Inquiries into marital patterns can serve as an effective lens to analyze social structures and material cultures not only on the question of sexuality, but also on the nature of a private citizen’s engagement with state and law. Through ethnographic research in courtrooms, community,and kinship spaces, the author outlines the transformations in material culture and political economy that have led to renewed negotiations on the institution of marriage in North India, especially in legal spaces. Tracing organically evolving notions of sexual consent and legal subjectivity, Courting Desire underlines how non-normative decisions regarding marriage become possible in a region otherwise known for high instances of honor killings and rigid kinship structures. Aspirations for consensual relationships have led to a tentative attempt to forge relationships that are non-normative but grudgingly approved after state intervention. The book traces this nascent and under-explored trend in the North Indian landscape.

The "orphan train" seemed like small-town spinster Adelaide Crum's last chance to know the simple joys of family life. So many lost children, every one of them dreaming only of a caring home—the home she longed to offer. And yet the narrow-minded town elders refused to entrust even the most desperate child to a woman alone…. Newspaperman Charles Graves believed his heart was closed forever, but he swore to stand by this lovely, lonely woman who was fighting for the right to take some motherless child into her heart. And her gentle soul and unwavering faith made him wonder if even he could overcome the bitter lessons of the past, and somehow find the courage to love….

Where There Is Love . . . Death FollowsThose in power are suppressing the truth, and it all stems from the Coven of Vampyres strict law: Human and Vampyre fraternization-strictly forbidden. When living in a society where love, passion, and desire are restricted it isn't long before someone dissents. I just never thought that someone would be me.The day I met him, the vampyre Sebastian of Orias, everything changed. Never in my life did I think someone like him, the son of a Count, would pursue a human like me. But he did. He stalked me . . . and now he wants me.We chose to break the rules, defy the Coven, and embrace this connection, regardless of the dangers that may unfold. However, I fear that our passion may reveal secrets the Coven is willing to kill to protect.A Gothic twist akin to Romeo & Juliet in a world of fantasy.Genres: Romance Fantasy | Paranormal Romance | Vampires

This wonderfully small, thick book--like a box of photos--is divided up into the following categories: bonds (between partners and family members), icons (say, Jane Fonda as Barbarella), observations of glimpsed love or lust, come-ons to further naughtiness, tokens (mostly flowers juxtaposed with women), libidos (lusty acts), reveries (erotica), and obsessions (the sexual unusual). The international array of photographers includes Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, Nan Goldin, Helmut Newton, Sally Mann, Immogen Cunningham, Brassai, and Julia Margaret Cameron. After a lengthy introduction on the history of photography and desire, there's nothing but photos there-on-in. You might just get aroused, or fascinated as to how others are aroused, or intrigued as to how far people go to arouse others. Ewing is director of the Musee de l'Elysee in Lausanne, Switzerland. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

For the past twenty years, the law and literature movement has been gaining ground. More recently, a feminist perspective has enriched the field. With Courting Failure: Women and the Law in Twentieth-Century Literature, Heidi Slettedahl Macpherson adds a compelling voice to the discussion. Courting Failure critically explores the representation of women, fictional and historical, in conflict with the law. Macpherson focuses on the judicial system and the staging of women's guilt, examining both the female suspect and the female victim in a wide variety of media, including novels like Toni Morrison's Beloved and Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, theatrical plays, movies such as I Want to Live! and Legally Blonde, and the television series Ally McBeal. In these texts and others, canonical or popular, Macpherson exposes the court as an arena in which women often fail, or succeed only by subverting the system. Combining feminist literary theory with the discourse of the law and literature movement, Courting Failure is a highly readable and analytically rigorous study of justice and gender on the page and screen.

Tired of Waiting for a Match-Made-in-Heaven, She'll Settle for One Made in Texas Whether it's riding bikes, catching snakes, or sliding down banisters, Essie Spreckelmeyer just can't quite make herself into the ideal woman her hometown--and her mother--expect her to be. It's going to take an extraordinary man to appreciate her joy and spontaneity--or so says her doting oil-man father. Unfortunately such a man doesn't appear to reside in Corsicana, Texas. It's 1894, the year of Essie's thirtieth birthday, and she decides the Lord has more important things to do than provide her a husband. If she wants one, she needs to catch him herself. So, she writes down the names of all the eligible bachelors in her small Texas town, makes a list of their attributes and drawbacks, closes her eyes, twirls her finger, and ... picks one. But convincing the lucky "husband-to-be" is going to a bit more of a problem. Join Deeanne Gist for another unforgettable tale and find out whether Essie's plan to catch a husband succeeds or if she's just Courting Trouble.