In the frost-kissed streets of Philadelphia, Mia’s world is upended by the arrival of Adrian, a brooding enigma whose smoldering glances betray a hidden flame. Despite his initial aloofness, Mia senses a simmering desire beneath his icy exterior, a desire that flares with jealousy at the mere sight of her former lover. Yet, as their fiery passion takes hold, Mia uncovers a startling truth: Adrian is not just a man of mystery but a full-blood vampire, haunted by a distrust of human women. Can Mia’s tenderness melt away Adrian’s icy walls and guide him out of the darkness? Will their bond withstand the test of eternal love, or will Adrian’s lingering doubts shatter their chance at a forever romance beneath the twinkling Christmas lights? Marilyn loves to hear from readers who can email her at [email protected]

Psychologist Ellen Winner studies the creative, nonliteral discourse of children's spontaneous speech, examining how their abilities to use and interpret figurative language change as they grow older, and what such language shows us about the changing features of children's minds.

In the postwar decades, sexual revolutions – first women's suffrage, flappers, Prohibition, and Mae West; later Alfred Kinsey, Hugh Hefner, and the pill – altered the lifestyles and desires of generations. Since the 1990s, the internet and its cataclysmic cultural and social technological shifts have unleashed a third sexual revolution, crystallized in the acts and rituals of confession that are a staple of our twenty-first-century lives. In I Confess!, a collection of thirty original essays, leading international scholars such as Ken Plummer, Susanna Paasonen, Tom Roach, and Shohini Ghosh explore the ideas of confession and sexuality in moving image arts and media, mostly in the Global North, over the last quarter century. Through self-referencing or autobiographical stories, testimonies, and performances, and through rigorously scrutinized case studies of "gay for pay," gaming, camming, YouTube uploads, and the films Tarnation and Nymph()maniac, the contributors describe a spectrum of identities, desires, and related representational practices. Together these desires and practices shape how we see, construct, and live our identities within this third sexual revolution, embodying both its ominous implications of surveillance and control and its utopian glimmers of community and liberation. Inspired by theorists from Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze to Gayle Rubin and José Esteban Muñoz, I Confess! reflects an extraordinary, paradigm-shifting proliferation of first-person voices and imagery produced during the third sexual revolution, from the eve of the internet to today.

On January 11, 2017 Shaleem wrote her first poem about love and loss. Fifteen months earlier, she married the love of her life, Brad. He was handsome, successful, fit, and fun. And more than that, he had a zest for life like none she had ever met, for he had faced childhood cancer, and knew as well as anyone how precious each day was. On their one-year anniversary, after his sudden weight loss, they faced the worst oncology appointment anyone can face. Zero treatment options, zero percent chance of survival, 3-6 months. The first poem written the night he died, lead to a series of poems that began to chronicle the landscape she traversed emotionally, contemplatively, and spiritually as she moved through the darkness of grief and despair toward the light of healing. Little did she know that six years later, on the journey toward Illumination Rock to scatter their beloved dog’s ashes in the same place she had scattered Brad’s ashes, tragedy would strike again. This time it was her boyfriend, her new love, and yet, once again, it was fatal. This book, Illumination a grievers journey through the darkness, is so much more than a book about grief. It is about the heart crushing, drop you to your knees experience. It is about the times when grief enters our lives with overwhelming force, consumes our thoughts, emotions, and even our physical wellbeing. It is during these times of profound sorrow that we often find ourselves searching for solace, understanding and a glimmer of hope. As you read Illumination, you will touch upon things that will awaken your heart. You will experience a connection with this extraordinary woman, who, through her own journey, and as a poet at heart, gives fresh words to this thing called, perhaps too simply, grief. Book Review: Dr. Alan Pickering’s words of acclaim: Prepare to embark on a transformative journey as you turn the pages of Illumination. Shaleem writes in such a manner as to transport you to deeper levels of thinking, feeling and understanding of the wide range of human emotions. Her surprising mastery of putting feelings into words will drive you deeper into your soul. Through poignant poetry and storytelling, and profound wisdom, Shaleem’s work not only captivates the mind but also touches the heart in ways that linger long after the final page is turned. She stands shoulder to shoulder with the greatest who have ever penned a poem. Prepare to be moved, enlightened, and forever changed by this extraordinary treasure.

This book reviews progress and describes original research in the cognitive psychology of the arts. The invited contributors are leading authorities, and the topics which they cover include psychological approaches to symbols and meaning in art, issues in experimental aesthetics, the development in children of artistic production and appreciation, and the perception of musical and pictorial material.

A sultry jazz bar owner, a string of brutal murders, and an enigmatic police chief with a dark secret. ... what could go wrong? Lena Johnson’s nights are filled with the smoky ambiance of Midnight Blues and its enchanting supernatural patrons in the city of Cres-Haze. But when a series of grisly killings rocks the community, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the dangerous investigation—and the ruggedly handsome Police Chief Sergei Peytona. As they delve into the dark underbelly of Cres-Haze, uncovering twisted rituals and forbidden magic, the line blurs between the murder cases and their smoldering chemistry. With each electrifying encounter, she’s left wondering whether she should trust her life or body to the seductive Sergei. Or will surrendering to the passion consuming her end in heartbreak? Or worse? Lose yourself in this deliciously steamy urban fantasy where murder and desire collide on the shadowy streets of Cres-Haze. Sinful Seductions is for fans of sizzling paranormal romance blended with gripping mystery and suspense.