The Finish Line

The Finish Line

Josephine Kent

Romance / Food and Drink / Food

Their one night together was a complete letdown, but Hilliard Griffin was still obsessed with her. When the woman he knows only as 'Anna' stumbles into his office ill, he accepts his fate. The problem is that Anna doesn't believe that they belong together. After she repeatedly rejects him, he decides to wait at the finish line for her to realize what true love is.Their one night together was a complete letdown, but Hilliard Griffin was still obsessed with her. When the woman he knows only as 'Anna' stumbles into his office ill, he accepts his fate. The problem is that Anna doesn't believe that they belong together. After she repeatedly rejects him, he decides to wait at the finish line for her to realize what true love is.Motivated by grief, Anna turned to Hill for a one night stand. Only to find out that one night with him would haunt her for the rest of her life. A chance encounter brings Hill back into her life. Ruthlessly, she rejects him. Yet, the more she pushes him away, the more he shows that he believes she is worth waiting for. Patience and trust are the foundations of Hill and Anna's. Sometimes love happens at first time, and it is beautiful. But, like Rome, some the truly extraordinary things cannot be built in a day.
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Valiant Hearts, Book One: The Academy

Valiant Hearts, Book One: The Academy

Kathleen King

Food and Drink / Cookbooks / Cooking

Stephanie is a graduating combat student of North Amber Academy with the special ability of bending water and is preparing for her final examination. But the exams are the last things in Stephanie’s mind, rumors have it that Moah has invaded the city of Aechor and soon will declare war. Will Stephanie’s abilities be put to test to defend her country even before she graduates from the academy?Each student at the North Amber Academy had an element they specialized in. Every student fit in one of four categories: water, fire, earth, and air. The abilities each received all depended on what each was born with. For Stephanie Asheron and her friends, that was a love for water. Final examinations are coming up for the graduating students like Stephanie which will have her compete with her classmates and the top tier will go on to battle the other classes. But the exams are the last things in Stephanie’s mind, rumors have it that Moah has invaded the city of Aechor and soon will declare another World War. Are there truths to the claim of war? Will Stephanie’s abilities be put to test to defend her country even before she graduates from her academy?
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Reckless Prudence

Reckless Prudence

Josephine Kent

Romance / Food and Drink / Food

Margo is tired of Kellie's refusal to become romantically involved with someone, even temporarily. In order to help her friend live a more fulfilled life, she arranges for a girl's night at a trendy restaurant. When Margo arrives nearly an hour late, she finds Kellie with a glass in her hand and a gleam in her eye.A single baby, born to save a world.Two ancient prophecies, both foretelling the extinction of a race. Two sides racing to their appointment with destiny.A leader of men, determined to outwit the foretelling of his doom, leads his people in a sickening massacre to secure the continuation of his race.A single man, troubled with nightmares and voices in dreams, worries for his sanity as his life crumbles around him. Alone and friendless, Vincent escapes to isolated freedom, the loneliness forcing him to succumb to the terrifying nightmares and finally, to listen to the voices in the dreams. Many worlds away across the aching void, Farra listens to the voices in her own dreams, and embarks upon a perilous journey to bring truth and justice to one troubled soul struggling to find a purpose.The child that is now a man must face his nemesis and end the tide of evil that laid waste his world as he took his first breath.The voices in the dreams lead them on a journey through space and time, from world to world in a desperate struggle for truth, justice, life.
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Caledonii: Birth of a Celtic Nation. Druid & Iceni

Caledonii: Birth of a Celtic Nation. Druid & Iceni

Ian Hall

Food and Drink / Food

69AD, and the Romans have been lords of the southern part of Britain for over twenty years. Knowing their eyes are forever northward, the Brigante King Venutius decides to send two of his young sons north to safety.Sewell, a northern druid, must first locate the boys, then get them safe to his homeland in the Caledonii nation.It is a dangerous journey into hostile landsHe cannot fail.The year is 69AD, and the Romans have been lords of the southern part of Britain for over twenty years, but their roads stretch forever northwards. Knowing their armies will one day march on these roads, the Brigante King Venutius decides to send two of his young sons further north to safety.Sewell, a northern druid, is given the task. He must first locate the boys, then get them safe to his homeland in the Caledonii nation.It is a dangerous journey into hostile landsHe cannot fail.
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Ruck Nor

