This is no longer a fairytale. Perhaps it never was. Emberglass has slipped from the clutches of one evil queen to another; maybe Adaire is not the hero Celestia needs. It is better to turn away before she makes things worse, but Adaire is already too deeply entwined. And when Queen Sereia seeks her out, she must rethink where her loyalties lie. It is difficult to be the hero, but sometimes it is harder to be the villain.
The world was slowly dissolving into chaos, When a zaralia stumbled in. But not this world, A world with magic that would make your head spin. Celestia - a world of pixies, With four kingdoms that flourished. Sprawling forests, shimmering lakes, And rulers who were cherished. The wane began when the great king of Emberglass, The kingdom of Infernos in the north, Was murdered with his wife and eldest daughter, alas, Leaving young princess Zyra to rule forth. No sooner had the queen ascended her throne, That she dropped her sweet façade. She killed, looted and pillaged, And burnt down the cities that were in her eyes, deeply flawed. What happened next is unclear, For the kingdom was shrouded in magic and mist, The people could not rebel for fear, That the queen would hunt them if they resist. What happens next must be seen, Can Adaire, Sapphire and Faye, Defeat the evil queen, And keep evil at bay?
A World of Intricacies is a collection of poems and haikus about a variety of things, ranging from hope to the idea of good and evil. They are, to put it simply, the slightly philosophical ramblings and musings of a twelve-almost-thirteen-year-old girl.
Can this undercover agent save the woman he loves—or is her heart as counterfeit as the money he's been sent to track down? After all that Grandfather has sacrificed to raise her, Theresa Plane owes it to him to save the family name—and that means clearing their debt with creditors before she marries Edward Greystone. But when one of the creditors' threats leads her to stumble across a midnight meeting, she discovers that the money he owes isn't all Grandfather was hiding. And the secrets he kept have now trapped Theresa in a life-threatening fight for her home—and the truth. After months of undercover work, Secret Service operative Broderick Cosgrove is finally about to uncover the identity of the leader of a notorious counterfeiting ring. That moment of triumph turns to horror, however, when he finds undeniable proof that his former fiance is connected. Can he really believe the woman he loved is a willing participant? Protecting Theresa and proving her innocence may destroy his career—but that's better than failing her twice in one lifetime. They must form a partnership, tentative though it is. But there's no question they're both still keeping secrets—and that lack of trust, along with the dangerous criminals out for their blood, threatens their hearts, their faith, and their very survival. Combining rich history, danger, suspense, and romance, Crystal Caudill's debut novel launches this new historical series with a bang. Fans of Elizabeth Camden, Michelle Griep, and Joanna Davidson Politano will be thrilled to find another author to follow!
A journey into the dark heart of the desert.A young District Collector is posted to one of the furthest outposts of rural Rajasthan, and finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into the lives and troubles of the common people there. Then one day, with the help of a mysterious musician, the Sarangiya, he has an encounter with beauty in its purest, most absolute form - an encounter that precipitates a dangerous descent. The pages from the journal he keeps are combined with the narratives of various people around him to create a compelling account of his slide away from reality. Half real and half fable, and redolent with the songs and myths, the beauty and mystery of Rajasthan, Anukrti Upadhyay's Daura announces the arrival of a powerful new literary talent.
There are many books of many kinds and this volume properly classified would probably belong to the "sui generis," "sic trasit gloria mundi" variety. If the reader has grown a little rusty on classic Latin I do not mind saying to him further that the latter phrase has been sometimes translated, "My glorious old aunt has been sick ever since Monday," but I do not think that this revised version has been generally accepted as strictly orthodox. This book cannot be said to have been written without rhyme or reason for its pages hold more rhyme than poetry and three reasons at least, have conspired to give it literary existence. A hundred years and more from now it may be that some far descendant of the author, while fingering the musty shelves of some old library, may find some modest satisfaction in the thought that his ancient sire had "writ" a book.
The Church offers, in every age, in her Saints, Apostles, and Martyrs, brilliant examples of virtue, zeal, and heroic courage. While all are holy, there are still some, whose lives present features, at once so touching and sublime, that time can detract nothing from the interest which attaches to their names in every Catholic heart. Pre-eminent among these, is St. Cecilia, the gentle queen of Sacred Song, distinguished alike for her attachment to holy Virginity, her apostolic zeal, and the unfaltering courage by which she won the martyr's crown. The author has followed with fidelity, the ancient Acts of St. Cecilia, the authenticity of which the reader will find satisfactorily defended in his pages. For less important details, he has claimed the right generally accorded to historians, of receiving probable evidence, where certain proofs cannot be ob- tained. On such authority, he has, for example, assumed with the learned Bosio and others, that the virtues of our Saint formed the crowning glory of the illustrious family of Cecilia Metella. The recital does not terminate with the death of Cecilia. The discoveries of her tomb, in the ninth and sixteenth centuries, form not the least interesting portion of the work. The description of the church which was once her dwelling, and the witness of her sufferings and triumphs, brings those scenes so vividly before us, that Cecilia seems to belong, as all the Saints of God most truly do, as much to our own day, as to the period when she still combated on earth. We will not speak of the pleasure and instruction the author has afforded by his faithful pictures of the celebrated Ways of Ancient Rome, and the sacred cities of the dead, concealed in the holy shades beneath. For this, and much other interesting information, we refer the reader to the following pages, content, if, by our own humble labors, we have contributed to the edification of our Catholic brethren, and to the glory of Him who is admirable in His Saints.
