In the first book of this fun, action-packed fantasy trilogy, a warrior and a thief must come together to stop the forces that threaten their people. Hope's old life ended the night her entire village was massacred by the emperor's forces. Now, trained in secret by a master warrior, her new life is centered on only one goal: vengeance. Red lives by the skin of his teeth and sharpness of his wit. An expert thief and a brilliant con artist, he cares for only one thing: a good time. But when the empire's soldiers start to encroach on his territory, taking down his friends with it, he may have to re-prioritize. Together, they will take down an empire. Start reading this daring adventure that Sam Sykes called, "Furious where it needs to be, deceptively tender where it can get away with it, adventurous all around!"

Astronauts are sent to Mars after fossils are discovered by the Mars Curiosity rover.

Hope is an interesting thing. Some think it’s foolish, often misplaced, and at rarer times devastating; but more agree that hope is an integral and beautiful part of life, something that implicitly makes us human. We’re always hoping for something—for change, for improvement, or to find peace of mind amid life’s bustling demands. These things are often the subjects of our deepest desires, those things that can bring us true happiness. Fortunately for all of us who count ourselves among the hopeful, there has been plenty of wisdom bestowed from some of the greatest minds and noteworthy individuals throughout history, including: • Albert Einstein • Albert Camus • Barack Obama • Benjamin Franklin • John Lennon • George Bernard Shaw • Abraham Lincoln • And many others! The Little Red Book of Hope is an inspired collection of uplifting thoughts about what it is that allows us to persevere; about the primacy of the human spirit, and ultimately, about the redemptive power and vitality of hope.

Separation and miles cannot keep a determined cardinal from his loved one in an ode to serendipity and belief that is destined to be a Christmas classic. Red and Lulu make their nest in a particularly beautiful evergreen tree. It shades them in the hot months and keeps them cozy in the cold months, and once a year the people who live nearby string lights on their tree and sing a special song: O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree. But one day, something unthinkable happens, and Red and Lulu are separated. It will take a miracle for them to find each other again. Luckily, it’s just the season for miracles. . . . From Matt Tavares comes a heart-tugging story combining the cheer of Christmas, the magic of New York City, and the real meaning of the holiday season: how important it is to be surrounded by love.

The thrilling conclusion to Jon Skovron's adventure fantasy series, two young people from a fracturing empire spread across savage seas must find a way to keep their nation together. Still reeling from the events at Dawn's Light, Hope struggles to understand what it means to be a warrior who has vowed to never again take up a sword. Red is enjoying his new role as imperial spy. Perhaps a bit too much. But his loyalties will be tested when his employer, Lady Hempist, relents and assigns him the one task he's been begging for all along: recruiting Hope and Brigga Lin to help rid the empire of biomancery once and for all. Fate brought them together; it will tear their empire apart.

A deeply personal and shocking look at how China is coming to terms with its conflicted past as it emerges into a modern, cutting-edge superpower. Through the stories of three generations of women in her family, Karoline Kan, a former New York Times reporter based in Beijing, reveals how they navigated their way in a country beset by poverty and often-violent political unrest. As the Kans move from quiet villages to crowded towns and through the urban streets of Beijing in search of a better way of life, they are forced to confront the past and break the chains of tradition, especially those forced on women. Raw and revealing, Karoline Kan offers gripping tales of her grandmother, who struggled to make a way for her family during the Great Famine; of her mother, who defied the One-Child Policy by giving birth to Karoline; of her cousin, a shoe factory worker scraping by on 6 yuan (88 cents) per hour; and of herself, as an ambitious millennial striving to find a job--and true love--during a time rife with bewildering social change. Under Red Skies is an engaging eyewitness account and Karoline's quest to understand the rapidly evolving, shifting sands of China. It is the first English-language memoir from a Chinese millennial to be published in America, and a fascinating portrait of an otherwise-hidden world, written from the perspective of those who live there.

Yet India's poor are not disenfranchised; they actively participate in the democratic project.