“If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life,
your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.”
Gitanjali is a collection of poems by the beloved Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. A true classic of world literature that left the readers mesmerised, and in 1913 earned Tagore the Nobel Prize in Literature. This collection of 103 poems is Tagore’s poetic reflection on the most important aspects of life, such as devotion, spirituality, love, and the universal human experience.
Rabindranath Tagore’s words hold the power to uplift a disheartened soul, bring peace where there is sorrow, and give wisdom where there is darkness. His poetry is timeless in its observations and messaging. Through the poems in Gitanjali, Tagore explores his deep love for God and humanity. With his gentle prose and soothing words, he speaks to inner turmoil of people, especially the yearnings to connect with the divine and the spirituality within the heart.
Originally composed in Tagore’s native Bengali, they were translated into English by W.B. Yeats, a coming together of two stalwarts of the literary world.
Seventeen-year-old Lauren Sanders is drowning in grief. After losing her parents and sister, Elise, she’s left alone with a pain no one understands—and a diagnosis she keeps hidden. To the outside world, she’s just a girl struggling with loss, but the voices in her mind and the shadows at the edge of her vision whisper of something far darker.
Then she finds a note—one that suggests Elise’s suicide wasn’t what it seemed.
Desperate for answers, Lauren follows a chilling trail of cryptic messages, uncovering family secrets buried beneath years of silence. With the help of Aaren, a boy haunted by his own demons and drawn to untold stories, she pieces together fragments of a dark puzzle. But with each revelation, the line between truth and delusion begins to blur.
Some secrets are meant to stay hidden. And as Lauren inches closer to the truth, one question haunts her: Will uncovering it bring her peace, or destroy her entirely?
In 1950 Malaya, also the Year of the Tiger based on the Chinese zodiac calendar, a baby girl was born. In the Tan household, superstitions prevail as the grandmother, Ah Ma believed that the baby girl was subjected to the “tiger curse” and will only bring misfortune and bad luck. The baby girl must be given up for adoption.
Che’ Tah and Wahab, their neighbour who already had two children, opened their hearts and modest home to the baby, naming her Zaiton. Raised amidst the warmth of Wahab’s household, and next door to her biological family, Zaiton blossomed into a spirited and independent young soul. Despite the challenges of childhood, and the occasional whispers and taunts that made her doubt her roots, Zaiton navigated them with courage, strengthened by the support and love of her siblings, whether related by blood or chosen. After all, family is love.
Through Zaiton’s journey, The Year of the Tiger celebrates the power of love and family, offering a heartwarming tale inspired by the author’s mother. Unlike conventional adoption narratives marked by feelings of displacement and unbelonging, Zaiton’s story is one of gratitude and abundance, showcasing the richness of having not one, but two families who cherish her deeply.
Bound by Blood, Bridged by Love is a moving novel that bridges two cultures through the bond between a brother and sister separated by distance but united by blood. Set in the aftermath of World War II, Yumisan, a young Japanese woman, discovers she has a Burmese half-brother, Maung Maung—born from her father’s wartime relationship with a local woman in Myanmar. Determined to uncover her family’s hidden past, Yumisan travels to Myanmar to find him. Their meeting sparks a complex journey of discovery and reconciliation, as both siblings confront cultural divides, the wounds left by war, and the difficult path toward understanding and forgiveness.
When James meets Eden, he has plateaued into a joyless existence, while she has transformed into a furious banshee. James teaches Eden how to diffuse her anger. After all, he had been in a similar situation before. An unlikely friendship sprouts between them and blooms into mutual respect and admiration. Before they know it, feelings start to surface. Both had been burned before, but James and Eden take their chances. But can their fledgling relationship survive when James’ past comes back with a heartfelt apology and tears in her eyes?
Michelle Macabebe dreams of adventure outside their island, Luna Asul. For that, she must survive the boredom in high school until she leaves for the university. However, the adventure she seeks comes early against her will, when a talking fat cat chooses her for an out-of-this world (literally) and suspicious competition.
