I’m so sorry that I am posting this five days late. Most of these book are no longer on sale because I bought most of them on or around Black Friday. So I’ve decided that the first half of this haul will consist of books that are currently on sale, cheap, or free so if you check out my weekly hauls to find the deals that you will still find some. The second part of this haul will consist of all the books that I bought that are no longer on sale so I won’t be organizing those by price but the images will still link to Amazon where you can purchase if you are interested. I have been struggling with my energy levels lately but I am still aiming to have my December weekly haul up on Sunday but I hope you will understand if it is late again!

All book covers link to Amazon where you can purchase the book using my affiliate link. I may make a small commission from this purchase. Some books are listed by their current price. These prices may have changed.

FREE

He’s a poker king, a mafia prince, and royalty to women. A deliberate loner, he gives you his body, but never his heart. 

And I just became his new cocktail waitress.

My own losses allow me to see the real pain behind his sins. He’s not what he appears to be, but fixing him isn’t possible.

I should listen to the warnings in my past and stay away. Instead, he lures me into his underworld where vice and fortune thrive. He’s a wickedly hot, illegal addiction. Dangerous. Seductive. Forbidden.

I’m not just betting my life on him. I’m wagering my heart.

Underground Prince is the gritty, angsty, and twisty first installment of the Corrupt Empire Duet, featuring enemies-to-lovers, mafia themed romance. For mature readers only. 

Fall in Love this Christmas with an Exclusive Holiday Box Set!

Three heartwarming stand-alone love stories full of romance and happy ever afters set in the stunning Canadian Rockies guaranteed to get you in the holiday spirit!!

Unexpected Gifts
Christmas represents everything Andi should have, but doesn’t. Hiding out at Castle Mountain Lodge for the season seems like the perfect plan until she runs into Colin who is not only determined to make the most of the holiday, but make sure Andi does as well.

Holiday Gifts
Ryan is surrounded by couples falling in love at the Lodge, but he’s convinced it will never happen to him. That is, until he meets single mom, Julie. Julie’s daughter is determined to show her mom that love is possible, especially with a little festive help. 

She’s Making a List
Samantha is sure her fiancé Trent will never pop the question! So when her best friend announces that she’s finally set a date for her own wedding…only a week away—on Christmas Day, of course Samantha is excited. But she’s also a little envious…okay—a lot envious! Especially because the most romantic destination in the Rockies—Castle Mountain Lodge—is chosen as the venue.

Lydia’s new boss stole the job she wanted and he thinks he owns the place already on Day One.

Turns out — he actually does.

She can’t control her attraction to Matt, the man with stormy eyes and a penchant for kissing her in the supply closet, the elevator, and in her increasingly intense dreams. Dreams that sometimes include his friend Jeremy…

But Matt has a secret — he’s really Michael Bournham, playboy extraordinaire and the CEO of the company, and he’s doing a reality television stunt. For six weeks he’s pretending to be a middle manager while producers video tape everything.

Everything.

Including the moment he and Lydia give in and break every rule.

And, perhaps, their hearts.

Hooking up with my brother’s two best friends was a bad idea. 

But when the guy I’ve crushed on for ages stumbles on my stash of battery-operated toys, and offers to teach me how much fun they are with a partner, there’s no way I’m saying no. 

Especially when his boyfriend wants to watch. 

It’s just a one-time thing, though. Which is good, because I need headspace to focus on the Hollywood costume designer who’s trying to scam me and other cosplay designers like me out of our hard-earned money. She’s making my life a living hell for exposing her to the internet. 

Jax and Grayson offer a tempting distraction by exposing me. In my bedroom. At a company holiday party…

If I can’t unravel how I feel about them, and sift through the Hollywood-style legal trouble we’ve brought crashing down around us, the only things I’ll be getting for Christmas are a broken career and a shattered heart.

$0.99

My best friend’s little sister.
That’s all I’m supposed to see when I look at Olivia.

I may be wealthy, but I’m not good enough for her. Her brother and I have been best friends for years, and he doesn’t want me so much as glancing in her direction. I can’t blame him — not when I’ve screwed every girl in a fifty-mile radius.

But she’s another matter. I’ve caught the little glances she’s been sending my way for years, but now?

