Showing titles in Literature & Fiction

Set in Ireland in the 1990s, Colm Tóibín's The Blackwater Lightship tells the story of the Devereux family. Dora Devereux, her daughter Lily and her granddaughter Helen have come together after years of strife and reached an uneasy truce. Helen’s adored brother, Declan, is dying. Two friends join him and the women in a crumbling old house by the sea, where the six of them, from different generations and with different beliefs, must listen to and come to terms with one another.

Tori Frazee is unapologetic when it comes to falling in love before she's thirty. When her marriage ended amicably, she knew she had to get back into the game to find her soulmate and have the family she wanted. Running face-first into a cold but frazzled funeral director and a rebellious toddler at the grocery store isn't how she expected to find love, and Miranda certainly isn't her soulmate. Or is she?

When cynical journalist Joni James gets assigned to cover The Lyon’s Den—a women’s wilderness retreat in the Colorado mountains—she’s armed with sarcasm and ready to write the takedown her boss expects. No phone. No wine. No chance she’ll enjoy a single minute of this nature-loving nightmare. But as obstacle courses turn to opportunities and scavenger hunts spark unexpected joy, Joni finds herself drawn to the very things she planned to ridicule—especially the retreat’s enigmatic and infuriatingly captivating owner, Kendall Lyon.

A bundle of the award-winning Nothing Special series by internationally best-selling author A. E. Via.

Nyssa Blacksea is a wanted woman. The Empire she once served now hunts for her and her unlikely new companion, Quinn. It's only a matter of time until the two women are found and executed. Desperate and with nowhere to turn, Nyssa and Quinn hatch an insane plan—offer the Empire its oldest enemy in exchange for their freedom. But the path to their freedom is fraught with assassins, heart-breaking betrayal, strange gods… and a dangerous queen who demands Nyssa to submit.

SSA Rain Christiansen used to be the agency's golden boy. It just takes one moment of weakness, one tiny paranormal sighting, and all of a sudden, he's the agency's embarrassment. His boss gives him one last chance to redeem himself - go down to Brickell Bay, play nice with the local police, and leave the ghost sightings behind. Rain is determined to do exactly that, even if it kills him. Cold-case Detective Daniel McKenna's latest investigation is going nowhere fast. Daniel is glad to finally have the FBI help his department requested, even if it does come in the form of his ex.

Gillian Carmichael is grieving, not for the loss of her husband, but for what his death has cost her — Kingsford Manor, her beloved home. To make matters worse, she can observe the new 'Lady of the Manor' from her small abode in Kingsford Lodge, and observe her, she does. Viola Berkley, an internationally renowned classical singer, retreats to the quiet of the countryside after her mother’s sudden death, seeking peace and anonymity.

Freelance journalist Lindsay Gordon is strapped for cash. Why else would she agree to cover a fund-raising gala at a girls' public school? But when the star attraction is found garrotted with her own cello string minutes before she is due on stage, Lindsay finds herself investigating a vicious murder. Who would have wanted Lorna Smith Cooper dead? Who had the key to the locked room in which her body was found? And who could have slipped out of the hall at just the right time to commit this calculated and cold-blooded crime?

Straight guys don’t have crushes on other dudes, right? Except my roommate, Whit, is intriguing, and I find myself watching him constantly. He’s a mystery I can’t figure out and these feelings I’m having about him are confusing. Then, one night, I find myself wrapped around him, and after that, I can't get enough. But Whit has secrets. He doesn’t let people in, and the more I fall for him, the less I know. I can't let him go, though. Until I realize I’m going to be the one broken at the end of our story.

Dominic Lowing knows stress. He lost his father to a stress-fuelled heart attack, and his own fast-paced career as a lawyer has done little to help. But he knows which coping mechanisms work for him: diet and exercise, of course. And a very active particular sex life.

Nolan O’Brien is a public prosecutor, and if he ever sees the name Bruno Barbieri again, it will be too soon. After a long week preparing for the trial of the decade, it takes no convincing to hit the men’s club for a few drinks. Except the club wasn’t the only thing he hit that night.

Scholar and award-winning author Faith Fitzgerald has every reason to be happy: a wealthy, charming man who adores her and a family cheering her marriage prospects. But from the moment she meets Eric's sister, Sydney Van Allen, she knows her safe, predictable feelings for him are a shadow of what could be. Openly lesbian and running for senator, Sydney can only succeed if she can live down her wild past. That means no liaisons, especially with the achingly alluring woman on her brother's arm who looks at her with confusion - and desire.

My role as Moric—ruler of a small and prosperous fiefdom in a quiet corner of the world—has always been painfully dull and stifling. Until a beautiful, otherworldly creature with pink skin and a mane of golden hair falls through a strange void that has appeared in my guestroom. I am instantly captivated by him. I have never seen anything like him. I have no idea where he came from, and what else is through that unsettling void—another world filled with soft-skinned, defenseless creatures like him? No tails, no horns, no claws, no sharp teeth. Tiny clothing, rounded ears, bright blue eyes.

It was just a one-time thing. And then a two-time thing. And a three-time thing. Before I know it, I'm in his fancy car, heading to the Wine Country for an extended weekend. My mission? Be the loving boyfriend you bring home to meet the parents. I'm risking my scholarship and my future at the elite Highgate Academy for a charming stranger in need of a boyfriend. Why? I wish I could tell you. But there's more to him than I imagined. I'm doing my best to convince everyone that we're a couple. But maybe I'd be wise to remind myself that we are not.

When four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride.

Kate Winthrop, the only child of a wealthy shipping magnate, has the course of her life charted for her by her parents. She's expected to marry well and produce a successor to the Winthrop empire. But Kate has a very different path in mind. Her true passion lies with photography - and with women. Alone in the city after losing her brother, Sicilian immigrant Giuliana Russo starts working for the Winthrops as a maid. Despite their different social status, Kate and Giuliana become friends, much to the dismay of Kate's parents.

When I left that night, I had every intention of coming back to you. To us. But no matter how hard I wish for what I want, there are some things in life that aren't meant to be. I don't expect you to understand. You've already moved on, living your life. But mine ended that night, nine years ago, and I still can't let you go. Not sure I ever will. I regret so many things, but hurting you, I'll never forgive myself. I'm sorry for...everything.

The local mayor has a dinner date with death... With school out for the summer, dinner ladies Margery and Clementine Butcher-Baker are off on holiday to the picturesque village of St-Martins-on-the-Water. But on their first night, their meal at the hotel ends in disaster, when the local mayor is found dead on the restaurant floor, supposedly poisoned by his dinner. The village has a history of poisoning, and the locals are convinced the Poisoner is back. Immediately suspicion turns on Margery and – in particular – Clementine.

Thirty years have passed since Greta left Marchmont Hall, a grand and beautiful house nestled in the hills of rural Monmouthshire. But when she returns to the Hall for Christmas she has no recollection of her past association with it – the result of a tragic accident that has blanked out more than two decades of her life. Then, during a walk through the wintry landscape, she stumbles across a grave in the woods and the weathered inscription on the headstone tells her that a little boy is buried here.

Lloyd Salter has OCD issues with noise and mess, and he's uncomfortable with human interaction. When his ex claimed the only thing perfect enough to live up to his standards was an android, Lloyd dismissed it. SATinc is the largest manufacturer of androids in Australia, including the Fully Compatible Units known as an A-Class 10. Their latest design is the Synthetic Human Android UNit, otherwise known as SHAUN. Shaun is compatible to Lloyd's every need; the perfect fit on an intellectual and physical basis. But Lloyd soon realizes Shaun's not like other A-Class androids.