Showing results by narrator "Natalie Hammond" in All Categories

Caroline Beckett has spent those last four years shining up a stellar portfolio that will get her into a top journalism program and convincing herself she could not be less interested in what her former best friend and first crush has been up to since she left without a word. But when Arden suddenly shows up at her doorstep with the promise of a real byline in Cosmopolitan in exchange for a write up on their “secret romance” and twelve snow-covered holidates in their Christmas-obsessed hometown, Caroline can’t help but be tempted into playing along.

Hollywood teen actor Arden James' messy reputation is interfering with her career when a notoriously picky director won't give her a role based on her party-girl image. So she and her publicist make up a lie – not only is she from a small town (true) but her childhood best friend Caroline, is her long-term girlfriend (false) and she can prove it when she goes home for Christmas.​ Caroline Beckett hasn't thought about her ex-best friend Arden James for years, focusing instead on her dreams about becoming a journalist.

The nine stories in Morgan Thomas’ shimmering debut collection, Manywhere, witness Southern queer and genderqueer characters determined to find themselves reflected in the annals of history, at whatever cost. As each character traces deceit and violence through Southern tall tales and their own pasts, their journeys reveal the porous boundaries of body, land, and history, and the sometimes ruthless awakenings of self-discovery.

How far would you go to protect your secret? Would you lie? Would you steal? Would you...kill? Having connived her way into marriage with a wealthy wine merchant, Claudia quickly grows bored, so when her secret gambling debts spiral, she hits on a resourceful way to pay off the moneylenders, offering "personal services" to high-ranking Romans.

Hiya! Alison Hammond here! I love getting to know all about different people, and I'll tell you a secret...sometimes people we don't know much about are the most interesting of all! Which is really what this book is all about. Let me ask you a question: How many Black people can you name from our history? Mary Seacole? Ira Aldridge? George Bridgetower? Pablo Fanque? Walter Tull? Have you heard of these people? Yes? That's great! But if you haven't, don't worry, you're not alone, which is why I'm so excited to tell you all about them.

I don’t know what I expected to happen when I took off with four guys I met at a motel, but finding out they aren’t human was not on my list of possibilities. Everything was going so well, too. They’re hot and hot...and did I say hot? I’m a mess, I know. So, here I am sitting in a park in an unfamiliar town with nothing but the clothes on my back. Do I go back and risk my life? After what I saw, I can’t be sure I’d come out alive. I’ve known these guys for a week, so naturally when I walked in on - gah! I can’t even talk about it - I ran.

Growing up under that moon, Tahira promised her childhood friend, Zareen, that tackling the crisis would overcome the national divisions that separated them. Tahira is now a biologist for a corporation constructing experimental towers, which force the spores, known as "riebeckites", to germinate into harmless colonies. Rumors of riebeckite colonies taking sinister flesh-eating forms among the ghettoized Iranian communities are dismissed as propaganda invented by those opposed to Azeri occupation.

What Branches Grow is an unflinching depiction of life after civilization, where, above all else, trust is the hardest thing to achieve and give. The survivors have an audacious dream of a better life, but their quest may end up being a fruitless endeavour in a world openly hostile to hope.

Friday. Maybe I got myself into a mess when I took off with these guys, but maybe I didn’t. Things are starting to get better. Finally! My life has always been a mess, but that’s slowly starting to change. We are starting to change, and we’re doing it together. Bad things are still happening, but after being told that I’m not human, that would be expected, right? I’m not entirely sure. I don’t have much experience being not human - but, I am about to find out. The guys make the crazy things tolerable.

Taking off with four guys was the best decision I’ve ever made. Trust me. I’ve made enough bad ones to know when I’ve made a good one. They are the best thing to ever happen to me. We’re learning and growing. We’re building a life. The best part? We’re doing it together. I’ve never felt so wanted before, and it’s something I won’t let go of. The guys bring out parts of me that I didn’t know existed. Our life is like a fairy tale, and they are my happy ever after. There’s only one problem. Someone is trying to kill us.

Nothing has been normal the last couple of months. Learning about what I am has been the biggest challenge I have ever faced. The only good thing about it is my guys. I'd thought finding my boyfriend cheating on me was the worst thing to happen. Who knew bad luck could be so good? It’s what led me to the right ones. I’m hoping that I can pull myself out of this hole I’m buried in. I need to be strong for all of us, but I’m not sure that I have any strength left in me. I have to keep going though, I have to keep fighting. Not only for myself, but for my guys.

With Dracula on our side, nothing can go wrong, right? Right?! Things are slipping, falling apart. I’m not sure how much more of this mess I can take. We’re being held together by a thread. The only thing keeping me going is the thought of what lies at the end. Happiness? Peace? Lots and lots of s— Okay, you get the point. But it’s all I have pushing me forward. We can do this. We’ve got this. We are meant to be and nothing can stop the force of the universe. Not even a bitter old prophet.

Nora Grace Moon thought the toughest challenge this semester would be surviving crippling bouts of OCD, but when her deceased roommate turns up as a reanimated corpse, her world starts to collapse. Nora has an uncanny, heated connection to fellow gamer Wesley. She finds out he’s a US Marshal with real-life skills for tactical survival, not just in-game. They uncover a plot involving an ancient archeology society who will stop at nothing until they have what Nora has—an ancient artifact that will unleash a new world order of the undead.

Dr. Tahira Piriyeva has the world's attention as she expounds the true danger of the riebeckite threat. When an old friend unexpectedly offers her the chance to be the first to examine a new sample retrieved from the moon, she puts her speaking tour on hold and hastens to investigate. But the journey is not what it seems, the sample is not what she expects, and the even more horrifying truth about the riebeckites' origins begins to reveal itself.