This kid sister is all grown up… and she’s in the bedroom next to mine. We’re both on the Morgan estate for our own reasons; she’s got ambitions, I’ve got secrets in my past.

She’s my full-blown obsession. I wonder how she’d moan if I took her roughly, how her innocent passion would make me feel alive. I think about how she’d sound when she breathlessly whispered my name.

There’s a past between us. I may not care about my past or hers…
But with so much history, can we make it work?

Chloe, Jules, and Lucy meet at a Maui resort kids’ club, aged 11, forging a lifelong friendship spanning two decades and three continents.

Twenty-two years later, they decide to swap Christmases, none of them expecting the hilarity and romantic escapades that will ensue.

Chloe from Melbourne spends her Christmas with Lucy’s mum and dad in a sleepy village in Oxfordshire, England, stunned to the core when she discovers who grew up across the road from Lucy.

Lucy, who has jetted off to snowy Colorado for her dream-come-true white Christmas, is taken into the fold of Jules’s loud and brash family, discovering more about herself in a few short days than she has in years.

And Jules leaves the cold climes of Colorado to spend a balmy ‘Orphan’s Christmas’ with Chloe’s friends in Melbourne, finding that time away from her mundane life is just what she needed.

Join these three lovable women as they each get a Christmas to surpass their wildest dreams.

No matter how far you go, home is where the heart is…

Beth Williams hasn’t been home for ten years. After falling pregnant at sixteen, she ran away from the imposing Scottish estate where she grew up rather than risk her family’s disapproval, working hard to build a life for herself and daughter Isabelle – but now she’s finally returning to Glendale Hall.

As Beth tries to mend her broken family ties, and fights to bring the community of Glendale back together, she realises that the story she has told herself for a decade might well be a very different one from the truth. Even though she ran from Glendale it has never left her heart. And, she soon realises, neither has Drew – Beth’s first love.

Will Beth be able to forgive her mother and grandmother (and herself) for what happened ten years ago? What will Drew say when he discovers the secret she’s been keeping from him for so long? Can a festive trail bring the village back together?

Will Christmas work its magic on Glendale – or will Beth be forced to run away from it all over again?

A
charming, uplifting novel that will warm your heart – the perfect read to curl
up with this autumn. Fans of Trisha Ashley, Debbie Johnson and Cathy Bramley
will love this gorgeously romantic read.

I’ll just admit it right up front—I don’t love the holidays.

In fact, Christmas makes me downright cranky.

Call me the Grinch if you must, but if your dad chose that day to decide he was wrong about that whole wanting a family thing, you’d grow up miffed about mistletoe too. Every candy cane, ugly sweater, and falalalala reminds me of the worst day of my life.

So when my uncle—a bigwig network executive—gives me one last shot to salvage my disastrous TV production career on a show called Holiday Homes, I’ve got no choice but to suck it up, head to the small town of Singletree, and fake festive.

The problem? 

Callan Whitewood. The sexy, sullen former pro-soccer player might be the one person on earth who hates the holidays more than I do. After a devastating injury ended his career, he’s left with a limp, no idea what to do with his future, and a cheerless attitude worthy of Ebenezer Scrooge. But I’ve got a TIME LIMIT to convince the gorgeous grump to allow his home to be featured as the pinnacle of the Christmas episode of the show that’s going to save my career.

That is, if I can keep my hands off him… but I’m having a bit of trouble sticking to the task. 

SHAKING THE SLEIGH is a standalone holiday romantic comedy with a satisfying happily ever after, plenty of festive chuckles, some sexy times and a few chinchillas. Maybe a cat. (And there might be a wombat because wombats really do fit into almost any story.)

$1.99

A dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico’s funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico’s little sister.

Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.

$2.99

Don’t you always plan the perfect Christmas? 
Don’t you always think it will be the best one ever? 
And doesn’t something – usually one of your loved ones – always come along and screw it up?

Katy’s been spending too much time in the office and not enough time with her family so she wants it all: snow (fake or real), the Michael Bublé Christmas album, whatever it takes. 

There’s only one thing missing as far as her husband Ben is concerned: another baby to complete their family. Katy isn’t so sure…

Ben may be playing the role of Master Elf in the pre-school nativity but he is struggling to master his own family life. With romantically-challenged friends, an ex who refuses to go away and Katy’s mum’s 64-year-old toy boy thrown into the mix, Christmas looks like it could be going off the rails… Never mind family planning, can Katy and Ben even plan to make it to the end of Christmas Day? 

