Janelle spent her high school years and beyond fantasizing about Ron. Now, thanks to a game of spin the bottle, her fantasy is becoming reality.Janelle was a chubby and awkward teen in love with the most popular guy from her high school. She's in college now, and her heart still can't let him go even though he's heading off to the army and out of her life. Janelle has once last chance to see him again, but he'd never give her the time of day... would he? When she finds herself drawn into a game of spin the bottle with the man of her dreams, she finds out how wrong she is.Ron admires Janelle as much for her spunk as he always has for her well-endowed figure. And when the sweetly shy girl shows her wild side, he can't think of anything other than possessing her—mind, body, and soul.

Widow Noel Martin never breaks promises, and she promised her kids they'd have Christmas at her childhood home in Connecticut. But driving across country takes money. Noel is broke when a snowstorm blows them into a tiny Minnesota cafe owned by a man who can change her mind. She accepts his offer of a job. Despite her attraction to him, she makes it clear she is only temporary help.Dan Longstreet isn't adopting any more strays, but he needs a waitress. Dan works so hard to make his cafe a success, he doesn't have time for love. Though Noel's slender blonde beauty stuns him and her two adorable children tug at his heart, he denies how they threaten to change his life.When tragedy strikes, their new-found love is the first victim. Noel can't stay and Dan can't leave. Will their journey be the gift that reunites them?ReviewJOURNEY OF THE MAGIWith a deft touch of her brush, word artist Barbara Edwards paints an endearing story that showcases the true meanings of Christmas--love, sacrifice and the wide-eyed hopes of children. This is a sweet romance of two lonely people who have an instant attraction to each other while their hearts are heavy with fears and long-denied dreams. Ms. Edwards gives us several twists and turns in the plot, but it is her attention to detail, her ingenious stroke of the brush that breathes life and love into this delightful story.--Vonnie Davis, award winning romance authorFrom the AuthorI had fun writing this holiday romance, a departure from my edgy paranormal romances. I revealed my soft heart and love of stray animals, small children and tall, dark and strong men.I took a number of personal experiences to write the plot. I breast-fed my children like Noel does her baby and drove a clunker of a car for years. Minnesota during November came from my son's wedding to a girl from that area. The snow was deep and the temperature deeper. The parking lot in the motel had a warning not to leave your vehicle if the bears were in the parking lot. The people were among the friendliest I've ever met.My house burned and we lost everything. A period in my life I'd rather forget. There is nothing like Christmas in Connecticut. We all gather to decorate wreaths to sell on the Christmas tree farm. My husband and I dress up like Santa and his wife to entertain the kids and hand out candy canes. On Christmas Eve we gather to exchange gift and share a family dinner. I cry each year for those who can't be there and with happiness. My children and their families are growing and changing with every season.

The Rage of Kings, Book Two, sequel to The Iron WolvesVagandrak is broken, and a new threat has arisen that threatens to defeat even the mighty Iron Wolves. The twisted, deviant Elf Rats have gathered in the toxic realm beyond the White Lion Mountains… swiftly they invade the troubled land of Vagandrak, killing for profit and pleasure. The now-disgraced Iron Wolves are the realm’s only hope, but there’s a problem: they’ve been sentenced to death by the insane King Yoon for the dark sorcery in their blood. In the mountains of Zalazar lie the White Towers, pillars of legend said to contain the Heart of the Elves. The Iron Wolves must journey north to steal the Heart, and purify the evil in the land, but the land belongs to the Elves – and they won’t give it up without a fight! File Under: Fantasy

