Four light humour short stories, perfect for a rainy day or boring journey. Start your day off with a smile from this free ebook.This is the companion teacher's guide to The Secret in the Hidden Cave, a middle grade novel for children ages 9 - 12. The questions, discussion prompts and activities were created by the author, a 30 year veteran teacher. This teacher's guide is appropriate for use in public, private and home school settings and may be reproduced or condensed as deemed necessary. There are over 130 choices which can be modified to meet the teacher's needs or objectives. The activities cover musical, artistic, spoken and written categories. Views: 638
Sequel to Strawberries for DessertPart of the Coda Series Families should grow, not shrink. It's been on Jon Kechter's mind since before he tied the knot with his millionaire lover, Cole Fenton. Now hoping to adopt, Jon and Cole search for a mother-to-be willing to let them love her baby, but the interminable wait is wearing on them both. Jon is close to his father, George, but until Cole, he didn’t have anyone else. Now George is pushing Cole to reconcile with his estranged mother. When the three of them spend Christmas with her in Munich, the results are disastrous. Jon and Cole resolve to stay positive, but no hope exists without a tinge of fear. Jon and Cole can’t help but wonder if their dream of being parents just wasn’t meant to be.Review"It's one of my favorite m/m series out there. And this book is a continuation of a story that I already loved." - The Armchair Reader"Sexton took one of her beloved gems and simply polished it, making it shine greater and become more precious to readers." - Under the Covers Book Blog"There is so much joy to be found at the end of this story, though, that it was almost easy to forget my heart was in a vice grip the entire way through. And it was so worth it." - The Novel Approach "Just wonderful and highly recommended." - Joyfully Jay About the AuthorMarie Sexton lives in Colorado. She's a fan of just about anything that involves muscular young men piling on top of each other. In particular, she loves the Denver Broncos and enjoys going to the games with her husband. Her imaginary friends often tag along. Marie has one daughter, two cats, and one dog, all of whom seem bent on destroying what remains of her sanity. She loves them anyway. Views: 637
When worlds collide the price can be fatal ... The eighties and Nick is a London-based widower with a two-year-old daughter. He begins a relationship with Eamon, a gay teacher from Paris and the odds are already against them. But they are about to be tested in ways they could never have imagined. Soon they’re entangled in the dangerous world of drugs, porn and even murder. How can they survive?When worlds collide the price can be fatal ... It’s the eighties and Nick is a young London-based widower with a respectable banking job and a demanding two-year-old daughter whom he adores. Still reeling from the death of his beloved wife, Nick wants nothing more than to honour her memory by bringing up his daughter in a safe and loving home. When he begins an unlikely relationship with Eamon, a gay teacher visiting from Paris, the odds are already against them. But Eamon has a rather chequered past and the couple are about to be tested in ways they could never have imagined. Soon they are thrown into the unwelcome and often cruel world of drug dealing, pornography, turf wars, international money laundering and murder, and it will take all their strength and courage to protect themselves and those they love. From suburbia, to London’s east end and the seedy Parisian underground, Chasing Rainbows charts the journey of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.. Views: 631
World of Aquatica: When a foolish dare goes horribly wrong, a human has more than one eye-opening experience.
Tyrone has walked—or swam—the Earth a lot of years. Most of that time he’s spent alone. Working with dozens of other marine shifters at World of Aquatica finally brings him close to others that are sort of his kind—they’re marine shifters, anyway. He works security, seeing as he can’t be in an exhibit because, technically, his kind are supposed to be extinct. When he spots a skinny human shoplifting, he catches him... and realizes the man—Braylon—is his mate. Tyrone convinces his boss and alpha not to call the police. Instead, they give Braylon several shifts of cleaning the park as a sort of community service. During that time, Tyrone has to go about doing something he hasn’t had to do in over four hundred years of life. Can he figure out how to woo a human so very different from himself? Views: 625
Jonathon Pfister's life has settled into a maudlin existence since the death of Greg, his lover of seventeen years. But Greg's daughter Jeana has decided she's had enough, so she rents a small apartment in Vienna for him as a Father's Day present. Jonathon agrees to go, against his better judgment.Surprisingly, Jonathon finds the change of scenery refreshing, and he even makes a young friend in Hans, his landlady's son. Then Hans's older brother returns home, and Jonathon begins to truly awaken. Fabian touches something inside him, especially when the younger man takes it upon himself to woo Jonathon in full Viennese style, with a waltz. But shadows of the past and expectations for the future loom over them both and will have to be banished for their lovers' dance to stay in step. Views: 621