Powerball winner Josie Morgan has learned the hard way that dating, in her financial situation, will only lead to heartbreak. She’s been perfectly happy living the single life and running the Pumpkin Everything country store. Too bad her mother can’t seem to take the hint. Unwilling to face another lineup of suitors and gold-diggers at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, Josie opts to stay behind in Autumnboro to host a free meal for anybody without a place to go. 

When Josie’s family turns up in Autumnboro, faking a relationship with funeral planner Riley Parker seems like the only way to make it through the holiday. Like every other man on Earth, Riley’s only interested in her money. So what if she has a teeny, tiny crush? If he agrees to help her out, she’ll gladly write him a check. 

But as Thanksgiving draws closer, turkey and stuffing aren’t the only things heating up, and maybe money isn’t the only thing on Riley’s mind. Josie’s already hit the lottery once, dare she hope for anything more? 

Set against the scenic backdrop of the White Mountains, New Hampshire, Maple Sugar Crush is a small town, sweet romance, and the perfect way to ease into the Thanksgiving season!

The town of Bentley holds two things dear: its football, and its secrets. But when star quarterback Dylan Whitley goes missing, an unremitting fear grips this remote corner of Texas.

Joel Whitley was shamed out of conservative Bentley ten years ago, and while he’s finally made a life for himself as a gay man in New York, his younger brother’s disappearance soon brings him back to a place he thought he’d escaped for good. Meanwhile, Sheriff’s Deputy Starsha Clark stayed in Bentley; Joel’s return brings back painful memories—not to mention questions—about her own missing brother. And in the high school hallways, Dylan’s friends begin to suspect that their classmates know far more than they’re telling the police. Together, these unlikely allies will stir up secrets their town has long tried to ignore, drawing the attention of dangerous men who will stop at nothing to see that their crimes stay buried.

But no one is quite prepared to face the darkness that’s begun to haunt their nightmares, whispering about a place long thought to be nothing but an urban legend: an empty night, a flicker of light on the horizon—The Bright Lands.

***Can be read as a stand alone*** 

Rhett has one rule. No falling for an unavailable woman. A rocky childhood will do that to a guy. But when his new neighbor knocks him off his feet, he struggles to keep his balance. 

Indie’s been in a dying relationship for as long as she can remember. But when she’s so comfortable being miserable, it can be hard to break the pathetic rhythm of her day-to-day business. That is, until she meets her new neighbor across the hall. 

Can she gain the courage to let go of a relationship that was never meant to happen? Can she gain the courage to grab onto love with both hands and fight for what she wants? 

Will Rhett let her? 

**This is not a cheating book and has a HEA** 

Cosy up in front of a fire and discover Christmas the Norwegian way…full of romance, cosy traditions and hygge!

In the bleak midwinter…
A really frosty wind is making Holly’s life absolutely miserable

After all the years of hard work it took Londoner Holly Greene to become a doctor, now it could all be taken away and she only has herself to blame. She’s retreating to her brother’s rustic home on an island off the coast of Norway to lick her wounds. Only, it’s the middle of winter and icy slush plus endless darkness isn’t exactly the cheery, festive getaway she had imagined.

Nearly stumbling off the edge of a cliff in the dark, Holly is saved by Frøy, a yellow-eyed cat of fearsome but fluffy proportions, and his owner – grouchy, bearded recluse, Tor. Tor has his own problems to face but the inexplicable desire to leave a bag of freshly baked gingerbread men on Holly’s doorstep is seriously getting in the way of his hermit routine.

Call it kindness, call it Christmas, but Holly’s arrival means midwinter has never looked less bleak.

$3.23

Xanthe had been happy to watch life go past. To be Xander’s Little Doll, as he had always desired her to be.

She had not planned on breaking the constraints of his control.

She had not planned on falling in love again on the heady night of her freedom.

Blaise wanted her. Wanted to keep her. Wanted to break free of his prison to pursue the mad love that had ensnared them.

Blood in. Blood out.

He was unable to rescue her and Xander would stop at nothing to lock his little doll back up in his doll’s house.

