Treated like an outcast in a genetically engineered world, human throwback Gray Bridger hopes to escape Testament and the powerful Bridger matriarchy that plots to use Gray for its own devices. **From Booklist In her second novel, Freireich returns to the deftly imagined human-colonized worlds that helped make Becoming Human a success. In the Polite Harmony of Worlds, Testament is a small planet isolated by a quarantine of its genetically modified Altereds, each of whom embodies the memories and personalities of significant ancestors of one or another of Testament's clans. Desperate to explore the other Harmony worlds, non-Altered human Gray Bridger discovers that his politically connected grandmother has bound him to the quarantine's rules by arranging his marriage to an Altered, a beautiful woman with no identity apart from those of the predecessors she embodies. Abandoning his initial plan simply to kill her, Gray is increasingly attracted to her dominant personality, who agrees to help him escape Testament. Freireich's command of characterization and her masterfully rich portrayal of the Polite Harmony's complex mixture of cultures already make her small body of work an important contribution to contemporary science fiction. Carl Hays

The bestselling author of the acclaimed Merlin Trilogy returns to the magical world of King Arthur and Camelot--to tell a story of daring adventure, unexpected love, and unsurpassed enchantment. . . .ALEXANDER THE FATHERLESS Eager, burning, and young, Alexander has come of age to take vengeance on the treacherous King of Cornwall who murdered his father. He sets off toward Camelot to seek justice from King Arthur, only to be diverted by the beautiful and sensual Morgan le Fay, Arthur's sister. Using her wiles and her enchantments, Morgan persuades the young prince to attempt a theft of the Holy Grail. He is unaware her motives are of the darkest nature. . . . ALICE THE PRETTY PILGRIM Motherless daughter of a royal duke, Alice has lived a life of lively adventure, accompanying her father on his yearly pilgrimages. Now, on her father's final visit to Jerusalem, she comes under the protection of a young prince whose brothers were murdered, a prince who is in possession of an enchanted silver cup believed to be the mysterious Holy Grail itself. Thus the stage is set for two young seekers to meet--and to find not what they are searching for but, instead, the greatest treasure of all . . . love. "A wonderful love story set in the magical times of King Arthur and Camelot." --Oklahoman

He twisted away, but her hands were still there. Burning him. Whispering across his chest like wind over water. He shivered. He sweat. He gasped for air but inhaled only her scent. He reached for sanity and found his fingers entangled in short, satiny hair. He opened his eyes and found them captured by hers. Huge, dark, innocent. Imploring, hot, sexy eyes, staring down at him as he lay trembling with desire on his bed. And he knew he was lost. He lifted his arms, slid them around her small body to pull her down to his chest. Parted his lips to taste her succulent mouth. . .

Ice As the daughter of a Georgia senator, Holly Aimes is tired of living her life in the spotlight. After her movie star fiancé publicly dumps her for a sultry supermodel, the reserved security firm owner will do anything to keep from getting hurt again. When she is forced to deal with sexy late-night talk show host Michael Williams, sparks ignite. But are they hot enough to melt her icy reserve? Fire As the hunky host of a popular talk show, Michael Williams fought long and hard to become the king of late night. What the king wants is a queen. What Mike gets is Holly Aimes, a woman who makes his body burn even as she gives him major frostbite. But after a night in his bed, Mike knows she isn't the icy, aloof woman she pretends to be. Can he convince her to trust him with her heart?

For young Prince Harpirias, the journey into the frozen tundra of remote Majipoor might well have been a death sentence. His mission? To rescue a party of scientists kidnapped by an uncivilized race who dwell beyond Majipoor's borders. He faces blizzards, ice storms, strange beasts, and barbarism, not knowing whether he'll return a hero--or not return at all.

A happy newlywed at last, the "Nameless Detective" returns from his honeymoon with the idea that he'll finally take it easy. And when the young, beautiful, and wealthy Melanie Ann Aldrich walks into his office, everything seems perfect. After rummaging through some old papers belonging to her dead parents, she's discovered that she's adopted. Now she wants to know who her real parents are and why no one ever told her the truth. Nameless could do this in his sleep, this case is so easy. But is it? Nameless delves easily enough into the past but no one there is talking... at first. As he starts to sort out the truth behind Melanie's mysterious history, he wonders how much his client will really want to know. Her real mother was an emotionally disturbed young woman, now deceased. Her real father was a teenage delinquent named Stephen Chehalis, who was chased out of town by his own father shortly after Melanie was born. But that's only the beginning. Now Melanie wants to meet her father and asks Nameless to arrange it. Easy enough, but after the arrangement is made, Nameless uncovers some disturbing information about the man—information Chehalis would kill to keep secret. Suddenly a routine case turns into a hardcase, and Nameless must risk his own life to protect a daughter from a vicious father with a deadly secret. 

