I don’t recognize the classy woman in the mirror staring back at me―sensible hair, nude lipstick, curves bound in the finest business suit. I have dedicated my life to uncovering the secrets of the SEAL Teams. Hoping one day, I’ll be able to find out who kidnapped my sister. As a NCIS agent investigating the Teams, there is no margin for error. I have to maintain professionalism at all times. I didn’t count on being forced to work with the resident SEAL bad boy, Mitch Martinez. But opening up to Mitch is the key to unraveling the secrets of the Teams. Any sacrifice will be worth it if I can discover what happened to my sister. Mitch may tempt me, but I’ll never let him into my heart. Smug is the first episode of Se7en Deadly SEALs, Season 2. This book is 22000 words and ends in a cliffhanger. The next episode in this season, Slack, will be released this summer. Season 2 can be read as a stand alone but does contain characters and information regarding Season 1. If you haven’t read Season 1, start the series for free! Conceit, Season 1, Episode 1, is free on all retailers.

"Stop!" screamed a sparrow. "Save him!" shrieked a spider. "Silly," sighed a swallowtail. Smirking and self-important, the slug keeps slithering his way up a highly suspect slope. Will the slug stop? Are the sparrow, the spider, and the swallowtail simply trying to sabotage the slug's progress? Why is everyone screaming at the slug? Pamela Duncan Edwards and Henry Cole have created another alliterative tale that will have children snorting out loud at the surprise ending for this very smug slug.

The sneakiest seagull on the beach meets his match when a plucky crab makes a grab for the tastiest snacks. Get a good look, because Smug Seagull just so happens to be the best snack swiper from shore to shore. That's a fact! Sandwiches. Pretzels. French Fries. You bring 'em to the beach, he's going to swipe 'em! But when a crab with even better swiping skills comes along, this seagull will have to decide if there are enough treats on the beach for everyone.... Maddie Frost's unforgettable characters and bright, kid-friendly illustrations combine in this laugh-out-loud story about patience, sharing, and wicked good snacks.

It’s all fun and games until somebody falls in love. Riley As a surgical resident, my ego is beyond healthy. So when Daisy, the stubborn and sexy matchmaker, challenges me during trivia night at the local pub, it’s impossible for me to say no. If I win—she owes me three epic dates where I pull out all the stops to woo her. If she wins—no dates and I walk home naked. It’s the summer, what’s an eight-block stroll home in my birthday suit? Since she’s already smitten with me, this is going to be a breeze. How can I say no to a sure thing? Daisy Riley’s sizzling looks are nothing compared to his arrogance. His god-complex eclipses his charm. Forcing him to walk home naked is just too tempting to pass up. It’s just a friendly bet. But the stakes grow too high when fate keeps shoving him in my path. I don’t need my matchmaker test to prove that we’re not meant to be, despite what he says. My heart is still recovering from my last dating disaster. I find love for other people, not myself. But I’ll get him to take the test anyway. I’ll show him that we’re wrong for each other. We are 100% incompatible and any attraction is purely physical. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. **Note, although this book is a standalone, you can find characters that appear in this book in both Snowed In & Set Up, and Hot Dad. keywords: enemies to lovers, rivalry, competition, three epic dates, grumpy/sunshine, matchmaker, doctor, rom-com

This is a book about freedom – and the lack of it – in Canada: freedom from useless and often degrading toil, freedom from want and freedom from ignorance. It is Pierre Berton’s thesis, documented by public statements made over the past generation, that a smug minority of business and political leaders has conspired to inhibit that freedom. The establishment, says Berton, has brainwashed the public into believing a series of myths which have no validity in a post-Puritan age. These myths include such old saws as “A woman’s place is in the home” . . . “Anybody can work his way through college” . . . “Satan finds more mischief still for idle hands to do” . . . “Too much security kills initiative” . . . “It’s your own fault you’re so poor. The author indicts his fellow countrymen for failing to invest in human beings in the same way that they invest in power plants, highways, and gold mines. His researches into poverty in Canada and into inequalities of the educational system will shock a good many readers just as his theories on work and leisure will enrage others raised in the Calvinist ethic. The book ranges over a wide variety of topics: the hippie movement in Toronto’s Yorkville village . . . the author’s personal experiences in a Yukon mining camp . . . the future of educational television in Canada . . . the Chamber of Commerce’s abortive “Operation Freedom” campaign. But always Berton hammers on his central theme – that the nation has been held back by an inbred power-elite: “Selfish, narrow, short-sighted men unable to grasp the vision of the future, imprisoned by a bookkeeping attitude to life, creeping silently and blindly along at the tag end of the parade of progress.” The Smug Minority is certain to stimulate the same kind of national debate that the author’s previous best-selling book about religion, The Comfortable Pew, engendered. Many will disagree with its central thesis but few will be able to put it down. It’s that kind of book.

