万本电子书0元读

万本电子书0元读

Along Comes a Stranger
Along Comes a Stranger
Lawson, Dorie McCullough
¥84.16
The summer of 1995 marks Kate Colter's fifteenth year in the small town of Hayden, Wyoming. She is a woman who is generally happy in her marriage and with her now predictable day-to-day life as wife, mother, and part-time breadwinner. Even though she is a New Englander at heart, Kate has reached a point where rodeos, summer heat, sharp light, and the vast, desolate beauty of the West have become almost second nature to her. She loves her husband and daughter, is fond of her neighbors, and enjoys the company of her mother-in-law. Yet, privately, she longs for the conversations and stories of her past, and she can't help but feel disconnected from the people around her.In walks Tom Baxter, Kate's mother-in-law's new suitor from "back East."Kate is immediately drawn to Tom—his gentle charm and engaging conversation spark an unusual companionship. Tom seems like the little piece of home that Kate so misses. She's curious about him and about his story, but finds unexplained gaps and inconsistencies that pique her interest to a new level. Then a series of peculiar and seemingly suspicious events leads Kate to a terrifying conclusion—a conclusion that could forever shatter her life and the lives of those she loves.In this debut novel, Dorie McCullough Lawson vividly captures a familiar American landscape. Filled with unforgettable characters and written in eloquent yet suspenseful prose, Along Comes a Stranger is a darkly humorous novel that examines the depth of identity and family life.
An Ex to Grind
An Ex to Grind
Heller, Jane
¥84.16
The battle of the sexes rages on in this smart, witty, and extremely timely comedy from the phenomenally popular Jane HellerAt first, Manhattan financial planner Melanie Banks adores Dan Swain, her pro football player husband who's got a sexy Oklahoma drawl to go with his athletic good looks. But then his career comes to a screeching halt and he spends the next few years out of a job, seemingly unconcerned about it. Suddenly, she's the one bringing home the bacon and falling out of love with the paycheck-devouring, couch-sitting mooch. Divorce is the answer, she decides -- only to learn she has to fork over alimony while he lives like a prince on her income and she has to share custody of their precious dog, Buster. Consumed with the unfairness of it all, she plays dirty, hiring a high-profile matchmaker to find some unsuspecting female she can dump on Dan for ninety days and cause him to violate their cohabitation clause.But then Melanie's scheme backfires. Her ex's new love revitalizes him, miraculously transforming him into the focused, responsible go-getter she always hoped he'd be. And now, with the ninety-day clock about to chime, she realizes she wants him back.
Goddess
Goddess
McIntosh, Fiona
¥84.16
The city-state of Percheron is in crisis. Zaradine Ana has been captured by the mysterious Arafanz and his desert warriors and is being held in their isolated fort. It is also suspected that she is pregnant with Zar Boaz's son, the heir to the throne . . .Though Lazar has made it out of the desert, his heroics in bringing the Valide and Grand Vizier to safety have cost him. Afflicted with the drezden illness that befalls him when he is weak, he is too sick to move from his bed, when help comes from an unexpected source . . .Zar Boaz finds himself trapped by both his heart and his head. Though he can think of nothing but Ana, imprisoned in the desert, his country is on the brink of war and his Spur is helpless. Hatching a daring plan, he calls for Percheron's strongest to make one more pilgrimage into the desert, even as warships threaten Percheron's harbor, and the Goddess reaches the crest of her ascent, throwing all parties—mortal and divine—into a perilous battle for their hearts, their lives, and their souls.
The Jewel Trader of Pegu
The Jewel Trader of Pegu
Hantover, Jeffrey
¥84.16
In the autumn of 1598, Abraham, a melancholy young Jewish gem merchant, seeks his fortune far from the imprisoning ghetto walls of Venice. Traveling halfway across the world, he lands in the lush and exotic Burmese kingdom of Pegu—an alien place, yet one where the jewel trader is not shunned for his faith. There is a price for his newfound freedom, however. Local custom demands that Abraham perform a duty he finds troubling and barbaric . . . and thus Mya, barely more than a girl, arrives to share his bed. Gently banishing his despair, awakening something profound within him, Mya ultimately accepts Abraham's protection and, unexpectedly, his love. But great social and political upheaval threatens to violently transform the Peguan empire—with devastating consequences for Abraham and Mya and their dreams for the future.
The Color of Family
The Color of Family
Jones, Patricia
¥84.16
A poignant and provactive novel of truth, race, and religions.
