Karen Brown's fiance treated her well, had a good job, and was the treasurer of their large church. And then he embezzled thousands of dollars and disappeared with his lovely assistant. Reeling from shock, Karen moves back in with her mom. But when she arrives, she instead finds a strange man in her mom's home. He's the blunt next-door neighbor, who knows way too much about Karen's past.Keith Baxter—plumber and future preacher—is enamored with Karen. Only problem is, every word out of his mouth sends her into a tailspin. Can Keith convince Karen that not all men are dishonorable? Views: 14
From an award-winning investigative reporter: the shocking story of the mob killer who terrorized the streets of New York City for decades . . . while working for the FBIIn Deal with the Devil, five-time Emmy Award–winning investigative reporter Peter Lance draws on three decades of once-secret FBI files and exclusive new interviews to disclose the epic saga of Colombo family capo Gregory Scarpa Sr., who spent more than thirty years as a paid Top Echelon FBI informant while wreaking havoc as a drug dealer, loan shark, bank robber, hijacker, high-end securities thief—and killer.A Mafia capo who "stopped counting" after fifty murders—earning nicknames including "the Grim Reaper" and "the Killing Machine"—Greg Scarpa was enlisted by the FBI as early as 1960. His detailed debriefings on Mafia practices and activities went straight to J. Edgar Hoover and revealed the structure of Cosa Nostra long before the celebrated Valachi hearings. In forty-two years of murder and racketeering, Scarpa served only thirty days in jail, thanks to his secret relationship with the Feds. But Scarpa's most deadly reign of terror came in the period from 1980 to 1992, when more than half his homicides occurred—even as Scarpa was serving as a paid informant under Supervisory Special Agent R. Lindley DeVecchio, who ran two organized crime squads in the FBI's New York Office.The celebrated case agent on the 1985–1986 Mafia Commission prosecution, DeVecchio had persuaded Scarpa to return to the fold as an informant, under laws that explicitly forbid organized crime insiders from committing murder or other crimes while receiving compensation from the Bureau. And yet, drawing on secret memos that went to every FBI director from Hoover to Louis Freeh, Lance documents that Scarpa not only continued his violent rampage during these years, but actually launched a new war for control of the Colombo crime family—a conflict that left fourteen dead and dozens injured.Before he died of AIDS, contracted through a tainted blood transfusion, Scarpa committed or ordered twenty-six murders—including the violent rubout of his own brother Sal in 1987 and the drive-by slaying of his nephew Gus Farace, which triggered a five-hundred-agent manhunt—all while serving as an informant for Lin DeVecchio. When DeVecchio himself was indicted on four counts of murder in 2007, Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes called the case "the most stunning example of official corruption . . . I have ever seen." Yet the murder charges against DeVecchio were dismissed a short time later—even as a New York State Supreme Court judge described the FBI's association with Scarpa as a "deal with the devil."After the case's abrupt dismissal, Lance started peeling back the layers on what defense attorneys called Scarpa's "unholy alliance" with the FBI. Through exclusive interviews with Scarpa's son Greg Jr. and former Lucchese boss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, among others, as well as more than 1,150 pages of confidential briefing memos, many revealed here for the first time, Lance traces links between the Scarpa case, the infamous Mafia Cops case, and more.Written with the same astounding capacity for penetrating criminal networks that marked Lance's previous books, Deal with the Devil is a page-turning work of investigative journalism that reads like a Scorsese film. Views: 14
Since
her mother’s death, Gemma has raised her younger sister Alys and kept her
family safe… until the day they are caught by surprise and Alys is taken by a
band of outlaws. In desperation, Gemma’s frail, elderly father pleads for aid
from a reclusive knight by the name of Sir William and pledges him Gemma’s hand
in marriage in repayment for the safe return of her sister.
When
Gemma ignores her father’s instructions and sets out on her own to rescue Alys,
she discovers that this gruff, unkempt, and yet undeniably handsome brute is
more than her match, and the lesson is brought home with a sound spanking on
her bare bottom. With no time to waste taking the brave and feisty yet
hopelessly naïve eighteen-year-old back home, Sir William has no choice but to
bring her along as he pursues her sister’s captors. Though he might not admit
it, however, he relishes the thought that he might have to punish her again,
and with every glimpse of her delicious curves his lust intensifies.
In
spite of his firm chastisement and his demand for her unquestioning obedience,
Gemma finds her feelings for Sir William evolving rapidly. She begins to wonder
what it would feel like to be stripped bare and held tight in his strong arms,
helpless and blushing, yet longing for him to claim her hard and thoroughly.
Even
as her desire for him grows stronger, she frets about the secrets he keeps from
her. His skill in battle alone tells her that he is no mere woodsman, and the
hilt of his sword bears a marking that cannot be mistaken—a symbol that she
believed had passed into legend. Can she trust this man with her life and that
of her sister? Will he fail her in her hour of greatest need, or will her rogue
knight prove himself worthy of not only her submission but her love as well?
Publisher’s
Note: Her Rogue Knight is an erotic novel that includes spankings, anal
play, graphic sexual scenes, elements of BDSM, and more. If such material
offends you, please don’t buy this book.
