The Blooming Desert Series

Three sheikhs from the same kingdom, all wealthy, sexy and incredibly powerful, unexpectedly find love as they struggle with the responsibilities of ancient laws and the women they cannot deny in this heart-pounding trilogy from USA Today bestseller Leslie North. Sheikh Hamid Al-Qasha finds himself in the awkward position of accepting a merchant’s daughter, Tali, as collateral for a debt, and then being forced to arrange a fake engagement to avoid scandal in The Sheikh’s Fake Engagement. But there’s nothing fake about their attraction! In The Sheikh’s Pregnant Wife, billionaire Crown Prince Skandar Al-Basran will do anything to appease the tribes, including temporarily marry Gina, a woman he hardly knows but who is now carrying his child. Will he realize the importance of love before it’s too late? After a whirlwind affair, Raed Al-Qasha returns home, only to find out two years later that he’s a father—and just might be falling in love with Lise, a woman who is the opposite of what he thought he needed in The Sheik’s Unexpected Son. The desert heats up with these three couples who face fake engagements, secret babies, and pretend marriages, only to ultimately discover that love is more powerful than anything in their life. Leslie North’s thrilling trilogy is sure to please lovers of alpha men and the women who tame them!

#1 New York Times bestseller Iris Johansen pairs an exotic locale with an irresistible man in this classic love story that proves anything is possible when a woman knows in her heart that it’s right…. Don’t look for me. I’ll come back when I’m ready. Pandora Madchen wrote those words when she ran off six years ago. In that time she’d become a sensation with the rock group Nemesis, toured the world, and grown up, but she never forgot the promise she made herself. Now Pandora was ready to return to the desert state of Sedikhan and the man she’d loved too soon and too much. Sheik Philip El Kabbar was a businessman whose power and influence extended throughout the world—but for six long years he’d been unable to find the woman he still considered it his duty to protect. She’d come back on her own terms and to take the kind of erotic gamble that Philip always won. Only this time he wasn’t sure that in winning they wouldn’t both lose what matters most. Or that in loving her, he wouldn’t be hurting them both.

In 1978, at the age of 80, the Burmese forest monk Taungpulu Sayadaw left his native country for the first time and came to California, where he taught and established the West's first Burmese Buddhist temple and monastery. Revered as a saint in his lifetime and after his death in 1986, Taungpulu Sayadaw's calm, joyful presence, forged in a lifetime's dedication to the austere spiritual path of the Theravada forest tradition, was a beacon of hope to Burmese people in exile and a radiant example of living Buddhism for all who encountered him. This selection of the Sayadaw's favorite discourses, parables, chants, and meditations distills the essence of the fundamental Buddhist practices of mindfulness, non-attachment, and loving-kindness.

Sonoran Wildflowers is the ultimate field guide to wildflowers of North America's most biologically diverse desert, which straddles the Gulf of California between the Baja Peninsula and northwestern Sonora and stretches north into California and Arizona. Packed with vivid color photos and informative text, this valuable reference will help you identify and appreciate the varied flora of this vast region's six different climates. This easy-to-use guide features: a tough, water-resistant cover and extra-durable binding, made to withstand vigorous field use; detailed descriptions and color photos of more than 300 plants; an introduction to the habitats and ecology of the Sonoran Desert; a primer on plant characteristics; a glossary of botanical terms. Sonoran Desert Wildflowers is perfect for the novice and expert wildflower enthusiast alike. Whether you are lucky enough to spot the inconspicuous blooms of Devil's Spineflower or the spectacular Desert Mariposa, this guide will enhance your next journey into the remarkable Sonoran Desert.

Billionaire Crown Prince Skandar Al-Basran’s life is disrupted in a big way when a red-headed beauty literally stumbles into his life. For the first time, Skandar has been asked by his ailing father to lead a series of rituals to reinforce the royal family’s ties to the kingdom’s tribal community. It is vital to Skandar’s future as king that everything go to plan. So when Virginia “Gina” Allen nearly disrupts a particularly sacred ritual, he asks her to stay. Anyone leaving before the next full moon will destroy the ritual and offend the tribe. Gina is unexpectedly enthusiastic about remaining for a week, leaving Skandar entranced. And intrigued. Especially when her enthusiasm continues after he invites her into his tent… Gina loves adventure, so spending a week with a sexy sheikh is a no-brainer. Only, weeks later, when Gina realizes she’s pregnant, she knows she’s in trouble. When Skandar unexpectedly returns from the royal palace after his father’s death, she can’t stop herself from blurting out her condition, and Skandar immediately informs her they must marry—but only until a convocation can determine who should be king. His uncle is challenging him for the throne, and not marrying Gina will weaken Skandar’s support among the desert tribes. He’ll make it worth her while, compensate her for her time. Business only. Gina doesn’t need much convincing; she’s happy to help keep peace with the tribes she’s come to deeply respect. But through the whirlwind of events leading up to the convocation, Skandar and Gina’s desire for each other grows stronger. Gina, who’s fallen hard for Skandar, comes to realize she won’t settle for anything but love, and Skandar just can’t seem to understand that love is the one thing he needs most.

The next installment in the popular Big Book series is a fascinating introduction to some of the most magnificent and surprising flowering plants from around the world. In The Big Book of Blooms, the next installment in the wildly successful Big Book series, Yuval Zommer’s charming illustrations bring to life some of the most colorful, flamboyant, and unusual flowers from across the globe. In the opening pages, readers will learn all about botany, including how to recognize different types of flowers. Subsequent pages illustrate the various habitats that are home to flora such as pitcher plants, the giant water lily, and the weirdly wonderful corpse flower. Readers will discover which flowers are endangered and why some blooms are fragrant or colorful, not to mention grisly details about carnivorous and poisonous flowers. This title pairs picture-book charm and concise, informative text to create a beautiful book for children to return to. Zommer’s quirky illustrations appeal to young readers, who will relish these fun and amazing facts about the world’s most exciting plants.

The Mojave Desert eco-region extends from eastern California to northwestern Arizona, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah, and boasts plant communities as diverse as alkali sinks, dune systems, Joshua tree woodland, pinyon juniper woodland, mixed mojave scrub, and even riparian woodland. This fully updated and revised edition will be appreciated not only by amateur wildflower enthusiasts, but experts will also find the detailed photographs and charts useful in distinguishing among similar species in difficult groups. Species are arranged by color and plant family for easy identification. This guide features 300 of the common species, full-color photographs (many brand new to this edition), detailed descriptions, information on bloom season, and interesting facts about each plant.

An updated edition of an essential resource on the textile crafts of Sindh. The textile crafts of Sindh are amongst the oldest in South Asia. A kaleidoscope of color, mirrors, and embroidery, Sindhi textiles feature motifs of desert flowers, peacocks, scorpions, and sand dunes. The Flowering Desert explores the history, craftsmanship, styles, and stitches of textiles from Sindh in Pakistan, which, according to some scholars, was the crucible in which the textile traditions of Gujarat and Rajasthan were forged. It focuses on a spectacular private collection, parts of which have been exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and the National Museums of Scotland. In addition to sumptuous photography of 120 remarkable objects--from tunics and turban sashes to dowry bags and animal adornments--the book includes essays on the history of the region, its ethnic groups, and their differing styles, as well as on the numerous stitches used in Sindhi embroidery. This is a revised second edition of the best-selling book which incorporates new and additional material as well as an expanded glossary, which will be of interest to both collectors and scholars.