A respectable marriage reveals private passions and dangerous secrets in this “sensual and intriguing” Victorian romance (Publishers Weekly). Lucy Ashton had long ago given up her quest for true love. Instead, she plays the expected role of a society lady: flirting, dancing, and dabbling in the new fashion of spiritualism. She even marries when—and who—she’s supposed to. If the stuffy Duke of Sussex cannot spark the passion she craves, he can at least give her a family and a home of her own. But when her polite marriage reveals a caring and sensual man, Lucy begins to wonder if she can indeed have it all. As a member of a secretive organization, Lord Sussex is not the man London society has come to admire. Meanwhile, Lucy harbors a few troublesome ghosts of her own. Thus, when a blackmail scheme turns to threats of danger, the newfound peace of the Sussex marriage is cast upon the rocks. Passion has a price, Lucy learns. And not all ghosts stay buried.

Talidon has a proud history spanning more than three hundred years. The Talidians are a quiet, and industrious people steeped in tradition. Among these is the revered office of the Guardian - protector of the King. In a moment of carelessness the king and his family are killed and a usurper seizes his throne. The people of Talidon look to the Guardian to fulfill the role that he alone can fill as the redeemer of the throne. Unable to mount a resistance against the usurpers from the North, and in peril for his life, the Guardian, with his family is forced to flee for their lives. A tragic accident in their journey leaves the Guardian dead, and his young daughter orphaned, scarred, and without her memory. Years later, a series of events reacquaints his daughter with her identity, and her inherited responsibility to the people of Talidon. By tradition and law, only she is able to restore a ruler to the throne of Talidon. She sets out to regain her place as the Guardian, armed only with her faith, a special gift, and passion to return Talidon to peace, and order. Will she be able to overcome her own trepidation and uncertainty, and trust in the Lord to restore Talidon to her former glory?

A journey into the heart of dark passions and the crimes they impel. When passion is in the picture, what is criminal, what is sane, what is mad or simply bad? Through court and asylum records, letters and newspaper accounts, this book brings to life some sensational trials between 1870 and 1914, a period when the psychiatric professions were consolidating their hold on our understanding of what is human. Outside fiction, individual emotions and the inner life had rarely been publicly discussed: now, in an increasingly popular press and its courtroom reports, people avidly consumed accounts of transgressive sexuality, savage jealousy and forbidden desires. These stood revealed as aspects not only of those labelled mad, but potentially, of everyone. With great story-telling flair and a wealth of historical detail, Lisa Appignanesi teases out the vagaries of passion and the clashes between the law and the clinic as they stumble towards a (sometimes reviled) collaboration. Sexual etiquette and class roles, attitudes to love, madness and gender, notions of respectability and honor, insanity and lunacy, all are at play in that vital forum in which public opinion is shaped—the theater of the courtroom.

"Inspirational historical romance"--Spine.

RULES FOR THE (VERY) RELUCTANT GUARDIAN OF THE SCROLL 1. Don't lose the above artifact you've inherited from your ancestors-no matter how much it starts messing up your life. 2. Do learn how to control its powers. (And, yes, that means putting up with über-complicated guardian lessons from your father's meddling ghost.) 3. Don't trust anyone. Especially Rhys, the mysterious bad boy who's always one step ahead of you . . . and as irresistible as sin. 4. Do anything to keep the scroll from landing in the wrong hands. Even if that brings on a heartbreaking betrayal, an evil you never saw coming, and a choice you may not live to regret.

From American Book Award-winning author Ana Castillo comes a suspenseful, moving novel about a sensuous, smart, and fiercely independent woman. Eking out a living as a teacher’s aide in a small New Mexican border town, Tía Regina is also raising her teenage nephew, Gabo, a hardworking boy who has entered the country illegally and aspires to the priesthood. When Gabo’s father, Rafa, disappears while crossing over from Mexico, Regina fears the worst. After several days of waiting and with an ominous phone call from a woman who may be connected to a smuggling ring, Regina and Gabo resolve to find Rafa. Help arrives in the form of Miguel, an amorous, recently divorced history teacher; Miguel’s gregarious abuelo Milton; a couple of Gabo’s gangbanger classmates; and a priest of wayward faith. Though their journey is rife with challenges and danger, it will serve as a remarkable testament to family bonds, cultural pride, and the human experience Praise for The Guardians NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE “An always skilled storyteller, [Castillo] grounds her writing in . . . humor, love, suspense and heartache–that draw the reader in.” –Chicago Sunday Sun-Times “A rollicking read, with jokes and suspense and joy rides and hearts breaking . . . This smart, passionate novel deserves a wide audience.” –Los Angeles Times “What drives the novel is its chorus of characters, all, in their own way, witnesses and guardian angels. In the end, Castillo’s unmistakable voice–earthy, impassioned, weaving a ‘hybrid vocabulary for a hybrid people’–is the book’s greatest revelation.” –Time Out New York “A wonderful novel . . . Castillo’s most important accomplishment in The Guardians is to give a unique literary voice to questions about what makes up a ‘family.’ ” –El Paso Times “A moving book that is both intimate and epic in its narrative.” –Oscar Hijuelos, author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

The Quint is Bound. The Black Knight is Exposed. The Final Battle has Begun. With my mates and I bonded in body and soul, the quint is fully aligned. And while it feels sometimes like it's the five of us against the world, it's not. Along the way, we've built family and friends and allies invested in our success. They stand behind us as we tackle our final trials. Our time of being on the defensive is over... it's offense now. Our destiny... Open a portal to StoneHaven. Unite the realms. Live happily-ever-after. With our lives on the line, the five of us dig in. We fought hard for the future that's within our grasp and no one will take that away from us. * This is book five in a steamy reverse harem paranormal romance series. Expect sexy polyamorous situations (mmmfm), rollicking action, ongoing storylines, and shifter lovers who find what they need from not only their queen but each other as well. Med-burn, med angst, vivid sexual content, and language.*

Real life is messier than the movies. A bold, thought-provoking novel from the exceptionally talented, Steven Camden.

"[This] magnificent critical survey, with its inherent respect for both the 'Westt's mainstream high culture' and the 'radically changing world' of the 1990s, offers a new breakthrough for lay and scholarly readers alike....Allows readers to grasp the big picture of Western culture for the first time." SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Here are the great minds of Western civilization and their pivotal ideas, from Plato to Hegel, from Augustine to Nietzsche, from Copernicus to Freud. Richard Tarnas performs the near-miracle of describing profound philosophical concepts simply but without simplifying them. Ten years in the making and already hailed as a classic, THE PASSION OF THE WESERN MIND is truly a complete liberal education in a single volume.

"A gripping and unsettling new novel by the award-winning author of The Loney that asks how much we owe to tradition, and how far we will go to preserve it"--