Ami Satou works for Cobara, a company that specializes in sweets. While she may be good at sales, her confidence in pretty much everything else is low, which is why she hasn't even thought about dating since college. Instead, she fills up her imagination with romantic scenes from shoujo manga. When she meets Alain Giraud, a handsome, older French man in charge of a new project she's assigned to work on, she begins to struggle to keep that romantic imagination in check... especially with Alain being so overly friendly! Ami keeps reminding herself that it's just because he's French, but will she be able to resist his romantic charm?

Ami Satou works for Cobara, a company that specializes in sweets. While she may be good at sales, her confidence in pretty much everything else is low, which is why she hasn't even thought about dating since college. Instead, she fills up her imagination with romantic scenes from shoujo manga. When she meets Alain Giraud, a handsome, older French man in charge of a new project she's assigned to work on, she begins to struggle to keep that romantic imagination in check... especially with Alain being so overly friendly! Ami keeps reminding herself that it's just because he's French, but will she be able to resist his romantic charm?

New Yorkers have quickly become “believers” as hordes of SWEETIE’S fans adoringly line up outside the wildly popular lower east side “SWEETIE CANDY VIGILANTE” sweet shop, anxiously waiting to savor the latest delectable SWEET TREAT drop. “DREC ACTION! NEWS,” the namesake news network of a corporate media conglomerate owned and controlled by the corrupt mayor of NYC crashes the party and quickly gets schooled that it’s impolite to show up without an invite! It’s clear to Candy Wolf, Pixie, and Tinsel that the news crew’s objective is to stage an ambush interview with SWEETIE, the Candy Vigilante squad, and their newly minted fans, with the intent of maligning Sweetie and her business on nationally syndicated TV. At the helm is the mayor’s self-centered, saccharine-laced daughter-turned-news anchor, Athena Dreck. Acting under direct orders from her love interest (and Sweetie’s arch-nemesis) — the dour, perpetual schemer, crime lord Bart Volgare — Athena arrives at the shop with camera crew in tow to portray the uplifting sweets as “unhealthy” and “addictive.” Unfazed, our GOOD-natured Sweetie lets the “jelly roll” and flips Athena’s script. Awe-struck and caught in Sweetie’s hypnotic gaze, does Athena believe in her magic? Will she “bite” on Sweetie’s challenge to sample her latest treats while on LIVE TV, inevitably revealing to her viewers if she’s a good witch or a bad witch…? Will the Mayor and Bart feel the sweet heat of the people? Is Bart’s obsession with Sweetie unjustified? Is her mission to bring the sweetness back to the city a clear and present danger to Volgare’s unsavory power and greed? Much to the displeasure of the salty lords of corruption, something within Sweetie’s delicacies is having an incredibly GOOD impact on the population of NYC, and in the process, she’s becoming more powerful! DOES SWEETIE HAVE A KRYPTONITE — AND IS BART ON THE TRAIL OF IT? PICK UP VOL. 2, ISSUE #4, “THE CITY THAT ALWAYS SWEETS,” TO FIND OUT ALL THIS AND LOTS MORE GUMDROPS! Also includes a FREE MP3 download of “THE LAND OF HATCHY MILATCHY,” the new single by OSAKA POPSTAR recorded specifically for this series! Isn’t that NICE?

Welcome to Tremontaine, where ambition, love affairs, and rivalries dance with deadly results. In this serial, Ellen Kushner and a team of writers return readers to the world of scandal and swordplay introduced in her cult-classic novel Swordspoint. Readers familiar with the series will find a welcome homecoming while new fans will learn what makes Riverside a place they will want to visit again and again. Tremontaine follows Diane, Duchess Tremontaine, whose beauty is matched only by her cunning; Rafe Fenton, a handsome young scholar with more passion than sense; Ixkaab Balam, a tradeswoman from afar with skill for swords and secrets; and Micah, a gentle genius whose discoveries herald revolution. Sparks fly as these four lives intersect in a world where politics is everything, and outcasts are the tastemakers. Tread carefully, dear reader, and keep your wit as sharp as your steel.

After an eventful first semester at Luster Magic Academy followed by a busy stay at the royal palace, Yui is back home on summer break! Though she wants to spend the summer researching magic and eating sweets, she’s required to attend a school training camp with a bunch of stuck-up nobles who resent her for being there. Influential figures from all over the kingdom have come to observe the camp, and after she shows off her skills as a Liefe in a magic battle, Yui will have to dodge recruitment pitches from some very persistent people. On top of that, Yui must figure out how to respond to a sudden confession—one she can’t bring herself to refuse. Her one consolation is that the camp is in Bahal, a town famous for its sweets, so she’ll at least be able to eat as much as she wants...right?! This summer, anything could happen, and everyone—even Yui—is keeping secrets.

The novels in this collection present a vivid picture of late-Regency society clinging to modes of behaviour which soon became obsolete and mark an important point of transition to Victorian cultural values.