English books
CC GIBBS – PUSHING THE LIMITS
Languishing on Rafe's luxury yacht in the Mediterranean, there's nowhere for Nicole to go - except deeper into her darkest fantasies.
Playboy heir Rafe Contini knows he wants raven-haired beauty Nicole Parrish the moment he sets eyes on her. But headstrong Nicole - visiting for the summer before returning to university - is new to Rafe's glamorous world, a place where anything is obtainable... at a price. And while Nicole is intoxicated by the extreme pleasure Rafe is offering, is it wise to surrender her treasured freedom?
Pushing the Limits is the first in a sumptuous series starring Rafe Contini and the object of his desire: Nicole Parrish, niece of Dominic Knight, the infamous hero of CC Gibbs' bestselling Knight trilogy.
CHARLAINE HARRIS – DEAD RECKONING
There's a reckoning on the way ...
... and Sookie has a knack for being in trouble's way; not least when she witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is known to be two-natured, suspicion immediately falls on the anti-shifters in the area. Sookie suspects otherwise, but before she can investigate something else - something even more dangerous - comes up.
Sookie's lover Eric Northman and his 'child' Pam are plotting something in secret. Whatever it is, they seem determined to keep Sookie out of it; almost as determined as Sookie is to find out what's going on. She can't sit on the sidelines when both her work and her love life under threat - but as she's gradually drawn into their plans Sookie finds the situation is deadlier than she could ever have imagined.
Charlaine Harris – Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
Charlaine Harris, Keri Arthur and Patricia Briggs bring you a Christmas present to remember!
We all know the holiday season can bring out the beast in anyone - but it's especially hard if you're a lycanthrope! Gathered here together is a veritable feast of fears and tears: fifteen of the scariest, saddest, funniest werewolf tales, by an outstanding pack of authors, best read by the light of the full moon, and with a silver bullet close at hand.
In 'Gift Wrap', Sookie Stackhouse is feeling mighty sorry for herself, all alone for Christmas - until she meets someone with bigger problems than loneliness . . .
Patricia Briggs gives us the story of lone wolf David Christiansen, who needs to mend fences with his daughter, before it's too late.
In 'Christmas Past', Keri Arthur tells the tale of Hannah, who gets an unmerry and potentially life-threatening Christmas present when the hunky werewolf who dumped her last Christmas Eve turns up as her partner on the hunt for a vampire serial killer.
CHARLES STROSS – WIRELESS
It has been said that the natural state of science fiction is the short story. If that is so, you won't find a better exploration of that state than Charles Stross's new collection. Centred around an original and previously unpublished novella, 'Palimpsest', WIRELESS is a showcase of some of the best short SF of the 21st century.
With an introduction from the author and containing hitherto uncollected works such as 'Missile Gap', 'Trunk and Disorderly' and 'Rogue Farm', and some gems previously available only in small press publications, such as 'A Colder War' and 'Antibodies', WIRELESS will illustrate perfectly why award-winning editor and anthologist, Gardner Dozois, once declared: 'Where Charles Stross goes today, the rest of science fiction will follow tomorrow.'
CHARLIE HIGSON – FULL WHACK
Dennis 'The Menace' Pike, former wild man of Tottenham, is going grey and going straight. Anyway, it was hard work being a yob- the birds, the brawls, the endless beers- and he hasn't really got the energy any more for life on the edge. Then two old faces turn up from the past- the Bishop brothers, Chas and Noel. Famously inept, they were bad news then, and they haven't aged well. What's worse, they need Pike's expertise on a scheme wealth distribution really- offloading one of the old gang's ill-gotten millions. Robbing the robbers- now what's criminal about that?
Pike, still haunted by what happened one wreckless night all those years ago, refuses to get involved. But old habits die hard, and when he suddenly finds his bank account tampered with, Pike is drawn back into a world he spent ten years escaping. Thug or mug, he is nevertheless forced to confront a man so psychotically unhinged that his own youth seems like mere kids' stuff...
A slick, razor-sharp novel, FULL WHACK is packed full of searing wit, scurrilous characters and nefarious knock-about.
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE – HALF OF A YELLOW SUN
THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION ‘WINNER OF WINNERS’
Winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007, this is a heartbreaking, exquisitely written literary masterpiece. Now a major film starring Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor, due for release in 2014
In 1960s Nigeria, Ugwu, a boy from a poor village, goes to work for Odenigbo, a radical university professor. Soon they are joined by Olanna, a young woman who has abandoned a life of privilege to live with her charismatic lover. Into their world comes Richard, an English writer, who has fallen for Olanna’s sharp-tongued sister Kainene. But when the shocking horror of civil war engulfs the nation, their loves and loyalties are severely tested, while their lives pull apart and collide once again in ways none of them could have imagined…
CHRIS CRUTCHER – PERIOD 8
In this terrifying and provocative novel by the bestselling and award-winning author of Deadline and Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, a teenage boy tries to uncover what happened to a girl who has vanished from his high school. Was she abducted, or did she run for her life?
Paul "The Bomb" Baum tells the truth. No matter what. It was something he learned at Sunday school. But telling the truth can cause problems, and not just minor ones. And as Paulie discovers, finding the truth can be even more problematic. Period 8 is supposed to be that one period in high school where the truth can shine, a safe haven. Only what Paulie and Hannah (his ex-girlfriend, unfortunately) and his other classmates don't know is that the ultimate liar is in their midst. Terrifying, thought-provoking, and original, this novel combines all the qualities of a great psychological thriller with the controversy, ethics, athletics, humor, and raw emotion of a classic Crutcher story.
When a classmate disappears, who can Paulie trust—especially when telling the truth could be the most dangerous lie of all?
