Books in Playaway Adult Fiction series

Frank Pollard awakens in an alley, knowing nothing but his name - and that he is in great danger. Having taken refuge in a motel, he wakes again only to find his hands covered in blood. As far as he knows, he's no killer. But whose blood is this, and how did it get there? Over the next few days Frank develops a fear of sleep, because each time he wakes he discovers strange objects in his hands and pockets - objects far more frightening than blood. Husband-and-wife detective team Bobby and Julie Dakota specialize in high-ticket corporate security investigations, but when a distraught and desperate Frank Pollard begs them to watch over him, they can't refuse. Out of compassion - and curiosity - they agree to get to the bottom of his mysterious, amnesiac fugues. It seems a simple job: just follow a client who wants to be watched and tell him where he winds up. But as the Dakotas begin to discover where their client goes when he sleeps, they are drawn slowly into ever-darkening realms where they encounter the ominous figure stalking Frank. Their lives are threatened, as is that of Julie's gentle, Down's-syndrome afflicted brother, Thomas. To Thomas, death is “the bad place” from which there is no return. But Julie and Bobby - and their tortured client - ultimately learn that equally bad places exist in the world of the living, places so steeped in evil that in contrast death seems almost a relief...

Mia Devlin knows what it is like to love with your whole heart -- and then watch your love walk away. Years ago, she and Sam Logan shared an incredible bond built on passion, legend, and fate. But then one day he fled Three Sisters Island, leaving her lost in memories of the magic they shared -- and determined to live without love. The new owner of the island's only hotel, Sam has returned to Three Sisters with hopes of winning back Mia's affections. He is puzzled when she greets him with icy indifference -- for the chemistry between them is still sizzling and true. Angry, hurt and deeply confused, Mia refuses to admit that a passion for Sam still burns in her heart. But she'll need his help -- and his powers -- to face her greatest, most terrifying challenge. And as the deadline for breaking a centuries-old curse draws near, they must take the first steps toward destiny -- and come together to turn back the dark...

The greatest dream of eighteenth-century sculptor Marie Tussaud is to attract the attention of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI; their stamp of approval on her work could catapult her and her wax museum to the fame and riches she desires. After months of anticipation, Marie learns that the royal family is willing to come and see their likenesses. When they do, the king's sister is so impressed that she requests Marie's presence at Versailles as a royal tutor in wax sculpting. Thus, Marie is introduced to aglamorous world that is entirely different from her home on the Boulevard du Temple, where people are selling their teeth in order to put food on the table. Meanwhile, many resent the vast separation between rich and poor. In salons and cafés across Paris, people are lashing out against the monarchy. Soon, there's whispered talk of revolution. Will Marie be able to hold on to her friendship with the royal family as France approaches civil war? More important, will she be able to fulfill the demands of powerful revolutionaries who ask that she make the death masks of beheaded aristocrats, some of whom she knows?

A man climbs a cliff face in the oldest inhabited place on earth, a mountain known as the Citadel, a Vatican-like city-state that towers above the city of Ruin in modern-day Turkey. But this is no ordinary ascent: it is a dangerous, symbolic act. And thanks to the media, it is an event witnessed by the entire world. Few people understand its consequence. But for foundation worker Kathryn Mann and a handful of others, it's evidence that a revolution is at hand. For the Sancti, the secretive monks who liveinside the Citadel, it could mean the end of everything they have built, and they will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to keep what is theirs. For American reporter Liv Adamsen, it spurs the memory of the beloved brother she lost years before, setting her on a journey across the world and into the heart of her own identity, where she will make a discovery so shocking that it will change everything.

In Damia's Children, one of science fiction and fantasy's most beloved novelists, Anne McCaffrey, continues the story of psychic Talent begun with The Rowan and Damia. The Rowan's next generation of passionate and talented descendants prepare to defend their worlds against an alien attack of mysterious origin. Damia had deflected a previous attack on the human worlds and sent the aliens into deep space. Hungry for more living space, they return with plans to dominate, armed with knowledge of the psychic defense they can expect from humanity. However, as it has been learned that Talent can be both bred and taught, the combined abilities of Damia's children make them an even greater power than Damia or her mother. Each child has a special Talent that together makes them the most powerful Gwyn-Raven force yet to come. United they will confront the attackers face to face.

