Winner of the Golden Heart Award. Tristan Wyndam did not expect to escort his mentor's beautiful daughter unchaperoned to Paris. But Lila Covington defies all expectations and society's conventions. She promises to protect Tristan's reputation by disguising herself as a boy on the journey. But it is her performance as his wife that leaves him wanting more. (May)
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award National Book Award Finalist A new American classic from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gilead and Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson, one of the greatest novelists of our time, returns to the town of Gilead in an unforgettable story of a girlhood lived on the fringes of society in fear, awe, and wonder. Lila, homeless and alone after years of roaming the countryside, steps inside a small-town Iowa church-the only available shelter from the rain-and ignites a romance and a debate that will reshape her life. She becomes the wife of a minister, John Ames, and begins a new existence while trying to make sense of the life that preceded her newfound security. Neglected as a toddler, Lila was rescued by Doll, a canny young drifter, and brought up by her in a hardscrabble childhood. Together they crafted a life on the run, living hand to mouth with nothing but their sisterly bond and a ragged blade to protect them. Despite bouts of petty violence and moments of desperation, their shared life was laced with moments of joy and love. When Lila arrives in Gilead, she struggles to reconcile the life of her makeshift family and their days of hardship with the gentle Christian worldview of her husband which paradoxically judges those she loves. Revisiting the beloved characters and setting of Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead and Home, a National Book Award finalist, Lila is a moving expression of the mysteries of existence that is destined to become an American classic.
When Brooke Baker first meets Dustin Grant, the attraction is instant. Add in how he doesn’t cringe at the mention of anal beads, then she’s crushing hard. With a chance second meeting where he’s in need of help with a charity dinner, Brooke is more than ready to step in. Despite her being dressed to the nines, her perfect day out with the handsome football player doesn’t go as planned. You see, Dustin already has a date for the night. Brooke’s instead there to look after his son, Benjie. Since it’s obvious Brooke isn’t Dustin’s type, she pushes away her attraction and moves on. That’s all fine… until Dustin turns the tables and decides he’s interested after all. But Brooke isn’t prepared to lower her guard, nor does she want to be a backup. Can Dustin woo her with his charms, or will he bumble the whole thing and miss out on the chance of something special? NOTE: Bumbled Love can be read as a standalone or after Fumbled Love (Reagan and Carter's story)
17-year-old Lila has two secrets she's prepared to take to the grave. The first is that she can move things just by looking at them. The second is that she's been in love with her brother's best friend, Alex, since forever. After a mugging exposes her unique ability, Lila decides to run to the only people she can trust - her brother and Alex. They live in Southern California where they work for a secret organisation called The Unit, and Lila discovers that the two of them are hunting down the men who murdered her mother five years before. And that they've found them. In a world where nothing and no one is quite as they seem, Lila quickly realises that she is not alone - there are others out there just like her - people with special powers -and her mother's killer is one of them…
What makes your heart break for our broken world? You want to make a difference in the world. You’re concerned about all the problems you see, the injustices and the suffering. But you don’t know where to begin. Designed for the aspiring activist or world-changer, this book is the key to get you started. Live Action founder Lila Rose says transformation begins with heartbreak—with seeing the injustices around you and allowing that suffering to light a fire in your soul. In this book, she shares raw and intimate stories from both her personal journey and pro-life activism that will inspire you to become a champion for your own cause. Along the way, you’ll discover how to determine where the need for your gifts is the greatest and begin making a difference; overcome insecurities and imposter syndrome and become a leader through practice; find inner courage and confidence in the face of obstacles and criticism; and bounce back from mistakes to continually grow and make a long-lasting impact. The fight for a world that is more just, more beautiful, and more loving needs all of us. In allowing yourself to be wounded by the brokenness of our world, you’ll find the passion you need to make a difference—and draw closer to the One who truly saves.
