How does an average girl become a magical adventurer, anyway? Find out in this short prequel to My Very UnFairy Tale Life! (Includes some fun UnFairy bonus content!)

Money. Betrayal. Murder.That's a Private conversation.Hired to protect a visiting American woman, Private Johannesburg's Joey Montague is hoping for a routine job looking after a nervous tourist. After the apparent suicide of his business partner, he can't handle much more. But this case is not what it seems—and neither is his partner's death. BookShotsLIGHTNING-FAST STORIES BY JAMES PATTERSONNovels you can devour in a few hoursImpossible to stop readingAll original content from James Patterson

ANGELS OF LOVE Long, sleek legs, siren-like faces, flawless naked bodies glazed in moonlight and sweat...DEMONS OF DESIRENo prayer can save you, no force of will can resist their unholy caress. Through midnight's veil, they will lead you from your wildest dreams into a nightmare of passion, pain and death... DAUGHTERS OF HELL Their beauty beckons. Their flesh seduces. And they're coming now -- for you. Welcome to Lockwood, a sedate, cozy kind of town...until night falls and the succubi come out to play. Hardcore sex, hardcore violence, and a harrowing ancient prophecy about to come true in spades-finally a supernatural horror novel that militant feminists will love! Sexy attorney Ann Slavik returns to her quiet hometown hoping to find her roots...but what does she find instead: murder.

He asked the water to lift him, to carry him, to avenge him. He made his muscles shape his fury, made every stroke declare his hate. And the water obeyed; the water would give him his revenge. No one could beat him, no one came close.His whole life, Danny Kelly's only wanted one thing: to win Olympic gold. Everything he's ever done-every thought, every dream, every action-takes him closer to that moment of glory, of vindication, when the world will see him for what he is: the fastest, the strongest and the best. His life has been a preparation for that moment. His parents struggle to send him to the most prestigious private school with the finest swimming program; Danny loathes it there and is bullied and shunned as an outsider, but his coach is the best and knows Danny is, too, better than all those rich boys, those pretenders. Danny's win-at-all-cost ferocity gradually wins favour with the coolest boys-he's Barracuda, he's the psycho, he's everything they want to be but don't have the guts to get there. He's going to show them all. He would be first, everything would be alright when he came first, all would be put back in place. When he thought of being the best, only then did he feel calm.Should we teach our children to win, or should we teach them to live? How do we make and remake our lives? Can we atone for our past? Can we overcome shame? And what does it mean to be a good person? A searing and provocative novel by the acclaimed author of the international bestseller The Slap, Barracuda is an unflinching look at modern Australia, at our hopes and dreams, our friendships, and our families. It is about class and sport and politics and migration and education. It contains everything a person is: family and friendship and love and work, the identities we inhabit and discard, the means by which we fill the holes at our centre. Barracuda is brutal, tender and blazingly brilliant; everything we have come to expect from this fearless vivisector of our lives and world.

"An inspired collection of 20 stories, brilliant in its command of tone and narrative perspective...Creativity and empathy mark the collection . . . Illustrations enhance the already vivid storytelling."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Spanning worlds, generations, cultures and environments, each of Meno's short stories in this stellar collection explores depression, loneliness and insanity in the world . . ."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Eclectic, funny, constantly surprising—these are the things a short story collection should be allowed to be, and Joe Meno's Demons in the Spring absolutely is . . . a rich, unforgettable stew of a book."—Dave EggersThe limited-edition hardcover of Demons in the Spring was a finalist for the 2009 Story Prize, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2008, a Time Out Chicago Best Book of 2008, and it drew starred reviews in Publishers...

The United States is thrown into chaos as the President is killed in a plane crash shortly after securing his party’s nomination in a hotly contested race for re-election. As suspicions are cast upon the circumstances of the place crash, the incumbent party quickly convenes to nominate a candidate in a storm of domestic and international chaos.Against the backdrop of a rich cast of characters, the motivations and drives of each candidate and player help shape the future of the nation and the world. Allen Drury’s Preserve and Protect brings to a climax the epic saga begun with Pulitzer Prize winning Advise and Consent—and ends with one of the greatest cliffhangers in all of political fiction.

Darcy and Elizabeth are as much in love as ever—even more so as their relationship matures. Their passion inspires everyone around them, and as winter turns to spring, romance finds nearly everyone. Confirmed bachelor Richard Fitzwilliam sets his sights on a seemingly unattainable, beautiful widow, Georgiana Darcy learns to flirt outrageously, the flighty Kitty Bennet develops her first crush, and Caroline Bingley meets her match. But the path of true love never does run smooth, and Elizabeth and Darcy are kept busy navigating their friends and loved ones through the inevitable separations, misunderstandings, misgivings and lovers’ quarrels…

The definitive collection of a twentieth-century master of the short story, whose unforgettable inventions revolutionized the formThe short stories of Donald Barthelme, revered by the likes of Thomas Pynchon and George Saunders, are gems of invention and pathos that have dazzled and delighted readers since the 1960s. Here, for the first time, these essential stories are preserved as they were published in Barthelme's original collections, beginning with Come Back, Dr. Caligari (1964), a book that made a generation of readers sit up and take notice. Collected Stories also includes the work that appeared for the first time in Barthelme's two retrospective anthologies, Sixty and Forty, as well as a selection of uncollected stories.Discover, in this comprehensive gathering, Barthelme's unique approach to fiction, his upside-down worlds that are nonetheless grounded in fundamental human truths, his scrambled visions of history that...

