Showing results by narrator "Laurel" in All Categories

In the city of Magic's Bend, I protect what's mine. To the world, I'm a feeble Conjurer. To my closest friends, I'm a dangerous Magica with unexplainable powers given to me by a dragon. The downside? If anyone discovers what I am, I'm dead. So I lay low - kicking ass with my weapons, not my magic. Things go to hell when I witness the murder of a powerful vampire ally and become the key suspect. Soon, I'm hunted by the sexiest, strongest supernatural I've ever met. I've got three days to catch the real killer. It will take my forbidden magic to succeed.

Bill Fitzgerald is an acclaimed American television foreign correspondent. Exhausted after a long stint in Bosnia, he travels to Venice to meet Francis Xavier Peterson, an old friend. Whilst at the bar of the Gritti Palace Hotel on the Grand Canal with Frankie, Bill is struck by the dark beauty of a young woman seated alone. Vanessa Stewart is a glass designer from New York who is visiting the glass-blowing works in Murano. The three expatriates meet and decide to celebrate Thanksgiving together. And that evening, full of warmth and camaraderie, begins an illicit though fateful love affair.

I had rules. Krystina broke them. That’s just the way things were. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want to make her my wife. She exemplified the triskelion, representing my past, my present, and my future.

When I inherit a haunted bookstore in New Orleans, I go from demon hunter to my dream job. Unfortunately, there’s a dark side to my beautiful new life—the gorgeous demon who seems to think he owns the place. The attraction between us is insane, and we can’t keep our eyes off each other. But I don’t trust him one bit—especially not the way he uses his seductive charms to try to compel me to work for him.

I've made a deal with the Devil. Finally, I’ve found a place where my weirdness fits in - Guild City, a secret magical place deep in the heart of London. And it’s great...for about 2.5 seconds. Right up until the Council of Guilds discovers I’m a magical misfit with too much magic I can’t control. When they throw me in prison, my only hope is The Devil of Darkvale. A prophecy states that the lethally sexy vampire is my Cursed Mate. Whatever that means. He’s so powerful that he can get the Council off my back, but he’ll only do it if I work for him.

Destiny Fisher is ready to move past the guilt and shame of losing a fiancé to the war in Afghanistan 12 years ago. She never should’ve said yes to his proposal in the first place, and she's been plagued by her choices for more than a decade. She was his biggest regret. Trent Dawkins has been married to the army ever since he walked away from his brother's funeral...and from the woman he loved. Delta Team Three is his family. Destiny has avoided him for all these years. Does seeing him remind her of his brother? Can the two of them face their demons and move forward?

Dr. Will Montgomery had already given in to his temptations. He’d tasted the forbidden fruit again and again for months. Despite the obstacles, he claimed the beautiful Charlotte Pierce and fell head over heels in love. But a stolen love, a forbidden love, comes at a price. And in the aftermath of their affair, Will finds himself backed into a corner, desperate for an escape from the chaos. Chaos that threatens to destroy him and reveal the secrets he’d kept hidden. And if there’s one thing Dr. Will Montgomery should have learned by now, it's that the truth always comes out.

“I was in a relationship with two men, and neither were giving me up.” That thought flashed through Charlotte’s brain like a bright neon light as she followed her husband out of her marriage counselor’s office. The office where she’d sat twice a week as she tried to repair the glaring problems in her marriage. The marriage that she’d fought hard to save to a man that wasn’t fighting alongside her. She’d been lied to, ignored, and used as a pawn to climb his ladder to success. Charlotte was broken, not just her marriage.

By the skin of my teeth, I passed the Vampire Court trials. I'm officially an ally, with the seductive vampire Ares on my side. Everything should be good, except that there's a magical mob boss on the hunt for dragons. Problem is: dragons are supposed to be dead. So what does he know that I don't? It's a race against the clock to save the dragons. But things get dangerous when the mob boss starts hunting me. What was a straightforward mission becomes a tangled web of intrigue and danger.

You know that saying, to hell in a hand basket? That's where my life is headed. Three days ago, the Vampire Court learned about my forbidden FireSoul magic. It's basically a death sentence. Except they've made me a deal. I have to pass a series of trials, designed to test my magic and my loyalty. If I survive, I become an ally of the Court, which would be awesome. Problem is, the trials are as deadly as a hungry hellhound and I can't trust my partner, the sexy hybrid-vampire Ares.

