Showing results by narrator "Natalie Duke" in All Categories

Since he first appeared on the American literary scene, Jerome Charyn has dazzled audiences. Yet Charyn, a beloved comedic novelist, also possesses an extraordinary knowledge of Golden Age Hollywood, having taught film history both in the United States and France. With Big Red, Charyn reimagines the life of one of America's most enduring icons, "Gilda" herself, Rita Hayworth, whose fiery red tresses and hypnotic dancing graced the silver screen over sixty times in her nearly forty-year career.

On Compromise is an argument against contemporary liberal society’s tendency to view compromise as an unalloyed good - politically, ethically, and artistically. In a series of clear, convincing essays, Rachel Greenwald Smith discusses the dangers of thinking about compromise as an end, rather than as a means.

Five years after an alien invasion, the Earth is unrecognizable. The human race has been decimated and the sun completely blotted out by dark clouds that bring constant rain. All indigenous plant life has been killed off and replaced by vegetation that has proven to be as deadly as it is invasive, and the aliens that have taken over the planet are seemingly invincible. Living in a crowded building with other survivors, Diana Foster wants nothing more than to forget what she lost the day the aliens arrived. But an incoming platoon brings a familiar face.

This novella is a prequel to the Vampire Series "The Firsts" and tells the story of the troubled childhood of that book's heroine. It is a dark tale that details some of what she went through with her mother, addicted to drugs and alcohol, and made a living providing sex for men. It is harsh at times, but true to her journey that begins, as a successful woman, in the first book of the series, Forbidden Days.

A passionate romantic-suspense of love, betrayal, and obsession, She Belongs to Me will have you falling in love and wondering if you can trust anyone right up to the very end.

All’s fair in reincarnation and war. You’ve heard the stories of Norse gods: Thor, Odin, Ragnarok...I’m here to tell you they’re all true. I know because I was there...I may have accidentally on purpose triggered a bit of unpleasantness that led to the end of the world, but apparently, it wasn’t the end of me...With a fresh lease on life and a rocking-hot body, I just need one thing: the rune that grants me immortality.

Daniel had been a mercenary longer than his soul could take. On that final job, looking down at the face of an angel whose death he'd been responsible for, he knew he was done. And although he hadn't pulled the trigger on the bullets that took her life, he felt like he had. He'd buried her in a hidden grave in the Canadian woods so no one would desecrate her lovely body.

On a remote planet, an autonomous scout makes first contact with extraterrestrial life. Without warning, the alien attacks, ripping the drone to shreds. Humanity is at war. Back on Earth, Sam is just another jobless graduate, drifting aimlessly while she lives off of the government's monthly stipend. When war breaks out, she sees a way out of her life of boredom: she signs up to be a "deathstreamer", a new breed of mercenary chasing fame and fortune by streaming combat footage from the front lines. If she can go viral, wealth and celebrity are within Sam's grasp. But she'll need to survive long enough to enjoy it.

Nina Rodriguez has become the most lethal weapon in the world. A blood mage trained by werewolves to hunt and kill with no remorse, no morality, and no hesitation. All that matters is the thrill of the kill, and the danger that comes with it. When she's given orders to infiltrate and observe the vampire court, she couldn't turn it down anymore than she could cease to breathe. The sweet taste of danger was enough to tempt her, and that only doubles when the vampire king chooses her as his own personal thrall.

Hello again. It's me, your favorite reincarnated Norse trickster god, Loki. I still have boobs. I'm also suffering from a health issue that has a 99.43 percent chance of permanently ending me (assuming the Norns don't get to me first). And I can't find my immortality rune. And I've been cursed with an inability to lie. One by one, my new friends are turning out to be old foes. Oh, and did I mention I accidentally on purpose destroyed Odin's gazillion-dollar business investment, and now he's sharpening his spear for me, too? I hate Tuesdays.

Ever wonder what kind of impression you’re making? Good modern manners can help you make a splash, elevate your self-esteem, enhance your personal brand, and lead to what we’re all looking for - greater success in every part of our lives. Nita Patel’s debut book, Boss Vibes is authority, class, and edge all in one unique package. Her witty, fresh voice and clever, take-no-prisoners observations make it fun to stop and think about how we’re really coming across to the world and where we want to go in our careers and personal lives.

An evil chef faces off against the god Thor, and a hen's egg is caught in the crossfire. It hatches into a powerful chick called Thundercluck, beloved by the gods but a target for evildoers everywhere. When the Under-Cook threatens to make everyone into rotisserie, there's only one chicken who can scramble his scheme.

One thousand years after a cataclysmic event leaves humanity on the brink of extinction, the descendants of the chosen survivors take refuge in 13 contingency shelters buried deep underground, at the bottom of the ocean, and in the far reaches of outer space. In the underwater 13th Continuum, 16-year-old Myra Jackson has heard rumors and whisperings all her life of a magical place called The Surface” where people could breathe fresh air, feel the warmth of something called sunlight on their skin, and see things known as stars and trees and mountains.

As Myra Jackson and her friends set out to find the First Continuum, Captain Aero Wright and his two companions from the outer space Second Continuum find themselves banished for treason and stranded on Earth. Wright has vowed to complete his late father’s mission to recolonize their ancestral planet, but his true mission is to find the mysterious girl who haunts his dreams.

While fashion design major Caroline Hunter may have been born economically unlucky, in college, she's been lucky in love. Until her senior year at Southern University. She's gone from a serious long term boyfriend to a string of crappy dates. Then she meets mathematics grad student Reed Pendergraft. Reed is everything she's not looking for. Serious. Headed for a low paying university job. Boring. Caroline spent the first 18 years of her life wondering where her next meal was coming from. She sure wasn't getting trapped in that life again with a man living on a professor's salary.

Falling in love, baking a magical cake, fighting an evil necromancer: It's all in a day's work for Audrey Oliver, 17-year-old witch in training. When her mother goes missing, and her mysterious "cousin" shows up out of the blue, Audrey knows something's gone horribly, dangerously wrong. Now it's up to her to get her own magical powers up to speed before everyone she loves is destroyed by the sorcerer intricately connected to her mother's secret past.

Deb Bollinger has no time for corporate training. Her company’s top engineer at just 27, Deb has blocked off her day for the one project she truly cares about: the launch of Carebnb, an app that finds spare beds for the homeless. When she’s told all employees must drop everything for some busywork exercise called Blackquest 40, it’s an easy no.

MacKenzie Rivers seems like she has it all figured out. She has great friends, she's doing well in school, and her handsome ex-boyfriend is desperate to win her back. But something is missing from her life in Windsor, Colorado. And as much as she hates to admit it, that something might be Jaden Hunter. A year ago, she was falling fast for him and his crooked smile. Twelve months later, everything has changed. A tragic accident has destroyed Jaden's family, and Kenzie has no idea how to talk to him anymore.

This eye-opening book provides vital information that has been out of reach to those who need it most—the millions of Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft users who have come to love and depend upon these digital products. Veteran consumer advocate Jane Hoffman makes the complex world of Big Tech simple to grasp as she reveals exactly how Big Tech uses—and abuses—your personal information. And she proposes a bold blueprint for reforming these corporate behemoths.

Caroline Chapman is reeling from a broken engagement. Determined to start again, she moves cross-country for her dream job of planning events in the historical mansions of Newport, Rhode Island. Just as her life is getting back on track, she gets an email that shakes her very foundations. Linda Riley's life looks picture perfect- a wonderful husband, two great kids, involved in church and the community. Then comes the diagnosis that shatters the facade. In order to save her son's life, she must reveal secrets that can rip everything apart.