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The Withering by Oliver Phipps
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The Forty Rules of Love
Elif Shafak - 2009
Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams's search for Rumi and the dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams's lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realizes that Rumi's story mirrors her own and that Zahara—like Shams—has come to set her free.
Temp Girl
Haley Oliver - 2019
When she answered the intra-office memo on behalf of the snooty blonde down the hall, she only meant to spare her new boss a cruel rejection. He wasn't supposed to reply. And she shouldn’t have replied to his reply… …again…and again…and again. While Amanda has fallen head over heels for her billionaire boss, Owen Ridgemont, to him she's just the girl from the temp agency who sits at the front desk and files paperwork. What will happen when Owen learns that, rather than corresponding with the gorgeous blonde, he's been exchanging memos with his secretary? Amanda has a good idea where her well-meaning charade will leave her…. …unemployed and seriously heartbroken! Temp Girl is a 30K word story, the first in the Billionaire Secretarial Pool series. It is a sweet, clean, contemporary billionaire romance with inspirational and Christian themes of family, faith, and love. As always, it is clean and wholesome with a guaranteed happily ever after ending. This story may appeal to fans of authors such as Bree Livingston, Elana Johnson, Anne-Marie Meyer, Michelle Pennington, and Lorana Hoopes.
Nickel: A Romantic Suspense Novel (Blackwood Elements Book 9)
Elise Noble - 2020
What if the perfect man has been under her nose the whole time?Nickel is a standalone romantic suspense novel in the Blackwood Elements series - no cliffhanger!
New Life, New Land (I Am Proud To Be A Jew, #3)
Roberta Kagan - 2018
When Jewish Holocaust survivors Eidel and Dovid Levi arrive in the United States, they believe that their struggles are finally over. Both have suffered greatly under the Nazi reign and are ready to leave the past behind. They arrive in this new and different land filled with optimism for their future. However, acclimating into a new way of life can be challenging for immigrants. And, not only are they immigrants but they are Jewish. Although Jews are not being murdered in the United States, as they were under Hitler in Europe, the Levi’s will learn that America is not without anti-Semitism. Still, they go forth, with unfathomable courage. In New Life, New Land, this young couple will face the trials and tribulations of becoming Americans and building a home for themselves and their children that will follow them.
Western Song
Leigh Podgorski - 2017
The day after the accident, while going through Cod’s papers, lawyer Wynona Vasquez discovers that he had been secretly engaged to a Thai immigrant who is arriving by train that evening. Elected by unanimous decision to be the welcoming committee, Weston arrives at the train station prepared for anything but the lovely forlorn creature he finds waiting in the rain. Though appearing waif-like, Song Phan-Rang is anything but fragile. Her mettle quickly rises to the surface in her determination to remain in Y-oh-ming. Forced together by their circumstances, Weston and Song are explosive. Used to solitude, Weston is driven crazy by the obliging Song. But as Song shows her prowess not only as a housekeeper and cook, but as a rider and rancher as well, Weston discovers that against his best efforts (and damned if he'll ever admit it) -- he's falling in love. The morning after the Christmas Cotillion, where cowboys by the dozen lined up for a dance with the exotic Song, and Weston wrangled the last one, she discovers her visa has expired. Pledging her Uncle Thieu's farm in Thailand as a dowry, Song asks Weston to marry her. Swearing that this is not a good idea at all -- he does. Song blossoms in America. Weston's sister Olive, a schoolteacher, helps Song with her English, and introduces her to the ideas of the Founding Fathers, most notably Tom Paine. Firebrand and activist Wynona employs Song in her office. Her first assignment is working with Shoshone shaman MAD BULL and Bull's young assistant, Jack Deerstalker as they fight a referendum that would allow gambling on their reservation. As winter melts into spring, Song and Weston continue to profess their marriage is simply one of convenience, though it is obvious to everybody that the two are in love. Obvious to everyone that is, but Jack Deerstalker who has fallen for her himself. One night as Weston returns earlier than expected from a rodeo, he finds Jack in his living room, alone with Song. Enraged, Weston explodes, throwing Jack out of the house. That night a fierce winter storm blows. The creek rises and floods, endangering thirty head of cattle caught on the other side. Song springs into action, riding side by side with Weston. When a baby calf slips into the icy creek, Song plunges in after it. Together, Weston and Song pull the animal free. Weston is knocked speechless by her bravery. Later, as he warms her by a roaring fire, Song and Weston make love for the first time. A few days later, Wynona and Song are introduced to the case of illegal immigrant Thai workers, forced to toil as slaves in the garment industry in El Segundo, California. Song becomes deeply involved with the workers and their plight – the search for a desperate promise of freedom. With her work, she discovers the power true freedom holds. But her work and growing sense of the true power of freedom begins to tear at the budding love between Weston and Song. Meanwhile, the referendum Jack, Wynona, and Song fought so hard against has been defeated. There will be no gambling on the reservation. Jack organizes a rodeo to raise money for an investment deal for the reservation. Weston agrees to ride – on one condition. Jack gets the bull, Baby Face that killed Cody.The night before the rodeo, Weston finds a letter Song has written to