Showing results by author "Rachel" in All Categories

The DFZ, the metropolis formerly known as Detroit, is the world’s most magical city with a population of nine million and zero public safety laws. That’s a lot of mages, cybernetically enhanced chrome heads, and mythical beasties who die, get into debt, and otherwise fail to pay their rent. When they can’t pay their bills, their stuff gets sold to the highest bidder. That’s when they call me. I’m a Cleaner: a freelance mage employed by the DFZ to sort through the mountains of magical junk people leave behind. It’s not a pretty job, or a safe one....

In the fourth installment of the Star-Crossed Series, we find Eden Matthews a prisoner in the very household she set out to destroy. She is without magic and engaged to the same boy who betrayed her and everyone she loves. With her wedding looming on the horizon, conditions for her people continue to worsen, and her goal of offering her kingdom freedom seems further away than ever. Her brother is free, however, and building a rebellion that hopes to rescue her.

When Zayn, your smoking hot boss, tells you never to touch the cache of deluxe tattoo ink locked away in his office, you listen to him…until the day you run out of your own ink, your squirming client is on the verge of peeing his pants, and your boss is nowhere to be found. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

What is it about a junior-high crush that can send an otherwise intelligent woman into a tailspin? TV reporter Char Lynn wishes she knew. Jake Titus is too rich, too handsome, too arrogant: a trifecta that once lured Char into the best night—and worst morning-after—of her life. Now they've been thrown together in a wedding party. It's awkward, but survivable...until Jake stops acting like a jerk, and starts acting like the man she'd always hoped he could be.

When it comes to adult friendships, we're woefully inept - we barely manage to show up for our own commitments, let alone maintain our relationships. We're experiencing a loneliness epidemic: it's an uncharted social landscape where actual phone calls are reserved for your mum (if anyone), 'dropping in' is unheard of and 'flaking out' is routine. The Art of Showing Up offers a roadmap through this morass, to true connection with your friends, family and yourself.

Claire Danvers just happens to be studying in Morganville. A town run by vampires. Trouble seems to follow Claire and her friends like a shadow and tonight is no exception to the rule. They must find the most difficult documents for a vampire to acquire; people passes that will allow "bad ass" Morley and his friends to leave Morganville. But it's proving incredibly problematic, and the odds are seemingly stacked.

Turning the tables on rigid gender roles, the stories in She's on Top honor the Amazon, the dominatrix, and other handcuff-toting, whip-wielding she-devils of the male bottom's deepest dreams. Employing every item in their bag of tricks, from strap-ons to metal cinches, these hot dommes like nothing better than teasing and tormenting their devoted subjects.

I used to eat rocks as a child. The family doctor diagnosed me with pica, dooming me to years of intensive therapy and extensive dentistry work. It wouldn’t be until much later that I would understand the all-consuming, insatiable craving that spurred me to eat a variety of rocks and minerals wasn’t a mental disorder, but an innate gift that allows me to extract the magic contained inside them: tourmaline for speed, celestite for strength, augite for a powerful laxative effect (that I had to discover the hard way).

Cleo knows she should be happy for her brother Mark. He's managed to find someone new after the sudden death of his first wife - but something about Evie just doesn't feel right...When Evie starts having accidents at home, her friends grow concerned. Could Mark be causing her injuries? Called out to their clifftop house one night, Sergeant Stephanie King finds two bodies entangled on blood-drenched sheets. Where does murder begin? When the knife is raised to strike, or before, at the first thought of violence?

First published more than 50 years ago, this award-winning classic brings Rachel Carson's unique vision to a new generation of listeners. The Sense of Wonder is Carson's intimate account of adventures with her young nephew, Roger, as they enjoy walks along the rocky coast of Maine and through dense forests and open fields, observing wildlife, strange plants, moonlight, and storm clouds, and listening to the "living music" of insects in the underbrush.

