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Chai and Cat-tales by Lynn Strong Bask in a sunbeam with three cozy fantasy novellas of the Catsprowl, a busy neighborhood brimming with cats and cat-goddesses, book-keepers and bath-houses, piping hot chai, and pouncing kittens' mischief. The Prince of Her Dreams Najra has three dreams in her life: First, catch the attention of a prince. (Specifically, the God-Emperorâs bookish youngest brother.) Next, get him to hire her to assist with his research in the marvelous Archives in Tel-Bastet. And then, at last, read ALL the books. Marrying the prince has never been in the plan. Najra has never lusted for anything but knowledge. Unfortunately, the prince has dreams as well. Because he's also a prophet who foresees trouble coming. Between her heretical geometries and her cursed spellbook, Najra has to admit that his dreams of trouble have her pegged. Now what is she supposed to do with a matchmaking busybody of an Archivist pushing them together, an angry catfolk bodyguard pulling them apart, and a sweet, anxious prophet-prince who won't even tell her what he wants? Priye For a small alley-kitten, human words make a tricky tangle of misunderstandings that bite back. Purring and hissing and yowling are much more clear. A human named her Priye, though, and he taught her that it means someone who is darling, someone who is treasured. Growing up in the nooks between three cultures is hard, but Priye wants to make her own way. And she wants to repay the kind people who feed small hungry kittens. But it's not always easy to hunt when everyone else is bigger and stronger and faster. The humans who named her like soap and water entirely too much. But maybe they have a point about sharing things instead of hunting things? The Potter's Dream Usually, the Temple of Bastet teems with cats and catfolk and cat-priestesses and cat-goddesses. It is not supposed to teem with mice. But kind-hearted priest Shai Madhur isn't very good at denying a nourishing meal to anybody⊠not even the mice. He needs a better mouse-catcher. But first, he needs to know where the shrine's cauldrons have gone. Because a potter has come to Shai Madhur's temple shrine, and the poor man looks hungry. What kind of priest can Shai Madhur be if he can't feed someone a nourishing meal? When he's sworn his life to serving others, and suddenly he has nothing at all to give, what does he have left? Sermons of acceptance are all well and good, but they don't fill an empty stomach. And there's something very strange about the potter. This book sets out to be cozy representation for folks who have been othered: brown folks, disabled folks, neurodiverse folks, ace and questioning folks, fat folks, diversely faithful, anyone who's wanted to see their othered selves welcomed and celebrated. |
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On Silver Shores by V.T. Hoang Sirens are known for their beauty and grace. Everything from their lithe figures to their perfectly symmetrical faces to the cadence of their voices is designed to charm. Pleasure of the flesh is how they sustain themselves. So, of course, Detective Carver would be the one siren lucky enough to hate sex. Ever since his husband died, Carver has resented the defining feature of his race, but when his boss calls in someone to assist with his investigation, he finds himself confronted with a problem he never expectedâattraction. Jian is supposed to be just an analyst, buttoned-up and stiff and unassuming. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, he can put on a nice smile and act polite enough, but there's something behind his eyes that's decidedly not professional. That hunger for carnal satisfaction Carver thought long dead starts to come back to life as they work together. And he has to wonder if he's just starving or if this is a craving. |
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Let Them Float by Katy Wimhurst In these short stories, Katy Wimhurst creates off-kilter worlds that illuminate our own. Apocalyptic rabbits invade a town. People overwhelmed by their lives float above an urban park. A woman turns transparent after a virus. The playful lens of magical realism is used to explore physical and mental illness and our fragile environment. Thought-provoking fiction with a good dose of whimsy. |
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Silent is the Sword by Evelyn Grimald Stone Elyria Trevain is shrouded by silence and surrounded by books. She speaks only to those she trusts implicitly, using the signed language with the rest of the world. Her life in the Great Archives is full of quiet and the whisper of paper and ink that her scribe magic controls. It is a quiet life. A good life built upon the ruins of her past. Until one day her city is attacked and the man she thinks she loves is kidnapped. Elyria volunteers to go after him, knowing that the path will take her to the childhood home she swore to forget. Accompanied by a mysterious cat who speaks to her of books and magic, she ventures into the world beyond the Archives. Into a world of forgotten sorcery rediscovered. Into a world of dead gods and a tormented angel that fills her dreams. Into a world where her silence is not just a shroud, but a weapon. Silent is the Sword is an epic fantasy where the forgotten past is rearing its head, where magic takes hold, and where love crosses memory and magic to keep the world from burning. |
