She was an undercover FBI agent, as tough as nails and as sassy as they come. She led a lonely life, all due to a tragedy six years prior that forced her to draw away from anyone that meant something to her. Her job became her life, she took chances no one else would, but at least all her loved ones were kept alive. Ruark Greer decided she was his the moment he laid eyes on her and set motions in place to keep her returning to his club as his sub. Courtney was appalled when the bust was successful and found she had no other choice but to remain at the Club as a trainee sub. Yet, her fascination with the gorgeous hunky Master known as my Liege, grew and under his unyielding hands, she discovered a need she could not deny. Even though Courtney did her utmost to keep an emotional distance from him, Ruark refused to back down. No matter how many hard FBI Agents she controlled, in the Club she was a sassy submissive, yet sweetly vulnerable. He soon realized her defenses were keeping her on the fringe of her sexuality and living life to the fullest. Note: This book contains explicit sexual situations, graphic language, and material that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play, BDSM theme and elements. Excerpt Courtney was actually quite annoyed at the fact that she was under instruction from Ruark not to play. So, to get at least some action, she sassed Master Quinlan and ended up over a spanking bench, to receive ten strokes with a paddle. “Master Quinlan, is this a demonstration, or a punishment?” He was back! Oh shit! “Punishment, my Liege. She sassed me. She is due ten with the paddle.” “Is this her first punishment?” “No, second.” “Hmm … well, why don’t I take care of that for you?” “As you wish, my Liege.” She felt his hands on her hips, slowly stroking the seam of the denim short she was wearing. He walked to the front and slowly but deliberately tightened leather wrist cuffs around her wrists and hooked them to the steel shackles on the legs of the horse. He slowly lowered the front part of the bench and lifted the back part higher. Her ass was now sticking high into the air. He stroked his finger down her cheek and leaned down. “Now is it not luck I decided to come back early, little pet?” He walked back to the other side and she gasped when she felt him lift her hips and unzip her shorts. “These are in my way. They have to go.” “No!” No matter how she wiggled or tried to kick at him, he had her shorts off and threw them on her back. By the time he had her legs tied as well, she was breathless. She gasped when his large hand stroked over her ass. Her ass, sticking up in the air, with only a thong to cover her pussy! She moaned when his finger dipped beneath the thong and stroked over her labia. “Sweet and so wet, little pet. Not that I can see anything now, but from the glimpses I got at the Fashion show, you have a beautiful pussy.” She groaned and rested her forehead on the padded bench, her long hair like a curtain around her face. Suddenly his fingers were gone and stroked over her ass. “Beautiful. I can’t wait to whip that pussy of yours, my pet. Now tell me, why are you being punished?” “I-I sassed Master Quinlan.” She stammered, the thought of him whipping her pussy made her even wetter. “How?” “He told me to bend over and grab my ankles.

    Alma was born in 1910 in lower Davidson County, North Carolina—as she says, "fifteen miles south of Lexington, off number 8 Highway, between Newsom and High Rock, near Jackson Hill and Bald Mountain, in the backwoods of nowhere." The fifth of nine children, she lived with her mama and daddy, who were poor sharecroppers, in a small shack-like house on the edge of the large Reid farm that lay between Cabin Creek and Lick Creek on the Yadkin River. In her own words, Alma resurrects now forgotten times and places as she shares with us the everyday life of sharecroppers of the early 1900s. Through vivid descriptions she leads us through their daily customs, folklores and hardships. She speaks of how they had to make do with what they had and how the little that they had was treasured. At age twelve Alma's family left the sharecropping way of life and moved twenty miles north of the backwoods to Lexington, the county seat. In Lexington her life changed dramatically. First, her one room school was replaced with modern schools. Then, at a young age she entered the work place. The biggest change came in her late teens when she met and married Odell Henderson Owen, and in the years that followed, became the mother of eleven children. During the chaotic years of raising eleven children she never forgot her upbringing, how her mama and daddy had instilled in her the importance of family, church and community. Like her daddy, she worked hard, always putting her family's needs first. And in times of personal need, she sought strength through the church . The beauty of this book is in the voice of the book—Alma's voice. Alma tells her story with a warmth that leaves you laughing at times and at other times holding a tissue to your eyes.