Introducing the first book of the Citrus Pines small-town contemporary romance series by Lila Dawes.Readers said --"It was captivating and I did not want to put it down!" "You know that feeling when you watch a series for a very long time and the characters starts to feel like your family, they become part of your life? This book made me feel the same. Please let there be more.""The heat between them is absolutely sizzling!" "I loved every page." Christy Lee is having the worst time. Her scumbag boyfriend has run off with all of her money, leaving her completely broke. She's a self-employed writer with the worst case of writer's block and to top it off, her estranged father has just passed away.Now, she has to return home to Citrus Pines to deal with the estate and plan the funeral, in the town that holds nothing but painful memories for her. Especially in the form of town bachelor, Dean Campbell. Having publicly humiliated her in high school, she wants nothing more than to avoid Dean and leave town as soon as possible.But when the house needs repairs, and with no money to pay for it, Christy has to reluctantly accept Dean's offer to help out. However, for someone who branded her so unattractive in high school, Dean sure seems to be paying her a lot of attention. With her trust issues non-existent, will Christy ever be able to let down her guard and open her heart?Buy It's Only Love: Citrus Pines Book 1 for a steamy contemporary romance set in a close knit small-town and enjoy the sneak peek below!Content warning: coarse language, explicit sex, adult themes."'Scuse me little lady," came a deep, southern voice. Just as Christy turned to see who had interrupted her, a man squeezed between her and Justine, knocking Christy to the side. She squealed and tipped back, fumbling for the bronzed railing to stop herself from falling off her wobbling barstool. When she righted herself, she turned to the man in question, he had his back to her, leaning on the bar talking to Justine. Christy's eyes narrowed at the wide expanse of his shoulders which were now blocking her view of her friend. She reached up and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention but as she did, he popped his elbow out resting his hand on his hip, the action batting her hand away. Okay, this guy is rude, barging his way into our conversation, who does he think he is? Blocking her view of Justine with those big, muscular, big, wide, muscular, big shoulders. Damn, he's got nice shoulders, and back, that shirt pulled tight across them...Christy shook herself."Ahem," she coughed politely, attempting to get his attention. He either didn't hear her or he was simply ignoring her, she felt it was most likely the latter as he continued flirting shamelessly with Justine."You sure look real good tonight. When are you gonna let me take you out on the town?" he asked, oozing charm in that smoky, southern accent of his. Ugh, do women actually fall for this routine? She thought, rolling her eyes."Excuse me," Christy tried again peering round him and catching Justine's eyes for a moment before he moved to the side and blocked her view. She started to get the impression he was doing this on purpose."I told you, hon, February 29th I would meet you here," Justine cooed back at him, amusement in her voice."Wait a minute, there ain't no February 29th," he drawled, draping an arm around Justine's shoulders, Christy's eyes moved to his back again, his shirt hugging his muscles, so tight it threatened to rip which would be wonderful awful."There is every four years," Justine replied patiently."Aw shucks, there is?" he chuckled.Did he just 'aw shucks'? Who even says that these days? Christy was getting madder by the second....
Alex and Lila are on the run, desperately trying to stay one step ahead of the Unit, which is somehow tracking their every move. WhileAlex is determined to keep Lila safe and her ability secret at any cost, Lila's only thought isoffinding a way back to California so she can rescue her brother and mother from the military base where they're being held. Struggling to control both her growing power and her deepening feelings for Alex, Lila decides the time has finally come to stop running and start fighting. Together with Alex, Demos, and the others she's come to think of as family, Lila plans not onlyto save her brother and mum, but also to completely destroy the Unit and everything it stands for. But the plan requires Lila to return to Californiaalone, andto make friends with the enemy - and in doing so, sheriskslosing everything:Alex, her family… even her life.
THE NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Ella's best friend Lila has always been a good girl who likes pretty clothes and preppy boys. But ever since the first day she met Micha's best friend Ethan, she hasn't been able to stop thinking about him. Girls have always flocked to Ethan -- but never princesses like Lila. And until Lila came into his life he never wanted them to. From the outside the two couldn't seem more different, but somehow they have a connection deeper and more intense than anyone could have imagined. Can two people from such dramatically different worlds really have a love that lasts?
Glory Boughton has returned to Gilead to care for her dying father. soon her brother, Jack—the prodigal son of the family, gone for twenty years—comes home too, looking for refuge and trying to make peace with a past littered with torment and pain. A troubled boy from childhood, an alcoholic who cannot hold a job, Jack is one of the great characters in recent literature. He is perpetually at odds with his surroundings and with his traditionalist father, though he remains Reverend Boughton’s most beloved child. Brilliant, beguiling, lovable and wayward, Jack forges an intense new bond with Glory and engages painfully with John Ames, his godfather and namesake. Home is a moving and healing book about families, family secrets and the passing of the generations, about love and death and faith. It is arguably Marilynne Robinson’s greatest work, an unforgettable embodiment of the deepest and most universal emotions.
