Dialogue Books

Born to rule. Blessed by fire. Broken by desire. Aemyra has always known she is destined for more than the life she leads as a blacksmith: gifted with fire magic from the Goddess Brigid, she is the first female heir born to the throne of T?r Teine in two hundred years. But her father has kept her identity secret while he has been in exile, waiting for the right time to put his plan in motion and see his daughter ascend the throne. Once a territory built on matriarchal rule and values, T?r Teine has been without a female heir for two centuries and recent kings have allowed an oppressive and corrupt religion - the True Religion - to infect the land and its people, slowly poisoning their minds with anti-magic teachings. Raised among the people, Aemyra has felt their struggles and has seen Tir Teine fall into decline as the True Religion has gained power. She has waited in anticipation for the king to die, biding her time until she can bond to his dragon - one of the last in existence - and claim her throne. When her true identity is revealed, Aemyra is thrust into a game of vicious politics and plots, one she finds herself woefully unprepared for. Her biggest adversary is Prince Fiorean, a dragon-rider and the most powerful fire wielder born in decades. Cold, arrogant and without remorse, he is everything Aemyra despises. When he commits an unthinkable act against her, she seeks her vengeance but is captured and forced to become his bride to keep her father and his allies in check. Held captive by her enemies, her life hangs in the balance. When members of the royal family are poisoned, all eyes point to Aemyra and only her marriage to Fiorean keeps her from the executioner's block. Forced to appear as the dutiful wife, Aemyra begins to see that there is perhaps more to Fiorean than she first believed - his façade as a cruel and heartless prince starts to crack and something wild, raw and unexpected sparks between them - a desire and want they can't fully accept, but neither can deny. As she begins to unravel the plot behind the poisonings, she uncovers just how far the rot of corruption has spread and her loyalties to her family, her people and herself come into stark contrast with the reckless and uncontrolled feelings that she has developed for Fiorean. Under the heavy gaze of the royal court, Aemyra begins to understand the true weight of the crown and she must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to claim her throne.

To understand the icons Beyoncé, Solange and Kelly, you have to understand where they came from... A deeply personal and revelatory memoir by Ms Tina Knowles - as you've never seen her before. Tina Knowles, the mother of icons Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Solange Knowles and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland, is known the world over as a Matriarch with a capital M: the woman who raised and inspired some of the great artists of our time. But this story is about so much more than that. For the first time ever, Tina Knowles shares her remarkable story in Matriarch. A life of grief and tragedy, love and heartbreak, the nurturing of her superstar daughters - and the perseverance and audacity it takes for a girl from Galveston, Texas to change the world. This intimate and revealing memoir is a multigenerational family saga and a celebration of the wisdom that women, mothers and daughters pass on to each other across generations. A glorious chronicle of a life like none other and a testament to the world-changing power of Black motherhood.

'I started stitching together my story through a different, universal language: food.' An A-Z of Chinese Food (Recipes Not Included) is not a recipe book, but a deliberate 'anti-glossary' - a delectable edible anthology that serves up Chinese flavour beyond just its taste. Jenny Lau always found herself sitting between cultures, connected to both east and west. Hungry to understand herself, she threw herself into researching the Chinese food of her heritage. The result is An A-Z of Chinese Food - a surprising, unputdownable and deliciously enriching anthology that uses food to explore who we are and how we relate to the world. From A is for Authentic, breaking down our assumptions of who 'owns' what cuisine, to R is for Rice Cooker, a humorous entry from the point of view a hard-working kitchen appliance that has seen a family through its ups and downs, An A-Z of Chinese Food will change the way you think about, see, and eat, food.

Gilmore Girls hit our screens in 2000 and has been our autumn obsession ever since. There's a reason that Vogue calls it 'the quintessential autumn girl show' and that, years later, we're still head over heels with Stars Hollow. Fast-talking, warm-hearted, and endlessly rewatchable, Gilmore Girls has bonded real-life mothers and daughters since 2000, when its iconic pilot introduced us to Lorelai, Rory, and their idyllic town of Stars Hollow. More than twenty years later, it has become one of the most-streamed TV shows, ever. In an anthology as intimate and quick-witted as Gilmore Girls itself, bestselling author Ann Hood invites fifteen writers to investigate their personal relationships to the show. ('It's a show? It's a lifestyle. It's a religion.') Joanna Rakoff considers how Emily Gilmore helped her understand her own mother; Freya North connects with her son through the show; Nina de Gramont offers a comic ode to the unreality of Stars Hollow, Yassmin Abdel-Magied writes about why being a daughter is a permanent state. For anyone who identifies as Team Logan, Team Jess, or even Team Dean, Life's Short, Talk Fast reveals what Gilmore Girls tells us about ourselves - and why it matters. This autumn, get cosy and curl up with Life's Short, Talk Fast, where fifteen leading writers explore what Gilmore Girls means to them in this delightful celebration of a contemporary TV classic.

