The Masks of Imogen


Book Description

A gifted pianist and Princeton graduate unaware of her rare beauty, Imogen Edwards innocently catches the eye of Manfred Andreotti, the notorious crime boss of East Clintonwood who controls everything and everyone in the town. A virgin with high ethical standards, Imogen has no intention of becoming involved with a crook like Manfred, but no woman has ever turned him down. Hes relentless in his pursuit of Imogen. When Manfred threatens her good friends in Little Italy, Imogen makes a deal with the crime boss: in exchange for her friends safety, she agrees to become Manfreds mistress. Imogen knows this is a big price to pay and understands that her life will never be the same. But the unexpected happens. Imogen begins to enjoy the notoriety of being a gangsters mistress and participates in activities she could not have dreamed of. As she falls in love with Manfred, Imogen is accepted by all of the members of his family, save for one. And that makes all the difference in the future between Manfred and Imogen.




Lockdown


Book Description

New game. New rules. Just stay alive… When the last of the bodies were cleared from the house on St. Augustine Place, everyone thought the game was over. They were wrong. Now, a deadly virus forces everyone into a nationwide lockdown. What better way to pass the time than by playing a game? This time the game is bigger. Deadlier. Two teens, a seasoned detective, and an assortment of other players find themselves on a collision course with an unspeakable evil. Who brought these strangers together? What is the purpose behind this new, sinister game? As the mystery unfolds, death awaits at every turn and long-buried secrets are exhumed while the players inch closer to a terrifying truth. Is death the only way out of this Lockdown? Prepare for the unexpected in this genre bending, nightmare fueled, Staycation sequel that will keep you guessing until the end. Are you ready to play?




The Ghost behind the Masks


Book Description

In The Ghost behind the Masks, W. David Shaw traces Shakespeare’s influence on nine Victorian poets: Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Christina Rossetti, Thomas Hardy, Matthew Arnold, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Algernon Swinburne, Arthur Hugh Clough, and George Meredith. Often, he writes, the transparency of Shakespeare's influence on Victorian poets and the degree of their engagement with Shakespeare exist in inverse ratio. Instead of imitating a play by Shakespeare or merely quoting his lines, a Victorian poet may embrace more elusive elements of rhetoric and style, adapting them to his or her own ends. Shaw argues that the most Shakespearean attribute of the Victorian poets is not their addiction to any particular trope or figure of speech but their reticence, the classical restraint of their great monologues, and their sudden descent from grandeur to simplicity. He explores such topics as man-made law versus natural right, Stoic fatalism versus self-reliance, and the sanity of lunatics, lovers, and poets versus the madness of commonplace minds.




Thorn


Book Description

Welcome to the creepy, spine-tingling Immortal Tales – a series of dark, sexy fairy-tale retellings from the master of British contemporary gothic horror Sarah Rayne, perfect for fans of TERRI WINDLING, ANGELA CARTER, ANNE RICE, LAIRD BARRON and BROM. “Rayne spins eerie yarns within yarns like a latter-day Isak Dinesen or Wilkie Collins” KIRKUS REVIEWS “Equal parts Daphne du Maurier, Josephine Tey and Ruth Rendell . . . Rayne possesses superb story-telling skills” US MYSTERY GUILD “Highly enjoyable mainstream horror fare from a genre veteran” BOOKLIST “Rayne writes with panache and imagination” KIRKUS REVIEWS “Rayne is a fine writer, a sure-handed plotter and skillful character builder” BOOKLIST “Colorful characters and a mastery of slow-burning suspense” KIRKUS REVIEWS “Rayne perfects the craft of deftly chosen details, simmering suspense and chilling surprises” KIRKUS REVIEWS _______________________ A family curse that has lain dormant for decades awakes, unleashing a horror beyond imagining in this dark re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty tale – from critically-acclaimed British horror author Sarah Rayne. For several hundred years the Ingram family has lived under a curse – a hereditary madness which manifests itself in the females every other generation – and it appears the madness has struck again in the beautiful Imogen. When a grisly incident occurs at the funeral of Imogen’s cousin, it’s decided she must be shut away from the world. Imogen is sent to a mental institution, where she falls into a mysterious stupor from which it’s feared she will never wake. Dan Tudor, a writer commissioned to produce a feature on the family, is not convinced the curse is real. But he soon finds himself drawn into a strange, tangled web surrounding Imogen. His investigations are about to lead him to something more macabre and horrifying than anyone could ever have imagined . . . This lush, suspenseful novel, one of three standalone fairy-tale retellings in the Immortal Tales series, is the perfect read if you enjoy gothic horror with twists and turns that will keep you up all night. READERS ARE HOOKED ON THE IMMORTAL TALES: “I am enjoying this series. If you have a taste for the gothic it's for you . . . Very atmospheric and entertaining” Suspense Fan, 5* Amazon review “Sarah Rayne's writing is always beautiful. I want to read more stories by her” 5* Amazon review “Another superb book from a superb writer” Julie B., 5* Amazon review “An amazing read. Sarah Rayne keeps the reader in suspense until the very end” Amazon Customer, 5* Amazon review “Holds you captive every step of the way . . . you won't be disappointed” B.B. Norman, 5* Amazon review “If you like to be pleasurably frightened, then this is the book for you” Greg O'Rilla, 5* Amazon review THE IMMORTAL TALES: 1. Thorn 2. Changeling 3. Wildwood