Red on a Rose
Red on a Rose
Jones, Patricia
¥84.16
In a captivating voice that wafts around you like a rose's rich fragrance, Patricia ]ones peels back the petals of emotion that blanket a woman's soul and, in this poignant and wise novel, tells a powerful story of love and redemption.Lila Giles Calloway has come a long way since she stepped out from under her stepmother's controlling thumb. Happily married to cardiac surgeon Jack Calloway and living in her beloved hometown of Baltimore, Lila splits her time among visiting with Jack's elderly patients, directing her own on-line reading program for children, and contemplating the possibility of motherhood. But all this comes to a screeching halt when, one typical Saturday afternoon, Lila is confronted with a situation that challenges the very core of her moral fiber. In a split second, the idyllic life lack and Lila have built together is threatened, and suddenly she must reconcile the truth that there's a bit of evil in all of us with her love for her husband and her faith in her life's purpose.
You or Someone Like You
You or Someone Like You
Burr, Chandler
¥84.16
Anne Rosenbaum leads a life of quiet Los Angeles privilege, the wife of Hollywood executive Howard Rosenbaum and mother of their seventeen-year-old son, Sam. Years ago Anne and Howard met studying litera-ture at Columbia—she, the daughter of a British diplo-mat from London, he a boy from an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. Now on sleek blue California evenings, Anne attends halogen-lit movie premieres on the arm of her powerful husband. But her private life is lived in the world of her garden, reading books.When one of Howard's friends, the head of a studio, asks Anne to make a reading list, she casually agrees—though, as a director reminds her, "no one reads in Hollywood." To her surprise, they begin calling: screen-writers; producers, from their bungalows; and agents, from their plush offices on Wilshire and Beverly. Soon Anne finds herself leading an exclusive book club for the industry elite. Emerging gradually from her seclu-sion, she guides her readers into the ideas and beauties of Donne, Yeats, Auden, and Mamet, with her brilliant and increasingly bold opinions. But when a crisis of identity unexpectedly turns an anguished Howard back toward the Orthodoxy he left behind as a young man, Anne must set out to save what she values above all else: her husband's love. At once fiercely intelligent and emotionally grip-ping, You or Someone Like You confronts the fault lines between inherited faith and personal creed, and, through the surprising transformation of one exceptional, unfor-gettable woman, illuminates literature's power to change our lives.
Night Visions
Night Visions
Fahy, Thomas
¥84.16
Samantha Ranvali can't sleep. Haunted by nightmares and the memory of a man who attacked her years ago, she seeks a cure for her insomnia through an experimental study called "Endymion's Circle." The treatment seems to be a success, but after her first full night of sleep in months, Samantha learns that one of the other participants in the study has been murdered. The body is found crucified upside down, and a recording of J. S. Bach's "Goldberg Variations" plays at the scene. As an old lover investigates the crime, he draws Samantha into a mystery that spans over two hundred years and suggests something far more sinister than the police expect. And with each night of Samantha's newfound sleep, she awakens to another ritualistic crime. Every clue takes her deeper into her own past, her own history of loss, pain, and desperation. Every murder reveals that a dark curse has taken hold of her world. And every clue brings her closer to the revelation that she is the next victim. Here is stunning suspense that plays masterfully with the conventions of the genre and perfectly blends historical richness with modern-day terror.
Sharpe's Havoc
Sharpe's Havoc
Cornwell, Bernard
¥84.16
Lieutenant Richard Sharpe finds himself fighting the ruthless armies of Napoleon Bonaparte as they try to bring the whole of the Iberian Peninsula under their control. Napoleon is advancing fast through northern Portugal, and no one knows whether the small contingent of British troops stationed in Lisbon will stay to fight or sail back to England. Sharpe, however, does not have a choice: He and his squad of riflemen are on the lookout for the missing daughter of an English wine shipper when the French onslaught begins and the city of Oporto becomes a setting for carnage and disaster.Stranded behind enemy lines, Sharpe returns to his mission to find Kate Savage. Sharpe's position on enemy grounds is precarious, and his search is further complicated by a mysterious and threatening Englishman, Colonel Christopher, who has his own ideas on how the French can be driven from Portugal.
Reality TV Bites
Reality TV Bites
Bolks, Shane
¥84.16
Allison Holloway may be one of the last holdouts: a true reality TV junkie. (Hey, there's no shame in admitting you enjoy watching the Donald say "You're fired!" for the millionth time.) But when her boss signs up their interior design firm for Kamikaze Makeover, Allison knows things are never going to be the same again. Dozens of cameras are set to tape every embarrassing moment as two teams compete for $3 million by executing a bold design concept using unorthodox materials (sex toys, anyone?). As if that wasn't bad enough, a hunky producer tries to seduce Allison with fine champagne and limo rides, while an equally hunky Dave wants to introduce her to the finer things in his life like beer and basketball games, and a piranhalike press hounds her day and night -- and let's not forget the vibrator wall art. Will Allison ever get her life backWill she finally find her prince after kissing so many frogsJoin Allison as she fights back against the lies, the double-dealing, and the backstabbing to prove that she's a survivor even a gooey round of pudding wrestling can't defeat.
