Turning Stones Into Gems

Simon & Schuster's Guide to Gems and Precious Stones provides both the connoisseur and the casual collector with a compact, easy-to-use volume describing more than 100 rare varieties of minerals whose beauty and mystery have possessed our imaginations from time immemorial. More than 450 brilliant photographs accompany profiles of each gem, covering such aspects as appearance, physical properties -- density, hardness, refraction -- occurrence, and how to judge quality and value. Additional sections describe the process of cutting gemstones and the techniques professional gemologists use to evaluate a stone's weight and optical properties. Detailed and comprehensive, this book is essential for anyone interested in the study of gems and precious stones.

High school sophomore Charlotte Masterson isn't smart enough to be a nerd, isn't musical enough to be a band geek, or pretty enough to be popular. But when the handsome quarterback unexpectedly asks her out, she becomes part of the in crowd. It's every girl's dream come true. Too bad she still has to depend on good old Rodney, teachers' pet, for rides. Too bad her mother is so unreasonably strict—A ten PM curfew? Just because she lied? It's not fair. But maybe there's more to other people than Charlotte realizes. And maybe she doesn't even know everything about herself. When Charlotte Masterson gets a life, life gets interesting.

Road to Restoration Through the Diagnosis of Breast Cancer and Walking on by Faith provides hope, new perspective and insight into ways of overcoming the many challenges of living with cancer. It touches mind, body, spirit and soul of everyone who reads it. Road to Restoration also includes an effective reference guide containing informative resources and educational information. As a learning tool, it gives powerful information to enlighten and educate women regarding a cancer diagnosis. Road to Restoration is one woman's testimony of determination and perseverance. It provides inspiration by offering personal reflections from a 15-year breast cancer survivor and 14 other courageous survivors and their families and friends about how the cancer diagnosis affected their lives. It is surely to be a blessing to all those who read it.

They say crime doesn’t pay . . . but what if it’s done in the name of love? Being left behind by my boyfriend and getting arrested wasn’t part of the plan. Neither was becoming a test subject for a mad scientist, a crash landing in the prison spaceship, and then struggling to survive in a deadly alien jungle. I could have paid with my life, instead, I was given two incredible reasons to love again, and this time the thing I need to do is to hold on to them. Love condemned me, now it’s the only thing left that can save everything I hold dear. Simply enduring is no longer enough. I want to truly live. The Valos of Sonhadra series is the shared vision of nine sci-fi and fantasy romance authors. Each book is a standalone, containing its own Happy Ever After, and can be read in any order. ____________________________________ Warning: Enduring is a FMM sci-fi romance that contains graphic descriptions of intimacy. Intended for mature readers.

Timeless, Four-Book Comedy Collection Two English scallywags masquerading as hapless heroes and the last surviving warrior monk of an ancient Thai order, leave no stone unturned and no mishap untouched as they hunt for the oft-missing golden box that contains the dental remains of the Buddha. Their exhaustive searches and penchant for mayhem take them from an isolated Thai monastery in the Cardamom jungle to find a renegade monk in Thailand suspected of stealing the Buddha relic. Hunt an ex-Khmer Rouge soldier in Cambodia with ties to a family of scientists who want to clone the Buddha. Pursue an Iranian Mercenary and his team in Vietnam, who are funded by a ruthless sheikh seeking the Buddha relic for revenge, and ultimately, solve the mystery behind the deaths of the Buddha’s descendants. Follow the adventures of a combatant monk and two unlikely heroes as they inject chaos into every situation in Siam Storm, a hilarious high–octane thriller series!