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Bittersweet

Once upon a time, Hudson knew exactly what her future looked like. Then a betrayal changed her life, and knocked her dreams to the ground. Now she’s a girl who doesn’t believe in second chances... a girl who stays under the radar by baking cupcakes at her mom’s diner and obsessing over what might have been. So when things start looking up and she has another shot at her dreams, Hudson is equal parts hopeful and terrified. Of course, this is also the moment a cute, sweet guy walks into her life... and starts serving up some seriously mixed signals. She’s got a lot on her plate, and for a girl who’s been burned before, risking it all is easier said than done. It’s time for Hudson to ask herself what she really wants, and how much she’s willing to sacrifice to get it. Because in a place where opportunities are fleeting, she knows this chance may very well be her last...
Views: 927

Sugar Daddy

Lisa Kleypas has enthralled millions of readers with her powerfully seductive novels. Now she delivers a story featuring her most unforgettable characters yet.... SHE'S FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS Liberty Jones has dreams and determination that will take her far away from Welcome, Texas---if she can keep her wild heart from ruling her mind. Hardy Cates sees Liberty as completely off-limits. His own ambitions are bigger than Welcome, and Liberty Jones is a complication he doesn't need. But something magical and potent draws them to each other, in a dangerous attraction that is stronger than both of them. HE'S THE ONE MAN SHE CAN'T HAVE When Hardy leaves town to pursue his plans, Liberty finds herself alone with a young sister to raise. Soon Liberty finds herself under the spell of a billionaire tycoon---a Sugar Daddy, one might say. But the relationship goes deeper than people think, and Liberty begins to discover secrets about her own family's past. WILL THEY FIND THEIR HEARTS' DESIRES OR WILL HEARTBREAK TEAR THEM APART? Two men. One woman. A choice that can make her or break her. A woman you'll root for every step of the way. A love story you'll never forget.
Views: 927

Defy the Dawn

Daywalker Brynne Kirkland survived a hellish upbringing as a product of a madman's lab. Tough, driven, and devoted to her work in law enforcement, Brynne has never dared to risk opening her heart to anyone--least of all a handsome immortal from a world on the verge of war against hers. Atlantean warrior Zael left the intrigue of his realm several lifetimes ago, along with the battles he fought as one of the queen's legion. As a free-spirited loner walking the fringe of two worlds--that of his secretive and powerful people, and the outside world belonging to mankind and the Breed--it was never his intention to return to combat and bloodshed. Nor had he imagined that he might ever be tempted into anything stronger than desire . . . until he meets Brynne. Thrust together as allies of the Order in the fight against a diabolical enemy, Zael and Brynne embark on a mission that will ultimately force them to decide between duty to their people, and a passion that defies all bounds.
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The Paradise Trap

An exuberant, roller-coaster family adventure with a mad-cap cast of all-too-believable characters experiencing their dream holidays and worst nightmares.
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A Very Singular Guild

Twelve-year-old Ned Roach used to scavenge for scraps along the Thames riverbank. But the recent plague of childeating bogles in London means that he's now working as an apprentice to Alfred Bunce, the bogler. Alongside Jem Barbary and (sometimes) Birdie McAdam, Ned must lure bogles out of their lairs so that Alfred can kill them. And this means spending a lot of time in the city's murky underground waterways-especially when Alfred is hired by the London Sewers Office to stamp out a deadly infestation. But times are changing. As magic and folklore give way to the machine age, Alfred begins to face an uncertain future-while Ned and his friends find themselves threatened by an enemy from their past who's even more dangerous than the bogles.
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The Edible Exile

Cuervo is a pampered Nicaraguan moneyman, funding a guerrilla war from his cushy Miami penthouse. Sixto is his hulking, pistol-packing attendant, whose job satisfaction is on the wane. When an aging mobster enters their lives with a promise to help the rebel cause-with a planeload of chickens originally intended for voodoo sacrifice-a tense situation turns combustible. From the wickedly funny mind of Carl Hiaasen comes "The Edible Exile," a raucous story of sleazeball nihilists, lovable thugs, and jungle-weary freedom fighters who collide in a battle of wills, ego, and the almighty dollar. This cheeky tale, written twenty-five years ago, set aside, and recently rediscovered, is a time-capsule glimpse of Miami during the over-the-top 1980s, when everyone was on the make and gross excess was the order of the day. In an intriguing twist, Hiaasen had lost his original ending to the story. "So I decided to write a new ending," he says. "As a friend said, 'How often does a writer get the opportunity to collaborate with a younger version of himself?'" "The Edible Exile" is a wild romp through Hiaasen Country, sure to appeal to the outlaw in all of us. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida, where he still lives with his incredibly tolerant family. He is the author of several bestselling novels, including "Strip Tease," "Stormy Weather," "Lucky You," "Sick Puppy," "Basket Case," "Skinny Dip," "Nature Girl," "Star Island," and, most recently, "Bad Monkey." He has also written a number of novels for young readers: "Hoot," "Flush," "Scat," and "Chomp." At age twenty-three, he joined the "Miami Herald" as a general assignment reporter and went on to work for the paper's weekly magazine and later its prizewinning investigations team. Since 1985, Hiaasen has been writing a regular column, which still appears most Sundays in the Herald's opinion-and-editorial section. "Dance of the Reptiles," a new collection of his columns, will be published in January 2014 by Vintage. PRAISE FOR CARL HIAASEN "A relentlessly sane voice in a hurricane of hypocrisy, hokum and hype." -Dave Barry "Does anyone remember what we did for fun before Hiaasen began turning out his satirical comedies?" -The San Francisco Chronicle "Carl Hiaasen isn't just Florida's sharpest satirist-he's one of the few funny writers left in the whole country . . . I think of him as a national treasure." -Newsweek "Hiaasen [is] a superb national satirist . . . A great American writer about the great American subjects of ambition, greed, vanity and disappointment." -Entertainment Weekly "No one writes about Florida with a more wicked sense of humor than Hiaasen." -USA Today "Hiaasen's wasteland is as retributive as Cormac McCarthy's, but funnier. . . . [His] pacing is impeccable, and the scenes follow one another like Lay's potato chips." -The New York Times Book Review "Recalls Twain and Chandler in its mingling of the cultured and the coarse ... The funniest writer around." -Sunday Times of London
Views: 927

