Download or read book Wonder Valley written by Ivy Pochoda and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NPR Best Book of 2017 Los Angeles Times Best Fiction Pick Refinery29 Best Book of the Year BOLO Books Top Read of 2017 “Destined to be a classic L.A. novel.”—Michael Connelly When a teen runs away from his father’s mysterious commune, he sets in motion a domino effect that will connect six characters desperate for hope and love, set across the sun-bleached canvas of Los Angeles. From the acclaimed author of Visitation Street, a visionary portrait of contemporary Los Angeles in all its facets, from the Mojave Desert to the Pacific, from the 110 to Skid Row. During a typically crowded morning commute, a naked runner is dodging between the stalled cars. The strange sight makes the local news and captures the imaginations of a stunning cast of misfits and lost souls. There's Ren, just out of juvie, who travels to LA in search of his mother. There's Owen and James, teenage twins who live in a desert commune, where their father, a self-proclaimed healer, holds a powerful sway over his disciples. There's Britt, who shows up at the commune harboring a dark secret. There's Tony, a bored and unhappy lawyer who is inspired by the runner. And there's Blake, a drifter hiding in the desert, doing his best to fight off his most violent instincts. Their lives will all intertwine and come crashing together in a shocking way, one that could only happen in this enchanting, dangerous city. Wonder Valley is a swirling mix of angst, violence, heartache, and yearning—a masterpiece by a writer on the rise.

Download or read book The Pleasures of the Damned written by Charles Bukowski and published by Canongate Books. This book was released on 2012-03-29 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Pleasures of the Damned is a selection of the best poetry from America's most iconic and imitated poet, Charles Bukowski. Celebrating the full range of the poet's extraordinary sensibility and his uncompromising linguistic brilliance, these poems cover a lifetime of experience, from his renegade early work to never-before-collected poems penned during the final days before his death. Selected by John Martin, Bukowski's long-time editor and the publisher of the legendary Black Sparrow Press, this stands as what Martin calls 'the best of the best of Bukowski'.

Download or read book The Big Town written by Monte Schulz and published by Fantagraphics Books. This book was released on 2012-03-16 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Great Gatsby for the 21st century. A novel of the Jazz Age, The Big Town is the story of a failed businessman whose dreams of prosperity hinge on the secret proposition of a millionaire industrialist and a dangerous relationship he finds with a poor orphan girl chasing love in the great American metropolis. Harry Hennesey’s hopes of success, both in his household and the world, have driven him to sell his home in an Illinois small town and take his chances in the big city. He rents a room in a run-down hotel. He deals in wholesale items scavenged from yard sales and close-outs. One night at a movie theater downtown, he meets a teenage flapper named Pearl who latches onto him and won’t let go. For several years now, Harry has threatened his marriage and self-esteem with innumerable infidelities. Now he finds himself falling in love with a girl less than half his age. But that’s not all. Charles A. Follette, chairman of the board of the American Prometheus Corporation, comes to him with a slick proposition: find Follette’s missing niece, and the road to riches shall be his. Soon, though, Harry discovers a darker secret to the identity of the missing niece and what lies behind the urgency for her detection. It’s this revelation that leads him to a closer examination of what it means to the life he’s known since the birth of his children and that life he believes awaits him if he can only reach the top of the ladder. Harry’s story in The Big Town is set against a fantastic backdrop of an archetypal 1920s American big city. We see speakeasies, sanitariums, skyscrapers, and a glittering Gatsby-like party high atop the metropolis. Lost in his own moral confusions, we watch Harry try to reform his young lover and uncover the secret of her own past in a small canal town miles beyond a city where gangsters murder ordinary citizens and everyone seems to have a get-rich scheme as the Roaring ’20s come to a thunderous close. The Big Town evokes a lost era through language and flamboyant characters reminiscent of Fitzgerald, Dos Passos, Ring Lardner, etc. Yet it’s also eerily relevant to our own time with its study of the role of business, crime, morality, and love in our lives.

