![]() ![]() ![]() I’ve seen thousands of good-looking men in my life, but with long, dark-blond hair, sun-kissed skin, broad shoulders covered in a tailored suit jacket, a slim waist, and long, thick legs encased in slacks, I know he’s the most spectacular. The moment I spot the commander of that voice, my body freezes. “Coffee black, one sugar.” A deep male voice slides over every inch of me and my head lifts. Pulling out my cell phone, I type a message back to my dad letting him know I’ll be over after work. ![]() “Thanks.” I give her one last smile and tuck the change into the tip jar in front of me then make my way down the line to wait. “You can pick it up at the end of the counter.” “Got it.” She grins, knowing me, since I come in and order the same thing almost everyday, unless it’s fall-then I always go for something pumpkin. “Anything else, Ash?” She looks up, and I try to fight it, but I can’t. “Large iced coffee, cream and two sugars.” I smile at Melissa behind the counter of my favorite coffee shop and pull cash out of my purse as she types my order into the computer. ![]()
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7/5/2023 0 Comments Mafia casanova book![]() ![]() Two hearts that are clearly meant to be, found themselves in a whirlwind romance. Romeo gave Eden his heart the moment they locked eyes. Robinson and the suspense you expect from Rachel Van Dyken is just the icing on a sinfully delicious cake. Overload of suspense, a steamy love triangle, and all the angst you expect from M. Robinson and Rachel Van Dyken wrote the hell out of Romeo and Eden’s story! I had a hell of a time putting this one down. MAFIA CASANOVA: Full length Standalone Romantic Suspense Novel One might say she was the female version of me. ![]() In a world where nothing mattered but staying at the top, I made sure no one slipped through my fingers. Making people believe what I wanted them to was an art I perfected. Then… I’d send them to hell after giving them nothing but heaven. I complimented when the timing was right. Though it didn’t help me get my answers any faster. Most of the time, it was when a woman was mid-orgasm-or, when I was about to take someone’s life.Īpparently, my name was mine. Can you get anymore cliche? I’d heard that damn phrase my entire life. ![]() ![]() ![]() I enjoyed Laura’s discovery of her desires, her journey to acceptance, and all the angst and yearning and longing… Carmilla & Laura is a rather short listen, which readers of dark fantasy and lovers of lesbian vampires should enjoy. Her Carmilla is charming and seductive, Laura couldn’t have resisted even if she had wanted to. ![]() ![]() While I would have loved it even more if Simper had drawn further away from the original, added more of her own imagination, she created a delightfully eerie atmosphere, which Lois Ridge carries seamlessly into her narration. The tone is different too, Le Fanu’s novella a cautionary tale, Simper’s a celebration. Amazing, amazing, amazing aninhas review. Carmilla and Laura’s love story was beautiful and like Laura, I was as enchanted by Carmilla and glided through every page. Simper’s version is pretty close to the original, with two main exceptions: the relationship between Carmilla and Laura is explicitly physical and Simper’s ending goes further than Le Fanu’s. Only show reviews with written explanations. The attraction between them grows every day, undeterred by the plague that seems to be killing young women around them. ![]() Carmilla is beautiful and full of wit, despite the strange disease she suffers from. When a carriage accident brings a young woman to the schloss, Laura is immediately entranced by her new companion. In her isolated castle, Laura isn’t unhappy, but she’s lonely. A sexier, faster-paced retelling of CarmillaĬarmilla & Laura is a sexier, faster-paced retelling of Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. ![]() 7/4/2023 0 Comments A little princess illustrated![]() ![]() When I first read the novel as a quiet “dreamer” third-grader, I was surprised and impressed by the way Sara conquers her troubles: by imagining that she is a princess. ![]() There are two intertwining themes in A Little Princess: the power of imagination and the power of kindness. However, Sara’s kindness, tenacity and imagination afford her new joys, eventually bringing her all the way to a happy ending. ![]() Transformed from a veritable princess into an unpaid scullery maid, she loses all the expensive comforts she is used to. But when Sara’s father suddenly passes away, leaving behind nothing but debt, her life is turned upside down. As she adjusts to her new life, her character turns out to be surprisingly different from that of the stereotypical rich, spoiled girl she uses her advantage and intelligence to help those of her classmates cast off by the other girls. The wealthy, pampered Sara Crewe finds herself alone in a new country when her doting father leaves her at a London boarding school. What does a person really need in order to be happy? If you were to lose every tangible thing which gives you joy now, what intangible things would make life still worth living? The novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett answers these two questions from the point of view of an eleven-year-old with a response which is ultimately simple, sweet, and surprisingly wise. Harper Classics: New York, 1998 originally published in 1905. ![]() 7/4/2023 0 Comments Dilla time paperback![]() ![]() He also rewinds the histories of American rhythms: from the birth of soul in Dilla’s own “Motown,” to funk, techno, and disco. ![]() ![]() In Dilla Time, Dan Charnas chronicles the life of James DeWitt Yancey, from his gifted childhood in Detroit, to his rise as a Grammy-nominated hip-hop producer, to the rare blood disease that caused his premature death and follows the people who kept him and his ideas alive. And at the core of this adulation is innovation: a new kind of musical time-feel that he created on a drum machine, but one that changed the way “traditional” musicians play. Yet since his death, J Dilla has become a demigod: revered by jazz musicians and rap icons from Robert Glasper to Kendrick Lamar memorialized in