From Jayel Wylie, one of romantic fiction's most brilliant new stars, comes a breathtaking tale that seamlessly blends passion, magic, and the enchantment of true love. After twelve years Tarquin FitzBruel, the most fearsome warrior in all of England, returns to Brinlaw Castle to keep a promise to his half-sister, Nan. Yet he vows to leave quickly before the demon that lurks within him can destroy the only people he truly loves, including the willful Malinda -- the spoiled beauty who haunts his dreams. Malinda Brinlaw does not take well to being denied something she wants. After all, she is a sorceress. So when she meets Tarquin FitzBruel, she ignores her family's warnings and uses her faerie magic to cast a love spell on the unsuspecting warrior. Their clash of wills turns into a white-hot passion so intense that a connection is forged between them forever. But the darkness that plagues Tarquin's soul threatens to tear the destined lovers apart...unless the tortured warrior can make the fearful choice that will save them.
Fifteen-year-old forensic sorcerer Frank Sampson is called upon when the Bishop of Oxford is murdered, but is hampered by the bishop's beautiful niece, Kazia, a difficult colleague, Marvo, and abundant rules.
Seduced By Chaos Tall, dark and handsome, the guy walked into Lacey's bar like hes expected to be hit with a hail of bullets. There's something about him that draws her but Lacey has a secret. One that could threaten her freedom, her very life if it's exposed. The woman behind the bar is gorgeous. She pushes every single one of Teo's buttons and he wants her--even though he's dangerous, a walking time bomb, and it's only a matter of time before he explodes. But one night of magical sex and all bets are off as Lacey's secret catches up with her and Teo will risk everything, including himself, to keep her safe. And make her his. Seduced by Danger A man will do just about anything for love--even kill. Four down, one to go. Michael Corsi is on the trail of the last man who made life a living hell for his lover. But first, he wants one last reminder of what he's fighting for. He needs to see his woman and his son before he goes up against his toughest foe. And probably to his death. Michael is the father of the son Cara never expected to have. The man who brought her a love she never expected to feel, and a passion that she can't--won't--live without. She'll do whatever it takes to be sure Michael returns to her.
What begins as a test of bravery or a sleepover activity—chanting in front of a mirror, riding an elevator alone, taking pictures in the dark—can become something . . . dangerous. This compendium collects the most spine-chilling games based on urban legends from around the world. Centuries–old games such as Bloody Mary and Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board are detailed alongside new games from the internet age, like The Answer Man, a sinister voice that whispers secrets to whomever manages to contact him with a cellphone. With step-by-step instructions, historical context, and the stakes for each game, this black handbook is the ideal gift for anyone looking for a late-night thrill—but beware who, or what, may come out to play.
See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone -- Season 2 streaming now! Trace the roots of Grisha power and discover this deliciously atmospheric, fully-illustrated collection of Grishaverse fairy tales filled with betrayals, revenge, sacrifice, and love. Enter the Grishaverse... Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns. Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid's voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy's bidding but only for a terrible price. Perfect for new readers and dedicated fans, the tales in The Language of Thorns will transport you to lands both familiar and strange—to a fully realized world of dangerous magic that millions have visited through the novels of the Grishaverse. This collection of six stories includes three brand-new tales, each of them lavishly illustrated and culminating in stunning full-spread illustrations as rich in detail as the stories themselves. This title has Common Core connections. A New York Times Bestseller "Lushly designed and wonderfully rendered ... Bardugo doesn’t twist familiar tales so much as rip them open." —Booklist, starred review "Strong writing, compelling stories, and gorgeous illustrations make this collection a must-have." —School Library Journal, starred review "Beautiful imagery conceived from precise, beautiful prose; beautiful cover image and interior illustrations that creep across each page toward a beautiful consummation; beautiful lands inhabited by beautiful hearts." —VOYA, starred review "Elegantly crafted...stylishly intricate illustrations...all fans of the darker side of folktales and folktale-like stories will find the stories satisfyingly full of pain, danger, and vengeance." