Welcome to the Gothic London of the 1800's. These saucy tales quicken the pulse, thrill the mind and excite parts of the body that other, lesser books fail to reach. Novellas and short stories featured in this sweet confection of blood, sex and gothic melodrama include Holmes of the Baskervilles, Miss Katie Bell - Victorian Vampire, Joan Dark is Lost, and The Vampire Alice Through the Looking Glass. Here, vampires walk the streets and your favorite characters from Victorian literature are twisted until they snap. This book contains adult content and is not recommended for readers under the age of 18.
Georgie Mair's first husband's dies tragically from leukaemia. Three years later love comes once more into her life. Charlie Gunn saves her after an explosion in the factory at work. Like her, Charlie is widowed with a young child. As their relationship blossoms into marriage, it seems to Georgie that this second chance is almost too good to be true. It is. And soon Georgie finds herself taking the only route possible. Shocking the staid community, she separates from him. But the community would have been far more shocked if they know what Lena was now up to. For in the new era of jazz and at the dawn of a Labour government, life is changing all around . . . And then it changes again for Georgie. She meets Bill Bailey. He is everything Charlie was not. But will she be able to find, with Bill, the same sort of bliss she had found with John? Or will this third bite at the cherry be something completely different? Praise for Emma Blair: 'An engaging novel and the characters are endearing - a good holiday read' Historical Novels Review 'All the tragedy and passion you could hope for . . . Brilliant' The Bookseller 'Romantic fiction pure and simple and the best sort - direct, warm and hugely readable. Women's fiction at an excellent level' Publishing News 'Emma Blair explores the complex and difficult nature of human emotions in this passionately written novel' Edinburgh Evening News 'Entertaining romantic fiction' Historical Novels Review '[Emma Blair] is well worth recommending' The Bookseller
When Gunter Marie “Junior” Stieg is offered the opportunity to escape Meiers Corners, she takes it, playing pit orchestra for Broadway-bound Oz, Wonderful Oz. But someone is threatening the show’s young star. To save the production, Junior must join forces with the star’s dark, secretive bodyguard Glynn, whose sapphire eyes and lyrical Welsh accent thrill her, and whose hard, muscular body makes her passions flare. Fierce as a warrior, enigmatic as a druid, Glynn Rhys-Jenkins has searched eight hundred years for love and a true home. Junior’s get-out-of-Dodge attitude burns him but everything else about her inflames him. A sensuous, insidious evil threatens not only the show but the very foundations of Meiers Corners, and Junior and Glynn find themselves at the heart of it... Each book in the Biting Love series is a standalone story that can be enjoyed in any order. Series Order: Book #1: Bite My Fire Book #2: Biting Nixie Book #3: The Bite of Silence novella Book #4: Biting Me Softly Book #5: Biting Oz Book #6: Beauty Bites Book #7: Downbeat Book #8: Assassin’s Bite Book #9: Passion Bites
When top Minneapolis exec Ric Holiday says refuses to design an ad campaign for Meiers Corners, Dr. Synnove Byornsson is sent to plead the city’s case. On the way to Holiday’s penthouse, Synnove is accosted by rowdy drunks and her blouse is torn. Enter Holiday, with his tousled blond hair, blue eyes, and sinewy strength barely civilized by suit and tie. He’s style over substance, everything she hates, but when he drapes his coat over her she starts to discover he’s more than mere sizzle. Each book in the Biting Love series is a standalone story that can be enjoyed in any order. Series Order: Book #1: Bite My Fire Book #2: Biting Nixie Book #3: The Bite of Silence novella Book #4: Biting Me Softly Book #5: Biting Oz Book #6: Beauty Bites Book #7: Downbeat Book #8: Assassin’s Bite Book #9: Passion Bites
For as many reasons as there are days in a year... a century... or millennia, some novelists choose to write incognito. By using an alias, pen name; or, as the French so beautifully say, nom de plume, they'll cloak their true identities. The nom de plume, while convenient, does present a bit of a conundrum for the writer. Whose backstory or biography should an author employ introducing themselves to their reading public? Their own, or their literary double's. Enter the creative mind. The very nature of a fiction writer is to write fiction, is it not? Indeed, it is. And, so... Shellam's story begins in Australia as Siobhán Aoife O'Shea, the only child of Irish-born parents. Growing up on a remote farm, her young life is idyllic. Though isolated from everything beyond the farm, Siobhán's life is filled with work, her books, and her parents' love. As a young teen, tragedy ensues, forcing her to survive on her own and learn to live in a strange and mysterious world. In this coming-of-age story, Djuna Shellam—nom de plume—author of The Em Suite Series, shares the early years of an unconventional life in Vol 1 of her memoir series, The True-Life Adventures of Djuna Shellam. Beginning in the Victoria countryside, her story continues to Melbourne, VIC. Siobhán enters uncharted territory that's fraught with challenges, discoveries, love, and heartache. As she gains a footing in her new world, solved mysteries and shared secrets create lifelong bonds in the gripping story of an extraordinary life.
