Laurinda is an exclusive school for girls. At its secret core is the Cabinet, a trio of girls who wield power over their classmates - and some of their teachers. Entering this world of wealth and secrets is Lucy Lam, a scholarship girl with sharp eyes and a shaky sense of self. As she watches the Cabinet at work, and is courted by them, Lucy finds herself in a battle for her identity and integrity.
Create completely reversible colorwork afghans and more! Innovative crocheter Laurinda Reddig created a unique and award-winning form of crochet that produces clear images that look exactly the same on both sides. Learn about this new method along with 28 reversible squares suitable for afghans or other items, make one of the 10 projects that use them, or find inspiration to design your own! Laurinda explains the basics of her technique and how to work with multiple colors at the same time. She demonstrates how to create graphic colorwork squares that range from simple geometric angles and shapes to a variety of picture squares including quilt-inspired blocks, flowers, the sun & moon, robots, aliens, and other fun projects for children. Create all 10 afghan projects complete with directions for joining, edging, and any additional stitch patterns used. Open your eyes to a whole new crochet technique--you won't want to miss it!
The story of Fire & Brimstone continues with the introduction of Nathaniel, a seemingly happily married man and brother-in-law to Chris, but he’s struggling to keep up this performance of happiness while he falls back into an entirely different performance—as a drag queen. In Fire & Brimstone, Laurinda D. Brown began the turbulent love story of two women struggling with finding comfort in each other and in themselves while teetering on the verge of self-destruction. Chris Desmereaux and Gayle Evans: Two women, two mothers, two lovers testing the boundaries of 21st century morality, torn between different ideas of right and wrong. Now in Undercover, the author expands the story, introducing Nathaniel, the monogamous lover of Patrick, a high roller at the Memphis nightclub where Nathaniel transforms himself into a female diva before a standing-room-only crowd until Patrick breaks his heart. Devastated by his lover's rejection, Nathaniel leaves his flamboyant former life behind and reinvents himself yet again. This time it's Nathaniel, the committed family man—a loving husband to his wife, devoted father to his three children, and brother-in-law to Chris. Patrick is a distant, still-seductive memory, until financial woes force Nathaniel to return to his old fast-money way of life. This fateful decision culminates in exposure—and Nathaniel's subsequent downward spiral. Domestic crises abound as Nathaniel struggles with painful issues surrounding his sexual identity, and he must face the ultimate truth about himself in a harrowing climax. Undercover is a powerhouse novel by a gifted storyteller.
Bearing such titles as The Doctor's Visit or The Lovesick Maiden, certain seventeenth-century Dutch paintings are familiar to museum browsers: an attractive young woman—well dressed, but pale and listless—reclines in a chair, languishes in bed, or falls to the floor in a faint. Weathered crones or impish boys leer suggestively in the background. These paintings traditionally have been viewed as commentary on quack doctors or unmarried pregnant women. The first book to examine images of women and illness in the light of medical history, Perilous Chastity reveals a surprising new interpretation. In an engaging analysis enhanced by abundant illustrations-including eight pages of color plates—Laurinda S. Dixon shows how paintings reflect changing medical theories concerning women. While she illuminates a tradition stretching from antiquity to the present, she concentrates on art from the thirteenth through the eighteenth centuries, and particularly on paintings from seventeenth-century Leiden. Dixon suggests how the assumptions of a predominantly male medical establishment have influenced prevailing notions of women's social place. She traces the evolution of the belief that women's illnesses were caused by "hysteria," so named in ancient Greece after the notion that the uterus had a tendency to wander in the body. All women were considered prone to hysteria-strong emotions, idleness, intellectual activity, or unladylike pursuits could cause it—but it was most commonly diagnosed among celibates. Analyzing paintings of women's sickrooms by Jan Steen, Dirck Hals, Gabriel Metsu, Jacob Ochtervelt, Godfried Schalcken, Samuel van Hoogstraten, and Franz van Mieris, Dixon perceives metaphoric identifications of the womb as the source of illness. She also documents changing fashions in cures for hysteria and discusses allusions to the debilitating effects of women's passions not only in paintings, but also in madrigals by John Dowland and Henry Purcell. In conclusion, Dixon argues that her study has strong ramifications of attitudes towards women and illness today. She takes up images in twentieth-century culture as well and calls attention to a resurgence of female "hysteria" after World War II.