Could she be so daring as to break free? To seize the opportunity to indulge in their reckless desire for each other? To claim Blaise for herself?

Trigger warnings:

This book is a dark romance and, due to adult content, is only recommended to those over 18 years old. Contains swearing, drug usage and sexual scenes. This book also contains scenes which some readers may find triggering; these include references to mental health, sexual coercion, emotional abuse and sexual situations which contain reference to certain scenes such as blood play. If you are unsure about the triggers and want more details then please get in contact. Please note that the above is done so tactfully and is relevant to the story.

Little Doll may have dark aspects but it’s ultimately a tale of freedom, friendship and finding real love. This is a roller-coaster of emotions that you don’t want to miss!

$3.99

New York wedding planner Jessica Christie always goes above and beyond for her clients. So, stopping in Alaska to pick up the famed Jingle Bell flower for her famous client’s bouquet doesn’t seem too outrageous–until she ends up stranded there. 

Matt Holden has spent the last five years since his fiancée died, living in a virtual bubble in Alaska. His research work as a botanist and assistant at the local reindeer farm keep him busy during the holidays. 

But when Jessica Christie bursts into his life, all bets are off. Her stay is definitely temporary, but the feelings she ignites aren’t. Could Ms. Oh-So-Wrong actually be Mrs. Right?

Kenny Clark knows Santa is magical and only he can find his family. 
Kathleen Collins fights poverty and desperation every day in her bid to find new homes for the orphans of New York. But what about her happy ever after? 
In this concluding story to the Orphan Train Trilogy, can the magic of Christmas bring happiness at last?

What does Allie Richfield do when faced with the decision to move back home with her mother or live and work in a multi-million dollar mansion? She flips a coin.

Unsuccessful both professionally and personally, Allie is hurled back into the real world with an aging degree and little work experience in her field. With the flip of a coin, she takes a job as house manager for the Ashford estate, an early twentieth century Virginian manor.

Robert Marley, Allie’s new boss, is short tempered and brash, Robert’s younger brother Kip relentlessly flirts with her, his sister Sloane returns with two kinds of baggage: the Luis Vuitton kind and the divorcée-with-two-small-children kind and Pippa, the ninety-two year old Marley matriarch, decides to befriend Allie—and Pippa doesn’t befriend anybody. They’re all coming home for Christmas—that is, except Robert who refuses to take part in the family tradition.

As the family converges for one final holiday before the house sells in January, Allie’s life as she knows it will be changed forever. And Robert Marley might just have something to do with it. 

$4.99

College was supposed to be my chance to get over my ugly-duckling complex and spread my wings. Instead, I wound up in a sorority full of mean girls. I already have a hard time fitting in, so when my Kappa Chi sisters issue the challenge, I can’t say no.

The dare: seduce the hottest new hockey player in the junior class.

Conor Edwards is a regular at Greek Row parties…and in Greek Row sorority beds. He’s the one you fall for before you learn that guys like him don’t give girls like me a second glance. Except Mr. Popular throws me for a loop—rather than laughing in my face, he does me a solid by letting me take him upstairs to pretend we’re getting busy. 

Even crazier, now he wants to keep pretending. Turns out Conor loves games, and he thinks it’s fun to pull the wool over my frenemies’ eyes. 

But resisting his easy charm and surfer-boy hotness is darn near impossible. Though I’m realizing there’s much more to Conor’s story than his fan club can see.

And the longer this silly ruse goes on, the greater the danger of it all blowing up in my face.

Turning a hobby farm into a quaint country inn is a piece of cake compared to solving a murder.

Ivy Galloway may not know an alpaca from a llama, but nothing’s going to stop her from pursuing her dream of opening a farm-themed inn in her hometown of Clover Grove. Not after what she went through to rescue Keats, her brilliant border collie, and flee the big city.

When Keats finds a body pushing up daisies in her rye field, however, the murder puts a blight on Ivy’s plans to welcome her first official guests in just three weeks. The police chief refuses to rush his investigation. Does he really believe she’s a suspect or is he just holding a grudge over what happened in high school?

To clear her name, Ivy starts digging up clues. The former HR exec is no stranger to interviewing, and Keats is a dog who loves a job. As she juggles sleuthing with getting the inn ready to launch, she almost reaches the end of her tether. With her beloved farm’s very future on the line can she solve the case before the killer comes after her next?

