At thirty-nine, movie critic Mary Pols knew she wanted to have a baby. But never—not in a million years—on her own. To take on the physical, emotional, and financial challenges of motherhood without a perfect soul mate/husband would be absurd, kind of like not bothering to use a condom during a one-night stand with an adorable but jobless guy ten years her junior. Pols spends the ensuing weeks despairing over everything, from the financial nightmare of single motherhood to the end of her hopes for a traditional life. Not the least of her worries is finding the right way to drop the bombshell on loved ones, including her five siblings and eighty-four-year-old father, who has a German temper and an Irish Catholic attitude toward babies out of wedlock. Yet faced with the frightening, lonely truth that this might be her only chance at motherhood, she plunges ahead with the pregnancy and an Odd Couple version of a co-parenting relationship that looks like one more...

Before there was Homer the Blind Wonder Cat, there was Scarlett—the adorable, maddeningly aloof, gray rescue tabby . . . Every cat lover remembers the very first feline they fell in love with. For celebrated cat writer Gwen Cooper, that first love is Scarlett—a pint-sized rescue kitten with a king-sized personality. A natural-born troublemaker and wary at first after life on the streets, Scarlett is quick to win hearts with her kittenish mischief, but slow to open her own heart to the woman who saved her. Yet as the months go by, and bonds of trust are painstakingly forged link by link, Gwen begins to realize that the love you have to earn just may be the love that means the most. Poignant, tender, and laugh-out-loud funny, "I Choo-Choo-Choose You!" is the first in the Curl Up with a Cat Tale series of true short stories from Gwen Cooper—bestselling author of the smash hit Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline...

Dr. Mark Sloan and his son, Steve, are getting some sun and surf on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. But their vacation is interrupted when a local restaurant owner falls victim to a shark attack. Rather than return home, father and son elect to hang around and enjoy what's left of their holiday. Then Mark makes a startling discovery on the beach: a mixture of corn syrup and red dye... also known as movie blood. An examination of the body reveals that the victim was already dead-- murdered in fact--before becoming shark food. Now Mark and Steve must help police capture a predator more deadly than anything swimming in the ocean...

Tiffany has plans. She has her life mapped out and wants to make something of herself. Working in the bar is just a temporary job while she's on vacation. When she meets Joshua Lyle her whole world tilts on its axis. He's the hottest guy she's ever met. Sparks fly between them. But he's so full of himself. She doesn't want to go there, for several good reasons. He's the road to ruin....

What would you do, if you had the chance to revisit all your decisions, to fix all your mistakes?Celebrity chef, Jessie McCormick is incredibly late. Driving his Hummer to the opening of his latest restaurant seemed like a much better idea than flying, but incomprehensible directions and a dodgy shortcut throws him instead into the driveway of a rickety old house. Hopeful of finding the house occupied – and its inhabitants capable of directing him to Brisbane – he heads inside.Voices lead him into the attic, and there he finds no direction – and every direction. The attic is an endless line of doors and ladders, each taking Jessie down a different path of his life. In one, he is a celebrity chef, fêted by the world. In another, his mother is still alive. In a third, his beloved sister is dead. But in all of them is a small, dusty town and a small, dusty restaurant, run by a woman named Tara. As Jessie races to find his way back to...

Emma knows that Sophie is dying for the chance to "dance a pas de deux"with her big crush, Trey. Twin sisters know everything about each other. So when Emma secretly hooks up with Trey herself, Sophie feels twice as betrayed.While Sophie might be upset, she's not angry enough to send her sister death threats. Even so, when menacing notes reach Emma, Sophie's the top suspect. Will Sophie clear her name and save her twin? Or will one of the Dario Quincy Academy's dark secrets destroy them both?

In the winter of 1924, Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher travels to a school friend's house to witness the estate's famous Guy Fawkes celebration. But she gets more than a quiet weekend at the quaint family manse that she was originally hoping for. The home is the site of some severe family tension - the Viscount and head of family is a strict and unyielding sort, insisting that everyone - especially his children - meet his own unreasonable expectations. On the evening of the Guy Fawkes celebration, the Viscount is found dead on the floor of his study, killed by his own hand. What's more, he apparently first killed a guest - a married woman visiting England from Australia - before turning the gun on himself. Now it's up to Alec Fletcher, Daisy's husband and a DCI of Scotland Yard, to unravel the mystery and the long held family secrets that led to this state of affairs before anyone else can fall prey to the tragic cycle of events. A solution that will require, perhaps, more than a...

TO BE CONSUMED BY LOVE...Ironcross Castle was called cursed by the Highlanders. Its most recent lairds had perished in accidents, falls, or fires. The newest owner, Gavin Kerr, did not fear death. It was feeling he dreaded--the pain of betrayal and loss. Now he arrived at the castle to hear of hauntings and cults and to be drawn to the portrait of beautiful Joanna Maclnnes, who died here amid a furnace of flame. And looking at her, Gavin desired her, feeling an impossible longing to take her in his arms.OR TO BURN...The real Joanna Maclnnes had escaped the fire that claimed her kin. For months she had walked Ironcross by night, hiding in its passageways, searching for the truth behind the castle's curse. Now she feared it would claim Gavin Kerr. Yet warning him, touching him in the darkness, soon ignited another kind of burning. And even as her lips opened beneath his, she knew time was running out before they faced a heartless villain ... a terrifying secret ... and a struggle between eternal darkness and the power of undying love.

Bill Bradley, a New York Knick pro-basketball player in the '60s and '70s and a United States Senator from New Jersey from 1982 until 2000 (among his many other accomplishments) writes here about his love of basketball from the root on up—from a simple game in an empty court where there is nothing but you and the sound of your Converse on the shiny, wooden floor to the euphoric high that is possible and that any athlete knows when a team moves together as a cohesive whole. Bradley's writing here is wholly accessible and for those not interested in basketball, there are lessons to be gleaned here about life, teamwork and leadership. Bradley's style is simple and stays on track, creating a slim philosophical treatise that all of us can benefit from and relate to. Here is a book about life, memory, experience, and the filtering of our experience and what it means to us. An enjoyable and unforgettable read for all readers.