Hero once peeled the skin from an entire family and hung their bodies in the front yard of their house for days. He once burned a man alive, then cut off his head while his family watched. I’m used to fighting the local mobsters where I live, but this Hero’s another league of depraved. I’ve caused him millions by taking out the local drug runners, now he wants me dead. Hero’s organization reaches across the globe. His people are everywhere. I’ve been warned this isn’t a fight I can win. It’s not one I’m willing to back down from either. My hair holds the strength of all my ancestors. It can freeze a man to death or burn him alive. My boyfriend Kemp has superspeed. I bet on us, always. If this Hero wants a fight, then I say bring it. He may take my life, but I don’t plan on going down alone.

I wasn’t even remotely interested in collecting the third instrument of assassination. It was far better for everyone involved — and for Warner, specifically — if I just let it be. And since I was the only one who could retrieve the artifacts, I figured it was my call to make. I was wrong. And though that wasn’t unusual, I was just so … so … wrong … about everything. I was wrong about who I was protecting and why. I was wrong about who and what I could control. And I was wrong about who I was becoming. Baker of cupcakes, maker of trinkets, half-witch, half-dragon, dowser, alchemist … Why couldn’t I just be Jade? Artifacts, Dragons, and Other Lethal Magic is the sixth book in the Dowser series, which is set in the same universe as the Oracle, Reconstructionist, Amplifier, Archivist, and Misfits of the Adept Universe series. While it is not necessary to read all the series, in order to avoid spoilers the ideal reading order of the Adept Universe begins with Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser 1).

Buckle in for a wild ride through the heart-pounding twists and turns of this complete urban fantasy action adventure where powerful magical families make the mafia look like choirboys and connections are everything in Jami Gray’s spellbinding Arcane Transporter series. A failed assassination, a kidnapped ally, and a treasonous scheme pit Rory and Zev against a devious enemy determined to watch Arcane society crash and burn. After a bumpy start, Rory Costas, Arcane Transporter, is gaining professional traction while her personal journey with the sexy Zev Aslanov is accelerating at an exhilarating pace. That is, until their date night is crashed by a mercenary team of magical assassins. Their goal—to derail the upcoming Arcane Council hearing on the ill-fated Delphi project and its magic altering serum. The assassination attempt leaves Zev stripped of his memories and Rory scrabbling to secure her fledgling alliances even as her mentor and employer, Sabella, disappears under mysterious and worrisome circumstances. Thrust into the resulting investigation, Rory dodges the hazards of her evolving magic and the unexpected exposure of long-buried family secrets as she speeds through the treacherous plots threatening to fracture Arcane society. As she careens toward the finish line will Rory’s ability to hold the wheel steady be enough to keep her world from veering off the cliff, or will it shift her into uncharted territory? LETHAL CONTENTS is the third novel in the complete urban fantasy series the Arcane Transporter. If you love Shannon Mayer, H.P. Mallory, and Annabel Chase, you’re going to want to claim your ticket to this sweet ride through the unexpected twists and turns of a high-octane adventure filled with intriguing mystery, a flash of romance, and riveting magic.

Daisy Ellery’s pies have a secret ingredient: The magical ability to avenge women done wrong by men. But Daisy finds herself on the receiving end in Misha Popp’s cozy series debut, a sweet-as-buttercream treat for fans of Ellery Adams and Mary Maxwell. The first time Daisy Ellery killed a man with a pie, it was an accident. Now, it’s her calling. Daisy bakes sweet vengeance into her pastries, which she and her dog Zoe deliver to the men who’ve done dirty deeds to the town’s women. But if she can’t solve the one crime that’s not of her own baking, she’ll be out of the pie pan and into the oven. Parking her Pies Before Guys mobile bakery van outside the local diner, Daisy is informed by Frank, the crusty diner owner, that someone’s been prowling around the van—and not just to inhale the delectable aroma. Already on thin icing with Frank, she finds a letter on her door, threatening to reveal her unsavory secret sideline of pie a la murder. Blackmail? But who whipped up this half-baked plot to cut a slice out of Daisy’s business? Purple-haired campus do-gooder Melly? Noel, the tender—if flaky—farm boy? Or one of the abusive men who prefer their pie without a deadly scoop of payback? The upcoming statewide pie contest could be Daisy’s big chance to help wronged women everywhere…if she doesn’t meet a sticky end first. Because Daisy knows the blackmailer won’t stop until her business is in crumbles.

I’ve made enemies of the wrong people and they’re coming for me. My name’s Rekia and I’m wanted dead or alive. A normal day for me is hiding thieves and criminals in alternate universes where their pursuers can’t find them. On my latest assignment, I ran across a plot between two powerful worlds. If left unchecked, it could destroy all worlds, including my own. I can’t let that happen. My enemies put a price on my head, but I never go down without a fight. Now, I’m coming for them. I’ve gathered a few friends and we’re hunting. If I die, I’m taking a few hundred of them with me. This book contains side characters that are m/m. Keywords: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy.

I'm one scrappy wizard.As someone with barely a flicker of magic, I've spent my life being mocked and surviving fights with bullies. But when my parents die in an accident, and I find myself responsible for our whole wizard house and family, I know my usual tactics aren't going to cut it.The situation veers from bad to catastrophic when my backstabbing cousin stages a coup and takes my family hostage.I barely manage to flee, but the only supernatural willing to help me is Killian Drake--the most feared vampire in the region, and a far more deadly villain than the jerk threatening my family.Is Killian sexy and charismatic? Heck yeah.He's also so powerful that my flight or fight instincts kick in every time our eyes meet. And he's definitely using me as his personal magic detector in his feud against the local fae.But Killian is also the first person to believe I might have more than just a scrap of magic. And if I can convince him to train me, I might get strong enough to free my family and get my house back.I'm not sure what happens when a scrappy wizard is taught how to fight by a hall of deadly vampires, but I'm about to find out.

This vitally important volume places the problem of wife beating in a broad cultural context in a search for strategies to reform societies, including our own, that are prone to this pernicious form of violence. Based on first hand ethnographic data on more than a dozen societies, including a number in Oceania, this collection explores the social and cultural factors that work either to inhibit or to promote domestic violence against women. The volume also includes a study of abuse among nonhuman primates and a cross-cultural analysis of the legal aspects of wife beating. By presenting counterexamples from other cultures, contributors challenge Western assumptions about the factors leading to wife beating. Through a close examination of societies where wife beating is infrequent or absent, To Have and To Hit identifies the factors--economic, social, political, and cultural--that must be explored and transformed in order to combat this violence and eventually eliminate it.