Bickering deities, (not-so) gentle giants, a moon-eating dragon, and overworked gods—all the forgotten stories from her childhood had come to life. As Chi navigates the land of gods and Neithers, and finishes the missions, competing with four other contestants (who had issues of their own), her real-life problems are piling up; from a strict mother to a one-sided crush, and a secret that broke her heart, and potentially, her brother and best friend as well.
Then there’s also a supernatural rebellion of the Neithers in the lower realms, waiting to happen.
Amidst her confusion and search for meaning in all that’s happening, will Chi find the answers she seeks on this journey?
Enter the pulse-racing world of Zoe Kim, an intrepid journalist, in the seedy streets near Seoul. As she uncovers a nefarious sex trafficking ring, a twist of fate sets her on a relentless quest for truth and justice.
Despite facing a soul-searching identity crisis and a traumatic, life-threatening encounter, she courageously investigates a sinister international trafficking ring in Los Angeles and Asia against her chief editor’s orders. After being side-lined at work, Zoe’s obsession with exposing a nefarious international sex trafficking operation leads her to risk everything, even putting her own life in danger, as she impulsively sacrifices her relationship with her boyfriend and everyone else.
To her horror, she uncovers a haunting family secret that connects her to past atrocities and present-day trafficking. In a final showdown with a notorious crime boss, Kim confronts the shadows of history and fights for justice and generational healing.
Will her courage lead to justice? Follow her relentless pursuit in Butterflies and witness a powerful story that transcends boundaries about the power of love and truth, forgiveness and embracing identity that showcases the indomitable human spirit.
A dreamy romp, Ahn Love opens with Margaret visiting her widowed father Sam Ahn for his ninetieth birthday. His crippling loneliness – marked by a conviction that if his orchids ever bloom, his wife will come back to life – transports Margaret to the Ahns’ seven-day cruise across the Pacific in the summer of ’69 when she was a lovesick teen nicknamed Monkey, when her beloved if not servile Uncle Bong betrayed the family, and when her beautiful mother’s encounter with a Brazilian playboy ultimately charted her death a decade later.
Like the seas, the journey had its highs and lows. It was magic, tragic, exotic and erotic – all things new to Margaret, including her romance with the dashing Adam Kang, a young Korean Brit who loved her but hated himself as the two sailed through a whole courtship as if ship years were measured in hours. Indeed, clocked love and lost paradise lay the seeds of Ahn Love.
Following the battle at Tilsor, Keix and her friends split up to gather troops to stop ExA from taking over the world. However, they soon find themselves contending with forces out of their control as they discover that their enemies—and even reluctant allies—have access to power beyond their wildest imagination.
With time ticking, old secrets resurfacing, and the past and present unravelling right in front of their eyes, will they be able to convince everyone to put aside their differences to eliminate ExA? Or will all that they’ve done come to naught because peace comes at a cost that none can pay?
21-year old Maya Halili is determined to secure her spot as a full-time faculty member at the National University of the Seven Islands, the most prestigious academic institution in the country. She’ll do absolutely anything, including run errands for her beloved adviser, Dr. Manalo, and butt heads with her long-time rival, the aggravating and handsome Aga Kaneko. But with a series of mysterious disappearances plaguing the city of Santa Teresita and the Astyrian forces tightening their grip on her people, Maya’s carefully constructed world of academics and ambition crumbles when the spirits of the Seven Islands draw her into a secret society known as The Hand of Kaylahon, a group of shamans that can call down the gods and allow them to use their bodies as vessels – for better or for worse.
When an ancient evil awakens and threatens to plunge their world into eternal darkness, The Hand of Kaylahon desperately tries to convince Maya to accept the spirits’ call and fight by their side. Maya must confront the deadly secrets of her past and navigate a treacherous landscape filled with shamans, monsters, and political forces that threaten to engulf the Seven Islands in a war of humans and spirits alike. She must make an impossible choice: choose the quiet, academic life of her dreams or embrace her destiny, join the battle and save the world.
Her decision will not only determine the survival of the Seven Islands, but the future of humanity itself.
