The orcs of Kinthur have been conspiring to circumvent the long-standing Gods’ Covenant. They plot to bring their evil god, Old One-Eye, back to rule Kinthur and dominate or destroy the other races. Ellwyn, a young elven ranger, and her companions stumble upon an ancient prophesy that foretells this event. With only the help of her companions, she must unravel the mystery before it’s too late. They are set on a course that will lead to high magic, monsters, treasures, and possible death. Can they stop the orcs in time and at what terrible cost?

Do you love dragon shifters? Billionaires? Fated mates? Then it's time to read THE FEISTY DRAGONS. These three billionaire dragon shifters are on the hunt for revenge - and love. Anything can happen on Sapphire Island... Book 1 - Untamed Dragon The Chrysolite Isles are a place where magic happens and dragons roam free. Well, most of them do. When Declan Monster is working on a security evaluation for a client, he notices something strange. There's a girl lurking around, but she doesn't seem to want to be there. In fact, he's pretty sure that she's been captured, and he'll do whatever it takes to save her. Zoa didn't mean to get herself kidnapped, but, well, she's never been the brightest when it comes to street smarts. Now she's being constantly monitored by a shapeshifting beast who will do anything to keep her his. And then Declan shows up. Strong, handsome, and sweet, Declan is everything her captor is not. But is he strong enough to save her? Book 2 - Naughty Dragon Allison has always had a crush on her boss. Big guy Christopher Monster doesn't quite fit his name. Other people are scared of him, but Allison thinks he's sweet, kind, and wildly intelligent. Too bad he's never looked twice at her. When a new project manager joins their team at Monster Brothers Security, strange things start happening around the office. Is somebody trying to hack their system? Will Allison be able to stop them? More importantly, will she be able to do it without betraying Christopher's trust? Book 3 - Monster Dragon Brian has always been ruthless and he's always looked after himself. He's had to. He's the oldest of the triplets and it's his job to look after everyone. At least, that's what he's always told himself. When he finds a tourist camping on one of the private beaches, he tells her to get lost. He thinks that's going to be the end of things, but then she shows up in his office claiming to be the writer who is crafting a story about him. Brian just has one question for the little human: why is she sleeping on the beaches when she could be sleeping in his arms?

Have you ever believed you’d one day cross paths with someone who would sweep you off your feet and offer you a life right out of a fairy tale? When you’ve spent your life hiding from monsters, it seems reasonable that you might cling to a magical, fabled romance. I did. I found it was easier to look for the positive, to remain hopeful, and to sometimes imagine a fantasy-worthy life. I’m not sure if I did it for my sanity or to keep my brother’s spirits up. You see, Ransom Bishop is not only my brother, he’s also the one who saved me from a life that would’ve ended badly, and in doing so, he gave up so much. Since the day he stole me away from the monsters when I was nine years old, Ransom has been mother, father, brother, and best friend, watching my back and protecting me from … them. For fifteen years, we thought we were safe and maybe we were. But then my brother helped a friend in need, and everything changed. They found us. Now it’s a matter of life or death, and there’s only one person my brother trusts, one man Ransom is willing to be indebted to in an effort to ensure nothing happens to me. Talon has agreed to take me in. Under one condition: Ransom has to relocate with me, and he has to fake our deaths. Again. Little do I know, but Talon is going to change my perception, my ideals, and yes, he’s going to change my life. My name is Braelyn Bishop, and this is my fairy tale. Owned is the final book in the Office Intrigue series and it contains two storylines. This book can be read as a standalone.

VLSI Electronics: Microstructure Science, Volume 4 reviews trends for the future of very large scale integration (VLSI) electronics and the scientific base that supports its development. This book discusses the silicon-on-insulator for VLSI and VHSIC, X-ray lithography, and transient response of electron transport in GaAs using the Monte Carlo method. The technology and manufacturing of high-density magnetic-bubble memories, metallic superlattices, challenge of education for VLSI, and impact of VLSI on medical signal processing are also elaborated. This text likewise covers the impact of VLSI technology on the design of intelligent measurement instruments and systems. This volume is valuable to scientists and engineers who wish to become familiar with VLSI electronics, device designers concerned with the fundamental character of and limitations to device performance, systems architects who will be charged with tying VLSI circuits together, and engineers conducting work on the utilization of VLSI circuits in specific areas of application.

