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Building Party Systems in Developing Democracies by Allen Hicken
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Wolf Moon Security: Complete 5-Part Series
Camilla Blake - 2019
Get ready for a unique spin on those shifter-security-team novels we all love—with fays, pipers, hunters, and kick-ass vacationers adding their own mix of sassiness, secrets, and supernatural gifts to the visceral force that is Wolf Moon Security. Book One It’s spring break. Naomi Billing is ready to party—and on a mission to cheer up best friend and self-proclaimed nerd Gwen after her recent relationship breakup. Problem is, they’re vacationing on Wolf Moon Island. A spring-break paradise. Partying teens wishing they never had to leave. Problem is… some never will. For Wolf Moon Island has a long-held, fiercely guarded secret. And best friends Naomi and Gwen are about to—unwittingly—blow it wide open. Book Two Naomi Billing has always been a party animal. Now, she feels… well, just animal. For the fourth night in a row, she has been snapping awake with a bitter scream lodged in her throat and inhuman claws at the ends of her fingers. As the derwos of the Wolf Moon Island Pack, Orrick Erikson knows that Naomi is forbidden territory for him. So how come she is getting under his skin and driving him absolutely crazy, in a good way—and he knows he is totally going to let her? Book Three Emily Gray, Wolf Moon Island’s resident doctor, has long known the secret of the island’s inhabitants, and has got her manipulation of wolfsbane down to a fine art, enabling her to slow down her patients’ metabolisms enough to be able to operate on them. But the more alpha they get, the more difficult things become. And there is no one more alpha than her current patient. But that is not the only secret Emily knows… Tayte’s father, Mason, is a cruel man who spends his days in a wheelchair drinking himself into a stupor and lashing out viciously at his son. Tayte has had his fair share of surprises recently. He’s just discovered he has a baby on the way with Emily. And a sister he knew nothing about. But the secret Emily holds today is so huge it’s going to change his life. Forever. Book Four Hope Nassir is an agent working for the Council that governs all supernatural beings, including werewolves. She came to Wolf Moon Island on assignment, to watch over new ’wolf Naomi Billing to make sure she learns to control her ’wolf before an innocent is hurt. But Hope has another reason for visiting the island, a personal reason: she’s convinced her father died there. Caught by Rowson trying to spy on Naomi and her illegal lover, Orrick Erikson, Hope convinces him to help her research the island and find the woman she suspects of being her biological mother. Rowson agrees, unaware that his choice to help Hope will take them down a road that could destroy them, or save the entire pack. Or maybe both. Book Five Growing up human on an island inhabited by werewolves did nothing to help Gabby understand their unique nature any more than the average person. When Lunacy begins to tighten its grip on the island, Hugh puts himself in danger to protect her, but when she confesses her love to him, he pushes her away, refusing to allow himself to even entertain the idea of a romance. But as she joins Hugh, and his pack of family and friends struggle to find a way to end the spread of Lunacy, Hugh becomes erratic, his behavior confusing and frightening.
Confessions of a Failed Anorexic
Michelle Cantrell - 2011
Longing for what she doesn’t have, the unfulfilled stay-at-home mom goes on a journey of self discovery tainted by the pursuit of a perfect body. An unlikely friendship with fun-loving and thin-obsessed Stacy Vargus leads Sarah down a path she believes will bring her closer to a world she has spent a lifetime chasing, only to realize it doesn’t exist. An unexpected reunion with an old friend unleashes a passion for life Sarah had long forgotten, giving her a new lens through which to view her world.This debut novel by Michelle Cantrell offers an entertaining twist on keeping up with the Joneses while revealing the dangers of losing oneself to the superficial status symbols of suburban life.
The Dark Lake (Free Preview - Prologue & First 5 Chapters)
Sarah Bailey - 2017
Even back then, she was a mystery that I wanted to solve. The lead homicide investigator in a rural town, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is deeply unnerved when a high school classmate is found strangled, her body floating in a lake. And not just any classmate, but Rosalind Ryan, whose beauty and inscrutability exerted a magnetic pull on Smithson High School, first during Rosalind's student years and then again when she returned to teach drama. As much as Rosalind's life was a mystery to Gemma when they were students together, her death presents even more of a puzzle. What made Rosalind quit her teaching job in Sydney and return to her hometown? Why did she live in a small, run-down apartment when her father was one of the town's richest men? And despite her many admirers, did anyone in the town truly know her? Rosalind's enigmas frustrate and obsess Gemma, who has her own dangerous secrets--an affair with her colleague and past tragedies that may not stay in the past. Brilliantly rendered, THE DARK LAKE has characters as compelling and mysteries as layered as the best thrillers from Gillian Flynn and Sophie Hannah.
Painting Deception
Brian Hebbel - 2018
On the beach you'll be laughing and crying between the changing of the tides. Take a ride with the main character, Lily Clarke, as you contemplate her and your own lasting legacy. Lily Clarke, the elderly mother of three dysfunctional and distant daughters, makes life altering discoveries regarding her new found wealth and other dark secrets, after she receives a diagnosis that she has a terminal illness. The challenges and decisions she must face in her final months will define her lasting legacy. To execute her plan, she invites her three dysfunctional and distant daughters to her home for a short stay to determine you will receive her new found wealth. Her plans become disrupted when dark secrets emerge, questioning her decision making and the meaning of her entire life. The book includes family dysfunction, drama, humor, an a bit of historical fiction. From the book: Chapter 1: The old saying goes that everyone has a story. Unfortunately today, October 2, 2016, Lily Elizabeth Clarke’s story was coming to a quick end. It was a sunny day at the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Dundalk, Maryland, as cars began pulling up shortly after noon for her 1:00 p.m. funeral. Old rusted smoke stacks from a bankrupt steel mill could be seen in the background of the cemetery in this gritty part of Baltimore. Neighborhoods with seventy-year-old brick weathered rowhouses surrounded the neatly manicured cemetery. The funeral was taking place exactly as Lily had arranged it. No details were left out of the planning. While she was alive, she made sure that her funeral, burial arrangements, and reading of her Last Will and Testament were organized and would be executed exactly to her wishes. No one knew what would take place over the next twenty-four hours and weeks to follow except Lily, and she was deceased. Not even her lawyer and confidant, Jake Snyder, knew all of the hidden details that Lily had intentionally failed to disclose to him; some of which had remained bottled and silenced for a lifetime. He had been Lily’s lawyer for more than twenty years, and over the next two days, he would implement her final plan exactly as she had instructed. Jake knew her for almost his whole life and thought he knew everything about her, but he didn’t know the dark secrets about her past or the ones she intended to reveal in stages following her death. The health crisis that led to Lily’s death was nothing compared to the mental struggle she faced as a result of the long forgotten secrets resurfacing during the final months of her life. Lily’s struggle whether to reveal her secrets while she was alive and how to reveal them after her death would change lives and define her legacy. Lily didn’t want to have a formal viewing at a funeral home. She wanted her funeral to be short and sweet at the gravesite, so that everyone could get on with their lives. Lily’s three daughters didn’t remain close to her after they graduated from college and settled in the state of their college alma maters. Lily was unsure why her children didn’t stay close to her. She wasn’t sure if it was her sometimes overbearing husband or the fact that her children wanted to get out of the dirty blue-collar town Baltimore was in the 1970s. Maybe they were a little rebellious, stubborn, and adventurous, all rolled into one. In truth, Lily often wondered if the secrets she harbored created impenetrable barriers in her relationship with her daughters. However, it seemed the longer they were away from Baltimore, the further they grew apart from Lily, and she didn’t have the strength or courage to correct the situation. ...