Avon

Welcome to Spindle Cove, where the ladies with delicate constitutions come for the sea air, and men in their prime are... nowhere to be found. Or are they? Spindle Cove is the destination of choice for certain types of well-bred young ladies: the painfully shy, young wives disenchanted with matrimony, and young girls too enchanted with the wrong men; it is a haven for those who live there. Victor Bramwell, the new Earl of Rycliff, knows he doesn't belong here. So far as he can tell, there's nothing in this place but spinsters... and sheep. But he has no choice, he has orders to gather a militia. It's a simple mission, made complicated by the spirited, exquisite Susanna Finch—a woman who is determined to save her personal utopia from the invasion of Bram's makeshift army. Susanna has no use for aggravating men; Bram has sworn off interfering women. The scene is set for an epic battle... but who can be named the winner when both have so much to lose? (goodreads.com)

3rd volume in The Black Cobra Quartet They're bold, courageous, resolute...ex-officers of the Crown united against a deadly traitor known only as the Black Cobra. Shipwrecked, wounded, he risks all to pursue his mission - only to discover a partner as daring and brazen as he. Fiery, tempestuous, a queen in her own realm, she rescues a warrior - only to find her heart under seige. Bound by passion, linked by need, together they must brave the enemy's gauntlet to win all their hearts' desire.

After returning home from war to recover from his wounds, Stephen Lyons, the wayward son of an Earl, does the honorable thing when Mercy Dawson arrives on his doorstep with a baby that she claims is his.

"Miss Linnet Berry Thrynne is a beauty. Naturally, she's betrothed to a beast. ... Linnet has no idea of the danger posed to her heart by a man who may never love her in return. If she decides to be very wicked indeed, what price will she pay for taming his wild heart?"--Publisher's description.

Any man in London would worship her. Yet Olivia is, quite frankly, bored of them all. Despite her many dalliances, she's never felt true passion, never longed for any lover's touch...until Julian, London's most notoriously wanton rake, decided to make her his mistress.From the moment he first saw her, Julian knew he must possess her. And when he discovers her greatest secret, a scandal that could ruin her reputation and end her career, he knows just the way to use this damaging information to his most delightful advantage. He offers Olivia a deal with the devil: he'll keep her secret...if she allows him the chance to show her true ecstasy.But Olivia must be careful, for Julian has a secret of his own: he will not rest until she is completely, shamelessly his.

"Ian Wentworth arrives in London with one goal: revenge. Now a duke of enormous wealth, he should settle down to the business of marrying and producing heirs. But nightmares of an ordeal from his past haunt him at every turn. All those he believes responsible have paid with their lives. All but one: Viola Bennington-Jones, the lovely Lady Cheshire. And he will not rest until he sees the tempting beauty suffer. Viola keeps her secrets - and there are many - safe from society's prying eyes. When she first spies Ian at a glittering ball, the rush of recognition immediately turns to panic. Does he remember the tender touches that once passed between them? Does he feel the electric passion that binds them still? Or does he blame her for the awful horrors her kin bestowed upon him? The enigmatic duke holds her captive: in desperate thrall to his powerful sensuality, her future - and her heart - in his hands." - Taken from cover p.4.

The world-renowned Reverend Curtis Black's daughter, Alicia, is all grown up and even more trouble than her father. The apple certainly doesn't fall far from the tree in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Sin No More and Love and Lies.Alicia Black Sullivan swore to never repeat her father's mistakes: she would never break any promises, she would never be unfaithful. And most important of all, when she got married, it would be for good.And she really does love Phillip, the assistant pastor of her father's church. She just happens to love money — and the things it can buy — as well. Alicia was born to the good life, she's entitled to the best, and she'll do anything to get it. Even if it means piling up thousands of dollars in debt. Even if it means denying to everyone — even herself — that her love of shopping has gotten way out of control.Before long, Phillip begins to wonder if marrying the woman of his dreams was a huge mistake. Alicia has similar thoughts. Deep down, though, she knows a whopper of an emotional bill is coming due. And all the regrets in the world won't change the fact that she may be more like her infamous father than she could have imagined — or feared.

The Thorn Birds is a 1977 best-selling novel by Australian author Colleen McCullough. Set primarily on Drogheda – a fictional sheep station in the Australian Outback named after Drogheda, Ireland – the story focuses on the Cleary family and spans the years 1915 to 1969.

The Inferno Club: In public, this scandalous society of London aristocrats is notorious for pursuing all manner of debauchery. But in private, they are warriors who would do anything to protect king and country... They say that the very name of Warrington is cursed... From a time as old as the cold stone of the duke's ancestral castle, the Warrington men have been plagued by tragedy. But Rohan Kilburn, the Duke of Warrington, has vowed to escape the predestined torment by forsaking love and devoting his life to the Inferno Club and its secret mission. And then she is brought to him unbidden by cutthroats hoping to calm the duke's infamous temper—a sacrificial virgin of sorts. But even overpowered, Kate Madsen will be no man's sacrifice. And the duke's price for claiming her may be what he has sworn never to give—the heart he has so long and fiercely guarded—to the beautiful hostage he was never meant to love.

From the back cover: A race of intelligent beings so small as to be invisible to the naked eye, a burial place on Earth that holds a secret twenty-five centuries old, ... these are only a few ...

