Bond

When you live in a world where your financial status determines the outcome for your life, fear is all one knows. Scarlett Madison, a young werewolf, faces life in the sectors because of her family's poverty. With no hope at advancing into a high-status pack, Scarlett makes one mistake that takes her down an uncharted path that leads her directly into the arms of her soulmate-the king of her nation. With a war brewing between the wolves and the hunters, Scarlett has to make a decision: take the throne alongside her mate or to choose her people in the sectors.

Geneva hadn't planned on falling in love that night. But, when the big, handsome, professional hockey player known only as "Y" arrives in her Vancouver Emergency Room with a leg injury, Geneva - the ER physician on duty - feels a strange vibration circling the space, "as if a wind had blown in with him and hadn't yet settled." Thus begins Our Precious Bond - an exquisitely written story of secret love, twin sisterhood, enduring family traditions, and more - all wrapped in an absorbing narrative just waiting to be made into a major motion picture. Seriously, it's that good. Geneva and her twin sister Venice are part of a huge Swedish family that celebrates its rich heritage at the drop of a varmrökt lax - that's salmon smoked slowly over alderwood, brushed with clover honey. The delicacy is just one of many served at extended clan gatherings along with shared wisdom and an outpouring of love. These gatherings lend a warm backdrop to the developing storyline. But, the family collectively wonders: when will these two twins - one now an accomplished ER doctor and the other a successful attorney - find someone and settle down? Neither has shown an inclination toward serious relationships so far. But, that's about to change in a big way. Alternately endearing, dramatic and lyrical by turns, this extraordinary book takes the reader on an intimate journey into the lives of the three primary players - Geneva, Venice, and the enigmatic hockey star known only as "Y" throughout the story. Along the way, we meet many singular supporting players. There is Cloud, a Canadian First Nation anthropologist with a passion for helping his people achieve a bright future off the reservation. There is Grandpa, who startles his granddaughters with the revelation of an enduring devotion to a woman not his wife. And, there is 80-year-old Sister Hilda, who extends redemptive hope one night, to a schizophrenic young woman in a long red scarf - and, in so doing, touches many lives.

In a world of fear and pain, Octavia learns that her normal, everyday life could change within the blink of an eye. With a war brewing around her, and a new mate in the mix, Octavia fears that her new life will come crumbling down. Though, it wasn't because of the daunting war or her heartless mate, but the secrets that lurked deep within her. If the secrets she contained got into the wrong hands, it would be the end of her life. After all, people like her... they don't survive. She was prepared to take her secrets to the grave. The question is... can she?

Bree is inside the maiden, fighting the darkness that is threatening to destroy her. Once she has her emotions under control, she is, faced with her deerling that turns out to be her childhood friend and sister mia's husband tom. Tom tells his story of how this is possible and helps Bree face what comes next while on the outside, Aiden is doing his best to keep everything under control as the magic begins to leave the land, and cities fall from the skies sending everyone into a panic. Aiden keeps fighting to keep everything together as he uncovers secrets from the past and buried treasures on his hunt for a cure to the capium burn threatening his life. Bree finds out, that the prophecy is, nothing like, she thought it was. Bree fights through the flames of the past to learn about a tragic love story from hundreds of years ago. Mitace and Leandra flee their homeland to the land below when balance begins to shift their story leads to the birth of magic along with their only child to a land that was never, meant to have ether. With enemies all around them, they try to concur the darkness threatening their small glimmer of happiness. When Leandra's baby girl is, stolen by the water lands, and given, to the ones wanting to extinguish them all. Leandra explodes in a fit of rage and pain at the loss of her baby, pushing Aquilla and its people up to the heavens and expelling the wise ones to punish them all for their part in the loss of her child. In her pain, her heart turns to stone turning her into the giant guardian maiden. In Mitace's grief for his lost love and beloved daughter, he disappears and waits in the shadows until he can be with them once again. Bree returns home with far more than she, bargained for and is, greeted by Aiden and her friends, who have, just as much to tell her. Bree tells Aiden everything she, learned in the maiden and is, overjoyed, when he is, told they, have a new journey as soon, to be parents to explore, as Aiden gives Bree a journal that was, written by Bree’s mother that turns out to be, the mother she, shared with her sister Mia, finding out that their disappearance 3-years-ago, was 29-years-ago in this world. It turns out Mia was not their only child. Madeline, her best friend, is also Mia's little sister.

In this warm and engaging sequel to Our Precious Bond, accomplished author Marlene F. Cheng closely follows the life stories of three characters who are as unique as their names: Raven, Oriole and Tree. Raven is the now-grown son of Geneva, from the first book, and his NHL hockey star father, known only as "Y." He turns one day from a PhD path and impulsively joins the Canadian army, eventually becoming a superior sniper. And even, though his parents are nonplussed at his new life choice, he never looks back through two harrowing tours of duty in Iraq. Oriole is a downtrodden refugee camp survivor who miraculously, immigrates to America one day, sponsored by, of all organizations, a college fraternity. There, he finds new brothers to replace the family that was brutally, gunned down so many years before by rebels, when he was a child in his native Sudan. And, Tree? She is the U.N. relief worker who discovers Oriole in the dusty back byways of the refugee camp, aids in his emigration, and finally follows him to Canada. This is an epic saga filled with endearing characters and lyrical writing.