V.I.'s battleaxe Aunt Rosa is under investigation by the FBI and SEC after counterfeit stock certificates were found at St. Albert's Priory, where she serves as treasurer. As malicious as her aunt is, V.I. knows she's not dishonest, so V.I. vows to protect her from taking the fall. But V.I. starts questioning the strength of her family ties when a menacing voice on the phone threatens to throw acid into her eyes if she doesn't butt out. The stakes are high as she begins to sniff out a connection between Chicago's most powerful institutions: the Church and the Mob.

The fourth book in the action-packed and highly imaginative The Secret Zoo series, about a group of middle school friends who discover a hidden zoo in their very own neighborhood! The zoo's archenemy, the evil DeGraff, is closing in for the first time since he was driven out of the Secret Zoo.On Halloween night, Noah and his friends must battle terrifying sasquatches that have attacked their own elementary school. Little do they know the sasquatches are a trap! When DeGraff captures three of Noah's friends, can the kids ally with their rivals in order to save every person and animal in the zoo—all while dodging the town's policeAn entertaining and fast-moving series that's perfect for reluctant readers and will appeal to fans of Dan Gutman, Michael Buckley, and Andrew Clements. School Library Journal said, "Fans of fantasy, animal fiction, and adventure will enjoy this fast-moving story."

Meg Cabot's bestselling Princess Diaries series has delighted millions of middle grade and teen readers, and it was turned into the wildly popular Disney movies of the same name, starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. This collection contains all ten of the novels following Mia as she attempts to navigate high school, boys, and…princess training.Includes:The Princess DiariesThe Princess Diaries, Volume II: Princess in the SpotlightThe Princess Diaries, Volume III: Princess in LoveThe Princess Diaries, Volume IV: Princess in WaitingThe Princess Diaries, Volume V: Princess in PinkThe Princess Diaries, Volume VI: Princess in TrainingThe Princess Diaries, Volume VII: Party PrincessThe Princess Diaries, Volume VIII: Princess on the BrinkThe Princess Diaries, Volume IX: Princess MiaThe Princess Diaries, Volume X: Forever Princess

"I'm homeless, but in first class."Stathis Rakis has abandoned his small Greek village for a more worldly life, first in San Francisco, where the dot-com bubble had already burst, and then in Paris, France, at a top business school. After falling in love with a liberal New England journalist with a good conscience (but with some scores to settle), Stathis moves to the United States to work as a management consultant for a high-octane company called Command. He spends the very few hours of the day that aren't consumed by work draining the minibar of whichever five-star hotel he's currently calling home, battling insomnia, and bingeing on more than room service. Luxury is a given; happiness is not.As the economy recovers and a new bubble expands in a post-9/11 world, Stathis drifts upward, bearing witness to the criminal decadence that will become the 2008 financial crisis while developing his own habits of indulgence—drugs, sex, and insider trading. In a world of insatiability that features both corporate suits and Hollywood hedonism, Stathis remains the outsider: too foreign to be one of them, too cynical to turn back.

“Excellent.” ?—The Times (London)Growing up in Texas, Ben experienced basketball as a mostly solitary pursuit, one he gave up after riding the bench in high school. But as his college classmates prepare for the real world, Ben is seized by an idea. All he needs is a video camera, an empty court, and his mother’s German citizenship.Improbably, he lands a roster spot on a lower division pro team in Landshut, forty-five minutes outside Munich. It’s Ben’s first taste of competition in years, not to mention his first job. And like most jobs, it’s defined by repetition, boredom, and gossip. There’s Charlie, the trash-talking mercenary from Chicago; the coach, Herr Henkel, a recently retired player anxious to justify his paycheck; and Karl (based on the author’s real life encounters with Dirk Nowitzki), a gangly teenage prodigy flashing the raw talent that will make him an NBA star. As a group of men learn how to navigate one another, Ben falls in love with the young mother of a teammate’s child, and begins an affair that will change his life.“Markovits draws [himself] with exceptional delicacy. . . . This is the territory of the rites-of-passage novel, but it is territory that the author navigates with subtlety and poignancy.”—The Guardian (London)

Carcass Trade by Noreen Ayres has de*ive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