Nevada


Book Description

One of Vogue's Best Books of 2022 So Far, Buzzfeed's Summer Books You Won’t Be Able To Put Down, Book Riot's Best Summer Reads for 2022, and Dazed's Queer Books to Read in 2022 "[Nevada] is defiant, terse, not quite cynical, sometimes flip, addressed to people who think they know. It is, if you like, punk rock." —The New Yorker "Nevada is a book that changed my life: it shaped both my worldview and personhood, making me the writer I am. And it did so by the oldest of methods, by telling a wise, hilarious, and gripping story." —Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby A beloved and blistering cult classic and finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction finally back in print, Nevada follows a disaffected trans woman as she embarks on a cross-country road trip. Maria Griffiths is almost thirty and works at a used bookstore in New York City while trying to stay true to her punk values. She’s in love with her bike but not with her girlfriend, Steph. She takes random pills and drinks more than is good for her, but doesn’t inject anything except, when she remembers, estrogen, because she’s trans. Everything is mostly fine until Maria and Steph break up, sending Maria into a tailspin, and then onto a cross-country trek in the car she steals from Steph. She ends up in the backwater town of Star City, Nevada, where she meets James, who is probably but not certainly trans, and who reminds Maria of her younger self. As Maria finds herself in the awkward position of trans role model, she realizes that she could become James’s savior—or his downfall. One of the most beloved cult novels of our time and a landmark of trans literature, Imogen Binnie’s Nevada is a blistering, heartfelt, and evergreen coming-of-age story, and a punk-smeared excavation of marginalized life under capitalism. Guided by an instantly memorable, terminally self-aware protagonist—and back in print featuring a new afterword by the author—Nevada is the great American road novel flipped on its head for a new generation.




Lady Enigma


Book Description

Lady Enigma is a successful cat burglar who wont take crap from anyone. Even when thugs try to steal her most recent find after an apartment complex robbery, the Lady is not threatened. Shes capable of besting them before speeding off in her luxurious Corvette. After a night of adventure, Lady Enigma decides to step into the Gemini Club for a drinkand thats when everything changes. Enigma meets handsome, shy Phillip Sydney and feels an immediate attraction. After a bit of foreplay, she takes him back to her place to show him the art of lovemaking, Lady Enigma style. The next morning, shes back to her usual tricks or is she? Has this quiet young man awakened something in hersomething that might make her give up her thieving ways? In the midst of her identity crisis, Lady Enigma once again encounters thug trouble. When Phillip stands up for her in a fight, Enigma suspects shes falling for him. Will she be able to renounce the cat burglar lifestyle and tell Phillip about her true identity? More importantly, who is Phillip Sydney really, and why does she feel as though shes met him before? Perhaps her lover has an enigma of his own




Craving Her Rough Diamond Doc


Book Description

Her hunky outdoor doc Her first sighting of Dr. Wyatt Beauchamp is of him with his shirt off—all deliciously bronzed corded muscle and mouthwatering abs—and nurse Imogen Donally hopes the next six months working in his remote mountain practice will be…more interesting than she'd originally thought! Only, her Dr. Tall, Dark and Handsome quickly proves to be more Tall, Dark and Seriously Brooding…. Tough cookie Imogen has no desire ever to settle down, but even she is reluctantly intrigued by a man just as haunted by the past as she is. Could a red-hot fling with the sexy, stubborn doc be Imogen's undoing?




A Thousand Perfect Notes


Book Description

An emotionally charged story about the power of dreams, and how passion can turn to obsession. Beck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music - because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence. When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it? Thrilling and powerfully written, this is an explosive debut for YA readers which tackles the dark topic of domestic abuse in an ultimately hopeful tale.




Catholic World


Book Description




My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life


Book Description

"I'm here to take you to live with your father. In Tokyo, Japan! Happy birthday!" In the Land of the Rising Sun, where high culture meets high kitsch, and fashion and technology are at the forefront of the First World's future, the foreign-born teen elite attend ICS -- the International Collegiate School of Tokyo. Their accents are fluid. Their homes are ridiculously posh. Their sports games often involve a (private) plane trip to another country. They miss school because of jet lag and visa issues. When they get in trouble, they seek diplomatic immunity. Enter foster-kid-out-of-water Elle Zoellner, who, on her sixteenth birthday, discovers that her long-lost father, Kenji Takahara, is actually a Japanese hotel mogul and wants her to come live with him. Um, yes, please! Elle jets off first class from Washington, DC, to Tokyo, which seems like a dream come true. Until she meets her enigmatic father, her way-too-fab aunt, and her hyper-critical grandmother, who seems to wish Elle didn't exist. In an effort to please her new family, Elle falls in with the Ex-Brats, a troop of uber-cool international kids who spend money like it's air. But when she starts to crush on a boy named Ryuu, who's frozen out by the Brats and despised by her new family, her already tenuous living situation just might implode. My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life is about learning what it is to be a family, and finding the inner strength to be yourself, even in the most extreme circumstances.