A CONVENIENT HUSBAND Rescuing Lavinia Renshaw from a Venetian canal was one thing. Accepting her surprising proposition of marriage was quite another. Maxim Purnell thrived on taking risks. However, his situation was complicated enough without taking on a wife. But there was no denying Lavinia had succeeded in piquing his curiosity—and desire. To come in to her considerable legacy she needed a husband, and she intended their arrangement to be a marriage of convenience only. So what would happen if Maxim decided to make her his wife for real?

A wonderfully murky, carnivalesque world of intrigue, unexpected friendships and mysteries solved.Sheba the wolf girl joins an unusual troupe of performers that includes Pyewacket, a witch's imp; Gigantus the giant and Sister Moon, a knife thrower. For the first time in her life she feels she might make true friends, and learn a real stage craft. But soon that's not all she has to think about . . .Children are being sucked into the Thames and there have been strange sightings of a mechanical monster. The carnival troupe know first-hand that looks only tell half a story - they become determined to find these forgotten children. Perhaps they will unravel the mystery that has defied even the law!Illustrated with black and white artwork from superstar illustrator, Sam Usher, and the first in a brand new series!'Thrilling, original, full of zest and wit.' The London Times'An atmospheric and exciting read.' BookTrust'A page-turning adventure.' The Daily Mirror

Kansas, 1959. When a travelling carnival appears overnight, the townsfolk of Seneca Falls are entranced. But the circus brings more than just magic and illusion to the small town: a dead man is discovered beneath the carousel. For FBI Special Agent Michael Travis, the world is clear cut. But there are a lot of grey areas in this case. The carnival folk are unwilling to answer a straight question and they begin to challenge Travis's once unshakeable faith in solid facts and hard evidence... As the investigation turns ever more disturbing, Travis is forced to question everything he believes in as a dark and horrifying conspiracy comes to light.

Passion flares between a miller's granddaughter and a soldier on a secret mission to save King Henry's throne.

Blending fantasy and science fiction, N. E. Davenport’s fast-paced, action-packed debut kicks off a duology of loyalty and rebellion, in which a young Black woman must survive deadly trials in a racist and misogynistic society to become an elite warrior. It’s all about blood. The blood spilled between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor long ago. The blood gifts of Mareen’s deadliest enemies. The blood that runs through the elite War Houses of Mareen, the rulers of the Tribunal dedicated to keeping the republic alive. The blood of the former Legatus, Verne Amari, murdered. For his granddaughter, Ikenna, the only thing steady in her life was the man who had saved Mareen. The man who had trained her in secret, not just in martial skills, but in harnessing the blood gift that coursed through her. Who trained her to keep that a secret. But now there are too many secrets, and with her grandfather assassinated, Ikenna knows two things: that only someone on the Tribunal could have ordered his death, and that only a Praetorian Guard could have carried out that order. Bent on revenge as much as discovering the truth, Ikenna pledges herself to the Praetorian Trials—a brutal initiation that only a quarter of the aspirants survive. She subjects herself to the racism directed against her half-Khanaian heritage and the misogyny of a society that cherishes progeny over prodigy, all while hiding a power that—if found out—would subject her to execution…or worse. Ikenna is willing to risk it all because she needs to find out who murdered her grandfather…and then she needs to kill them. Mareen has been at peace for a long time… Ikenna joining the Praetorians is about to change all that. Magic and technology converge in the first part of this stunning debut duology, where loyalty to oneself—and one’s blood—is more important than anything.

Your guest at dinner kisses you. What does it mean? Where does it lead? Does kissing necessarily imply more, and if so how much? These and similar questions of amorous ethics and erotic disquisition are central to our everyday intimate public lives and they are the lost object of the law of love, the lex amatoria collated and presented here.