After a harrowing escape to the desert, Sulis Hasifel finds her calling is not yet fulfilled. Traveling to the Obsidian Temple—the site of an ancient divine battle—Sulis is tasked with mentoring Ava, a young girl with a troubled past. Together, they join a group of magically gifted warriors to re-make the very fabric of the universe. But the fate of the world hinges on whether Ava can harness her power, and some trials cannot be overcome.Returning to Illian, Sulis's twin Kadar finds that his lover, Farrah, has abandoned their newborn daughter for the revolutionary cause. Not willing to give up his dream of a family, Kadar vows to stay by Farrah's side. But when he finds that Farrah is willing to anger the gods to aid the Forsaken caste's uprising, and as she steps farther down a violent and dark path, Kadar must decide if he will help her…or let the world spin out of control.In this mesmerizing sequel to Desert Rising, Kelley Grant brings us back to the cities of Illian and Shpeth, drawing her epic fantasy tale closer to the trilogy's stunning conclusion.

Why would anyone want to kill Jerry Dwyer, the goofy, pleasant college kid who sold coffee at a convenience storeWhen the trail leads to the rough ex-con who is dating Smokey’s best friend, the case takes an alarming turn and Smokey must save her friend from a seductive, dangerously amoral criminal.

The epic tale of two families wrestling with questions of loyalty, liberty, and love during the American RevolutionAt the dawn of the American Revolution, young Isabella Linwood is poised to marry a well-to-do English nobleman. Meanwhile her true love, Eliot Lee, has just joined George Washington's army. In Catharine Maria Sedgwick's classic tale of two families torn apart by war, the loyalist Linwoods and revolutionary Lees must reckon with their beliefs and desires in a young republic still defining itself. Over the course of her conversion from proud Tory to ardent rebel, Isabella fosters a growing sense of independence, systematically questioning the institutions taken for granted all around her—from colonialism to slavery, patriarchy to aristocracy. Will her rebellious behavior free her from society's shackles, or only confirm the power of the status quo?

From master storyteller William Dietrich come books 1-3 in his bestselling Ethan Gage adventure series: Napoleon's Pyramids, The Rosetta Key, and The Dakota Cipher.

Get three electrifying thrillers from #1?New York Times?bestselling author Andrew Gross in one e-book, including:?The Dark Tide,?Don't Look Twice, and?Reckless. Thriller readers will love Ty Hauk, the Greenwich, Connecticut detective who finds himself caught in a deadly maze of cover-up and corruption involving?frightening?financial conspiracy.?

Get the first four novels in Kim Harrison's #1 New York Times bestselling Hollows series as one e-book! This bundle includes Dead Witch Walking, The Good, the Bad, and the Undead, Every Which Way But Dead, and A Fistful of Charms. Discover this great series at a special price!Dead Witch WalkingAll the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party ... and to feed.?Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining — and it’s Rachel Morgan'sjob to keep that world civilized.?A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead ... or undead.The Good, the Bad, and the UndeadIt's a tough life for witch Rachel Morgan, sexy, independent bounty hunter, prowling the darkest shadows of downtown Cincinnati for criminal creatures of the night.?She can handle the leather-clad vamps and even tangle with a cunning demon or two. But a serial killer who feeds on the experts in the most dangerous kind of black magic is definitely pressing the limits.?Confronting an ancient, implacable evil is more than just child's play — and this time, Rachel will be lucky to escape with her very soul.Every Which Way But DeadRachel Morgan's back! Bestselling author Kim Harrison returns with a new supernatural adventure that fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Charlaine Harris won't want to miss.?Some days, you just can't win. Witch and former bounty hunter Rachel Morgan's managed to escape her corrupt company, survive living with a vampire, start her own runner service, and face down a vampire master.?But her vampire roommate Ivy is off the wagon, her human boyfriend Nick is out of town indefinitely and doesn't sound like he's coming back while the far-too-seductive vampire Kisten is looking way too tempting, and there's a turf war erupting in Cincinnati's underworld.?And there's a greater evil still. To put the vampire master behind bars and save her family, Rachel made a desperate bargain and now there's hell to pay—literally. For if Rachel cannot stop him, the archdemon Algaliarept will pull her into the sorcerous ever-after to forfeit her soul as his slave. Forever.A Fistful of CharmsThe evil night things that prowl Cincinnati despise witch and bounty hunter Rachel Morgan. Her new reputation for the dark arts is turning human and undead heads alike with the intent to possess, bed, and kill her — not necessarily in that order.?Now a mortal lover who abandoned Rachel has returned, haunted by his secret past. And there are those who covet what Nick possesses — savage beasts willing to destroy the Hollows and everyone in it if necessary.?Forced to keep a low profile or eternally suffer the wrath of a vengeful demon, Rachel must nevertheless act quickly. For the pack is gathering for the first time in millennia to ravage and to rule. And suddenly more than Rachel's soul is at stake.