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review "Gorgeously otherworldly...Any lover of retellings or original fairy tales will enjoy." —Kirkus Reviews “Gorgeous, cruel and almost wistful windows onto the dreamscapes and hard lessons of [Bardugo’s] alternate universe ... fairy tales with all the darkness intact.” —NPR Book Review "Those who seem innocent are shown to be guilty, one-dimensional characters become more complicated, and mothers who once were absent are given presence and power.” —Mashable "This new collection will intrigue, awe, frighten, and inspire both stalwart fans and new readers looking for a heady spoonful of fantasy.” —Hypable "This nightmare-inducing collection is short but powerful, each tale as brilliant and absorbing as the one before... brilliant storytelling” —Romantic Times "Marvelous tales, as full of twists and delights and strangeness as anything found in the Grimm Brothers. Leigh Bardugo is a master." —Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble Read all the books in the Grishaverse! The Shadow and Bone Trilogy (previously published as The Grisha Trilogy) Shadow and Bone Siege and Storm Ruin and Rising The Six of Crows Duology Six of Crows Crooked Kingdom The King of Scars Duology King of Scars Rule of Wolves The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic The Severed Moon: A Year-Long Journal of Magic The Lives of Saints Demon in the Wood Graphic Novel Praise for the Grishaverse “A master of fantasy.” —The Huffington Post “Utterly, extremely bewitching.” —The Guardian “This is what fantasy is for.” —The New York Times Book Review “A world that feels real enough to have its own passport stamp.” —NPR “The darker it gets for the good guys, the better.” —Entertainment Weekly “Sultry, sweeping and picturesque. . . . Impossible to put down.” —USA Today “There’s a level of emotional and historical sophistication within Bardugo’s original epic fantasy that sets it apart.” —Vanity Fair “Unlike anything I’ve ever read.” —Veronica Roth, bestselling author of Divergent “Bardugo crafts a first-rate adventure, a poignant romance, and an intriguing mystery!” —Rick Riordan, bestselling author of the Percy Jackson series
"Edgy and often deeply personal, the twenty-one essays collected here come from a wide variety of writers. Some identify as witches, others identify as writers, musicians, game developers, or artists. What they have in common is that they've created personal rituals to summon their own power in a world that would prefer them powerless. Here, they share the rituals they use to resist self-doubt, grief, and depression in the face of sexism, slut shaming, racism, patriarchy, and other systems of oppression"--
Make More Immersive and Engaging Magic Systems in GamesGame Magic: A Designer's Guide to Magic Systems in Theory and Practice explains how to construct magic systems and presents a compendium of arcane lore, encompassing the theory, history, and structure of magic systems in games and human belief. The author combines rigorous scholarly analysis wi
A middle grade magic school fantasy perfect for fans of The School for Good and Evil and Witchlings, in which a girl with unparalleled power must work with her misfit classmates to save her new school. Lavinia “Vin” Lucas is out of control and out of options. Stranded by parents who would rather use their average magical abilities to study dung beetles than raise her, Vin's been on her own for years. But she’s never been able to corral her own powerful, unpredictable magic. After years of detention, suspension, and expulsion from magic schools far and wide, she’s now being sent to the Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents. If she gets expelled, it’s the end of the line. Now, Vin is determined to behave. Except no one at Last Hope seems to want her to. Her new teachers—particularly the school’s kind headmistress—push her to explore her magic, and her mischievous classmates delight in every accident. And all the while, a mysterious fire sprite, a suspicious instructor, and her overwhelming abilities might just sabotage Vin. But for the first time, she is not alone. So when a former student begins attacking the school, Vin must question just how much she knows about the headmistress and her new home. Is this place worth saving? And are her budding abilities—and every trick, trap, and deception in her friends’ delinquent arsenal—enough to protect Last Hope?
Winner, 2022 Children's Literature Association Book Award, given by the Children's Literature Association Winner, 2020 World Fantasy Awards Winner, 2020 British Fantasy Awards, Nonfiction Finalist, Creative Nonfiction IGNYTE Award, given by FIYACON for BIPOC+ in Speculative Fiction Reveals the diversity crisis in children's and young adult media as not only a lack of representation, but a lack of imagination Stories provide portals into other worlds, both real and imagined. The promise of escape draws people from all backgrounds to speculative fiction, but when people of color seek passageways into the fantastic, the doors are often barred. This problem lies not only with children’s publishing, but also with the television and film executives tasked with adapting these stories into a visual world. When characters of color do appear, they are often marginalized or subjected to violence, reinforcing for audiences that not all lives matter. The Dark Fantastic is an engaging and provocative exploration of race in popular youth and young adult speculative fiction. Grounded in her experiences as YA novelist, fanfiction writer, and scholar of education, Thomas considers four black girl protagonists from some of the most popular stories of the early 21st century: Bonnie Bennett from the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, Rue from Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, Gwen from the BBC’s Merlin, and Angelina Johnson from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. Analyzing their narratives and audience reactions to them reveals how these characters mirror the violence against black and brown people in our own world. In response, Thomas uncovers and builds upon a tradition of fantasy and radical imagination in Black feminism and Afrofuturism to reveal new possibilities. Through fanfiction and other modes of counter-storytelling, young people of color have reinvisioned fantastic worlds that reflect their own experiences, their own lives. As Thomas powerfully asserts, “we dark girls deserve more, because we are more.”
