Lock Em Down

Meet the Bang Brothers—five hot hockey-playing brothers who are allergic to commitment. The brothers are about to face off against their newly-retired mother…who suddenly has plenty of time to play matchmaker. Add in their baby sister and some secret dating, a single dad, an accidental pregnancy, a marriage of convenience, and a wrong bed—or two—and these siblings are not going to know what hit them! Bang Brothers Hockey Series Titles: 6/11/2024–Lace ’em Up by Elise Faber 6/25/2024–Show ’em How by Jami Davenport 7/9/2024–Hit ’em Hard by Kat Mizera 7/23/2024–Lock ’em Down by Gina Azzi 8/6/2024–Light ’em Up by Kelly Jamieson 8/20/2024–Hook ’em Hard by Cathryn Fox

Alysha and her girl gang, the Alley Cats, have defeated their rivals for control of the Aviary Estate in South London, while managing to win the trust of DI Johnson and the police. The girls dream of a day when they can live normal lives, but their crime enterprises are the only way they can fund better lives for people like them. And other people soon want a piece of the action... When the Alley Cats win a pitched battle against a new rival gang, one of the girls is taken and horrifically attacked in retaliation. Violence escalates as the gangs face off, and lives as well as livelihoods are in serious danger – especially when the police finally realise that Alysha isn’t as innocent as she seems...

A transplanted Californian and columnist for "The Santa Fe New Mexican" shares stories she's coaxed out of the local people, revealing the culture, history, and charm of the unique Southwestern city. (U.S. History)

Desperate times call for desperate measures in Kalteis’s lightning-fast crime caper story Sonny and Clara Myers struggle on their Kansas farm in the late 1930s, a time the Lord gave up on: their land’s gone dry, barren, and worthless; the bankers are greedy and hungry, trying to squeeze them and other farmers out of their homes; and, on top of that, their marriage is in trouble. The couple can struggle and wither along with the land or surrender to the bankers and hightail it to California like most of the others. Clara is all for leaving, but Sonny refuses to abandon the family farm. In a fit of temper, she takes off westward in their old battered truck. Alone on the farm and determined to get back Clara and the good old days, Sonny comes up with an idea, a way to keep his land and even prosper while giving the banks a taste of their own misery. He sets the scheme in motion under the cover of the commotion being caused by a rainmaker hired by the mayor to call down the thunder and wash away everyone’s troubles.

Lurking beneath the veil of reality, a supernatural war threatens to consume the city of Shreveport, Louisiana. The Illumin, messengers of light, strive to protect the city's human inhabitants from the vicious Shades. Banished from their natural world, the Shades carve out a restless existence among us. The powerful Raven family stands between the warring Shades and Illumin, struggling to maintain a delicate balance while ensuring that everyone else remains unaware. In the nearby town of Wheelbarrow Creek, an Aztec relic makes its way into Matthew Gillard's hands, unlocking an evil with the power to bring back the dead. Impossible to control, the relic bends him to its will. Now Raven, Shade, and Illumin hunt after this newfound threat. Shadeskin is an urban fantasy anthology born from the minds of three authors. The five stories contained within build a world of light and shadow ready for the daring reader to explore.

This "thrilling" novel that follows three generations—fractured by murder, seeking redemption—in fictional Pitchlynn, Mississippi "has the grit, power, and soul of Janis Joplin and the hardscrabble depth of Johnny Cash." (Randall Kenan) An Iraq War veteran turned small-town homemaker, Colleen works hard to keep her deployment behind her—until pregnancy brings her buried trauma to the surface. She hides her mounting anxiety from her husband, Derby, who is in turn preoccupied with the retrial of his father, Hare Hobbs, for a decades-old, civil rights–era murder. Colleen and Derby’s community, including the descendants of the murder victim, still grapple with the fallout; corrections officer Doc and his wife, Jessica, have built their life in the shadow of this violent act. As a media frenzy builds, questions of Hare’s guilt—and of the townsfolks’ potential complicity in the crime—only magnify the ever-present tensions of class and race, tied always to the land and who can call it their own. At the center of these lingering questions is Wallis House, an antebellum estate that has recently passed to new hands. A brick-and-mortar representation of a town trying to erase its past, Wallis House is both the jewel of a gentrifying 2010s Pitchlynn, and the scene of the 1964 murder itself. When fresh violence erupts on the property grounds, the battle between old Pitchlynn and new, between memorial site and moving on, forces a reckoning and irreparable loss. Some Go Home twists together personal and collective history, binding north Mississippi to northside Chicago, in a richly textured, explosive depiction of both the American South and our larger cultural legacy.

Freedom has only ever meant Love. And life lived without love Is not life enough. Chess is in prison. Facing a lengthy sentence, her cell mate, Serena, becomes her soul mate. But when Serena is given parole, Chess faces total isolation. Hope comes in the form of a music producer looking for a reason to love music again. She finds a powerful voice in Chess. But to harness her talent, Chess must first face her past. Featuring Kae Tempest's trademark lyrical fireworks and live music, this is a story of love and redemption. Hopelessly Devoted received its world premiere on 19 September 2013 at the DOOR, Birmingham Rep, co-produced by Paines Plough and Birmingham Rep. It toured the UK again in 2014.

Out of the Easy is set against the vivid backdrop of 1950s New Orleans. Written by New York Times bestselling author Ruth Sepetys, this novel has something for everyone: love, mystery, murder, blackmail and warmth. Josie Moraine wants out of The Big Easy - she needs more than New Orleans can offer. Known locally as a brothel prostitute's daughter, she dreams of life at an elite college, far away from here. But then a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie caught between her ambition and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans is luring Josie deeper in as she searches for the truth, and temptation beckons at every turn. Praise for Between Shades of Gray: 'This superlative first novel by Ruta Sepetys demonstrates the strength of its unembellished language. A hefty emotional punch' - The New York Times '. . . moving and heart-wrenching.' - The Guardian Ruta Sepetys was born and raised in Michigan and now lives with her family in Tennessee. Her first novel, Between Shades of Gray, was shortlisted for the 2012 Carnegie Medal and the Waterstones Children's Book Award.