Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel"

Beyond simple small talk: what to say and when to say it to be likable, connect, and make a memorable impression. Actionable and applicable verbal maneuvers for just about every phase of conversation - good and bad. Whatever your conversational goal, you’ll find tactics to put you in a winning position - in a literal sense with arguments, and in a figurative sense with making friends. You can never underestimate the power of a simple conversation.

Learn conversational agility to think quickly on your feet, be incredibly smooth, funny, and clever - all at once. Goodbye awkward silences! No matter where you lie on the spectrum of awkward to engaging, witty banter is always the end goal - and it should be. Witty banter, and all the steps that lead to it, allows you to disarm and connect with anyone, immediately exit boring small talk mode, and instantly build rapport.

Stop enabling, people pleasing, and being so agreeable. The Art of Everyday Assertiveness is a guide for the chronically nice, overwhelmed, and accommodating. It is a deep psychological dive into what makes us lack assertiveness and how to systematically combat those compulsions.

Kelsey Adams is alone, and has been since childhood. Running away is all she knows and necessary to preserve her deepest, darkest secret. She cannot afford for anyone to get close, or know about the monster within. But when she lands a lucrative job as an administrative assistant to Kyle Westin, CEO of the Westin Foundation, her life changes and everything's at stake. Can she conceal her growing feelings and her true self from this enigmatic, strong willed man, or will her world fall apart?

Kevin Taylor is an Internet-famous handyman on a mission: Find a house and renovate it in 30 days. By flipping a derelict house in a month's time and chronicling the entire thing on video for his online subscribers, he seeks to become a star. The problems that plague this property will require more than elbow grease to fix, however. Shadows throughout the home are distorted, and an enigmatic trespasser keeps showing up in his footage. Worse still are the hideous voices that issue from otherwise empty rooms in the dead of night.

Editors Randy Chandler and Cheryl Mullenax put the call out to horror writers and editors of extreme stories, the hardcore stuff that breaks boundaries and trashes taboos, the transgressive tales you can't "unread" (as Chuck Palahniuk says). Some of the stories you'll find here are loaded with very graphic descriptions of violence, sex, and depravities, while others may contain only one shocking moment of brutality. In others, the hardcore aspect may be less graphic and subtler than you might expect.

Moving back home to my parents' cattle ranch in Texas was the last thing I thought I'd be doing. But, here I stand...in front of my high school girlfriend. A beautiful, confident woman has replaced the young girl I once knew and loved. Hell. I'm still in love with her. Yep. Paxton Monroe was my first love and the one girl in town who now hated my guts. So much so, Paxton swore her revenge on me if it took her until the day she died.

Callyn Silvers is the quiet girl in class, with her nose always in a book. No matter what school she's in, she likes to fly under the radar, and is hoping that senior year, at yet another new school, will be the same. Enter Zeke Montgomery, Graydon James, Maximus Anderson, and Lucian Harris. They enter Callyn's life like a Category 5 hurricane. All the boys recognize who she is the moment they see and scent her. She is their mate. All of their mates.

You'd think a billion dollars, a professional hockey team and a six-bedroom mansion on the Promenade would satisfy a guy. You'd be wrong. For seven years Rebecca has brightened my office with her wit and her smile. She manages both my hockey team and my sanity. I don't know when I started waking in the night, craving her. All I know is that one whiff of her perfume ruins my concentration. And her laugh makes me hard.

The cat is out of the bag, and everyone learns that Callyn is the next alpha queen. She gains a friend in Catori Na'Estse, a girl who was also wronged by Kelsey. Callyn has officially claimed all of her mates and has shifted, gaining some new abilities along the way. Soon, they realize there are people who don't want to see her ascend to the throne. They will stop at nothing to make sure she doesn't take her rightful place as alpha queen. After almost losing her life, Callyn realizes just how far some people will go for power, greed, and jealousy.  

Are you interested in 100 percent scientific and proven ways to make friends quickly, negotiate anything you want, turn enemies into friends, gain trust, and just be flat-out likable? How about step-by-step, methodical, literally foolproof approaches to make people want you around more? In The Science of Likability, that's exactly what you'll get. I've taken 16 of the most influential, famous, and effective psychological studies and broken them down to see exactly how you can use their findings to your advantage.

For over 100 years, the Temple of Ran has been sacrificing young wizards in order to steal their power. When Lorit discovers that he holds the rare ability to use magic, he becomes their next target. At first, he runs, working to master his abilities on the move so that one day he might be able to resist them. But that was before the Temple targets his beloved sister, Chihon. In order to save her life, he infuses her with his own power. Now, they're both targets.

Empower Your Thoughts will give you back the power to think freely again, to express ideas without restraint, and to explore the freedom of creativity - the greatest freedom there is. Written by best-selling author, coach and personal development trainer Scott Allan, Empower Your Thoughts is focused on taking clear action toward your goals and dreams. With specific strategies, sage advice, and practical activities designed to help you develop a positive mental mindset, you'll be able to eliminate mental clutter and live a more meaningful, peaceful life.

The Science of Attraction is an in-depth look at human attraction and what draws people together. It dives into peer-reviewed research, combined with the insightful and straightforward observations of a renowned dating coach. Patrick King is an internationally best-selling author and acclaimed speaker and coach. Together, this book is the ultimate guide to inform, diagnose, and recommend highly actionable steps to take your dating life to the next level.

Myreen didn't think breaking one rule, just once, would lead to the death of her mother. And she never expected to learn she was a mermaid shifter, or that her mother was killed by vampires. Whisked away in the middle of the night for her own safety, Myreen finds herself in a secret school for shifters. With rumors swirling, mean girls circling, and two incredibly attractive guys tugging her in separate directions, Myreen will need to untangle the web of secrets surrounding her if she ever wants to find out why her mother was murdered.

Liam Westin has carried a secret crush on his twin sister's best friend for most of his life. When she goes missing and is presumed dead as a teen, it nearly destroys him. Now the newest and youngest CEO of the Westin Foundation, his life is finally on track, until he comes face to face with the woman he's always loved. She has a lot of secrets and isn't the same as he remembers. Can his love mend her wounds? Or are there too many obstacles between them now? 

From the time she was a little girl, Mary loved Jason. He was her knight in shining armor. Her first crush. Her first kiss. Her first everything, until he broke her heart and she vowed to hate him for 1,000 lifetimes. Jason is the future Alpha of Westin Pack. As an only child, he's under extraordinary pressure to find his one true mate and carry on his family's legacy. When he returns home from college after years away, he finds her in a pup he had always been protective of and attracted to, despite their age differences.

When a missing person case lands in the lap of Black Knight Investigations, Jimmy Black and his partner, Greg Knightwood, jump back into action - until their missing person rises as an uncontrollable vampire and all signs point to a supernatural coup orchestrated by an unknown vampire of immense power. With the case going sideways, more missing girls, and a new cop in town way too curious about Jimmy's perennial youth, life in Charlotte is about to get interesting again.

Do you always start something new but soon give up out of frustration or boredom? Are tired of committing to a goal you can't complete? Is life defeating you and not sure how to get back up after the knockdown? Scott Allan's book Undefeated teaches you the strategies for becoming unbeatable, undefeatable, and to conquer impossible odds.    

Lee's parents and their business partner, Gordon, found a class A habitable planet. They thought their quest as explorers was over and they'd live a life of ease. But before they could return and register their claim, Lee's parents died doing a survey of the surface. That left Lee two-thirds owner of the claim and their partner Gordon obligated by his word with her parents to raise Lee. She had grown up aboard the ship with her uncle Gordon and he was the only family she'd ever known. Him adopting her was an obvious arrangement to them.