    "Brains before bullets" - ancient and modern wisdom for "mechanics and motorcycle enthusiasts"Essential reading for fans of the show, this book takes readers deeper into the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, the Teller-Morrow family, and the ethics that surround their lives and activities.Provides fascinating moral insights into Sons of Anarchy, its key characters, plot lines and ideas Investigates compelling philosophical issues centering on loyalty, duty, the ethics of war, authority, religion and whether the ends justify the means Teaches complex philosophical ideas in a way that's accessible to the general interest reader in order to inspire them to further reading of the great philosophers Authors use their deep knowledge of the show to illuminate themes that are not always apparent even to die-hard fans

    Lime Grove is home to a number of teenagers with a variety of problems: anorexia, bipolar disorder, behavior issues. Tamar will come to know them all very well. But there's one question she can't... won't answer: What happened to her friend Iris? As Tamar's emotional angst becomes more and more clear to her, she'll have to figure out a path to forgiveness. A shocking, moving, and darkly funny depiction of life in a psychiatric world. A stunning journey of one girl's mental illness and the redemptive power of truth and healing.

    And if other people can laugh at your awful shit as well, then I guess you can officially call yourself a comedian.In Boston, a college student fears leaving her own room—even to use the toilet. In Pennsylvania, a meek personal assistant finally confronts a perpetually enraged gay spiritual guru. In Texas, a rookie high school teacher deals with her male student’s unusually, er, hard personal problem. Sara Benincasa has been that terrified student, that embattled employee, that confused teacher—and so much more. Her hilarious memoir chronicles her attempts to forge a wonderfully weird adulthood in the midst of her lifelong struggle with agoraphobia, depression, and unruly hair.Relatable, unpretentious, and unsentimental, Agorafabulous! celebrates eccentricity, resilience, and the power of humor to light up even the darkest corners of our lives. (There are also some sexy parts, but they’re really awkward. Like really, really awkward.)

    . . Are you imprisoned by the joy-sucking dully-funks? . . . Maybe it’s time for a healthy dose of truth gift-wrapped in humor.Kick back a moment and take this revealing true-or-false stress test for women: T F I am frequently grumpy and I don’t know why. T F I used to enjoy cooking, but now it’s only a necessary chore. T F I don’t feel appreciated for all the tasks that I do. T F I’m embarrassed if caught relaxing or being "unproductive." T F The volume in my voice increases to MAKE MY POINT! T F I feel like I live in my car. T F I can’t remember the last time I laughed till I cried. T F A "free" day is exhausting because I must complete all my home duties. T F I tend to eat when feeling tense or overwhelmed. T F I feel like I’m constantly on the defensive. T F I often have unexplained headaches or stomachaches. T F My to-do lists have footnotes. Now count the answers that you marked "true" and check out your status: 4–6: Yellow Alert! You are at risk of becoming stressed out. 7–9: Orange Alert! Look out, girlfriend, you’re at toxic stress levels. 10–12: Red Alert!!! You are a bonified Stress Mess and need immediate help! If you often find yourself struggling with the stresses of finances, health, career, relationships, self-image, or family, then this humor-filled volume is just what you need. With simple, practical tips for attaining the peace you crave—the peace that passes all understanding—you’ll discover healing, refreshment, and revitalization for your spirit, body, and mind.<!--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /-->

    That was my life. Every waking moment, I feared what sort of abuse would be thrown my way. I was Scarlett Adams, invisible to the world. That is, until I learned the truth. *This book is not for the faint of heart. It is dark and emotional. If you are sensitive to dark material, please be warned.Cover by: Just Writes Creations

    This handy reference will help project managers and students enhance their knowledge in specific areas and test themselves on issues that are essential to successful project management.

    “Interweaving memoir, case histories, and accounts of new therapies, Riley anatomizes what is still a fairly young science, and a troubled one” (The New Yorker). Reporting on the field of global mental health from its colonial past to the present day, Riley highlights a range of scalable therapies, including how a group of grandmothers stands on the frontline of a mental health revolution. Hopeful, fascinating, and profound, A Cure for Darkness is “recommended reading for anyone with even a peripheral interest in depression” (Washington Examiner).

    He is bright and articulate. He's also an alcoholic and in rehab instead of high school, but he doesn't remember how he got there. He's not sure he wants to remember. Something bad must have happened. Something really, really bad. Remembering sucks and being alive - well, what's up with that? I have it in my head that when we're born, God writes things down on our hearts. See, on some people's hearts he writes Happy and on some people's hearts he writes Sad and on some people's hearts he writes Crazy on some people's hearts he writes Genius and on some people's hearts he writes Angry and on some people's hearts he writes Winner and on some people's hearts he writes Loser. It's all like a game to him. Him. God. And it's all pretty much random. He takes out his pen and starts writing on our blank hearts. When it came to my turn, he wrote Sad. I don't like God very much. Apparently he doesn't like me very much either.

