Mourning the sudden loss of her sister, Callie Danoff wants nothing more than to embrace a fresh start in a new town, leaving the haunting memories of her sister's death behind. But when her brother Ramsay drags her to a spooky boardwalk, the two become entangled with a local vampire gang and its enigmatic leader, Elijah. Callie refuses to accept their existence... until she and her brother unknowingly ingest vampire blood. Now, they only have three days before they turn into vampires themselves. With her carefree summer thwarted, Callie must trust a group she barely knows in order to save her family.
An unflinching look at the aftermath of a murder and the question of forgiveness from award-winning author Andrew Biss "Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive." C.S. Lewis A young student is brutally raped and murdered. Her parents, Tom and Christine, are now confronted with the daunting task of processing their grief and attempting to come to terms with the horror that befell their child. The paths they take in doing so, however, couldn't be starker in contrast. Christine has withdrawn into a deadened world of suppressed rage and bitterness that has left her incapable of seeing beyond the terrible tragedy that has visited her. Her husband, Tom, on the other hand, has taken the unusual step of publicly announcing his forgiveness of their daughter's killer. At the most difficult moment in their lives, a wedge has been driven between them, threatening to destroy the only thing they have left - each other. On this explosive evening of final reckoning, as home truths and simmering resentments are laid bare, each are about learn painful, often brutal lessons of love, hate, and the elliptical nature of forgiveness. One night, one final conversation...one outcome.
The rain kept up. Day after day after day it kept up. I stayed in my room. Della brought in my meals. Alan finished the rototilling and went to the nursery for seeds. He came to show me what vegetbles hed chosen to plant and shook a handful of seeds on to his palm. Look, Kit, absolutely perfect. Ill plant the leafy stuff now lettuce, spinach, cabbage, and Ill pollinate=by hand. In spring Ill plant squash, tomatoes and I dont care what you plant! Im sick. Dont you know Im sick? You killed Mom. You took her from me. She gave meaning to my life. Kit, I didnt kill Now Im back to the start. The nightmares I stroked my forehead. You dont know my nightmares. Thats because youve shut yourself up in this room. Why dont you get out there and start living? Dellas just a kid. She needs you, Kit. What about me? Dont I need someone? Yes, that little eleven year-old. She lost a mother. You lost a son. You could give each other so much. My son was white. If Mom had been black would you have cared for her? My eyes ached with those hateful tears. They lodged there like rocks, pushing against my eyeballs, yet still refusing to fall. I tried to picture Mom with a black face. I saw her only as she haunted me, peaceful and smiling while I read that stupid Bible to her. I had loved her so much that day her color would have been negligible. But to compare her face with Dellas black one, to suggest Della could ever take my sons place Sweet Jesus, no child but my own could take Marks place. Alans eyes turned to steel. He clenched his fist and shook the seeds in his palm, as if debating whether to fling them at me. He left the room. I stood and watched rain pelt the patio. A monstrous idea crept into my head. It Started to grow. No child but my own. My own. ********* February sixteenth. Marks birthday. The idea obsessed me completely now. I could think of nothing else. I would call him Mark. He would have my black hair, my pale skin, my dark eyes, my long body. And I I would have my son. Della entered with a dinner tray. I told her to send Alan in. He responded to my request almost two hours later. It was the first time Id seen him since he showed me the seeds. He said he and Della had been watching Gone with the wind. What did I want ? I didnt hedge. I want you to get me pregnant. What? I need someone to love. His mouth curled with contempt. As long as the kids white, huh? You effing snob! Dont you use that word to me. A cynical look darkened his eyes. The look turned to desire. He reached past me as if to switch off the lamp on the night table, but changed his mind and left it on. He slipped a hand inside my robe and cupped a breast No foreplay! I screeched, backing away. I dont want any foreplay. Just just do it! You bitch, he said, reaching toward me as I continued to back away. You bitch, he said again, and I knew by his trembling voice that he would stay.