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The Secrets That They Keep by T.M. Lore The Secrets That They Keep is a gritty and dark thriller with morally complex characters. Alyx Beck is caught in a nasty web. Driven by her determination to care for her neurodivergent twin brother she navigates a treacherous world where sex and money intertwine. As events spiral, both their lives hang in the balance and survival becomes the ultimate goal. Sometimes for the fly to survive it must kill the spider. Alyx has to fake it several times a day. Fake the desire, the lust, and the orgasms. What she doesn't have to fake is her love for her neurodivergent twin brother or her allegiance to her employer. She'll do whatever her handler requires of her. They've taken care of her since her parents died tragically, and they've never steered her wrong. They pay her well so she can care for her brother's needs, too. However, when Alyx's driver/bodyguard-and only friend- Sasha, goes missing with $100K, her devotion can no longer shield her from her handler's wrath. As events spiral Alyx realizes-a little too late-that she has been backing the wrong people. She's caught in a sticky web and there is only one way out-but she may have to get a little blood on her hands.It's Promising Young Woman meets Filthy Rich, with a touch of Haunting Adeline, Gone Girl, and Luckiest Girl Alive.This dark thriller has a female protagonist, neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ characters |
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Whatâs So Bad About Being Poor? Our Lives in the Shadows of the Poverty Experts by Deborah Foster âWhatâs So Bad About Being Poor?: Our Lives In the Shadows of the Poverty Expertsâ is a memoir by Deborah M. Foster, published on February 14, 2024. ïżŒ In this deeply personal narrative, Foster reflects on her familyâs experiences with extreme poverty, aiming to challenge common misconceptions about its causes and effects in American society. The memoir was inspired by Charles Murrayâs essay, âWhatâs So Bad About Being Poor?â ïżŒ Foster critiques Murrayâs perspective by sharing firsthand accounts that highlight the systemic challenges faced by those in poverty. She emphasizes the roles of public education, mental health services, and government interventions in her journey to overcome fundamentalist constraints and economic hardship. Fosterâs narrative serves as a counterargument to views that attribute poverty to individual failings. Instead, she underscores the systemic issues that perpetuate economic hardship, advocating for a more empathetic and informed approach to addressing poverty. The book has been praised for its candid storytelling and critical examination of societal attitudes toward poverty. It is available in both paperback and eBook formats. For those interested in social policy, memoirs, or poverty studies, Fosterâs work offers a compelling perspective on the lived realities of economic hardship and the societal structures that influence them. |
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Cinnamon Rolls and Villainy by ChantĂ© A. Campbell A kind-hearted baker with a dark secret. The vicious, beautiful villainess heâs forced to serve. And the ruthless game that will decide the fate of their world. Human, Ayc Waylonder should have died in a massacre that destroyed his people, but a swift lie spared him from a bloody fate. Taken prisoner by the cruel Sovereign of the Everadyn fae, he has survived her foreign court on cheap tricks and his extraordinary baking skills. Ten years later, the Sovereign announces sheâs relinquishing her throne and triggers the start of the Sovereignty Trials, an ancient and ruthless game. The winner will be the next to rule over Everadyn⊠and Ayc, as well. When Loraphne - a villain as vicious as her mother, the Sovereign - asks Ayc to join her team of Five in the Trials, he canât say no. Not when unbreakable magic forces him to serve her. Ayc must embark on seven dangerous quests alongside the rest of Loraphneâs unlikely team: including Aycâs two best friends, a powerful sorcerer, a gifted navigator with his faithful guide dog, and a temperamental gryphon. Dragons, wraiths, and six other teamsâwho have decided killing Loraphne is their top priorityâstand in their way as they fight to be the first to finish a race where few participants survive. The Sovereignty Trials are no place for a kind-hearted baker, and itâll take far more than his legendary cinnamon rolls to save him now. Cinnamon Rolls and Villainy is Book 1 in a high stakes, adult romantic fantasy series, with enemies to lovers, spicy romance, and a cinnamon roll hero who will lay claim to your heart and refuse to let go. Perfect for adult fans of The Cruel Prince. |
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Tom and Hanna, two former High School best friends, go their separate ways after a tragedy at their deaf school. They are reunited at their ten-year class reunion, where they are forced to face the ghosts of their past and confront the nature of their relationship, then and now. |
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After winning her first championship belt, emerging wrestling superstar Cara is forced to return home after the sudden death of her parent and see her estranged older disabled sister for the first time in over a decade. Standstill is a character study between an able person and a disabled person. |
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In the wake of Brian Guthrie's Dragon Award nominated novel Rise, comes Fall . . . War has broken out between the shells, fragments of a shattered world that humanity clings to for survival. To stave off the conflict, the survivors of a brutal attack seek aid from the one source no one else believes can help: the dragons. But the creatures are fractured into two factions and caught up in a fight of their own, a conflict that may be connected to the war above. As the survivors seek answers and help, they stumble onto a secret, long lost, that once nearly destroyed the world. A secret that has the power to save humanity. Or end it. |
