Download : The Second Chance Café (A Hope Springs Novel) [Kindle Edition] by Alison Kent

The Second Chance Café

Growing up, Kaylie Flynn was shuffled from foster home to foster home before being welcomed into Winton and May Wise’s family. It was May who taught Kaylie the comfort of home, and the healing power of baking the perfect brownie. Years later, May leaves Kaylie the money she needs to open her own café in the charming Victorian house they once shared. Now back in Hope Springs, Kaylie’s determined to finally make all her dreams a reality—and unearth answers to lingering questions about her past.

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Download : Mission to Paris: A Novel [Hardcover] by Alan Furst

Mission to Paris: A Novel

It is the late summer of 1938, Europe is about to explode, the Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl is on his way to Paris to make a movie for Paramount France.

The Nazis know he’s coming—a secret bureau within the Reich Foreign Ministry has for years been waging political warfare against France, using bribery, intimidation, and corrupt newspapers to weaken French morale and degrade France’s will to defend herself. For their purposes, Fredric Stahl is a perfect agent of influence, and they attack him.

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Download Crystal Gardens [Kindle Edition] by Amanda Quick

Crystal Gardens

Evangeline Ames has powerful psychic talents and works for an exclusive firm, Flint and Marsh, on Lantern Street, where she is hired out as a private investigator under the ruse of being a paid companion. She also dabbles on the side as an author writing serial romantic suspense stories. Many of the ton hire out her services to ensure their daughters are not being courted by fortune hunters and Evie is very good at her job, except her last assignment almost got her killed. Taking a break to spend more time on her writing, Evie rents a cottage in the country to get away from all the stress, only to find herself the target of another attempt on her life. As she flees from a killer, she runs to the mystical Crystal Gardens neighboring her cottage and straight into the enigmatic Lucas Sebastian.

Lucas Sebastian is a very misunderstood gentleman of the ton who carries a deep dark power. He's recently inherited his uncle's country estate and the enchanted gardens that go with it. Suspecting that his uncle's death was not merely a heart attack, Lucas moves to the Crystal Gardens to try and catch a killer, but he gets more than he bargained for when he meets Evangeline and realizes her life is in danger.

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Download : The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew

The Dry Grass of August

In this beautifully written debut, Anna Jean Mayhew offers a riveting depiction of Southern life in the throes of segregation and what it will mean for a young girl on her way to adulthood and for the woman who means the world to her.

On a scorching day in August 1954, thirteen-year-old Jubie Watts leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. Crammed into the Packard along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family's black maid, Mary Luther. For as long as Jubie can remember, Mary has been there cooking, cleaning, compensating for her father's rages and her mother's benign neglect, and loving Jubie unconditionally.

Bright and curious, Jubie takes note of the anti-integration signs they pass and of the racial tension that builds as they journey further south. But she could never have predicted the shocking turn their trip will take. Now, in the wake of tragedy, Jubie must confront her parents failings and limitations, decide where her own convictions lie, and make the tumultuous leap to independence.

On a scorching day in August 1954, thirteen-year-old Jubie Watts leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. Crammed into the Packard along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family's black maid, Mary Luther. 

For as long as Jubie can remember, Mary has been there - cooking, cleaning, compensating for her father's rages and her mother's benign neglect, and loving Jubie unconditionally. Bright and curious, Jubie takes note of the anti-integration signs they pass, and of the racial tension that builds as they journey further south. But she could never have predicted the shocking turn their trip will take. 

Now, in the wake of tragedy, Jubie must confront her parents' failings and limitations, decide where her own convictions lie, and make the tumultuous leap to independence...Infused with the intensity of a changing time, here is a story of hope, heartbreak, and the love and courage that can transform us - from child to adult, from wounded to indomitable.

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Download : Smut: Stories

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In The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson, a recently bereaved widow finds interesting ways to supplement her income by performing as a patient for medical students, and renting out her spare room. Quiet, middle-class, and middle-aged, Mrs. Donaldson will soon discover that she rather enjoys role-play at the hospital, and the irregular and startling entertainment provided by her tenants.

In The Shielding of Mrs. Forbes, a disappointed middle-aged mother dotes on her only son, Graham, who believes he must shield her from the truth. As Graham’s double life becomes increasingly complicated, we realize how little he understands, not only of his own desires but also those of his mother.

A master storyteller dissects a very English form of secrecy with two stories of the unexpected in otherwise apparently ordinary lives.

