Showing results by narrator "Lauren" in All Categories

In 1282 AD, the Kingdom of Sicily is under the rule of a tyrannical French king and subject to his brutal Angevin army. Daily acts of violence and persecution are commonplace in a once-prosperous realm. For twenty-year-old Aetna Vespiri, daughter of a revered Sicilian knight, survival has become second nature. As a child, she witnessed the destruction of her family’s vineyard by Angevin soldiers and spent the next decade learning the tenets of stiletto-blade combat. Years later in Palermo, Aetna fends off a nefarious sergeant and sparks an uprising against the Angevin occupation.

Not all heroes are good guys. With a body count on his soul and blood on his hands, Killian Nox lived in the gray. Ruthlessly single-minded, if he wanted something, it was his. And when it came to the gorgeous lass with a fiery attitude, he didn't just want her. He needed her.

In this long-awaited new installment of the legendary Kate Delafield mystery series, Kate is forced to confront her most formidable opponent: herself. Kate Delafield is in a world of trouble. Five months into mandated retirement from the LAPD, her long term on-again off-again relationship with Aimee Grant is off again. She's become hopelessly dependent on the only substance that can drown her pain over Aimee - and the illness of her best friend. She is lost without her police career and beset by terrifying dreams.

Kate and Price Lewis had the perfect marriage - love, fulfilling careers, and a great apartment in the city. But when Price's work takes him overseas and his plane goes down, their happily-ever-after goes down with it. A year later, Kate is still trying to cope. When her sister-in-law coaxes her into an extended girls' trip, Kate agrees. At a secluded South Pacific villa, they're the only people in sight, until Kate sees a ghost walking toward them on the beach. Price is alive. But their reunion is anything but picture perfect. Will his secrets tear them apart?

In a world where supernaturals and humans are separated by walls, there is magic to be magicked and quests that still need questing. Yes, quest as a verb. I, Zamira “Reckless” Wilson, thought I had done my part. With a little help from those I love, we stopped the bad guys from mucking up our side of the wall. We won the battle and were left standing on this side of the dirt. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. But a curse from long ago, cast to ensure everything in my life would eventually go wrong has now come full circle.

"It's hard to be a badass assassin when a giant is beating the crap out of you. Luckily, I never let pride get in the way of my work. My current mission is personal: annihilate Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who murdered my family, which means protecting my identity, even if I have to conceal my powerful Stone and Ice magic when I need it most."

I had her in my arms, only to lose her moments later. Frantic doesn't even begin to describe my state of mind as I search for Bree. That search takes me deep into my past and to a family home that I swore I would never return to. To find Bree, I must face a queen I defied and a monster that wants my soul. All while being heckled by a demon-infested blade. Goddess help me succeed.

"I'd rather face a dozen lethal assassins any night than deal with something as tricky, convoluted, and fragile as my feelings. But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assassin known as the Spider. Hovering outside sexy businessman Owen Grayson's front door like a nervous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn't shy away from my past - or my present. And right now I have a bulls-eye on my forehead."

Whoever said love lasts forever obviously has never been in love with their brother’s best friend. Ever since high school, I have been trying to replace the painful memories of my past with new ones. Forgetting every trauma was working until I ran into him… Conrad Stone. The man who broke my heart into a million pieces. I’d locked him out of my head for so long that when he stood in front of me I could barely believe my eyes. I thought I was hallucinating until he spoke.

Bea has barely been scraping by since her husband died. After falling for a telephone scam, she loses everything and is forced to abandon her trailer. With only two-thirds of a tank in her old van, she heads toward the Pacific Ocean with her cat - on a mission to reclaim what's rightfully hers, even if it means making others pay for what she lost.

Executive functioning (EF) can be defined as a person's ability to successfully navigate their physical, intellectual, and social worlds. Interest in EF is expanding within psychotherapy, but like many scientific concepts which are adapted to the consulting room, there is a great deal of confusion and misinformation surrounding EF within clinical and lay communities. In this book, Louis Cozolino—a master of translating complex neuroscientific concepts into digestible, applicable literature for therapists and laypeople alike.

This is a book about ten women over the past three hundred years who have found walking essential to their sense of themselves, as people and as writers. Wanderers traces their footsteps, from eighteenth-century parson's daughter Elizabeth Carter—who desired nothing more than to be taken for a vagabond in the wilds of southern England—to modern walker-writers such as Nan Shepherd and Cheryl Strayed.

It's my third year at The Academy of the Devil, and things finally seem to be falling into place. I've reached a tentative agreement with my new lovers. My life is finally headed in the right direction. Until he shows up. They say he is an exchange student. They call him Lucian and cluster around him like flies drawn to honey. They are blind. I know the truth. I can see his true identity in his eyes, in his smile, in the sinful power bubbling under his skin. He is Lucifer, the Fallen One, the Brightest Star. He wants me to be his. There's just one problem with that. Callum, Stefan, Mikael, and Meph aren't willing to hand me over to anyone.

Born into a line of siren queens bound forever to Ardaion's ancient wellspring of power as its defenders, Serena is rejected at birth by her mother, the ruthless Queen Mab. Raised instead by her grandfather, a legendary general, Serena grows into a powerful warrior and mage, trained to command armies and courts alike.

A woman’s skeletal remains are excavated on an uninhabited island in Sandhamn’s archipelago, and Thomas Andreasson is called to officially investigate. But his best friend, Nora Linde, can’t help but get involved. On leave after her last case took a dark turn, Nora is tortured by depression, nightmares, and guilt. Her marriage fractured, her pride chipped away, Nora could find redemption in this investigation.

How to be human at work. HBR's Emotional Intelligence series features smart, essential listening on the human side of professional life from the pages of Harvard Business Review. Each book in the series offers proven research showing how our emotions impact our work lives, practical advice for managing difficult people and situations, and inspiring essays on what it means to tend to our emotional well-being at work.

Marjorie Steel and Bryce Simpson have finally declared their love for each other, but their chance for happiness is once again yanked out from under them. As Marjorie is forced to confront her demons and find an inner strength to save herself and another, Bryce rushes to solve the puzzles his dead father left behind. An ominous lawyer, twins with a secret, and a premature birth present new obstacles as the two lovers scramble to escape the conundrum and leave their families in peace, all while their desire for each other becomes more and more insatiable.

Grace McGill is an insular, friendless woman, living in Glasgow in her 30s. She has her beloved cat, and she has her own business - deep cleaning the houses of Undiscovereds. People who die alone and stay that way until they are found weeks, sometimes months, later. While working in the home of a man named Tommy Agnew, her suspicions are aroused by a hidden photograph and a stack of newspapers, all from the same date over many, many years.

Felicity Hart has one goal: completing her masters in art. Falling in love isn't part of the plan. She reluctantly agrees to attend a Halloween party with her best friend. After sneaking away from the party and falling asleep in an unoccupied room, she wakes to the sexiest pair of eyes she's ever seen. Eyes that belong to the one man who could turn her well organized world upside down. When he flashes that wicked, panty-melting smile at her, the vow to not fall in love seems impossible.

With the world still rebuilding after massive dragon attacks, famous singer Star isn’t willing to rely on a stranger to protect her family, though dragon shifter Lachlan is difficult to resist. Something about him is strangely familiar, but she doesn’t understand why. He’s already helped Star rescue her sister from a recent abduction, but trust doesn’t come easy when his kind has nearly hunted her race to extinction.