Chocolate, flowers, poems, gifts?all of these things are readily associated with Valentine?s Day, the most romantic holiday of the year. But how did this day devoted to the celebration of love come to be? How have the traditions associated with February 14th changed over the years, and how do people in different countries around the world mark the occasion? In VALENTINE BE MINE, readers learn all about this special holiday, from its origin in Rome in the first century all the way to the distribution of Valentines among grade school students in classrooms today. A secondary layer of text provides more detailed information encouraging further research and discovery, while the collage-style art gives readers plenty of visual details to explore and uncover. In addition to providing fascinating facts and stories about this romantic holiday, the book includes Valentine?s Day jokes and step-by-step instructions on how to make your own Valentine Day?s card and tissue paper flowers.

She’s loved him forever. But he wants her for just one night. Aurora Willis has loved Nathan since she was a teenager. But he barely noticed her. Now twenty-two and still a virgin, Aurora is desperate to ditch her hopeless feelings for him and finally find true love of her own. Billionaire Nathaniel Travers is riding high on fame, glory, and more female attention than he wants. He left Aurora behind in his past years ago. But when an accident leaves him helpless, she’s the only person he can turn to. Just when Aurora is about to leap into a new love, Nathan comes crashing back into her life, stoking all the fire buried inside her. And he’s been keeping a secret of his own, but it has nothing to do with love. Is Aurora ready to sacrifice her heart, her future, everything to be his for just one night? STANDALONE Contemporary Romance | A London Billionaires Novel Steamy love scenes #free #freebie

It is a cold, snowy February in Crescent Falls and Adelaide McBride is enjoying the new excitement in her life as two attractive men vie for her attention. But, her joy is short-lived when two murders occur within days of each other, both obviously the work of the same killer who left a Valentine card on each body. When a third victim is found barely alive, it becomes obvious that a serial killer is on the loose. Once again Adelaide�s son, Chief of Police Daniel McBride, finds his ability to do his job called into question when there isn�t a speedy arrest. All three victims were young, attractive women and one suspect immediately emerges, but Adelaide believes the man is innocent and decides to start her own investigation. Unexpected twists and turns, including an out-of-town murder and an attack on a local attorney, lead the police and Adelaide down a treacherous path in search of a methodical, cunning killer, whose identity shocks and saddens all the residents of the small, close-knit community.

A novel of “sex, mystery, betrayal, intrigue and violence, all wrapped up in the disturbing world of a middle-aged woman’s deepest desires” (USA Today). The first note came on Valentine’s Day. Written with a red pen in an unfamiliar hand, it said: Be Mine. For Sherry Seymour, a community college English professor and recent empty-nester, the anonymous message was amusing and, she had to admit, flattering. When she told her husband, Jon, about it, he raised his eyebrows and looked at her with a kind of attention she hadn’t felt in some time. As the notes continue, Sherry becomes increasingly aroused by the idea that she could inspire such feelings—as does her husband. With Jon’s encouragement, she pursues her admirer and begins a wild affair. But living in a fantasy can never last. As events spiral out of Sherry’s control, she discovers how little she knows about herself—or the men in her life. This darkly erotic thriller explores what we risk when we step away from our daily lives and allow our passions to take control. “If there is any justice in the world, Laura Kasischke will soon be as big as Alice Sebold. . . . Kasischke’s novels are as beautifully written and as daring in their subjects.” —Detroit Free Press “Kasischke has proven herself again to be a bold chronicler of dark obsession.” —Publishers Weekly “What makes this erotic thriller disturbing and, therefore, successful is how convincingly Kasischke renders Sherry’s life and feelings so eerily normal and familiar.” —Booklist