Stay with Me
Stay with Me
Barron, Sandra Rodriguez
¥84.16
In 1979, five toddlers were found alone in a luxury boat tied to a dock in Puerto Rico after a devastating hurricane. No one knew who they were or where they came from. Raised by different families, they remained connected by a special bond—always considering themselves siblings, despite their unknown blood relations.Now adults, Taina, Holly, Adrian, and Raymond have been summoned by the fifth, David, to an island off the coast of Connecticut and the family home of David's ex-girlfriend, Julia. But along with the joy of reuniting comes the exposure of raw places, jealousy, and childhood sorrows. Having been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer—and experiencing flashbacks to the time before the hurricane—David believes that healing his relationship with Julia and discovering his origins will strengthen his ability to endure and survive. David pushes the people he loves the most to their emotional breaking points in order to uncover the truth about the mystery that both unites and divides them.Intensely gripping and lyrically written, Stay with Me is a magnificent blend of romance, suspense, atmosphere, and intrigue that brilliantly explores the true meaning of family and the remarkable ways a personal history can paint a future.
More Than Words Can Say
More Than Words Can Say
Barclay, Robert
¥84.16
From the author of If Wishes Were Horses comes a novel of long-buried secrets and self-discovery, showing us that sometimes what goes unsaid is more powerful than words. . . .Chelsea Enright never expected to inherit her grandmother's lakeside cottage deep in the Adirondacks—a serene getaway that had been mysteriously closed up decades ago. This is no simple bequest, however, because when Chelsea finds her grandmother's WWII diaries, she's stunned to discover that they hold secrets she never suspected . . . and they have the power to turn her own life upside down.Even more surprising is the compelling presence of local doctor Brandon "Yale, and Chelsea soon finds her "short stay" has stretched into the entire summer. She cannot put this cottage and her family's past behind her easily—and the more she learns about the woman her grandmother truly was, the more Chelsea's own life begins to change . . . and nothing will ever be the same again.
Separate Kingdoms
Separate Kingdoms
Laken, Valerie
¥84.16
From Valerie Laken, the Pushcart Prize–winning author of Dream House, comes a powerful collection of short stories charting the divisions and collisions between cultures and nations, families and outsiders, and partners and misfits searching for love. Set in Russia and the United States, these are boldly innovative stories—tales of fractured, misplaced characters moving beyond the borders of their isolation and reaching for the connections that will make them whole.A family, shaken by an industrial accident, is divided, its members isolated in their home and only able to understand one another from their separate rooms. A young gay couple travels to Russia to meet the child they're desperately trying to adopt, but the experience reveals an emotional divide between the parents-to-be. A recent amputee removes herself from her body to keep her husband at bay. And the idyllic village life of a blind Russian boy is disrupted by an American dentist and the wonders of racy Western magazines. Separate Kingdoms is a rich and satisfying collection that traverses the distances between people and places in each marvelously rendered story.
My Jane Austen Summer
My Jane Austen Summer
Jones, Cindy
¥84.16
Lily has squeezed herself into undersized relationships all her life, hoping one might grow as large as those found in the Jane Austen novels she loves. But lately her world is running out of places for her to fit. So when her bookish friend invites her to spend the summer at a Jane Austen literary festival in England, she jumps at the chance to reinvent herself.There, among the rich, promising world of Mansfield Park reenactments, Lily finds people whose longing to live in a novel equals her own. But real-life problems have a way of following you wherever you go, and Lily's accompany her to England. Unless she can change her ways, she could face the fate of so many of Miss Austen's characters, destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. My Jane Austen Summer explores how we fall in love, how we come to know ourselves better, and how it might be possible to change and be happier in the real world.
The Stepmother
The Stepmother
Adams, Carrie
¥84.16
Bea Frazier hoped she'd rediscover her incredible self after divorcing Jimmy. But being home alone with three daughters brings her demons back with a vengeance. The only solution is to reunite her family. The trouble is, her ex is about to marry someone else. Tessa King has finally found true love, but her knight in shining armor comes with three sullen daughters and an ex who doesn't seem nearly "ex" enough. After years of singledom, what does Tessa have to do to finally live happily ever afterAs the two women negotiate carpools, puberty, and family loyalties, each finds it almost impossible not to fall into the old cliché of the bitter first wife and the wicked stepmother. But if Bea and Tessa are brave enough, they just may find a friend where they once saw an enemy. . . . Absorbing and touching, humorous and honest, The Stepmother reminds us that there is always another side to the story.