Greek poet Homer established the standard for tales of epic quests and heroic journeys with the Odyssey. Crowded with characters, both human and nonhuman, and bursting with action, the Odyssey details the adventures of Ulysses, king of Ithaca and hero of the Trojan War, as he struggles to return to his home and his waiting, ever-faithful wife, Penelope. Along the way Ulysses encounters the seductive Circe, who changes men into swine; the gorgeous water-nymph Calypso, who keeps him a “prisoner of love” for seven years; the terrible, one-eyed, man-eating giant Cyclops; and a host of other ogres, wizards, sirens, and gods. But when he finally reaches Ithaca after ten years of travel, his trials have only begun. There he must battle the scheming noblemen who, thinking him dead, have demanded that Penelope choose one of them to be her new husband---and Ithaca's new king. Often called the “second work of Western literature” (the Iliad, also by Homer, being the first), the Odyssey is not only a rousing adventure drama but also a profound meditation on courage, loyalty, family, fate, and undying love. More than 3,000 years old, it was the first story to delineate carefully and exhaustively a single character arc---a narrative structure that serves as the foundation and heart of the modern novel.

On Vega III, where the jaded inhabitants pursue lives of malicious intrigue and decadent pleasure, Lady Nimisha Boynton-Rondymense has always been an anomaly. Disdainful of the frivolity of her fellows, she prefers the exciting and challenging world of her father, Lord Tionel, owner and principal starship designer of the famous Rondymense shipyards. Precociously gifted, Nimisha becomes Lord Tionel's secret assistant - and, in the aftermath of a shocking tragedy, his chosen successor at the helm of the shipyards. But supplanting her father's designated body-heir, the callow Lord Vestrin, is a slight that Vestrin and his mother, Lady Vescuya, will not easily forget. Or forgive. Preoccupied with carrying on her father's ambitious plans for the Mark 5, an experimental long-distance cruiser, Nimisha dangerously disregards Vestrin's animosity - until a solo test flight of the Mark 5 goes horribly awry, marooning Nimisha light-years from home on a planet as deadly as it is beautiful. Now, Vestrin and Vescuya are given the chance they've been waiting for: to reclaim the shipyards...by any means necessary. Only Nimisha's child, Cuiva, a girl every bit as ingenious as her mother - stands in their way. But for how long? For just when her daughter needs her most, Nimisha is unable to help - and in a precarious situation herself. But Nimisha has never given up in her life - and she's not about to start now.

John Bunyan was a simple maker and mender of pots and pans who received very little education. In spite of all that, he penned the most successful allegory ever written. Embark on a perious journey with Christian, the lead character, from the City of Destruction to luminous safe haven of the Celestial City. The journey will encourage you to "set your hope fully on the grace to be given you" amidst the obstacles of life.

In the heart of Paris, in the posh building made famous in The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the greatest food critic in the world is dying. Revered by some and reviled by many, Monsieur Pierre Arthens has been lording it over the world's most esteemed chefs for years. But now, during these, his final hours, his mind has turned to simpler things. He is desperately searching for that singular flavor, that sublime something once sampled, never forgotten, the Flavor par excellence. Thus begins a charming voyage that traces the career of Monsieur Arthens from childhood to maturity across a celebration of all manner of culinary delights. Alternating with the voice of the supercilious Arthens is a chorus belonging to his acquaintances and familiars, relatives, lovers, a would-be protege, even a cat. Each will have his or her say about Monsieur Arthens, a man who has inspired only extreme emotions in people. Here, as in The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery's story celebrates life's simple pleasures and sublime moments while condemning the arrogance and vulgarity of power.