Ruck Nor

Lisa Kime

Food and Drink / Cookbooks / Food

Curiosity gets the better of Craig West when he hears a metallic 'bang' from the abandoned foundry. His attention is drawn to a figure at the window and he makes the decision to investigate.INSIDE — 2012’s SEXIEST WOMAN ALIVE: VENICE’s Nadia Bjorlin! Exclusive Interview: Why She Turned Down DAYS; Her New CSI Role; VENICE Sex Scene Secrets; And Mama Fary! Source: ABC Refused To Pay For AMC’s WGA Table! More Chaos Behind The Scenes at GH? Also: Are GH’s Jason and Franco Twins? Spoiler: Is Robin Really Dead? DAYS: Will Kisses a Boy; Ejami Exposed! Plus: Will John and Hope Kiss? Why Did Andrea Evans Not Submit Herself For Emmy Consideration? Exclusive: Pre, Pre-Noms Revealed — Plus, Supporting Actress and Lead Actor Emmy Reel Deets! Lauralee Bell’s Prime-Time Gig! GH’s Jenn Lilley Staying On! Bren Foster Out At DAYS! Exclusive Interview: Cameron Mathison Hosts Oscar Special! DAYS Casts Celeste’s Son! Brittany Underwood’s New Soap Role! GH Stars Mourns Wife’s Death! Plus: Last Week's Reviews, Unbelievable Blind Items, and Next Week's Cheat Sheet!
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Family Sins - A Short Story

Family Sins - A Short Story

Linda Johnson

Food and Drink / Cookbooks / Cooking

This story reveals the dark side of a mother’s controlling love. As much as Sarah adores her son, Michael, she detests the woman he marries. When her daughter-in-law forces Michael to choose between them, Sarah refuses to back down. As her desperate actions unfold, her family’s deadly secrets are revealed.Nameless is a city. A country within borders. A boundless space of ideas. A cosmos with realities, stark and painful, quiet and loud. A space crippled by fears. Nameless is populated. West African. It is in the minds of its people, black and proud. Sometimes Nameless is human. An idea. Sometimes it is in the past. Often times is the now. Other times, it is the future. It remains Nameless. The oldest residents know its dreams, its origins, beginning in a major stream and ending in a clear deep pond. The youngest residents know its pulse, feel its heat, its blood coursing through the veins of the country the history they know is happening right before them, good and bad and ugly. Everyone knows its hopes.Afele is the heart of Nameless. The market place of items and ideas; the Centre where all things meet, where the blood of Nameless converges and gets pumped out into homes and heads and souls. It is the meeting point. It feeds Nameless and starves it. Nameless is ambitious. And in the third world. In darkness. With in adequate infrastructure. Darkened by the lack of electricity. Nameless is in light. Brightened by the hope in the eyes of its inhabitants. Slowed down by the pot holes on the roads. Sped up by anticipation of change by desire. Nameless is rich. And poor. And in between. Nameless is oppressed. Under surveillance. Nameless is free. To dream. Of change. Free. To dare. To live. To express. To break open the boxes in which sexuality and gender and tribe exist. Stifled and stifling. Free. To love and not to take oppression in the garbs of love. Free from the dubious bonds of religion and tradition, disguised as law. Nameless is many things. It is the present we loathe. It is the past that haunts us. It is the future we want.Nameless is what we own, the things we are ashamed of, the hurt that binds us, the leaders who stain our pre sent. Nameless is the clarity we have. It is the knowledge that things can not remain the same. The hope that our children will only know our tears as history. It is all we must do to move us from the things that cage us to being able to fly free to a place beyond where nothing can stop us.We are nameless.And Nameless is usA collaborative book convened by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Nigeria, facilitated by booksprints.net. Nameless strives to inspire change in Nigeria. Eight budding Nigerian writers; Rafeeat Aliyu, Fola Lawal, Kalu Aja, Chioma Agwuegbo, Pearl Osibu, Yas Niger, Elnathan John, and Azeenarh Mohammed, reflect a common vision for their nation's future. Nameless is about the complexities that is Nigeria.
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When the Pilot Light Goes Out

