The man was sinful. It wasn't just the looks that made him dangerous, it was the cocky confidence that dominated every move, every touch. And the frustrating yet ecstatic fact about the whole package was that he could back it all up...
Julia Campbell never knows what to expect with win-at-all-costs Brad De Luca. And she's starting to like it that way. She gave up safe, conventional relationships when she let the elite divorce attorney seduce her into his world. Now that he's determined to strip her naked of every inhibition, she's in danger of falling too deep and too fast.
But their affair begins to feel even more dangerous when a murder leaves a trail of suspicion that points straight to the mob...and Brad. Trusting a man with a bad reputation and a past full of secrets seems like a mistake. But when she's forced to make a choice, the consequences will take her further than she could ever have imagined. Views: 1 036
From the bestselling author of Girl in Translation, a novel about a young woman torn between her family duties in Chinatown and her escape into the world of ballroom dancing.
Twenty-two-year-old Charlie Wong grew up in New York’s Chinatown, the older daughter of a Beijing ballerina and a noodle maker. Though an ABC (America-born Chinese), Charlie’s entire world has been limited to this small area. Now grown, she lives in the same tiny apartment with her widower father and her eleven-year-old sister, and works—miserably—as a dishwasher.
But when she lands a job as a receptionist at a ballroom dance studio, Charlie gains access to a world she hardly knew existed, and everything she once took to be certain turns upside down. Gradually, at the dance studio, awkward Charlie’s natural talents begin to emerge. With them, her perspective, expectations, and sense of self are transformed—something she must take great pains to hide from her father and his suspicion of all things Western. As Charlie blossoms, though, her sister becomes chronically ill. As Pa insists on treating his ailing child exclusively with Eastern practices to no avail, Charlie is forced to try to reconcile her two selves and her two worlds—Eastern and Western, old world and new—to rescue her little sister without sacrificing her newfound confidence and identity. Views: 1 036
When Anthony dares Edward to capture a Martian the two brothers vanish from their home and find themselves on a spaceship that is hurtling towards Mars. Will they manage to escape from the spacecraft before it burns up in the Martian atmosphere? What perils await them on the mysterious Red Planet? Can YOU survive the Dare Quest challenge?“I'm not sure I understand. Witches and vampires don't associate with each other. I guess in a way we are terrified of each other. Vampires tend to hide their magic because even the weakest witch in a fight could completely incapacitate the strongest vampire. If we can lure them into our magic before they are able to cast they lose their magic either through death of becoming a vampire.”“No they don't, it just becomes foreign to them. I can sense the different kinds of magic, and have yet to find anyone who could hide their magic from me.”“Sam that's not possible. I can sense another vampire but a witch is difficult at best for me and the other creatures that have magic I can't sense at all.”“Maybe you can't but I can. You don't believe me take me out somewhere and let me prove it to you. The magic calls to me, it wants me. I can tell you are holding your magic hidden right now. You're one of the strongest vampires I've ever come across, even stronger than Mac or Chuck who were both born vampires.”“Sam you don't have any magic, there isn't a witch alive I can't sense, and you have no magic.”“I have no magic Chris? I'm a natural born witch. My oldest sister is the most powerful witch to lead White Rose coven in a thousand years and her strength in the elemental magic is as nothing compared to mine. You think you have blood magic? How do you think it is no vampire can hide from me? I can command the blood magic the same as the elemental magic. I am White Rose! I am White Lotus! I am magic!”Chris stepped back with a look of shock and fear both in his eyes as I drew in my magic and he felt the enormity of it all. I felt all the magic flowing through me and asked again if he loved me.“How much do you love me Chris? Which is more important to you, your life, or your magic? Is it me you love or the magic I command?”“I never asked for the magic, a magic that has marked me for the remainder of my life. A magic that is so much a part of the lives of those I care most about. If the cost of sharing in your love is the magic that I have, take it I never asked for it in the first place. I only ever wanted the woman that completes me as a man.”“For all my life I was thought to be a man, but at no time was that true. I've been hidden away for a special time, a time which is still not here. You see father of blood the daughter of elements cannot be revealed until the time is ripe for her unveiling.”Kathy and Nicole both came running in fear in their eyes that something had happened to their mother of choice.I fell in a heap on the floor no idea what happened. Chris was bent over me helping me try to stand a worried look on his face. Views: 1 036
Short story featuring Clay, Talin, Jon and Noor from Nalini Singh's November 2014 newsletter.
