MURDER AT PLAY Bad girl turned detective Lorrayne Cavanaugh smelled a cover-up on the police force and began some secret sleuthing into a murder investigation. Her friend was accused of killing a young woman, and Lorrayne believed in his innocence. She never counted on the suspect's handsome older brother, Cole Garrison, to get in on her action.... Cole had once left town in a blaze of shame, but now he'd returned to save his younger brother from conviction. As Cole followed a trail of secrets, he found an obstinate -- and beautiful -- detective blocking his path. He and Lorrayne wanted justice and each other as a smoldering attraction pulled them together. But when the fire got too hot, would they survive to take the ultimate risk on love? Views: 44
It's three thousand miles from the green fields of glory, where Henry “call me Hank” Thompson once played California baseball, to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where the tenements are old, the rents are high, and the drunks are dirty. But now Hank is here, working as a bartender and taking care of a cat named Bud who is surely going to get him killed. It begins when Hank's neighbor, Russ, has to leave town in a rush and hands over Bud in a carrier. But it isn't until two Russians in tracksuits drag Hank over the bar at the joint where he works and beat him to a pulp that he starts to get the idea: Someone wants something from him. He just doesn't know what it is, where it is, or how to make them understand he doesn't have it. Within twenty-four hours Hank is running over rooftops, swinging his old aluminum bat for the sweet spot of a guy's head, playing hide and seek with the NYPD, riding the subway with a dead man at his side, and counting a whole lot of cash on a concrete floor. All because of two cowboys, two Russian mafia men, and some of the weirdest goons ever assembled in one place. All because of Bud. All because once, in another life, in another world, the only thing Hank wanted was to take third base—without getting caught.
"WOW! Brutal, visceral, violent, edgy and brilliant." Harlan Coben 2004 Views: 44
Tamar Robinson knows a lot about loss—more than any teenager should. Her younger sisters are dead, her parents are adrift in a sea of grief, and now Tamar is losing her hair. Nevertheless, she navigates her rocky life as best she can, not always with grace, but with her own brand of twisted humor. She joins the chess club with her friend Roy, earns a part in the school production of The Wizard of Oz, buys an awesome wig, lands a crappy job, gets invited to the prom (by three different guys!) and helps her parents re-enter the land of the living. What Tamar lacks in tact (and hair), she makes up for in sheer tenacity. Views: 44
Erotic Romance Serial Novel | ~15,000 words | Part 3 of 5"There is more than one way to be strong, Julia. You know one of them, I can teach you the other."With Julia's company weeks away from falling into the hands of her rival, Valerie James, things can't possibly get worse.But Julia's father's condition is worsening and she finds herself at wit's end. Now that her father's life on the line, her relationship with Mark worsens.Can she find a way to let Mark in and work together to save not just her company, but herself as well?Excerpt:“Mark, I’m exhausted,” I gasp. “Mentally, physically, emotionally exhausted.”“Sit down,” He responds sternly. I obey in an instant, plopping down beside him.“You could have stopped our deal at any time. I’ve given you chance after chance to say you don’t want to submit to me. But every time you continue to give yourself to my instructions, my desires and directions. Every time you keep the deal. Do you know why I even offered you our deal?” He looks directly at me; his beautiful eyes trying to make contact with my soul. For a moment I feel myself opening to him and then before I can speak, the hard protective shell covers my heart and mouth.“Oh, I don’t know. Free sex for a change?”“I’ve paid for a lot of things in this world, but I’ve never had to pay for sex,” he counters, batting away my bitter retort like a horse swats a fly. Even when I don’t want him to be, he’s perfect.“Because I’m so hot?” I ask disagreeably.“Because you are so sad,” He says, all humor falling from the sky. “So lonely, so…lost.”“That’s not your business.”“I think it is. I’ve watched you bully employees, push your weight around, shut out honest offers of friendship and stoke the fires of rage and regret. Lynx isn’t a job; it’s a battle ground where you pit your passion and talent against anything you can find. You win. You always win because you give it everything you have, and you have so much. So when I saw you in my office that day, ready to tear the building apart with your bare hands, I knew you needed help.”“Of course I needed help, Mark, I was robbed.”