Showing results by narrator "Benjamin Crow" in All Categories

Vivi, the Duchess of Bradford, loved her husband from the day they first met. She was an unabashed hoyden. He was the heir to a dukedom and her older brother’s best friend. She vowed to marry him, but she never could have imagined just how dreadfully that youthful promise would go awry, shattering her hope for a future.

If my parents had it their way, I’d be off at college. Instead, I’m drowning in secrets, every one of them involving my brother’s best friend. Hayes Wilder is a walking red flag, warning me to stay away. And yet, all I can think about are his calloused hands on my skin. He’s a total player, on and off the ice, but right now, the only playing he wants to do is with me. Sneaking around isn’t easy, especially when you live in a small town where nothing stays hidden. And when our secret ends up in the wrong hands, decisions and regrets come as a package deal.

I've been watching her. Wanting her. Stalking her. I'm obsessed with the shy, innocent barista who works at my favorite coffee shop. She doesn't know that I bought the house across the street from her apartment so that I can watch over her. I secretly collect her paintings and hang them in my bedroom. And I won't hesitate to break into her home to find out what kind of books she likes to read. I'll do whatever it takes to win her heart.

The Honorable Miss Hattie Lethbridge is quite happy being a wallflower, thank you very much. She would far prefer to spend an evening curled up with her cat than whirling about a ballroom. When her brother’s scapegrace friend, the Duke of Montrose, proposes they marry, she is determined to refuse his suit.

Accused of a hate crime and expelled from school in his final year, Connor returns home to his seaside town to let everything blow over. There, not only does he have to learn to deal with the addition of two new stepbrothers and a new stepdad, but he also has to grapple with a world set against him. It's not all bad, though. Within his dad's underwater lab, he discovers something in the deep. Something exciting. Something that calls to him.

Naia, the daughter of the High Sea Goddess, is an embarrassment. She holds no title and no power but is the key to a curse placed centuries ago on her mother: Naia must form a union with a god from an opposing family. When the day arrives for her arranged marriage, she turns to the High God of Death and Curses for help. He assists Naia under one condition—she must accept a curse, blindly. Willing to do whatever it takes to escape her mother’s kingdom beneath the sea, Naia agrees and flees to the Mortal Land.

In an England where monsters have spilled into the world out of myth, only London is magically protected from the monstrous threat. The University runs the city, allowing family of graduate Hunters, Healers, Scholars, and Artificers to live behind the wards.

Life was far from perfect after my mother's sudden death, but it was one I'd grown to love. And now, it's a life I'll never know again. Not after she and her two cruel sons entered our lives. My father swore he'd never love again, but just as suddenly as Merelda arrived, she became the very center of his world . . . and just as quickly, I was all but forgotten. Still, I did not complain . . . if only for my father's sake. Not even when cruel words turned into even crueler punishments at my new step family's hands.

The master of the tease. The god of rock. Frontman of the world's most desired band, Youth Gone Wild. I'm Rhett Ryan, and I get what I want. Women? They were lining up. Money? I had enough. Accolades? My shelves were full. Love? I didn't have time for that. Not until I had no choice but to pay attention to the last woman I expected to fall for. My beautiful, sassy publicist, Julia goddamn Speed. She was a vital part of the band's success, and she was as off-limits as they came. I'd never wanted anything more in my life. But Julia wasn't like the rest....

Just as Clara and her sister are settling into their new life, Drosselmeyer sends a desperate message to the Seelie Court. With Lir and Louisa occupied elsewhere, Clara and Finias (the Sugarplum Faerie) have no choice but to respond and forge deep into Unseelie Territory, where a cruel Queen, known as the Eater of Hearts, has taken the throne. As they infiltrate the Court of Dread, Finias and Clara are forced to keep their relationship a secret. Meanwhile, the ravenous victims of the Queen, called the Heartless, turn the Unseelie kingdom into a far more dangerous place than usual.

