That is until he meets the outspoken and cheerful Taichi. He tells Kohei that his hearing loss is not his fault. Taichi's words cut through Kohei's usual defense mechanisms and open his heart. More than friends, less than lovers, their relationship changes Kohei forever.

    Wild animals roam the streets, but mankind is still the biggest threat to a woman alone in the ruins of a world reclaimed by nature. Lynn survives by sleeping with one eye open at all times and trusting no one but her dog.When she is forced to go on a dangerous journey through the concrete jungle of New York City, Lynn does all she can to scheme her way to safety. Her guard, Dani Wilson, won’t be played that easily, however. As their lives become entwined, Lynn finds herself developing feelings for Dani and is forced to find the answer to the question that scares her most: is staying alone really the best way to survive?Fast-paced and full of adventure, Survival Instincts introduces a post-war dystopian world where the only person you can rely on is yourself…unless you fall in love.133,000 wordsThemes: adventure · dystopian · post-apocalyptic · survival · trust

    To her delight, the first person to greet her is also her favorite character, Claire Francois–the main antagonist of the story! Now, Rei is determined to romance Claire instead of the game’s male leads. But how will her villainous lady love react to this new courtship?!

    Forced to share a long journey home. Will they work together or pull each other apart? Rebecca is stuck in Portugal. All planes to England are grounded and it's only two days until Christmas. Desperate to get home but without money to hire a car; she's stuck. She sees an opportunity when she meets a snobby businesswoman with a broken leg, a platinum credit card, and a desire to get home. A tentative agreement is struck in order reach their destination before the festive deadline. Will they make it, or will they kill each other along the way? A heartwarming enemies to lovers romance with a twist. Discover The Road Ahead and make your own journey home today.

    A college student and aspiring writer, she devotes herself to a life of the mind--and to the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi, her best friend and comrade-in-arms. Lovers at school, the two young women now perform spoken-word poetry together in Dublin, where a journalist named Melissa spots their potential. Drawn into Melissa's orbit, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman's sophisticated home and tall, handsome husband. Private property, Frances believes, is a cultural evil--and Nick, a bored actor who never quite lived up to his potential, looks like patriarchy made flesh. But however amusing their flirtation seems at first, it gives way to a strange intimacy neither of them expect. As Frances tries to keep her life in check, her relationships increasingly resist her control: with Nick, with her difficult and unhappy father, and finally even with Bobbi. Desperate to reconcile herself to the desires and vulnerabilities of her body, Frances's intellectual certainties begin to yield to something new: a painful and disorienting way of living from moment to moment.Written with gem-like precision and probing intelligence, Conversations With Friends is wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth."

    He’s well-known online for his devotion and passion. That same passion also gets him in a bit of trouble, now and then, as it makes him an easy target for macho bullies who feel pop-idols may not be for men.Misaki is one of those guys who looks down on otaku. But he has a bit of a secret―he also likes idols. When Takumi uncovers Misaki’s secret, will Misaki embrace the otaku world, and does Takumi have what it takes to be Misaki’s idol?

    Their lives suddenly change with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself the widower of Yaichi's estranged gay twin, Ryoji. Mike is on a quest to explore Ryoji's past, and the family reluctantly but dutifully takes him in. What follows is an unprecedented and heartbreaking look at the state of a largely still-closeted Japanese gay culture: how it's been affected by the West, and how the next generation can change the preconceptions about it and prejudices against it.(Please note: This book is a traditional work of manga, and reads back to front and right to left.)

    She was just really busy; the design studio she and her brother owned was really starting to make a name for itself, and the work was just flying in. That was the only reason she didn't go out much, or really even keep in touch with her friends anymore. It had nothing to do with her ex; she wasn't hung up on Sarah, or afraid to get back out there. She wasn't.But when she found that Sarah was getting married to some guy named Roger, on a day where everything else was also wrong, somehow it became harder to pretend that she was fine. She let her brother drag her away from work, just this once, to this quirky hole in the wall he knew called the One Toothed Shark. It wasn't her kind of bar at all--but something about it kept her coming back anyway. It was probably the drinks. Or, maybe, it was Hayley, that stupidly charming bartender full of idiotic ideas and armed with impeccable instincts for making Cass laugh despite herself.... no, it was definitely the drinks, because Cassie Vasquez wasn't looking for love, and it was just ridiculous to think that Hayley, who was just being nice to one of her most awkward customers, was offering anything of the sort.

    Blake's an ambitious skeptic who thinks true love doesn't exist. Will these two very different women find a spark between them, or will it be a passing glance?Leia is creative and thoughtful, and when a chance encounter with Blake, a stranger, stirs something deep inside her, she believes it is the universe speaking to her soul.Blake, despite her success, feels something is missing from her life but disguises her discontentment with a tough façade, which keeps her from opening her heart.Will Blake and Leia be each other's missing piece, or will it turn out to just be a dream?Join Blake and Leia as they are swept into a journey of self-analysis and soul-searching that could change their perception of love forever.This is lesbian author Abigail Taylor's debut novel and part of the Looking for Love lesfic series.

    6, life is carefully choreographed. School, study, and the occasional visit with his friend and classmate Safu. One fateful day, however, he takes a misstep, sheltering an injured boy his age from a typhoon. Known only as Rat, this boy is a VC – a fugitive living outside the computerized tapestry of city control – and helping him will throw Shion’s life into chaos and start him down a path to discovering the appalling secrets behind the superficial perfection of No. 6.

    One day, he meets Mio, a high school student who recently lost his own parents and now spends his days sitting by the sea. The two young men begin to open up to each other...until Mio reveals that he's leaving. Three years later, an adult Mio returns to the island to confess his true feelings, but is Shun ready for a relationship?

    As someone who's always been teased for being a country bumpkin, he doesn't exactly have much in common with an extoverted city boy. But when Takara makes a move on him one day, Kyouhei can't get it out of his mind. Even though he can barely stand Takara, he can't help finding himself strangely drawn to him. But Kyouhei's not looking for a one night stand; he's looking for serious love!

    Written between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, with examinations of anxiety, death, first loves, and first lusts, Graffiti extends a hand to those undergoing the trials and uncertainty of teenagehood, and assures them they're not alone.

    No faces. No voices. No way to leave.Since Celeste has never really worried about being alone, the generous paycheck she’ll receive for her participation in the solitary psychological experiment seems like easy money.When she finds an injured hiker in the woods bordering her living compound, her strictly governed world is thrown into disarray. But even as she struggles with the morality of breaking the rules of the experiment, Celeste can’t deny her growing attraction to the kind and enigmatic Olivia Soldano. Still, how much can you really trust a stranger? And how much can you trust yourself when you know all the faces you’ve seen and voices you’ve heard for the past three years have only been your imagination?But what’s real? Celeste’s reality may lie somewhere between the absolute truth and a carefully constructed deception.Genre: RomanceEditor: Cath WalkerCover Designer: Judith Fellows

    He already looks pained, and Grantaire hasn't even opened his mouth yet. That's got to be a record, even for them."I need a favor," he says at last."With what?" says Grantaire. "Ooh, are you forming a cult? Can I join? I'd be awesome at cults, I just know it." He ticks off his qualifications on his fingers. "I love chanting, I look great in robes—"(High school AU. Grantaire the disaffected stoner is pulled into a cause bigger than himself. Or: in which there are pretend boyfriends for great justice.)Words: 185796 complete