In this fantasy romance, a man must venture into a magical land, guided by an elven slave who may also hold the key to his wounded heart. Lord James Dupree must recover his family’s stolen Luck, the elven talisman that has protected the Dupree family and vineyards for generations. Since the talisman was lost, James lost his wife and the vineyards have begun to fail. He will do anything to save his family, but to enter the Lands Between and retrieve the Luck, he will need an elf to guide him. Despite his abhorrence of slavery, James wins an elven slave named Loren in a game of cards. Though he is James’s only chance at entering the Lands Between, Loren does not trust his new master. Yet something draws these two wounded souls together. As James finds himself falling in love with Loren, a hidden enemy will force him to choose between his family and his heart.

Kayley's had a run of bad luck. She'd been struggling at dance practice for a while, and then her instructor decided to give Kayley's next role to another girl. Even so, Kayley isn't ready to bow out. She has a plan. The old ballet shoes on display at Dario Quincy Academy have a legend behind them. They're supposed to give anyone who owns them good fortune. But when Kayley steals the vintage slippers, she doesn't just turn her dancing around. She starts to see her friends get hurt. Will she return the shoes before something truly tragic strikes the academy? Or is it already too late?

"Quincy school lore tells that the shoes of a former school head, displayed in the academy's front hall, impart incredible luck to anyone who wears them. Kayley is struggling to compete, and she makes the drastic decision to steal the footwear. But as Kayley's dancing improves, terrible things begin happening to the girls around her. Now Kayley has to get rid of the shoes without letting anyone know she stole them and before something truly tragic happens"--

From New York Times bestselling author and economics columnist Robert Frank, a compelling book that explains why the rich underestimate the importance of luck in their success, why that hurts everyone, and what we can do about it How important is luck in economic success? No question more reliably divides conservatives from liberals. As conservatives correctly observe, people who amass great fortunes are almost always talented and hardworking. But liberals are also correct to note that countless others have those same qualities yet never earn much. In recent years, social scientists have discovered that chance plays a much larger role in important life outcomes than most people imagine. In Success and Luck, bestselling author and New York Times economics columnist Robert Frank explores the surprising implications of those findings to show why the rich underestimate the importance of luck in success—and why that hurts everyone, even the wealthy. Frank describes how, in a world increasingly dominated by winner-take-all markets, chance opportunities and trivial initial advantages often translate into much larger ones—and enormous income differences—over time; how false beliefs about luck persist, despite compelling evidence against them; and how myths about personal success and luck shape individual and political choices in harmful ways. But, Frank argues, we could decrease the inequality driven by sheer luck by adopting simple, unintrusive policies that would free up trillions of dollars each year—more than enough to fix our crumbling infrastructure, expand healthcare coverage, fight global warming, and reduce poverty, all without requiring painful sacrifices from anyone. If this sounds implausible, you'll be surprised to discover that the solution requires only a few, noncontroversial steps. Compellingly readable, Success and Luck shows how a more accurate understanding of the role of chance in life could lead to better, richer, and fairer economies and societies.

The story of the curse made famous by the hit show Dead to Me The Petrified Forest National Park in Northeast Arizona protects one of the largest deposits of petrified wood in the world. Despite stern warnings, visitors remove several tons of petrified wood from the park each year, often returning these rocks by mail (sometimes years later), accompanied by a "conscience letter." These letters often include stories of misfortune attributed directly to their theft: car troubles, cats with cancer, deaths of family members, etc. Some writers hope that by returning these stolen rocks, good fortune will return to their lives, while others simply apologize or ask forgiveness. "They are beautiful," reads one letter, "but I can't enjoy them. They weigh like a ton of bricks on my conscience. Sorry...." Bad Luck, Hot Rocksdocuments this ongoing phenomenon, combining a series of original photographs of these otherworldly "bad luck rocks" with facsimiles of intimate, oddly entertaining letters from the park's archives.

"A radically funny, irreverent, satirical novel about a loan shark who is able to steal people's luck--perfect for fans of bestselling authors Christopher Moore and Chuck Palahniuk. Nick Monday is a private detective with a penchant for coffeehouse baristas and the ability to steal other people's luck. Politicians and celebrities. Lottery winners and game show contestants. Accident survivors and successful athletes. All it takes is a handshake and Nick walks away with their good fortune, which he sells on the black market to the highest bidder. But lately, business has been slow. So when the sexy daughter of San Francisco's mayor offers Nick $100,000 to find her father's stolen luck, Nick thinks this is his big break. But he soon ends up blackmailed by the feds, kidnapped by the Chinese mafia, and accosted by vegans and angry naked women with knives ... all while trying to save a ten-year-old kid with the purest luck he's ever seen. Hailed as "pitch-perfect" by The Washington Post and deemed "one of America's best satiric novelists" by Kirkus Reviews, Browne's masterful combination of humor and biting social commentary make for an irresistible read"--

