The one thing missing was what she desired the most—a male counterpart equal to her in every way. Unfortunately for Gem, the world she was born into had a shortage of the alpha male she was dreaming of. Gemma lived in a time of restricted freedom and self-determination, which sadly for her also included an almost total lack of privacy and sexual liberty. The type of man she was looking for was completely out of fashion and possibly extinct. For a woman with a seemingly unquenchable libido, the laws and moral attitudes that repressed the natural interaction between men and women made her miserable. If she couldn’t find the man she wanted the old fashioned way, then perhaps the technology of the day would provide a suitable alternative. So began Gem’s quest for personal gratification. On the invitation of her platonic best friend, Gemma went underground to an exclusive sex club. Avoiding the eyes of the law, this was a place where virtual reality sex, and even artificial humans, were designed to provide almost any pleasure imaginable. Even still, Gemma's’ basic needs were not met. She hatched a new plan: if the man she really wanted didn’t exist then she would just have to make one.

    Can a couple of rural coppers and a demoralised ragbag of accountant soldiers intercept the two boys, before they blunder into an old firing range infested with unexploded ordnance?Moira can at least rely on two unlikely allies; her estranged African friend Dahlila, and Social Worker Mildred Pierce. Even so, the beast has picked up her trail; as the double pursuit races toward a terrifying climax, Hardcastle will have to tap every ounce of his wavering resolve in order to halt an unstoppable madman. Yet even murderers have mothers, and ultimately, it is love that must prevail; thanks in no small part to the inexhaustible optimism and humanity of four remarkable women...

    Hidden just beneath the surface are the STONES - green and still polished smooth - placed long ago by the Guardians. Still pulsating with power, they are about to bear witness to a great battle between light and darkness. Claire Drummond is in danger, her very life depends on the actions and help of her husband and family, as well as the man she thought had left her life for good, Tony Benning. Caught up once more in the heavy turmoil of good vs evil, Claire has much more to fight for than just a cluster of stones in the highlands of Scotland. This time it’s personal. This time Marcus Ryder has her daughter.

    If he fails, he risks his name being erased from the history of the tribes.With the support of his mother, a powerful witch whose name is whispered in fear across the lands of the tribes, the outcast Olise now seems unstoppable in achieving his goal.Facing overwhelming military might and dark forces that he cannot comprehend, Jide must either choose to ignore the warnings of the gods, and seek help from those who also practice dark arts; or risk losing his kingdom.

    A prequel to The Kanke Killings Trilogy.Grady Harp: Top Contributor: Children's BooksHALL OF FAME: TOP 100 REVIEWER4.0 out of 5 stars ‘Cases related to Maoist related insurgencies and killings’ – recipe for terror. With this fine introduction to Detective Rajiv, readers who become admirers of this unique man will likely proceed to the Trilogy. Grady Harp, November 21.' - Review by a Hall Of Fame Reviewer on Amazon.The year 2008 was the period of a global meltdown with enormous job losses and unexpected foreclosures of dwelling stock. This narrative is an intriguing thriller set in Bangalore - the IT capital of the world. It covers the story of three best friends working in diverse enterprises, a fiancé who sweeps one of these three friends off her feet, and an atrocious crime.This was the first major case of Police Inspector Rajiv, and there was a threat to his life as he burrowed into the riddle behind the wretched crime. There were numerous suspects and Rajiv laboriously cut through the conundrums to settle the biggest case in the nation's history.Read further to get entertained through this compelling plot full of twists and turns, a seething tension, and a detective who is at the suffering end of a gigantic web of a dated, mighty spiritual cult. Will Rajiv expose the conundrum and endure this murky and savage crime?Read more if you like Jack Reacher.This is not a novella or shorts. It is a comprehensive novel delving into one of the most illustrious cases of Police Inspector Rajiv. One can read this novel as a standalone.

    Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.Love, loss, friendship, and the betrayals of the past all collide in this first fiction novel from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren (Autoboyography, Dating You / Hating You).

    In this collection of his stories (each of which has a story behind it), you'll read about two retired spiritual leaders who experience a miracle in their nursing home, a gay relationship that must end between an American man and a Thai student, the astonishing adventures of an early mid-life failure, the thrilling chase one gay man undertakes for another intriguing, confusing, mysterious man, and a mind-blowing time-travel misadventure involving a man and a dog, as well as a few other surprises. This genre bending collection will captivate you. You might even enjoy the stories. Adam Carpenter Welles works in media in a major city in the Southeastern United States.

    It happened so quickly that the matter is now one of life and death; he has twenty-four weeks to live. Martin needs a relative for a donor, but his parents died in a car crash and he has no siblings or other close relatives. A mixed-raced man he casually met at Nandos, who later became a friend, volunteers to go for the test and is found to be a match. Though it is possible that someone from the general public can be a match, Leroy feels there is more to his relationship with Martin than just friendship. He begins his journey to unveil the power of DNA testing in light of today's medical science, tracing back to two hundred years ago and the slave trade. The result is shocking the whole world, showing that the stranger who crosses your path can possibly be related to you!This story is based on partly true events.

    in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go-Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.Another band getting noticed is The Six, led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

    Vashti has the best intimacy, best kisses, best sex of her life.

    Desires go out of control and wishes come true in wrong ways. Once captured, monsters and villains from Mong are sent to the prison of Nightmare. A hideous serial killer manages to break out of the jail into the real world, terrifying the earthlings. A reporter from an obscure magazine company hunts the killer doggedly. Or is it the other way around? He has to find the clues about the killer before his girlfriend becomes the next victim. Time is dashing forward. In desperation, the reporter decides to cross the border of no return and climbs down into Mong. Little did he know what's waiting for him at that murky place.

    . . the long, hot summer of 1996. . .. . . and in the dark of night, moving like a shadowy wraith, a vigilante prowls the city's streets.The targets of his bloody rampage: the worst of the worst.Murderers. Gangbangers. Rapists.Six months. Sixteen murders. The harried police are still without a clue . . .. . . until the day they receive an email from the assassin himself.Lieutenant Dave McCall, head of Montreal's Special Homicide Task Force, needs help to crack the secrets of the killer's taunting message. He calls on an expert--Chris Barry, who runs a security firm specializing in computer communications.Together, McCall and Barry launch a grim quest to track down a man who preys on predators--an urgent quest to bring this remorseless killer to justice.But whose justice will prevail: theirs--or the vigilante's?

    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.

    His life is in the hands of his mortal enemy who does the unthinkable…she saves him…in so many ways. Together the two must battle for survival against the harsh elements, deadly assassins and vicious animal attacks. But that’s only the beginning of their struggles.Once rescued, they must confront the bitter enmity that exists between their worlds, in addition to the dark family secrets threatening to destroy them. Bound by their deep bond, the two embark on a new odyssey where all forces have turned against them and are seeking their lives. But with the help of some shadowy mercenaries, the two just might make it to the throne of Novoxos to stake their royal claim and defeat their enemies.

    She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up — she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.