From USA TODAY bestselling author Holley Trent comes a new spark-laden shifter series! Six hundred years after losing his wife and son to his cousin’s deadly scheme, the demigod cougar shifter known as Tito Perez still refuses to take a mate. He couldn’t protect his family in pre-colonial Tenochtitlan where Aztec gods freely roamed, and he won’t risk endangering another in modern New Mexico. Too bad he doesn’t know he already has one from a tender affair with a sweet bar waitress he abandoned. After waiting five years for Tito to return to his senses, December Farmer tracks her daughter’s absentee father to the small town of Maria, New Mexico, to make him step up, but he’s not the only one in for a shock. The town is overrun with supernatural beings and, apparently, her daughter, Cruz, is one of them. December isn’t sure she can stomach being the mate of an immortal shapeshifter, but the stakes are higher for Tito. His cousin intends, yet again, to take away the only things Tito holds dear, and this time, Tito may have no choice but to cast his precious humanity aside and become the unflinching warrior he’s never wanted to be. Sensuality Level: Sensual
This lavishly illustrated book explores the impact of the poet Homer on four centuries of French artists through the lens of the Ecole's superb collections of paintings, prints and sculptures.
Love lasts forever in this value-priced paranormal romance collection featuring eight couples who discover that eternal happiness is the key to conquering evil. The Demigod’s Legacy: Demigod cougar shifter Tito Perez couldn’t protect his family in pre-colonial Tenochtitlan, so he won’t risk endangering another in modern New Mexico. But when December Farmer shows up to collect child support for a daughter he never knew about, danger of all sorts finds them. This immortal shapeshifter may have no choice but to cast aside his precious humanity and become the unflinching warrior he’s never wanted to be. Immortal Flame: After a horrific accident, Peter Blackstone arrives in Allison La Croix’s ER and heals himself before her eyes. Peter traded his soul to save his wife, and now he will hunt criminals forever. Can Allison find a way to unlock his forgotten, passionate spirit? Of Eternal Life: Dr. Abilene Miller is shocked when a dead man jerks back to life in her arms and infuriated when he kidnaps her. He thinks she’s part of a conspiracy; she thinks he’s insane. Only together can they find out the truth—and brave the risks they run in loving each other. The Nymph’s Labyrinth: Shapeshifting nymph Ariadne Papadakis must keep the truth of the nymphs’ existence far out of reach from American archeologist Beau Morris. But will the task force her to sacrifice her own happiness? Secrets of the Sky: Sparrow Reed might look like an angel, but she’s actually a witch who can change into a songbird. When her best friend’s problems drop Sparrow in an underworld fraught with threats, Rowen Aerion of the Knights of the Fog has his hands full trying to keep her alive—and his love may be her biggest danger of all. Embrace the Desire: Destroyer Payne can’t believe his good luck when his father, the lord of the underworld, orders him to take the lovely Chanta Timbers through her transition from human to half-goddess. Chanta is both drawn to and frightened by the beast that lurks under his skin. But only by defying the gods to pursue this attraction do they stand a chance in the coming war. Immortal Love: Bécquer is handsome, well-read, poetic, and … an immortal literary agent who exists on human blood. Not that it matters since his relationships are strictly business—until he crosses paths with Carla, who rewrites his script. The Gettysburg Vampire: College student Abby Potter takes advantage of ghosts’ popularity in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by inventing a vampire folktale for the annual holiday production. Problem is, her leading man—a history professor at the college and a renowned Civil War reenactor—is a little too convincing in the role. Sensuality Level: Sensual
Demigods, gods and goddesses, angels, shapeshifters, witches, fae and more powerful beings collide in small-town New Mexico in this full series collection of paranormal and fantasy romances by Holley Trent. Maria’s magic users and immortals get more than they bargain for as they guard the town’s paranormal secrets, battle their personal demons, and—finally—accept the mates Fate has long had in store for them. Presented in chronological order are: The Demigod’s Legacy The Angel’s Hunger The Wolf’s Joy The Coyote’s Chance The Coyote’s Cowboy The Coyote’s Bride The Coyote’s Comfort The Angel’s Fire The Angel’s Desire Each story in the series follows the romance of a different Maria couple, but all the stories are connected. Masters of Maria takes place following the end of the Desert Guards series—also set in Maria.