Views: 14
Richly engaging historical adventure in the vein of The Winter Palace and The Malice of Fortune.Muse is the story of the charismatic woman who was the inspiration behind Petrarch's sublime love poetry. Solange Le Blanc begins life in the tempestuous streets of 14th century Avignon, a city of men dominated by the Pope and his palace. When her mother, a harlot, dies in childbirth, Solange is raised by Benedictines who believe she has the gift of clairvoyance. Trained as a scribe, but troubled by disturbing visions and tempted by a more carnal life, she escapes to Avignon, where she becomes entangled in a love triangle with the poet Petrarch, becoming not only his muse but also his lover.Later, when her gift for prophecy catches the Pope's ear, Solange becomes Pope Clement VI's mistress and confidante in the most celebrated court in Europe. When the plague kills a third of Avignon's population, Solange is accused of sorcery and is forced once again to reinvent herself and fight against a final, mortal conspiracy. Muse is a sweeping historical epic that magically evokes the Renaissance, capturing a time and place caught between the shadows of the past and the promise of a new cultural awakening.Review"Mary Novik brings a literate woman out of the shadows of history. . . . A cross between Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. . . . There is no doubt that the sensational twists and turns of Novik’s plot, the rapid changes of scene, and the piling on of horrors, all combine to give this story a wide appeal.” —BC BookWorldAbout the AuthorMary Novik's debut novel Conceit, about the daughter of the poet John Donne, was hailed as "a magnificent novel of seventeenth-century London" by The Globe and Mail. Chosen as a book of the year by both Quill & Quire and The Globe and Mail, Conceit was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller and won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Canada Reads named Conceit one of The Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade. Mary lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, and can be found at www.marynovik.com. Views: 14
In Book One, Jessa Meadows is an average girl, living the average life…of a wolf shifter. Following traditions is expected, and something she can’t bring herself to do. Her first heat slams her into a hormonal, irrational PMS hell that she fights with all of her might. She refuses to give her virginity to the first mutt that comes along, however wrong or unheard of it is in the shifter society. Jessa wants her first time to be special with the man she is fated to spend the rest of her life with. The idea of falling on her back for the first horn dog that comes along makes her stomach turn.The wolves come in herds, giving every corny and rude pickup line invented. Fighting off the suitors and her agitated wolf proves to be more complicated than she had originally anticipated, until illness sets in and leaves her at her horny mutt’s mercy.Logan Runningwolf has grown up with Jessa since birth. When every man within sniffing distance overeagerly offers their services in every humorous and pathetic way possible, he moves in to chase them off and claim the girl who has held his heart since childhood. When a single kiss awakens destiny, he vows to protect and claim his mate.Damion Shaddow is a highly trained warrior and Beta of the wolf clan. At the age of 29, he is a brick wall of pure muscle power and dominance. Life has become a monotonous hell that has left a loneliness the normal, shallow quick fixes can’t fill. He is in a rut, and needs to change something, fast.When he catches sight of the sexy little minx stretched half-naked on the couch, his wolf lunges at his guards. Confusion and anger well up in him at the realization the curvaceous beauty is Jessa, a silly shifter girl who used to tease and play jokes. Desire spikes in ways he has never felt.Gavin Blackard has waited centuries to find the one woman the universe has picked to stand by his eternal side. When he finds Jessa in her dreams, his search is over. He sees her growing more ill every day, and knows time is running out.Before he can save her from the heat, his sister threatens the lives of hundreds and the balance of the universe. He has to stop her before it’s too late, and save his one and only true love in a rush against time.Three chosen mates, one demonic premonition… Can fate prevail and save the world?Categories: Romance, Erotica, Paranormal, Shifters, VampiresWords: 50,740 Views: 14
The poems of the fourteenth-century Kashmiri mystic Lal Ded, popularly known as Lalla, strike us like brief and blinding bursts of light. Emotionally rich yet philosophically precise, sumptuously enigmatic yet crisply structured, these poems are as sensuously evocative as they are charged with an ecstatic devotion. Stripping away a century of Victorian-inflected translations and paraphrases, and restoring the jagged, colloquial power of Lalla's voice, in Ranjit Hoskote's new translation these poems are glorious manifestos of illumination. Views: 14
The ninth in the Euphemia Martins series of historical murder mysteries by Caroline Dunford. Following her escapades in the women's suffrage movement, Euphemia is glad to leave London - but before long she finds herself mixed up in another nefarious situation when a body is found burned to death on a country estate... It's up to Euphemia and her friends and employers the Staplefords to get to the bottom of things. Views: 14
I always dreamed of one day falling in love, of knowing what it felt like to love someone so unconditionally. For better or worse.Ever since her days as a student in Brighton, Lily always knew there was something missing in her life - a path yet to be taken and deep desires waiting to be explored. Though she finds release in her love of music, Lily longs to rebel against the staid direction her life is going in and to discover what it is she truly wants.When Lily moves to London her best friend - the seductive, audacious Liana - introduces her to an exciting new world of passion and adventure. Soon Lily meets Leonard, a man she feels an instant connection with; Dagur, the gorgeous drummer of a world-renowned rock band; celebrated photographer Grayson and his enigmatic partner, She.Despite living life to the full and embracing each new experience, Lily knows she is yet to find what it is she's been missing. Will Lily finally be able to accept the woman she really is? And has the thing she's been searching for been right in front of her all along?The seductive new novel in Vina Jackson's red-hot EIGHTY DAYS series is a tantalising tale of love, longing and self-discovery. Views: 14
An earthy tale of country loving in 1870s England; Bathsheba Everdene is that unusual combination - a beautiful young woman who is also mistress of her own farm. Proposals of marriage are not long in coming, but with her lack of experience in judging men, how can she possibly choose between the solid young shepherd Gabriel Oak, the dignified squire Farmer Boldwood, or the dashing sergeant of Hussars, Francis Troy?Now with added explicit scenes of seduction, shameless pursuit, and solitary frustration - as we follow Bathsheba's initiation into physical love.Sensuality Level: Sensual Views: 14
