"Your word, like any other woman's, Kate, is worthless."Kate's latest assignment was the answer to her prayers, but she'd have turned it down flat if she'd known that Jason Warwick was to be her boss! His devastating looks ensured constant female attention, yet he cynically branded all women as faithless and incapable of love.Kate wasn't interested in a temporary affair, but that was all Jason appeared to be offering. So conjuring up an imaginary boyfriend seemed the best defense against his seductive charm. But who was Kate really deceiving--Jason, or herself?Previously Published. Views: 15
In the wild, it’s every creature for itself. They all had to survive and adapt to their surroundings. However, a tragedy changed all that. In order to maintain balance, the predators fought against the preys. They brutally engaged in a never-ending battle of the century that changed the course of history forever. This happened before the evolution of man, in somewhat sixty five million years ago. Views: 15
Luz had nightheat, the sensuous quality in a woman that makes men ache with desire. Nick loved and lusted for her the first time he saw her. But what he didn't know was that Luz had secrets—that beneath the glamour and sex appeal was a woman determined to turn her back on wealth and challenge a corrupt political system. Even if doing so meant her life. Nick started out dirt poor—as a child, he survived the war-torn frozen hell of the siege of Leningrad and saw his mother starve to death as fat-cat bureaucrats ate well. He learned early that there were the haves and have-nots in this world. He was going to get everything rich people had—and more. From a brutal Soviet orphanage to a plantation in the steamy jungles of the Caribbean, from sultry, violent Havana to the dangerous streets of Santo Domingo, Nick battled men who controlled and exploited the wealth of nations. With bootleg vodka and exotic rum, he built a... Views: 15
Morton Dauwen Zabel Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters. LYING IN BED begins with the voice of a strange, compelling speaker. The more we learn of his life and his most unusual marriage, the less we are sure of who he is and what he says. LYING IN BED first seduces us with its intense storytelling, then ensnares us in a dangerous psychological and erotic labyrinth we never want to leave. Views: 15
Seeking solace in the wake of her husband's death, a woman embarks on a new life on the Irish coast, where her mysterious new neighbor offers a rekindled sense of happiness, however short-livedHelen moved to a small ocean-side village for the isolation—to be alone with the waves, birds, and changing seasons. Newly widowed, she spends her days painting in her glass-walled studio atop a hillside on Ireland's northwest coast. From her perch she can study the rocks and dunes of the land sloping into the sea, the fishing boats rocking in the tide, and the railway station, abandoned for forty years, now being refurbished by Roger, an Englishman and veteran of the Second World War. Her friendship with Roger develops slowly, but in tandem with her growing affection for him is an intractable suspicion over his past. As the Troubles continue to settle over Ireland, Helen experiences sparks of happiness with Roger. Meanwhile, her son Jack, a radical living in Dublin, is... Views: 15
In Open Water, Maria Flook explores the charged and eerie shoreline of Newport, Rhode Island, where Willis Pratt squanders his days running small cons. But his heart’s not in it—he’s obsessed with fishing boat tragedies from his childhood and with Holly, a pretty new neighbor who is charged with arson.Their romance is interrupted when Willis is called home to care for his dying step-mother, Rennie, whose biological son wants to place her in a care facility. Willis is determined to guarantee his stepmother the death she desires, but when he arrives, Rennie sees that it is he who needs caring for—Willis quickly gets hooked on her prescription morphine.This is Maria Flook’s natural ground, a harsh and sensual terrain where family debt and carnal knowledge intersect. A fierce wit and an unrelenting vision earned her first novel, Family Night, a Special Citation from the PEN American/Ernest Hemingway Foundation, and the New York Times praised it for “a spare, subtle, ethereal, and erotic style,” calling her gifts “extravagant and apparent on every page.”Open Water is a ringing confirmation of Maria Flook’s remarkable talent. Caught up in the novel’s unremitting current, its characters are propelled to a resolution that no one left on shore could have imagined. Views: 14
