Meet Prinny, Chelsea and Diana. Prinny is the owner of Cosmos, a shop that sells crystals, potions, candles, and hope. It's also a place where no one turns down a little extra-special cocktail that can work as a romance potion or heal a broken heart. But Prinny is in love with her married lawyer and she'll need nothing short of magic to forget about him. Chelsea works as a living statue at tourist sites around Washington, DC. It's a thankless job, but it helps pay the rent. That, and her part-time job at Cosmos. As her dream of becoming a successful actress starts to seem more remote and the possibility of being a permanently struggling one seems more realistic, Chelsea begins to wonder: at one point do you give up on your dreams? And will love ever be in the cards for her?Diana Tiesman is married to Leif, a charismatic man who isn't faithful. But no matter how many times he lets her down, Diana just can't let him go. She knows the only way she can truly breakaway...

For nearly 700 years debate has raged over the true nature of William Wallace and his role in Scotland's turbulent history. Was he the Braveheart of Blind Harry's legendary account, the bold, but savage, hero of the Scottish wars? Or, as some contemporary chroniclers attested, nothing but a villainous thief and vagrant fugitive? This book draws on a wide range of contemporary and modern sources to look behind the figure of legend to find Wallace's true character. Through superb photographs, we trace the journey of Wallace from his modest upbringing in south-west Scotland and his first victory as a 'guerilla' leader and military commander at Stirling Bridge to his painful death seven years later. We see his 'invasion' of Northumberland and Cumberland. This is an essential travelling companion for a journey through Wallace's kingdom and to learn more about the myth and the man.

Four different women. One common shoe size. And a shared lust for fabulous footwear.Helene Zaharis’s politician husband keeps her on a tight leash and cancels her credit cards as a way of controlling her. Lorna Rafferty is up to her eyeballs in debt and can’t stop her addiction to eBay. Sandra Vanderslice, battling agoraphobia, pays her shoe bills by working as a phone-sex operator. And Jocelyn Bowen is a nanny for the family from hell (who barely knows a sole from a heel but who will do anything to get out of the house.)On Tuesday nights, these women meet to trade shoes and, in the process, form friendships that will help them each triumph over their problems---from secret pasts to blackmail, bankruptcy, and dating. Funny, emotional, and powerful, Shoe Addicts Anonymous is a perfect read for any woman who has ever struggled to find the perfect fit.From Publishers WeeklyLight and breezy as a pair of summer sandals, this chick lit about four very different women drawn into friendship by their shared love of fine footwear makes for perfect beach listening. Orlagh Cassidy doesn't create actual character voices per se, but she does differentiate her voice to make it clear who is speaking: a cool, confident, well-spoken tone for political wife Helene; a timid, self-deprecating voice for shy Jocelyn; a snappish, demanding tone for Jocelyn's snobbish and unreasonable employer. Cassidy's warm and expressive narration brings out the likability of the characters and will have listeners hooked on their humorous ups and downs. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistIn this entertaining novel set in Washington, D.C., three very different women are brought together by a shared passion: shoes. They meet once a week to trade Manolos and Maglis, but soon they rely on each other for much more. Lorna, a debt-ridden waitress, founded the group to curb her destructive shopping sprees. Helene, a senator's trophy wife, attends to escape her loveless marriage and the banality of high-society life. Sandra, an overweight phone-sex operator, hopes the group can help cure her agoraphobia. They're joined by Joss, a young nanny, who doesn't care about shoes but needs a place to avoid her demanding boss. The four women become fast friends, trusted advisors, and eventually business partners. Readers will root for these four plucky women. Like the designer shoes that pepper its pages, this book is pleasing and stylish. This frothy confection is sure to fly off the shelves this summer. Aleksandra KostovskiCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Set in the late Victorian era, An Oxford Scandal is the third book in Norman Russell's 'Oxford' series of detective novels. The book follows Anthony Jardine, a successful and popular tutor at St. Gabriel's College, as he finds his loyalties divided between his work, his wife Dora and his mistress Rachel. Unbeknown to Anthony, Dora is an advanced cocaine addict and he comes to resent her outrageous activities more and more, absorbing himself with the discovery of the remains of St Thomas à Becket in a hidden vault at the college. One rainy night Dora is found murdered in a tramcar out at Cowley and Jardine, who had been visiting Rachel in that area, becomes a suspect. The case is investigated by Inspector James Antrobus and his friend Sophia Jex-Blake, the pioneer woman doctor. A complex investigation follows and after Jardine's mistress is murdered, the clues take Antrobus to London, when the mystery starts to unravel and the killer is revealed in a grand climax... Inspired by the...

