Showing results by narrator "Liam" in All Categories

Betrayal cuts the deepest. I would know better than anyone. They never suspected me to be the villain. That didn’t matter anymore, though, because I didn’t just want revenge, I needed it. Leaving my old life behind, I knew I could never return, but there was something … no, someone I had left behind. Scarlett. Kind. Innocent. Fragile. She was a light in the darkness of my life. Back then, she was always meant to be mine, even if having her meant breaking every single rule. Now, enemies or not, she would still be mine.

After more than a decade, the last person I expected to see walk into the Four Bears Construction offices as a new hire was Ridge. He was my first crush, and my first heartbreak when he started dating my sister. When he left her at the altar without so much as a note, I wrote him off for good. No amount of excuses and explanations can erase what he did. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. But when we end up being sent to a remote campground alone to spend a month rebuilding the cabins, it’s too easy to remember why I fell for him in the first place.

How did "the West" come to be used as a collective self-designation signaling political and cultural commonality? Was the idea handed down from the ancient Greeks, or coined by nineteenth-century imperialists? Neither, writes Georgios Varouxakis in The West, his ambitious and fascinating genealogy of the idea. "The West" was not used by Plato, Cicero, Locke, Mill, or other canonized figures of what we today call the Western tradition. It was not first wielded by empire-builders.

Final Fantasy is one of the most iconic and beloved video game series in the world. Since its inception, its titles have adopted names, themes, and stories from across global mythology, including the beliefs of the Vikings. This book embarks on a detailed exploration of how Norse lore in particular influenced the writing and design of Final Fantasy VII - arguably the most critically acclaimed of the franchise - and its wider Compilation. This work is presented as a tribute to the metaseries Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

I fell in love with Jackson Moreno in hell, the only two survivors trapped in a catastrophic tunnel collapse. But when rescue comes, I discover he has secrets darker than I could have guessed. He disappears from my life as quickly as he came, and I can’t afford to chase after him when I have to raise my daughter alone. I fell in love with Jackson Moreno six years later, on a bright summer afternoon, cleaning the lobby of a small-town bank. But he’s still running, and I’m struggling to keep my little family afloat.

Leviathan Fitness is the favorite place of monsters, muscles, and a tentacled creature who can seduce even the hardest-to-win-over human. When parks department supervisor Reece Rollins decides to sign up for a triathlon, there are two things holding him back. One, his fear of monsters. Two, his sub-par swimming skills. At the urging of his sister's wolven mate, Reece joins Leviathan Fitness to train in the gym's Olympic-size swimming pool. After running into Reece at the pool, Cyrus offers to help Reece get ready to win the race.

Growing up, I was the problem child teachers didn't know what to do with. The troubled teen whose parents wished was never born. The system's made of cracks, and I fell through each and every one, all in a futile effort to protect the family legacy. They tried to fix me. Doctors… therapists… teachers… pastors... And they failed. Epically. Now, eighteen, and fresh out of Hell, I'm thrown into the last place I ever expected. Rehab. Enter Nolan Dresden. Newly divorced. A recovering alcoholic. Almost double my age.

They say your first love leaves a mark. For Calliope James, it didn't only leave a mark, it tore out her heart and left it bleeding on the ground. He was her best friend. Her first kiss. Her everything. Until one day, he wasn't. Zachary Messiah will never forget the girl with eyes the color of whiskey. But he's not that boy anymore. Cold. Cruel. He's devoid of emotion. Their paths were never supposed to cross again. But love doesn't always play by the rules.

Damiano’s parents have never had any faith in him, so it’s no surprise when his new boss doesn’t either. He’s determined to prove Graham Brandt wrong though, if only he could stop pushing the man’s buttons and dreaming about tearing them off. It’s frustrating being a hot-blooded young man, particularly when your sexy boss is straighter than the level he uses on job sites.