The Story of the Lost Child is the long-awaited fourth volume in the Neapolitan novels (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay). The quartet traces the friendship between Elena and Lila, from their childhood in a poor neighbourhood in Naples, to their thirties, when both women are mothers but each has chosen a different path. Their lives are still inextricably linked, for better or worse, especially when it comes to the drama of a lost child. Elena Ferrante was born in Naples. She is the author of seven novels: The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love, The Lost Daughter, and the quartet of Neapolitan novels: My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child. Frantugmalia, a selection of interviews, letters and occasional writings by Ferrante, will be published in 2016. She is one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors. Ann Goldstein has translated all of Elena Ferrante’s work. She is an editor at the New Yorker and a recipient of the PEN Renato Poggioli Translation Prize. Praise for Ferrante and the Neapolitan novels ‘[Ferrante’s] charting of the rivalries and sheer inscrutability of female friendship is raw. This is high stakes, subversive literature.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘Ferrante is an expert above all at the rhythm of plotting...Whether it’s work, family, friends or sex–and Ferrante, perhaps thanks to her anonymity as an author, is blisteringly good on bad sex–our greatest mistakes in life aren’t isolated acts; we rehearse them over and over until we get them as badly wrong as we can.’ Independent ‘Great novels are intelligent far beyond the powers of any character or writer or individual reader, as are great friendships, in their way. These wonderful books sit at the heart of that mystery, with the warmth and power of both.’ Harper’s ‘Elena Ferrante is one of the great novelists of our time. Her voice is passionate, her view sweeping and her gaze basilisk...In these bold, gorgeous, relentless novels, Ferrante traces the deep connections between the political and the domestic. This is a new version of the way we live now—one we need, one told brilliantly, by a woman.’ New York Times Sunday Book Review ‘When I read [the Neapolitan novels] I find that I never want to stop. I feel vexed by the obstacles—my job, or acquaintances on the subway—that threaten to keep me apart from the books. I mourn separations (a year until the next one—how?). I am propelled by a ravenous will to keep going.’ New Yorker ‘The best thing I’ve read this year, far and away...She puts most other writing at the moment in the shade. She’s marvellous.’ Richard Flanagan ‘The Neapolitan series stands as a testament to the ability of great literature to challenge, flummox, enrage and excite as it entertains.’ Sydney Morning Herald ‘The depth of perception Ms. Ferrante shows about her character’s conflicts and psychological states is astonishing...Her novels ring so true and are written with such empathy that they sound confessional.’ Wall Street Journal ‘The older you get, the harder it is to recapture the intoxicating sense of discovery that comes when you first read George Eliot, Nabokov, Tolstoy or Colette. But this year it came again when I read Elena Ferrante’s remarkable Neapolitan novels.’ Jane Shilling, New Statesman ‘There is nothing remotely tiring or trying about the experience of reading the Neapolitan novels, which I, and a great many others, now rank among our greatest book-related pleasures...it is writing that holds honesty dear.’ Weekend Australian ‘Dickens gave working people a voice. Ferrante, whoever she might be, presents a new paradigm for being female in the world...Ferrante’s great literary creations, Lenu and Lila, have the same emotional weight as Anne in Persuasion, Jo in Little Women, Maggie in The Mill on the Floss, Jane in Jane Eyre.’ Helen Elliott in the Monthly ‘This stunning conclusion further solidifies the Neapolitan novels as Ferrante’s masterpiece and guarantees that this reclusive author will remain far from obscure for years to come.’ Publishers Weekly ‘The Neapolitan novels are smart, thoughtful, serious literature. At the same time, they are violent, suspenseful soap operas populated with a vivid cast of scheming characters...Ferrante’s novels are deeply personal and intimate, getting to the very heart of what it means to be a woman, a friend, a daughter, a mother.’ Debrief Daily ‘Shattering and enthralling, intimate and vicious...The Neapolitan Novels are the kind of books that swallow me whole. As soon as I pick one up, I don’t want to breathe or move lest I break the spell...The Neapolitan Novels are among the most important in my reading life. I can’t recommend them highly enough.’ Readings ‘Ferrante captures the complexities of women, friendship and motherhood in ways that make your heart soar and ache in equal measures. If you haven’t already, treat yourself to this series.’ ELLE Australia ‘[Ferrante’s] Neapolitan novels contain real life – recognisable anxiety, joy, love and heartbreak. This is an incredibly difficult feat to achieve in the first place, let alone sustain, over four books. We will be talking about Elena and Lila for years to come.’ Sydney Morning Herald ‘There's a bright, sinewy humanness to Ferrante’s writing that is so alive it's alarming...The Story of the Lost Child is a full emotional experience, and a fitting end to a huge, arresting series.’ New Zealand Listener ‘I was one of the many who wept and wondered over Elena Ferrante’s The Story of the Lost Child. I plan to re-read the entire series soon.’ Favourite Feminist Reads from 2016, Feminist Writers Festival