Download or read book Glitter and Grit written by Lili Valente and published by Self Taught Ninja. This book was released on 2014-12-17 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ride is going to last a lot longer than eight seconds… Female professional bull rider, Reece Hearst, graduated from the school of hard knocks. With honors. Because life is like bull riding—when it sends you to the dirt, you do whatever it takes to get on your feet, even if you have to crawl. She fixed Lonesome Point in her rearview, joined the pro circuit, and never looked back. But now an injury threatens to end her career and she’s back home, living next door to the family that made her life a living hell. After multiple tours of duty, all Grayson Parker wants is to get his family’s cattle business back in the black and live a quiet life. But the return of Reece Hearst makes “quiet” impossible. Though it’s hard to care when Reece makes chaos so much fun… Soon, Grayson longs to be the man to show this wounded cowgirl that there is life after loss. But can two damaged people find their way to happily ever after? Or will the scars on their hearts keep them apart? The Lonesome Point Bachelors Series (each book can be read as a Standalone romance): Leather and Lace Saddles and Sin Diamonds and Dust Twelve Dates to Christmas Glitter and Grit Sunny with a Chance of True Love Chaps and Chance Ropes and Revenge Eight Second Angel A Hundred Million Reasons Perfect for fans of Kelly Moore, Elle Thorp, and sexy, swoonworthy cowboys.

Download or read book Cries in the Night Person of Interest written by Debra Webb and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2018-09-25 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joining forces is the only chance they’ve got Cries in the Night Haunted by her daughter’s cries in the night, Melany Jackson will stop at nothing to track down her child. And if that means joining forces with Ryan Braxton—the man she still loves—then so be it. Melany and Ryan must quickly unravel the clues in the case. But what Melany fears more than her attraction to Ryan is that he might discover her child…is also his. Person of Interest By performing facial reconstruction surgeries for the CIA, Dr. Elizabeth Cameron provided new identities for agents whose covers had been blown. But someone wanted one in particular dead—and now Elizabeth is in jeopardy. As the danger escalates, her only hope rests with Agent Joe Hennessy, the one man she swore never to set eyes on again…

Download or read book Maverick written by Jenna Myles and published by Myles High Publishing. This book was released on 2024-07-27 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The day I met Cadence, I was drunk, lying on the floor of her rescue singing Twinkle Twinkle to a dog. The second time I met her, she was waitressing at a club. She was a dream, and the way she lit up around me, I thought I found my future. Until my brother let it slip that I own the club and was technically her boss. The third time I saw her, I was drunk again, mostly naked, upside down on a stripper pole. Then I fell off. Of course she’s able to resist me. But when I find her and her grandma sleeping in the rescue? Well maybe forcing them to come live with me wasn’t the best plan, but now that they’re here, I don’t want to let them go. So I’m going to work like hell to prove to her that she can trust me with all of her.

Download or read book The Art Of Seduction written by Robert Greene and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2010-09-03 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Which sort of seducer could you be? Siren? Rake? Cold Coquette? Star? Comedian? Charismatic? Or Saint? This book will show you which. Charm, persuasion, the ability to create illusions: these are some of the many dazzling gifts of the Seducer, the compelling figure who is able to manipulate, mislead and give pleasure all at once. When raised to the level of art, seduction, an indirect and subtle form of power, has toppled empires, won elections and enslaved great minds. In this beautiful, sensually designed book, Greene unearths the two sides of seduction: the characters and the process. Discover who you, or your pursuer, most resembles. Learn, too, the pitfalls of the anti-Seducer. Immerse yourself in the twenty-four manoeuvres and strategies of the seductive process, the ritual by which a seducer gains mastery over their target. Understand how to 'Choose the Right Victim', 'Appear to Be an Object of Desire' and 'Confuse Desire and Reality'. In addition, Greene provides instruction on how to identify victims by type. Each fascinating character and each cunning tactic demonstrates a fundamental truth about who we are, and the targets we've become - or hope to win over. The Art of Seduction is an indispensable primer on the essence of one of history's greatest weapons and the ultimate power trip. From the internationally bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, and The 33 Strategies Of War.

