Set against the stunning backdrop of Renaissance France, The Serpent and the Moon is a true story of love, war, intrigue, betrayal, and persecution. At its heart is one of the world's greatest love stories: the lifelong devotion of King Henri II of France to Diane de Poitiers, a beautiful aristocrat who was nineteen years older than her lover. At age fourteen, Henri was married to fourteen-year-old Catherine de' Medici, an unattractive but extremely wealthy heiress who was to bring half of Italy to France as her dowry. When Catherine met Henri on her wedding day, she fell instantly in love, but Henri could see no one but the beautiful Diane. When Henri eventually became king, he and Diane ruled France as one. Meanwhile, Catherine took as her secret motto the words "Hate and Wait" and lived for the day Diane would die and she could win Henri's love and rule by his side. Fate had another plan. Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent, herself a descendant of both Catherine and Diane, imbues this seldom-told story with an insider's grasp of royal life. The Serpent and the Moon is a fascinating love story as well as a richly woven history of an extraordinary time.

Rhiow seems a perfectly ordinary New York City cat. Or so her humans think--but she is much more than she appears. With her partners Saash and Urruah, she collaborates with human wizards, protecting the earth from dark forces and helping to maintain the network of magical gateways between different realities.

An addictive fantasy romance from TikTok sensation Piper CJ, now newly revised and edited. Two orphans grow into powerful young women as they face countless threats to find their way back to each other. Farleigh is just an orphanage. At least, that's what the church would have the people believe, but beautiful orphans Nox and fae-touched Amaris know better. They are commodities for sale, available for purchase by the highest bidder. So when the madame of a notorious brothel in a far-off city offers a king's ransom to purchase Amaris, Nox ends up taking her place — while Amaris is drawn away to the mountains, home of mysterious assassins. Even as they take up new lives and identities, Nox and Amaris never forget one thing: they will stop at nothing to reunite. But the threat of war looms overhead, and the two are inevitably swept into a conflict between human and fae, magic and mundane. With strange new alliances, untested powers, and a bond that neither time nor distance could possibly break, the fate of the realms lies in the hands of two orphans — and the love they hold for each other.

Moon, once a solitary wanderer, has become consort to Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud court. Together, they travel with their people on a pair of flying ships in hopes of finding a new home for their colony. Moon finally feels like he's found a tribe where he belongs. But when the travelers reach the ancestral home of Indigo Cloud, shrouded within the trunk of a mountain-sized tree, they discover a blight infecting its core. Nearby they find the remains of the invaders who may be responsible, as well as evidence of a devastating theft. This discovery sends Moon and the hunters of Indigo Cloud on a quest for the heartstone of the tree — a quest that will lead them far away, across the Serpent Sea. In this followup to The Cloud Roads, Martha Wells returns with a world-spanning odyssey, a mystery that only provokes more questions — and the adventure of a lifetime.

The Moon that inspires Betsy Byars's memoir isn't the one in the sky, but a huge, harmless blacksnake she finds in the rafters of her porch. This meeting begins an exploration of the writing process. With energy, wit, and delight, the Newbery medalist shows how "the good scraps" of her life, from a bully named Bubba to a gift-wrapped dime, weave into her work.

Matricide. Patricide. Infanticide. Athaliah would do anything to take the throne, just as Jehoshebeth would do anything to protect it.

I first met him when I was fourteen. Years have passed. My memories have faded, and Lero's image in my mind has become barely an apparition from the past--beautiful and intriguing, but hardly real. Until I see him again. Only this time, I'm no longer a teenager, I'm a real estate agent, hoping to sell an exquisite property, a private island in the Bahamas, to one of our company's most important clients. I just never knew that the client would turn out to be Lero. Now, he is no longer just a memory for me. He is a man in flesh and blood. I am a grown woman, too, and my reaction to him is so much more intense. When I finally find out what he is, secrets come crashing down, leading to astonishing and terrifying discoveries. I learn he's been held captive and tortured by people he wouldn't talk to me about. He thinks he is protecting me and my peaceful life. What he doesn't realize is that there is no life for me without him, anymore. The Moon may turn him into a monster and make him do terrible things, but I'm Stella, his morning star. I must find a way to lead him back into the light. _____________________________________ Each book in the Madame Tan's Freakshow series is a complete love story of a separate couple set in Marina Simcoe's paranormal romance world of the River of Mists.