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On a world brought to the brink of destruction, life now clings to the shattered remains of the planet's crust. These fragments are the Shells: fragile wastelands of desert and rock, protected from the cold of space by a water shield. In the struggle for survival, its people have depended on ancient technology, controlled by the omnipresent Network, to sustain the entire population. But the Network is breaking down, water is sparse, and a complete societal collapse is imminent. As the stakes become clear, the inhabitants of the Shells begin to turn on each other, and appear headed for all-out global war. Now the paths of several strangers will converge at the opportune moment. From a woman who seeks to protect her family as it's ripped apart to a prison warden hiding from his past, this unlikely group has little in common--but together, they may hold the key to saving humanity from its worst enemy: itself. |
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Even If We're Broken by A.M. Weald Still reeling from being ghosted by her girlfriend, bioarchaeologist Kate Roth agrees to join an estranged colleague to teach at his field school at a Viking-age archaeology site in the wilds of Newfoundland. While welcoming the escape from Colorado where sheâs been medicating resurfaced anxieties with wine and angry rock music, sheâs wary of three important facts: 1) sheâs had a crush on Viking Cowboy Ben for half her life, 2) Ben is a family man who lives in Norway, and 3) all her romantic relationships, and most friendships, seem to have an expiration date. For archaeologist Esben âBenâ Veholt, inviting the woman heâs been in love with since digging alongside her 23 years ago was, of course, the worst possible thing he could have done for himself. This summer was supposed to be his escape from reality: a love life in ruins, worsening body image issues, and a teenage daughter who suddenly wants nothing to do with him. When Kate accepts his offer, he intends to retain a professional relationship with her. A woman like Kate could never love him anywayânot with how much heâs changed inside and out. All seems fine on the surface as Kate and Esbenâs friendship rebuilds, but as they dig deeper, they realize just how broken they both are. To heal from their painful pasts and reclaim their crumbling presents, they each need a friend who accepts them, mess and all. But summer wonât last forever, and a third chance at romance threatens to drift across the ocean yet again. |
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This is Not a Vampire Story by Simon Doyle Seventeen-year-old Victor Callahan holds a secret as ancient as the shadows.Employed as a night porter in a quiet Irish nursing home, the teenager watches over a group of men he once knew a long time ago. Victor has orchestrated their reunion for a final farewell, a goodbye to those whose lives have shaped him through the years.But can he keep his secret from Lakeshore Manor's oldest resident, James O'Carroll?As he cares for these remnants of his past, memories of a bygone era haunt him - of wild adventures on the rugged Irish coast, of forbidden love hidden beneath the threat of eternal night, and of a shipwreck that changes everything...Gloria Pinto, the night nurse, doesn't like him. But maybe she has her own secrets.THIS IS NOT A VAMPIRE STORY weaves a tale of timeless bonds, the cost of immortality, and the lengths we go to for love.But is love more important than life? Victor is about to find out. |
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Rubbles of Magrath by Natalie Kelda Three months have passed since the Great Quake shook Magrath. Three months since Balfour lost Skye. The city lies in ruin and survival is only possible by scavenging. Every day they root through buildings filled with those killed in the earthquake that was meant to mark the end of the tarilla war. The war that still rages on. Balfour's biggest fear is to find Skye. Rotten and crushed under the rubble. But he knows where she In the starless vaults at the centre of town. Struggling to accept his loss, Balfour strays to the courtyard where he once spent a night beside Skye. But there he discovers an old enemy and that hope yet remains. Can he risk the people who have become his family for someone he has already lost and mourned? Rubbles of Magrath is the second book in a trilogy that can be read on its own or in connection with the first 3 books in the Inner Universe Series. |
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Alone in a new city, far from friends and family, Jackie's only real human contact is her neighbor: Connor, a troubled young man with six figures' worth of military hardware grafted onto his body. As Jackie and Connor bond over their efforts to jailbreak Connor's mechanical arm, Jackie discovers her old life isn't quite done with her yet. |
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In a world intent on suppressing your true self, would you fade into obscurity or become uncontainable? Rose felt destined to fade, until a chance encounter thrusts her into the world of the supernatural, where she faces an entirely new set of trials. Rose must work with Rift, a young man who conjures portals and clashes with her at every turn. She must also work with Echo, a mute telepath kept in containment for most of her life. Will they survive and defeat the shadow organization known as ORDER, whose mission is to eliminate all supernatural beings, or will they be swallowed up? |
