Chapter 1: A Bad Choice and a Worse One My dad always said that his feet were the only stupid parts of his body. They had walked him into every bad decision he had ever made, so he had to watch them carefully. He repeated that little pearl of wisdom so often that I began to take it literally and stare at my feet when they were moving. I had my eyes on them the afternoon they walked me into my career in agriculture. I blame my feet because I was only thirteen at the time and not exactly in the job market.On that particular day, I was mostly thinking about what I could eat when I got home from school. I was trudging along the dirt lane from the bus stop while my sisters and cousins rushed past me, trying to escape the biting New Mexico wind. The lane's rutted tracks had filled with water from a snowstorm and then frozen into narrow strips of dirty ice. It felt powerful and satisfying to crush the fragile surfaces and watch the underlying brown water ooze around my...

A strange haar blows into St Andrews' harbour one morning, freezing its inhabitants in a magical mist. A Viking longship docks, and out leaps Loki, the Norse god of mischief. Much to brothers Lewis and Greg's dismay, wise-cracking, havoc-wreaking Loki is back, but this time he's been followed . . . The fate of St Andrews, and indeed the ENTIRE UNIVERSE, rests with our reluctant young heroes and their friend Susie. With a swashbuckling Valkyrie as their guide, they set out across the mythical land of Vanaheim to rescue Odin, King of the Gods, from imprisonment. Along the way they play in a trolls' pig-wrestling team, out-scare ghosts from the land of the dead, oh, and outwit a gang of grouchy dwarves. But will they reach Odin before the real world is destroyed by Loki's mischief? Odin Blew up my TV! is the third book in Robert J. Harris's monster and mischief-filled The World's Gone Loki series.

It's the early 1800s and the wondrous land of Australia is full of possibilities as settlers stake their claims. Hannah and John are settling some land in New South Wales and hoping to start a family. But their bright hopes for the future are clouded with trouble. As they try unsuccessfully to have a baby, Hannah suffers from guilt over her past. Now this haunts her and her relationship with John—she's never told her husband about this chapter of her life. Full of the kind of emotional longings romance readers crave, Longings of the Heart is the heart-rending second book in the Sydney Cove series. Established and new Leon fans alike will finish this story wanting more.

Deborah and Simon St. James have taken a holiday in the winter landscape of Lancastershire, hoping to heal the growing rift in their marriage. But in the barren countryside awaits bleak news: The vicar of Wimslough, the man they had come to see, is dead—a victim of accidental poisoning. Unsatisfied with the inquest ruling and unsettled by the close association between the investigating constable and the woman who served the deadly meal, Simon calls in his old friend Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley. Together they uncover dark, complex relationships in this rural village, relationships that bring men and women together with a passion, with grief, or with the intention to kill. Peeling away layer after layer of personal history to reveal the torment of a fugitive spirit, Missing Joseph is award-winning author Elizabeth George's greatest achievement.

In the early 1800s the penal colony of Botany Bay was an unforgiving and harsh place. Isabella O'Shea is transported to New South Wales for wounding a member of the British aristocracy who raped her, so it is understandable that she loathes members of the upper class and the system that punished her; sentenced her to seven years transportation. Tiger Carstairs is rich, ambitious and English-so is it any wonder she is determined to hate her new master. Tiger dreams of making a new life beyond the aptly named Blue Mountains, so called because of the perpetual haze of blue surrounding them. Mystic Mountains is a story of courage and persistence-traits that were essential for the settlers who carved out a new life in a raw land where suffering and heartbreak were commonplace. Isabella and Tiger face tragedy and many hardships in their quest for a new life in this untamed land.

The National Book Award-winning author of So Long, See You Tomorrow offers an astonishing evocation of a vanished world, as he retraces, branch by branch, the history of his family, taking readers into the lives of settlers, itinerant preachers, and small businessmen, examining the way they saw their world and how they imagined the world to come.From the Trade Paperback edition.

She left, heavily weighted with secrets.But God reveals all things, in His timing. And He redeems them. Suzanne Zimmerman was only seventeen and pregnant when her shamed mother quietly sent her away from their Old Order Mennonite community in Kansas. With her old home, family, and first love firmly behind her, Suzanne moved to Indiana, became a nurse, and raised a daughter, Alexa, on her own.Now, nearly twenty years later, an unexpected letter arrives from Kansas. Her brother asks her to bring her nursing abilities home and care for their ailing mother. His request requires that Suzanne face a family that may not have forgiven her and a strict faith community. It also means seeing Paul Aldrich, her first love. Paul, widowed with an eight-year-old son, is relieved to see Suzanne again, giving him the chance to beg her forgiveness for his past indiscretion. But when he meets Alexa, his guilt flickers in the glare of Suzanne's prolonged...

