Showing results by narrator "Amy Soakes" in All Categories

Have you ever felt so drawn to someone, that you will put up with anything to be with them? That's how I feel when I'm around him. Most of the time, I want to hate him. I want to stay as far away from him as possible. He's so cocky and arrogant. And he gets in the way and tells me what to do. He's all things that I normally detest in a man. But, when we're alone...I can't even think for myself - the pull is that intense.

Since her mother died, Rochelle has known nothing but bad luck. Barely scraping through her studies in-between working two jobs while living with her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend—if he’d only listen to her long enough to hear her say it’s over—it’s all she can do to keep it together.

Maggie Walker has never called Wirra Station home. Orphaned as a child, she spent more time at boarding school and then working in the city than she ever spent on the edge of the outback. But when her great aunt dies, Maggie inherits everything and reluctantly returns to tidy the place up before selling. Ambitious cowboy-next-door Max O’Connor has the means and the desire to buy Wirra Station outright and return it to its former glory. But first, he wants elusive Maggie Walker to know what she’s giving up.

In the light of the early dawn, Lady Fay traverses her parapet wall and waits with bow drawn taut. Only when she realizes the group of men who exit the Saxon rowboat are tonsured does she allow herself to breathe. She need not shoot another of King Alexander's suitors. At least not today. With a wicked grin, she lets go the bowstring, and the arrow makes a perfect arc to land directly in front of the one in the lead. She isn't so fond of priests, either.

Three years have passed since Damien lost Etta. His obsessive and irrational behavior drove her away and destroyed his life. For three years he has languished in prison. Every day he's had but one thought: Etta. She is the holder of his soul, and he can't see a life without her in it. When he is finally released and tracks her down, he is faced with something he didn't expect: his daughter...and Aaron. Damien needs to redeem himself in the eyes of the woman he loves.

After a harrowing escape from the Weatherblight, Ari, Kerys, and Eva find themselves on Deepwater Spire, an ancient structure surrounded by endless ocean. With no other options, they bide their time, slowly building up the essence they need to reactivate the teleportation wards that will allow them to travel freely. Their isolation takes on a life of its own, manifesting as much in their relationships with each other as their situation in the world.

It always happens when you least suspect it. Love. The chemistry. The pull. Even when you don’t want it to. Timing - it’s a bitch. And then you have to make a choice. Do you regret what is, or what isn’t? Because when love’s involved, there’s always regret. And my story is no exception.

More than a month after Ari’s dramatic departure from Cliffhaven, he still remains adrift. During the long journey south back to Ethereal Tower, he thinks of nothing so much as what he could have done differently to save Kerys and Eva, the two women he loved most. The loss of them affects him like an unhealed wound, painful and prone to tearing open at the slightest touch. He’s left with empty questions, a dormant sword, and a fast dwindling lifespan. Oh, and Rin. Of course, Ari has never been the type to give up easily.

The three kingdoms lie splintered, their aging dragon riders content with stories of glorious battle victories. But a new evil creeps across the land. Inyene, a powerful noblewoman of the Northern Kingdom, plunders valuable resources to power mechanical dragons in her quest to gain a foothold in the Middle Kingdom. From there she will ascend the High Throne, once again uniting the realms under a single crown. For the wearer of the Stone Crown can wield unlimited power - if it can be found.

Gertrude Stein's work flourished in a world which was finding bold new ways of expressing itself. Forms like Impressionism, cubism, expressionsism and other non-representational styles were developed that provoked and challenged the observer (as well as the established art world). What avant-garde artists did with paint and ink, Gertrude Stein did with words – dispensing with conventions of grammar and clarity, she gave free rein to word play and the musicality of sounds, without regard to their meaning or relationships.

In the summer of 1839, 26-year-old Louisa Anne Meredith, in the company of her husband, Charles Meredith, sailed from England to the British colony of New South Wales, in what was then New Holland. Four years later, she published a detailed account of the years since she had left England. A fascinating window into the past, Louisa's impressions and experiences cover the four-month ocean voyage; life within the fledgling city of Sydney; travels across the Blue Mountains to Bathurst; and eventual settlement at Homebush in Sydney's west.

The Dove’s Nest and Other Stories is a collection of both finished and unfinished short stories written by Katherine Mansfield. The collection was published posthumously, not long after Mansfield’s death in 1923, by her husband, John Middleton Murry.

No sooner has Narissea successfully recovered the Stone Crown and used its power to fend off Inyene, the evil metal queen, she discovers the crown can’t be removed. And it’s consuming her mind with its poisonous whispers. Irrational commands and uncharacteristic rage burst forth before she considers their impact. Unwittingly, dragons across the land are enslaved by forced obedience to her every word.

She can save her people - or doom the world. Narissea faces an impossible choice. Armed with a map discovered in the hidden shrine, she’s forced to lead Inyene’s heir through the wilds of the Plains to claim the ultimate prize. For only the wearer of the Stone Crown can command all dragons and take the High Throne that rules over the three kingdoms. To place the crown’s power into Inyene’s hands is unthinkable. Yet failure to obtain it means certain death.

In the early Renaissance, a captain born in a noble family must choose. Will he marry the child bride his father has chosen or the woman who has captured his heart? The doctor's assistant is brave, learned, and handles a weapon like a man. Unfortunately, her beauty is beyond compare, and without a dowry, she attracts the attention of a powerful man who would have her as his mistress.

When Emma meets him, the only way she's looking to be tied down is in the literal sense. But Avner - shady hacker, off-the-books investigator, occasional spy - takes her breath away. He's the first man who doesn't turn to mush under her sexual spell - a fact that makes what's between them very different...and very real.

To wrest her inheritance from her evil stepmother, Cindy must marry a respectable man before she turns 25. The upcoming royal ball is the perfect place to find one - with the help of a fairy godmother. Or at least, a drunken prostitute with some magical skills. At the ball, though, King Caspian sets his sights on her. It’s not like Cindy doesn’t know better - but surely no one’s more respectable than a king. So really, what does she have to lose? Everything, as it turns out. Because the king isn’t human at all, but a monster who’s hellbent on having Cindy in his bed again.

After a catastrophe in the real world leaves Kraven's broken body trapped in a regeneration capsule, his mind is connected to the latest new-generation virtual reality game, World of Noria. But things in game-world are not all they seem, and to survive, Kraven will need a strength he has little time to cultivate.

In the hours just before dawn, blasphemous curses echo throughout the stone manor. A knife clatters to the floor, and a feisty young widow is bound, blindfolded, and led to the marriage altar. The king couldn't possibly have sanctioned this farce of a marriage, could he? After all, she alone transformed a few mud huts and starving serfs into a flourishing town, never once hesitating to pay generous taxes to his royal kingdom.

A short story about how two people stopped smoking. After a day working together Penny teaches Joe how to stop smoking in simple terms.