Bennett's protagonists often find themselves trapped in unbalanced, oppressive relationships. In THE GREENING OF MRS DONALDSON, the first story in SMUT, the widower Mrs Donaldson's tormentor is her adult daughter who frowns on her mother's participation in medical students' training by enacting various ailments, and even more adamantly objects to her mother's taking in of lodgers. That both experiences lead Mrs Donaldson to belatedly discover her sexuality, and more importantly her autonomy, is a secret she must keep from her narrow-minded daughter and her "respectable" friends.

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Download : Norumbega Park: A Novel

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Richie Palumbo, the most prosaic of men, gets lost one night in 1969 while driving home with his family. He finds himself in the town of Norumbega—hidden, remote, and gorgeous, at the far edges of Boston’s western suburbs. He sees a venerable old house and, without quite knowing why, decides he must have it. The repercussions of Richie’s wild dream to own a house in this town lead to a forty-year odyssey for his family. For his son, Jack, Norumbega becomes a sexual playground—until he meets one ungraspable girl and begins a lifelong pursuit of her. Joannie, Richie’s daughter, finds that the challenges of living in Norumbega encourage her to pursue the contemplative life. For Stella, Richie’s wife, life in Norumbega leads to surprising growth as both a sexual and a spiritual being.

“Norumbega Park, the beautiful, audacious fifth novel from author and playwright Anthony Giardina, follows the lives of Richie [Palumbo] and his family for 40 years . . . Giardina is a master of prose that’s engaging but never seems rushed—he covers four decades in just over 300 pages. But his pacing remains natural and unhurried. His characters are as emotionally rich and complex as any you’ll find in the novels of Richard Ford, John Updike and Richard Yates . . . Like Updike, [Giardina] deals with some uncomfortable themes—much of Norumbega Park deals with the delicate, sometimes awkward intersection of family and sexuality—but he handles them beautifully. And while many authors reflexively lapse into despair and pessimism, Giardina sticks with a truer kind of realism. Things might be bad; they might even be worse than they seem; but there’s always at least a chance of redemption . . . There are countless emotional pitfalls authors can fall into, but Giardina has avoided every one, and the result is majestic—Norumbega Park is one of the bravest, most memorable American novels in years.” —
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Download | Shadows and Light by: Anne Bishop

The national bestselling author of the Black Jewels Trilogy returns with book two in the thrilling Tir Alainn Trilogy-a dazzling tale of romance, high adventure, and thrilling fantasy.

An encroaching evil threatens the lives of every witch, woman, and Fae in the realm. And only the Bard, the Muse, and the Gatherer of Souls possess the power to stop the bloodshed.

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Free Download | Crossed | Ally Condie

In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

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Download Maus: A Survivor's Tale: 1. My Father Bleeds History | Art Spiegelman

Maus I: A Survivor's Tale

Some historical events simply beggar any attempt at description--the Holocaust is one of these. Therefore, as it recedes and the people able to bear witness die, it becomes more and more essential that novel, vigorous methods are used to describe the indescribable.

Examined in these terms, Art Spiegelman's Maus is a tremendous achievement, from a historical perspective as well as an artistic one. Spiegelman, a stalwart of the underground comics scene of the 1960s and '70s, interviewed his father, Vladek, a Holocaust survivor living outside New York City, about his experiences. The artist then deftly translated that story into a graphic novel. By portraying a true story of the Holocaust in comic form--the Jews are mice, the Germans cats, the Poles pigs, the French frogs, and the Americans dogs--Spiegelman compels the reader to imagine the action, to fill in the blanks that are so often shied away from. Reading Maus, you are forced to examine the Holocaust anew. 

This is neither easy nor pleasant. However, Vladek Spiegelman and his wife Anna are resourceful heroes, and enough acts of kindness and decency appear in the tale to spur the reader onward (we also know that the protagonists survive, else reading would be too painful). This first volume introduces Vladek as a happy young man on the make in pre-war Poland. With outside events growing ever more ominous, we watch his marriage to Anna, his enlistment in the Polish army after the outbreak of hostilities, his and Anna's life in the ghetto, and then their flight into hiding as the Final Solution is put into effect. The ending is stark and terrible, but the worst is yet to come--in the second volume of this Pulitzer Prize-winning set.

Download Maus: A Survivor's Tale: 1. My Father Bleeds History

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Free Download | Leonidas and the Kings of Sparta: Mightiest Warriors, Fairest Kingdom | Alfred S. Bradford

The Spartans have seemingly never gone out of interest, serving as mythic icons who exemplify fearlessness and an unwillingness to give in against impossible odds. Yet most are unaware of the true nature of the Spartan leaders—the fact that the kings maintained their position of power for 600 years by their willingness to compromise, even if it meant giving up some of their power, for example. 

