As an elite spy and the Queen's Third-in-Command, Aya has dedicated herself to a life of discipline and duty, using her gods-given abilities to keep dark magic from ever returning to the realm. Her oath ensures she will always act to protect those she fights alongside—including Will, the Queen's Enforcer and Aya's bitter rival. Forced by circumstance to work together, Aya and Will struggle to come to an uneasy truce. But when tragedy strikes, Aya instinctively reacts, unleashing a power that hasn't been seen in over 500 years. Shaken, she's confronted with an impossible truth: one that threatens the precious grip she keeps on her control. One that forces her to work with Will to discover who—or what—she really is. And one that could turn her into a weapon in a war she doesn't know how to win. With Will at her side and untold power at her fingertips, Aya will have to decide: Has she been sent to save the realm she loves…or destroy it?

Across a bridge, in view of seasonal cherry blossom lies the Marble Cafe where a woman writes in a notebook and a young waiter prepares her favourite hot drink. Both wonder about each other and about the other lives of the clientele who frequent this magical cafe behind the trees ....Without even realizing it, we may touch and change someone else's life.Taking a walk along the river, cooking the best tamagoyaki, ordering hot chocolate, forgetting to remove our nail polish... The small, everyday acts that we do can offer unexpected encounters and ultimately change a life. HOT CHOCOLATE ON THURSDAY connects twelve slice-of-life moments that open and close with a woman ordering her regular hot chocolate at the mysterious Marble Cafe.What happens in between will touch and swell your heart, as we connect with a community of untold unfolding lives.

For lovers of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, a new book about the beauty of humble objects, the power of writing, and reconnecting with those you have lost. Write your story, heal your heart . . . Hidden away in a corner of the Ginza neighbourhood is a venerable stationery shop. To venture inside is to find everything your stationery-loving heart desires, from the most delicate paper to fountain pens that fit exactly to the shape of your hand to gorgeously coloured inks. The shop owner intuits your every need, inviting you to take a seat at a small wooden table on the top floor, where you'll find the words flowing, helping you unlock repressed memories, secret longings and your own mysteries. To this shop comes a young company employee, uncertain in his career and needing a connection back to his past; the hostess of an elegant club; the vice-captain of a high-school archery team, an ageing businessman and a formerly homeless sushi chef. With impeccable manners and a warm demeanour, the shop owner helps each of them with more than just their stationery needs.

The international bestseller with over half a million copies sold, for fans of Convenience Store Woman and The Kamogawa Food Detectives. Welcome to Tenderness! A quaint seaside town in Kitakyushu, Mojiko is full of hidden delights. And one unexpected treasure is the 24/7 convenience store, Tenderness. Sure, it’s a bit odd that the incredibly handsome manager has his own fan club. And perhaps the customers are somewhat eccentric, if not entertaining. But there’s a warmth about the store that draws you in. The truth is, Tenderness is different. Operating only in Kyushu, Tenderness stands firm and proud by its motto “Caring for People, Caring for You”, no matter the cause. And for Mitsuhiko, dishing out delicious food is simply the appetizer to his unsolicited but hearty wisdom on the town’s shenanigans. An international bestseller with over half a million copies sold between Japan and South Korea, The Convenience Store by The Sea tells the delightfully quirky and heartfelt stories of the store’s customers and employees, offering us all a unique recipe for a good, fulfilling life.

What would you change if you could go back in time? In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know. But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . . Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?

Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path. But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark. Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants. Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford.

An alternate cover edition can be found here. Drawing heavily from personal experience, Anne Brontë wrote Agnes Grey in an effort to represent the many 19th Century women who worked as governesses and suffered daily abuse as a result of their position. Having lost the family savings on risky investments, Richard Grey removes himself from family life and suffers a bout of depression. Feeling helpless and frustrated, his youngest daughter, Agnes, applies for a job as a governess to the children of a wealthy, upper-class, English family. Ecstatic at the thought that she has finally gained control and freedom over her own life, Agnes arrives at the Bloomfield mansion armed with confidence and purpose. The cruelty with which the family treat her however, slowly but surely strips the heroine of all dignity and belief in humanity. A tale of female bravery in the face of isolation and subjugation, Agnes Grey is a masterpiece claimed by Irish writer, George Moore, to be possessed of all the qualities and style of a Jane Austen title. Its simple prosaic style propels the narrative forward in a gentle yet rhythmic manner which continuously leaves the listener wanting to know more. Anne Brontë, the somewhat lesser known sister, was in fact the first to finish and publish Agnes Grey under the pseudonym of Acton Bell. Charlotte and Emily followed shortly after with Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. As Anne passed away from what is now known to be pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of just 29, she only published one further title; The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. As feminist in nature as Agnes Grey, Anne's brave voice resonates and permeates during one of the most prejudiced and patriarchal times of English history.