When Sarah Cole finds herself in Chicago with two months to kill before her New York promotion goes through, she decides it’s time to take care of a few things—like the inconvenient issue of her virginity. Sarah knows the right guy for the job too: Max, the notorious lady’s man she’s been crushing on since college.
Max Brandt is all for a fling, just not with Sarah. She’s way too good for him. He walked away from her once, but it wasn’t easy.
Things are different now, and the plan is so simple. There’s no way either of them would do something as silly as fall in love… Views: 788
In sixth grade, bad things can happen to good kids. Bullies will find your weakness and jump on it. Teachers will say you did something wrong when really you didn't mean to do anything wrong. The kids who joke the loudest can drown out the quieter, nicer kids.
Maverick wants to change all that. One of the last things his father left him was a toy sheriff's badge, back when Maverick was little. Now he likes to carry it around to remind him of his dad -- and also to remind him to make school a better place for everyone . . . even if that's a hard thing to do, especially when his own home life is falling apart.
The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade is a story about standing up for yourself -- and being a hero at home and in the halls of your school. Views: 788
In 1940, Evert Dax and David Sparsholt, two young men from very different backgrounds, meet at Oxford University. Dax is a second year student reading English, coming from a rackety upper middle class background; Sparsholt is from a humbler Midlands community and is reading engineering, a young man whose good looks and fine figure have proved highly attractive to his peers.
This time is a unique one in the history of the university: with military call-up at twenty, soon brought forward to nineteen, almost all students come up to Oxford knowing that they will only have a year or so of study. A sense of futility is mixed with one of recklessness. All life after dusk is lived under black-out, encouraging and covering what would normally be impossible liaisons. What happens to these two men in this year will affect many lives and will set in motion the mystery at the heart of The Sparsholt Affair.
Alan Hollinghurst's masterly novel takes us through several generations and across key periods of uncertainty and change in British society. From the darkest days of the Second World War, it moves to the changing world of the a socially and sexually liberated London of the 1960s, before landing in the mid-1970s, with the three-day week, fuel shortages and power cuts. The reverberations continue through the next generation in the 1990s before reaching a conclusion in the present decade, a world of new media and new ideas.
Throughout the novel there is also an examination of the visual and aesthetic, looking at what it is to be Modern, through modernist architecture and abstract painting: we witness buildings being destroyed and replaced; we watch works of art go in and out of fashion.
Featuring a remarkable cast of characters, The Sparsholt Affair is both thought-provoking and highly entertaining, a novel in which children are connected by the acts of their parents and individuals are both damaged and saved by the changing attitudes to sexuality, privacy and intimacy. Views: 788
`It is better to be feared than loved' - Niccolo Machiavelli
In the bear pit of renaissance politics, a young Florentine diplomat finds himself first hand observer on the history's most notorious family - the Borgias.
In the Name of the Family - as Blood and Beauty did before - holds up a mirror to a turbulent moment of history, sweeping aside the myths to bring alive the real Borgia family; complicated, brutal, passionate and glorious. Here is a thrilling exploration of the House of Borgia's doomed years, in the company of a young diplomat named Niccolo Machiavelli.
It is 1502 and Rodrigo Borgia, a self-confessed womaniser and master of political corruption is now on the Papal throne as Alexander VI. His daughter Lucrezia, aged twenty-two, already thrice married and a pawn in her father's plans, is discovering her own power. And then there is Cesare Borgia: brilliant, ruthless and increasingly unstable; it is his relationship with the diplomat Machiavelli which offers a master class on the dark arts of power and politics. What Machiavelli learns will go on to inform his great work of modern politics, The Prince.
But while the pope rails against old age and his son's increasing maverick behavior it is Lucrezia who will become the Borgia survivor: taking on her enemies and creating her own place in history.
Conjuring up the past in all its complexity, horror and pleasures, In The Name of the Family confirms Sarah Dunant's place as the leading novelist of the Renaissance and one of the most acclaimed historical fiction writers of our age. Views: 787
Annalise Sutter is a newly Turned shifter determined to get her life back on track. The problem? Her inner panther is a monster that attacks anything that breathes. She’s had to let go of her old life completely to protect the people she loves, and the one thing that has kept her steady through this transition is Jaxon Barns. They’ve been texting for months, but he’s anti-shifter and she can’t tell him what she has become. When a spot on a notoriously private panther crew comes up, she jumps at the opportunity to pledge in desperation to get her animal under control. Too bad that means leaving Jaxon behind, because what human is going to put up with an out of control shifter who lives way out in the boonies?
Jaxon Barns is harboring two things—a massive grizzly in his middle and an equally big chip on his shoulder about being born a shifter. He grew up in the Gray Back Crew, but can’t seem to settle down long enough to stay in one place. The only thing that eases the ache of being a rogue are the text messages that come from Annalise. She feels like the only real thing in his life, and when she disappears mysteriously one day, he knows something has gone really wrong. Now he’ll have to track her to panther territory to save her from herself.