Dogcatcher in the Rye is perfect for animal-lovers, and anyone who likes curling up with a fun, fast-paced cozy mystery.

$6.65

A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Timesbestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

Other

Nan King, an oyster girl, is captivated by the music hall phenomenon Kitty Butler, a male impersonator extraordinaire treading the boards in Canterbury. Through a friend at the box office, Nan manages to visit all her shows and finally meet her heroine. Soon after, she becomes Kitty’s dresser and the two head for the bright lights of Leicester Square where they begin a glittering career as music-hall stars in an all-singing and dancing double act. At the same time, behind closed doors, they admit their attraction to each other and their affair begins.

Investigating the killing of a prisoner during a riot inside a state penitentiary, GBI investigator Will Trent is confronted with disturbing information. One of the inmates claims that he is innocent of a brutal attack for which he has always been the prime suspect. The man insists that he was framed by a corrupt law enforcement team led by Jeffrey Tolliver and that the real culprit is still out there—a serial killer who has systematically been preying on women across the state for years. If Will reopens the investigation and implicates the dead police officer with a hero’s reputation of wrongdoing, the opportunistic convict is willing to provide the information GBI needs about the riot murder.

Only days ago, another young woman was viciously murdered in a state park in northern Georgia. Is it a fluke, or could there be a serial killer on the loose?

As Will Trent digs into both crimes it becomes clear that he must solve the cold case in order to find the answer. Yet nearly a decade has passed—time for memories to fade, witnesses to vanish, evidence to disappear, and lies to become truth. But Will can’t crack either mystery without the help of the one person he doesn’t want involved: his girlfriend and Jeffrey Tolliver’s widow, medical examiner Sara Linton.

When the past and present begin to collide, Will realizes that everything he values is at stake . . .

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn’t an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan’s unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

The Shroud of Prophecy tests fate to discover what happens when the path of good and right, the triumph of light over darkness, the only path to salvation… fails.

Everyone loves Mathias. So naturally, when he discovers it’s his destiny to save the world, he dives in head first, pulling his best friend Aaslo along for the ride.

Mathias is thrilled for the adventure! There’s nothing better than a road beneath his feet and adventure in the air. Aaslo, on the other hand, has never cared for the world beyond the borders of his sleepy village and would be much happier alone and in the woods. But, someone has to keep the Chosen One’s head on his shoulders and his feet on the ground.

It turns out saving the world isn’t as easy, or exciting, as it sounds in the stories. Mathias is more than willing to place his life on the line, but Aaslo would love nothing more than to forget about all the talk of arcane bloodlines and magical fae creatures. When the going gets rough, folks start to believe their only chance for survival is to surrender to the forces of evil, which isn’t how the stories go. At all. To make matters worse Aaslo is beginning to fear that he may have lost his mind…

Life in tiny Lake Eden, Minnesota, is usually pleasantly uneventful. Lately, though, it seems everyone has more than their fair share of drama—especially the Swensen family. With so much on her plate, Hannah Swensen can hardly find the time to think about her bakery—let alone the town’s most recent murder…

Hannah is nervous about the upcoming trial for her involvement in a tragic accident. She’s eager to clear her name once and for all, but her troubles only double when she finds the judge bludgeoned to death with his own gavel—and Hannah is the number one suspect. Now on trial in the court of public opinion, she sets out in search of the culprit and discovers that the judge made more than a few enemies during his career. With time running out, Hannah will have to whip up her most clever recipe yet to find a killer more elusive than the perfect brownie…

Miss Emily was old, rich, and afraid—and now, she’s dead. Her terrified plea to Hercule Poirot came a little too late. All that’s left is a house full of greedy heirs, and a very strange letter that could solve the mystery—or add to it.

In Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, the holidays are anything but merry when a family reunion is marred by murder — and the notoriously fastidious investigator is quickly on the case. The wealthy Simeon Lee has demanded that all four of his sons — one faithful, one prodigal, one impecunious, one sensitive — and their wives return home for Christmas. But a heartwarming family holiday is not exactly what he has in mind. He bedevils each of his sons with barbed insults and finally announces that he is cutting off their allowances and changing his will. Poirot is called in the aftermath of Simeon Lee’s announcement.

