Loaded For Bear

A woman with a legacy of magic… Mellie is trying her best to come up with a way to protect the waters around Grizzly Cove from the leviathan and its minions, but it’s not easy. The ancient grimoire she’s been given holds the recipe for a potion that just might work. The only problem is that one of the ingredients is dragon’s blood. Whether that’s a euphemism or there really were dragons living at the time the spell book was written, she’s not sure, but she’s tried everything and so far, no luck. A man willing to do anything for her… Peter wants to help Mellie, even if it means calling in favors from the lands of his ancestors. When he admits knowledge of dragon shifters—something his family has kept secret for generations—he agrees to help Mellie any way he can. Even if it requires him to work all night long to help her find an answer. A love they cannot deny… Peter and Mellie are drawn together in ways they cannot resist. She is fast becoming his everything, he just wonders if she can feel the same. But when push comes to shove and a dragon tries to catch her eye, Peter proves he is more than man enough to win the lady fair and keep her heart safe forevermore. If, that is, the leviathan doesn’t succeed in killing them both first. They will confront evil together, but only the Goddess knows if their love will see them through and allow them to survive to fight another day.

Kira Lewis hides her jaguar shifter side every day, just so she can focus on her research and finally finish her degree. A trip to the mountains seems like a great opportunity to let her hair down a little while she's tracking wildlife -- until she meets the burly lumberjack who's supposed to be her guide. Ethan Roberts tries to ignore how happy his boss, Simon, is with his mate, but Ethan knows deep down, he's jealous. Teeth-grindingly jealous. He's given up on finding his mate when serious Kira walks into the Lodge and steals what's left of his common sense. Kira doesn't know how she'll survive a two week hiking trip with the gorgeous Ethan, when she can hardly concentrate on data or cameras or anything but him. But a run-in with a group of illegal miners in the forest threatens more than just her research. Kira can't hide her jaguar, but there's more to Ethan than she knows. Can Ethan save her before she loses everything -- including him?

Nine Thousand Miles to Kansas chronicles the adventures of Ellie Scown, a fourth-generation San Franciscan, who becomes transplanted for what she thinks will be one year to a farm on the wild prairie of Kansas when her husband, Ken, accepts a contract at a nearby nuclear power plant. Since Ellie believes that a day without laughter is a day wasted, she finds much to amuse herself with the ticks, skunks, and rattlesnakes on the farm, her primary companions aside from her beloved dogs. Ellie also shares with the reader the many delights of earthquakes, wild fires, and tornadoes, making great fun of her own ineptitudes along the way.

A young bear who is fascinated by the mysterious marks he sees on paper finds a friend when a kind woman reads to him.

A smart, hilarious, and lavishly illustrated guide to the most euphemised word in the English language: Drunk A record-breaking assemblage of 2,964 different ways to say "drunk." Tipsy, roasted, three sheets, whazooed and Boris Yeltsinned are just the beginning....With an introduction by the wise-guy lexicographer himself, Paul Dickson, and illustrations by renowned artist Brian Rea. Dickson, who holds the Guiness World Record for collecting the most words for being, er, not sober, not only provides a dictionary of those words, but reveals why there are so many synonyms for being "drunk," and how he came to collect more of them than anyone else. The terms are annotated, too, and lushly illustrated, explaining the twist and turns of a language that has thousands of ways to say the same thing. How, for example, does a word like "blotto" go from the lips of P.G. Wodehouse, into the writings of Edmund Wilson, before landing with Otto from The Simpson's ("My name is Otto, I like to get blotto").

Booklist Top of the List Reference Source The heir and successor to Eric Partridge's brilliant magnum opus, The Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, this two-volume New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is the definitive record of post WWII slang. Containing over 60,000 entries, this new edition of the authoritative work on slang details the slang and unconventional English of the English-speaking world since 1945, and through the first decade of the new millennium, with the same thorough, intense, and lively scholarship that characterized Partridge's own work. Unique, exciting and, at times, hilariously shocking, key features include: unprecedented coverage of World English, with equal prominence given to American and British English slang, and entries included from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, South Africa, Ireland, and the Caribbean emphasis on post-World War II slang and unconventional English published sources given for each entry, often including an early or significant example of the term’s use in print. hundreds of thousands of citations from popular literature, newspapers, magazines, movies, and songs illustrating usage of the headwords dating information for each headword in the tradition of Partridge, commentary on the term’s origins and meaning New to this edition: A new preface noting slang trends of the last five years Over 1,000 new entries from the US, UK and Australia New terms from the language of social networking Many entries now revised to include new dating, new citations from written sources and new glosses The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is a spectacular resource infused with humour and learning – it’s rude, it’s delightful, and it’s a prize for anyone with a love of language.

Covering over 10,000 idioms and collocations characterized by similarity in their wording or metaphorical idea which do not show corresponding similarity in their meanings, this dictionary presents a unique cross-section of the English language. Though it is designed specifically to assist readers in avoiding the use of inappropriate or erroneous phrases, the book can also be used as a regular phraseological dictionary providing definitions to individual idioms, cliches, and set expressions. Most phrases included in the dictionary are in active current use, making information about their meanings and usage essential to language learners at all levels of proficiency.

From “all systems go” to “senior moment”—a comprehensive reference to idiomatic English. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms explores the meanings and origins of idioms that may not make literal sense but play an important role in the language—including phrasal verbs such as kick back, proverbs such as too many cooks spoil the broth, interjections such as tough beans, and figures of speech such as elephant in the room. With extensive revisions that reflect new historical scholarship and changes in the English language, this second edition defines over 10,000 idiomatic expressions in greater detail than any other dictionary available today—a remarkable reference for those studying the English language, or anyone who enjoys learning its many wonderful quirks and expressions. “Invaluable as a teaching tool.” —School Library Journal

Building on the success of his previous bestsellers, Now You Know, Now You Know More, and Now You Know Almost Everything, this fourth volume is headed straight for the bestseller list! It is Doug Lennox at his best as he masterfully dispenses the answers to quirky questions, never losing sight of the joy of discovering the "why" of ordinary things. Discover the fascinating histories behind people, places, and words: WHY DO WE SAY THAT SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN TREATED BADLY HAS BEEN "HUNG OUT TO DRY"? Discipline on early British sailing ships was necessary but often extreme. The cat-o’-nine-tails left sailors scarred for life, but keelhauling (tying a victim with a rope and pulling him under a ship) was feared most. If the prisoner survived, he was suspended from a yardarm where he was left hanging for a predetermined period of time. WHY IS A MILITARY DINING HALL CALLED A "MESS"? The term goes back to the Middle Ages, when British sailors began calling their meagre and often grub-infested meals a "mess." It evolved into meaning the general area where the sailors gathered to eat. Later it referred to a specific area where men gathered to eat, drink, and socialize.