Swann

Carol Shields's award-winning and critically acclaimed "literary mystery," first published in 1987.* Swann* is the story of four individuals who become entwined in the life of Mary Swann, a rural Canadian poet whose authentic and unique voice is discovered only hours before her husband hacks her to pieces.Who is Mary Swann? And how could she have produced these works of genius in almost complete isolation? Mysteriously, all traces of Swann's existence — her notebook, the first draft of her work, even her photograph — gradually vanish as the characters in this engrossing novel become caught up in their own concepts of who Mary Swann was. From the Trade Paperback edition.
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The Crazy Horse Electric Game

Willie Weaver used to be a hero. Now he's nothing.Willie is a top athlete, the star of the legendary game against Crazy Horse Electric. Then a freak accident robs him of his once-amazing physical talents. Betrayed by his family, his girlfriend, and his own body, Willie's on the run, penniless and terrified on the streets, where he must fight to rebuild both his body and his life.
Views: 926

A Summer Smile

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen comes a classic tale of thrilling adventure and unbound passion, as two people embark on a journey through terror and desire…. At twenty-one, Zilah Dabala has already survived a harrowing past. Now she’s convinced she can handle anything on her own—even being held hostage by a terrorist group. But Daniel is determined to rescue her. And soon their escape ignites an intimacy neither has ever known. Once Daniel learns Zilah’s tragic secret, however, he fears she may be lost to him forever. He’s defied death many times over—but can he teach a young woman the healing power of love? Daniel Seifert has spent his life on the edge of danger, carrying out high-risk security missions across the globe. But it’s more than adventure that compels him to tempt fate yet again—it’s a young woman in a photograph, a woman whose warm, wise-beyond-her-years smile gives Daniel the inexplicable feeling that he’s found something he’s been searching for all along.
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The Collected Stories of Heinrich Böll

The definitive short story collection by the Nobel Laureate and master of the form These diverse, psychologically rich, and morally profound stories explore the consequences of war on individuals and on an entire culture. The Collected Stories of Heinrich Böll provides readers with the only comprehensive collection by this master of the short-story form. Includes all the stories from Böll’s The Mad Dog, Eighteen Short Stories, The Casualty, and The Stories of Heinrich Böll. A Nobel Laureate, Böll was considered a master 20th century literature, and The Collected Stories of Heinrich Böll contains some of his finest work. From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Windmills of the Gods

A young professor of Eastern Europe studies and mother of two is appointed U. S. Ambassador to an Iron Curtain country. Mary Ashley soon discovers that someone is out to kill her. She must learn who the assassin is and the motive behind the contract.
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The Van

Jimmy Rabbitte Sr. is unemployed, spending his days alone and miserable. When his best friend, Bimbo, also gets laid off, they keep busy by being miserable together. Things seem to look up when they buy a decrepit fish-and-chip van and go into business, selling cheap grub to the drunk and the hungry—and keeping one step ahead of the environmental health officers.Set during the heady days of Ireland's brief, euphoric truimphs in the 1990 World cup, The Van is a tender and hilarious tale of male friendship and family life.
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My Uncle Oswald

**Meet Oswald Hendryks Cornelius, Roald Dahl's most disgraceful and extraordinary character . . . ** Aside from being thoroughly debauched, strikingly attractive and astonishingly wealthy, Uncle Oswald was the greatest bounder, bon vivant and fornicator of all time. In this instalment of his scorchingly frank memoirs he tells of his early career and erotic education at the hands of a number of enthusiastic teachers, of discovering the invigorating properties of the Sudanese Blister Beetle, and of the gorgeous Yasmin Howcomely, his electrifying partner in a most unusual series of thefts . . . 'Raunchy and cheeky entertainment' *Sunday Express* 'Immense fun' *Daily Telegraph* * * * *Roald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda,* and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, *Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales* by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today.
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The Parcel

‘The Parcel’ is a collaborative novella written by the attendees of the 2015 winter-term ‘Creative Writing – Intermediate’ ten-week class hosted by co-contributor Morgen Bailey. The authors wrote their chapters while knowing only the size, weight and destination address of the parcel, together with the chapters’ starting and ending locations – chosen by the authors themselves.‘The Parcel’ is a collaborative novella written by the attendees of the 2015 winter-term ‘Creative Writing – Intermediate’ ten-week class hosted by co-contributor Morgen Bailey.The authors wrote their chapters while knowing only the size, weight and destination address of the parcel, together with the chapters’ starting and ending locations – chosen by the authors themselves (some of whom have other books available here on Smashwords). They chose their own characters – the lead of which entitle each chapter – and plot.Morgen then collated the stories and made minor edits to turn each chapter into a cohesive novella before designing the cover and upload the finished package between weeks nine and ten of the course so all the contributing attendees left the course as published authors!We all hope that you enjoy reading this novella and that it feels seamless to you. We would love to know what you think and would also be very grateful if you left a review as an encouragement for others to read the novella.Thank you again for downloading this eBook – your support is much appreciated.
Views: 925