August Busch IV had everything -- or seemed to. In 2006, Busch became the chief executive of Anheuser-Busch, the sixth member of his family to control the legendary brewery. At age 42, Busch was handsome, wealthy, married to a beautiful woman, and running one of the biggest companies in America.Two years later, Busch lost control of Anheuser-Busch. Soon he was jobless, divorced, and struggling with alcohol and drugs. Then he woke to find his girlfriend, a waitress named Adrienne Martin, dead in his bed. From prize-winning novelist and former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, The Prince of Beers is the true story of the secrets, lies, addiction, and family dysfunction behind Martin's death and Busch's shocking downfall.Amazon.com ReviewThe Fourth was no Third, and he knew it. August Busch IV, the coked up, reckless son of August III, was a man-child whose love of expensive toys, drugs, and women helped drag down the family empire, Anheuser-Busch. Alex Berenson's aggressively reported story--part murder mystery, part Shakespearean tragedy--catches up with August the Fourth two years after his doomed 18-month reign as CEO of his family's company, which ended in 2008 when the 150-year-old family business fell into the hands of its Brazilian rival, InBev. Berenson, spy novelist, former New York Times reporter, and author of the Kindle Single Lost in Kandahar, dutifully cites the works of those who've covered similar ground, but focuses primarily on a girlfriend's mysterious death, revealing how hubris, hard living, and greed led to the foreign takeover of America's beer. Ultimately, The Prince of Beers is a father and son story. The Fourth's father was Anheuser-Busch's greatest modern leader, the brains behind Bud Light and the man responsible for making Budweiser a powerhouse. Like all the Busches, August III championed a chest-thumping family culture that valued competition, guns and fishing, and women and drinking--all of which, over the years, resulted in messy divorces, squandered millions, and shattered families. Maybe it was inevitable that one Busch would go too far. Two years after losing control of the company, The Fourth was worth $100 million but was jobless, struggling to shoulder the burden of losing the family business. He indulged in expensive cars, guns, drugs, and women, one of whom died at his mansion in 2010. Berenson uses the investigation of Adrienne Martin's death to profile a flawed and doomed son, his too-tough father, and the dethroning of the King of Beers. --Neal Thompson Views: 15
The second volume of Doris Lessing's extraordinary autobiography covers the years 1949-62, from her arrival in war-weary London with her son, Peter, and the manuscript for her first novel, The Grass is Singing, under her arm to the publication of her most famous work of fiction, The Golden Notebook. She describes how communism dominated the intellectual life of the 1950s and how she, like nearly all communists, became disillusioned with extreme and rhetorical politics and left communism behind. Evoking the bohemian days of a young writer and single mother, Lessing speaks openly about her writing process, her friends and lovers, her involvement in the theater, and her political activities. Walking in the Shade is an invaluable social history as well as Doris Lessing's Sentimental Education.** Views: 15
Blush sensuality level: This is a sweet romance (kisses only, no sexual content).Kelly Barr specializes in revitalizing old houses. Too bad she hasn't been able to do the same thing for her love life. So many men have let her down that she now has a list of dating rules.Just as she is about to give up completely and get a dog to fill the void, hunk Quinn Farrell walks into her life. He has just bought a crumbling Victorian house and wants her to help him renovate it. As they work together, she starts to hope he might measure up to her rules.Quinn is attracted to Kelly, but he is nursing his own wounds inflicted by the opposite sex. He's in the process of a divorce, but his soon-to-be-ex-wife has decided she's not ready to let him go and she's willing to fight dirty to keep him.Together Quinn and Kelly learn that every member of the opposite sex isn't out to hurt them and that true love doesn't always play by the rules. Views: 15
All the Broken Pieces is a contemporary romance novel and the third INTERCONNECTED STANDALONE novel in the Broken series. ***Due to coarse language and graphic sexual situations, this book is not intended for individuals under the age of 18.***
How far would you be willing to go for someone you love?
For Lauren Caldwell, the answer was: as far as necessary. She had done what she had to do to protect the one person who meant the most to her in the world—her uncle. She wasn’t proud of herself, but in the end, she had protected him just as he’d always protected her. A year later, a year of being ostracized in the small Virginia town she called home, she found herself helplessly watching her worst nightmare unfold.
She was alone.
Until a stranger became a friend who became the glue that might finally piece together the jagged fragments of her life, of her heart.
How far would you be willing to go for someone you love?
Brant Matthews never wanted to fall in love again; he had worked diligently to avoid emotional entanglements at all costs. He knew what it was to lose the one you loved, to fail them so irrevocably that the entire trajectory of your life shifted. But seeing the broken look in Lauren’s crystal-blue eyes, feeling that old pain flare anew and knowing from experience exactly how much she was hurting… he never stood a chance. She had him, whether she was ready to accept that or not.
And when her childhood tormentor set his sights on her once more, Brant knew exactly how far he would go to keep her safe.
He would die for her or kill for her.
There would be no middle ground. Views: 15
Having moved from the Fens to the Midlands to the Scottish Borders, Jessie Noon finds herself struggling to leave the past behind.Following a family tragedy, Jessie Noon moved from the Fens to the Midlands and now lives in the Scottish Borders with a cat, a dog and – she is convinced – a ghost in the spare room. Her husband walked out almost a year ago, leaving a note written in steam on the bathroom mirror, and Jessie hasn't seen her son for years. When Jessie meets Robert, a local outreach worker, they are drawn to one another and begin a relationship; meanwhile, Jessie has begun receiving messages telling her I'm on my way home.As a translator, Jessie worries over what seems like the terrible responsibility of choosing the right words. It isn't exactly a matter of life and death, said her husband, but Jessie knows otherwise. This is a novel about communication and miscommunication and lives hanging in the balance (a child going missing, a boy in a... Views: 15
Love, passion, and desire. It all begins with a kiss...A World Apart#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora RobertsA ravishing medieval Demon Slayer arrives in 20th century New York to brave a strange new world—and a man who will be her destiny.ImpossibleJill GregoryThe battle between two warring families becomes a battle of the sexes when a bewitching beauty finds herself kidnapped by her sworn enemy.Sealed With a KissRuth Ryan LanganHer father may have given her hand in marriage to a fearsome warlord, but it's his trusted warrior who captures her heart...Kiss Me, KateMarianne WillmanA lovely American inherits an English manor and her dreams of romance come true when she meets an enchanted prince. But is he her one true love? Views: 15
