of her church was convicted of sexual enticement of a twelve-year-old girl, Klein began to question purity-based sexual ethics. She contacted young women she knew, asking if they were coping with the same shame-induced issues she was. These intimate conversations developed into a twelve-year quest that took her across the country and into the lives of women raised in similar religious communities—a journey that facilitated her own healing and led her to churches that are seeking a new way to reconcile sexuality and spirituality. Pure is “a revelation... Part memoir and part journalism, Pure is a horrendous, granular, relentless, emotionally true account" (The Cut) of society’s larger subjugation of women and the role the purity industry played in maintaining it. Offering a prevailing message of resounding hope and encouragement, “Pure emboldens us to escape toxic misogyny and experience a fresh breath of freedom” (Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love Warrior and founder of Together Rising).

What are some important lessons you learned from the 2020 lockdown? Here are some lessons I learned:?We are not what we see when we stand in front of a mirror. The real person inside is much more valuable and precious than temporary externalities. ?I can and will survive without using cosmetic make-up for seven months. Who knew!?I owned too many clothes, shoes, and other accessories. I did not need most of them while working from home.?Many are the plans in a person's heart but only The Lord's counsel will stand.?Personal Branding, self-love and other self-related psychobabbles can only go so far. Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown demonstrated the limits of our human capacity.?Social distancing between us and our devices, earthly possessions and worldly plans may not be such a bad idea after all.?Death is inevitable. How prepared are we to meet our Creator?The Untouched Part touches all the parts in and about us that we can neither see nor handle, and will direct you to the course of knowing your true self beyond pretty pictures and earthly possessions using the only Instrument that can: The Holy Bible.

The pain of deceit was fresh, but love and desire overruled everything else. Now, Aria and Aiden face their greatest challenge yet. Aria Cason's life took an unexpected turn when she reconnected with Aiden Raine, the man who awakened a pure and undeniable love she'd thought was lost forever. Aria's love for him burns deep, yet he still pushes for more-the total surrender of her heart. When a painful memory becomes her guiding light, she questions if a happily ever after really exists for a girl who never wanted one. After stepping away from his birthright, Aiden's need to protect his new family becomes his top priority. Fragile bonds are soon stretched to the breaking point as his need for vengeance threatens to destroy the very thing he's come to value most. When his unyielding determination starts to push Aria away, he presents her with a challenge that will test them both. Will the searing passion that reunited this couple keep them together, or will it burn them to ash? Ties will be broken. Lies will become the truth. Aria and Aiden's heart-wrenching story continues in the fifth book of The Untouched Series, Only His Touch, Part Two.

A provocative social history examines the history of virginity and of noted virgins in Western culture, describing the unique fascination civilization has had for virginity from a social, political, economic, philosophical, medical, and legal standpoint. Reprint.