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Dawn's Cozy Horror Corner by Dawn Chen "Dawnâs Cozy Horror Corner: a queer Chinese diaspora horror short stories anthologyâ is a horror anthology which contains five stories featuring supernatural elements and young Chinese diaspora protagonists whose identities clash with the environment around them. In âBottle of Shameâ, a girl who can pull out people's shame must grapple with the gruesome consequences of the truth she reveals. In âThe Girl with No Faceâ, a girl slowly loses her facial features one at a time until she become a faceless horror who take vengeance upon her tormentor. In âMy Future Self Once Saidâ, a girl is paid a visit from her future-self as a warning. In "Judge of the Underworld Household", the protagonist disagrees with the method her ancestor god who rules over the Chinese Underworld and the way he views crimes and punishment. In "Meet Your Demonsâ, a girl is offered to be possessed by a demon and gladly accepts. |
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A Bone in His Teeth by Kellen Graves When a fall from the mast leaves Alba Marsh unable to sail, he finally has the chance to run away from his family debts in search of a better life. He hopes to reunite with his mother, Edythe, where they always promised to meet if things went awry, but finding the small, secluded, secretive town of Moon Harbor proves a greater challenge than Alba ever expected. Worse, upon arriving, no one seems to know anyone by the name Edythe Marsh at all. Taking a job as the local lighthouse keeper while waiting for her to come, Alba attempts to find peace in his stolen freedom--but the sea has other plans. First come the shadows, then the voices, then watery trails left on the floor while he sleeps. He's inundated with erotic dreams of sirens calling out to him, and distant singing haunts his waking hours, all while the townspeople claim to hear nothing. After a debtor catches up with him and he's forced to dispose of their body in the harbor, Alba is interrupted by Eridanys, the last merrow of Moon Harbor, who curses him from leaving until he can find out what happened to the other merrow that once filled those waters. Eridanys' demands, both mental and physical, are exhausting and endless--but as their relationship deepens, and Moon Harborâs long-kept secrets are butterflied open to see, it becomes clear they may both be prey to the town in ways neither of them ever anticipated |
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Book one of the Starhawk trilogy Niko has only ever wanted to protect people. Once a bounty hunter renowned for bringing in the most dangerous criminals the galaxy had to offer, Niko's life was forever altered after a job gone wrong left him with a devastating injury. Resigned to a languishing existence, he now believes his bounty hunting days are officially over. But when an elusive assassin known only as the Kestrel sets his aim on galactic leaders and celebrities, Niko is called back into the fight. Caught in a deadly hunting game of cat and mouse, Niko soon discovers that nothing he's been told about the Kestrel is what it seems, exposing a web of lies as vast and entangled as the galaxy itself. Niko is forced to make a choice: work alongside the only family he has left to stop the Kestrel from ever killing again, or save the life of the very assassin he's been sent to take down⊠And Niko might just be falling in love with him. |
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The Magic Circle by Barry Ryerson Forty years ago, nuclear war devastated vast swathes of the world. Since then, the remaining countries strived to rebuild and grow stronger. Continents formed The Peace Accords, an agreement that cut all contact with each other to prevent such a war from ever happening again. Three strangersâan art student in Paris, a Russian spy, and a South African programmerâfind their lives intertwine as magic returns to Earth. Guided by the mysterious Celestials, they must choose how they use this force in a fight that will determine the fate of every single living thing on the planet. |
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When Isamu Miura returns home on medical discharge from the military, he finds his childhood best friend busy with a new relationship, and his father packing up to return to Japan. With only Inu, his trusted service dog, left at his side, he plans to outfit a camper van to travel across the country. Thereâs just one problem. The only guy in town who can help wants nothing to do with him, his dog, or his dreams. Unlike Isamu, John Love doesn't consider himself a dreamer. A car accident took his mother way too soon, and he has all but lost his father to alcoholism. All he wants is to work his mechanic job to pay for school and leave everything else behind. Adding more work by helping out Isamu is the last thing he wants. When a friend convinces John to take the job, will he find something, or someone, worth dreaming for? Only if Isamu can prove that John is more than just a pit stop on everyone elseâs path. |
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Inarora's Excursion by Seraph Abell Inarora Beservera, daughter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of End'oria, never felt concerned by her father's position. After all, politicians' families were only targeted in the Corporate States of Naa'ran, right? She's in for a rude awakening when Naa'ran Supremacists attack her and send her over 50 years into the past! Inarora finds her great-grandpas, who send a letter to the Council of Sorcerers to ask for help. While they wait for a response, Inarora learns more about herself, including scary powers she never knew she possessed. Meanwhile, Kaedanâs mounting frustration with the lack of help from the present day Intelligence Ward leads him to take matters into his own hands when another child goes missingâInaroraâs best friend. Can Kaedan find Inarora and her friend before more children go missing? Or will they remain forever lost due to the Intelligence Wardâs negligence? |
