When the Cross family decides to spend their Christmas holiday at Grey Hall—the family estate in Sussex, England—the only ghosts they expect to find are the shadows of Simon’s unhappy childhood. But when twelve-year-old Charlotte discovers there are more than memories haunting the corridors of the castle and that a centuries-old curse has been laid upon the family, it will take all of Charlotte’s ingenuity and bravery to find the answers before the Christmas curse claims its next victim—her father! A story about the importance of the past and the power of love, The Christmas Curse is a heartwarming tale told with humor and charm and bursting with the true spirit of Christmas!

After three holiday heartbreaks in a row, caterer Emily Landon is determined to break her Christmas Curse--and what better way than to spend Christmas at the remote inn, Angel's Landing, where her recently cold-footed boyfriend can't reach her to break things off. For small-town veterinarian Griffin Boone, the holidays always find him falling in love with the wrong woman--but this year he has a fail-proof plan to keep his heart safe: One last house call to Angel's Landing's aging Golden Retriever and he's heading to a cabin in the woods to hide out until the New Year. But when an ice storm strands Griffin at the inn with Emily, everyone's careful holiday plans are tossed like last year's tree. Will unexpected attraction confirm Griffin and Emily's worst fears--or could this year's Christmas Curse be a blessing in disguise?

“In this slow-simmering but rewarding retelling, first-novelist Bunce presents an innovative interpretation of Rumpelstiltskin.” —Horn Book Winner of the William C. Morris Award for a Young Adult Debut An ALA Best Book for Young Adults A Smithsonian Notable Book An Oprah’s Book Club Kids’ Reading List Teen Selection The gold thread promises Charlotte Miller a chance to save her family’s beloved woolen mill. It promises a future for her sister, jobs for her townsfolk, security against her grasping uncle—maybe even true love. To get the thread, Charlotte must strike a bargain with its maker, the mysterious Jack Spinner. But the gleam of gold conjures a shadowy past—secrets ensnaring generations of Millers. And Charlotte’s mill, her family, her love—what do those matter to a stranger who can spin straw into gold? This is an award-winning and wholly original retelling of “Rumplestiltskin.” “Set in a rural valley in the late 1700s, this reworking of the ‘Rumplestiltskin’ story includes ghosts, witchcraft, elements of Georgian society, and much earlier folk magic in the guise of a novel of manners.” —School Library Journal “A Curse Dark as Gold beats the hell out of any fantasy novel I’ve read this year. Her heroine/narrator is immensely appealing; the atmosphere of a world on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution is completely believable; and the suspense of the story builds so craftily that I started taking notes on just how she does it.” —Peter S. Beagle, World Fantasy Award-winning author “An intelligent, original, and interesting new take on an old fairy tale, and a marvelous debut novel.” —Teen Book Review

To save her sisters from a spell that has forced them to be Without, Princess Jane of Ever must work with Reagan, the witch who set the curse on her family.

A haunted castle, a murder mystery, a touch of humour and a dog of distinction

The modern heroine of the national bestseller Interred with Their Bones returns, in a thriller centering on Shakespeare's eeriest play. A legendary theatrical curse . . . A rune-engraved blade, a mysterious mirror, and an ancient cauldron . . . And a ritually murdered body laid out in the manner of ancient pagan burials. Kate Stanley, Jennifer Lee Carrell's dauntless Shakespearean scholarturned- director, made a memorable-and New York Times bestselling- debut in Interred with Their Bones. Having chased down her mentor's killer (and recovering one of Shakespeare's lost plays in the process), Kate's fame as a director with an expertise in "occult Shakespeare" catapults her-and Ben Pearl, her partner in crime-solving-into a new production of Macbeth, showcasing a fabled collection of objects relating both to the play and the historical Scottish king for whom it is named. The Bard's witch-haunted play is famously cursed, its reputation for malevolence so strong that many actors refuse to quote or even name the play aloud. And as rehearsals begin at the foot of Scotland's Dunsinnan Hill, it doesn't take long for the curse to stir. Strange references to the boy actor who first played Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's day-and died in the role-pop up. A trench atop Dunsinnan Hill is found filled with blood, and a severed human thumb turns up among the props. And Kate begins sleepwalking, waking early one morning alone atop the hill, her hands smeared with blood. Kate has no memory of how she got there, but later that day a local woman is found dead on the hill in circumstances that suggest not just ritual murder but ancient pagan sacrifice. With the police more focused on Kate as a suspect than as a possible future victim, she and Ben find themselves in a desperate race to discover a lost version of Macbeth, said to contain rituals of witchcraft aimed at conjuring demonic forces to gain forbidden knowledge. However much Kate would like to dismiss such rituals as superstition, someone else appears willing to kill for them-and for the manuscript said to spell them out. Marked for sacrifice, can Kate Stanley uncover the killer before she becomes the next victim? Watch a Video

What if Santa was a vampire? Jacquelyn, an enchantress with an overprotective streak, thinks it's up to her to protect her older sister, Jadine, an enchantress who's also a paranoid hypochondriac. So, whenever a male comes along trying to use Jadine, Jackie gets rid of them, in a non-conventional way. When the last person Jacquelyn expects, a certain vampire she's had a not so little crush on, seems to be creeping around on her sister, she has no choice but to get rid of him, too. In front of witnesses. Only to find out one second too late that she had it all wrong. Victor, like many males, has issues expressing how he truly feels. When he finally decides it's time to stop running from fate and claim his mate, he goes to her sister for advice. But, creeping in and out of Jadine's place like a thief in the night leads the very person he wants to win over to draw all the wrong conclusions. Which leads to him trading in his pale good looks for a white beard and a red velvet suit. Now that the town knows Jacquelyn is the one behind all of the disappearances, and thinking she's killed all of those that are missing, they're out for her blood. And the only one who can save her is, well, Santa. But will he be able to make it back to her before it's too late? Enjoy a brand-new tale of how Santa Clause came to be. (Originally part of the Holiday Magic Anthology.)