This new second edition of Enchanted Evenings offers theater lovers an illuminating behind-the-scenes tour of some of America's best loved, most admired, and most enduring musicals. Readers will find such all-time favorites as Show Boat, Carousel, Kiss Me, Kate, Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Phantom of the Opera. Geoffrey Block provides a documentary history of each of the musicals, showing how each work took shape and revealing, at the same time, how the American musical evolved from the 1920s to today, both on stage and on screen. The book's particular focus is on the music, offering a wealth of detail about how librettist, lyricist, composer, and director work together to shape the piece. Block also includes trenchant social commentary and lively backstage anecdotes. Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Kurt Weill, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and other luminaries emerge as hardworking craftsmen under enormous pressure to sell tickets without compromising their dramatic vision. The second edition includes a greatly expanded chapter on Sondheim, a new chapter on Lloyd Webber, and two new chapters on the film adaptations of the main musicals featured in the text (including such hard to find films as the original 1936 version of Anything Goes and the 1959 film adaptation of Porgy and Bess). Packed with information, including a complete discography and plot synopses and song-by-song scenic outlines for each of the fourteen shows, Enchanted Evenings is an essential reference as well as a riveting history. "A solid and fascinating work that should become a model of how to investigate and report on the evolution of a musical. Block's research is persuasive and his writing vivid. . . Indispensable for anyone who cares to know more about Broadway musicals than Playbill can provide." --Steven Bach, The Los Angeles Times Book Review

Time-travel romances have made Lynn Kurland a bestseller in the here-and-now. A duty-bound knight has taken on the task of rebuilding the most dilapidated castle in all of England. A costume designer gets her chance to shine by showcasing her fairy- tale designs at an upscale party in an authentic medieval castle. And the magic that whispers along the castle's hallways is about to orchestrate an improbable happily-ever-after.

Queen Spider and Sir Fieldmouse find love at the Annual Midsummer Eve Dance in the land just beyond sunrise, where loons sing love ballads, caterpillars tap dance, and shared dreams mean more than differences of social rank or physical form.

Prepare to be swept off your feet by the romantic and irresistible debut novel from Anton Du Beke. London, 1936. Inside the spectacular Grand Ballroom of the exclusive Buckingham Hotel, the rich and powerful, politicians, film stars, even royalty, rub shoulders with Raymond de Guise and his troupe of talented dancers from all around the world, who must enchant them, captivate them, and sweep away their cares. Accustomed to waltzing with the highest of society, Raymond knows a secret from his past could threaten all he holds dear. Nancy Nettleton, new chambermaid at the Buckingham, finds hotel life a struggle after leaving her small hometown. She dreams of joining the dancers on the ballroom floor as she watches, unseen, from behind plush curtains and hidden doorways. She soon discovers everyone at the Buckingham--guests and staff alike--has something to hide...the storm clouds of war are gathering, and beneath the glitz and glamour of the ballroom lurks an irresistible world of scandal and secrets. Let's dance...

In the first volume of her autobiography, The Sun in the Morning, M.M. Kaye detailed the first eighteen years of her life in India and England and introduced readers to her love affair with India. She brought to life its people, scents, vibrant colors, and breathtaking landscapes. In the second volume, Golden Afternoon, she happily returned to her beloved India after years in a British boarding school. New to the glories of the Delhi social season, M.M. Kaye recounted her delightful exploits as a vivacious young woman in Raj society. Now, in Enchanted Evening, M.M. Kaye is a young woman forced to leave her cherished home in India when her father takes a new post in china. Though at first disoriented by the unfamiliar customs and confusing protocol of her new surroundings, it is in China that she discovers the pleasures that come from independence. Coming into her own as a painter, Kaye first meets with artistic success in China and then moves to cramped quarters in London's South Kensington neighborhood, where she begins to flourish as a writer. With vivid descriptions and the wisdom that comes with age, M.M. Kaye looks back on the years she spent as a young woman in a world as yet unmarked by World War II's devastation.

A crumbling mansion is the setting for a gothic romance of young love and true friendship that spans the early decades of the 20th century. A young boy finds himself in another -- but which is it, the boy in the mirror or the boy lost in shadows beyond time? No sexual situations. CLICK ON TITLE LINK FOR PREVIEW AND BOOK DETAILS. ALSO AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.

A crumbling mansion is the setting for a gothic romance of young love and true friendship that spans the early decades of the 20th century. A young boy finds himself in another -- but which is it, the boy in the mirror or the boy lost in shadows beyond time? SPECIAL EDITION - TRADE SOFTCOVER.

Nationally syndicated columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson, winner of the Ernie Pyle Award for human interest reporting, turns her sharp eye on herself in this frank, exhilarating, wise, poignant, and brave memoir. Her territory ranges from childhood memories of ritual pre-interstate trips in the family station wagon to visit foot-washing Baptist relatives to young-girl fixations on the Barbie dolls of the title, from the simultaneous exuberance and proto-feminist doubts of young marriage to the aches of loves lost through divorce and death. Her memorable journalism career, which began on her college newspaper and rural weeklies and moved on to prestigious big-city dailies, was punctuated by her distinctive writing voice and an unerring knack for revealing her much-loved South through uncommon stories about its common people. This is a big-hearted book that will leave no reader unaffected.

Werewolf barista Julie and her supernatural friends try to unwind at a party, but a conniving fraternity of fairy bros has other plans for our heroes. With one of their friends trapped in the frat house and the winter solstice (a notable night of magical mischief) looming ever closer, itÕs up to the amorous werewolves and gregarious centaur to save the day. The second chapter of the popular all-ages magical adventure from Lumberjanes creator GRACE ELLIS and talented newcomer SHAE BEAGLE.

Jack Shephard doesn’t believe in happy endings. He tried the whole happily ever after thing, and it ended in divorce. As a single dad and the Chief of Police in a small town, he doesn’t have time to date, which is just fine with him. He’s not looking for love. Especially not with a woman from the city who’s just as jaded about love and relationships as he is. Rosalie Crawford isn’t looking for love, either. Ever since her father walked out on her and her mother, leaving deep scars, she’s known that living happily ever after is nothing but a fairytale. She only does short-term and casual when it comes to men. When she gets stuck in Gossamer Falls for the night after scouting the location for a music video shoot, she doesn’t think twice about spending the night with gorgeous and sweet Jack Shephard. After one night with Rosalie, however, Jack can’t help but wonder if there might be more there. When Rosalie’s boss, pop music superstar Carrie Clark, decides to shoot her latest music video in Gossamer Falls, Jack and Rosalie will have a chance to reconnect. But there’s something he’s failed to mention, something that might throw a wrench into his plans with Rosalie—he’s a single dad to an eleven-year-old daughter. As much as Rosalie likes Jack, finding out about his daughter puts things in a different light. Relationships are risky enough, and with a kid involved…it’s all so much more complicated. But one night under the famous—and possibly magical—Gossamer Falls just might change everything, for both of them. Because in Gossamer Falls, magic lurks around every corner, just waiting to be discovered.