From USA Today bestselling author Leia Stone, House of Ash and Shadow is the first book in the addictive Gilded City series, about a girl who must battle curses, dark powers, and her own heart. This world of dazzling fae magic and romantic pining is perfect for fans of Wednesday and Holly Black.
Seventeen-year-old Fallon Bane was born with a devastating curse: a single touch from another person will cause her excruciating pain. Thus, she has accepted that she will die without ever being kissed, without even hugging her own father, though it breaks her heart every day.
But when her beloved father falls ill, she breaks into the magical Gilded City to find a healer fae that can save him. When handsome healer Ariyon Madden agrees to help, everything she knows about herself and her curse changes. Because during her father’s healing, Ariyon reaches out and touches her bare skin. She waits for the agony… but it never comes. For the first time in her life, she imagines a new future for herself. However, that fantasy is quickly destroyed, because not only does Ariyon flee from her in disgust when he learns of her curse; he also reveals her existence to powerful fae who want to hurt her.
Fallon is then swept away to a magical academy, where she learns the terrifying truth about her family history and her dark magic. Her life and the future of fae everywhere hang in the balance, and all the while Fallon can’t help but wonder if she will get to touch Ariyon Madden one more time before she dies…
This enchanting story of family, fae, and yearning is perfect for readers who love:
– Romantic fantasy books for teens
– Unputdownable and bingeworthy novels
– Magical boarding schools
– Grumpy sunshine romance
– Holly Black and Sarah J. Maas
From USA Today bestselling author Leia Stone comes the next book in the addictive Gilded City series, about a girl who must battle curses, dark powers, and her own heart. This world of dazzling fae magic and romantic pining is perfect for fans of Wednesday and Holly Black.
The only guy in the world who could kiss me was about to be taken out by some Nightling with a vendetta against his family.
Fallon Bane thought that being cursed to feel pain every time she was touched was the worst thing that would ever happen to her.
She was wrong.
The worst thing was finding and falling for Ariyon―the only person in the realm who can touch her―only to accidentally trap him in the land of souls and swap powers with him.
Now she must act as Maven healer to Queen Solana while trying to figure out how to sneak into the Realm of Eternity to save Ariyon.
She drove me crazy, in both good and bad ways, and all I wanted to do was finally kiss her, hold her, feel her body relax into mine like it’d found its missing other half.
Aryion Madden had enough to deal with: heir to the throne, Maven healing powers that meant he would die young, and orphaned by Marissa Bane. Then, he met Marissa’s daughter and fell in love, upending everything he thought he knew.
Now, he has to fight for his life―and maybe his afterlife―against the undead using Fallon’s dark magic.
And if that’s not enough to worry about, all the while, the prophesied Nightling war is approaching.
From USA Today bestselling author Leia Stone, House of Ash and Shadow is the first book in the addictive Gilded City series, about a girl who must battle curses, dark powers, and her own heart. This world of dazzling fae magic and romantic pining is perfect for fans of Wednesday and Holly Black.
Seventeen-year-old Fallon Bane was born with a devastating curse: a single touch from another person will cause her excruciating pain. Thus, she has accepted that she will die without ever being kissed, without even hugging her own father, though it breaks her heart every day.
But when her beloved father falls ill, she breaks into the magical Gilded City to find a healer fae that can save him. When handsome healer Ariyon Madden agrees to help, everything she knows about herself and her curse changes. Because during her father’s healing, Ariyon reaches out and touches her bare skin. She waits for the agony… but it never comes. For the first time in her life, she imagines a new future for herself. However, that fantasy is quickly destroyed, because not only does Ariyon flee from her in disgust when he learns of her curse; he also reveals her existence to powerful fae who want to hurt her.
Fallon is then swept away to a magical academy, where she learns the terrifying truth about her family history and her dark magic. Her life and the future of fae everywhere hang in the balance, and all the while Fallon can’t help but wonder if she will get to touch Ariyon Madden one more time before she dies…
This enchanting story of family, fae, and yearning is perfect for readers who love:
– Romantic fantasy books for teens
– Unputdownable and bingeworthy novels
– Magical boarding schools
– Grumpy sunshine romance
– Holly Black and Sarah J. Maas
By Rujuta Diwekar — India’s most trusted nutritionist and the go-to-expert for celebrities
🌾 In MITĀHĀRA, best-selling author and celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar takes you on a transformative, year-long journey rooted in the Indian philosophy of measured eating and balanced living.
Blending ancient wisdom with modern science, this book is your essential companion to aligning your body and mind with the natural rhythm of the seasons.
Inside this book:
✅ Ancient wisdom, modern relevance Discover the principles of mitāhāra – the Indian philosophy of measured eating – and how they align beautifully with today’s health needs.
✅ Eat with the seasons From mangoes in summer to root vegetables in winter, embrace seasonal produce just as our ancestors did – naturally and intuitively.
✅ Sustainability starts on your plate Learn how mindful eating extends beyond personal health to planetary well-being. What nourishes you can also nourish the Earth.
✅ Simple recipes, big impact Wholesome, easy-to-follow Indian recipes that bring joy, flavour, and balance to your everyday meals.
