English books
JENS LAPIDUS – NEVER SCREW UP
Niklas, a weapons expert, has returned home after years as a mercenary. His world has no laws. His life has made him a violence fanatic and an adrenaline junkie. He is haunted by traumatic childhood memories. One night his mother calls, hysterical. Someone has been murdered in her apartment building. Thomas is a demoralized cop. He’s working the night shift when the call about the murder comes in. The victim has been badly beaten, and his arms have been pockmarked by syringes. But someone wants the case silenced - why? Mahmud is just out of jail, and keen to live the high life. He has debts to someone he used to deal for. In a game of russian roulette, his life is spared – but at what cost? He has to look for a man whom he later wishes he’d never found. And his search takes him to a side of Stockholm he wishes he’d never seen. No matter how hard they try, the power is not theirs. It belongs to Radovan who rules over the dark parts of the city where everything is for sale. But the price is much too high.
JESSA SLADE – FORGED OF SHADOWS
View our feature on Jessa Slade’s Forged of Shadows. The new novel in the seductively sinister paranormal romance series After surviving the Irish Potato Famine, Liam Niall was possessed by a demon in search of redemption. Now, he heads the Chicago league of taylan in their fight against evil. Jilly Chan is a mentor to the local homeless youth-and warrior against the criminals who prey upon her charges. She's already half-taken by a demon, so Liam reluctantly tries to guide her into full power. Even as the proudly independent Jilly tries to remain true to her own soul, Liam's fiercely passionate touch leaves a mark on her desirable flesh as enduring as her new demonic tattoo...
JESSICA CLARE – THE EXPERT’S GUIDE TO DRIVING A MAN WILD
Being out of control…
The product of a rigid upbringing, Brenna has grown into a sexy free spirit who does things her way. No possessions, no debt, no man, and no rules to tie her down. And if she has to work, what better way than as assistant in a wilderness expedition team? So many opportunities to go wild.
…can be risky when you’re falling in love.
One person who doesn’t “get” Brenna is her boss, Grant. He prefers order and emotions kept in check, which means Brenna loves to push his boundaries. He’d be impossible to work for if he wasn’t so infuriatingly hot. But when his overbearing, matchmaking mother arrives in town, Brenna volunteers to be Grant’s pretend girlfriend. After all, it’s the perfect opportunity to drive Grant crazy at every turn.
Brenna’s just a little surprised when Grant agrees to her wild, impulsive schemes. And she’s more than a little surprised when their games take them to the bedroom…
JESSIE KEANE – NAMELESS
They took her children away, and she will fight to the end to get them back
Growing up in the war-torn backstreets of the East End, Ruby Darke, mixed-race and hated by her family, is determined not to become embroiled in a life of crime like her two brothers. After a disastrous affair with Cornelius Bray, a handsome peer of the realm with dubious underworld connections, Ruby gives birth to illegitimate twins who are taken from her at birth: Daisy, born white, is taken to be raised in luxury by Cornelius and his wife, but the son is dark-skinned like Ruby and is taken by Ruby's brother, Charlie, to be "disposed of." Years pass, but still Ruby can’t forget her babies. Desperate to trace her son, Ruby forms an alliance with big-time crook Michael Ward, who says he can help her. But Ruby’s frantic efforts to be reunited with her son and daughter soon put her in the firing line of a man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
JG BALLARD – HIGH RISE
When a class war erupts inside a luxurious apartment block, modern elevators become violent battlegrounds and cocktail parties degenerate into marauding attacks on "enemy" floors. In this visionary tale, human society slips into violent reverse as once-peaceful residents, driven by primal urges, re-create a world ruled by the laws of the jungle.
JG BALLARD – THE DAY OF CREATION
‘Classic Ballard. Mesmerising. No one writes with such haunting impact’ William Boyd
In parched, war-torn central Africa, Dr Mallory watches his clinic fail and dreams of discovering a third Nile to make the Sahara bloom. During his search for water, an ancient tree stump is uprooted by a bulldozer and water wells up, spreading until it becomes an enormous river. With the once arid land now abounding in birds and beasts, the obsessed Mallory forges up-river in an old car ferry, clashing with hostile factions as he tries to find the source of his own creation.