Tortoises disappear from a Madagascar reserve and reappear in the Bronx Zoo. A dead iguana floats in a jar, awaiting its unveiling in a Florida court. A viper causes mayhem from Ethiopia to Virginia. In Stolen World, Jennie Erin Smith takes the reader on an unforgettable journey, a dark adventure over five decades and six continents. In 1965, Hank Molt, a young cheese salesman from Philadelphia, reinvented himself as a “specialist dealer in rare fauna,” traveling the world to collect exquisite reptiles for zoos and museums. By the end of the decade that followed, new endangered species laws had turned Molt into a convicted smuggler, and an unrepentant one, who went on to provide many of the same rare reptiles to many of the same institutions, covertly. But Molt soon found a rival in Tommy Crutchfield, a Florida carpet salesman with every intention of usurping Molt as the most accomplished reptile smuggler in the country. Like Molt, Crutchfield had modeled himself after an earlier generation of natural-history collectors celebrated for their service to science, an ideal that, for Molt and Crutchfield, eclipsed the realities of the new wildlife-protection laws. Zoo curators, caught between a desire for rare animals and the conservation-minded focus of their institutions, became the smugglers’ antagonists in court but also their best customers, sometimes simultaneously. Crutchfield forged ties with a criminally inclined Malaysian wildlife trader and emerged a millionaire, beloved by some of the finest zoos in the world. Molt, following a string of inventive but disastrous smuggling schemes in New Guinea, was reduced to hanging around Crutchfield’s Florida compound, plotting Crutchfield’s demise. The fallout from their feud would result in a major federal investigation with tentacles in Germany, Madagascar, Holland, and Malaysia. And yet even after prison, personal ruin, and the depredations of age, Molt and Crutchfield never stopped scheming, never stopped longing for the snake or lizard that would earn each his rightful place in a world that had forgotten them—or rather, had never recognized them to begin with.

Stolen Treasure is a book almost 70 years in the writing! Written over the decades since 1946, this collection of observations, quotes, proverbs, witticisms and rules for living have guided the author since his youth growing up in India, through his time in the Indian Navy, and for the bulk of his life since moving to Ireland in 1960. Now in his mid-80s, the author presents a lifetime of humour and words of wisdom for a happy life in this book. A true treasure collection of one-line gems and snip-bits of life s experiences, the book presents an insight into the observations of life over the author s lifetime that so many of us experience but never document. At first, observations from an idealistic young man are presented. This is followed by wisdom learned in early adulthood and gathered as an Officer with the Indian Navy. The observations continue from a happy lifetime in Ireland with a large focus on what the author learned about life as a husband and father, as well as engineer and lecturer, to retiree. These have been collected over the years as the author has experienced them in life or overheard them in social occasions, and carefully recorded by hand. In the decades before the internet and social media, these were the original status updates that tell a story of how life and perception of what matters has changed over almost 70 years. An intriguing read for every person of all ages and all interests.

The God of War plans to fight for the humans in a war against the Faenyr. Can the God of Destiny stop him before both races are destroyed? After two hundred years of peace, humans and Faenyr are on the brink of war. Afraid they will be destroyed, the humans have called upon the god of war to defend them against the Faenyr. As the goddess if destiny, Iyana can see how it will end, unless she can stop the war before it begins. Torn between the love of her brother and her determination to negotiate peace, she may create a future no one predicted. How many lives will be ruined before they are done?

Mallory Pech believes she’s cursed. Injuries, accidents, and misunderstandings follow her wherever she goes. Even her name (first and last!) means bad luck. Her best friend, Benji Chance, insists Mallory’s fortune is hers to control. Heeding his advice, Mallory pursues her dream man, the wealthy and debonair Jean-Luc Chevalier, son of her company’s CEO, visiting her NY office from Paris. He’s never noticed Mallory on his previous twelve trips, but maybe thirteen’s her lucky number. But everything goes awry from the start. Mallory’s attempts to charm and allure Jean-Luc end in twisted ankles, house fires, and misspelled tattoos. Yet somehow, she draws Jean-Luc closer. When one mishap after another leads to a marriage proposal, Mallory believes her luck’s finally changing—despite Benji’s increasingly desperate warnings. By marrying Jean-Luc, Mallory could have everything she’s always wanted: financial security, family, and a flat in France. Fixated on her dream guy, she fails to notice her best friend’s jealousy and heartbreak. But as she navigates a world of secrets, lies, and culture shock, she begins to fear her fairytale engagement to Jean-Luc may cost her the one thing money can’t buy—the one person who’s loved her all along. And losing Benji would be her worst luck yet.