In the title work in this collection of novellas, Poirot and Inspector Japp collaborate on the investigation of a suspicious suicide. The supernatural is said to play in the disappearance of top secret military plans in The Incredible Theft — an incredible claim, indeed, as Poirot will prove. The bullet that kills Gervase Chevenix-Gore shatters a mirror in Dead Man’s Mirror — just the clue Poirot needs to solve the crime. And, while basking on white Mediterranean sands, Poirot stares trouble in the face — the beautiful face of Valentine Chantry, now celebrating her fifth marriage — in Triangle at Rhodes.

A murder mystery set against the backdrop of an exclusive prep school on Long Island.

In Gold Coast, Long Island, everything from the expensive downtown shops to the manicured beaches, to the pressed uniforms of Jill Newman and her friends, looks perfect. But as Jill found out three years ago, nothing is as it seems.

Freshman year Jill’s best friend, the brilliant, dazzling Shaila Arnold, was killed by her boyfriend. After that dark night on the beach, Graham confessed, the case was closed, and Jill tried to move on.

Now, it’s Jill’s senior year and she’s determined to make it her best yet. After all, she’s a senior and a Player–a member of Gold Coast Prep’s exclusive, not-so-secret secret society. Senior Players have the best parties, highest grades and the admiration of the entire school. This is going to be Jill’s year. She’s sure of it.

But when Jill starts getting texts proclaiming Graham’s innocence, her dreams of the perfect senior year start to crumble. If Graham didn’t kill Shaila, who did? Jill is vows to find out, but digging deeper could mean putting her friendships, and her future, in jeopardy.

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State — and she would do it alone.
Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

A haunting, Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance, from the acclaimed author of The Housekeeper and the Professor

On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses—until things become much more serious. Most of the island’s inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten.

When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past.

A surreal, provocative fable about the power of memory and the trauma of loss, The Memory Police is a stunning new work from one of the most exciting contemporary authors writing in any language.

Today’s feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others?

“When you turn an election into a three-ring circus, there’s always a chance that the dancing bear will win,” says Isenberg of the political climate surrounding Sarah Palin. And we recognize how right she is today. Yet the voters who boosted Trump all the way to the White House have been a permanent part of our American fabric, argues Isenberg.

The wretched and landless poor have existed from the time of the earliest British colonial settlement to today’s hillbillies. They were alternately known as “waste people,” “offals,” “rubbish,” “lazy lubbers,” and “crackers.” By the 1850s, the downtrodden included so-called “clay eaters” and “sandhillers,” known for prematurely aged children distinguished by their yellowish skin, ragged clothing, and listless minds.

Surveying political rhetoric and policy, popular literature and scientific theories over four hundred years, Isenberg upends assumptions about America’s supposedly class-free society––where liberty and hard work were meant to ensure real social mobility. Poor whites were central to the rise of the Republican Party in the early nineteenth century, and the Civil War itself was fought over class issues nearly as much as it was fought over slavery. Reconstruction pitted poor white trash against newly freed slaves, which factored in the rise of eugenics–-a widely popular movement embraced by Theodore Roosevelt that targeted poor whites for sterilization. These poor were at the heart of New Deal reforms and LBJ’s Great Society; they haunt us in reality TV shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty. Marginalized as a class, white trash have always been at or near the center of major political debates over the character of the American identity.

We acknowledge racial injustice as an ugly stain on our nation’s history. With Isenberg’s landmark book, we will have to face the truth about the enduring, malevolent nature of class as well.

“Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his.” So begins Italo Calvino’s compilation of fragmentary urban images. As Marco tells the khan about Armilla, which “has nothing that makes it seem a city, except the water pipes that rise vertically where the houses should be and spread out horizontally where the floors should be,” the spider-web city of Octavia, and other marvelous burgs, it may be that he is creating them all out of his imagination, or perhaps he is recreating details of his native Venice over and over again, or perhaps he is simply recounting some of the myriad possible forms a city might take.

From the bestselling author of Lawrence in Arabia, a gripping history of the early years of the Cold War, the CIA’s covert battles against communism, and the tragic consequences which still affect America and the world today

At the end of World War II, the United States dominated the world militarily, economically, and in moral standing – seen as the victor over tyranny and a champion of freedom. But it was clear – to some – that the Soviet Union was already executing a plan to expand and foment revolution around the world. The American government’s strategy in response relied on the secret efforts of a newly-formed CIA.