The heartwarming debut that brought Per Petterson, the author of the highly acclaimed Out Stealing Horses, to prominence Young Arvid Jansen lives on the outskirts of Oslo. It's the early sixties; his father works in a shoe factory and his Danish mother works as a cleaner. Arvid has nightmares about crocodiles and still wets his bed at night, but slowly he begins to understand the world around him. Vivid images accompany each new event: A photo of his mother as a young woman makes him cry as he realizes how time passes, and the black car that comes to collect his father on the day Arvid's grandfather dies reminds him of the passing of his bullfinch. And then, one morning, his teacher tells his class to pray because a nuclear war is looming. Ashes in My Mouth, Sand in My Shoes, Per Petterson's debut, in which he introduces Arvid Jansen to the world, is a delicate portrait of childhood in all its complexity, wonder, and confusion that will delight fans of Out Stealing Horses and new readers alike.
This story is not a story at all. It all happened. On New Year's Day Becky Morley begins to write her diary. By March, her world has changed for ever. Foot-and-mouth disease breaks out on a pig farm hundreds of miles from the Morleys' Devon home, but soon the nightmare is a few fields away. Local sheep are infected and every animal is destroyed. Will the Morleys' flock be next? Will their pedigree dairy herd, the sows with their piglets, and Little Josh, Becky's hand-reared lamb, survive? Or will they be slaughtered too? The waiting and hoping is the most agonizing experience of Becky's life . . .
Mourning the sudden loss of her sister, Callie Danoff wants nothing more than to embrace a fresh start in a new town, leaving the haunting memories of her sister's death behind. But when her brother Ramsay drags her to a spooky boardwalk, the two become entangled with a local vampire gang and its enigmatic leader, Elijah. Callie refuses to accept their existence... until she and her brother unknowingly ingest vampire blood. Now, they only have three days before they turn into vampires themselves.With her carefree summer thwarted, Callie must trust a group she barely knows in order to save her family.
The author recounts his childhood in Depression-era Brooklyn as the child of Irish immigrants who decide to return to worse poverty in Ireland when his infant sister dies
Wren MacAvoy works as a coal miner for a domed city that was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century to protect the royal blood line of England when astronomers spotted a comet on a collision course with Earth. Humanity would be saved by the most groundbreaking technology of the time. But after nearly 200 years of life beneath the dome, society has become complacent and the coal is running out. Plus there are those who wonder, is there life outside the dome or is the world still consumed by fire? When one of Wren's friends escapes the confines of the dome, he is burned alive and put on display as a warning to those seeking to disrupt the dome's way of life. But Alex's final words are haunting. "The sky is blue." What happens next is a whirlwind of adventure, romance, conspiracy and the struggle to stay alive in a world where nothing is as it seems. Wren unwittingly becomes a catalyst for a revolution that destroys the dome and the only way to survive might be to embrace what the entire society has feared their entire existence. Ashes of Twilight is the first book in a trilogy by Kassy Tayler.
Paige Turner, a successful model in New York, returns to her childhood home in Michigan for a well-earned rest. She no more than arrives when her house burns, she meets two very different men, and is suspected by the authorities of setting the fire that destroyed her home.
A sexy gothic romance based on Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee" Liam MacGregor is cursed. Haunted by the wails of fantastical Bean Sidhes and labeled a demon by the villagers of Dòchas, Liam has accepted that things will never get better for him—until a wealthy heiress named Annabel Leighton arrives on the island and Liam’s fate is changed forever. With Anna, Liam finally finds the happiness he has always been denied, but the violent, mythical Otherworlders, who inhabit the island and the sea around it, have other plans. They make a wager on the couple’s love, testing its strength through a series of cruel obstacles. But the tragedies draw Liam and Anna even closer. Frustrated, the creatures put the couple through one last trial—and this time it’s not only their love that’s in danger of being destroyed. Based on Edgar Allan Poe’s chilling poem Annabel Lee, with references to many of his other poems including The Raven, Mary Lindsey creates a frighteningly beautiful gothic novel that glorifies the power of true love. Perfect for fans of Lauren Kate's Fallen series, Kendra Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood, and Kelly Creagh's Nevermore. Praise for ASHES ON THE WAVES “Achingly beautiful and darkly sensuous ... an extraordinary read that left me breathless at every turn!” --Sophie Jordan, New York Times bestselling author of Firelight “Mary Lindsey, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, has created a haunting, mystical world. I loved this tragic, romantic story.” --Cate Tiernan, author of Sweep and Immortal Beloved