Elisabeth is a picture restorer. This gives her the solitude and independence she needs—living and working alone in her flat. Despite her skills and reliability, Elisabeth undercharges for her work—valuing the worth of the paintings rather more than she values herself. Her ambitions are modest: beauty to look upon, unintrusive friendships, and complete privacy. But when a mysterious and obviously wealthy man commissions her to restore his fabulous collection, an uncharacteristic combination of curiosity and financial need prompts her to accept his offer. Elisabeth soon realizes her error, as the past and the present combine to make privacy her nemesis. As she becomes a hostage to her patron, her lover and her friend realize they know nothing about her, or where she might be.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sidney Sheldon’s most popular and enduring heroine—Tracy Whitney of If Tomorrow Comes and Sidney Sheldon’s Chasing Tomorrow—finds herself caught in a nefarious and far-reaching scheme involving international terrorism and corruption in this compelling thriller packed with heart-stopping twists and breathtaking actionOnce upon a time, Tracy Whitney was one of the best thieves in the business. Then she settled down and had a child—a beautiful, bright, mischievous boy who was the center of her life. Tracy planned to spend the rest of her days quietly, living anonymously deep in the stunning Colorado mountains, devoted to raising her son. But tragedy forces her to face her greatest nightmare. Now, with nothing left to protect, this superb con artist, jewel thief, computer wizard, and cat burglar returns to the hunt, more dangerous, ruthless, and reckless than ever.The world faces a new terror threat from Group 99, a diverse collection of global hackers intent on thecollapse of capitalism and private wealth and the creation of a new world order. When the group turns to violence—kidnapping an American investigative journalist, shooting a British military hostage, and blowing up an international industrialist—the mysterious woman pulling their strings, a wily and wealthy American known only as Althea, becomes the CIA’s most sought criminal.But their only hope of finding her is a woman with a dark and dangerous past of her own. A woman who has also successfully evaded detection by the authorities around the world: Tracy.Convinced that Althea is behind the deadly act that shattered her life, Tracy sets out on a global hunt to flush out her prey. But as she soon discovers, the truth is as elusive as her target. Hampered by corruption, lies, and enemies masked as allies, Tracy will be pushed to the brink, where she must face her darkest demons. All of her experience tells Tracy that the answers are right in front of her—if only she can look at the clues in the right way.Propelled by an unquenchable thirst for revenge, and with the fate of so many resting in her hands, just how reckless will Tracy become when she has nothing left to lose?An addictive tale of espionage, mystery, passion, greed, betrayal, and vengeance that takes you from the beautiful Rocky Mountains to Europe’s oldest and grandest cities, filled with a cast of intriguing characters both new and familiar, Sidney Sheldon’s Reckless is a glamorous thrill ride that will leave you breathless until its shocking end.

An unforgettable psychological thriller reminiscent of Emma Donoghue's Room and V. C. Andrews' Flowers in the AtticKatherine and David have the perfect life: they are beautiful, rich, debonair, and gifted. But cracks begin to form beneath the smooth exterior when David suspects that one of their two children is not his. There is no other reason why chubby, petulant Jeanetta does not conform to David's standards of perfection and order.Soon, David's mood swings become more violent and irrational. In an attempt to exercise some control over his world, he sends Jeanetta to the playroom . . . and locks the door. With harrowing precision, Fyfield tells the story of a family's descent into madness.

Power has its price.David Blake should be enjoying the high life now that he's top dog, controlling everything in the city that's worth controlling.But when it becomes clear that someone wants him dead, Blake struggles to maintain his restraint. From the heroin-laced high-rises of Newcastle to the seedy back streets of Bangkok, in a world of contract killers, corrupt politicians, bent detectives, fast women, and dangerous men, Blake is in a race against time to find—and stop—his potential assassin.Packed with action and attitude, The Damage is a gripping gangland thriller for fans of the hit films The Town and Goodfellas.