Aspiring psychologist Amanda Rykowsky's schedule is certifiable. Between study, bartending, and an internship with a sex therapist whose techniques would make a Playboy bunny blush, there's zero time for romance. Still, Amanda is flattered to receive an anonymous Valentine…until the messages take a sinister turn.Stockbroker William Sloan swears he's not the one sending Amanda cards, but he suspects the culprit's intentions are more dubious than sharing a box of Godiva. Something about gorgeous, determined Amanda brings out the usually reserved William's inner he-man, and he insists on acting as a decoy boyfriend.With a fake relationship masking some very real lust, it's only a matter of time before William and Amanda give in to the sweetest of temptation­s. And once he's dealt with her secret stalker, William's next mission is to strike Amanda with Cupid's arrow….From Publishers WeeklyWhat do you get when you throw together a sexually repressed college student, a narcissistic sex therapist, a handsome stockbroker and a bevy of sex-crazed therapy patients? Answer: This absurd romantic comedy, which substitutes puerile sex puns for emotional heft. Thompson stretches her "nerd" premise thin, forcing the label on stockbroker William Sloan simply because he wears a winter hat with earflaps. However, William's nerd status doesn't keep him from being pursued by therapist Gloria, who besieges him with double entendres ("I'm glad to have a young and virile man handling my... assets"), glow-in-the-dark condoms and a flash of her breasts. Meanwhile, the object of William's affection, Gloria's studious intern, Amanda, refuses to work him into her busy schedule and accuses him of sending her crude, anonymous Valentines. Thompson throws in a hokey plot involving the true Valentine sender and his plan to kidnap Amanda, but this merely serves as a flimsy tool to push William and Amanda together. All in all, Thompson's newest romance (following Nerds Like It Hot) possesses as much substance as cotton candy with less satisfaction. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistAmanda Rykowsky, psychology student, bartender, and intern to a sex therapist, meets nerdy stockbroker William Sloan when the bag of sex toys she has picked up for the therapist breaks and scatters embarrassing items all over the stairs. With no time for dating, Amanda has sworn off relationships. When she starts receiving progressively more alarming valentines from an unknown admirer, Will worries that a dangerous stalker is the culprit. He offers to pretend to be Amanda's boyfriend, but they can't keep their hands off each other and experience blazing sex. Delightfully busybody neighbors and kinky patients with hilarious peccadilloes add to the entertainment. The seventh entry in Thompson's best-selling Nerds series may be the best one yet, with endearingly quirky characters, hot sex, and a suspenseful plot. Diana Tixier HeraldCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

A gripping novel about the deterioration of the criminal justice system and the mysterious, powerful body at its core—the Supreme Court of the United States. Earle Holgren—murderer, terrorist, lost soul—is the center of a vortex that sweeps up a fascinating cast of characters in their ambitions, politics, honor, and scandal. From the eight Justices of the Supreme Court, to the Attorney General of South Carolina who sees a compelling, controversial trial as an opportunity for demagoguery that might pave his path to the White House, to the idealistic defense lawyer who seeks to save a man she knows to be a psycopathic killer, to a driven Washington journalist in love with one of the Justices whose marriage is crumbling, and other Justices with their own agendas, vendettas, and secrets, Decision is a sweeping tale that begins at a nuclear power plant in South Carolina, works its way through the courts of that state, and finally to the halls of the Supreme Court. From Allen Drury, the master of spellbinding political fiction, author of Advise and ConsentBook DescriptionA gripping novel about the deterioration of the criminal justice system and the mysterious, powerful body at its core—the Supreme Court of the United States.Earle Holgren—murderer, terrorist, lost soul—is the center of a vortex that sweeps up a fascinating cast of characters in their ambitions, politics, honor, and scandal. From the eight Justices of the Supreme Court, to the Attorney General of South Carolina who sees a compelling, controversial trial as an opportunity for demagoguery that might pave his path to the White House, to the idealistic defense lawyer who seeks to save a man she knows to be a psycopathic killer, to a driven Washington journalist in love with one of the Justices whose marriage is crumbling, and other Justices with their own agendas, vendettas, and secrets, Decision is a sweeping tale that begins at a nuclear power plant in South Carolina, works its way through the courts of that state, and finally to the halls of the Supreme Court.From Allen Drury, the master of spellbinding political fiction, author of Advise and Consent.

Book One of the YA/New Adult Choisie series by the author of Emi Lost & Found. When she was four, a generous couple welcomed orphan Olivia Sophia into their lives. As she grew up, her parents made good decisions for her, raising “Livvy” to be an intelligent and creative young girl. Now sixteen, three people influence many of her choices: her first love, her second father, and a third man who speaks to her through his artwork. Livvy’s father is practical and steadfast; even-tempered and quietly observant. She’s an artist who acts on her emotions and thrives on attention. Unhappy with their differences– and misunderstanding her father’s methods– Livvy chooses to focus on the similarities she shares with an enigmatic painter from her mother’s past. Her overactive imagination leads her down an obsessive path– one that only stands to hurt everyone around her. The distraction of a new boyfriend has the potential to end her search and reunite her family, but his involvement in her life could be just as devastating, taking Livvy away from her father for good.