the garment workers she is helping. “We are, every one of us, entitled to a life with dignity. To life with honor. There are those who would attempt to steal our dignity, to seize our honor. But it is only when we allow this deepest core of our being to be ripped from us that we become enslaved. Remember, you, too, have been touched by God.”The next morning, Weston leaves for the rodeo without her. At the rodeo, in an eerie replay of Cody’s accident, the bull throws Weston. Song nurses Weston back to health, but still torn between freedom's power and her growing love, Song knows she must ultimately choose. Several weeks later, with Weston well on his way to mending, Song and Olive host a dinner party at Snowy Moon to celebrate Weston’s recovery. Along with Zeb, Jack Deerstalker and Mad Bull are there to join in the festivities. But in the middle of the revelry, the phone rings: it’s Jenny Chang and it’s about the case of the immigrant workers.Song knows she must go.The next day, Weston drives her to the train station.Returning to the ranch, Weston, still suffering from his injuries, limps painfully to the corral, and saddles up his horse. He rides across the rolling plains to the waterfall where he and Song had spent so much time in happier times now long gone by. Watching the water tumble by like his lost hope, suddenly, Weston picks up a stone, and fires it into the tumultuous fall. He whistles for his horse, and throws himself into the saddle.Across the plains, the train continues to roll. Inside, an uproar arises among the passengers. Song forces her way to the window. Outside, riding like hell, is Weston.Song’s heart begins to pound.And suddenly, she knows….Finally, she knows.Song grabs her suitcase, and elbows her way through the crowd.Before the train fully stops, she is bounding from the platform…and rushing into Weston’s arms.
Reflections Of A Man
Amari Soul - 2015
For the women, it encourages you to recognize the true value of your love, to reevaluate your standards and to make the decision that you will no longer settle for anything less than someone who loves you, respects you, and truly makes you happy. For the men, this book will, not only encourage you to learn more about the emotional needs of a woman, but it will provide you with clear insight into what a woman truly needs from you, emotionally, to be happy. Through beautiful words of poetry, powerful quotes and advice full of wisdom, Mr. Amari Soul creates a truly enlightening experience for both men and women with Reflections Of A Man. On one hand, women gain a new perspective on the true value of their love, raise their standards and refuse to settle. On the other hand, men become better equipped to, not only understand a woman’s emotional needs, but they are better able to meet or exceed their new standards as well.
Three Comrades
Erich Maria Remarque - 1936
On the outskirts of a large German city, three young men are earning a thin and precarious living. Fully armed young storm troopers swagger in the streets. Restlessness, poverty, and violence are everywhere. For these three, friendship is the only refuge from the chaos around them. Then the youngest of them falls in love, and brings into the group a young woman who will become a comrade as well, as they are all tested in ways they can never have imagined. . . .Written with the same overwhelming simplicity and directness that made All Quiet on the Western Front a classic, Three Comrades portrays the greatness of the human spirit, manifested through characters who must find the inner resources to live in a world they did not make, but must endure.
Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel
Linda Bennett Pennell - 2013
Lake City, Florida, June, 1930: Al Capone checks in for an unusually long stay at the Blanche Hotel, a nice enough joint for an insignificant little whistle stop. The following night, young Jack Blevins witnesses a body being dumped heralding the summer of violence to come. One-by-one, people controlling county vice activities swing from KKK ropes. No moonshine distributor, gaming operator, or brothel madam, black or white, is safe from the Klan's self-righteous vigilantism. Jack's older sister Meg, a waitress at the Blanche, and her fiancé, a sheriff’s deputy, discover reasons to believe the lynchings are cover for a much larger ambition than simply ridding the county of vice. Someone, possibly backed by Capone, has secret plans for filling the voids created by the killings. But as the body count grows and crosses burn, they come to realize this knowledge may get all of them killed. Gainesville, Florida, August, 2011: Liz Reams, an up and coming young academic specializing in the history of American crime, impulsively moves across the continent to follow a man who convinces her of his devotion yet refuses to say the three simple words I love you. Despite the entreaties of friends and family, she is attracted to edginess and a certain type of glamour in her men, both living and historical. Her personal life is an emotional roller coaster, but her career options suddenly blossom beyond all expectation, creating a very different type of stress. To deal with it all, Liz loses herself in her professional passion, original research into the life and times of her favorite bad boy, Al Capone. What she discovers about 1930’s summer of violence, and herself in the process, leaves her reeling at first and then changed forever.
Six Feet From Hell 1: Response
Joseph Coley - 2012
An EMT for thirteen years, he is used to responding to the sick and injured. The accident, however, has released a toxic gas that not only kills the living in close proximity, it reanimates the dead as well. With his family fifty miles away across the mountains of Southwest Virginia, he enlists some of his fellow EMTs and paramedics to join him so he can get home safely. In the first book of the Six Feet From Hell series, Joe has to fight through the chaos of the undead to make his way home, praying that his wife and son will still be alive when he gets there...