This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard’s works, featuring introductions from a number of his admirers (including Ali Smith, Iain Sinclair, Martin Amis and Ned Beauman) and brand-new cover designs from the artist Stanley Donwood.
JG BALLARD The Kindness of Women
This is autobiography taken to the highest reaches of fiction, another wonderful novel of scorching power, shot through with honesty and lyricism’ Observer
The Kindness of Women continues the story of Jim, the young boy whose experiences in Japanese-occupied Shanghai were described in Empire of the Sun. It follows his return to post-war England, setting his childhood in the context of a lifetime.
Jim tries, and fails, to find stability as a medical student at Cambridge, then as a trainee RAF pilot in Canada. Having finally settled into happy family life, his world is ripped apart by domestic tragedy. He plunges into the maelstrom of the 1960s, an instigator and subject of every aspect of cultural, social and sexual revolution.
We follow, in all this, the progress of a bruised mind as it tries to make sense of the upheaval around it. Turning conspicuously, as in Empire of the Sun, to the events of his own life, Ballard makes of experience fiction that is frankly startling and, at its most tender, powerfully moving.
This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard’s works, featuring introductions from a number of his admirers (including Ali Smith, Iain Sinclair, Martin Amis and Ned Beauman) and brand-new cover designs from the artist Stanley Donwood.
JILL SHALVIS – SUPERB AND SEXY
Buckle Up. It's Going To Be Quite A Ride.
Despite his brooding bad-boy attitude, Brody's luxury charter airline, Sky High, provides the perfect escape route whenever things get complicated. And lately, things have become very complicated, thanks to the insanely passionate, or perhaps just insane, kiss he shared with Sky High's gorgeous, wisecracking concierge, Maddie. He's tried to keep his distance, but now Maddie desperately needs help, and it's triggering alpha-male urges Brody didn't even know he had--especially after he finds out that Maddie and her twin sister Leena are in big-time trouble. To save Leena, Maddie and Brody must pose as husband and wife. Good plan, except it's hard to tell if the heat in bed is acting or something too good to be true. . .
"Jill Shalvis sweeps you away." –Cherry Adair
Praise for Jill Shalvis and her novels
"Shalvis makes me laugh, makes me cry, makes me sigh with pure pleasure." --Susan Andersen, New York Times bestselling author
"Hot, sweet, fun, and romantic! Pure pleasure!" --Robyn Carr, New York Times bestselling author
"Witty, fun and sexy--the perfect romance!" --Lori Foster
JIM THOMPSON – THE KILLER INSIDE ME
Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is a pillar of the community in his small Texas town, patient and thoughtful. Some people think he's a little slow and boring but that's the worst they say about him. But then nobody knows about what Lou calls his 'sickness'. It nearly got him put away when he was younger, but his adopted brother took the rap for that. Now the sickness that has been lying dormant for a while is about to surface again - and the consequences are brutal and devastating. Tense and suspenseful, THE KILLER INSIDE ME is a brilliantly sustained noir crime masterpiece.
JO BERRY – SHADES OF JAMIE DORNAN
From film and TV critic Jo Berry comes the unauthorized biography of model-turned-actor Jamie Dornan, starring as Christian Grey in the wildly popular Fifty Shades of Grey film!Jamie Dornan is quickly becoming a megastar. The announcement of his lead role in the upcoming movie adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey caused a media frenzy and he has been hitting the headlines ever since. After English actor Charlie Hunnam stepped away from the role, Dornan was catapulted into the international spotlight. Previously a model for Calvin Klein alongside Kate Moss, he has appeared in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette , has dated Keira Knightley, was cast as the sheriff in the hit fantasy TV drama Once Upon A Time , and followed it up with an acclaimed leading performance in the TV thriller The Fall . With details compiled from in-depth research into both his personal and professional life, this insightful book will reveal fifty shades of Jamie Dornan—a no-holds-barred biography of the man who everyone wants to know intimately.