The Kings continue to help the Worth family in their flight to escape a nasty posse of slave hunters.

After waking up the neighborhood with The Morning Show Murders, and keeping readers up late solving The Midnight Show Murders, Al Roker returns with his most tantalizing mystery to date. Celebrity chef turned sleuth Billy Blessing finds his plate full of danger once again, as secrets from his long-buried past threaten to make a comeback.Before Billy had his five-star restaurant in New York, before he was tapped to co-host the morning show Wake Up, America! and travel with it for a week in the Windy City--before he even assumed the name Billy Blessing--he lived a totally different life under a very different identity: as wily con man Billy Blanchard. Caught trying to run a scam on a shady Detroit businessman, Billy did time for his crimes, reinvented himself, and has successfully kept that part of his past covered up ever since. But when he and Eddie Patton, a nosy ex-cop with a long memory, are guests on a popular Chicago TV talk show, the...

A delicious new novel about the search for true love and all the ingredients that go into it. © 2012 by Beth Harbison As far as Gemma is concerned, her days of dating are over. In fact, it’s her job to cater other peoples’ dates, and that’s just fine by her. At thirty-seven, she has her own business, working as a private chef, and her life feels full and secure. She’s got six steady clients that keep her hands full. There’s Lex, the fussy but fabulous department store owner who loves Oysters Rockefeller and 1950s comfort food; Willa, who needs to lose weight under doctor’s orders but still believes butter makes everything better; a colorful family who may or may not be part of the Russian mob; an überwealthy Georgetown family; the picture-perfect Van Houghtens, whose matriarch is “allergic to everything”; and finally, a man she calls “Mr. Tuesday,” whom she has never met but who she is strangely drawn to. For Gemma, cooking is predictable. Recipes are certain. Use good ingredients, follow the directions, and you are assured success. Life, on the other hand, is full of variables. So when Gemma’s takes an unexpected turn on a road she always thought was straight and narrow, she must face her past and move on in ways she never would have imagined. Because sometimes in life, all you need is a little hope, a lot of courage, and---oh yes---butter.

‘That was my punishment: to have left them – Mary-Pat, June, Pius and my little Rosie – and yet brought them with me in my heart, where I could never let them go.’ Nearly thirty years after their mother’s disappearance, the O’Connor children still bear the scars of her leaving. Mary-Pat pushes her own family further and further away. June quietly lives her own lie. Pius has shut himself off from the world, while Rosie has spent the past ten years denying who she is. When Rosie returns to the small town where they grew up to get married, she awakens old ghosts. As the siblings are forced to confront the reason their mother left all those years ago, they begin to realise that for things to be fixed, first they have to be broken. And for their mother, time has not erased the pain of leaving them.

In these short stories the table is a scene of revenge and nostalgic memories, self-realisation and self-indulgence, separations and new beginnings. In turn warm and witty, acerbic and compassionate, sad and joyful, the stories in "Dining Alone" demonstrate the rich possibilities that food brings to fiction. "Champagne and truffles might mend a broken heart, but food cannot last. Writing about it does. Dining alone - with only wonderful (perhaps) food for company. And words. What bliss." - Marion Halligan