If It's Not Forever. It's Not Love.
Durjoy Datta - 2012
He is unhurt, but emotionally scarred. Haunted by the blast for many days, he seeks redemption. One day, while wandering near the blast site, he finds a half-burnt diary, written by someone who died on that fateful day.The burnt diary entrusts Deb with a strange responsibility - the last words of a dead man.Shrey, his best buddy since college, and Avantika, his girlfriend, unknowingly join him on his road trip, as he tries to put together the pieces of the dead guy's intriguing story.
Drew + Fable Forever
Monica Murphy - 2014
Fantasy. How I ended up with NFL player Drew Callahan, the guy every woman wants, is beyond my wildest dreams. All I know is that once he chose me as his one and only, I sure wasn’t looking back. I had past wounds and he showed patience and concern—even taking responsibility for my messed-up kid brother. Now, once again, he’s found a way to blow my mind: an exotic wedding and honeymoon miles and miles away from home. What else could a girl ever ask for? Reality. Now the honeymoon’s over. Drew’s football schedule takes him on the road constantly, while I need to stay put and look after my brother until he finishes high school—because God knows our sorry excuse for a mother won’t. I know Drew loves me with all his heart, and I’ll always be over the moon about him. This just isn’t how I imagined our life as newlyweds . . . dealing with the distance, missing him all the time. But we’ve gone through hard times before. We can get through this, too, right? We’re Drew and Fable, together forever. At least I hope so. . . .
Rival - The Complete Series: Part One, Part Two & Part Three
Miranda Dawson - 2015
One night a year-that's the time Amy Kendrick devotes to her love life. She uses it as a reminder that she's the one who's in control of her body and who she sleeps with. But this year's one-night stand doesn't go to plan. Instead of waking up next to last night's "date," Amy opens her eyes to see Matthew Bowers, the billionaire CEO of DataSource, standing over her wondering why the hell she is in his bed. Despite the unusual first meeting, Matthew offers her a job-one so good she can't possibly refuse. Amy cannot resist Matthew's charm, his good looks, or the sparks that fly between them whenever they're in the same room. She can't deny how he makes her feel, and soon her policy of one night a year turns into something much, much more. But if he knew what happened on July 26th, he'd never look at her the same. And if he gets any closer, he might just stumble upon that secret-and so many more.
The Cellar
Curtis Richardson - 2013
He discovers that he is the "guest" of a Confederate widow in whose dooryard his squad was ambushed. Ike worries about his sanity due to his memory loss and the constant commentary in his head from a fallen comrade who finds Ike's situation amusing. Ike soon learns that Mrs. Pendleton has wounds of her own and that her charity towards her visitor has limits and she has ulterior motives that could be hazardous to the young soldier as he fights for his life and his sanity in.....The Cellar.
The Long Shadow
Loretta Proctor - 2013
As the sun rose we began to see the sprawl of little Turkish houses clambering the steep slopes, painted in rosy pink, mauve, white, yellow, blue. The white domes of the Greek churches glistened in the fresh morning sunshine. The Long Shadow is compelling historical novel which tells the human story of the Eastern campaign in Salonika and will appeal to readers of The Island and The Thread. Fourteen-year-old Andrew discovers his mother's hidden diary at his grandmother's house during a Christmas holiday. His eyes are opened to a family secret when he reads about her time as a nurse on Salonika during the First World War, and the tragic love affair she had with his father, a Greek officer, who died in battle. Four years later Andrew is compelled to visit his father's country and trace his roots. What - and whom - he meets there will change his life forever. The Long Shadow is filled with descriptions of Greece and its people, dramatic images of battles and the terrible conditions endured by the allied armies fighting around Salonika. The Long Shadow illuminates a period of history not often featured in fiction and is highly topical as we approach the centenary of WW1 in 2014.
Justified: Part 1
Ali Parker - 2015
If you don't enjoy cliffhangers and partial reads for free, this might not be for you. I will be putting out the boxset super fast, which is the full story. ** 18+ Sexual Situations and Language Lust has always been the emotion of choice; love nothing more than a silly game played by delusional fools. Lisa Parks has been successful at everything she touches, her confidence her calling card. A recent move to Maine from New York is just the change of atmosphere she needs for a fresh start. With far too many mistakes in her past, her eyes remain focused on loving and leaving, her actions justified by far too many cracks in her damaged heart. Marc Martin is living the dream, his college being paid for and his sights set on great things. In a quick turnaround trip to help his older sister Kari move to Maine after heartbreak, Marc meets the woman that just might be his match. Lust has been a reoccurring theme in his life, and he has no plans of changing that. He is young and free, handsome and ready to set the world on fire, and finds that he is justified in breaking hearts everywhere he goes. Besides, love is a game played by many and truly won by few. No way would he ever consider settling down or letting someone into his heart. That is… until he meets Lisa.