David Moessner proposes a new understanding of the relation of Luke’s second volume to his Gospel to open up a whole new reading of Luke’s foundational contribution to the New Testament. For postmodern readers who find Acts a ‘generic outlier,’ dangling tenuously somewhere between the ‘mainland’ of the evangelists and the ‘Peloponnese’ of Paul—diffused and confused and shunted to the backwaters of the New Testament by these signature corpora—Moessner plunges his readers into the hermeneutical atmosphere of Greek narrative poetics and elaboration of multi-volume works to inhale the rhetorical swells that animate Luke’s first readers in their engagement of his narrative. In this collection of twelve of his essays, re-contextualized and re-organized into five major topical movements, Moessner showcases multiple Hellenistic texts and rhetorical tropes to spotlight the various signals Luke provides his readers of the multiple ways his Acts will follow "all that Jesus began to do and to teach" (Acts 1:1) and, consequently, bring coherence to this dominant block of the New Testament that has long been split apart. By collapsing the world of Jesus into the words and deeds of his followers, Luke re-configures the significance of Israel’s "Christ" and the "Reign" of Israel’s God for all peoples and places to create a new account of ‘Gospel Acts,’ discrete and distinctively different than the "narrative" of the "many" (Luke 1:1). Luke the Historian of Israel’s Legacy combines what no analysis of the Lukan writings has previously accomplished, integrating seamlessly two ‘generically-estranged’ volumes into one new whole from the intent of the one composer. For Luke is the Hellenistic historian and simultaneously ‘biblical’ theologian who arranges the one "plan of God" read from the script of the Jewish scriptures—parts and whole, severally and together—as the saving ‘script’ for the whole world through Israel’s suffering and raised up "Christ," Jesus of Nazareth. In the introductions to each major theme of the essays, this noted scholar of the Lukan writings offers an epitome of the main features of Luke’s theological ‘thought,’ and, in a final Conclusions chapter, weaves together a comprehensive synthesis of this new reading of the whole.
While most of Maria, New Mexico is getting into the holiday spirit, coyote shifter Diana Shapely has more pressing concerns. For one thing, the due date of her twin niece and nephew is rapidly approaching and she needs to find them the absolute perfect welcome-to-the-world gifts. For another, the girlfriend she ghosted a year ago just showed up out of the blue. Lanie Chappell is a tough cookie who knows how to take “no” for an answer, but she also knows there’s something off about Diana’s rambling rationale for dumping her. Diana claimed she merely wanted to protect human Lanie from the dangerous world of shapeshifters, but Lanie had never asked to be coddled. She didn’t spend more than a decade in the Army hiding from challenges. Furthermore, if there’s anyone who needs her back watched, it’s Diana. The truth is that Diana was terrified that Lanie would realize Diana didn’t stack up. After being told all her life that she’d never make anything of herself, Diana decided that she’d rather cut her losses than be the one who gets left. Steady Lanie is the soothing counterbalance to Diana’s wilder spirit and the champion she’s always wanted. But if Diana can’t shake off the deep-seated insults of the past, she’ll never be able to claim the mate she deserves. This story is a stand-alone romance set in the Masters of Maria series. It can be read on its own.
A holiday hook-up leads to a lifetime of love in this charming story continuing the adventures of the Masters of Maria series. Alex Cavanaugh is used to fielding odd requests at her waitressing job. She would have never predicted, though, that she’d get brazenly propositioned for a one-night stand with a needy werewolf—or that she’d be lonely enough to tell him yes. Ben Swain’s inner wolf has been howling for him to take a permanent mate, but he’s terrified of change. He’s clawed his way to status and respect from his pack and doesn’t want to sacrifice that for anything. A short tryst while he’s visiting Maria, New Mexico, before the holidays is supposed to be a stopgap measure to keep his wolf hormones in check, but Ben’s animal side wants more of Alex. Although she’s a human, quirky Alex’s go-with-the-flow, practical personality perfectly complements Ben’s wild intensity. But after being burned by men before, her budding horticulture career has become her number one priority. Sure, she wants love, but she’d rather be alone than with someone who isn’t fully committed. So why can’t she seem to resist Ben? If the two can’t figure out a way to balance the two most important things in their lives, all they’ll be getting for Christmas is regret. Sensuality Level: Sensual
Gulielmus wanted cake, not a quest, but when everyone’s favorite elf queen doesn’t arrive at a party, he jumps at the opportunity to go fetch her. Small talk is so tedious, and social relationships are such a pain to maintain. Of course, Clarissa Morton can’t just go missing—she has to vanish into a post-apocalyptical realm where the husband she left for dead a thousand years ago still reigns. It seems the curse she weaved way back then has come back to torment her…just like her ex. Clarissa would never escape alive a second time if the king had his way. Now Gulielmus is trapped with her in a dimension where fallen angels have no power and elves have magic he can’t understand. Working cooperatively with the secretive woman to escape the place is an impossible task, and jarringly, the magic of the realm makes the true nature of their connection clearer. Returning immediately to the human world is their utmost priority, but…maybe the forced proximity isn’t the worst possible thing for the long-quarreling duo. Perhaps they can finally put the past behind them and accept that they weren’t meant to journey alone. Magic doesn’t make sense, so why should love?