    Illuminating, completely engaging—it's essential reading for all since we all know someone whose life, family or friends are touched by the disease that directly afflicts a fifth of Canadians. In her early twenties, while outwardly thriving in her dream job and enjoying warm familial support and a strong social network, award-winning journalist Anna Mehler Paperny found herself trapped by feelings of failure and despair. Her first suicide attempt—ingesting a deadly mix of sleeping pills and antifreeze—landed her in the ICU, followed by weeks of enforced detention that ran the gamut of horrifying, boring, hilarious, and absurd. This was Anna's entry into the labyrinthine psychiatric care system responsible for providing care to millions of Canadians.As she struggled to survive the psych ward and as an outpatient—enduring the "survivor's" shame of facing concerned family, friends, and co-workers; finding (or not) the right therapist, the right meds; staying healthy, insured, and employed—Anna could not help but turn her demanding journalist's eye on her condition and on the system in which she found herself. She set off on a quest to "know her enemy," interviewing leading practitioners in the field across Canada and the US—from psychiatrists to neurological experts, brain-mapping pioneers to heroic family practitioners, and others dabbling in novel hypotheses. She reveals in courageously frank detail her own experiences with the pharmacological pitfalls and side effects of long-term treatment, and offers moving case studies of conversations with others, opening wide a window into how we treat (and fail to treat) the disease that accounts for more years swallowed up by disability than any other in the world.

     What makes a good life? Is it money? An important job? Leisure time? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi believes our obsessive focus on such measures has led us astray. Work fills our days with anxiety and pressure, so that during our free time, we tend to live in boredom, watching TV or absorbed by our phones.What are we missing? To answer this question, Csikszentmihalyi studied thousands of people, and he found the key. People are happiest when they challenge themselves with tasks that demand a high degree of skill and commitment, and which are undertaken for their own sake. Instead of watching television, play the piano. Take a routine chore and figure out how to do it better, faster, more efficiently. In short, learn the hidden power of complete engagement, a psychological state the author calls flow. Though they appear simple, the lessons in Finding Flow are life-changing.

    It won’t play nice, act soft, or be your BFF. But it will blow your mother-pucking mind. I’m the guy who arrives with girl A and leaves with girls B and C. A hockey rockstar. An ice-cold scoring machine. I thought coaching the NHL’s newest team would be a walk in the park. I didn’t expect the exquisite torture that is Rae Walsh. She’s a pocket rocket of a PR stunt, our latest recruit with a pretty mouth and tight little body to match. She’ll be the only woman in the league, which means she’s a) completely insane, and b) about to enter a world of pain. I don’t need that kind of distraction, not when I’m yet to prove my coaching chops. But the more I resist the more I want to pin her down and prove why I’m the best in the game. Getting together would be career suicide. I’d be risking everything to be with her, my legacy included. But sometimes the risk really is worth the reward. Sometimes you’ve got to bet everything to score BIG. Go full throttle or go the hell home with this swoon-worthy new sports romance from best-selling author Teagan Kade. Trouser Snake is a full length, standalone bad boy romance packed full of steamy surprises. There’s no cheating, no cliffhangers and a guaranteed HEA. Don’t miss it!

    His name was Zander. We spent four amazing years together. Then he left me. It had been sixteen years since I'd heard his voice or seen his face. I'd spent the last two of those years helping his mom care for his sick father. Not for one second did I think he'd come back. I was wrong. When he walked back into my life as if nothing happened, I didn't know what to do. A few days. He was only going to be there a few days. What could it hurt? When secrets were revealed, I realized something. Maybe he hadn't left me. Maybe he was the there the whole time. I just had to figure out what that meant.

    They bridge the gaps between the individual and the collective, the person and the purpose. The most successful and effective HR professionals see their careers as a calling, and their work, though driven by corporate goals, is graced by a sense of purpose, a profound generosity, and a love for what they do and the constituencies they serve.HR from the Heart is a book for HR practitioners who love their jobs -- or want to. Libby Sartain, one of the country's top human resources executives, reveals how HR professionals create a synergy between business objectives and the needs and wants of employees. This inspiring book is equal parts motivational message and how-to, confessional and career guide. Filled with stories from Sartain's considerable experience, HR from the Heart offers a first-hand perspective on forging relationships, selling HR to the company, taking diversity beyond ""by the book,"" keeping policy in perspective, and more -- all while making the right career moves, staying engaged, and forwarding the strategic goals of the company."