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Gospel of the Cuckoo by Sirius Dallasâ entire life changed when the Church of New Lazarus opened its doors. The small town of Wicker, Alabama has been taken over by a glamorous, fast-talking reverend with a charismatic smile as bright as his Rolex watch. This new reverend, who calls himself Blue, has declared himself a âmodern day Lazarusâ and has set the whole town on fire with religious fervor. Yet, Dallas doesnât trust him. There is something sinister about the new church and its cult-like following. And when Dallas, who has spent five years caring for his ailing grandfather, is suddenly thrust into the world behind the pulpit; he finds that his expectations of salvation may lie in more infernal hands. |
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Secrets Don't Stay Buried by J. D. Mills How far would you go to keep a secret? Lennon Larkin wants a run-of-the-mill college experience, but thatâs not what sheâs in for. Set to start her freshman year at a local university for deaf and hard of hearing students, Lennonâs chances at normal are yanked out from under her after a prank on her nemesis goes wrong. As the skeleton in her closet is picked apart bone by bone, someone inches closer to a long-buried secret: the private photos of her that were shared without her consent. When her roommate is killed in the crossfire, Lennon and her friends hatch a plan to unmask the killer's identityâbut could someone close to her be behind the plot against her? Maybe itâs the boy sheâs held a grudge against since her sophomore year of high school, or one of her new allies. Worst of all, it might be the girl across the hall that Lennonâs falling for. |
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ROTGUT by H.S. Wolfe All I want to do is play drums in Cluster Headache, but I canât even get that right. Between my on-again off-again shituationship with one of my band mates, the drinking problem-I-donât-really-have and losing my job along with my will to live... Iâve kind of botched up my life. As if things werenât crummy enough Iâm being followed by strange creatures that no one else seems to notice. Right before a big show too, that canât be a good sign. I've got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach about it. |
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Gifted hacker and vampire resistance leader Rowan Finley has lived her entire life caught between two worlds, divided by the dual bloodlines that flow through her veins. Her vampire family exploited her as a child for her rare varewolf blood. Now she may be the only person the werewolves, united with her brother Vladâs rebel vampire faction, trusts to send in as a spy to gain intelligence on the movements of the Vampire Nation at a time when a dangerous rogue operative threatens to destabilize the werewolf military. But allying with shapeshifters will require betraying her mother Zara, leader of the Vampire Nation. Software engineer August Caldwell has been tasked by the Blood Moon pack with dual missions. He has to locate Matteo Rossi, an unstable neural manipulator and projectionist before he can cause irreparable harm to the werewolf pack structure. Even more daunting, he must find Guillermo Montemayor, leader of the North American werewolves, who has gone missing. Rowan Finley is a complication. She canât know he still bears her claiming mark from a mission where she bound him to her temporarily in order to save his life. In order to keep her safe, heâll have to conceal his feelings for her, as well as the true reason he walked away. As a chilling communication throws the werewolf community into revolt, August and Rowan must race against the clock to stop a madman intent on destroying the Vampire Nation and countless innocents, while holding werewolves across the nation hostage. ECLIPSE is part of the Blood Moon, Texas Shifters series. Sizzling hot romance. Guaranteed HEA. |
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Love at the Rock Show by Katta Kis A burnt-out former pop star A sweet, broke psychic⊠who hates him The festival tour that changes everything Broke pansexual psychic Judit is scraping by. Sheâs got chronic pain and survives (barely) on Tarot reading gigs. When her rent skyrockets, she jumps at the chance to work a merch booth on a festival tour. Itâs the perfect escape until Judit spends a lovely evening with her friendâs ex-flame (itâs complicated)âand he ends up touring with the festival. Ex-boy band idol Patrick didnât want to play the Endfest tour with the guy who stole the love of his life. He was about to quit the label they started together when a last-minute emergency forces him to join the tour. Worse, the mystery woman who turned his anxiety attack into a magical night is there tooâand she knew exactly who he was all along. Judit and Patrick are forced to share a bus while navigating the drama of a mismanaged festival, other peopleâs exes, and drunk drag queens. The more time they spend in adjoining bunks, the less they find to hate about each other. But can this summer fling last, or will what happens on tour stay on tour? |
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A Sharper, More Lasting Pain by Alex Harvey-Rivas After their girlfriendâs best friend is wounded in a monster attack, Simone Allard stumbles across a plot much deeper than they anticipated. As they work to find a cure to their own forming illness and find out the truth, one question remains: how was Nadia involved in this? Nadia DuPont doesnât know how much time she has or even what is ailing her, but it all gets more complex after meeting Simone on a field trip. As they both work to find a cure to her ailment, all Nadia is certain of is she's on the path to ruin. |
