Al is a holy knight, a warrior charged with protecting the innocent from the hordes of ravenous monsters terrorizing the lands. He was, anyway… After being bitten by an undead creature, Al dies–but not for long. Al awakes as an undead, cursed to live an undying life as a mindless monster. However, unlike ordinary undead, for some mysterious reason he retains his mind and sanity. Three hundred years later, flesh rotting off to reveal a living skeleton, Al meets Astrantia. As a descendant of a witch, Astrantia offers to restore his body on one condition: he must agree to become her knight and help her put an end to the unholy curse once and for all. Alongside Astrantia, Al enters an academy for training saints—teams of holy knights and holy women who fight to rid the world of the undead. Al must hide his identity as an undead—the very thing everyone in the school seeks to eradicate—in order for Astrantia to succeed and keep her word. Keeping his secret under wraps proves to be as difficult as hiding his lack of flesh but, if there’s one thing he can’t hide, it’s the strength he’s been honing for the past three hundred years!

Even after being transformed into one of the Twelve Corpses, Al remained a holy knight, and to this day, he fights to protect humanity. After defeating the Pestilent Guardian Dragon, he and his master, the holy woman Astrantia, were granted the title of White. Not long after, they encounter the newest duo to join the Twelve Saints: Theophilus, a member of the Twelve Corpses like Al, and his holy woman, Nemophila. Despite Theophilus’s constant obedience, Nemophila requests Al to kill him. Amid a holy woman’s plot to kill her holy knight, Al and Astrantia take on a mission to kill yet another member of the Twelve Corpses—the One-Armed Giant. They must navigate this complex web of circumstances and do everything in their power to ensure humanity’s safety!

In the East is a land ruled by an emperor, whose consorts and serving women live in a sprawling complex known as the hougong, the rear palace. Maomao, an unassuming girl raised in an unassuming town by her apothecary father, never imagined the rear palace would have anything to do with her—until she was kidnapped and sold into service there. Though she looks ordinary, Maomao has a quick wit, a sharp mind, and an extensive knowledge of medicine. That’s her secret, until she encounters a resident of the palace at least as perceptive as she is: the head eunuch, Jinshi. He sees through Maomao’s façade and makes her a lady-in-waiting to none other than the Emperor’s favorite consort… so she can taste the lady’s food for poison! At her lady’s side, Maomao starts to learn about everything that goes on in the rear palace—not all of it seemly. Can she ever lead a quiet life, or will her powers of deduction and insatiable curiosity bring her ever more adventures, and ever more dangers?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise.

A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

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