Showing titles in Literature & Fiction

As a member of the vampire council, being tasked with keeping an eye on a few people shouldn’t be too hard, right? Wrong. The moment I meet the VRC, I realize how very wrong I am. It’s fascinating how in a group filled with ancient beings, the only reasonable one is the human. Definitely not the grumpy vampire… or the other grumpy vampire… and don’t get me started on the eye-searing clothes the bubbly one wears.

Hate. Detest. Despise. These words were the only way that Adaline and Juliette could possibly describe their relationship, or lack thereof. Adaline would argue that this is because a certain she-devil has been making her life hell for the last five years. All for what? Because she was bisexual and wasn't born with a silver spoon, like every other student at Richmond Academy? Juliette doesn't need to argue, she is a Kingston, an heiress to a multimillion empire.

Otto Digmore is back, still trying to make it as an actor in Hollywood (despite his facial scars), but frustrated by all the schemers who'll stab you in the back to get ahead. But then Otto's good friend, Russel Middlebrook, sells a screenplay, a heist movie set in the Middle Ages - and Otto has been cast in an important supporting role! For 12 weeks, Otto and Russel will be on location together in England and Malta. Problem is, once production is underway, it quickly becomes clear that the director is ruining Russel's script.

Detective Inspector Jo Shaw is bored, desk-bound, and absolutely not supposed to answer the phone call that sends her to a body in an empty house. Thrown in at the deep end after an injury that almost killed her, she’s determined to prove she’s fit to work. And while a case full of unclear motives and multiple suspects isn’t quite what the doctor ordered, being back in a relationship with her favorite doctor certainly won’t hurt. When the investigation takes a chilling turn and the Serious Crime Team struggles to connect the dots, Jo asks Isla Munro to help her follow the slenderest of leads.

In his Locus review of Two Worlds and in Between - the first volume of The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan - Gary K. Wolfe wrote, “...it makes you wish the second volume were here now.” Well, the long wait is over. This second volume completes this ambitious undertaking, collecting the finest of Kiernan’s stories from 2004 to 2012, selected by the author herself. The book includes 25 short stories and one poem, plus the short novel Black Helicopters - more than 200,000 words of fiction, including the World Fantasy Award-winning “The Prayer of 90 Cats”.

A disturbing tale of a young man's uncanny ability to remain both young and beautiful while descending into a life of heartless debauchery, The Picture of Dorian Gray was considered proof of both Wilde's genius and his perversion. Oscar Wilde's scandalous best seller of 1891 was one of the most damning pieces of evidence used against him in the trial that brought about his downfall.

A brutal attack. An unexpected bond. How far will they go to protect each other when they have everything to lose?

For as long as Lucy can remember, she's been caught between loyalty to her rootless, idealistic mother and devotion to her fierce and exacting sister, Bea. From her unsettled childhood to her turbulent teenage years, she's been forced to make a choice. But as the sisters come of age and embark on their own experiments – in love, drugs, work, motherhood – they find their lives, and their relationships, increasingly in turmoil. Can the love they have for each other transcend the damage of the past? Or is the past too dangerous to examine?

'It's like ice cream, Mr Flynn,' Bertie continued. 'When you have ice cream, you need to eat it straight away, otherwise it melts. If there are people who haven't got any, you should share it, if you can.' When despair for the world grows, Bertie's theory of ice cream reminds us that it's the simple pleasures in life that we should hold onto.

It is 1921 and at Cassowary House in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Robert Hamlyn is a well-to-do lawyer and his steely wife Lesley a society hostess. Their lives are invigorated when Willie, an old friend of Robert's, comes to stay. Willie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of his day. But he is beleaguered by an unhappy marriage, ill-health and business interests that have gone badly awry. He is also struggling to write. The more Lesley's friendship with Willie grows, the more clearly she see him as he is—a man who has no choice but to mask his true self.

Laurie Holcombe is out of a job, out of luck, and out of time. When a prestigious law firm hires her as an assistant to one of its senior partners, it feels like she might finally get back on her feet. All she has to do is put up with the whims of her infuriatingly icy boss, Diana. How hard could that be? Diana Parker is Atlanta's top lawyer and isn't afraid to let everyone know it. She's driven, ruthless, demanding, and stuck in a failing marriage. Too bad she can't run her personal life as well as she runs her ordered office.

What does a scruffy mechanic, a deaf Italian, and a hot flight attendant have in common? Each of these men accidentally fell in love. Cupid smacked them right in their hot little tushes, and the rest is history. Along the way, they also found a family of men who support and love each other like no other. Across five novels, Author Casey Morales’s easy style gives you funny, self-deprecating humor that will have you laughing out loud, yet is authentic enough to also make you cry (in the very best way).

Joan Liang's life is a series of surprising developments: she never thought she would leave Taiwan (and for all places, California), nor did she expect her first marriage to implode - especially as quickly and spectacularly as it did. She definitely did not expect to fall in love with an older, wealthy American and become his fourth wife and mother to his youngest children. Through all this she asks herself the question familiar to so many of us: what are we living for? And are we ever truly satisfied?

In the kingdom of Eynhallow, Princess Ythsie is preparing to choose a husband, in order to secure the kingdom’s future. Everything changes when Stroma, a skilled fighter from a remote village, becomes her new bodyguard. As mysterious deaths rock the palace, Ythsie and Stroma uncover a web of ancient magic and deadly court intrigue. The princess discovers she has a rare and dangerous gift - the ability to communicate with the Deathless, Eynhallow's cursed undead army.

My worst nightmare and your greatest fear became a reality: You don’t remember me. You don’t remember the accident or the weeks afterward. You don’t remember my bed as your safe place, or when, against all odds, you fell for me. You remember me only as the casual acquaintance you saw as you grabbed your daily coffee. Three sugars, two creamers. Perhaps an acquaintance is all I’ll ever be to you now. Maybe I can shoulder the heartbreak and the loss of you, if it means you’ll be happy. Unless...you remember me when.

Lina and Tess were childhood best friends and each other's first crush. Lina always believed their love was inevitable—until Tess moved away without explanation, leaving behind only heartbreak and regret. Fifteen years later, Lina is rebuilding her life. Escaping an abusive marriage, she's now a single mom raising her teenage daughter while juggling the chaos of her job as a physician assistant. Love feels like an impossible luxury—until Tess returns. But Tess hasn’t come back unscathed.

Frankie has lived a long life and her small London flat is crammed full of art, furniture and memories. Damian, her young Irish carer, listens as she gradually tells him parts of her story - a story that takes us into a progressive, daring world of New York artists on the brink of fame, aspiring writers and larger-than-life characters.

A bundle of the award-winning Nothing Special series by internationally best-selling author A. E. Via.

In the spring of 1990, we return to Champton, where the characters we've come to love are all aflutter as a glamorous Hollywood movie takes over Champton House as its set location. As the actors and extras hired from the village don their farthingales, gowns and crowns for a masque set in the 1600s, a murder interrupts filming on set - and it's an ingenious one. Can Daniel solve the mystery with help from his sidekick Detective Sergeant Neil Vanloo - even when things are so sticky between them?

Caroline Parker knows three things to be true. First, she is going to be Boston's most sought-after divorce attorney by 35. Second, given how terrible her romantic track record is, falling in love isn't in the cards for her. And third, Christmas only brings her bad luck - being broken up with not once, not twice, but three times during the holidays is proof enough of that. When she runs into Hannah Dalton on Christmas Eve, she has no reason to believe her luck will change. After all, though Hannah is probably the most gorgeous woman she's ever seen, she's also straight.