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The Stars Want Blood by Morgan Lawson When a summer's wind whips through the spring gardens, when air meets earth, a fate that has long since been written amongst the stars will unfurl itself⊠There was only so long that anybody could handle living while disregarding every single piece of advice from their psychiatrist, and Hazel Culhane was reaching their breaking point. Hoping to recharge themself enough to handle the challenge of getting better, they tuck themself into a hidden cabin for a week. It wasnât a bad idea, but they couldnât have predicted that something would be waiting for them in those woods, something significantly more frightening than their own crumbling sanity⊠All of the Constellites â the celestial gods borne from the stars of the zodiac constellations â knew what fate had planned for them. It was the same in each generation of them. And as the Virgo god, Ezra Thompson should have been no exception. He doesnât know why his Gemini counterpart came along so late, or why their newfound divinity doesnât fit them, but it doesnât take him very long to figure out that the quirky and unstable Hazel â the Constellite of Geminorum â is still his fate. Fate has given them love, but with it, destruction. Will they be able to rewrite fate and save themselves? Or will they get pulled into the event horizon that fate has waiting for them? ... and it will demand blood. |
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Lover, Thy Name Is Pestilence by A.L. Davidson Dakota and Ed Hollander have lived quiet, isolated lives deep in the Smoky Mountains for nearly a decade without much trouble â despite the pious locals who scrutinize their way of life. Everything changes overnight when a brutal civil war decimates the United States, leaving behind a wasteland of decay and ruin in its wake... Now, in a world recovering from famine and war, Dakota and Ed fight to prepare themselves for the harsh winter that will soon arrive on their doorstep. But Dakotaâs sense of safety is rattled when lost travelers come knocking, and everything Ed told them about the world post-disaster is scrutinized as the secrets hidden in the cellar desperately claw their way to the surface. The carnage of Edâs devotion is strewn across the snow in blood red streaks, and Dakota finds themself making drastic choices that threaten to strip away their humanity like flesh off a carcass. At the end of the world, love is written with the blade of an axe, and the most haunting plague of all may just be manâs own hubris. |
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1973 â At 53 years old, Bill, hadnât expected to run into Bobby when he signed up for that medical convention in Houston. Fair to say they didnât exactly part on good terms last time. Twenty years later, is Bill ready to finally admit his feelings, his sexuality, and to gather his courage to conquer his old lover and friend once more? A second chance romance with flashbacks to young love, addressing the struggles of coming out in an unwelcoming environment and building the life you really want. |
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John, 41, settles in Leicester after his divorce, with hopes of becoming the best version of himself as he builds a new life. He makes friends, starts doing yoga, and joins an RPG campaign. Only one day, he realises he might just have fallen in love with his best friend. Oops. In this slow paced tale of falling in love over time, follow these characters on their journey to self discovery and acceptance, and found family. This is a story about love in all its forms: friendship, romantic, the family we are born with, and the one we end up choosing. |
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He Hears Death by A.L. Davidson He Hears Death tells the morbid tale of an embalmer who can no longer hear the world as it is, but as Death does. Cursed with the ability to hear the voices of the deceased who linger in his quiet hometown, The Fool finds himself struggling to hold onto his sanity. Reeling from the murder of his Lover four years prior, he spends his days fixing up the dead and the nights sewing up his own damaged soul amidst the anxiety and loneliness in his life. His only safe haven is his apartment - the place where his Lover's spirit still lingers - but the trek home each night is a dangerous one indeed... A violent, malicious entity stalks the halls of the high-rise, and every time The Fool steps through his doorway he risks it being his last. Wrestling with his future, his desire for reunion, and his spiraling anxiety, The Fool's story is one of grief, loneliness, and lost love. His near-obsessive romance with the literal ghost of his past grows ever stronger as his inability to move on throttles his will to live until all hell breaks loose. When an unforeseen crisis hits the neighboring city, The Fool finds himself trapped within the confines of The Tower, forcing him to face not only the hell-bent monstrosity in the hall and Death's presence in the shadows, but the finality of life as he knew it. |
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Pillow Forts and Hurricanes by Margherita Scialla Emma has an unbreakable bond with her roommates and lifelong best friends, yet struggles to create a romantic connection that comes even close to their friendship. Thatâs why Emma accepts her stoic boyfriend keeping her at a distance. All of her fantasies about romance and relationships, however, come tumbling down when she witnesses said boyfriend cheating on her. Following her recent breakup and her evolving bond with her best friend, Noah, Emma begins to question everything she ever knew about relationships, romantic and platonic. When Emma suggests the possibility of a queerplatonic relationship to Noah, the two must navigate their feelings, unveiling secrets theyâve kept from each other⊠but as confusing it can be, at least theyâre doing it together. |