From an author Amy Tan calls “a gem,” this is a witty, highly acclaimed novel that’s “part Mean Girls, part Lord of the Flies” (The Bulletin, Starred review) about navigating life in private school while remaining true to yourself. Lucy is a bit of a pushover, but she’s ambitious and smart, and she has just received the opportunity of a lifetime: a scholarship to a prestigious school, and a ticket out of her broken-down suburb. Though she’s worried she will stick out like badly cut bangs among the razor-straight students, she is soon welcomed into the Cabinet, the supremely popular trio who wield influence over classmates and teachers alike. Linh is blunt, strong-willed, and fearless—everything Lucy once loved about herself. She is also Lucy’s last solid link to her life before private school, but she is growing tired of being eclipsed by the glamour of the Cabinet. As Lucy floats further away from the world she once knew, her connection to Linh—and to her old life—threatens to snap. Sharp and honest, Alice Pung’s novel examines what it means to grow into the person you want to be without leaving yourself behind. An NPR Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection A Texas Tayhas Reading List Selection A Bank Street College of Education and Children’s Book Committee Best Children’s Books of the Year with Distinguished Outstanding Merit "A bracing, enthralling gut-punch and an essential read for teens, teachers, and parents alike." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred review "This daring work with an authentic protagonist teaches important lessons about being yourself while navigating through life."—School Library Journal, Starred review "Lucy’s struggle to find her place and sense of self will have a wide appeal for teen readers and is a welcome addition to the prep-school canon."—Booklist, Starred review "Lyrical, enchanting prose from a narrator with perception so acute she cannot help but share it immerses readers into the very heart of every scene. This is highly recommended for classrooms and libraries [and] a superb choice for book discussion groups and world young adult literature survey courses."--VOYA, Starred review "Part Mean Girls, part Lord of the Flies, and part Special Topics in Calamity Physics, this well-observed and unsentimental novel taps into what is primal within privileged adolescent girls."—The Bulletin, Starred review "Lucy’s narration pulls readers alongside her uncertain navigation of two worlds, and we can’t help but cheer in solidarity as Lucy recognizes assimilation masquerading as inclusion, refuses to back down, and instead embraces who she is."—Horn Book Magazine "In a novel filled with strong visual images, Pung draws a sharp contrast between authenticity and deception, integrity and manipulation. Against the vividly painted backdrops of two very different communities, she traces Lucy’s struggle to form a new identity without compromising the values she holds closest to her heart."—Publishers Weekly
Based in Miami, Laurinda Spear is an architect, landscape architect, and co-founder of ArquitectonicaGEO, through which she explores sustainable design principles in landscape architecture, master planning, and urban design. 'GEO BIO MIAMI' presents an overview of the various issues and topics addressed by her practice - green infrastructure, climate change, storm water management, etc. - and explores the value that landscape architecture brings to a project. Designed by Irma Boom, the book takes shape as a dense collage of projects, sketches, bright colours, and insightful analyses, and also includes an introduction by landscape architect Charles Birnbaum.
As a means to escape her abusive past, Monique Cummings, tired of the pain that has become her life, seeks refuge in a lesbian existence, transforming herself into a street thug and seeking adventurous sexual experiences to satisfy her desires. Original.
A steamy lesbian anthology in which adventurous women lose their inhibitions - and find a whole lot of satisfaction! Laurinda Brown's characters explore every aspect of black lesbian life - first times, illicit trysts, cheating hearts and long-time love. Sexy, witty and hotter than hot.
He has something that belongs to her, something he can't give back?Nakita Faulkner may be straight-laced, but she's never one to back down from a bet with her twin brother. That's how she finds herself reluctantly getting her first tattoo. Her attraction to her sexy tattooist makes the whole situation even more awkward. Still, there's no way she'd ever have anything to do with someone like him-she has a plan for her life and she's sticking with it.Lennox Conrad-Nox-a tattooist with a troubled past is trying to get his life back on track. When Nakita walks into his parlour, Nox is more than a little intrigued by the uptight redhead, determined to get a tattoo she clearly doesn't want. As drawn as he is to her, bookish innocents really aren't his type. Besides, there are circumstances beyond his control and time is running out.One night Nakita's world is turned upside down. A strange twist of fate throws her back into the path of Nox. She discovers something about him that compels her to make an unusual proposition-a proposition he cannot refuse.Will the very thing that draws them together, tear them apart?Black Ink Heart is a captivating and powerful love story about choosing when to hold on and when to let go. If you like raw emotion, sensual romance and compelling characters, then you'll adore this much-loved standalone romance.