A passion neither of them wanted…and neither can deny. Anna Locke was once young, naïve and infatuated with the handsome Jude Sinclair. Until the charismatic “gentleman” showed his true colors by abandoning her on their wedding day. In the years since, she has transformed herself into a confident, successful woman, independent of her errant husband’s aristocratic family in every way but name. When Jude unexpectedly returns demanding a divorce, she quashes the butterflies he still elicits, and resolves to show him she won’t be so easily cast aside. Jude has come home to assume the responsibilities left to him upon his father’s death, and to finally end the marriage into which he was tricked. To his surprise, Anna is no longer an awkward, skinny girl with a furtive gaze. She has become a lush, enigmatic vixen with dark eyes that shield secrets she seems determined to keep. In their intimate war of wills, the heat of bold desire flares into passion—and casts light on a shared past tangled in lies and blackmail. But until Jude can win her trust and learn the truth, there will be no destroying the obstacles that loom darkly between them…and the love that should have been theirs. Product Warnings This title contains a shockingly revealing sapphire gown, highly improper behavior at a masquerade, a tangled web of deception, and perhaps most scandalous of all, a fiery passion that flares to life between a husband and wife who have been estranged since their wedding day.

The Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–90) was one of the most important literary figures of the second half of the twentieth century. During the years of the cold war, arguably only Beckett, Camus, Sartre, and Brecht rivaled him as a presence in European letters. Yet outside Europe, this prolific author is primarily known for only one work, The Visit . With these long-awaited translations of his plays, fictions, and essays, Dürrenmatt becomes available again in all his brilliance to the English-speaking world. This second volume of Selected Writings reveals a writer who may stand as Kafka’s greatest heir. Dürrenmatt’s novellas and short stories are searing, tragicomic explorations of the ironies of justice and the corruptibility of institutions. Apart from The Pledge , a requiem to the detective story that was made into a film starring Jack Nicholson, none of the works in this volume are available elsewhere in English. Among the most evocative fictions included here are two novellas: The Assignment and Traps . The Assignment tells the story of a woman filmmaker investigating a mysterious murder in an unnamed Arab country and has been hailed by Sven Birkerts as “a parable of hell for an age consumed by images.” Traps , meanwhile, is a chilling comic novella about a traveling salesman who agrees to play the role of the defendant in a mock trial among dinner companions—and then pays the ultimate penalty. Dürrenmatt has long been considered a great writer—but one unfairly neglected in the modern world of letters. With these elegantly conceived and expertly translated volumes, a new generation of readers will rediscover his greatest works.

A moving saga that takes the reader to the very heart of a close-knit, fiery, loving family – perfect for fans of Maureen Lee, Mary Larkin and Pam Weaver. It's 1941 and German bombs are falling on Belfast. Martha's girls face danger, hardship and difficult decisions. Irene, the eldest of the sisters, is struggling with the constraints of married life, until a chance meeting forces her to choose between romance and reality. Pat, intelligent and sensitive, is working in Stormont alongside William Kennedy. As their relationship deepens, she feels that real happiness could be within her grasp. Peggy, impulsive and glamorous, is thrilled when the charismatic Devlin offers her a job with the dance band at the Plaza Ballroom. But she soon sees his darker side... Sheila, the youngest, is blossoming into a young woman, though her family seem intent on...

Cowboy Strong Fall in Love with a man who works with his hands...a man who cherishes his loved ones... Love a man who is Cowboy Strong....   The Cowboy’s Secret by Allison Merritt Can an all-around cowboy make peace with his past and find love with a spunky cowgirl who steals his family’s heart?   Not the End, Cowboy by Autumn Piper Hitting humanity with a pandemic isn’t enough for Fate—she’ll make you survive it with the one person you never want to see again.   Bidding for the Cowboy's Heart by Melissa Keir Going once, going twice, sold. Can a New York socialite find love with a Colorado bull rider she won at auction?   Saving Cowboy by Leslie Garcia Betrayal embittered them both—can love heal their hurt and help them save a horse named Cowboy?   Welcome Home, Cowboy by Sara Walter Ellwood Who says you can’t ever go home? Lorelei Kent fears she’ll never find love again. Back on her ranch isn’t where playboy bull rider Tucker O’Connell wants to be. Will she welcome him home? Or will his secret promise to her ex destroy any chance they might have had?   Her Taylor Made Cowboy by D’Ann Lindun As a successful model, Taylor Griffin hated being judged for her looks unless Waylon Wainwright can prove he sees the woman, and not just her beauty.  

Brothers Greg and Lewis are enjoying a heatwave in the summer holidays — until Loki, the god of mischief, buries St Andrews in a huge blizzard! Loki is determined to conquer the universe and will stop at NOTHING to get his way.<br><br>Greg, Lewis and their friend Susie must make a perilous journey to Asgard, the City of the Gods, to foil Loki's evil plan.<br><br>Luckily, Thor, the god of thunder, has turned up to help them. Unfortunately, he's locked in the boys' garage...<br><br>The hilarious sequel to The Day the World Went Loki is filled with monsters, mischief and everyone's favourite Norse gods.

An anonymous telegram brings strange news to Baker Street; there is an impostor Sherlock Holmes at work in New York City, solving cases and taking society by storm. The real Sherlock Holmes, fresh from an undercover mission for his enigmatic brother Mycroft, wastes no time in crossing the Atlantic to confront the charlatan. But he and Watson find more than they bargained for: the counterfeit Sherlock is nowhere to be found and his clients are none too keen on revealing their secrets...