The Hour of the Star

Clarice Lispector

The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector's consummate final novel, may well be her masterpiece. Narrated by the cosmopolitan Rodrigo S.M., this brief, strange, and haunting tale is the story of Macabéa, one of life's unfortunates. Living in the slums of Rio de Janeiro and eking out a poor living as a typist, Macabéa loves movies, Coca-Cola, and her rat of a boyfriend; she would like to be like Marilyn Monroe, but she is ugly, underfed, sickly, and unloved. Rodrigo recoils from her wretchedness, and yet he cannot avoid realization that for all her outward misery, Macabéa is inwardly free. She doesn't seem to know how unhappy she should be. Lispector employs her pathetic heroine against her urbane, empty narrator--edge of despair to edge of despair--and, working them like a pair of scissors, she cuts away the reader's preconceived notions about poverty, identity, love, and the art of fiction. In her last novel she takes readers close to the true mystery of life, and leaves us deep in Lispector territory indeed.

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Shady Hollow

Juneau Black

The first book in the Shady Hollow series, in which we are introduced to the village of Shady Hollow, a place where woodland creatures live together in harmony--until a curmudgeonly toad turns up dead and the local reporter has to solve the case. Reporter Vera Vixen is a relative newcomer to Shady Hollow. The fox has a nose for news, so when she catches wind that the death might be a murder, she resolves to get to the bottom of the case, no matter where it leads. As she stirs up still waters, the fox exposes more than one mystery, and discovers that additional lives are in jeopardy. Vera finds more to this town than she ever suspected. It seems someone in the Hollow will do anything to keep her from solving the murder, and soon it will take all of Vera's cunning and quickness to crack the case.

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Sorrow & Strangers

Jeanette Rose & Alexis Rune

Fear. Fury. And Fire. To Know is Never Enough. Summer Tuatha De Daanan reluctantly returns to Avalon University for her second year after spending the summer with her vampire best friend in Draculea. She’s a shell of her former self, and the peace promised to her has never felt further from her reach. All Summer wants is to keep her head down and get through the year cloaked in her depression, but looming threats linger, and she quickly finds herself thrust into a dangerous position once again; entangled with a friend turned enemy, the protector of her beloved family, and the target of two very powerful kings. Unwilling to suffer any further loss, Summer must push through her emotions to prepare herself for the enemies who threaten everything she holds dear. Through runic training with the revered and brooding Headmaster Emrys, combat with the aloof and strong-willed Max, and improving her mental walls with the dark and mysterious stranger, each step pulls her further from the edge of despair. Yet, nothing will be simple for Summer, and the more she trains, the more she discovers who she truly is, forcing her to confront her inner darkness. The beast within that purrs for her enigmatic stalker. A darkness that is waiting to be explored. A darkness that will not be denied.

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Blood & Betrayals

Jeanette Rose & Alexis Rune

Fear, Fury and Fire. To Know is Not Enough. Power flows through the ancient halls of Avalon University like a neverending flood. Admission to the elite institution enables students to hone their magic under the watchful eye of their icy headmaster. Summer Tuatha De Daanan planned to slide through her tenure at Avalon, unnoticed and inconspicuous. She has no interest in learning more about her past or why someone applied to the school on her behalf. Her emotional walls keep everyone at bay, and her sharp tongue makes people give her a wide berth. Yet, despite her best attempts, her emotional armor begins to melt from her feral vampire roommate to the angelic senior who is never dissuaded by her feigning disinterest. Maybe this could be good for her, a new life. Yet, dark secrets lurk in the halls of Avalon, and soon those same halls are drenched in blood. Summer finds herself as the obsession of the sadistic stalker with the Seven lessons to learn. With the help of her new friends, she races against the clock to solve the mystery, hoping to save lives and catch the killer before it's too late.

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