The Quiet Americans chronicles the exploits of four spies – Michael Burke, a charming former football star fallen on hard times, Frank Wisner, the scion of a wealthy Southern family, Peter Sichel, a sophisticated German Jew who escaped the Nazis, and Edward Lansdale, a brilliant ad executive. The four ran covert operations across the globe, trying to outwit the ruthless KGB in Berlin, parachuting commandos into Eastern Europe, plotting coups, and directing wars against Communist insurgents in Asia.

But time and again their efforts went awry, thwarted by a combination of stupidity and ideological rigidity at the highest levels of the government – and more profoundly, the decision to abandon American ideals. By the mid-1950s, the Soviet Union had a stranglehold on Eastern Europe, the U.S. had begun its disastrous intervention in Vietnam, and America, the beacon of democracy, was overthrowing democratically-elected governments and earning the hatred of much of the world. All of this culminated in an act of betrayal and cowardice that would lock the Cold War into place for decades to come.

Anderson brings to the telling of this story all the narrative brio, deep research, skeptical eye, and lively prose that made Lawrence in Arabia a major international bestseller. The intertwined lives of these men began in a common purpose of defending freedom, but the ravages of the Cold War led them to different fates. Two would quit the CIA in despair, stricken by the moral compromises they had to make; one became the archetype of the duplicitous and destructive American spy; and one would be so heartbroken he would take his own life.

The Quiet Americans is the story of these four men. It is also the story of how the United States, at the very pinnacle of its power, managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Parenting is the most valuable and rewarding job in the world, and also one of the most challenging. This is especially true for highly sensitive people. Highly sensitive parents are unusually attuned to their children. They think deeply about every issue affecting their kids and have strong emotions, both positive and negative, in response. For highly sensitive people, parenting offers unique stresses–but the good news is that sensitivity can also be a parent’s most valuable asset, leading to increased personal joy and a closer, happier relationship with their child.

Dr. Elaine Aron, world-renowned author of the classic The Highly Sensitive Person and other bestselling books on the trait of high sensitivity, has written an indispensable guide for these parents. Drawing on extensive research and her own experience, she helps highly sensitive parents identify and address the implications of their heightened sensitivity, offering:

– A self-examination test to help parents identify their level of sensitivity 
– Tools to cope with overstimulation 
– Advice on dealing with the negative feelings that can surround parenting 
– Ways to manage the increased social stimulation and interaction that comes with having a child 
– Techniques to deal with shyness around other parents 
– Insight into the five big problems that face highly sensitive parents in relationships–and how to work through them

Highly sensitive people have the potential to be not just good parents, but great ones. Practical yet warm and positive, this groundbreaking guide will show parents how to build confidence, awareness, and essential coping skills so that they–and their child–can thrive on every stage of the parenting journey.

At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful encounter…

Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by an elite valuation firm. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore.

But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his relationship with Erica shifting. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.

This summer has been warmer than usual in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen is trying to beat the heat both in and out of her bakery kitchen. But she’s about to find out the hard way that nothing cools off a hot summer day like a cold-blooded murder. . .

Features over Ten Cookie and Dessert Recipes from The Cookie Jar, including Red Velvet Surprise Cupcakes and Chocolate Covered Peanut Cookies!

Blaire Calloway has planned every Instagram-worthy moment of her cupcake and cocktails shop launch down to the tiniest detail. What she didn’t plan on? Ronan Knight and his old-school sports bar next door opening on the very same day. He may be super swoony, but Blaire hasn’t spent years obsessing over buttercream and bourbon to have him ruin her chance at success.

From axe throwing (his place) to frosting contests (hers), Blaire and Ronan are constantly trying to one-up each other in a battle to win new customers. But with every clash, there’s also an undeniable chemistry. When an even bigger threat to their business comes to town, they’re forced to call a temporary time-out on their own war and work together. And the more time Blaire spends getting to know the real Ronan, the more she wonders if it’s possible to have her cupcake and eat it too.

As two neighborhood shop owners battle for business, they prove opposites attract in this outrageously funny romantic comedy from the USA Today bestselling author of Meet Cute.

~Cassie