symphonies and taught at universities. He died at the age of thirty-two, and in his lifetime he never had a pop hit. He wasn’t known to mainstream audiences, even though he worked with renowned acts like D’Angelo and Erykah Badu and influenced the music of superstars like Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. “This book is a must for everyone interested in illuminating the idea of unexplainable genius.” -QUESTLOVEĮqual parts biography, musicology, and cultural history, Dilla Time chronicles the life and legacy of J Dilla, a musical genius who transformed the sound of popular music for the twenty-first century. WINNER OF THE PEN/ JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY ![]() 7/4/2023 0 Comments 1984 and animal farm![]() ![]() At the same time, it forces the players to form temporary alliances with their enemies and keep an eye on their friends. The game favors efficient strategy, slick negotiations, and successful bluffing. ![]() On one hand, players share some business with their neighbors on the other hand, they are divided by the will to win. The players take the roles of animal dictators who will stop at nothing to gain absolute power over the global Farm.ġ984: Animal Farm is a negotiation game for 3 to 5 players that's based on the concept of forced cooperation. When the fires of the revolution died down, a political game began to establish the only proper totalitarian regime. "All Animal Comrades believe that 1984 was a great year for the Animal Farm-at least, the Ministry of Truth claims so."ġ984: Animal Farm, a new game by the designers of Alcatraz: the Scapegoat, presents a dystopian reality in which animals have overthrown their human masters. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() That would usually be enough for me to tap out. It also doesn't flinch at depicting naked acts of hateful bigotry in the same detail. ![]() Robbie lives by his gun and one hard-learned motto: other people aren't safe.Īfter a brutal accident entwines the three of them, this found family of survivors must navigate murderous TERFs, a sociopathic billionaire bunker brat, and awkward relationship dynamics-all while outrunning packs of feral men, and their own demons.Ī Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.ĬWs for the book: violent bigotry (including murder, SA, mob violence, public hate speeches/rallies, etc.), terf ideology, hangings, r*pe, SA, transphobia, body horror, and extreme gore Manhunt is extremely graphic, depicting acts of sex and violence in salacious detail. “Keeps up a relentless velocity while just being plain fun as hell.”-Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Babyīeth and Fran spend their days traveling the ravaged New England coast, hunting feral men and harvesting their organs in a gruesome effort to ensure they'll never face the same fate. “A modern horror masterpiece.” -Carmen Maria Machado, bestselling author of In the Dream House Gretchen Felker-Martin's Manhunt is an explosive post-apocalyptic novel that follows trans women and men on a grotesque journey of survival. Starred Reviews in Library Journal and Booklist !Ī Most-Anticipated Title in CrimeReads, BookRiot, Tor.com, Electric Lit, and more.įeatured in Autostraddle, Apartment Therapy, Goodreads, and more. ![]() ![]() She offers a fresh account of our past, as recent breakthroughs have allowed new analysis of her team’s fossil findings and vastly expanded our understanding of our ancestors. In The Sediments of Time, preeminent paleoanthropologist Meave Leakey brings us along on her remarkable journey to reveal the diversity of our early prehuman ancestors and how past climate change drove their evolution. ![]() Meave Leakey’s thrilling, high-stakes memoir-written with her daughter Samira-encapsulates her distinguished life and career on the front lines of the hunt for our human origins, a quest made all the more notable by her stature as a woman in a highly competitive, male-dominated field. ![]() ![]() ![]() The dress looks amazing on her bod, but we're not crazy about the color nude, with black lace overlay. "I actually don't really watch any reality television," she spilled, adding that "it's a little triggering for me" after starring in The Hills from 2006 to 2009. Lauren wore this fitted dress with structure bodice to The Dark Knight NYC premiere. ![]() Lauren, 35, also revealed her reason as to why she's done with that chapter of her life, and apparently it has nothing to do with off-screen drama. I'm glad that they were able to do it again." She gave the reboot her blessing, saying, "I think it's great. 27.īut don't make a mountain out of a molehill. "I honestly haven't seen it," Lauren confessed during an interview with Entertainment Tonight at an event for her non-profit The Little Market on Aug. There are fashion mistakes you make because you were trying the trend of the moment, and then there are jeans tucked into. ![]() 4.īut has the reality-star-turned-fashion-designer been following along by watching Brody Jenner, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt and Audrina Patridge from the comfort of her couch? 25 Style Moments From 'The Hills' We'd Rather Forget, but Can't Glamour. Lauren Conrad is over the hill when it comes to her interest in reality TV.Įven as many of her former co-stars banded together for The Hills reboot, she kept her distance and hasn't yet appeared on New Beginnings, which had its season two finale on Aug. ![]() 7/4/2023 0 Comments Book about the sacklers![]() ![]() The history of the Sackler dynasty is rife with drama-baroque personal lives bitter disputes over estates fistfights in boardrooms glittering art collections Machiavellian courtroom maneuvers and the calculated use of money to burnish reputations and crush the less powerful. The Sackler name has adorned the walls of many storied institutions-Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. "A real-life version of the HBO series Succession with a lethal sting in its tail…a masterful work of narrative reportage.” – Laura Miller, Slate ![]() ![]() From the prize-winning and bestselling author of Say Nothing. A grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by Ox圜ontin. ![]() |