Mara S Legacy

When Mara Highbridge determines it is time to find her birth parents, she is unprepared for her life to be turned upside down. She faces kidnapping, street gangs, even a reclusive baroness who wants to prevent her achieving her goal. But help is on hand from an old family friend she soon comes to think of as her knight in shining armor. Barnaby's attraction to Mara started the moment they met. He knows his past makes it impossible for him to marry her... Yet he will give his life to protect the woman he loves and uses every resource, even his former East End gang, to uncover the history of the fabulous necklace left to her by her mother. The race is on to find out the truth about everyone and everything, including if Mara and Barnaby's love will survive the turmoil.

It’s a game of cowboys and aliens as Earth is invaded, and mankind has to scramble to survive… and find love… in the far reaches of the wastelands. Montana rancher Caleb O’Hara can see the future—and what he sees gives him pause. Not only are aliens about to invade earth with devastating results, but his beloved wife, Jane, is going to have to adapt to a markedly different way of life if they’re all going to keep breathing. Caleb is circling the wagons, preparing his small family—his wife and two younger brothers—for the cataclysm to come. Question is, can they all endure not only the near-apocalypse, but the new relationships they’ll have to forge if they want to survive?

"Ultimately, we can all trace our origins back to the savannas of Africa. Robin Reid's book provides an eloquent introduction into the biology of the savannas that shaped us as humans; simultaneously, she provides an insightful and comprehensive overview of current and future threats to East African savannas and the steps that need to be taken to conserve the world we first lived in. Don't go to East Africa without first reading this book; it will enhance your safari and empower your research."–Andrew P. Dobson, author of Conservation and Biodiversity "Savannas of Our Birth provides a balanced, scientific, and accessible examination of the current state of East African savannas and the relationships among the wildlife and people who live there. Reid examines how savannas came to be and what alternative futures may be possible by trying to chart a middle ground in contentious debates about conservation and local rights."–J. Terrence McCabe, author of Cattle Bring Us to Our Enemies: Turkana Ecology, History, and Raiding in a Disequilibrium System "Reid's research focusing on pastoralists has reminded me that wildlife and domestic livestock co-existed to their mutual benefit for the last 2000 years. With reopened eyes, I've even seen it for myself in the case of the Masai and the savanna wildlife I study. There is an extraordinary wealth of information in this book."–Richard D. Estes, author of The Behavior Guide to African Mammals

Luke Skywalker wanted to unify the Jedi order and bring peace to the universe. Instead his wife Mara lies dead at the hands of an unknown assassin, his wayward nephew Jacen has seized control of the Galactic Alliance, and the galaxy has exploded in all-out civil war. With Luke consumed by grief, Jacen Solo works quickly to consolidate his power and jumpstart his plan to take over the Jedi. Convinced he’s the only one who can save the galaxy, Jacen will do whatever it takes, even ambush his own parents. With the Rebel confederacy driving deep into the Core to attack Coruscant and the Jedi under siege, Luke must reassert his position. Only he can lead the Jedi through this crisis, but it means solving the toughest problem Luke’s ever faced. Does he fight alongside his nephew Jacen, a tyrant who’s illegally taken over the GA, or does he join the rebels to smash the Galactic Alliance he helped create? Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!

Over the past decades, collaborative initiatives between luxury brands and the art world have been increasing in number and relevance. At first treated as a mere trend or as a marketing stunt, in time luxury-art collaborations have come to be acknowledged as one of the most effective ways luxury brands and artists can position themselves in today’s market, engaging with their clients and audiences. This book sheds light on the socio-cultural valence of luxury-art collaborations. The book explores luxury-art collaborations in the context of postmodern consumption, i.e. as a phenomenon deeply rooted in and emerging from the ways postmodern individuals value and consume objects, contents and ideas. More specifically, the book covers: how collaborations reflect the postmodern condition and liquid consumption practices (hybrid, temporary, hyperreal); the impact of luxury-art collaborations on the evolution of luxury stores and museums, and the emergence of hybrid spaces (art fairs, nomadic exhibitions, pop-up stores) – the temporal features of luxury-art collaborations (shortlived duration and fast-paced tempo) – how luxury-art collaborations reshuffle traditional status dynamics while drawing new boundaries of social distinction based on experience and access – why luxury brands and creatives are redefining their conventional identities, morphing into cultural entities and bricoleurs. The book appeals to a wide range of readers, from academics and students in art business, luxury studies, consumption behaviour, to professionals in the luxury industry and the art world. The book is also relevant to an international readership of non-specialists interested in current social and cultural matters.

Who was Jesus in real life? What inspired his ideas? What did he aim to achieve? What drew his disciples to him? How was he influenced by them? Unlike the many “quests for the historical Jesus”, as a psychologist, Wernik answers these questions from the perspectives of psychology and the social sciences. This book’s central axis is the theme of the father. It looks at the family constellation into which Jesus was born, where he was raised by a stepfather. It also investigates the relationship he develops with God, his father in heaven; and examines how he became a father figure to his disciples and followers. It is hoped that readers will also think about their own father when reading, the one usually called “dad”. Jesus and His Two Fathers sees Jesus’ love of peace and appeasement doctrine, as well as his difficulty with anger control, in the context of his upbringing and family constellation. Wernik offers a solution to the problem of the “missing years” which were unaccounted in the New Testament. He examines the internal conflicts in Jesus’ movement, and the tensions with the religious establishment, which led to his death. Jesus did not see himself as the Messiah, and Wernik shows him in fact as a great reformer of Judaism, who changed the notions of righteousness, the relation of the believers to God, and the status of the commandments. This book will be of interest to scholars, teachers and students in the humanities and social sciences, among others in the fields of religion, especially Christianity and Judaism. It is aimed at interested discerning readers of non-fiction in these areas.

National bestselling author Vickie Taylor presents the third novel in her startlingly different series featuring the shape-shifting Gargoyles: protectors and forbidden lovers of the mortal women they desire… As a child, Levi Tremaine discovered he possessed abilities he could neither understand nor control. As a man, he isolated himself from “normal” society, preferring instead to exist in a shadowy world of deception and violence, among people as dangerous as he. Now Levi is being hunted by the forces of both good and evil for the very abilities that drove him into hiding. Can he distinguish friend from foe in time to save his everlasting soul—and the woman he loves?

Forty years after the Battle of Yavin a dangerous new era in the Star Wars epic begins– the revelations are shocking, the stakes desperate, and the enemy everywhere. As civil war threatens the unity of the Galactic Alliance, Han and Leia Solo have enraged their families and the Jedi by joining the Corellian insurgents. But the Solos draw the line when they discover the rebels’ plot to make the Hapan Consortium an ally– which rests upon Hapan nobles murdering their pro-Alliance queen and her daughter. Yet the Solos’ selfless determination to save the queen cannot dispel the inescapable consequences of their actions, that will pit mother against son and brother against sister in the battles ahead. For as Jacen Solo’s dark powers grow stronger under the Dark Jedi Lumiya, and his influence over Ben Skywalker becomes more insidious, Luke’s concern for his nephew forces him into a life-and-death struggle against his fiercest foe, and Han and Leia Solo find themselves at the mercy of their deadliest enemy . . . their son. Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!