- High School Mystery: Mary Wells is a perfect student with a spotless record. When she vanishes, Paulie is driven to find out if she was abducted or if she was running from a terrible secret.
- Truth and Lies: For Paulie, telling the truth is a compulsion. But in a school full of secrets, his honesty might get someone killed.
- Psychological Manipulation: Someone in Paulie’s inner circle is a master liar, twisting friendships and turning trust into a weapon.
- A Dangerous Conspiracy: The search for Mary uncovers something far darker than a simple runaway case—a secret that puts Paulie, his ex-girlfriend Hannah, and everyone in Period 8 in danger.
CHRIS RYAN – FIREFIGHT
Former SAS Captain Will Jackson is a man with nothing to lose. A veteran of the most dangerous missions the Regiment could throw at him, his life was torn apart the day a terrorist attack killed his family. Now he leads a life of grief-stricken obscurity.
People higher up the chain of command have other plans, however. They're in a mess of their own making, and unless they sort it out, thousands of innocent people will pay the price. And so they make Jackson an offer he can't refuse: an offer that will take him straight back into a brutal theatre of war.
Only one person can help prevent the disaster that is waiting to happen, and that person is being held by the Taliban insurgency in the depths of Afghanistan. As Will reluctantly prepares to undertake this final mission, he does so in the knowledge that it will stop a devastating terrorist attack.
But in the murky world of international terrorism, things are very seldom what they seem. And as events begin to unfold, Will starts to learn that someone, somewhere is playing a game with him; that nobody can be trusted; and that sometimes, you just have to fight fire with fire...
Christina Meredith Kiss Crush Collide
Kiss
What Leah did—only she really shouldn’t have—one hot night at a country club party.
Crush
What Leah has—only she really shouldn’t have—on the guy with the green eyes, the guy who is not her perfect boyfriend, the guy who does not fit in her picture-perfect life, the guy her sisters will only mock and her mother will never approve of. Not in a million years.
Collide
What happens when everything you always thought you wanted—having cool friends, being class valedictorian and homecoming queen—runs smack into everything it turns out you really do want.
Kiss. Crush. Collide.
For Leah and Porter, summer is only the beginning.
Christobel Kent – A Fine and Private Place
As Sandro gets to grips with the dispiriting realities of life as a private detective, touting for business among old contacts and following errant teenagers, an old case comes back to haunt him...
Once the subject of a routine investigation back in Sandro's police-officer days, Loni Meadows - the glamorous, charming and ruthless director of an artistic Trust based in a castle in the hills outside Florence - is found dead in circumstances Sandro cannot convince himself are accidental. However inconvenient his suspicions might be, both to Sandro - whose marriage appears to be disintegrating - and to Meadows's erstwhile employers at the Trust, he presses ahead with the case. And as Sandro attempts to uncover the truth of Loni Meadows's violent and lonely death, he finds himself drawn into the lives of the castle's highly strung community and the closed world they inhabit in the Casentino's isolated hills.
CHUCK KLOSTERMAN – KILLING YOURSELF TO LIVE
Building on the national bestselling success of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs , preeminent pop culture writer Chuck Klosterman unleashes his best book yet—the story of his cross-country tour of sites where rock stars have died and his search for love, excitement, and the meaning of death.
For 6,557 miles, Chuck Klosterman thought about dying. He drove a rental car from New York to Rhode Island to Georgia to Mississippi to Iowa to Minneapolis to Fargo to Seattle, and he chased death and rock ‘n’ roll all the way. Within the span of twenty-one days, Chuck had three relationships end—one by choice, one by chance, and one by exhaustion. He snorted cocaine in a graveyard. He walked a half-mile through a bean field. A man in Dickinson, North Dakota, explained to him why we have fewer windmills than we used to. He listened to the KISS solo albums and the Rod Stewart box set. At one point, poisonous snakes became involved. The road is hard. From the Chelsea Hotel to the swampland where Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane went down to the site where Kurt Cobain blew his head off, Chuck explored every brand of rock star demise. He wanted to know why the greatest career move any musician can make is to stop breathing...and what this means for the rest of us.
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki – Haruki Murakami
An instant #1 New York Times Bestseller,Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimageis the remarkable story of a young man haunted by a great loss; of dreams and nightmares that have unintended consequences for the world around us; and of a journey into the past that is necessary to mend the present. Here Haruki Murakami—one of the most revered voices in literature today—gives us a story of love, friendship, and heartbreak for the ages.
CORA CARMACK – LOSING IT
Love. Romance. Sex. There’s a first time for everything...
As far as Bliss Edwards can tell, she’s the last virgin standing, certainly amongst her friends. And she’s determined to deal with the ‘problem’ as quickly and simply as possible.
But her plan for a no-strings one night stand turns out to be anything but simple. Especially when she arrives for her first class and recognises her hot new British professor.
She'd left him naked in her bed just 8 hours earlier...
CRAIG DAVIDSON – RUST AND BONE
Rust and Bone conjures a savage world of prizefighters, gamblers and sex addicts; dogs fight to the death and bare-knuckled men fight for survival on the most extreme margins.
And yet these gritty stories are tempered by gentleness, the quiet understanding in the most intimate relationships. A whale trainer’s accident, a boy’s life endangered – where human vulnerability is so close to the surface, the humanity of these characters heralds redemption and hope.
Dance Dance Dance – Haruki Murakami
This wildly propulsive novel by the acclaimed author of A Wild Sheep Chase focuses on a man searching for a former lover who vanished mysteriously from a seedy hotel. But each new clue to Kiki's whereabouts leads him deeper into a labryrinth of physical violence and metaphysical dread. "A world-class writer".--Washington Post Book World
