1903Twenty-year-old Max Eyer is still reeling from his father's recent death when a mysterious stranger's offer to buy the family farm outside of Hamburg, Germany presents to him and his mother an unexpected opportunity to make a fresh start in America. Welcomed by his uncle's bustling family in St. Louis Max finds employment on the grounds of the upcoming 1904 World's Fair, where he is hired as a zookeeper at Hagenbeck's Animal Paradise on the Pike. Max's enchantment with the trained animal shows, ostrich rides, and watersliding elephants is rivaled only by his fascination with Shehani, a beautiful Sinhalese woman who captivates the crowds of fairgoers by dancing among the lions. However Max's paradise unravels when a grisly discovery leads to an accusation of murder against the woman he loves. His efforts to uncover the truth may save her, but in this fantasy land of the fair where palaces are temporary, animals roam free, and people are on...

A marriage of convenience proves to be magically inconvenient, and no spell will get them out of it or calm their burning desires. Being a legacy witch comes with expectations, and, unfortunately, when Gammy shares that she's sick, Petra becomes the front-runner for the role of Premier Witch, a part she's never really wanted. The inconvenient catch? Traditionally, the Premier Witch must be married, and a combative supernatural council member is only too happy to point out. Petra must now find a husband to prove she is serious about accepting the role. Oh, and she must do it in the next thirty days! If she fails, she loses everything. Enter delicious bar owner and current demon representative on the council, Lachlan Grace. A close friend of Petra's, Lachlan, has been drawn to her from the moment she walked into his bar. Battling his own demons from his past and tired of being just friends, Lachlan offers himself as an option for a...

A tortured playboy. His librarian surrogate. A slow-burn romance that will leave you breathless. When librarian Renae Foster meets Lord Caspar, heir to the title of Wintervale, the connection between them is instantly electric. But while charismatic Caspar sets Renae's heart on fire, she soon realizes his intentions aren't romantic. Amid desperate circumstances, Renae reluctantly agrees to his shocking proposition—to act as his surrogate. As their staged relationship becomes headline news, Renae is swept away into a life of glamour and wealth. But no amount of luxury can erase the stipulations of their strictly business arrangement... or the growing desire that threatens to complicate everything. A steamy, tortured romance full of secrets, sacrifice, glitz, and yearning, Royal Surrogate is the first of three books and the latest in the Royal Heartbreakers series.

Freedom: A Mixtape is a soulful artistic response to recent and historical violence on Black bodies, presented through a collection of original songs, stories, poems, anecdotes, spoken-word pieces, and musical instrumentation from folks living in Ontario's Niagara Region. A community conversation about our complicated relationship with emancipation and the human right to be free, Freedom: A Mixtape is a compilation album that is part protest and part celebration. It is history and the present moment all at once, a reminder that this moment is part of a larger, ongoing movement. Familiar pains are felt deeply in moments both bygone and bitingly present, setting the tone—and stage—for action.Analog field recordings and soothing talk-radio energy give voice to the residue of intergenerational trauma, the depths of colonialism, resilience amidst oppressive conditions, and a clarion call that joy is a birthright for everyone. With emotional precision...

This gripping, high-stakes debut thriller about the lengths mothers will go to protect their children is perfect for fans of Wanda M. Morris and Jess Lourey. Boots Marez is a Latina single mother raising a headstrong and sly eighteen-year-old boy she adopted six years ago. She also runs a school that helps the undocumented people in her politically divided town in Northern California. When her son Jaral is jailed for the murder of one of her former students, her world is turned upside down. Struggling to protect her son, Boots has to spotlight a community used to living in the shadows, putting her hard work over the years in doubt. Meanwhile, a vicious parents’ board wants to trash her ideals and oust her from the school she helped build. As she faces increasing danger to clear her son’s name, she must decide how far she is willing to go to bring her son home. But nothing is as it seems—Jaral has been keeping secrets from her...

While the boys get to sail off with the new Great Fleet to chase pirates across the Sunrim Ocean, Amy and Airdella are stuck in Chalef for an unusually boring summer. Until an early morning walk down to the docks takes an unexpected turn...Walter and Aaron are forced to play politics as they work with the representatives of the other nations to track down and eliminate the pirates plaguing their ocean. The pirates lead them on a merry chase from island to island, danger to danger...The deeper they sail into this sea of thieves, the harder it becomes to know who to trust. Or where the greater danger lies - on board the ships or below them.