Download or read book Wanna Get Lucky written by Deborah Coonts and published by Chestnut Street Press. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of a Complete Series “Evanovich…with a dash of CSI.” – Publishers Weekly (review of Lucky Stiff) Everyone Has a Hidden Talent For Lucky O’Toole it’s murder…solving it. Surviving in Sin City takes cunning, a pair of five-inch heels, and a wiseass attitude. Lucky has mastered them all and has a pair of legs she uses to kick butt and turn heads. As the Chief Problem Solver for the Babylon, Las Vegas’s most over-the-top destination, mischief is in her job description. She’s good at her job. She’s less good at life. But who has time for a life when there’s a killer on the loose? WANNA GET LUCKY? A woman falls from a tour helicopter to the horror of the 8:30 Pirate show crowd. Was it suicide? An accident? Could she have been pushed? Lucky’s day began with the invasion of the Adult Video Awards and Trade show convention. It got more hectic when the spouse-swapping annual event checked in. And if adding a body to the mix wasn’t enough, Lucky’s got a new suitor. Her best friend, Teddie, a female impersonator who is pressing to take their relationship to the next level. Can she really date a man who looks better in a dress? What happened to the woman over the pirate show? Will her sleuthing skills catch the killer and save her job? A light, funny, romantic mystery providing a Vegas escape appropriate for anyone looking for a good laugh. Pick up a copy now and start your adventure. AN INTERVIEW WITH DEBORAH COONTS Why did you decide to write humor? I’m not sure I decided to add snark to the Lucky books, specifically to Lucky’s own voice, it just happened that way. When I was a kid, my mouth always got me into trouble. Finally, I’ve found a way to harness the sarcasm for the Forces of Good—or at least in a way not to anger my grandmother. And when Lucky started talking to me, she had a strong dose of sass in her. The Lucky O'Toole Vegas Adventure series is hard to categorize. Is that by design? When I set out to write Wanna Get Lucky?, I knew I wanted to write a romp through Las Vegas. I had the characters and the setting but no real understanding of narrative drive. So, I threw a young woman out of a tour helicopter into the middle of the Pirate Show and let the story unfold. A bit of murder to keep the plot moving, some wisecracking and Vegas mischief to make you laugh, and some romance to keep it interesting. A bit of a mash up, but it works. PRAISE FOR Wanna Get Lucky? "This is chick lit gone wild and sexy, lightly wrapped in mystery and tied up with a brilliantly flashing neon bow. As the first in a series, Wanna Get Lucky? hits the proverbial jackpot." - Booklist "Deliciously raunchy, with humorous takes on sexual proclivities, Vegas glitz and love, though Agatha Christie is probably spinning in her grave." - Kirkus Reviews "Wanna Get Lucky? is a winner on every level. Deborah Coonts has crafted a first-class murder mystery coupled with a touching and unexpected love story. Against a flawlessly-rendered Las Vegas backdrop, Lucky's story is funny, fast-paced, exuberant and brilliantly realized." - Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author "Get ready to win big--with a novel that will keep you glued to the pages all the way to the end. Wanna Get Lucky? is as entertaining as the city in which it's set." - Brenda Novak, New York Times & USA Today bestselling author "More fun than a winning streak in Vegas. Lucky O’Toole is a character with brains, beauty, and a wry sense of humor. Readers will want to meet her again—and soon." - Diane Mott Davidson, New York Times bestselling author "Paints a dead-on portrait of Las Vegas that is somehow dark, outrageous, and hilarious at the same time. Lucky O’Toole is wise, witty, and brimming with cheery cynicism. Wanna Get Lucky? goes down faster than an ice-cold Bombay martini--very dry, of course, and with a twist." - Douglas Preston, New York Times bestselling author "Wanna Get Lucky? is an amazing debut novel, a mile-a-minute read, with fantastic characters, dry wit, and the gritty neon feel of Las Vegas. Bravo to Deborah Coonts--I see a great future ahead." - Heather Graham, New York Times bestselling author "Wanna Get Lucky? sizzles. It beguiles and surprises. It's belly-laugh funny. Add in unforgettable characters, crimes to die for, the ka-ching of high-stakes casinos, and Laura Ashley-decorated bordellos, and you have a read that's utterly irresistible from first page to last. Watch out, Janet Evanovich. The new hot number is Deborah Coonts." - Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author "When it comes to the crunch (something for a sullen teenager, hostile neighbor, unbearably saintly mother-in-law), the secret is to make them laugh. Deborah Coonts's Wanna Get Lucky? (Forge/Tom Doherty, $24.99), set at the 'most over-the-top mega casino/resort on the Las Vegas Strip,' entrusts the sleuthing to a brainy beauty who sees the lighter side of human folly." - Marilyn Stassio, New York Times Book Review, choosing Wanna Get Lucky? As a Notable Crime Novel for 2010