Got a demon that needs killing? I’m your girl. On paper, I’m a blood sorceress. I can whip up the spells of your dreams. It’s a legal occupation - barely - but mostly a cover. My real job is protecting my city from the monsters of the dark realms. I’m the resident demon slayer, and occasionally those suckers escape. Then it’s up to me. I’ve even got a side hustle using their blood for my sorcery biz. It’s gruesome, but that’s life. Things get complicated when I start clashing with a sexy bounty hunter.

Cass Clereaux is a FireSoul - one of the unlucky few to inherit a piece of the dragon's soul. It gives her a deadly, forbidden magic, but at least it helps her find treasure. The only people she can trust are her fellow FireSouls, Del and Nix. They hunt treasure to pay the bills and keep their FireSoul secret to save their lives. When Cass is blackmailed by a criminal overlord who holds their lives in his hands, things get rough. He wants a pair of rare daggers hidden inside a deadly temple.

Gender equality is a moral and a business imperative. But unconscious bias holds us back, and de-biasing people’s minds has proven to be difficult and expensive. Diversity training programs have had limited success, and individual effort alone often invites backlash. Behavioral design offers a new solution. By de-biasing organizations instead of individuals, we can make smart changes that have big impacts.

Patricia Highsmith was one of the great 20th-century novelists, celebrated for classics The Talented Mr Ripley, Carol and Strangers on a Train, but she was also a masterful and prolific short-story writer. This definitive new collection, featuring two stories that have never been published before, confirms Highsmith as a genius of the genre. Peerlessly disturbing, exhilarating and savagely funny, Highsmith's stories still have the power to startle, presenting a world that is frighteningly familiar and as relevant today as when they were written.

My idea of a good time used to be a rom-com and pint of ice cream. But when a lethally sexy fae king kidnaps me, that changes. I’m forced to compete in a deadly competition to become his queen. Now, my idea of a good time is surviving the day. The Court of Starlight and Darkness is a gorgeous place, but I can’t stay. The Ice King's eyes burn with heat each time he looks at me, and I burn right back. The problem? He's dangerous. The king has no idea I’m human, and if he finds out, I’m dead. My only choice is to compete until I find a way to escape—and survive until then.

I can handle anyone who walks into my pub. Except him - the most powerful vampire who ever lived. The First. Dark, damaged, and hot as hell. He says I’m his one and only Vampire Bride, and that five years ago, I buried him alive. Obviously he’s crazy, because I don’t remember any of that. All I know is that if I want to escape his vengeance, I have to help him infiltrate a deadly secret society.

Parenting can be such an overwhelming job that it's easy to lose track of where you stand on some of the more controversial subjects at the playground (What if my kid likes to rough house - isn't this ok as long as no one gets hurt? And what if my kid just doesn't feel like sharing?). In this inspiring and enlightening book, Heather Shumaker describes her quest to nail down "the rules" to raising smart, sensitive, and self-sufficient kids.

Home from their travels at last, Sunaya and Iannis are confronted with a threat against which even their strongest magic is largely helpless. The very ground under their city is becoming increasingly unstable, and there are disturbing predictions of an impending quake the likes of which Solantha hasn't seen in centuries. While their hands are full preparing for disaster, Iannis's most dangerous rival returns to Solantha, intent on finding anything he can use against Iannis.

Covering diversity and equality, globalization, human rights, modern urban living and the role of work and institutions, The Sociology Book looks at the big questions of how we cooperate: What is society? What makes it tick? Why do we interact in the way that we do with our friends, co-workers, and rivals?

Unshackle: No woman can resist Luke Sanch. When he infiltrates La Rocha Cartel, he must seduce Vera Gomez to determine whether to rescue her. Or kill her. Dominate: There are many reasons to jump off a bridge, but Rylee Sutton only needs one. Her husband’s betrayal. Just before she leaps, she receives an email from a stranger. Complicate: Cole Hartman is a mystery. He works alone, sleeps alone, and satisfies his aches...alone. No one will ever compare to the one who broke his heart. Until he stares into the seductive eyes of his enemy.