The War Within Is Always Hardest Won,Lucien de Montregnier knew, for he daily battled demons from his past. Still, his fighting prowess had won him an unexpected boon: Lady Alayna of Avenford, a hellcat with a heart who alone could save him from his greatest enemy--himselfWidowed before she was truly a wife, Alayna of Avenford now found herself claimed as a war prize by Lucien de Montregnier, a warrior as well known for his fierce nature as he was for his skill in battle. She despised him, of course. But why, then, did his merest glance ignite her very soul?

A man named Owen wakes up in a field in a country he does not know. Injured and confused, he pulls himself to his feet and starts to walk, thus beginning a remarkable journey in search of his home, his past and himself. He is told it is April 1945. A war he only has a vague memory of ever joining is now in its dying days, and as he tries to make his way home to England he becomes caught up in the flood of refugees pouring through Europe. Amongst them is a young Czech man, Janek, and a Polish concentration camp survivor, Irena. Together, they form an unlikely alliance as they make their way through battle-worn Germany where everyone has an agenda of their own. As tempers flare, scars are revealed and Owen slowly picks up the pieces of his life. No one is quite as he remembers, not even himself. Devastation Road is a novel about the aftermath of war, the plight of refugees, the importance of home, love and belonging, and the significance of memory, without which we...

Marlowe Jones's life is filled with shopping and feeding her addiction to sex. Roque Coleman has just entered into a 7-figure contract to build a lucrative retail center. There's only one person standing in his way: Marlowe Jones. All he needs is for her to sign to deed to her property over to him. But these two opposites have one thing in common--their fierce attraction to each other.

“I’m coming for you. You will never escape me.” She’s the most dangerous inmate in the hospital for the criminally insane...and she just broke out. When Trey Campbell takes his family to Catalina Island, his escaped patient leaves a trail of bodies behind as she hunts for her one true love – from a previous life. A gripping psychological thriller full of page-turning suspense and mind-bending horror for fans of James Patterson, Karin Slaughter, and Robert Bryndza. *“Clegg’s stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby.” — Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author *”A sleek, smooth, and constantly surprising page-turner...” — Ed Gorman, bestselling author of The Marilyn Tapes and The Poker Club. “Douglas Clegg knows exactly what scares us, and he knows just how to twist those fears into hair-raising chills...” — Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author*

Camp is supposed to be fun, but Sarah hates Camp Cold Lake. The lake is gross and slimy. And she's having a little trouble with her bunkmates. They hate her. So Sarah comes up with a plan. She'll pretend to drown — then everyone will feel sorry for her. But tings don't go exactly the way Sarah planned. Because down by the cold, dark lake someone is watching her. Stalking her. Someone with pale blue eyes. And a see-through body…

Child of the Knight is the second book in the epic fantasy series, The Orb.Akinos is dead, and the Wasting ended. For a year and a half all is well in the world.Then terror arrives in Landomere. Mercenary raiders capture the infant children Orlos and Enna. Orlos, the son of Maret, is the only living spiridus. Without him the Great Spirit of Landomere will perish. Enna, the daughter of Hadde and Morin, is a rival to the throne of the Kingdom of Salador. It is a claim Queen Ilana would like to see ended.Maret, captured with the children, struggles to keep them safe during the dangerous journey to Salador. Hadde will risk everything to save them.To the north, a weary Champion Nidon returns from war to find a paranoid Queen Ilana plotting against threats real and imagined. To her eyes, Nidon is the greatest threat of all.Far to the east, beyond the Dragon's Gate, Cragor wields the Orb of Creation. And with every passing day, his mastery of the Orb...