When the Pilot Light Goes Out

Daniel Stone

Nonfiction / Food and Drink / Food

Pilot Light suffers a breakdown following a string of personal losses. His grief leads him to commit a crime that doesn’t go to plan. Whilst delirious he attempts to cover his tracks. Through a sequence of flashbacks we understand how a nice, ordinary bloke has come to be feeding hacked up body parts to the hunting dogs at London Zoo.A shattered, battered and bruised Pilot Light collapses, trapped in a reed bed. He has just committed a truly terrible crime. His getaway vehicle, the canal boat, is moored up only a few meters away. Weak and bloodied having been wounded and suffering the after effects of a drug fuelled comedown Pilot Light drifts away having become stuck, he then loses consciousness.How he came to be in that predicament is then revealed to the reader through a succession of flash backs chronicling his life and the lead up to his ultimate guilt induced breakdown and rampage. After suffering the final straw Pilot Light seeks his revenge on the world by plotting the burglary which he figured will right a few wrongs and provide all the wealth and happiness he had aspired to give Chloe during their normal life together. All he has to do is get home following the heist but first he must drop someone off at London Zoo whilst overcoming riding a bike, hiding the stolen goods and driving a car and a canal boat all whilst being one handed. Will this prove to be the last time the Pilot Light goes out?
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The Billionaire's Mermaid

The Billionaire's Mermaid

Amberlee Day

Romance / Food and Drink / Cooking

Inspired by Charlotte Bronte's classic novel, Jane Eyre. A billionaire, a professional mermaid, and a secret that will either bring them together or forever keep them apart.Van Rivers needs a mermaid, and he needs one fast. When mermaid lessons are the only thing his niece—and ward—wants for her birthday, she's going to get it. Now he must find an instructor willing to travel to his estate in Canada's Banff National Park.Cleo Willey enjoys her life donning a tail as a professional mermaid and working with children, but she's lonely. Though she dreams of having a happy family, she has no idea how to make it happen. When an unusual offer with a high salary attached comes her way, she leaves her native Florida for two wintery months at Eagle Hill, Van's isolated Canadian estate. What she isn't prepared for is an attractive new boss who can be both dark and brooding, and lovingly sweet.Just when things begin to heat up for the complex billionaire and his mermaid, mysterious happenings bring out Van's darker side, and their budding romance comes crashing down. Can Cleo convince Van that everyone has it in them to change, and will he finally open his heart to the possibility that sometimes love does win, after all?
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Redemption – A Short Story

Redemption – A Short Story

Linda Johnson

Food and Drink / Cookbooks / Cooking

Ben Hawkins blames his father for a psychologically abusive childhood and for triggering his mother’s suicide. The two men have been estranged for years. But when Ben is falsely accused of murder, he has no other option than to turn to his father, a retired homicide detective, for help.As Ben languishes in jail, the noose growing tighter, his father desperately searches for the real killer.Ben Hawkins blames his father for a psychologically abusive childhood and for triggering his mother’s suicide. The two men have been estranged for years. But when Ben is falsely accused of murder, he has no other option than to turn to his father, a retired homicide detective, for help.As Ben languishes in jail, the noose growing tighter, his father desperately searches for the real killer. The evidence continues to mount against Ben until the case takes an unexpected turn.
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Ruck Nor 2

Ruck Nor 2

Lisa Kime

Food and Drink / Cookbooks / Food

Craig West finds himself far from home on another planet; amongst landscape he'd never seen before.He survived his ordeal on earth but was he safe here? Captured; taken to a place where his DNA is extracted, can Craig adapt to this new life.PLEASE NOTE: This is not a 'stand alone' story but a continuation of "Ruck Nor'.Not All Books Were Meant To Be Checked Out…Magic scepters, enchanted wands, and poisoned darts aren’t usual implements used by librarians—unless you’re in charge of imprisoning bad wizards, renegade sorceresses and evil magicians into books that aren’t ordinary books. Keeping order among the enchanted community isn’t what nineteen-year-old Abi VanHaven had in mind of a career.Finding out your mother was a librarian isn’t earth shattering. At least that’s what Abi thought. Everything changed when Abi received a letter from her mother that died before she had any memory of her. What was to end with her mother has now spilled into Abi’s life.Now hunted by Victoria-a once librarian turned evil sorceress, Abi must find and secure a powerful scepter her mother took from Victoria. Abi isn’t alone on her quest. With the help of two eccentric witches, a drop-dead-gorgeous siren, a misunderstood gnome and the guardians—an organization devoted to protecting libraries that hold incarcerated criminals, Abi finds herself between good and evil and also the blurred edges between friendship and love.
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