The Apprentice Lover
The Apprentice Lover
Parini, Jay
¥84.16
A poet and biographer, Jay Parini is also a novelist whose fiction has been acclaimed as "dazzli/ng," (Los Angeles Times) "achingly beautiful," (Washington Post) and "a subtle masterpiece" (John Bayley in the Times Literary Supplement). In his new novel, The Apprentice Lover, Parini evokes the gorgeous Mediterranean island of Capri during the summer of 1970 as the setting for a sensuous, deeply affecting story of a young American's coming into his own and reconciling himself with his past. When Alex Massolini's brother is killed in Vietnam, he drops out of Columbia University and leaves his conservative family behind for Capri to become secretary to Rupert Grant, a famous British novelist and poet, who dominates the island like a latter-day Prospero. Alex soon finds himself ensnared in a web of love affairs, friendships, and rivalries within the eccentric community that inhabits the idyllic beauty of the isolated Italian island. Among that group are the selfish, cunning, and brilliant Rupert Grant; his wife Vera, a charming and sophisticated social manipulator; the elusive Holly and the mysterious Marisa, who act as Grant's research assistants; the young philosophy student from the Sorbonne, Patrice LaRue; and Father Aurelio, who is desperate for parishioners. The Apprentice Lover traces a young American's enchantment and disenchantment-with his American past, with his new European mentor, and with the various characters on an island famous for its characters. As Alex stumbles upon intrigues and secrets, he tries to balance what others demand of him with his own nascent desires. His apprenticeship in love, literature, and life unfolds with a combination of Mediterranean clarity, wry humor, wit, and emotional power that only a master of fiction could orchestrate.
Bodies in Motion
Bodies in Motion
Mohanraj, Mary Anne
¥84.16
Like the sweet heat of a palate-pleasing curry or the brilliant radiance of bougainvillea, the short stories in Mary Anne Mohanraj's Bodies in Motion will delight the senses and sensibilities. Her tales follow two generations of two families living on the cusp of disparate worlds, America and Sri Lanka -- their lives and ties shaped, strengthened, devastated, and altered by the emigrant-immigrant ebb and flow. Through stunning, effervescent prose, intimate moments are beautifully distilled, revealing the tug-of-war between generations and gender in stories sensual and honest, chronicling love, ambition, and the spiritual and sexual quests of mothers and daughters, fathers and sons.
The Book of Air and Shadows
The Book of Air and Shadows
Gruber, Michael
¥84.16
A fire destroys a New York City rare bookstore and reveals clues to a treasure worth killing for. . . . A disgraced scholar is found tortured to death. . . . And those pursuing the most valuable literary find in history are about to cross from the harmless mundane into inescapable nightmare.From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Tropic of Night comes a breathtaking thriller that twists, shocks, and surprises at every turn as it crisscrosses centuries, from the glaring violence of today into the dark shadows of truth and lies surrounding the greatest writer the world has ever known.
To the Power of Three
To the Power of Three
Lippman, Laura
¥84.16
Josie, Perri, and Kat have been best friends since third grade—the athlete, the drama queen, and the popular beauty. Growing up in an affluent suburb of Baltimore, they enjoy privileges many teenagers are denied. But on the final day of school one of them brings a gun with her. And when the police break down the door of the high school girls' bathroom, locked from the inside, they find two of the friends wounded, one of them critically . . . and the third girl is dead.From multiple-award winner Laura Lippman, one of the most acclaimed authors of crime fiction writing today, comes a tale of secrets, friendship, and betrayal that illuminates a dark and chilling event with clarity and empathy.
Bittersweet
Bittersweet
Barr, Nevada
¥84.16
In her very first novel, award-winning author Nevada Barr reveals another side to her remarkable storytelling prowess with this heart-wrenching yet tender tale of two women whose boundless devotion to each other is continually challenged in nineteenth century America.
Watermark
Watermark
Sankaran, Vanitha
¥84.16
The daughter of a papermaker in a small French village in the year 1320—mute from birth and forced to shun normal society—young Auda finds solace and escape in the wonder of the written word. Believed to be cursed by those who embrace ignorance and superstition, Auda's very survival is a testament to the strength of her spirit. But this is an age of Inquisition and intolerance, when difference and defiance are punishable "sins" and new ideas are considered damnable heresy. When darkness descends upon her world, Auda—newly grown to womanhood—is forced to flee, setting off on a remarkable quest to discover love and a new sense of self . . . and to reclaim her heritage and the small glory of her father's art.