A new novel from a master of comic fantasy, Tom Holt. Same as the Old Evil, but with better PR. Mordak isn't bad, as far as goblin kings go, but when someone, or something, starts pumping gold into the human kingdoms it puts his rule into serious jeopardy. Suddenly he's locked in an arms race with a species whose arms he once considered merely part of a calorie-controlled diet. Helped by an elf with a background in journalism and a masters degree in being really pleased with herself, Mordak sets out to discover what on earth (if indeed, that's where he is) is going on. He knows that the truth is out there. If only he could remember where he put it.

There's a new kid in Crumbly-under-Edge. Smug the pug is clever, funny and full of surprises. And his owner, Tallulah Foghorn, is just as fantastic. PIppa Peppercorn has fallen head over heels for the devastating duo. Dash the dachshund, on the other paw, is not sure. He thinks Smug lives up to his name, and Tallulah is nuttier than one of Mrs Fudge's fruitcakes...

A new novel from a master of comic fantasy, Tom Holt. New Evil. Same as the Old Evil, but with better PR. Mordak isn't bad, as far as goblin kings go, but when someone, or something, starts pumping gold into the human kingdoms it puts his rule into serious jeopardy. Suddenly he's locked in an arms race with a species whose arms he once considered merely part of a calorie-controlled diet. Helped by an elf with a background in journalism and a masters degree in being really pleased with herself, Mordak sets out to discover what on earth (if indeed, that's where he is) is going on. He knows that the truth is out there. If only he could remember where he put it.

Dutch Racism is the first comprehensive study of its kind. The approach is unique, not comparative but relational, in unraveling the legacy of racism in the Netherlands and the (former) colonies. Authors contribute to identifying the complex ways in which racism operates in and beyond the national borders, shaped by European and global influences, and intersecting with other systems of domination. Contrary to common sense beliefs it appears that old-fashioned biological notions of “race” never disappeared. At the same time the Netherlands echoes, if not leads, a wider European trend, where offensive statements about Muslims are an everyday phenomenon. Dutch Racism challenges readers to question what happens when the moral rejection of racism looses ground. The volume captures the layered nature of Dutch racism through a plurality of registers, methods, and disciplinary approaches: from sociology and history to literary analysis, art history and psychoanalysis, all different elements competing for relevance, truth value, and explanatory power. This range of voices and visions offers illuminating insights in the two closely related questions that organize this book: what factors contribute to the complexity of Dutch racism? And why is the concept of racism so intensely contested? The volume will speak to audiences across the humanities and social sciences and can be used as textbook in undergraduate as well as graduate courses. Philomena Essed is professor of Critical Race, Gender and Leadership studies, Antioch University (USA), PhD in Leadership and Change Program. Her books and edited volumes include Everyday Racism; Understanding Everyday Racism, Race Critical Theories; A Companion to Gender Studies (“outstanding” 2005 CHOICE award); and, Clones, Fakes and Posthumans: Cultures of Replication. Isabel Hoving is diversity officer at the Leiden University and affiliated with the Department of Film and Literary Studies of Leiden University. Her books include In Praise of New Travellers, Veranderingen van het alledaagse, and several other volumes on migration, Caribbean literatures, African literature and art. In addition to her academic work, she is an awarded youth writer.

The New York Times bestselling author of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell and Assholes Finish First delivers a new collection of thirty 100% true, 100% exclusive stories of comically perverse excess. Another installment in Tucker Max's series of stories about his drunken debauchery and ridiculous antics. What began as a simple sentence on an obscure website, “My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole,” and developed into two infamously genre-defining books, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell and Assholes Finish First, ends here. But as you should expect from Tucker by now, he is going out with a bang—literally and figuratively. In this book, you’ll learn: * How to live and work in Cancun, while still enrolled in Law School * Why Halloween is really awesome * How to subtly torture a highstrung roommate until he explodes with furious anger over a misplaced condiment * What really happened when a dirty pageant girl tried to sue Tucker because he told the truth * Why you should never accept a homemade treat from a hippie with a van As we've come to learn from Tucker, assholes do finish first...but everything comes with a price.