✅ A journey month by month Walk through the year with Rujuta as she shares personal anecdotes, seasonal insights, and tips for building sustainable habits for lifelong wellness.
Thoughtful, accessible, and deeply rooted in Indian tradition, MITĀHĀRA is more than just a book – it’s a way of life.
This book explores the lives of ten remarkable women and men who played pivotal roles in shaping the Indian Constitution. From challenging caste norms to advocating for freedom of speech, they contributed ideas that were significant in moulding India as we know it today. They are:
Dr B.R. Ambedkar
Jaipal Singh Munda
Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar
Dakshayani Velayudhan
Hasrat Mohani
K.M. Munshi
Hansa Mehta
James Joy Mohon Nichols Roy
G. Durgabai
Jawaharlal Nehru
Karthik Venkatesh examines their lives, challenges and the complex socio-political landscape that influenced their efforts, demonstrating how they collectively forged the path to modern India.
Barely a year into college, Indrajeet More is offered to host a travel show on budget backpacking across India.
As he undertakes a year-long journey across thirteen cities, what unfolds is a string of surreal life experiences—from getting lost in the forests of coastal Karnataka to camping amid the snowy peaks of the Himalayas, from hunting for the best toddy shop in rural Kerala to dancing to the beats of Naga folk songs.
Through this journey, Indrajeet discovers novelty and relatability in diverse cultures by reflecting on his upbringing in a Maharashtrian household. He navigates the inevitable boredom of solo travel and the anxiety of uncertainty, ultimately seeking belongingness in the most unfamiliar of places.
Solo is a raw, unfiltered backpacker’s gaze at contemporary India, about learning to read people beyond language, understanding food beyond ingredients, hearing stories beyond regions and, most importantly, finding a sense of home away from home.
This book is an alluring escape to the land of dawn-lit mountains, Arunachal Pradesh. It features stories that are products of visceral observation and a delicate understanding of the ethnic communities living under intervening shadows of magic and realism in the isolated hinterlands of the state. A village is haunted by an insidious spirit tiger. A bee sting reminds a Nocte boy of his brother’s beheading and transforms him into a deadly headhunter. A Donyi-Polo priest must continue practising his animistic rituals to preserve the fading vestiges of his indigenous religion. The curse of a high priest follows the thief who stole the forbidden sacred ornaments . . . Such evocative and poignant tales make this debut collection a must-read.
Suniti Namjoshi’s compelling tales range from metamorphosed cows to ruling mothers, from talking donkeys to epic villains. In this substantial collection are fables old and new, lyric poems and epigrams, novella narratives and ironic commentary. We also complete the Ravana trilogy with Shupi’s Choices and Kumbh, with villainous siblings who are sometimes ridiculous, but ready to show up for own shortcomings.
Matriarchs, Cows and Epic Villains is a curation of Suniti’s work where she continues to raise questions about how we deal with our destiny as human beings while at the same time trying to understand and confront our inadequacies.
Pico Iyer has made more than one hundred retreats over the past three decades to a small Benedictine hermitage high above the sea in Big Sur, California. He’s not a Christian—or a member of any religious group—but his life has been transformed by these periods of time spent in silence. That silence reminds him of what is essential and awakens a joy that nothing can efface. It’s not just freedom from distraction and noise and rush: it’s a reminder of some deeper truths he misplaced along the way.
In Learning From Silence, Iyer travels deep into inner stillness and joy in his many seasons at the monastery, even as his life is going through constant change: houses burn, a parent dies, a daughter is diagnosed with cancer. He shares the revelations he experiences, alongside wisdom from other nonmonastics who have learned from adversity and inwardness. Most profoundly, he shows how solitude can be a training in community and companionship. In so doing, he offers a unique outsider’s view of monastic life—and of a group of selfless souls who have dedicated their days to ensuring there’s a space for quiet and recollection that’s open to us all.
Radiant, intimate, and gripping, Learning From Silence offers ageless counsel about the power of silence and what it can teach us about how to live, how to love, and, ultimately, how to die.
Roti is perhaps one of India’s most versatile, yet unassuming, dishes. Bake it on a griddle, stuff it with mashed potatoes, lather it in ghee or butter, pair it with curries and pickles, roast it, fry it, or bake it in a tandoor. It is made with many grains, but traditionally with wheat flour. It is no wonder then that Roti is integral to Indian and cuisines from other South Asian countries, such as Pakistan and Bangladesh and a popular accompaniment in most Asian cuisine restaurants.
In Roti, author Anuradha Ravindranath introduces the reader to the different facets of this unprepossessing flatbread. She draws on her memories as a child, of her mother buying whole wheat grain at a market, of it drying on the rooftop of their Delhi home, of the trips to a nearby mill so that it is ground into fresh, warm flour, and the fluffy rotis fresh off the pan that was an enduring staple for lunches.
In doing so, Anuradha Ravindranath skillfully weaves her memories of the flatbread with over 90 delicious recipes and turns the humble roti into a delightful, glamorous showstopper. Packed with photographs, the book will feature accompaniments to rotis by way of dips and pickles, as well as easy-to-follow tips in classic DK style.
