Showing results by narrator "Abby Craden" in All Categories

Five short stories that give glimpses into the lives of Griffin, Jorie, and the other characters from Second Nature.

Evelyn enjoyed living a nice quiet life in an anarchic pirate port, far from the world she’d once conquered. Then came an attack by mercenaries that made her angry. By the time the dust settled, she had a group of former slaves which she’d freed, her djinn assistant had convinced several of the women that they should join Evelyn’s brand-new harem, and she was looking for a new home, likely aboard a ship.

Scholar and award-winning author Faith Fitzgerald has every reason to be happy: a wealthy, charming man who adores her and a family cheering her marriage prospects. But from the moment she meets Eric's sister, Sydney Van Allen, she knows her safe, predictable feelings for him are a shadow of what could be. Openly lesbian and running for senator, Sydney can only succeed if she can live down her wild past. That means no liaisons, especially with the achingly alluring woman on her brother's arm who looks at her with confusion - and desire.

Some 75% of American families want their kids to play sports. Athletics are training grounds for character, friendship, and connection; at their best, sports insulate kids from hardship and prepare them for adult life. But youth sports have changed so dramatically over the last 25 years that they no longer deliver the healthy outcomes everyone wants. Instead, unbeknownst to most parents, kids who play competitive organized sports are more likely to burn out or suffer from overuse injuries than to develop their characters or build healthy habits.

On paper, Jordan Cohen has it all. With numerous best sellers under her belt, a number of blockbuster movie adaptations to her credit, and a high-profile relationship with one of Hollywood's most prominent stars, what more could she possibly ask for? Maybe for Olivia Bradley, the only woman to ever break her heart, to exit her life as quickly as she'd reentered it. When an ongoing case of writer's block triggers a series of unforeseeable events, Jordan is forced to face the tragedies of her past and reevaluate the life she has been contentedly coasting through.

More than a decade before the release of the book that would make him famous, Robert M. Pirsig had already caught hold of the central theme that would animate Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: “Quality,” a concept loosely likened to “excellence,” “rightness,” or “fitness” that Pirsig saw as kindred to the Buddhist ideas of “dharma” or the “Tao.” As he later wrote in Zen, “Quality is the Buddha.”

In late 2010, thousands of hacktivists joined a mass digital assault by Anonymous on the websites of VISA, MasterCard, and PayPal to protest their treatment of WikiLeaks. Splinter groups then infiltrated the networks of totalitarian governments in Libya and Tunisia, and an elite team of six people calling themselves LulzSec attacked the FBI, CIA, and Sony. They were flippant and taunting, grabbed headlines, and amassed more than a quarter of a million Twitter followers.

From New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Laura Kaye comes a new story in her Raven Riders series…Caine McKannon is all about rules. As the Raven Riders Sergeant-at-Arms, he prizes loyalty to his brothers and protection of his club. As a man, he takes pleasure wherever he can get it but allows no one close - because distance is the only way to ensure people can’t hurt you. And he’s had enough pain for a lifetime. But then he rescues a beautiful woman from an attack.

On an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him.

Since emigrating from Bangladesh, 14-year-old Nadira and her family have been living in New York City on expired visas, hoping to realize their dream of becoming legal U.S. citizens. But after 9/11, everything changes. Suddenly being Muslim means you are dangerous - a suspected terrorist. When Nadira's father is arrested and detained at the U.S.-Canadian border, Nadira and her older sister, Aisha, are told to carry on as if everything is the same. The teachers at Flushing High don't ask any questions, but Aisha falls apart....

Agent Geena Fox is counting down the days to her retirement. On one bittersweet day six years ago, her team of superheroes defeated Jewel, the world's most evil villain - but Geena's secret lover died in the process. Now her boss has assigned her a rookie partner, Leigh Walker, and that's the last thing Geena needs. She sends the woman off on a wild-goose chase searching for a long-lost missing person to get her out of her sight. However, what Leigh finds will turn Agent Fox's world upside down.

Paris...city of lights, city of love...city of drama! The ladies' lives have gone back to normal four weeks after the news about Dominique and Steph's affair broke. This, however, doesn't mean that everything is going swimmingly. Nadia and Juliette are engaged, but will they ever find time in their busy schedules to get married? Claire and Margot are giving their relationship another go, but can all the emotional events that came before be swept under the rug? And how has Steph and Dominique's affair progressed now that it has been thrust into the limelight?

Jack Watson doesn't want anything to do with the dating scene in Painted Barrel, Wyoming, but when his sister-in-law guilts him into joining a bachelor auction, Jack can't say no to a charity event. He's not totally heartless. And if all the winner wants is an extra ranch hand for a few days, he can do that. Of course, Jack changes his mind as soon as he meets the winner, shy Layla.

Rule Number 1: Do Not Sleep with Clients. I was the best agent in the industry. More ruthless and cutthroat than any arrogant bastard you'd ever met. The top actors in Hollywood came to me to get signed. When I saw James Ryne, America's Sweetheart, standing across the bar, I wanted her body like I'd never wanted anything before. I broke rule number one. But, after all, I was a man. No one had ever mistaken me for a saint.

After losing her mother to a terrorist attack, Alexandra Poe was devastated when her father - disgraced and accused of treason - disappeared from the face of the earth. Now, over ten years and a stint in Iraq later, Alex is approached by a man who has information about her father and wants to help her find him. But there's a catch.

A career military man, Viktor lives for the next mission - and his collection of weapons - but a raid on an experimental lab makes him an unwilling protector, mostly because he can't peel Renee off. A cold-blooded croc, he never intended to settle down, but he didn't count on a foxy lady warming his heart.

SWAT Officer Jayden Brooks doesn't believe there's a soul mate out there for him - "The One". But when he saves high school teacher Selena Rosa from a hostage situation, he knows he's in big trouble. Her scent is irresistible. Selena finds the big cop irresistible, too. In fact, the buttoned-up teacher gets a little carried away - during a steamy make-out session, she bites him. Turns out, the traumatizing events at the school triggered her werewolf gene. Fangs and claws are appearing, and her aggression is out of control. The change is happening, and Selena doesn't understand.

My name is Storm Redfield: Navy Commander, still kicking ass at 161 years old. So far, I've had a good time in the twenty-third century. I discovered space travel and fought evil creatures in a distant star system. Made friends with a one-eyed Cyclopean who sounds like a British lord, discussed romance novels with a blushing AI therapist . . . And the cherry on the cake: had kinky sex with a gorgeous alien warrior. When a quiet return to Earth turns into an almost deadly mission, my universe is tipped upside down all over again.

Hester Marley used to have a plan for her life. But when a catastrophic attack left her injured, indebted, and stranded far from home, she was forced to take a dead-end security job with a powerful mining company in the asteroid belt. Now she spends her days investigating petty crimes to help her employer maximize its profits. She's surprised to hear from an old friend and fellow victim of the terrorist attack that ruined her life—and that surprise quickly turns to suspicion when he claims to have discovered something shocking about their shared history.

Bribery and Corruption Casebook: The View From Under the Table is a one-of-a-kind collection of actual cases written by the fraud examiners who investigated them. These stories were hand-selected from hundreds of submissions and together form a comprehensive, enlightening, and entertaining picture of the many types of bribery and corruption cases in varied industries throughout the world. Each case outlines how the bribe or corruption was engineered, how it was investigated, and how perpetrators were brought to justice.