JO HAIGH – TALES FROM THE GLASS CEILING
12-14% of UK businesses are majority owned by women, a statistic that shows both the great strides women have made in business in the past two decades and how many obstacles still remain in a culture where 90% of the top roles are held by men. Jo Haigh has worked for many years in corporate finance, and has experienced these obstacles, and overcome them. In Tales from the Glass Ceiling, she offers women an inspirational guide to success in the male-dominated business world - a goal, that does not mean losing your identity. Haigh offers stories of success from many different areas of business, giving advice on how to reconcile an open, emotional disposition with an executive level's occasionally brutal atmosphere; how to spot the right training and development opportunities (and get them funded); how to overcome resistance to female leadership and how to build, manage and maintain your professional network. Based on Haigh's own experience as an executive and entrepreneur, and bolstered by the experiences and stories of other top women in their fields, Tales from the Glass Ceiling is an indispensable resource for all women in business.
JOAN D. VINGE – COWBOYS AND ALIENS
Blockbuster filmmaker Jon Favreau directs Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in a film that crosses the classic Western with the alien-invasion movie in a blazingly original way: Cowboys & Aliens. Joined by an arsenal of top moviemakers-Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci-he brings an all-new action thriller that will take audiences into the Old West, where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world.
1875. New Mexico Territory. A stranger (Craig) with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear.
But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known.
Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents-townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors-all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.
The script for Cowboys & Aliens is by Star Trek's Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof (television's Lost), based on Platinum Studios' graphic novel created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. Grazer, Howard, Rosenberg, Kurtzman and Orci produce. Spielberg and Denis L. Stewart executive produce.
JOAN JOHNSTON – I PROMISE
A story of an unforgettable first love in the heart of Texas . . . from New York Times bestselling author Joan Johnston
Delia Carson was only sixteen when she fled her Texas hometown. She left behind a web of lies that destroyed her family . . . and Marsh North, the irresistible bad boy she'd fallen in love with. Now, eleven years later, a family crisis forces Delia to return home—back to the mystery, back to the shadows . . . back to Marsh.
His bad-boy reputation behind him, Marsh is now a respected, prizewinning journalist. And he's never forgotten Delia or the youthful love they shared. Determined not to lose her again, Marsh sets out to prove to Delia that they belong together. But will the dark secrets from Delia's past keep them apart?
JOCELYN DAVIES – A BEATIFUL DARK
On the night of Skye’s seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites—like fire and ice—Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye’s life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move—only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.
In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can’t help falling for, and Devin, who she can’t stay away from, the consequences of Skye’s choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.
A Beautiful Dark is the first book in a captivating trilogy by debut author Jocelyn Davies.
JODI ELLEN MALPAS – ONE NIGHT PROMISED
You've read E L James, you've seen the Fifty Shades movie, you adored This Man...now meet the hottest new trilogy...
Livy notices him the moment he walks into the coffee shop. He's heart-stoppingly stunning, with a blue-eyed gaze so piercing she's almost too distracted to take his order. When he walks out the door, she thinks she'll never see him again. Then she finds the note he left on his napkin . . . signed M.
All he wants is one night to worship her. No feelings, no commitment - nothing but pleasure. Every defense mechanism Livy has adopted during her solitary life is at risk of being obliterated by this confounding man. He's obnoxious but well-mannered. He's a gentleman but aloof. He's passionate but emotionless. Yet the fascination is so powerful, Livy can't deny him...or herself.
M awakens something in Livy, something deep and addicting that she never knew existed-and that she fears only he can satisfy. But she senses that behind the fast cars, fancy suits, and posh apartment, he's aching inside.
To have him, body and soul, she'll have to brave his dark secrets. Delving into his world and breaking down his defenses becomes her obsession - an obsession that could shatter her heart beyond repair...