Could she be the brazen lady who posed for the scandalous portrait? Lady Elizabeth Cabot is no longer the reckless girl she once was. Now the darling of the ton, she is determined to put her past behind her. But who would have imagined that one immodest act could throw her entire world into chaos...and force her toward a loveless marriage? In desperation, she approaches her childhood friend, Peter Derby, with a daring plan. Peter still remembers the wild and spirited girl who had stolen his heart. But could the rumors be true: is she the model for the scandalous painting hanging in London's most exclusive gentlemen's club? If Peter agrees to pose as her fiance, Elizabeth has promised to reveal the whole truth. But Peter has his own ideas about this sham "engagement" to the exquisite beauty who's always been just out of his reach--and he's willing to incite yet another scandal to make her heart truly his.

In this historic volume, beautiful color paintings by prominent American artists and eloquent prose portraits by the renowned performing arts critic James Huneker celebrate the lives and work of some of the greatest composers who ever lived. Chopin, Wagner, Beethoven, Mozart, Verdi, Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Handel are among the composers featured in The Steinway Collection, which was originally printed in 1919 as an in-house publication of Steinway & Sons and has never before been released to the public. To pay tribute to the great composers, Steinway & Sons commissioned esteemed American artists to create paintings that, in Huneker's words, "would evoke musical visions; for music is visionary, notwithstanding its primal appeal to the ear." Huneker's intriguing biographical commentary on the composers puts the paintings in perspective with telling details of how life influenced art. A critical moment of Chopin's close relationship with the novelist George Sand is depicted in A.I. Keller's painting The Raindrop Prelude. We learn how Franz Liszt befriended, and aided the career of, the political exile and revolutionist Richard Wagner, giving him musical ideas and producing his Tannhäuser at the Weimar Opera House. We see an image of Berlioz's Fantastic Symphony, an autobiographical work about the composer's obsessive love for a beautiful woman. We view The Death of Mozart by Charles E. Chambers. We read about the haughty, domineering Handel, painted in his powdered wig and court costume, sword at his side, who wept bitter tears while composing "He was despised and rejected of men" from the Messiah, and who was himself rejected by his chosen love. We witness his inspiration for his E minor fugue, later christened the "Fire Fugue," which expresses the composer's passionate love and anger. These are but a few of the gems of biography, aesthetic commentary, and artistic vision in The Steinway Collection: Paintings of Great Composers, with essays by James Huneker. - Jacket flap.

One wicked night...Lady Portia Ellerslie, dearest confidante to Queen Victoria and a woman of impeccable breeding, normally wouldn't dream of dallying in Aphrodite's Club, London's most exclusive and erotic bordello. But one lonely night she finds something enticing about the idea of a wild encounter in the notorious hothouse. Donning a daring, dangerously low-cut scarlet dress and a veil to mask her identity, she arrives at the club ready to succumb to the torrid desires raging inside her...and is shocked to find herself gazing into the eyes of Marcus Worthorne, the man she swooned over at seventeen.Could lead to a lifetime of ecstasy...Back then, Marcus barely knew she was alive, but now he's about to make her most wanton fantasies come true. Portia's proper life is about to change forever...because for Marcus one night with the lady in red could never be enough.

“Julie Anne Long reinvents the historical romane for modern readers, delivering intense, passionate characters and high adventure. Her writing glows.” —Amanda Quick I Kissed an Earl is another installment in rapidly rising star Julie Anne Long’s sensual and emotionally charged Pennyroyal Green series, centered around the longstanding feud of the wealthy Eversea and Redmond families of Pennyroyal Green, Sussex. I Kissed an Earl absolutely brims with romance, adventure, and, of course, intense passion, as a beautiful, willful Regency lady searching for her lost brother stows away on a sailing ship—and ends up enchanting the vessel’s highborn, hard-headed Captain.

A Most Improper AllianceTwo years ago, dashing Captain Samuel Breedlove disappeared without a word. But he's resurfaced in London a wealthy man, only to discover his fiancEe preparing to wed another. Now Samuel needs to restore his good name and expose a villain—and tempting, temptable Cilla seems an ideal accomplice.Priscilla Burke knows the marriage of her charge, Annabelle Bailey, to the Earl of Raventhorpe must be perfect. It would be madness for her to even consider doing anything that would mar this beautiful day and destroy her fledgling career as a wedding planner. Why then is she so drawn to this irresistible stranger who insists she help him sabotage the impending affair?But a proper lady's desire is nothing to toy with. And a man whose character has been questioned cannot allow himself to dream of happily ever after. This not-so-innocent seduction may have unforeseen consequences...

One of the most notoriously eligible bachelors in Europe is finally ready to marry . . . For fiercely independent Grier Hadley, being the illegitimate daughter of one of London's most unsavory characters has only one advantage: an enormous, ill-gotten dowry. Prince Sevastian Maksimi knows where his duty lies: he must find a well-bred young lady—one with a considerable fortune to her name—wed her promptly, and get to the business of producing an heir. The last thing Grier needs is some unattainable prince curling her toes with his smoldering glances and wicked suggestions. As far as Sev is concerned, she lacks the breeding to become a princess. And yet one kiss from this arresting female is all it takes for him to realize that anyone else in his arms would be unthinkable . . .

For proper young ladies, good behavior has always been the rule. Captain Bradshaw Carroway loves the seafaring life - though he'd rather be battling brigands than his current assignment of ferrying a boatload of spoiled aristocrats. One passenger, however, has caught his eye: a bewitching young minx who definitely distracts him from the rules of shipboard decorum . . . Some rules, of course, are meant to be broken. Miss Zephyr Ponsley has traveled the world, but she's completely innocent in the ways of love. She's never learned to dance or flirt. But scientific observation has taught her that the laws of attraction have no rules, and that no adventure, on land or sea, is more dangerous - or delicious - than passion!