An embattled author. Fanatical parents. A son who can't stay out of trouble. It's the last one that'll probably kill him.When Emery Hazard gets drawn into a brawl at a monthly school board meeting, he knows he's in trouble; his husband, John-Henry Somerset, is chief of police, and they're already under enough scrutiny as they try to finalize their foster son's permanency plan.Hazard's actions, however, have an unexpected consequence: a woman shows up at his office the next day, and she wants to hire him to protect her mother. Loretta Ames is a famous—and famously troublesome—author, and a string of recent attempts on her life suggests that someone is determined to get rid of her. Under pressure from his assistant, Hazard takes the job, assuming that it will be two days of babysitting before Loretta returns to New York.Her murder changes everything. To find the killer, Hazard and Somers will enter a murky world of concerned... Views: 619
A collection of eight short stories themed on love, death and the boundaries between. Previously published and new unpublished stories exploring aspects of human dying from the murdered to the beautiful. The stories cover tragedy, horror, humor and poetry.A collection of eight short stories themed on love, death and the boundaries between. Previously published and new unpublished stories exploring aspects of human dying from the murdered to the beautiful. The stories cover tragedy, horror, humor and poetry. Some extracts: 'Art is not about harsh reality; it's about embellishment, hiding the truth. And eternity. Once painted a flower remains forever in bloom, a cornfield forever in sun. A woman's face forever beautiful.' 'He wasn't lying right. As he fell his right arm had twisted behind and caught underneath making him lop-sided. Sliding my surgical gloves on my hands I pulled his arms out so they spread in the usual position. Like Jesus on the cross the Standard had described a previous body, but it wasn't. These guys got nowhere near a cross. They were meat on the slab.''The boy stands and Jani's finger tightens on the trigger ready for the kill. But once upright he doesn't move, standing stock-still, arms by his sides. Jani once again trains the cross hairs on the face. The eyes are filled with defiance now, chin up. The boy slides his feet together then, slowly, lifts his arms out from his side, holds them wide and open, palms forward. A smile breaks on his face and he lifts closed eyes to the black sky. ''Daily I have visualized Cameron in front of me, tasted the saliva building in my mouth as my finger pulls the trigger. I watch him hit the ground, limbs splaying at odd angles, the plastic smile on his face, gone forever. They grab me, those around him, wrench the gun from my hand and wrestle me to the ground. I stay calm among the panic. My task done.''My name is Finn McIntyre. Finn, short for Finnegan. My eyes are different, the left one green, the right, a soft speckled brown, the color of walnut cake. From the age of twelve I read poetry and science journals and held a recorded IQ of 141 - the same as Benito Mussolini. Smart but weird, that's what kids at school used to say of me. Smart, but too goddamn weird. They only knew the half. ''When his world changed, Archie Middleman was sitting quietly on a garden bench thinking about petunias. The sun bathed his face, a breeze cooled his skin, a bird-feeder in the tree above swung gently under the force of a departing sparrow. A brief heaven for a weary gardener. As he looked up at the flight of the bird the summer sky exploded filling the air with bright vanilla light and a soft familiar two-word greeting fell like an axe through his skull.' Views: 606
For the past four years, Danni Singer’s had a crush on Darren Jacobs. Good-looking, popular, and star catcher of the varsity baseball team, Darren has it all. When a car accident turns his world upside down, Danni finally has the chance to get to know Darren and an unlikely friendship is born. Will they be able to overcome impossible odds or will the obstacles of the accident keep them apart?He's the most popular guy in school and she's the biggest nobody. One night, and one mistake, will change both of their lives forever. For the last four years, Danni Singer’s had a crush on Darren Jacobs. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to know she exists. That’s because he’s one of the most popular guys in school, and Danni’s a nobody. That’s the way it is and the way it’ll probably stay. At least that’s what she thinks until a car accident suddenly changes everything. Darren loses his arm, leaving Danni to wonder if she could still have feelings for him. Determined to find out, and perhaps driven by a morbid sense of curiosity, Danni visits him in the hospital. It turns out his arm isn’t the only thing he’s lost. All of the friends Darren once had are no where to be found. Danni knows the pain of being an outcast all too well, and she reaches out to Darren. In the days and weeks that follow, their unlikely friendship blossoms in to an even more unlikely romance. Being in love is never easy, but for this pair it’s harder than most. Still struggling to accept the loss of his arm, Darren sometimes pushes her away and they end up fighting a lot. When she isn’t fighting with Darren, she’s dealing with the jealousy of her friends and the pressure of always trying to convince Darren his disability doesn’t change her feelings for him. This definitely isn’t what she imagined when she dreamed of dating Darren Jacobs. The truth is this is better. Despite the disagreements with Darren and the fights with her friends, Danni and Darren have a real love for one another. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you think they will, but they always work out! Views: 590