*“I am Princess Meredith, heir to a throne—if I can stay alive long enough to claim it.” *After eluding relentless assassination attempts by Prince Cel, her cousin and rival for the Faerie crown, Meredith Gentry, Los Angeles private eye, has a whole new set of problems. To become queen, she must bear a child before Cel can father one of his own. But havoc lies on the horizon: people are dying in mysterious, frightening ways, and suddenly the very existence of the place known as Faerie is at grave risk. So now, while she enjoys the greatest pleasures of her life attempting to conceive a baby with the warriors of her royal guard, she must fend off an ancient evil that could destroy the very fabric of reality. And that’s just her day job. . . .From the Paperback edition.Amazon.com ReviewFaerie princess and private detective Meredith Gentry juggles love, sex, intrigue, magic, and more in this witty and sensual novel from Laurell K. Hamilton. Merry has her hands full: she's desperate to conceive a child and thereby claim the Unseelie throne; she's the target of intrigue from both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts; her newest client is an exiled goddess with a secret that could get them all killed; and a hideous fey force that alarms even her formidable lover-warriors is loose in Los Angeles.A Caress of Twilight is infused with Hamilton's characteristic appealing blend of sex, magic, wit, and romantic dilemma. The mystery takes a back seat to the concerns of Faerie power and politics, making the book less balanced, but Merry's growth in leadership and power, along with a bang-up ending, won't leave fans disappointed. Readers new to Hamilton might be advised to start with A Kiss of Shadows or the extremely popular Anita Blake series. --Roz GenesseeFrom Publishers WeeklyIn the second R-rated outing (after 2000's A Kiss of Shadows) from bestseller Hamilton to feature bright and winsome faery princess Meredith Gentry, the unlikely shamus, who runs an L.A. detective agency with a staff of faery musclemen (plus a pet goblin), seems to spend almost as much time pondering her position in the fey world as attending to her client, glamorous film star Maeve Reed, actually a Seelie goddess, who needs Meredith's help in getting pregnant. Meredith does what she can for Maeve, although she has troubles enough of her own in the conception game. As one of two possible heirs to the Unseelie throne, the other being her nasty cousin, Prince Cel, Meredith must produce her own child and then, by faery tradition, marry her partner. It isn't easy, since any father must be kingly material, but our heroine is a game lass, and her failure is not for lack of trying. In an exciting climax, the LAPD Bureau of Human and Fey Affairs summons Meredith to battle a fearsome, crawling, tentacled and slobbering monster, the Nameless, which was too blithely created by opposing faery courts her own, the Unseelie, ruled by her millennium-old aunt, Queen Andais, and the Seelie, ruled by the ruthless and equally ancient King Taranis. More attention to the detective motif might have made the story more fun, but steamy prose and Meredith's obsessive personal conflicts should keep the faithful turning the pages. (Apr. 2)Forecast: With a 10-city author tour, national print advertising and the success of last year's Narcissus in Chains and other novels in her Anita Blake vampire series, Hamilton should make another run at the bestseller lists.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Owen may be a bit of a country mouse, but he's loving his vacation in London. After a long day playing tourist, he's on the hunt for some cheap beer and a good burger. Instead he finds a man hunting him, an arrogant prick with only one thing on the brain: the kind of meat that doesn't come on a bun.Eighty-hour weeks at a trading desk don't leave Malcolm Kavanagh much time for meaningful relationships. Besides, in his world, everything's a competition—even sex. When his newest one-night-sub fails to show, Malcolm sets his sights on the pretty young Yank on the bar stool beside him.Owen's all for an adventure with a native, but he's not the pushover Malcolm thinks he is, and Malcolm's not as shallow as he tries to be. They both soon learn that nothing's too intimate to share with a stranger, and the strangest things happen when two people share the most important pieces of their hearts.

She sees dead people — and they see her. Chloe Saunders used to have a pretty normal life. But that changed on the day she met her first ghost. Now she finds herself in the midst of some really strange situations. First, she gets locked up in Lyle House, a group home for troubled teens. Then she finds out that there's more to her housemates than meets the eye. Will Chloe be able to uncover the dangerous secrets of Lyle House . . . or will its skeletons come back to haunt her? This thrilling first volume in the supernaturally charged trilogy Darkest Powers, by international bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, will keep readers awake well into the darkest time of night.

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The year was 2014. The year we cured cancer. The year we cured the common cold. And the year the dead started to walk. The year of the Rising. The year was 2039. The world didn't end when the zombies came, it just got worse. Georgia and Shaun Mason set out on the biggest story of their generation. The uncovered the biggest conspiracy since the Rising and realized that to tell the truth, sacrifices have to be made. Now, the year is 2041, and the investigation that began with the election of President Ryman is much bigger than anyone had assumed. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, the surviving staff of After the End Times must face mad scientists, zombie bears, rogue government agencies-and if there's one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it's this: Things can always get worse. BLACKOUT is the conclusion to the epic trilogy that began in the Hugo-nominated FEED and the sequel, DEADLINE. Review "A satire of the science-industrial complex, the Newsflesh trilogy is a wry and entertaining exploration of the way political corruption never stops - even after the zombie apocalypse." -- NPR Books on *Blackout *