Chloe Knott had one lesson growing up: men are trash. Until Will Perry blows her quiet world to smithereens. Starting goalie for the Tampa Bay Ospreys and the kind of hot that scrambles your brain, Will is impossibly grumpy and focused on only two things: hockey and taking care of his daughter. Fiercely independent and guarded, Chloe was only supposed to be his daughter's kindergarten teacher. Until in a twist of events, she becomes his nanny. When she moves into Will's pool house, everything changes. Chloe feels Will's heated gaze beneath that permanent scowl, the way it lingers and warms her skin. When the tension becomes too much, they make a deal. Will still needs a nanny and Chloe still needs a paycheck. Will might be her boss, but he agrees to teach Chloe everything she has always wanted to learn - and she is all too eager to be his student. Chloe is a grown woman - she can explore her curiosities with the hottest goalie on earth and still remain one-hundred percent professional. And she can do it all without catching feelings, right?A sexy, totally unputdownable opposites-attract, found family, grumpy sunshine and single dad ice hockey romance perfect for fans of Hannah Grace, Tessa Bailey and Elle Kennedy. Learn Your Lesson is book three in the Kings of the Ice series: a series of interconnected standalones following a team of professional hockey players and the women who bring them to their knees. They do not need to be read in order, but you will gain glimpses of future characters/couples in each book.

Grace Tanev is off limits to her brother's teammates - but that doesn't stop her from daring Jaxson Brittain to be the first to break the rule. Grace is all too aware of the hot, broody defenseman for the Tampa Bay Ospreys, with his icy blue eyes and ink sprawling his muscular arms - and she has far too much fun testing Jaxson at every turn. It was just one steamy night of teasing, flirting and messing around knowing nothing would ever come of it. But when the universe throws Grace and Jaxson back together two weeks later on a secret road trip, all bets are off. Grace longs for him to touch her, and tries her hardest to tempt him. Jaxson doesn't have a death wish and, a true gentleman, keeps his hands to himself. But the closer they get on the road, miles and miles away from all the reasons they shouldn't cross the line, temptation is harder and harder to resist... A spicy, wholly irresistible opposites-attract, forced proximity forbidden ice hockey romance perfect for fans of Hannah Grace, Elsie Silver and Elle Kennedy. Watch Your Mouth is book two in the Kings of the Ice series: a series of interconnected standalones following a team of professional hockey players and the women who bring them to their knees. They do not need to be read in order, but you will gain glimpses of future characters/couples in each book.

One Month with Vince Tanev. Twenty-four-seven access on and off the ice. Social media journalist Maven King lands an opportunity of a lifetime when she is assigned to get up close and personal with the Tampa Bay Ospreys' new shiny hockey player. Too bad that Maven has already met Vince at an all-star gala - and they were at each other's throats the entire time. Tampa's hotshot rookie is a rich, cocky playboy - a brand Maven is all too familiar with, and one she's determined to never be around again. But Vince, with his messy brown hair and heated hazel eyes, gets under Maven's skin like no one else, and it isn't long before that paper-thin line between hate and lust blurs. The tension is hot enough to melt Maven's inhibitions - and Vince's touch ignites a desire that's impossible to resist... Maven thought one month with Vince Tanev was a game she could easily win. But she might have just met her match. An utterly addictive, steamy enemies-to-lovers, opposites sides of the track and forced proximity ice hockey romance perfect for fans of Icebreaker, Collide and The Deal. Meet Your Match is book one in the Kings of the Ice series: a series of interconnected standalones following a team of professional hockey players and the women who bring them to their knees. They do not need to be read in order, but you will gain glimpses of future characters/couples in each book.

Jane has high hopes that her life is about to turn around. After a long, precarious stretch bouncing among sketchy rentals and sublets, she and her family are living in luxury for a year, house-sitting in the hills above Los Angeles. The gig magically coincides with Jane's sabbatical, giving her the time and space she needs to finish her second novel-a centuries-spanning epic her artist husband, Lenny, dubs her "mulatto War and Peace." Finally, some semblance of stability and success seems to be within her grasp. But things don't work out quite as hoped. Desperate for a plan B, like countless writers before her Jane turns her gaze to Hollywood. When she finagles a meeting with Hampton Ford, a hot producer with a major development deal at a streaming network, he seems excited to work with a "real writer," and together they begin to develop "the Jackie Robinson of biracial comedies." Things finally seem to be going right for Jane-until they go terribly wrong. Funny, piercing, and page turning, Colored Television is Senna's most on-the-pulse, ambitious, and rewarding novel yet.

