The Vaughan Chronicles Burning Blossom

Burning Blossom is the second book in The Vaughan Chronicles series. It chronicles the second of seven lives of Magnolia Vaughan. We meet up with Magnolia again as she and Alexander Charles are locked into the darkness, forcing Alexander to become fully awoken and fully aware during this life as Bessie tries to break the bond between them. Bessie continues to become darker as her envy and wickedness begins to take hold of her, warming her blood within the deep purple fire causing her to change into her true Onca state as she continues to visit the lowest paralleled realm of purgatory, where Alexander sent Bessie's sister, Karent, when she tried to kill Magnolia in an earlier lifecycle. As Magnolia continues to surface, Alexander will be forced to protect her against the madman feigning for her hypnotizing essence and star-shined blood and keep her alive long enough to live within the expected balance as she fights him the entire way at every turn. Magnolia will also be forced to come to grips with her destined path as she tries to let go of Justus as she saves his life, and the enticing secrets she has been keeping from a very suspicious Alexander as he tries to find out the truth about Stagger, which will make him become unhinged. Kerrigan, Magnolia’s assistant will become her closest confidant as she begins to realize exactly who she is working for. As the Blossom try to protect the Queen, Alexander will begin to pressure her to commit further than she is willing to allow. Will the blossomed pair have what it takes to toe the line or will this madman’s insanity succeed at finally getting even? Their future gets threatened as the force may just be too much for them to endure as the Blossom begins to beckon and burn brighter than anticipated.

Burning Blossom is the second book in The Vaughan Chronicles series. It chronicles the second of seven lives of Magnolia Vaughan. We meet up with Magnolia again as she and Alexander Charles are locked into the darkness, forcing Alexander to become fully awoken and fully aware during this life as Bessie tries to break the bond between them. Bessie continues to become darker as her envy and wickedness begins to take hold of her, warming her blood within the deep purple fire causing her to change into her true Onca state as she continues to visit the lowest paralleled realm of purgatory, where Alexander sent Bessie's sister, Karent, when she tried to kill Magnolia in an earlier lifecycle. As Magnolia continues to surface, Alexander will be forced to protect her against the madman feigning for her hypnotizing essence and star-shined blood and keep her alive long enough to live within the expected balance as she fights him the entire way at every turn. Magnolia will also be forced to come to grips with her destined path as she tries to let go of Justus as she saves his life, and the enticing secrets she has been keeping from a very suspicious Alexander as he tries to find out the truth about Stagger, which will make him become unhinged. Kerrigan, Magnolia’s assistant will become her closest confidant as she begins to realize exactly who she is working for. As the Blossom try to protect the Queen, Alexander will begin to pressure her to commit further than she is willing to allow. Will the blossomed pair have what it takes to toe the line or will this madman’s insanity succeed at finally getting even? Their future gets threatened as the force may just be too much for them to endure as the Blossom begins to beckon and burn brighter than anticipated.

Alabama Crowne was confident, successful, and ambitious. As the youngest partner at Pierce Publicity, Alabama’s business driven life was perfect. She thought she had everything a woman could ask for until the day she interfaced with Cash Zachary Calloway III, a handsome stranger who had a very dark secret. After she is continuously sought out by Cash, Alabama begins to struggle with her morality, lust, and addiction, flirting with crimes of passion when Cash begins to court her with his lavish lifestyle. Realizing she can no longer live without her Calloway drug, Alabama devotes her time and effort into becoming the woman he can’t live without while dealing with fits of jealousy, envy, and greed in a twisted game of devious cat and submissive mouse. The lines of loyalty begin to blur when the reality of her new love and her addictive life come to a terrifying halt. Alabama is soon forced to find out if she is strong enough to endure his enticing dark world in order to learn the price she will ultimately pay to be free. This epic tale of obsession, lust, and betrayal at every turn will keep you on edge as Alabama discovers what happens when she becomes his intense obsession.

The director of the famed Bodleian Libraries at Oxford narrates the global history of the willful destruction—and surprising survival—of recorded knowledge over the past three millennia. Libraries and archives have been attacked since ancient times but have been especially threatened in the modern era. Today the knowledge they safeguard faces purposeful destruction and willful neglect; deprived of funding, libraries are fighting for their very existence. Burning the Books recounts the history that brought us to this point. Richard Ovenden describes the deliberate destruction of knowledge held in libraries and archives from ancient Alexandria to contemporary Sarajevo, from smashed Assyrian tablets in Iraq to the destroyed immigration documents of the UK Windrush generation. He examines both the motivations for these acts—political, religious, and cultural—and the broader themes that shape this history. He also looks at attempts to prevent and mitigate attacks on knowledge, exploring the efforts of librarians and archivists to preserve information, often risking their own lives in the process. More than simply repositories for knowledge, libraries and archives inspire and inform citizens. In preserving notions of statehood recorded in such historical documents as the Declaration of Independence, libraries support the state itself. By preserving records of citizenship and records of the rights of citizens as enshrined in legal documents such as the Magna Carta and the decisions of the US Supreme Court, they support the rule of law. In Burning the Books, Ovenden takes a polemical stance on the social and political importance of the conservation and protection of knowledge, challenging governments in particular, but also society as a whole, to improve public policy and funding for these essential institutions.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Last Act of Love, Cathy Rentzenbrink's Dear Reader is the ultimate love letter to reading and to finding the comfort and joy in stories. 'Exquisite' - Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups 'A warm, unpretentious manifesto for why books matter’ - Sunday Express Growing up, Cathy Rentzenbrink was rarely seen without her nose in a book and read in secret long after lights out. When tragedy struck, it was books that kept her afloat. Eventually they lit the way to a new path, first as a bookseller and then as a writer. No matter what the future holds, reading will always help. A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how books can change the course of your life, packed with recommendations from one reader to another.