**Author’s Note:** This short story fits in between *Play of Passion* and *Kiss of Snow*, but if you haven’t yet read the series or those books, it does also stand on its own. Enjoy! Views: 1 036
Aan het einde van de negentiende eeuw bestijgt een nieuwe sjah de Perzische troon. Hij volgt zijn vader op, maar hij mist de daadkracht en de ambitie om zijn stempel op het bestuur te drukken. De koning heeft meer oog voor zijn harem, de kersentuin, de jacht en zijn rijkdommen dan voor de situatie waarin het volk en het land verkeren. Het leiderschap in het economische machtsspel waarin Perzië met Engeland, Frankrijk en Rusland is verwikkeld, laat hij over aan zijn raadgever, de vizier.
De handige politicus ziet in de samenwerking met de westerse landen grote mogelijkheden om hervormingen door te voeren die voorspoed zullen brengen. Maar tegen welke prijs?
In een prachtig historisch en tegelijkertijd actueel verhaal vol betoverende personages verweeft Kader Abdolah de harde strijd om bodemschatten, land en macht met de magische sfeer van het aloude Perzië. Views: 1 036
A raucous collection of short stories from the astonishingly inventive and bestselling writer of The Harder They Come and The Terranauts
While T. C. Boyle is known as one of our greatest American novelists, he is also an acknowledged master of the short story. In The Relive Box, his first collection following two hugely influential collected volumes, Boyle’s crackling wit and thematic range combine with a penetrating social consciousness to produce his trademark “inventive and often crushingly comic” (NPR) short fiction.
From the title story, featuring a so-called relive box that allows users to experience anew almost any moment from their past, to “The Five-Pound Burrito,” the tale of a man aiming to build the biggest burrito in town, the twelve stories in this collection represent a whole new way of looking at the world from one of the best storytellers at work today.
The Relive Box is an exuberant, linguistically dazzling book from someone the Boston Globe has said is “such a good storyteller it will probably take, as in Alice Munro’s case, the Nobel Prize or retirement for us to realize what tremendous talent has lain right in front of our noses.” Views: 1 034
What happens when an anxious girl stumbles into a time machine? Will she overcome her panic disorder as she grapples with the implications of going back in time and saving her recently deceased Aunt? Or will her mental illness prevail?I rolled back my neck in a feeble attempt to take it all in, but the shimmering metallic tower was too tall to perceive. “What are you?” This -- this was like nothing I ever seen before, and I was more than familiar with these trails. These hikes were like a Xanax for me. After every single panic attack, since high school, I have explored this forest, which has added up to more non-work/school time in the forest than everywhere else. Panic attacks were the way I related to world. And yet, despite all this woodsy exposure, up until that day, my most majestic woodland spotting was a mother helping a newborn deer take its first steps, which was pretty significant for me. But this -- this was something else. Something that kept me tongue tied and stupid. Standing next to it, I was nothing more than a speck of dust. I was just a girl, my singularity emphasized by nineteen years of timid experiences. I had nothing in my life to prepare myself for something unworldly. Or at least it seemed unworldly with it’s one, majestic aesthetic. Two, sudden appearance. And three, my fantastical impressionability. I mean, I walked down these woods just the other day and there was nothing here but forest. My black hair wrapped around my neck like a noose. I kept scratching the back of my scalp, nervous tic, as I followed the sun’s beaming rays, pointing towards a metallic door. I was small, frail even, scared and stupid, stupid, stupid. For no rational reason at all I needed to know what was inside. Pushing the metal door open with my bare hands, I yelped and jerked my hand away. “Fuck!”The radiating burn centered around my palm and went up my arm. I groaned once and then groaned again. The burn was painful but what hurt even more was the pressing reality. I really hoped that I was dreaming, but that hurt too much to be a dream. I choked on my breath as I looked up, into the sunny sky. I wanted to run back to my parent's house; I wanted to snuggle in my space where everything was calm and quiet. But, as I remembered what the next day will bring, I felt a contradictory pull towards the tower. For my family, the following day, was a day of mourning. First, my Aunt died a sudden death, defiling my home. Then, this out-of-place tower tripped up my woodsy sanctuary. Without the safety of what I knew, I went with what I wanted to know. I figured that walking right into my panic was a new self-destruction, and that gave me a little joy. El -- myself -- has been such a nuisance lately. The panic attack that brought on this hike was brought on by my first year of college. Like clockwork, it ended without me making one friend. El’s timidity is the thorn of my existence. I figured I could give her some payback and actually learn something. For that brief moment I thought I could handle knowledge. I said a little prayer, covered my palms with my sleeves, and opened the door. Views: 1 033
Mature Content Warning Recommended for ages 17+ due to language and sexual content. Not all men with a six-pack and a killer smile are man whores... Not all men with panty dropping charm and full lips know how to bed a woman, and not all men with broad shoulders and straight teeth can promise wild, multiple orgasming sex. Jesse O'Ryan was everything I could have wanted... When he walked into the bar, my hunt for a crazy one-night stand had come to an end. I wanted him-all of him, but when I got him, it wasn't at all what I expected. Novels describe men like Jesse to be dripping with sex. He was supposed to know where to put his hands, his mouth his tongue and...everything else. It was then I realized my life wasn't a novel, sadly, not every hero was good in bed... To be good in bed you need to practice. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day. To get the happy ending I needed (pun intended) Jesse O'Ryan was about to become my naughtiest little project. Views: 1 032
From NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Chris d'Lacey comes a brand-new action-adventure series!
