A PERFECT DISGUISE As security chief of the supernaturals’ ruling council, Michaela Chui has seen more than her fair share of disaster. For centuries, she’s survived through caution and strategy. But when the only human councilor is viciously murdered, Michaela knows the coincidences that keep blocking her investigation are a sure sign of bad things to come. She needs answers fast. And her only ally is Cormac Redoak: wild, unpredictable, unreliable—and worse, distractingly attractive. A HIDDEN TRUTH An exile from the court of the Fairy Queen, Cormac has all the experience with careful strategy and veiled intentions he can stand. But he also has the fey talent for getting his way, and he’s sure his way lies with Michaela’s. No matter that she can change her lovely face at will; there’s a clarity to her being that he’d know anywhere. Working with her will be temptation and frustration bound together. Somehow, though, he must convince her to trust him—without revealing the secrets he dares never share . . .

Masked Desires, the second anthology compiled by Lawrence Mathew, is a collection of poems inked by 35 writers. The writers came joined together to create a phenomenon. This anthology is based on an extended theme of hidden desires and secret love. I selected this universal theme because I thought that most of us could connect to this easily. It can be analyzed from different angles. It may include a one-sided love, love unexpressed so far, secret relationships, or it may include your deepest darkest secrets you have not shared with anyone. We live in this society with a pretty face, but deep down, all our emotions, feelings and desires are hidden. Some writers have given their own interpretations about the theme. Some writers have written this explicitly or boldly while some others have approached this theme with an implicit or a subtle mindset. We all have felt hidden desires and secret love at least once in our life. A love which could have been deemed unworthy by the society, if they ever came to know about it.

AN UNEASY ALLIANCE Estelle LaMarche has never pursued power for its own sake. But now that she’s been made seneschal, responsible for vampire queen Wavena’s entire military, she’ll do her duty. That means devoting herself to planning the war against the Dawning. Protecting her kind. And resisting, at any cost, her distracting desire for Stephan Daker, the masquerada lieutenant with whom she shared one unforgettable night . . . AN UNQUENCHABLE PASSION Even wounded and grieving after a devastating battle, Stephan hasn’t been able to get brilliant, beautiful Estelle off his mind. Yet how can he know which feelings are truly his, when Estelle’s powers of compulsion are so strong? Unwilling to trust his desire for her, Stephen tries to keep his distance as they work together. But when Estelle’s brother is kidnapped by their enemies, he’ll join her in a conflict that will decide the fate of humanity itself . . .

This book brings together an international collection of authors from a variety of disciplines who offer new and critical perspectives, summarize key findings and provide important theoretical frameworks to guide the reader through the ‘why?’ of consumption. The book answers questions such as: What is the nature of motives, goals, and desires that prompt consumption behaviours? Why do consumers buy and consume particular products, brands and services from the multitude of alternatives afforded by their environments? How do consumers think and feel about their cravings? Unique in focus and with multifaceted approach which anyone interested in consumption and consumer research will find fascinating, this topical book provides an excellent overview of current research, and imparts key insights to illuminate the subject for both academics and practitioners alike.

This book provides an introduction to Plato’s work that gives a clear statement of what Plato has to say about the problems of thought and life. In particular, it tells the reader just what Plato says, and makes no attempt to force a system on the Platonic text or to trim Plato’s works to suit contemporary philosophical tastes. The author also gives an account that has historical fidelity - we cannot really understand the Republic or the Gorgias if we forget that the Athens of the conversations is meant to be the Athens of Nicias or Cleon, not the very different Athens of Plato’s own manhood. To understand Plato’s thought we must see it in the right historical perspective.

One of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past fifty years, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble is as celebrated as it is controversial. Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, 'essential' notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, Butler starts by questioning the category 'woman' and continues in this vein with examinations of 'the masculine' and 'the feminine'. Best known however, but also most often misinterpreted, is Butler's concept of gender as a reiterated social performance rather than the expression of a prior reality. Thrilling and provocative, few other academic works have roused passions to the same extent.

The fifties marks the moment when a heterosexual/homosexual dualism came to dominate U.S. culture's thinking about masculinity. The films of this era record how gender and sexuality did not easily come together in a normative manhood common to American men. Instead these films demonstrate the widely held perception of a crises of masculinity. Masked Men documents how movies of the fifties represented masculinity as a multiple masquerade. Hollywood's star system positioned the male actor as a professional performer and as a body intended to solicit the erotic interest of male and female viewers alike. Drawing on publicity, poster art, fan magazines, and the popular press as a means of following the links between fifties stars, their films, and the social tensions of the period, Cohan juxtaposes Hollywood's narratives of masculinity against the personae of leading men like Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, William Holden, Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando, and Rock Hudson. Masked Men focuses on the gender and sexual masquerades that organized their performances of masculinity on and off screen.