That changes when he's hired by Silas Hale, his girlfriend's wild and unpredictable rockstar brother, fresh out of rehab. For years, Silas lived for his band, drugs, and women. He's ignored every warning, refusing to give up his partying ways until the night he almost doesn't wake up. Determined to stay on track on tour, he hires Cash to be his sober companion. Neither of them has ever considered being with a man, but living together twenty-four seven makes it impossible to ignore their attraction, and one night, a line is crossed.

After a standoff in the pizza parlor, Elsie Bennet has decided Fitzwilliam "I-Throw-Fitz" Darcy is the worst customer she's ever encountered. Also the best looking, but that's beside the point. She's horrified to discover Will is not just passing through her small town, he's her new neighbor. Will Darcy has all the money and time he could ask for, and yet life never seems to meet his expectations. When his best friend, Charlie, starts dating Jane Bennet, Will becomes their unhappy third-wheel. The solution? Bring along Jane's sister, Elsie, a girl who challenges him.

This is a small collection of thoughts on mothering young children for when you are motivated, for when you are discouraged, for the times when discipline seems fruitless, and for when you are just plain tired. The opportunities for growth abound here but you have to be willing. You have to open your heart to the tumble. As you deal with your children, deal with yourself always and first. This is what it looks like, and feels like, to walk as a mother with God.

Calla Larkenwood wants nothing more than to be a guardian, but her overprotective mother has never allowed it. Battling fae creatures is too dangerous a job for a teenage girl, and there's that special magical ability she needs to keep hidden from the Guild. How can she do that if she's working right under their nose? When circumstances change and Calla finally gets to follow her dream, she discovers guardian trainee life isn't all she hoped it would be.

Morganville is such a nice place to live - and die. When Claire Danvers learnt that her college town was run by vampires, she did what any intelligent student would do: she applied for a transfer and stocked up on garlic. The transfer is no longer an option, but the garlic may come in handy. Now Claire has pledged herself to Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town. Now all of a sudden, people are turning up dead, a stalker resurfaces from Claire's past, and an ancient bloodsucker extends a chilling invitation for private lessons in his secluded home.…

Barrett Bloom is hoping college will be a fresh start after a messy high school experience. But when school begins on September 21, everything goes wrong. She’s humiliated by the know-it-all in her physics class, she botches her interview for the college paper, and at a party that night, she accidentally sets a frat on fire. The next morning, Barrett’s perplexed to find herself back in her dorm room bed, no longer smelling of ashes and crushed dreams. It’s September 21. Again.

From the childhood nostalgia of Peter Pan in Speak Now to the haunted halls of Rebecca in Evermore, Taylor Swift’s lyrics are packed with literary connections. Make sure you’re catching them all with this expert guide to the novels, poems, and plays that influenced her songwriting. Let a literature professor and a musical theater artist guide you through the Swift canon—from Shakespeare to Dickinson to the Brontë sisters. Learn what “New Romantics” has to do with the old Romantics, get to know the Gothic monsters haunting Midnights, and spot Taylor’s many Great Gatsby references.

In Good Lookin’ Cookin’ Dolly and Rachel share tips for hosting events all year long, including twelve multi-course menus of cherished recipes for New Year’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and more. You’ll learn how much butter or whipped cream goes into a “Dolly Dollop,” what condiment is almost always on the table at Parton family meals, and what special dish Rachel makes at Dolly’s request every year for her birthday.

As AI takes hold across the planet and wealthy nations seek to position themselves as global leaders of this new technology, the gap is widening between those who benefit from it and those who are subjugated by it. As Rachel Adams shows in this hard-hitting book, growing inequality is the single biggest threat to the transformative potential of AI. Not only is AI built on an unequal global system of power, it stands poised to entrench existing inequities, further consolidating a new age of empire.

Quinn Berkowitz and Tarek Mansour’s families have been in business together for years: Quinn’s parents are wedding planners, and Tarek’s own a catering company. At the end of last summer, Quinn confessed her crush on him in the form of a rambling email - and then he left for college without a response.