Two brothers encounter danger and adventure in a world of the future in this classic dystopian novel from Newbery Medalist Susan Cooper. Long Pond Cay, in the Bahamas, is a magical white-sand island, and twelve-year-old Trey and silent seven-year-old Lou love to visit its loneliness. But one day the magic becomes nightmare, and suddenly they are in another world, strident, polluted, and overcrowded -- where little Lou is hailed not as a mute Bahamian boy but as the mythic hero Lugh, born to bring terrible destruction and renewal. Carried betwween worlds in a zigzag adenture of mounting tension and danger, the children risk their lives not only to save the alien world, but to ward off a new, parallel threat to their beloved Long Pond Cay. The forces of myth and nature explode together in an amazing climax. This is a deeply moving fantasy told by an internationally acclaimed Newbery Award -- wining writer, who knows and loves the Bahamian islands. Its vision of a spoiled world ominously like our own will haunt the reader for long time to come.

A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas is a postcard perfect scene for a second chance at love in this contemporary romance by the USA Today bestselling author. Christmas is coming to Pine Mountain—and it’s stirring up memories, good and bad. Nick Brennan may be smooth as good whiskey when it comes to managing the Double Shot bar, but his past is a hot mess. When he runs into a burning building to save a little boy, some people start thinking there’s more to his heroism than holiday spirit. To make things worse, the local reporter assigned to the story is Ava Mancuso, the gorgeous girl who got away. Ava has her reasons for keeping a professional distance. But the changes she sees in Nick set off more than journalistic curiosity. His warm eyes and gruff charm have her instincts fired up. Still, all the chemistry in the world doesn’t erase history, even when Nick invites her to his little sister’s mistletoe wedding. Does he have a heart under all those secrets? Or is this going to be just another Christmas past?

Starshooter spun, launching into a perfect back kick to her stomach. Stronggirl flew back, slamming into the wall. She moaned as she slid to the ground, trying to get back up. A foot to the side knocks her onto her back as hands grab at her and pin her to the ground. Fiesta stood above her. Stronggirl's eyes widened as she came up with an idea. As Fiesta raised her leg up high in the air, Stronggirl took a deep breath. She let out a Sonic scream as Fiesta's foot broke through her ribcage. Her vision tunneled as her friends clutched their now bleeding ears

This comprehensive guide captures important trends in international relations (IR) pedagogy, paying particular attention to innovations in active learning and student engagement for the contemporary International Relations IR classroom.

With whatever romance one might be tempted to embellish the origin of Lonsdale Road on account of an architectural superiority to the streets around, it would be fanciful merely for that to endow it with any influence upon the character of the people who live there. Apart from a house where the drains are bad, that has achieved the reputation of being haunted, because the landlord prefers to let it stay empty rather than spend money on putting the drains in order, Lonsdale Road possesses as unromantic a lot of residences as the most banal of West Kensington streets. The nearest approach to a scandal is the way human beings and cats go courting in the lane at the end; but since the former do not live in Lonsdale Road and the latter are not amenable to any ethical code administered by the police, the residents do not feel the burden of a moral responsibility for their behavior. Such a dignified road within seven minutes of the railway station had in the year 1881 made a strong appeal to Mr. Gilbert Caffyn, who, having just been appointed assistant secretary to the Church of England Purity Society at the early age of twenty-six, with a salary of £150 a year, was emboldened by his father's death and the inheritance of another £200 a year in brewery shares to persuade Miss Charlotte Doyle that their marriage was immediately feasible. Mr. Caffyn had been all the more anxious to press for a happy conclusion of a two years' engagement because Mrs. Doyle was showing every sign of imminent decease, an event which would eliminate a traditionally unsatisfactory relationship and enrich her daughter with £300 a year of her own. Mr. Caffyn therefore sold a quarter of his shares, purchased a ninety-nine years' lease of 17 Lonsdale Road, the last house on the right-hand side away from the growing traffic of West Kensington, and got married. If No. 17 was nearest the railway, it was also rather larger than the other houses, an important consideration for the assistant secretary of the Church of England Purity Society, who was bound to expect at least as many children as a clergyman. Still, for all its extra windows, it was not a very large house; and when in the year 1902 Mr. Caffyn, now secretary of the Church of England Purity Society, with a salary of £400 a year, looked at his wife, his nine children, his two servants, and himself, he wondered how they all managed to squeeze in. He hoped that his wife, who had been mercifully fallow for seven years, would not have any more children, though it might almost be easier to have more children than to provide for the rapid growing up of those he had already. Why, his eldest son Roland was twenty. The question of his moving into cheap rooms to suit his position as the earner of a guinea a week at a branch bank had been mooted several times already, and Mr. Caffyn had been compelled to turn his study (which he never used) into a bedroom for him and his brother Cecil, now a lanky schoolboy of fifteen, rather than expose himself to the likelihood of having to supplement the bank clerk's salary from his own. Then there was Norah, who was eighteen ... but at this moment Mr. Caffyn realized that he had only eight minutes to catch his train up to Blackfriars, and the problem of Norah was put aside. It was a hot morning in late September, and he had long ceased to enjoy running to catch a train.