When Michael Malone discovers his supernatural ability to alter reality, he is recruited by an organization dedicated to investigating strange and paranormal phenomena. He joins in hopes of finding his father, who mysteriously vanished three years earlier. Michael's first task is to solve the mystery of a dog he rescued from a precarious clifftop - a mystery that leads him to a strange and sickly classmate and a young girl who was killed in a devastating accident. Stakes are high as Michael learns to harness his newfound ability and uncover the deadly truth about his father's disappearance.
A bold and thrilling tale of alternate realities, paranormal mystery, and extraordinary adventure.*
Views: 1 032
In this seventy-five-page novella from the world of Erin Hunter's #1 nationally bestselling Warriors series, discover the story behind Tigerclaw's rise to power as leader of ShadowClan.
Cast out of ThunderClan as a traitor, Tigerclaw will not rest until he has his revenge on Bluestar, Fireheart, and the rest of his former Clanmates. But first he must become Tigerstar of ShadowClan....
Readers will be thrilled at this look into the ruthless heart of one of the most infamous cats in the Warriors series. Views: 1 031
Love is selfish...
My name is Blaire.
I'm the bad girl.
The other woman.
The one who never gets the guy in the end.
I'm the gold digger.
The bitch.
The one no one roots for.
The one you love to hate.
I hate myself too...
Everyone has a story. Are you ready for mine? Views: 1 031
Welcome to the January 2014 edition and fifteenth issue of Uncharted Frontier Ezine!This edition continues our serialized versions of Richard Lawrence's Merlin Saga and Christopher Ketcham's Zarathustra mythos, along with a new story from Allan Kaspar and poetry from John Grey!Welcome to the January 2014 edition and fifteenth issue of Uncharted Frontier Ezine!This edition continues our serialized versions of Richard Lawrence's Merlin Saga and Christopher Ketcham's Zarathustra mythos!Allan Kaspar provides a look into the world of Martin of Loriak (the assassin protagonist from his novel The Fox and The Dragon) with Escape from Falkonrest.John Grey returns with another fantastic poem, Breton and Tzara, The Dada Wars. We hope you enjoy our latest issue! Views: 1 031
What if your boyfriend was the world's biggest rockstar?
Sterling is crazy in love with Ethan. Not only is he the sweetest boy she's ever met, but he's an incredibly talented guitarist, singer, and songwriter. And since forever, he's believed he has what it takes to be a star.
When Ethan becomes an overnight sensation, he's thrown head-first into the glam world of celebrity-and so is Sterling. Before she knows it, she's attending red-carpet premieres, getting free designer clothes, and flying around the country to attend Ethan's monumental sold-out concerts.
It's a dream come true...but whose dream is Sterling living? And what do you do when "forever" comes to an end? Views: 1 030
Ysabelle
I love you.
Three words that can make or break you.
I thought I needed to find myself. I thought I wasn’t happy. I thought I needed more out of life.
I didn’t.
I’m more lost now than I was when I left. I have no answers, just endless amounts of questions. It was only a matter of time until the truth came to light. I never imagined it would change my entire life and everything I thought to be true.
It was all a game.
Except I wasn’t a player.
I was a pawn.
Sebastian
The end.
Two words that have several meanings. I never thought I’d lose her. But did I ever really have her…
Or did VIP?
Can love conquer all?
WARNING: Sex/language. Mature readers only. Views: 1 030
Having made a fortune, Thorn Dautry, the powerful bastard son of a duke, decides that he needs a wife. But to marry a lady, Thorn must acquire a gleaming, civilized façade, the specialty of Lady Xenobia India.
Exquisite, head-strong, and independent, India vows to make Thorn marriageable in just three weeks.
But neither Thorn nor India anticipate the forbidden passion that explodes between them.
Thorn will stop at nothing to make India his. Failure is not an option.
But there is only one thing that will make India his—the one thing Thorn can't afford to lose...
His fierce and lawless heart. Views: 1 029
