Men say I'm bred with Russian, that I should be bratva.I have a reputation as being the most vicious and ruthless Italian in the world. They're not wrong.I murdered my boss and stole his throne.He made me the beast that I am, and I made him pay the price.But there's a girl that I want beside me while I rule the city.The only problem, she's Russian and the little sister of my enemy. She's innocent, naive, and has no idea what I intend to do to her family.We're at war with the bratva...They've threatened our women, children, and attempted to burn our homes to the ground. They've come after our organization, stolen our shipments, and forced our hand.The dons and our most trusted men must come together to destroy the bratva.This secret baby, steamy slow-burn romantic suspense is the fifth book in the Mafia Marriages series. While it is a standalone, it features the mafia men of the previous books and will be enjoyed even more if you've read...

A part of Belt's City Anthology Series, a unique take on the South Dakota town residents call "the Best Little City in America." In 1992, Money magazine named Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the best place to live in America. This rich anthology offers an inside look at the city through the eyes of both longtime residents and recent transplants. In over forty-five essays, you'll hear stories about the city's past, including the region's legacy of violence against Native Americans and Sioux Falls's status as a "divorce destination" in the late 1800s. But you'll also discover the ways the city's savvy planning and entrepreneurial gumption have helped it navigate twenty-first-century challenges. You'll read about: the end of George McGovern's presidential run at a Sioux Falls Holiday Inn the vibrant Jewish and Syrian-Muslim communities that helped form the city the first sit-down strike in...

An ominous new slide on the playground leads to a world of fear in The Smashed Man of Dread End author J.W. Ocker's latest middle grade horror, perfect for fans of R.L. Stine and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.Griffin Birch isn't known for being brave, but there's something about the new black slide on the elementary school playground that's made him curious. Against his better judgement, he just has to follow his best friend Laila down. But the Black Slide is no ordinary piece of playground equipment. What Griffin and Laila find at the other end of this strange portal is a cruel world, populated by bloodthirsty creatures on a quest to become immortal.And it's up to Griffin to save himself, his best friend—and the future of earth itself. Fans of classic horror will devour this creepy adventure packed with more twists and turns than the ominous black slide itself.

INDIE I have them all now. Just the way I want them. McKay, the one who loves me deepest. Adam, the one who protects me fiercely. Donovan, the one who tells the truth. They are my friends, they are my lovers, they are my world. And Maggie belongs to all of us—no matter who her father is. This is the family I’ve always wanted. This is the family I deserve. And I will do whatever it takes to keep them. McKAY I have a secret that could ruin everything. But I’m not keeping that secret to hurt her. Nathan St. James needed to go. ADAM I made plan that could ruin everything. But I did it to save us in the end. The Company needed to come back. DONOVAN I told a lie that could ruin everything. But I didn’t tell the lie to them—I told it to myself. Carter is closer than we think. There is something truly wrong at Boucher House on the Old Pearl River. Some hidden evil lurking deep inside the woods. Nothing about their blissful life is what it seems. Because just when they think they have it all—he shows up to take it back.

"Bracing, candid, and rueful." —Kirkus Baynard Woods thought he had escaped the backwards ways of the South Carolina he grew up in, a world defined by country music, NASCAR, and the confederacy. He’d fled the South long ago, transforming himself into a politically left-leaning writer and educator.Then he was accused of discriminating against a Black student at a local university. How could I be racist? he wondered. Whiteness was a problem, but it wasn’t really his problem. He taught at a majority Black school and wrote essays about education and Civil Rights.But it was his problem. Working as a reporter, it became clear that white supremacy was tearing the country apart. When a white kid from his hometown massacred nine Black people in Charleston, Woods began to delve into his family’s history—and the ways that history has affected his own life.When he discovered that his family—both the Baynards and the...

From Printz honoree and National Book Award Finalist Candice Iloh, a prose novel about a teenager reckoning with her family’s—and her home town's—secrets.Yaminah Okar left Obsidian and the wreckage of her family years ago. She and her father have made lives for themselves in Brooklyn. She thinks she’s moved on to bigger and better things. She thinks she's finally left behind that city she would rather forget. But when a Facebook message about her estranged mother pierces Yaminah’s new bubble, memories of everything that happened before her parents' divorce come roaring back. Now, Yaminah must finally reckon with the truth about her mother and the growing collapse of a place she once called home.

After life takes a shocking turn, Maisie begins to pick up the pieces of her future, but unexpected meetings with old friends and new opportunities both challenge and surprise her. Can she reconcile pieces of the past with her new life?

Opinionated. Angry. Stubborn. She's a redheaded bombshell that turned his world upside down years ago. The thorn in his side that is Lola crawled under his skin to torment him at every chance meeting around town. Before dear old Mom died, she told the Virginia family Lola was dating a doctor. And now Lola's stuck on a road trip to hell with Kendall, retired military, local doctor heart throb, her nemesis and best friend's brother. Yes, he agreed to pretend to be her boyfriend for the family reunion. Yes, he's handsome as sin, sends shivers up her spine, and makes her think of the mistakes she's made with him before. But those mistakes were just what the doctor ordered, and she's not going to turn down the chance to rock the sheets with him again. A cousin's wedding, an absentee father who shows up out of nowhere, an accidental engagement, and a traumatic hiking accident make her think the universe might want them to be more than just...

The Warrior’s Echo (Echoes in Time, Book Three)

From National Book Award winner Pete Hautman comes a mysterious modern-day fairy tale about developing a moral compass—and the slippery nature of conscience. For Annie's tenth birthday, her papa gives her a pad of paper, some colored pencils, and the Klimas family secret. It's called the nuodeema burna, or eater of sins. Every time Annie misbehaves, she has to write down her transgression and stick the paper into a hidey-hole in the floor of their house. But Annie's inheritance has a dark side: with each paper fed to the burna, she feels less guilty about the mean things she says and does. As a plague of rats threatens her small suburban town and the mystery of her birthright grows, Annie—caught in a cycle of purging her misdeeds—begins to stop growing. It is only when she travels to her family's home country of Litvania to learn more about the burna that Annie uncovers the magnitude of the truth. Gripping and emotionally...