But maybe the panther inside of her isn’t the biggest danger to Annalise’s safety anymore. Perhaps now, the biggest threat to her future…is him.
Content Warning: Explicit love scenes, naughty language, and piles of sexy shifter secrets. Intended for mature audiences. Views: 787
Marcus is in love with a waitress (or at least he thinks he is) of his local town restaurant. He gathers up some courage and walks up to her, but what he gets to know about her, doesn't only change his perspective on women but also his life (or does it stay the same?).......Kaleb Blackman and the Knox Twins are big time, the best that Langston Reigns Middle School has to offer. Like most boys, they love the spotlight, totally ambitious, yet unaware of the many vices that often come with it. In what has become a way of life all too familiar where the three boys have grown up, their story will determine if their loss was in vein. If they are indeed destined to overcome the stereotypes, the peer pressures, and the trials determined to rip them apart, it’ll be because they stuck to their principles and by each other’s side. This is the journey of a friend, a son, and ultimately of a survivor. This is to remembering a life before everything became only a synthesis of color, before everything had a price, and when each child was truly a blank slate of potential. This is remembering a life, Before I Black. Views: 786
15 year-old Marie (Mercy) Grey is cursed, plagued to feel the anguished cry of the dying. They call to her in their suffering, she experiences their pain and ends it. This changes when the force within her drives her out of her hometown, and towards a young girl named Alex who doesn’t appear to be dying or outwardly suffering. Now Mercy is faced with a mystery that she must unravel.Life is pain. At least that is what 15 year-old Marie (Mercy) Grey has seen. She is cursed, plagued to feel the anguished cry of the dying. They call to her in their suffering, and she answers. She experiences their pain and ends it. This has been the norm for her since a child. This changes when the force within her drives her out of her hometown, and towards a young girl. For reasons unknown to her, Mercy stumbles across a girl named Alex who doesn’t appear to be dying or outwardly suffering. Now Mercy is faced with a mystery that she must unravel around the girl, about her own ‘gifts’, and that will challenge who she is. She’s been sent to help Alex, if only she knew how. Views: 786
Who ever thought that love could erupt just at a fringe of sight? Almost each person (mostly males) debate most on love at first sight. . .although such might be said; mine though begun with a single blink of my eyes. Do female angels exist? Why doesn't the bible mention anything to clear our conscious if really female angels do exist?Who ever thought that love could erupt just at a fringe of sight? Almost each person (mostly males) debate most on love at first sight. . .although such might be said; mine though begun with a single blink of my eyes. Do female angels exist? Why doesn't the bible mention anything to clear our conscious if really female angels do exist? All we get to read about is Angel Micheal, Angel Gabriel, and Angel Lucifer. I guess female angels are divine, and might even be among us. And sure worth the search. Views: 786
This is a story about two sisters who love God, their family, and each other. Their creativity continually amazes Mom. They invent a new game called "Whack the Apple" which will give you belly laughs! Based on a true story involving apples and a twirling baton. Oh, the game takes practice...Paul Charles also writes spy novels as P. C. Dettman. Views: 786
A short man can still be a hit with the ladies if he has sufficient width. That's all I'll tell you. Click the blue below to see why. Here it suffices to say that the story is short and free. Why read a summary when with little more effort you can read the whole thing? If you can't spare a moment more, you shouldn't be wasting time reading fiction anyway. Go back to work!"One can not judge a book by its cover." So we are told. But a cover is usually the only thing a reader has to base a judgment on. Smashwords tries to aid readers by providing summaries, one short, one long, for each book it distributes. For non-fiction this works well. But this, it seems to me, defeats the whole purpose of fiction. After all, one reads a story to find out what will happen. It’s the uncommon twists and turns that make a story interesting. But if a summary has told all this beforehand, what fun is to be had in the reading? Therefore, no summary of the present short story is given. It's short and it’s free! So read the whole thing and see if you like it. I ask you to do this because I think it is the best book judging method. To find fiction you like you must first read around enough to learn something of the style and stories of different authors. Then you can judge books, not by their cover, but by the your opinion of the writer. I'd like to help you do this. The present short story is one of several which I will make available free at Smashwords. Read a few (or all of them) and decide if you like them. It won't cost you a dime. If you like them, you can then purchase some of my not free (but still inexpensive) longer stories. All these stories are of one particular kind. To reflect this similarity all have the same cover picture, the Kitty & Rose shown above. So after you’ve read a few, you can, in fact, judge them by their cover. The common theme of the Kitty & Rose stories is human sexuality. This is not unusual. Most fiction concerns sex in one way or another; ranging from romances so sedate and