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Gossip queen ALEX longs to be seen. Cheerleader TULSI is sick of cutting people on her sharp heart. New kid CLEMENTINE canât escape the violence inside. And wallflower SUNJU is tired of keeping quiet. When a twist of fate brings this unlikely quartet together, sparks and punches fly. They call it âGirls Night,' an underground fight club thatâs girls only. Soon every girl at Sterling High is showing up to class with bruised knuckles and split lips. Alex, Tulsi, Clementine, and Sun have never felt more alive. Until demonic head cheerleader, Quentin Scarhill, steps in the ring with her eyes on Alex. As Quentinâs hold over Alex tightens, Girls Night spirals out of control. Can they take back the reins before things turn deadly? And if Girls Night ends will they throw in the towel on their newfound friendships? |
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Earth Hagiography by Sfarda L. GĂŒl Written during a time of turmoil and heavy-heartedness, EARTH HAGIOGRAPHY collates prose poetry and lyric essays in a poignant, frank discourse of grief, police state upbringing, loss of heritage to colonialism, political ideology, earth veneration, queerness, and psychological wounds, seeking to weave and unfold the bloodied yarn of remembrance and histories forgotten or unknown. |
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Heirs to a Flawed Creation: Stories from Near Earth by E.L. Montague Assassin. Detective. Cop. Interrogator. Lover. Spy Master. Rebel. All of these. Purpose defines us. It will define the peoples we leave behind when we are gone. We are children playing with the powers of a god. Our creations will be as flawed as their creators. The gift of intellect comes with doubt. In the none too distant future, tools will become beings in their own right. Factory floors will be the womb of an entire people. Androids will struggle to exist alongside the lesser gods who created them, even as they surpass us. These stories explore that struggle. |
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The Hound of Greyvor (Silver Sights Saga #2) by W.J. Long III Since Minerva Prime, peace, quiet, and adolescence have driven a wedge between Claude and Vision. As tempers flare in their modest home, a new danger emerges behind the Sabien veil; Levine Drarri, a disgraced servant of the Imperium, arrives on their doorstep, seeking the aid of Silver Sights. In his wake comes chaos, tragedy, and the boundless fury of a Sabien Crown. Now, the weight of Drarriâs sudden arrival threatens to shatter the already fractured bond between father and daughter, while in the shadows, the weapons of the Imperium bear down on all they have built. |
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At the Crossroads of Tomorrow Being the youngest of the Sua royals never stopped Saritrah from scheming to take the throne. But violent insurrectionists shattered those plans when they stormed the palace and decimated her family. In the years since, she has amassed an army and will return to claim her crown. However, Ashur, her one remaining sibling, has done the same, and she must act soon if sheâs to secure her prize before he snatches it from her claws. After Ashur razes the Temple of Yshuld, the surviving Seers promise her the power to ensure victory. But it will mean abandoning her legion to venture into the endless desert and locate a lost city. Soon, however, she suspects that none of the women are who they claim to be, even to each other. One woman cryptically alludes to a paradisical past; another awakens in the night plagued by dreams of a frightening future; the last woman never speaks. But the more she questions her new companionsâ motives, the more she must question her own. Is the vision of calamity an omen of what will happen if she fails? Or a promise of what will come if she succeeds? |
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The Autumn Apprentice by Alexandra Runes A disabled young woman opens her heart to a man with a soul full of secrets and magic of the darkest kind⊠Kirzemaj RĂŒdisch, daughter of a wealthy merchant family, is soon coming of age and ready to enter society. Recovering from a curse that left her disabled, Kirze has spent much of her life in convalescence and seclusion, and now she must learn everything all over again. Under the guidance of Master AndruĆĄ BagadĂșr, Kirze discovers not only her lost abilities but a wider world beyond her privileged lifeâand feelings that call all her beliefs into question. As the reality of the world unravels, Kirzemaj is torn between duty and desireâbecause the man is twice her age, of an undesirable, foreign background, and has a darkness about him that, even with her new-found knowledge, Kirze cannot explain⊠A romantic fantasy, The Autumn Apprentice is set in a world evocative of Hanseatic Northern Europe and inspired by the histories and mythologies around the Baltic Sea. |
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Waiting for the Flood by Alexis Hall Twelve years ago, Edwin Tully came to Oxford and fell in love with a boy named Marius. He was brilliant, an artist. It was going to be forever. Ten years later, it ended. Now Edwin lives alone in the house they used to share. He tends to damaged books and faded memories, trying to build a future from the fragments of the past. Then the weather turns, and the river spills into Edwinâs quiet world, bringing with it Adam Dacre from the Environment Agency. An unlikely knight, this stranger with roughened hands and worn wellingtons offers Edwin the hope of something he thought he would never have again. As the two men grow closer in their struggle against the rising waters, Edwin learns he canât protect himself from everythingâand sometimes he doesn't need to try. Because love doesnât only leave scars; oftentimes, it heals them too. |