Organized in a logical and chronological order, Leonidas and the Kings of Sparta: Mightiest Warriors, Fairest Kingdom describes the legendary origins of the dual kingship in Sparta, documents the many reigning eras of the kings, and then concludes with the time when the kingship was abolished six centuries later. 

The book examines the kings' roles in war and battle, in religion, in the social life of the city, and in formulating Spartan policy both at home and abroad. No other book on Sparta has concentrated on describing the role of the kings—and their absolutely essential contributions to Spartan society in general.

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Free Download | Cyber Way | Alan Dean Foster

This book's a hoot. It is the sci fi version of the murder on the rez' genre (pioneered by Tony Hillerman.) The book takes place in the not to distance future. The Navajo Indian reservation is now a haven for hi-tech firms (mostly Asian) seeking skilled labor and tax havens.

Although the Dineh have pretty much abandonned the ancient superstition...it turns out that there's something funky going on with the sand paintings. The cops in the book get to explore the sand paintings, Navajo culture and computer technology and more.

As mentioned in another review. The book is not well written. The characters are weak, and the author never really develops the plot or the symbology in the sand paintings. I really wish the author or editors had taken the time to turn this fantastic idea into a block buster.

Accidentally picked up this stinker at the airport, rushing to catch a flight. oh my god. prose that whines, bores and tires. granted there is a cute idea wrapped in all the tedium, perhaps enough for a short story or a novella, not a book. truly `a dark and stormy night' quality of writing: ``As Moody's gaze rose from the screen he noted that the wind was no longer blowing across the canyon. Instead it was now blasting toward them, making his own hair and (much more impressively) that of Samantha Grayhills' stream out behind their heads.'' the author attempts to add character development to the story, instead paints caricatures. borded and desparate to kill time i found myself skipping pages at a time to make the pace passable, to get to the end so i could throw this thing out.

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Free Download | I Was an Eighth-Grade Ninja (Z Graphic Novels Tomo) | Andrew Simmons

I bought this book for my 10 yr old daughter who is a black belt in TKD and is working toward one in TSD.

This was her first comic book and loved it! She can't wait for the next one to arrive in the mail. She thought it was a great story because it was funny, had action and taught a lesson in friendship. She recommends it!

It's impossible to read this book on the Kindle, the type is way too small, even for 10-year old eyes. The sample did not let us see a page of text, and I think it should have.

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Free Download | Atlas Shrugged | Ayn Rand

At last, Ayn Rand's masterpiece is available to her millions of loyal readers in trade paperback. With this acclaimed work and its immortal query, "Who is John Galt?", Ayn Rand found the perfect artistic form to express her vision of existence. 

Atlas Shrugged made Rand not only one of the most popular novelists of the century, but one of its most influential thinkers. 

Atlas Shrugged is the astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world--and did. Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, Atlas Shrugged stretches the boundaries further than any book you have ever read. 

It is a mystery, not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder--and rebirth--of man's spirit. * Atlas Shrugged is the "second most influential book for Americans today" after the Bible, according to a joint survey conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club.

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Free Download | Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor | Anthony Everitt

Augustus began his career as an inexperienced teenager plucked from his studies to take center stage in the drama of Roman politics, assisted by two school friends, Agrippa and Maecenas. Augustus’s rise to power began with the assassination of his great-uncle and adoptive father, Julius Caesar, and culminated in the titanic duel with Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

The world that made Augustus–and that he himself later remade–was driven by intrigue, sex, ceremony, violence, scandal, and naked ambition. Everitt has taken some of the household names of history–Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Antony, Cleopatra–whom few know the full truth about, and turned them into flesh-and-blood human beings.

At a time when many consider America an empire, this stunning portrait of the greatest emperor who ever lived makes for enlightening and engrossing reading. Everitt brings to life the world of a giant, rendered faithfully and sympathetically in human scale. A study of power and political genius, Augustus is a vivid, compelling biography of one of the most important rulers in history.

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Free Download | Andy Rooney: 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit | Andy Rooney

Chairs. Neat people. Ugliness. War. Over six decades of intrepid reporting and elegant essays, Andy Rooney has proven a shrewd cultural analystunafraid to question the sometimes ridiculous, often surprising facts of our lives.