demure an extraterrestrial could never know sex is at the root of everything described, to erotica so unrestricted even an extraterrestrial might blush. Kitty & Rose stories are in the middle of this range. All deal with human sexuality, but none do so explicitly. Rather, they are seemly. The dictionary gives three meanings for seemly: Attractive or agreeably fashioned; Decorous or conventionally proper; and Appropriate or suited to its purpose. With respect to appropriateness, seemly sex stories range from the humorous to the inspirational, but all concern human sexuality. So they are clearly appropriate. These stories are also seemly in the decorous and conventionally proper sense. For, while they treat sex candidly, they do not do so graphically. There is nothing pornographic nor erotic in any seemly sex story. Of course, different persons’ opinions about this may differ. A few consider frank pornography decorous. At the opposite extreme are those like the abbot of the monastery where the great biologist Gregor Mendel did his epochal research. This abbot thought Mendel’s studies were decidedly indecorous because they involved the sex of pea plants! Finally, there is the principal sense of seemly, attractive and agreeably fashioned. Like every author I exert my every effort and ability trying to make these stories seemly in this regard. But like every author, I must await your determination of the degree of my success. Since both of us will be pleased if you find them attractively seemly, I very much hope you do.Happy reading!BobbyBP.S. This is short story number three, uploaded 2-16-2017. Views: 786
New York Times-bestselling October Daye series - Hugo Award-winning author Seanan McGuire - "Top of my urban-paranormal series list!" --Felicia Day
Things are slow, and October "Toby" Daye couldn't be happier about that. The elf-shot cure has been approved, Arden Windermere is settling into her position as Queen in the Mists, and Toby doesn't have anything demanding her attention except for wedding planning and spending time with her family.
Maybe she should have realized that it was too good to last.
When Toby's mother, Amandine, appears on her doorstep with a demand for help, refusing her seems like the right thing to do...until Amandine starts taking hostages, and everything changes. Now Toby doesn't have a choice about whether or not she does as her mother asks. Not with Jazz and Tybalt's lives hanging in the balance. But who could possibly help her find a pureblood she's never met, one who's been missing for over a hundred years?
Enter Simon Torquill, elf-shot enemy turned awakened, uneasy ally. Together, the two of them must try to solve one of the greatest mysteries in the Mists: what happened to Amandine's oldest daughter, August, who disappeared in 1906.
This is one missing person case Toby can't afford to get wrong. Views: 785
Ainsley O’Leary is so ready to get married—she’s even found the engagement ring her boyfriend has stashed away. What she doesn’t anticipate is being blindsided by a breakup he chronicles in a blog…which (of course) goes viral. Devastated and humiliated, Ainsley turns to her older half sister, Kate, who’s struggling with a sudden loss of her own.
Kate’s always been the poised, self-assured sister, but becoming a newlywed—and a widow—in the space of four months overwhelms her. Though the sisters were never close, she starts to confide in Ainsley, especially when she learns her late husband was keeping a secret from her.
Despite the murky blended-family dynamic that’s always separated them, Ainsley's and Kate’s heartaches bind their summer together when they come to terms with the inevitable imperfection of relationships and family—and the possibility of one day finding love again. Views: 784
Sandy breaks a neighbor's window with a water balloon. He lies to his mother and tells her that he heard the neighborhood bully outside his window. The bully threatens to lie Sandy down like a dog. Friendly intervention saves Sandy, but not from his mother's chagrin and disappointment.Bagel Soup comics are an eclectic mix of social commentary, sight gags, horrible puns, and the occasional peek at genuine cleverness. With chapters ranging from Depressants, Religion, Relationshipping, Sex, and, aptly, Animals, Food, Fists, Balls, and Butts, this collection has something for everyone to laugh and be mildly offended over. It's cute, cutting, groaning, clever, and consistently inconsistently. After surviving a long battle with sense of humor cancer, Koesters' Bagel Soup sprung out of the ashes of bad cooking to become something whereby he figured he could do the least damage to society. (I mean, who doesn't enjoy a laughing? ) Though he'll be the first to say he can't draw, you may agree, Bagel Soup is good for wasting your time and provides healthy eye laughter. Enjoy. Views: 784
Originally found in the Married. Wait! What? Anthology
Saved from a wife auction that would have left her at the mercy of a madman, Priscilla wakes up married to three space pirates on a ship called Malice. They are rough but honorable men who carry secrets and years of pain. Priscilla isn’t sure how she will fit in their life.
River, Jordan, and Bo have made their way alone in the universe for twenty years. They know the young woman with them now is new to their world so they offer her an option—three weeks to get to know them and want to stay or they will let her go. They will find love or part, never to see each other again.
Warning: This is a stand-alone story in the Wings of Artemis series that does not fall within the overall storyline of the world. It can be read on its own. Reverse Harem, Intense. Views: 784
