Erica Orloff

Elizabeth Martin was on a wild-goose chase halfway around the world to save him from madness. She didn't believe a word of his cryptic e-mail about vampires and drinking blood. Nor did she believe the drunkard who spoke of vampires ruling the small Czech village where he was last seen. Until she was put in contact with a mysterious Dhampir—the offspring of a vampire and a human. Reputed mercenaries who'll do anything—or betray anyone—for a price.Elizabeth takes an instant disliking to Josef Darecky.He's too edgy, intense and moody…and he arouses desires that could compromise her mission. But he's also the only man who can save her brother, who is half-turned already. And, as she forms an unlikely bond with the half-blood mercenary, she senses that only by trusting him—and winning his trust—can the vampires be fully destroyed.…

Criminalist Billie Quinn lived and breathed the evidence. People lied. But DNA never let her down. Or could it?For the case that put her fight for justice in the media spotlight also brought her to a killer's attention. A very special killer—one who claimed to know the truth about her mother's disappearance many years ago. And who was now determined to show Billie exactly what happened...in a reenactment starring Billie herself.It was up to her to choose—learn the truth and die, or bring this killer to justice and never know her mother's fate.

For ten years, the Suicide King murder case was considered closed. then technology caught up to a previously untestable piece of evidence: a trace of DNA.Ordinarily, criminalist Billie Quinn would dispassionately analyze the evidence and report the results. But this case defied ordinary. The Suicide King's crimes conjured up memories of another victim: her mother. Billie needed to look into convicted killer David Falco's eyes to see if he was man or monster.She saw an innocent man.Not everyone shared her certainty, including the detective who sometimes warmed her bed. He believed she'd been duped. Seduced, even. But DNA didn't lie. DNA set David free. Then the killing began....

Lily Waters is a spitfire magazine columnist raising her two children after her husband left her for a college student in his history class. And then he departed for London shortly after that--not seven weeks after her youngest child was born. As the book opens, Lily is facing her 40th birthday with dread--along with her trademark humor. She also, as a writer, tends to see the bigger themes in life. But, to help her ring in her 40th year, her best friend of 20 years is determined to embarrass her with every "over the hill" trick in the book. Michael, Lily's openly gay best friend, narrates half the book. He watches as shortly after this "huge" birthday in most people's lives, Lily gets a baseline mammogram and discovers she has cancer. Together, they assume they can weather this...just as Michael has assumed a lot of the co-parenting duties of Lily's sullen 16-year-old and baseball-loving 9-year-old. However, as things look bleaker, both friends begin to question life, love, sex, and death. Eventually, Lily has to face the concept of declaring a guardian for her children when her ex seems both unfit and unwilling to relinquish his life in London. However, her trademark wry philosophy means she is far more prepared for whatever comes next than the people around her. The book is told by both Lily and Michael...and woven throughout are her magazine columns, and his life's work, a novel. A story to make you laugh, make you cry…and make you want to read it again.

The beautiful heiress at the center of this story is drawn into a murder mystery when her father, who had secretly taken her best friend as a lover, is suspected of her friend's murder. Meanwhile…she is recruited to help clear her father's name by the Gotham Rose spy organization. The heiress, Madison "Maddie" Taylor-Pruitt, is running her father's real estate firm (a la the Trump Organization), and she soon begins to suspect that the company is laundering money for the mob. As she is confronting both her friend's murder and the legal quagmire her firm is in, she is drawn, through her charity work, to a man from the "wrong side of the tracks," so to speak, a former gang member turned teacher in Harlem. She is also being pursued by her business rival, a wealthy man with family ties similar to her own.This is one busy girl!

SHE KEPT HER SECRETS BEHIND THE VELVET ROPEAs the owner of one of the hottest nightclubs in New York City, Tessa Van Doren was a target for rumors. Some said she worked with the mob, while others claimed she drove men to suicide. Tessa let them speculate--because the truth was much darker....Besides, Tessa had her hands full with her own cause: taking down the criminals circulating a deadly new designer drug. The stubborn detective dogging her every move might be just what Tessa needed to help wrap up the case--and he seemed like a man a girl could really sink her teeth into....

The 60-Second Commute is the start-to-finish sourcebook for everyone with a home office-or a dream. It brings together practical solutions for childcare, balancing work and family, health insurance, managing your time, organizing your office, marketing, technology, budgeting, vacations, taxes, incorporation, and more. It's all you need to make working at home productive, profitable, and personally satisfying.

""I wonder if Judy Blume really knows how many girls' lives she affected. I wonder if she knows that at least one of her books made a grown woman finally feel like she'd been a normal girl all along. . . ."" -- FROM Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume Whether laughing to tears reading "Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great" or clamoring for more unmistakable "me too!" moments in "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," girls all over the world have been touched by Judy Blume's poignant coming-of-age stories. Now, in this anthology of essays, twenty-four notable female authors write straight from the heart about the unforgettable novels that left an indelible mark on their childhoods and still influence them today. After growing up from "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" into "Smart Women," these writers pay tribute, through their reflections and most cherished memories, to one of the most beloved authors of all time.

"Like Romeo and Juliet, Heloise and Abelard were doomed from the start, and their romance was destined to pass into history. Yet when sixteen-year-old Callie Martin discovers a diary hidden within an antique book, their story - and hers - takes on another life. For the diary leads Callie to the brilliant and handsome August, who is just as mysterious as the secret hidden within the pages. The attraction between the two is undeniable. And as the truth behind the diary - and that of Heloise and Abelard's ancient romance - is unveiled, their romance becomes all-consuming."--P. of cover.

"It pays to keep your wits about you, chica." Maria had led a sheltered life with her eccentric artist father. Raul Dysart warned her himself that she should be more streetwise. Instead, Maria fell into the trap of treating him like a knight in shining armour and let him sweep her off her feet - only to find disillusion and heartbreak...

Suggests projects and writing exercises for celebrating friendship and documenting your relationship with your best friend.