Like his great, great uncle, the early geneticist Gregor Mendel, Dr. Benedict Lambert is struggling to unlock the secrets of heredity. But Benedict's mission is particularly urgent and particularly personal, for he is afflicted with achondroplasia—he's a dwarf. He's also a man desperate for love. And when he finds it in the form of Jean—simple and shy—he stumbles upon an opportunity to correct the injustice of his own capricious genes. As intelligent as it is entertaining, this witty and surprisingly erotic novel reveals the beauty and drama of scientific inquiry as it informs us of the simple passions against which even the most brilliant mind is rendered powerless. Amazon.com ReviewDr. Benedict Lambert, the hero of Mendel's Dwarf, is very much a leg man, not that he has much choice in the matter. For the celebrated geneticist is a dwarf, a man resigned to being stared at for a little too long from some way up, and inured to bromides about inner beauty and outward bravery. As far as he's concerned, bravery requires choice--something he never had, since his father's sperm lacked "the command for height, for normality, for happiness and contentment." The beautiful swimmer did, however, pass on the genes for irony, sharp observation, and love, all of which Ben has in abundance in Simon Mawer's superb novel of academic twists and emotional turns. A distant relative of the first geneticist, pea-pollinating Gregor Mendel, Ben has long used libraries as a refuge, and education as a way out (if not up). Still in his 20s, he's determined to identify the gene that made him "one of nature's practical jokes." Offered a post at the Royal Institute for Genetics, he immediately puts achondroplasia on the table. The director may well consider research into dwarfdom commercially unviable, but Ben knows better. His height will finally be of help: "There are lots of organizations interested," he insists. "The Little People of America, groups like that. When they see me coming they reach for their covenant forms." Mawer interleaves Ben's research with the story of his affair (a "menage à une et demi") with the Institute's ill-fated assistant librarian, Jeane Piercey: "Mousy, of course. I feel that all librarians ought to be mousy. It should be a necessary (but not sufficient) qualification for the job. Mousy? Agouti? What, I wonder, is its genetic control? Perhaps it is tightly linked to the gene for tidiness." Mawer also juxtaposes Ben's passion with that of his legume-obsessed ancestor. Mendel, it turns out, pined for Frau Rotway, a married woman in the inevitable company of her own achondroplastic, a dachshund. Mendel's Dwarf wears its considerable learning lightly--the author is a biologist--and readers will be alternately moved, charmed, and shocked by Ben's "astringent kiss of irony." Because the hero makes several difficult choices in the course of this fine novel, we admire his bravery, along with his resilience, at every turn. For Ben, the smallest gesture can become the largest (nods being "big absurd things, my head being about the same size as my body. You can't miss them. They are the gestural equivalent of screaming"). And alas, such acts are often poignantly beyond Ben's grasp: "I wanted to put my arm around her, of course, to bring her that fragile thing that we call comfort. But of course I couldn't reach." From Library JournalBenedict Lambert, the protagonist of this imaginative and intelligent novel, is the great-great-great nephew of Gregor Mendel and a famous geneticist in his own right. He is also the dwarf of the title, obsessed with finding the marker for his condition and haunted by the all-too-easy assumptions/prejudices achondroplastics face when dealing with society at large. That a stunted body does not mean a stunted mind, feelings, or libido is brought clearly into focus through Lambert's relationship with a "mousy" librarian named Jean. Mawer weaves a story that is in turns compassionate, erotic, and angry. In telling Benedict's story, Mawer also tells that of Mendel, a genius who died unappreciated but who ultimately had a more important impact on the world than even Darwin. His discoveries provide the base for modern genetic research and the possibility of identifying markers for disease (and possibly cures), but they also raise the possibility of our being able to select particular physical characteristics for our offspring. The ethical and moral implications are obvious, particularly when brought into focus through someone whose own strain is likely to have no place in this brave new world. A wonderfully crafted, thought-provoking tale in which the science never gets in the way of the story; highly recommended.?David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersberg, Fla.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Memo: For Ministry of Strange, Unusual, and Impossible Things Operatives OnlyA series of strange incidents have been reported in Belfast:* Oddball kids are going missing* There are several unconfirmed signs of pirates.* A wild bear known to be a very sore loser at musical statues has escaped from the museum and is on the rampage.Fortunately, our newest recruits, Jack Pearse, a curious boy skilled at logical thinking and seeing what's actually there, and Trudy Emerson, the most dangerous girl in his school, are on the case. As per Ministry policy, they are currently being trained in the use of The Speed (patent pending) and will have full access to Ministry supplies (assuming they manage to navigate the paperwork without going insane), so we are confident that they will succeed in their mission to discover and foil this villainous plot.Please provide all assistance possible, as a) they don't know who they are actually up against, b) the...