Contemporary Business

Business is king, and I have an empire to topple. Ivy is my new assistant and a threat to me. She's my undoing. If ever I was to believe in a cosmic connection, it was the moment I met her. For years I've had one goal - revenge. As CEO, I have crafted a strategic plan for business, but never a life beyond. With one touch from her, the veil is lifted. Things are different, and every moment I'm near her, my world begins to change.

Success-driven Hope Fletcher has some lofty goals for her life. But is it really too much to want a thriving cake-design business by age 29? Marry a perfect (emphasis on the perfect) man by age 30? Then have the kids, dog, and house in suburbia by age 34? If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Dean. Wonderful, dreamy Dean who loves kids (and will eventually grow to love dogs) steps into Hope's world. He's the exact type of man she's been looking for, and she starts falling. Hard.

You know that post-vacation glow? Where you’re all sun-kissed and optimistic and determined to make changes in your life? Well, mine lasted for about five minutes. Until I walked into the office and saw Myles Salinger sitting in my boss’s chair. One look at his scowling face was enough to make me want to fly straight back to Europe. And no, he’s not getting any of the donuts I brought in for the team. He doesn’t deserve them. You see, on paper, he’s my contemporary. In reality, he’s been my workplace nemesis for the last two years.

I am beautiful. I am confident. I am lovable. I am a lottery winner. This is the mantra that will get Dreamy Daniels through each day until she makes it big. So what if she lives in a seedy part of Los Angeles in a house that’s one earthquake away from crumbling, or works an unfulfilling secretarial job while struggling to finish her bachelor’s degree? All Dreamy needs to do is win the lottery. When she catches the attention of her boss’ potential investor, Dreamy has to remind herself to focus on her career goals so she can be her own boss.

Magnolia Parks and BJ Ballentine are meant to be, and everyone knows it. She dates other people to keep him at bay; he sleeps with other girls to get back at her for it. But at the end of every sad endeavor to get over one another, it’s still each other they crawl back to. But now their dysfunction is catching up with them, pulling at their seams and fraying the world they’ve built; a world where neither has ever let the other go completely.

Listeners of this book will gain a clear understanding of what makes the Japanese, and their society, tick.

Brian Keppler, owner of Ground N'At, the coffee shop beneath SR Anderson Consulting, doesn't have time for a relationship. His most recent girlfriend broke up with him because he'd become married to his shop, which is falling apart without his favorite barista, Justin. As he struggles to stay afloat, the arrival of handsome British high-tech whiz Robert Ancroft becomes another complication.

Thrust into a life and family that neither of them were looking for, Gabi Jacobs and Terrence Whitaker decide that they'll just make the best of it, because the have most important ingredient: love. Through the ashes of their failed romantic relationship, they're able to form a different type of bond, one that allows them to effectively co-parent their daughter, and even become friends. Constantly pulled together by chance and circumstance, will Gabi and Terrence decide to embark on a journey to finish what they started, or will they decide that it's best to leave the past in the past?

When Jess Montell meets Trace West at a hockey game, she doesn’t know his name or occupation. What she does know is there’s an instant attraction that’s impossible to ignore—or forget. And forgetting is exactly what she wants to do when she learns he’s not just a successful Wall Street suit but the heir to one of New York’s biggest Mafia families. The last thing Trace needs is a romantic anything with law enforcement, and parole officer Jess has trouble written all over her. Too bad he likes trouble.

What was she doing here? Hyattown had changed very little in the years Vanessa Sexton had been away. In some ways her high school sweetheart, Brady Tucker, hadn't changed much either - he was still lean, athletic, rugged... But the once reckless boy had become a solid, dependable man. He'd stood her up on the most important night of her life; could she ever trust him again?

Intriguing and entertaining, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark is a Freakonomics approach to the economics and psychology of the contemporary art world. Why were record prices achieved at auction for works by 131 contemporary artists in 2006 alone, with astonishing new heights reached in 2007? Don Thompson explores the money, lust, and self-aggrandizement of the art world in an attempt to determine what makes a particular work valuable while others are ignored.

They're both rich and powerful and have a debt to settle in the wealthy circles of NYC. Then there's me... the naive girl trying to make it in this city, pissed off and seemingly a willing pawn. It was supposed to be one night to get over one man by getting under another. Then one thing led to another, and it all spiraled out of control. It was never supposed to go this far.I was never supposed to fall for him. And he was never supposed to risk it all for me.

Justin White may not look like an up-and-coming corporate superstar, but his new boss knows that he has the smarts, grit, and determination to succeed. Now he just has to convince his company's CFO, Eli Ovadia. Unfortunately, Justin can't seem to keep his cool around the domineering Eli, and soon he finds himself taking their heat from the boardroom into the bedroom. Still haunted by a tragic accident that left him with a wounded leg and broken heart, Eli has a need to be in control.

In an effort to get Charlie out of her system once and for all, Nova offers a proposition: one night, no strings. They’ll kick their uncomfortable attraction to the curb and return to their respective responsibilities. But their explosive night together scatters their expectations like fallen leaves. And with Charlie in town as the temporary head of Lovelight Farms, Nova can’t quite avoid him.

Yes, I climbed into Jake Jensen’s lap and kissed the crap out of him in a crowded bar to make my ex jealous. Yes, I lied to my family and told them I’m in a relationship with the guy, even though he doesn’t know my name or my family’s connection to one of the hottest software companies in the US. Yes, I’m now on my way to convince him to be my fake boyfriend for my father’s company retreat in exchange for...whatever the heck he wants if it’ll get me out of this mess. And no, I’m not interested in his smoldering eyes or the way his hands feel against my body.

As the days pass, I begin to realize how much my life is missing. Companionship. Romance. Intimacy. When I discover my heart has space for one more female, it’s a lost cause, another curveball. The hot-as-hell nanny is leaving soon for a mission trip to Central America. No sense in letting myself fantasize about Jessa being a permanent part of my life. The closer we get, the more difficult it becomes to keep my feelings in check, because my heart won’t listen. And neither will my libido.

As a child, April Sinclair dreamt of escaping her quiet island life to become a world-famous actress. Now fully grown and with her once-flourishing career at an all-time low, what better way to figure out where it all went wrong than to go back to the beginning? April has her sights set on a new challenge, and that is saving her family’s distillery on the idyllic Scottish Isle of Skye. What she doesn’t expect to find is Malcolm Macabe, short-tempered and exceedingly attractive, living in the home she has just inherited.

Leadership in Christian Perspective brings the best of leadership theory and research together with biblical reflection and examples of leadership in action. Organized around "nine empowering practices," it integrates solid research in leadership studies with biblical and theological reflection on the leadership ideas that are most compatible with Christian faith, making it an important resource for professors and students in leadership and pastoral theology courses, pastors and church leaders, and Christian business leaders.

"There's a secret to mastery that you may have never heard, a single little thing that only the very best in the world know how to do. In fact, I believe it is the only thing anyone can do to gain true mastery at anything, and it's an equal opportunity principle. It can be applied to fulfill your potential in business, in sports, in your relationships, as well as your overall life. Do you want to know what it is?"

Unlike their younger brother, André, whose star as a comedian is rising, neither Dwayne nor Brick Duquesne is having luck with his career - and they're unluckier still in love. Former child star Dwayne has just been fired from his latest acting role and barely has enough money to get by after paying child support to his spiteful former lover, while Brick struggles to return to his uninspiring white-collar job after suffering the dual blows of a health emergency and a nasty breakup with the woman he still loves.