Narrowly surviving assassination and capture, Octavia Leander, a powerful magical healer, is on the run with handsome Alonzo Garrett, the Clockwork Dagger who forfeited his career with the Queens secret society of spies and killers and possibly his life to save her. Now, they are on a dangerous quest to fnd safety and answers: Why is Octavia so powerfulWhy does she seem to be undergoing a transformation unlike any witnessed for hundreds of years?The truth may rest with the source of her mysterious healing power the Lady's Tree. But the tree lies somewhere in an inhospitable territory known as the Waste. Eons ago, this land was made barren by an evil spell, until a few hardy souls dared to return over the last century. For years, the Waste has waged a bloody battle against the royal court to win its independence and they need Octavia's powers to succeed.Joined by unlikely allies, including a menagerie of gremlin companions, she must evade killers on a dangerous journey through a world on the brink of deadly civil war.

Carey Baldwin, author of the thrilling novel Confession, returns with a new story featuring two of her most beloved characters. Fans of Tess Gerritsen and Lisa Gardner will devour this riveting story of rivals caught in a killer's twisted web.When a coed falls prey to a sadistic murderer, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Caitlin "Caity" Cassidy and Special Agent Atticus Spenser are called in to testify—one for the defense, one for the prosecution. With warring approaches to justice, these two rivals have been butting heads for years—both inside the courtroom and out. And at first, this case appears to be no different.But when a brutal attack leaves the accused man dead and Caity in critical condition, petty differences take a backseat to saving lives. As the lone survivor, Caity knows too much, and the killer—a madman calling himself the Man in the Maze—is coming back for round two. Now Caity and Spense must join forces to uncover the killer's identity before Caity's time—and luck—runs out.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and widely considered to be Edna Ferber's greatest achievement, So Big is a classic novel of turn-of-the-century Chicago. It is the unforgettable story of Selina Peake DeJong, a gambler's daughter, and her struggles to stay afloat and maintain her dignity and her sanity in the face of marriage, widowhood, and single parenthood. A brilliant literary masterwork from one of the twentieth century's most accomplished and admired writers, the remarkable So Big still resonates with its unflinching view of poverty, sexism, and the drive for success.

Under pressure to get a tasty, nutritious dinner on the table in a flashLike the idea of preparing fork-tender beef stew in thirty minutes and pot roast in under an hourAll this and more is made possible by the pressure cooker, a magical appliance that produces soul-satisfying, homemade food in one-third (or less) the standard cooking time.In Pressure Perfect, Lorna Sass, the country's leading authority on pressure cooking, distills her two decades of experience into one comprehensive volume. First learn everything you need to know about buying and using today's 100% safe cookers. Then enjoy?more than?200 recipes for preparing soups, meats, poultry, grains, beans, vegetables, and desserts in record time. How about whipping up a savory risotto in 4 minutes, chicken cacciatore in 12 minutes, or a delectable chocolate cheesecake in 25 minutes?Because the pressure cooker tenderizes tough cuts of meat quickly, you can prepare fall-off-the-bone beef short ribs or lamb shanks on weekday nights instead of waiting for a special occasion. The pressure cooker also allows you to make delectable one-pot meals in minutes. Among the many innovative recipes and techniques, you'll learn to cook meatloaf and potatoes simultaneously in 10 minutes, and meatballs, pasta, and sauce at the same time in only 5 minutes. Many recipes also suggest Cook-Along ideas for preparing vegetables and grains along with the entrée.To further?help?those cooking under pressure (and who isn't nowadays?), each chapter contains timing charts for quick reference. Tips and Pressure Points in every recipe ensure optimum results.This ultimate guide to pressure cooking is a must for all busy cooks, boaters, brides, college students, and anyone looking for a great way to make irresistible, healthy, home-made food fast.

Life in modern Tokyo is a blast for Rei Shimura, a young Japanese-American woman who enjoys busy days as an antiques dealer and steamy nights with a devoted new boyfriend. But things come to a standstill when Rei overpays for a rare old chest of drawers for a wealthy client, the owner of a famous Zen temple in Kamakura. The exquisite tansu turns out to be a fake: the worst deal Rei has ever made. When the temple family turns on Rei -- and the con man who sold the tansu is murdered -- she realizes she's opened a Pandora's box of deception and murder. A young martial artist, an aspiring rock singer, and an elderly antiques mentor all become part of Rei's search for the killer through the shadows of an ancient culture. As her world begins to rapidly and inexplicably unravel, Rei realizes that it will take strength, wit, and a Zen attitude to survive.