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In a galaxy that set her up to fail, Etriaâs journey to capture stars redefines acceptance. Etria, a determined stella, defies expectations and becomes a Star Catcher despite her disfigurement. Teaming up with Maron, her own personal Star Keeper, they set off on a mission to catch stars. Through their partnership, Etriaâs self-perception changes and echoes into her cluster, challenging the stella cultureâs narrow ideals. Join these mesmerizing space mermaids in this short and tear-jerking sci-fi adventure as they defy conventions and ignite the spirit of acceptance, inspiring others to embrace their differences. |
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Savior on the zenith: Fragmented Fates Duology, part 2 by Nancy Foster The doubtful. The jaded. The heir. The dauntless. Jarahad questions the mistakes he made during his life. Nobody ever forced him to become initiated in the combative harlequin arts, which only worsens his guilt. The only person that understands his true feelings is acting recklessly for reasons he doesn't quite understand yet. When disaster befalls Almjarhad, Jarahad will be forced to make the most difficult decision of his life. Talgel's fate has become sealed in stone, and there is no turning back. The chess board she carefully assembled over the years has been prepared, and the pawns waiting in their positions for the true hero of this story to perform the first move. With no options left, Talgel hopes she can reveal the prediction that can save Almjarhad before all hopes are lost. Tioja forges an unbreakable bond with the one person who can both save Almjarhad and ruin him. After running away from Almjarhad and fearing for his vanishing sanity, Tioja seeks refuge in the new harlequin enclave of Murdorhiolan alongside his mother, her new husband... and his half-brother named Gulraj. While Tioja gets used to his new life, an innocent remark ignites a butterfly effect that will trigger devastating consequences. Jamarnid suspects something is amiss when a human mage moves into Almjarhad and becomes infatuated with his son Jarahad. Just as he feared, the mage becomes an unstoppable threat that warrants a drastic solution. After being ridiculed by his peers, Jamarnid must set aside his pride and convince everyone the mage threatens the city's safety before it's too late. The demon who has bonded to Talgel's soul stares at the chessboard it helped assemble with reverie and is eager to share its power with the one person that can save the city... for a hefty price. |
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Dream of Empty Crowns (Chosen King Book 1) by M.J. Sewall At the steps of the Choosing Tower, Gordon tosses his name into the lottery like all boys his age. When his name is called out and he is proclaimed the new king, what should be a moment of celebration takes a dark turn. Soon, he is hunted by the ruthless Firstcouncillor Trunculin. Pursued by kingdom airships and the very soldiers sworn to protect him, the young king has to align with great warriors and unexpected allies. With the healer Loren and a fearless young warrior named Aline by his side, can Gordon find a way to save himself â and his kingdom? |
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The King of Stonewood by Jeremy Hayes Stonewood is in peril! The demon lord, Lucivenus, now sits upon the throne. To his right, stands High Priest Sarvin, leader of the demon-worshipping Cult, whose dedication led to the release of the demon lord from his extra-planar prison. King Stonewood, who was believed dead, is now beginning to fight back. The King hides somewhere in the south district surrounded by loyal companions, striking at cultists and inspiring hope in the citizens that the Cult may be overthrown. Harcourt and Krestina, two south-side orphans, are thrust into the middle of the conflict. The pair of unlikely heroes may be the only ones capable of finding two ancient items that will be needed to defeat, the mighty Lucivenus. Without them, the King cannot win and Stonewood will be left in the control of the vile Cult. |
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With Zombies: Assured Destruction Book #3 by Michael F. Stewart Jan Rose may already be expunged from the police department's High Tech Crime Unit. Her mother's hospitalized, and Assured Destruction's on the cusp of bankruptcy. But Jan doesn't wait on anything, she seeks out the customers who used to keep the family business afloat. That's when everything starts to go wrong. A computer virus--aka the Zombie Worm-threatens not only her school and Shadownet, but the entire city. A skull with a chain running through its socket links a powerful gang to her former customers, and holds the secrets to why her father left and the identity of her mother's boyfriend. To save her family and the business, Jan must determine who is friend and who is foe. And decide what type of hacker she wishes to become: Gray, white, or black. Not only her life hangs in the balance. |
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Script Kiddie: Assured Destruction Book #2 by Michael F. Stewart Jan Rose no longer steals data from the old computers she recycles. She doesn't need to. As the newest member of the police departmentâs High Tech Crime Unit, the laptop of a murderer has landed on her desk. Her job: to profile and expose a killer. But thatâs not all. A creep lurks in the shadows, stalking a friend, and Jan must stop him before the hunt turns deadly. The clock counts down for Jan to save her friend, her job, her boyfriend--maybe even her life. |