Rome, 1636: In the scorched city of Rome, the cobbled streets hum with gossip and sin... Costanza Piccolomini is a respectable young wife - until she meets Gianlorenzo Bernini, the famed sculptor and star of Roman society, whose jet-black gaze matches his dark temper. From the second they set eyes upon each other, a fatal attraction is born. Their secret love burns with a passion that consumes them. But with every stolen kiss and illicit tryst, Costanza's reputation is at stake. Meanwhile, Bernini has a dangerous desire: he wants to make Costanza immortal. He vows to possess her not just in body and soul, but also in marble. When Bernini unveils his sculpture of Costanza, she is exposed as his lover, marking the undoing of their affair - and the beginning of a scandal which will rock Roman society. For Bernini would rather destroy Costanza than let her go. Betrayed. Abandoned. Banished. This was meant to be the end of Costanza's story. But Costanza is no ordinary woman: from the ashes, she will rise... History calls her a Muse. Temptress. Fallen woman. This is her story. Costanza is a dizzying, sensual novel that brings to life a feminist icon who has been written out of history. This utterly addictive tale of desire and betrayal is perfect for fans of The Marriage Portrait and The Miniaturist.

When reclusive billionaire Huguette Clark dies age 104, she leaves behind a suite of New York apartments, a meticulously upkept California mansion, at least one Monet and her vast collection of antique dolls. Having barely been outside for 50 years, the elusive Clark spoke to few—in this highly unreliable, semi-fictional miniature epic, the dolls tell all. Theirs is a tale that takes us from their lavish Park Avenue home back in time to the slave plantations of Virginia and the palaces of Imperial Japan via the addictive hedonism of 1930s queer LA. Joyfully irreverent, Top Doll is a story of love, betrayal, Barbies and ultimately, what it means to be human.

Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks - those that are honest about the past and those that are not - which offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping a nation's collective history, and our own. It is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving more than four hundred people. It is the story of the Whitney Plantation, one of the only former plantations devoted to preserving the experience of the enslaved people whose lives and work sustained it. It is the story of Angola, a former plantation-turned-maximum-security prison in Louisiana that is filled with Black men who work across the 18,000-acre land for virtually no pay. And it is the story of Blandford Cemetery, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers. A deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history, How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our most essential stories are hidden in plain view - whether in places we might drive by on our way to work, holidays such as Juneteenth or entire neighbourhoods like downtown Manhattan, where the brutal history of the trade in enslaved men, women and children has been deeply imprinted. How the Word is Passed is a landmark book that offers a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in making sense of the United States. Chosen as a book of the year by President Barack Obama, The Economist, Time, the New York Times and more, fans of Brit(ish) and Natives will be utterly captivated.

Daisy Patel is a software engineer who understands lists and logic better than bosses and boyfriends. With her life all planned out, and no interest in love, the one thing she can't give her family is the marriage they expect. Left with few options, she asks her childhood crush to be her decoy fiance. Liam Murphy is a venture capitalist with something to prove. When he learns that his inheritance is contingent on being married, he realises his best friend's little sister has the perfect solution to his problem. A marriage of convenience will get Daisy's matchmaking relatives off her back and fulfil the terms of his late grandfather's will. If only he hadn't broken her tender teenage heart nine years ago... Sparks fly when Daisy and Liam go on a series of dates to legitimise their fake relationship. Too late, they realize that very little is convenient about their arrangement. History and chemistry aren't about to follow the rules of this engagement.

After a devastating break-up, celebrity-obsessed lawyer Zara Patel is determined never to open her heart again. She puts her energy into building her career and helping her friends find romance through the wedding season. She's never faced a guest at the singles table she couldn't match, until she crosses paths with the sinfully sexy Jay Donovan. Former military security specialist Jay has no time for love. His life is about working hard, staying focused, and winning at all costs. When charismatic Zara crashes into his life, he's thrown into close contact with exactly the kind of chaos he wants to avoid. Worse, they're stuck together for the entire wedding season. So they make a deal. She'll find his special someone if he introduces her to his celebrity clients. But when their arrangement brings them together in ways they never expected, they realise that the perfect match might just be their own.