Before the Romans could become masters of the Mediterranean, they had to first conquer the people of their own peninsula. This book explores the origins of Roman imperialism and the creation of Rome's early Italian empire, bringing new light and interpretations to this important but problematic period in Roman history. It explains how and why the Romans were able to expand their influence within Italy, often through the use of armed conflict, laying the foundations for their great imperial project.

Emmett "Coop" Cooper is the star captain of the Boston Bruins. But off the bench, he's hiding a secret that could jeopardize everything he's worked for. As a gay man and a virgin, he's chosen to live his life in the closet, afraid of how the hockey world might react. However, one night, while visiting family out of town, everything changes when he meets a guy at a bar with a captivating smile he can't ignore.

During the early 1960s, just as Beatlemania was exploding throughout the United Kingdom, a pair of psychopathic British killers began preying on the very young, innocent, and helpless of Greater Manchester. Between 1963 and 1965, Ian Brady and his lover and partner, Myra Hindley, were responsible for the abduction, rape, torture, and murder of five young victims, ranging in age from ten to seventeen years old. The English press dubbed the grisly series of homicides "the Moors Murders," named for the desolate landscape where three of the corpses were eventually discovered.

The wealthy are crumbling. One by one, their names stain the Seattle Daily Newspaper. The ink smudges their reputation, spotlighting their depravity to the world. Monsters dressed in designer clothes. No amount of money can hide their rotting flesh paired with a corrupt soul. The wealthy are dying. But power doesn't wait, and in a city hungry for it, one second of mourning is a new blade to the throat. I live among them. The "orphan girl" blessed to taste their life. To play their games. To have their men...

Once upon a time, I met a man who stole my heart. In my desperation to reunite with him, I have nowhere to turn but the Sea Witch. Ursa is as beautiful as she is dangerous, and the one person my father warned me never to let close. But she’s all crimson lips and pretty lies, and I’m convinced despite my fear. It’s a simple enough plan, if not for the faint of heart. An auction to sell the one thing I possess of any value — myself. The money will free Alaric and then we can finally be together.

It starts with healing her body - that sweet skin, that gorgeous smile. She’s my latest physical-therapy patient, and I don’t mind stretching her out one bit. But something’s off with her injury. It doesn’t match her story. When I find out the truth, I know I need to make sure nothing ever hurts her again. That’s when I make her all mine - every single inch of her. But her rich a-hole father isn’t about to let her go. He thinks he can use her as a pawn in his business dealings.

The plan was simple: Destroy the girl. Ruin her life. Make her and her mother leave. Only…she’s not as easy a target as I thought she’d be. She’s nothing but a pawn, a tool for my father to use against her mother. But pawns don’t fight back the way she does. They don’t violate my sanity the way she does. She put herself in the mouth of the beast. I wanted her out of the way, but now…I can’t let her go.

When half your face is covered in a big, blotchy birthmark, you get used to the staring and the whispers. You get used to feeling unwanted. Until he walks into my bar.... Tall, gorgeous, and all kinds of out of place. And the way he looks at me ain’t like no way I've ever seen before.

I am thiiiis close to finally becoming a full-fledged psychologist. PhD? Check. Prestigious postdoc position? Check. Letter of recommendation from my supervisor? That’s going to take a miracle. Not only because my boss said I have to cure our most-prized client’s writer’s block in time for him to meet his insane deadline, but also because that client just so happens to be…Thomas O’Reardon. The wickedly brilliant, achingly beautiful, devastatingly British best-selling author whose psychological thrillers line my bookshelf at home.

Life is tough on space station Belvaille - not for the aristocratic nobles that call it home, but for the poor slobs like Hank. Hank is considered a celebrated cutthroat and the oldest living person in the city. His occupation is to be hired muscle for those people who don't want to get their hands dirty but still want dirty things done.

The economy has taken a turn for the worse, and Hank is working as a part-time gravedigger (and more than part-time graverobber). Despite being an expert shoveler, it’s not his top career choice, and he’s anxious to take any "legitimate" criminal work that comes along. In that vein, he finds himself hired by a mysterious woman who wants him to recover an even more mysterious trunk that was stolen from her mansion.