Rooneys great gift is telling it straight, without a hint of sugar coating, but with more than a grain of truth and humor. His take on America? Its just amazing how long this country has been going to hell without ever having got there.

On food? Theres more dependable mediocrity than there used to be.Andy Rooney: 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit brings together the best of more than a half-century of work (including long-out-of-print pieces from his early years) in an unforgettable celebration of one of Americas funniest men.

Like Mark Twain, Finley Peter Dunne (Mister Dooley) and Will Rogers, Andy Rooney is a classic chronicler of America, a writer for the ages.

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Free Download | Re Joyce | Anthony Burgess

One of Burgess's main theses is that Joyce meant this book for everyone and that readers shouldn't be scared away by academics and others who would set the book above out heads, high in the ivory tower. Yet, there are definitely parts where he presents Joyce's characters (whom he calls "the humble men of Dublin"), in supercilious language, which risks defeating his point. Why potentially further obscure Ulysses and Finnegans Wake in a book meant to make them more approachable? That said, the book is well written and lucid for the most part. A fan of Joyce should enjoy it. I cannot gush as unequivocally about the book as some other reviewers have, because I am not sure how successful he has been at his goal of bringing Joyce to a new audience that has never previously read him due to intimidation. I think I am too familiar with Joyce to be able to tell how helpful ReJoyce would be for the first-timer. From what they've written, I think the other reviewers may be too familiar also.

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Free Download | The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon Against Kutuzov (Campaign Chronicles) | Alexander Mikaberidze

On 7 September 1812, at Borodino, 75 miles west of Moscow, the armies of the Russian and French empires clashed in one of the climactic battles of the Napoleonic Wars. This horrific - and controversial - contest has fascinated historians ever since. The survival of the Russian army after Borodino was a key factor in Napoleon's eventual defeat and the utter destruction of the French army of 1812. In this thought-provoking new study, Napoleonic historian Alexander Mikaberidze reconsiders the 1812 campaign and retells the terrible story of the Borodino battle as it was seen from the Russian point of view. His original and painstakingly researched investigation of this critical episode in Napoleon's invasion of Russia provides the reader with a fresh perspective on the battle and a broader understanding of the underlying reasons for the eventual Russian triumph.

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Free Download | Forty Stories | Anton Chekhov and Robert Payne

If any writer can be said to have invented the modern short story, it is Anton Chekhov. It is not just that Chekhov democratized this art form; more than that, he changed the thrust of short fiction from relating to revealing. And what marvelous and unbearable things are revealed in these Forty Stories. The abashed happiness of a woman in the presence of the husband who abandoned her years before. The obsequious terror of the official who accidentally sneezes on a general. The poignant astonishment of an aging Don Juan overtaken by love. Spanning the entirety of Chekhov's career and including such masterpieces as "Surgery," "The Huntsman," "Anyuta," "Sleepyhead," "The Lady With the Pet Dog," and "The Bishop," this collection manages to be amusing, dazzling, and supremely moving—often within a single page.

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Free Download | My Life with the Taliban (Columbia Hurst) | Abdul Salam Zaeef

Zaeef shares his experiences as a poor youth in rural Kandahar. Both his parents died when he was young, and Russia's invasion in 1979 forced Zaeef to flee to Pakistan.

In 1983, Zaeef joined the jihad against the Soviets, fighting alongside several major figures of the anti-Soviet resistance, including current Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. After the war, he returned to his quiet life in Helmand, but factional conflicts soon broke out, and Zaeef, disgusted by the ensuing lawlessness, joined with other former mujahidin to form the Taliban, which assumed power in 1994.

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Free Download | Relentless Pursuit (The Bolitho Novels) | Alexander Kent

Douglas Reeman under the pen name Alexander Kent has been writing Bolitho novels since the 1970s. I remember reading Sloop of War and liking the speed of the sloop plus its 16 18 pounders and two forward 24 pounders making it an 18 gun ship. There is a Science fiction story where a human encounters a Computer civilization and the Computer demands millions of books to read and then the Human promises to fill the order and runs away. I have been trying to fill that order ever since by encouraging good writers like Alexander Kent.

Adam Bolitho used to be called Adam Pascoe in the series at one time and was the Favorite relative of Richard Bolitho, described as being like a son to Richard. It is difficult to believe that the Admiral Richard Bolitho was written out of the series. Tackling the African slave trade difficulties as Captain of a Frigate makes the Captain Adam Bolitho character worth checking out in this Suspenseful novel

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