As a part-time hospice volunteer, Eric Lindner provides “companion care” to dying strangers. They’re chatterboxes and recluses, religious and irreligious; battered by cancer, congestive heart failure, Alzheimer’s, old age. Some cling to life amazingly. Most pass as they expected. In telling his story, Lindner reveals the thoughts, fears, and lessons of those living the ends of their lives in the care of others, having exhausted their medical options or ceased treatment for their illnesses. In each chapter, Lindner not only reveals the lessons of lives explored in their final days, but zeroes in on how working for hospice can be incredibly fulfilling. As he’s not a doctor, nurse, or professional social worker, just a volunteer lending a hand, offering a respite for other care providers, his charges often reveal more, and in more detail, to him than they do to those with whom they spend the majority of their time. They impart what they feel are life lessons as they reflect on their own lives and the prospect of their last days. Lindner captures it all in his lively storytelling. Anyone who knows or loves someone working through end of life issues, living in hospice or other end of life facilities, or dealing with terminal or chronic illnesses, will find in these pages the wisdom of those who are working through their own end of life issues, tackling life’s big questions, and boiling them down into lessons for anyone as they age or face illness. And those who may feel compelled to volunteer to serve as companions will find motivation, inspiration, and encouragement. Rather than sink under the weight of depression, pity, or sorrow, Lindner celebrates the lives of those who choose to live even as they die.
The town of Whistling Ridge guards its secrets. When seventeen-year-old Abigail goes missing, her best friend Emma, compelled by the guilt of leaving her alone at a party in the woods, sets out to discover the truth about what happened. The police initially believe Abi ran away, but Emma doesn't believe that her friend would leave without her, and when officers find disturbing evidence in the nearby woods, the festering secrets and longstanding resentment of both Abigail's family and the people of Whistling Ridge, Colorado begin to surface with devastating consequences. Among those secrets: Abi's older brother Noah's passionate, dangerous love for the handsome Rat, a recently arrived Romanian immigrant who has recently made his home in the trailer park in town; her younger brother Jude's feeling that he knows information he should tell the police, if only he could put it into words; Abi's father's mercurial, unpredictable rages and her mother's silence. Then there is the rest of Whistling Ridge, where a charismatic preacher advocates for God's love in language that mirrors violence, under the sway of the powerful businessman who rules the town, insular and wary of outsiders. But Abi had secrets, too, and the closer Emma grows to unravelling the past, the farther she feels from her friend. And in a tinder box of small-town rage, and all it will take is just one spark--the truth of what really happened that night--to change their community forever.
Learn how to use denial to help you when you are facing tragedy and how to recognize and move past denial when it becomes counterproductive. Denial is often seen as an inability or unwillingness to face unpleasant or difficult realities--from financial losses, to illnesses like alcoholism, to larger social issues like climate change. In some instances, denial can be detrimental because it can keep you stuck in a cycle of destructive behaviors. However, denial can also be very useful for helping you get through hard times, allowing you to tap into your resiliency for emotional survival. With great insight and originality, author Holly Parker shows you how to use denial as a buffer in the face of tragedy and how to know when your use of denial has become counterproductive or detrimental. Through a fresh, comforting, and clinically-based perspective, Parker takes the shame out of denial with practical and relatable solutions to uncovering, reframing, and harnessing this very normal coping technique. Hands-on exercises and compelling personal stories help you apply this information to your situation and come to accept your need for denial when it helps, and break through it to face life’s challenges with courage when it hurts.
If they survive the war, will their marriage? Jessie Warner has married Tom Smith and their baby is almost due. Settling down into their new home in Bethnal Green, Jessie looks forward to her new life – even though Tom is continually getting into mischief that borders on the downright criminal. When war begins and Tom is called up almost at once, Jessie is left to cope with the baby alone. Meanwhile Jessie’s twin, Hannah, has been recruited to help at Bletchley Park. Immersed in her work decoding German messages, she has no idea of Jessie’s increasing desperation. Jessie struggles with the harsh realities of caring for a new baby during wartime and worries for her husband. When a friend from her past re-enters her life, offering some much-needed support, will she rethink her future? A gripping historical saga perfect for fans of Fenella J. Miller and Margaret Dickinson.