I can still taste her on my lips, lingering there like a shot of pretty poison. I should hate her for what she did. No one would blame me for it—not even her brother. The pain I felt that day ripped me apart until all that remained was the shell of the man I used to be. And now, I’m left to lie in the aftermath. Devastating news has my life spiraling further out of control. If I don’t get a handle on it, I could end up losing it all. But nothing cuts deeper than the shards of a broken heart, and the scars that won’t fade make it hard for me to care.

Yoga is so prevalent in the modern world - practiced by pop stars, taught in schools, and offered in yoga centers, health clubs, and even shopping malls - that we take its presence, and its meaning, for granted. But how did the current yoga boom happen? And is it really rooted in ancient Indian practices, as many of its adherents claim? In this groundbreaking book, Mark Singleton calls into question many commonly held beliefs about the nature and origins of postural yoga (asana) and suggests a radically new way of understanding the meaning of yoga as it is practiced by millions today.

The poems of Leaves of Grass are loosely connected, with each representing Whitman's celebration of his philosophy of life and humanity. This book is notable for its discussion of delight in sensual pleasures during a time when such candid displays were considered immoral. Where much previous poetry, especially English, relied on symbolism, allegory, and meditation on the religious and spiritual, Leaves of Grass exalted the body and the material world.

Death was all he deserved . . . until it wasn't. No sooner than I step out of sight of Death, and what our deal has wrought, do I regret the words I've spoken. My heart aches from the harshness of my tongue, and I wonder if I have made a grave mistake. And yet, I do not turn back. No. Instead, I harden my heart against these thoughts. Against my feelings. Sealing my fate with yet another mistake borne of disobedience . . . not only to my mother's dying wish, but to the true desires of my soul. A fate that will force me to my very knees to save the ones I love. To save him. To save . . . us.

Desperate for some clarity, Elliot turns to GlimpseTech, a company offering all over-sixteens a 44-second glimpse of what lies ahead. But Elliot's Glimpse only makes him more confused, showing him in an intimate moment with Sebastian Glass, the "one gay kid" in his year at school. Seb, meanwhile, hates Glimpses and blames the technology for his dad's absence. Unlike the protesters picket-lining GlimpseTech headquarters, Seb has other things to worry about, like his mom's depression and the man showing up at his house demanding money. Then he bumps into Elliot.

After a risk is taken and a confession is made, one relationship heats up while another hangs in the balance. When everything rests on shaky ground, we find the stability we need tangled up in each other. Guards are let down and trust is repaired, but all vulnerability comes with a side of weakness. And the betrayal that hits us is one we never saw coming. Revenge is a dangerous game, especially when fueled by jealousy. We’ll do whatever it takes to protect our own, even if it means seeking help from unlikely sources.

They say nothing compares to the first kiss. That sentence needs to be amended. Nothing compares to the first kiss from Oliver Best. I knew at the moment our lips touched that the cocky rockstar would be forever imprinted in my mind. I also knew that loving him would be my destruction. And yet, love him I did.

Now imprisoned in Moros, buried deep in the Land of the Dead, Finnian is determined to right a wrong he made centuries ago. Somewhere in the hellish landscape is his father, and he intends to find him and flee their chains together. Cassian, the High God of Death and Curses, has one desire: get Finnian to confess where he’s hiding a valuable weapon—one deadly to deities. For centuries, the High Goddess of Fate has plagued Cassian over a dispute that took place between them long ago.

Following their success in the trials, Cassius Jones and his companions secure coveted spots as students in London's prestigious University. But the University's promise of security falls short. Reeling from resource shortages, the University is no longer content with siloed expertise, demanding versatility if its students are to survive in a world plagued by catastrophe.

A soul lost in a world of darkness that wants nothing more than to devour me. To claim me as its own before I have a chance to escape. Before I have a chance to remember who I am...and how I came to be here. Before I remember him. But even then, the Underworld has no intention of letting me go. Not unless I can win them to my side.