Download or read book Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby written by Nicolas Tredell and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2007-02-28 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reader's Guides provide a comprehensive starting point for any advanced student, giving an overview of the context, criticism and influence of key works. Each guide also offers students fresh critical insights and provides a practical introduction to close reading and to analysing literary language and form. They provide up-to-date, authoritative but accessible guides to the most commonly studied classic texts. The Great Gatsby (1925) is a classic of modern American literature and is often seen as the quintessential novel of 'the jazz age'. This is the ideal guide to the text, setting The Great Gatsby in its historical, intellectual and cultural contexts, offering analyses of its themes, style and structure, providing exemplary close readings, presenting an up-to-date account of its critical reception and examining its afterlife in literature, film and popular culture. It includes points for discussion, suggestions for further study and an annotated guide to relevant reading.

Download or read book Too Darn Hot written by Sandra Scoppettone and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2007-05-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I’d had two murders since last spring, solved them both. The first one was prime and it got a lotta attention in the fish wrappers, so I had a bunch of clients for awhile. Just cause people saw my name in the paper they figured I was the best (which I might be). Not bad for a twenty-six-year-old gal from Newark, New Jersey. It’s the middle of World War II, but not all the killing is happening overseas. In a sweltering New York City summer, scrappy steno-turned-sleuth Faye Quick–kicked upstairs when her boss ships out–takes on a new case that would make even the most experienced P.I. sweat bullets. It all starts with a beautiful woman. Heartbroken Claire Turner turns on the waterworks in Faye’s office, begging for help in finding her beau, Private Charlie Ladd, gone missing while on leave from Uncle Sam’s army. But when Faye busts into Charlie’s hotel room, she doesn’t find anyone–anyone alive, that is. But where’s Charlie? Because the corpse in the hotel room might not be him. And that leads Faye to wonder if the unfortunate stiff was Charlie’s target practice. In a case with more twists, starts, and stops than the Third Avenue El, Faye learns that some shocking truths are hidden behind the fog of war–a personal war being fought on the home front. Brimming over with big band music, hairdos in snoods, and unfiltered smokes–the same irresistible 1940s detail that made This Dame for Hire such a treat–the second adventure of indefatigable Faye solidifies her status as one of Sandra Scoppettone’s most appealing characters. Too Darn Hot is sizzling fun readers are sure to make Quick work of.

Download or read book Damned If I Do Damned If I Don t Reflections of a Conservative Atheist written by Frank Cress and published by Fultus Corporation. This book was released on 2005-11 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is a conservative atheist? Isn't that an oxymoron? Well, Frank Cress thinks that it is a valid position and, in fact, thinks he can convince you that the conservative atheist position is most rational of all. Come along for discussion on a wide variety of subjects ranging from abortion to gay rights, from raising atheist children to software development techniques. If you are an atheist with socially conservative values you will probably find most of your thoughts expressed here-maybe even for the first time ever in print. Even if you disagree with some or most of the material you'll find this effort to be thought provoking and unique in presentation.

