Showing results by narrator "Laurel Laurel" in All Categories

The Straight State is the most expansive study of the federal regulation of homosexuality yet written. Unearthing startling new evidence from the National Archives, Margot Canaday shows how the state systematically came to penalize homosexuality, giving rise to a regime of second-class citizenship that sexual minorities still live under today.

Before beginning her dream job as sous chef in one of Seattle’s hottest restaurants, Josie Avery takes a summer position cooking at a lakeside lodge in the remote Alaskan town of Ponder. Josie falls for the rustic charms of the local community - including Jack Corcoran, the crotchety keeper of Ponder’s famed sourdough starter, and, in particular, the quiet and intense Palmer Saxon, a famed master swordsmith. Josie and Palmer become close during the long Alaskan summer days, but Josie knows that, come fall, she’ll be returning to reality and the career she’s worked so hard for.

"Twilight meets Outlander"! From USA Today best-selling series Vampire Girl, comes the next book in the saga: Moonlight Prince. For fans of Twilight, A Shade of Vampire, and Outlander, experience a fantasy romance with an original twist on an old tale. I was an ordinary girl, living an ordinary life, until I sold my soul to save my mother. Now the final battle approaches, and I am not prepared.

When the world was supposed to end everyone did things they never normally would…none more so than Siobhan, who wakes up on her floor, hungover, dumped by her no-good boyfriend and with a strange man in her bed…who turns out to be more than a little bit dead.

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.

Elyth - a former agent of the religious arm of the Ascendance, The First House - is on the run after the events of Every Sky a Grave, when she and the fugitive Varen Fedic exposed the darker side of Ascendance hegemony on a planet called Qel. Though she just wishes to put the past (and Varen) behind her, she is soon tracked and cornered by the Ascendance agents. Surprisingly, they aren’t there for punishment. Instead, they offer her a deal in exchange for her help in exploring a new planet that seems to have appeared out of nowhere.

Ursula can't remember a single thing from before three years ago, so she has to keep her life simple. All she wants is to earn enough money for rent - and maybe a bit left over for a new pair of boots. But on her 18th birthday, all hell breaks loose, quite literally, when a hellhound shifter shows up in her kitchen. Kester's lethally gorgeous, and he's come with a terrifying message: Ursula owes her soul to a demon. No one seems to care that she doesn't remember striking that deal.

When Ana Blackwood's friend goes missing, it's up to her and her sisters to make their first trip across Death Valley in their ramshackle old monster truck. It's an adventure and a death wish - one they've wanted to take for years. But they never imagined it would be under these circumstances, or that they'd be so ill-prepared.

Reiner Strickland had led his team to three national championships, and playing a knight in shining armor was all in a day's work for the NFL star quarterback. Only his damsel in distress had no idea who he was, and it threw him off his game. He was the face of his organization and was used to everyone recognizing him. Her innocence, charm, and beauty captivated him. It wasn't until after they parted ways that he realized that he never got her number or even her last name.

They are beings with no flaws, divine creatures with power sparking at their fingertips. A race so exceptional that it feels almost forbidden to think about them, especially for someone like me. I’m Rosadette Campbell, a seventeen-year-old girl who has nothing in common with those divine, worshiped beings. No, I’m a human - at least, that’s how we refer to ourselves. We pretend not to hear the litany of degrading slurs other races use to describe our kind. We were the dominant species once, but now we’re considered little more than rats.

It is the winter of 1143 and all is not well in the court of Owain, King of north Wales: his future in-laws are untrustworthy; the Norman lords on his eastern border are restless; and among his wedding guests lurks a cold-blooded killer. Gareth and Gwen have marriage plans of their own, but their love will have to wait while the pair race to separate truth from lies, friends from foes, and unravel the mystery before King Owain--and his new bride--fall victim to their uninvited guest.

Sinclair James walked away from Jacob Johnson with her heart in pieces and her pride in shreds. She took the pain of betrayal, harnessed it, and turned it into a best-selling album that changed her life. She was no longer the girl defined by what she didn’t have because she had everything - money, fame, an award-winning album. But there was always something missing. Some small shard of what used to be.

May 1148. All Dublin is shocked by the murder of a prominent merchant, but only Prince Godfrid knows that the dead man was also a co-conspirator in his brother's plan to take the throne of Dublin. With death stalking his every move, Godfrid must call upon new friends and old to find the killer--and with their help uncover a conspiracy stretching beyond Dublin's walls to every kingdom in Ireland.

Bracken Casey. Our hometown’s playboy. My brother’s best friend. The man I love. He doesn’t do girlfriends. He doesn’t do commitments. And he doesn’t see me as anything more than his best friend’s little sister. Until one night changes everything. A drunken kiss leads to a drunken screw. Now he can’t keep his hands off of me, and I can’t say no. Rules are set: No one can find out. It can’t lead anywhere. But rules were always meant to be broken. And that’s exactly what we are doing. Breaking them all. Something bad is bound to happen.

Hope and Faith: two things that everyone needs to survive. But the words take on a different meaning in the form of a set of twins who attend Crockett University in Washington, D.C. As seniors, they are looking forward to a bright future in corporate America. Meanwhile, they have decided to relieve some of the stress involved in getting a higher education by being members of APF.

1940, Nazi-occupied Paris. A powerful story of love, tragedy and incredible courage, about one woman whose life is ripped apart by war and risks everything to seek justice. Paris, 2003. When the opportunity arises for aspiring journalist Emma Keane to interview world-renowned perfumer Madame De Cadieux about her life during World War Two, she is determined to take it. There are secrets from her own family history that she hopes Angéline may be able to help unlock. But nothing can prepare Emma for Angéline's story and one thing is for certain - it will change her own life forever.

The second novel by Donna Tartt, best-selling author of The Goldfinch (winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize), The Little Friend is a grandly ambitious and utterly riveting novel of childhood, innocence and evil. The setting is Alexandria, Mississippi, where one Mother’s Day a little boy named Robin Cleve Dufresnes was found hanging from a tree in his parents’ yard. Twelve years later Robin’s murder is still unsolved and his family remains devastated.

College campuses have become flashpoints of the current culture war and, consequently, much ink has been spilled over the relationship between universities and the cultivation or coddling of young American minds. Philosopher Sigal R. Ben-Porath takes head-on arguments that infantilize students who speak out against violent and racist discourse on campus or rehash interpretations of the First Amendment. Ben-Porath sets out to demonstrate the role of the university in American society and, specifically, how it can model free speech in ways that promote democratic ideals.

They say I am a queen. They say I married a monster. That I did so willingly. They say he cannot die, that he does not age. That, together, we rule a ravaged world. They say I used to be one of them, but now I am a traitor. They say many things, all which I cannot remember, but.... I fear what they say is true. Then there is what they don't say, what I see in their eyes - the king terrifies them. He cannot be stopped. And, most worrisome of all.... He is coming for me.

Six people find a thick cream envelope on their doorstep. Inside is an invitation to spend 24 hours in a crumbling manor house and be in with the chance to win a portion of one million dollars. The catch: Beechwood Castle was the site of one of the most horrific murders in modern history. The smell of blood, decay and death still hangs heavy in the air. Six people walk into the house. One of them is an imposter, all of them are traitors, which of them will survive the night?