Christmas has never been a particularly good time for Dr Kay Scarpetta. Although a holiday for most, the festivities always seem to heighten the alienation felt by society's violent fringe; and that usually means more work for Scarpetta, Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner and consulting forensic pathologist for the FBI. The body was naked, female, and found propped against a fountain in a bleak area of New York's Central Park. Her apparent manner of death points to a modus operandi that is chillingly familar: the gunshot wound to the head, the sections of skin excised from the body, the displayed corpse - all suggest that Temple Brooks Gault, Scarpetta's nemesis, is back at work. Calling on all her reserves of courage and skill, and the able assistance of colleagues Marino and Wesley, Scarpetta must track this most dangerous of killers in pursuit of survival as well as justice - heading inexorably to an electrifying climax amid the dark, menacing labyrinths of the New York subway.

The past always catches up with you. Max Newman should know—he's been running from his since that one, fateful night.Now he's left the darker streets of London behind him and returned to Brighton to lick his wounds. Though he insists the club life is no longer his scene, one evening he lets his friends drag him out dancing. And suddenly the simple life he's tried to lead gets complicated.At Compulsion, the Medina Group's newest hotspot, Max meets Seve Nunez, a member of the Medina management and a man used to taking what he wants. The fierce sexual chemistry between Max and Seve immediately leads to an intimate encounter in the backyard of the club—just the kind of dangerous behaviour Max is trying to forget. Despite that, he can't help but crave more, and Seve seems just as eager.But Max soon suspects that Seve may not be the scrupulous businessman he claims. Max has seen the Medina Group at work before, and what he saw got a good friend...

An avid hunter and wildlife preservationist, the Field & Stream contributor explores these seemingly opposed passions in this "beautifully written" memoir (The Bloomsbury Review). After traveling the globe on expeditions with world-class sportsmen, Guy de la Valdéne purchased an eight hundred–acre farm outside Tallahassee and set out to raise and hunt his favorite game bird, bobwhite quail. But de la Valdéne is also a naturalist at heart, and as he planted trees and divided fields, he found that running the farm compelled him to operate as both hunter and protector. Along the way, de la Valdéne gets pulled into some eye-opening adventures: to a masterpiece of controlled burning performed by a Vietnam veteran in a helicopter with three hundred gallons of napalm, and to his own experiences building a dam to fill his pond. For a Handful of Feathers reconciles a passion for hunting with...

20-something and uncertain about her future, Florentyna Leow is exhilarated when an old acquaintance offers her an opportunity for work and cohabitation in a little house in the hills of Kyoto. Florentyna begins a new job as a tour guide, taking tourists on elaborate and expensive trips around Kyoto's cultural hotspots. Amidst the busy tourist traps and overrun temples, Florentyna develops her own personal map of the city: a favourite smoky jazz kissa; a top-shelf katsuobushi loving cat; an elderly lady named Yamaguchi-san, who shares her sweets and gives Florentyna a Japanese name. Meanwhile, her relationship with her new companion develops an intensity as they live and work together. Their little kitchen, the epicenter of their shared life, overlooks a community garden dominated by a fruitful persimmon tree. Their relationship burns bright, but seasons change, the persimmon tree out back loses its fruit, and things grow strange between the two women....

Library Science September book club pick | A Vulture most anticipated book of the fallOne of The New York Times' 24 works of fiction to read this fall | A Guardian best translated fiction pickA Town & Country must-read fall book"Epic . . . Brash and provocative . . . [A] riveting exploration of feminism and sexism . . . Readers will be awed." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Engrossing . . . Full of emotional suspense." ―Pamela Druckerman, Financial TimesThe French novel taking the world by storm: an ultracontemporary Dangerous Liaisons about sex, feminism, and addiction.Dear Dickhead, I read your post on Insta. You're like a pigeon shitting on my shoulder as you flap past. It's shitty and unpleasant. Waah, waah, waah, I'm a pissy little pantywaist, no one loves me so I whimper like a Chihuahua in the hope someone will notice me....

Carrie was the daughter of the human governor of the colony planet Keiss. Kusac was the son and the heir of the Sholan Clan Lord. Both were telepaths and the bond they formed was compounded equally of love and mind power. Now they were about to be thrust into an interstellar conflict, as factions on both their worlds sought to use their powers for their own ends.

1000 years ago the Acharites drove the Forbidden from their land. Now, strange sightings along Achar's northern border foreshadow their return. The barbaric tribes of the Ravensbund come with tales of fearsome beings who feed on terror.

Marla’s best friend, Elly, left England two years ago on a soul-searching trip through South America. Except for receiving a few postcards, Marla has not heard from her since. Then, Marla receives a strange letter from Elly begging her to fly to New York. But the person Marla meets at the airport is a very different woman from the strong, carefree friend she remembers. Elly, now well-dressed and thin, has acquired a park-view apartment, a house in the Hamptons, and a charismatic, manipulative, cocaine-smuggling boyfriend named Lenny. As Marla tries to free her friend from the dual addictions of love and cocaine, she unravels a story of seduction and power in Columbia and of desire and betrayal in California. Caught in a web of deceptions, the threat of violence mounting around them, Marla decides to take on Lenny and his empire. But Lenny–like the drug he peddles–has no intention of letting Elly go.