“Not help with Lynx. Help with life. Help with love. I knew you needed at least one person in your life who was willing to tell you ‘no’. You need someone gentle enough to listen and strong enough to give you direction. You didn’t just need another man to push against. You needed a man who wouldn’t be pushed and who would give you the freedom to accept what’s given to you, not just the ability to get what you want. You need submission, Julia. It’s not just a game, it’s a gift. For both of us.”The hot stinging tears forming in the corner of my eye threaten to fall. I stare at the ceiling, willing them back but it’s too late. I drop my head and try to look away but he puts his hand under my chin and catches my tears in his palm.“Don’t hide these,” he says, showing me small wet dots on his hand. “Tears are honest. Real. And they are part of you too. Don’t fight them. Let them fall.”I try to push his hand away but he brings it back, holding my shoulders then brushing my hair off my forehead.“You don’t understand,” I gurgle. “You’ve never needed anything in your whole life.”“That’s not true. I have needs, just like everyone,” he says quietly.“Really?” I pull myself back, forcing him to lower his hands from my face and drop them to my shoulders. “Name one thing you have ever needed.”Mark reaches up and lets his finger run across my cheek following the path of my tears. He looks directly at me, no distraction, no diversion, just truth.“I need you.” Views: 44
A radiant family saga set in a century of Mexican history, by one of the world's greatest writers.Carlos Fuentes's hope-filled new novel sees the twentieth century through the eyes of Laura D'az, a woman who becomes as much a part of our history as of the Mexican history she observes and helps to create. Born in 1898, this extraordinary woman grows into a wife and mother, becomes the lover of great men, and, before her death in 1972, is celebrated as a politically committed artist. A complicated and alluring heroine, she lives a happy life despite the tragedies and losses she experiences, for she has borne witness to great changes in her country's life, and she has loved and understood with unflinching honesty.In his most important novel in decades, Carlos Fuentes has created a world filled with brilliantly colored scenes and heartbreaking dramas. The result is a novel of subtle, penetrating insight and immense power. Views: 44
Poppy Stone is restless. Working at an art gallery and barley able to make ends meet, she is growing tired of life. She knows that there is something out there for her, something more. She begins to search for the father that she never knew and tries to reform a relationship with her estranged mother. As she searches for her father, she learns a secret about her past that could shatter her world as she knows it. As she confronts her past, all her friends will be at her side. David, Orlando, Honey, Jose, Karma, Jason, Star, Alicia, Moe; the gangs all here. Poppy will need all the help she can get. When she learns the secrets within her past, they could be her undoing... Views: 44
Liz McCall has come to love running her father's vintage toyshop back home in East Aurora, NY, so when the Train and Toy Show comes to town, she's all aboard for a fun toy-filled weekend. The only hitch is that her childhood bully Craig McFadden, now local business rival, has set up a booth next to hers. But the fun and games are over when Craig falls from the ceiling in a publicity stunt gone wrong.What was initially thought to be a fatal accident proves much more sinister. Pulled into the case by her feelings for both Ken, the police chief, and Jack, her high school sweetheart whose brother is one the prime suspects, Liz dives headfirst into the investigation. But as she digs deeper, she's shocked to learn her father may have been the intended target.The trouble train is barreling down and Liz may have just bought herself a first class ticket in Murder on the Toy Town Express, Barbara Early's delightful second installment in her Vintage Toyshop mysteries. Views: 44
Faith Travers embarks on a dream vacation to California at the worst time in her life. A layoff at work precipitates her travels but her money cannot be refunded! Faith is all out of ‘faith’ when she meets Nick Constantine, the all too cheery tour guide who seems to be dead set on prying the travel guide out of her hands while taking one of his custom-made tours for her group of friends. Views: 44
In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders guides the reader through seven classic Russian short stories he's been teaching for twenty years as a professor in the prestigious Syracuse University graduate MFA creative writing program. Paired with stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, these essays are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it's more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. Saunders approaches each of these stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. For the process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is as much a craft as it is a quality of openness and a willingness to see the world through new eyes. Funny, frank, and rigorous, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain ultimately shows how great fiction can change a person's life and become a benchmark of one's moral and ethical... Views: 44