Download or read book Ask a Manager written by Alison Green and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

Download or read book Sleeping Late On Judgement Day written by Tad Williams and published by Astra Publishing House. This book was released on 2014-09-02 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where does an angel go when he's been to Hell and back? Renegade angel Bobby Dollar does not have an easy afterlife. After surviving the myriad gruesome dangers Hell oh-so-kindly offered him, Bobby has returned empty-handed – his demon girlfriend Casmira, the Countess of Cold Hands, is still in the clutches of Eligor, Grand Duke of Hell. Some hell of a rescue. Forced to admit his failure, Bobby ends up back at his job as an angel advocate. That is, until Walter, an old angel friend whom Bobby never thought he’d see again, shows up at the local bar. The last time he saw Walter was in Hell, when Walter had tried to warn him about one of Bobby’s angel superiors. But now Walter can’t remember anything, and Bobby doesn’t know whom to trust. Turns out that there's corruption hidden within the higher ranks of Heaven and Hell, but the only proof Bobby has is a single feather. Before he knows it, he’s in the High Hall of Heavenly Judgement – no longer a bastion for the moral high ground, if it ever was, but instead just another rigged system – on trial for his immortal soul... Sleeping Late on Judgement Day is the third installment of Tad Williams' urban fantasy Bobby Dollar series!

Download or read book I Love Jesus But I Want to Die written by Sarah J. Robinson and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

Download or read book First Class Killing written by Lynne Heitman and published by Diversion Publishing Corp.. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A female private investigator goes undercover to expose a high-flying prostitution ring in this “action-filled thriller [that] packs an erotic punch” (The Boston Globe). Tough, smart, and resourceful, Alex Shanahan survived the cutthroat corporate world on her own terms. Now she’s using her hard-earned experience as a private investigator. Alex is hired to check out an airline that’s been serving more than just in-flight beverages: there’s a high-end prostitution ring catering to first-class passengers. Alex goes undercover as a flight attendant to infiltrate the group. But she can’t stay hidden in the clouds forever, and when her cover is blown, the turbulence that follows might make this flight her last. “Get ready for the plane ride of your life. . . . Heitman is an excellent storyteller who creates wonderful and believable characters. . . . First Class Killing will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next Alex Shanahan novel.” —Old Book Barn Gazette

Download or read book Women and Men written by Joseph McElroy and published by . This book was released on 2023-01-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning in childbirth and entered like a multiple dwelling in motion, Women and Men embraces and anatomizes the 1970s in New York - from experiments in the chaotic relations between the sexes to the flux of the city itself. Yet through an intricate overlay of scenes, voices, fact, and myth, this expanding fiction finds its way also across continents and into earlier and future times and indeed the Earth, to reveal connections between the most disparate lives and systems of feeling and power. At its breathing heart, it plots the fuguelike and fieldlike densities of late-twentieth-century life. McElroy rests a global vision on two people, apartment-house neighbors who never quite meet. Except, that is, in the population of others whose histories cross theirs believers and skeptics; lovers, friends, and hermits; children, parents, grandparents, avatars, and, apparently, angels. For Women and Men shows how the families through which we pass let one person's experience belong to that of many, so that we throw light on each other as if these kinships were refracted lives so real as to be reincarnate. A mirror of manners, the book is also a meditation on the languages, rich, ludicrous, exact, and also American, in which we try to grasp the world we're in. Along the kindred axes of separation and intimacy Women and Men extends the great line of twentieth-century innovative fiction.

Download or read book Blueprint with a new afterword written by Robert Plomin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-07-16 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A top behavioral geneticist makes the case that DNA inherited from our parents at the moment of conception can predict our psychological strengths and weaknesses. In Blueprint, behavioral geneticist Robert Plomin describes how the DNA revolution has made DNA personal by giving us the power to predict our psychological strengths and weaknesses from birth. A century of genetic research shows that DNA differences inherited from our parents are the consistent lifelong sources of our psychological individuality—the blueprint that makes us who we are. Plomin reports that genetics explains more about the psychological differences among people than all other factors combined. Nature, not nurture, is what makes us who we are. Plomin explores the implications of these findings, drawing some provocative conclusions—among them that parenting styles don't really affect children's outcomes once genetics is taken into effect. This book offers readers a unique insider's view of the exciting synergies that came from combining genetics and psychology. The paperback edition has a new afterword by the author.