Showing results by narrator "J*" in All Categories

Once the sacred guardian of New Zealand's native forests, the huia was a symbol of the land's unique beauty and spirituality. The rare bird's tragic extinction in the early 1900s represents a shot to the heart of Aotearoa and is a potent metaphor for a country's conflicted history. Using the story of the untimely extinction of the huia, J. Ruka offers a fresh perspective on the narrative of New Zealand: a tale of two cultures, warring worldviews, and the things we lost in translation.

There I was, moving into the dorms at Franklin U and not into the shared party house I’d lived in my freshman year. Last year had been all about football and parties, not schoolwork. Which was why my grades tanked. Why I was one failed class away from being kicked off the team. Why I needed to live on campus and find myself a tutor. Funny that my new roommate just happened to be a tutor. Funny that he was oblivious to how hot he was. For a smart guy, he was pretty clueless.

Working in the adult entertainment industry has its challenges. Mainly, scoring a date that lasts longer than a night. I’d started to wonder if my own happily-ever-after wasn’t in the cards. But then a hookup turned meet-cute lands me right on top of Rowan, the shy, submissive bear of my dreams with a serious weak spot for sweetly spoken words. He doesn’t see Tink, the performer. He sees me. Yet before I can lick my territory, Rowan’s neighbor Finn walks in. Quite literally. And the tatted, pierced, ginger-haired papa bear has his sights set on my new crush.

I feel like I've been fighting my whole life, and tapping out has never been an option. I can live with owing money to the Morettis. I can even live with the constant guilt that my brother is the one paralyzed in a hospital bed while I live his dream. What I can't live with is Elio Moretti, second in command to the infamous crime family, showing up to all my fights, sitting in the front row, watching me like he can't look away, and barging into the locker room to patch up my wounds and invade my space.

1957 - A young woman is found dead in a mews house a mile from Buckingham Palace, wearing only silk underwear and a a diamond tiara. An older man is discovered nearby, garrotted and pierced through the eye with a long, sharp implement. According to the police, a high society card game was going on downstairs that night. One of the players surely committed the murders, but each of them can give the others an alibi.

Peter Voogd, who has been labeled the leading authority for Gen Y leadership, reveals the exact strategies he's used to go from dead broke to over six figures within six months. Peter has trained over 4,000 entrepreneurs, and built an eight-million-dollar sales organization by age 27. If you're one of the select few who are serious about success, this book will change the game for you, regardless of what industry you're in.

Camavor is a brutal land with a bloody legacy. Where the empire's knights go, slaughter follows. Kalista seeks to change that. When her young and narcissistic uncle, Viego, becomes king, she vows to temper his destructive instincts, as his loyal confidant, advisor, and military general. But her plans are thwarted when an assassin's poisoned blade strikes Viego's wife, Isolde, afflicting her with a malady for which there is no cure.

My arranged marriage should have forged an alliance between my fiancé's gang and my father's. It turns out my fiancé had other plans. Like slaughtering my entire family the night before the wedding. I make it out alive, left with nothing but a thirst for vengeance. To crush the prick who betrayed me, I have to turn to the biggest pricks of them all. Hot, cocky, and dangerous, Wylder Noble and his men rule Paradise Bend. If I pass their brutal tests to prove I deserve their help, my ex doesn't stand a chance.

The Serendipity Collection is a series of love triangles featuring different couples in books 1 to 4 and a full epilogue in book 5.

Reese Sutton is every woman’s fantasy, with his crooked smile, warm brown eyes, and broad shoulders. But to me, he’s always just been my best friend. The man I rely on to have my back no matter what. I know he would do literally anything for me, so when he asks me for a favor, I can’t say no… even after I find out that he wants me to pretend to be his girlfriend to help him win back his ex.

Like all Necromancers, Cassius Corbin grew up knowing one irrevocable truth: death comes for us all. It was a lesson he learned well when his mother was murdered by fellow witches. Six years later, he is back in the town of Winslow, Massachusetts, to attend Tennebrose University. But that's not the only reason. While he's home, he intends to track down a magical folio stolen from his family centuries ago. Once he finds it, he'll finally be everything the witches in Winslow fear and the Corbin name will be respected once again—as long as Graeme Hewitt stays out of his way.

Banging my son’s bestie was a total accident that will never, ever happen again. I’m sure of it. While he might be gorgeous and caught me in a weak moment, when it comes right down to it, my son has been my entire life for the last twenty-six years. I don’t know how to be anything other than his dad. But with Molly heading off to Seattle, he leaves me with a parting gift: Will. His best friend. And my new roommate.

Come explore the world of Mercy Hills and the lives of the shifters who live among us. Watch as they struggle against oppression and prejudice, yet still find their way to love and happiness and strange new friendships within the walled enclaves that make up their home. This bundle contains the first three books of the epic urban fantasy series, and four never-before-seen bonus stories that explore life both inside and outside the enclaves.

Pete is a simple man who enjoys a good drink amongst good friends. Not too much to ask, right? Now, he's trapped in a fantasy world far from home, stuck underground and inside the body of a smelly dwarf with fantastic facial hair. The worst part? The swill that the dwarves are falling all over themselves to drink. It's flat, it's watery, and it has the alcohol content of a rancid coconut. Can Pete save the dwarves from their own sour fate, or will he be forever doomed to plink his pickaxe away in hopes that he hits the motherlode?

This seventh entry picks up right from the cliffhanger ending of Tales from the Hood, as Sabrina and Daphne's parents finally awake from their sleeping spell. But this is no time for complacency. The family must help Prince Charming's Everafter army fight the Scarlet Hand, and Sabrina must confront the deadly and mysterious Master.

In The Experimentation Machine, HBS professor, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist Jeffrey J. Bussgang reveals how AI is transforming the way startups find product-market fit and scale.

The only thing standing between Earth and certain destruction is its most powerful man, Zane Walker. To save his home, he’ll have to descend into the depths of the Superdungeon: an unfathomably vast dungeon composed of the ruins of lost realms—and the prison for the universe’s deadliest monsters.

The decision has been made. Jessie has taken the magic, and all the weird that goes with it. Including wings. There's only one problem - she can't figure out how to access them. Through a series of terrible decisions, Jessie realizes she must ask for help. Gargoyle help. But she could've never predicted who answers her call - he's an excellent flier, incredibly patient, and a good trainer. He's also incredibly handsome. And interested. Maybe flying isn't the only thing she needs help with. Maybe she needs help getting back on that saddle, too, emerging into the dating pool.

Have you ever lost yourself in a fantasy world you created? That's how I've survived the years alone in a reality where humans cower in fear of supernatural creatures hiding behind the veil. All I've ever had is my pen, my notebook, and the world I created to make it through the days as a ward of the state, suffering at the hands of the real villains of the world—humans. The pages of my notebook hold three sinful, feared monsters. Ones that I certainly shouldn't be pining over since they aren't even real.

The magical tea has worn off. My eyes are wide open. And it’s with horror that I realize the fate of two realms rests on my shoulders after my mother’s ultimate sacrifice to trap Rubezahl in Underhill. Terrified humans clamoring for answers, whispered rumors from both Seelie and Unseelie, and a stepmother who seeks the throne for surprising reasons are the least of my troubles. Rubezahl has returned far sooner than I thought possible. I’m not ready. I can’t win this. And not only that… He has something crucial if we are to win. He’s taken something I cannot live without.