In 2012, on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a controversial third term as president, mass protests ended in violent clashes between demonstrators and the police. ‘They ruined my big day, now I’m going to ruin their lives,’ Putin was alleged to have said. Now Boris Nemtsov is dead, other key opposition leaders are either in prison or under house arrest and the Kremlin is using the situation in Ukraine to further its domestic aims, encouraging the rise of violent pro-Putin groups and labelling protesters ‘national traitors’. Journalist and long-time Moscow resident Marc Bennetts examines how Putin and his shadowy advisers crushed Russia’s brave new protest movement. Featuring rare interviews with everyone from Nemtsov and other protest leaders to Kremlin insiders, Bennetts provides an unprecedented insight into the realities of politics on the ground. The result is a brilliant portrayal of the battle for Russia’s soul – one which continues to this day.
A New York Times Bestseller "Funny, subversive, and able to excavate such brutally honest sentences that you find yourself nodding your head in wonder and recognition." —Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer and lyricist of In the Heights and Hamilton: An American Musical Are you a sensible, universally competent individual? Are you tired of the crushing monotony of leaping gracefully from one lily pad of success to the next? Are you sick of doing everything right? In this brutally honest and humorous debut, musician and artist George Watsky chronicles the small triumphs over humiliation that make life bearable and how he has come to accept defeat as necessary to personal progress. The essays in How to Ruin Everything range from the absurd (how he became an international ivory smuggler) to the comical (his middle-school rap battle dominance) to the revelatory (his experiences with epilepsy), yet all are delivered with the type of linguistic dexterity and self-awareness that has won Watsky devoted fans across the globe. Alternately ribald and emotionally resonant, How to Ruin Everything announces a versatile writer with a promising career ahead.
Men may be from Mars and women from Venus, but the alien known as teenager comes from a place way beyond those two. What else would account for that incredible transformation from loving child to the hostile creature who wants zilch to do with dear old Mom and Dad? How to Ruin Your Children's Lives is a survival manual for enduring this transmutation and-with a little luck-maintaining enough sanity to one day hear those longed-for words, Hey, I guess you weren't so stupid after all.Purple hair? Belly rings? Bizarre musical tastes? Not a problem as long as readers have How to Ruin Your Children's Lives' nearly 300 tips and tactics close at hand. With resident teenagers slamming doors and screaming at the top of their lungs, Mom! You're ruining my life! parents should at least make certain they're handling the job with aplomb.Consider these tips: o Call them at their friend's house to ask if they want lasagna for dinner.o Ask them about girlfriends (or boyfriends) in front of relatives.o Tell them about the time you streaked when you were in college.o Sing old Beatles songs when their friends are in the car.o Dress like Christina Aguilera.Author Mary McHugh is right on target. She shows parents how to match attitude with attitude and how to carry on whether the teen-parent subject is sex, using the family car, grades, or curfews. This book's perfect for any parent in the trenches and for empty nesters trying to stem their tears.
Good love relationship isn't really that important. In fact, it uses up a lot of time you could spend thinking about yourself . . . and doing things all alone or with your drunken, loser friends. That's why Ben Stein has written How to Ruin Your Love Life. Following up on the wild success of his pioneering ''do-the-opposite-of-what-I-say''self-help book, How to Ruin Your Life, he now brings you, in 35 easy to follow steps, ways to definitively and absolutely . . . ruin your love life. Learn from this book and for heaven's sake, do the opposite right now.
A new hilarious novel from the author of The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever and Stranger Things Have Happened. Rod's life doesn't suck. If you ask him, it's pretty awesome. He may not be popular, but he and his best friends play in a band that has a standing gig. Yeah, it's Monday night and they don't get paid, but they can turn the volume up as loud as they want. And Rod's girlfriend is hot, smart, and believes in their band—believes in Rod. Aside from a winning lottery ticket, what more could he ask for? Answer: A different cousin. When Rod's scheming, two-faced cousin Blake moves in for the semester, Rod tries to keep calm. Blake seems to have everyone else fooled with good manners and suave smile, except Rod knows better. Blake is taking over his room, taking over his band, taking over his life! But Rod's not about to give up without a fight. Game on. May the best prankster win...
College days! Have you ever think about what is more important than studying? This story shows lives of Siddharth and people around him at the institute where everything happens except study! This is the story of killing time and finding the best out of it. Hot Heads and Dash of Hell holds the key to unlock the social-educational-cultural barrier. The story of an average institute, average students, average behavioral culture but great at academic adventure! It is about an institute where nothing is bound to rules, everything is bound to freedom! Are you ready to delve into it?
One of this generation's hottest and boldest young comedians presents a transgressive and hilarious analysis of all of our dysfunctional relationships, and attempts to point us in the vague direction of sanity. Daniel Sloss's stand-up comedy engages, enrages, offends, unsettles, educates, comforts, and gets audiences roaring with laughter—all at the same time. In his groundbreaking specials, seen on Netflix and HBO, he has brilliantly tackled everything from male toxicity and friendship to love, romance, and marriage—and claims (with the data to back it up) that his on-stage laser-like dissection of relationships has single-handedly caused more than 300 divorces and 120,000 breakups. Now, in his first book, he picks up where his specials left off, and goes after every conceivable kind of relationship—with one's country (Sloss's is Scotland); with America; with lovers, ex-lovers, ex-lovers who you hate, ex-lovers who hate you; with parents; with best friends (male and female), not-best friends; with children; with siblings; and even with the global pandemic and our own mortality. In Everyone You Hate Is Going to Die, every human connection gets the brutally funny (and unfailingly incisive) Sloss treatment as he illuminates the ways in which all of our relationships are fragile and ridiculous and awful—but also valuable and meaningful and important.
Two Omegas. One kiss. And an Alpha who wasn’t supposed to see it happen… Nathan I’m supposed to be an author, but I haven’t finished a book in years. Not since things got out of control. So, to hopefully get back on my feet, I move to a new city, start teaching at college and suddenly find myself intrigued by two Omegas that pass me by every morning. One day, on a whim, I follow them and see something I shouldn’t have seen. A kiss. A beautiful kiss. And it’s the start of a journey I never expected to make… Zeke I fled from the arranged marriage my parents set up for me and I was ready to give up on love entirely, and then my best friend saved his younger Omega brother, Wes, from a bad situation and suddenly I was falling, head over heels. It’s amazing to be at Wes’ side and to see him flourish, even if our relationship is a little complicated, we’re making it work. Maybe love isn’t so bad after all. What I hadn’t counted on was the Alpha walking into the cafe, and the way my eyes keep getting drawn to him... Wes After my brother saved me from my abusive ex, I’m getting my feet back under me. I’m finally doing the things I was never able to do, like having a job and going to college. It’s not easy to combine it with caring for my four children. But with my Omega boyfriend Zeke and my brother’s family at my side, we make it work, they’re all the people I’ll ever need. Until, one morning, an Alpha walks into the cafe that I work at, and he asks Zeke and me out on a date, together... This collection includes all eight novellas about Alpha Nathan and Omegas Zeke and Wes in Omegas’ Destined Alpha, The Baristas’ Surprise, The Alpha’s Mistake, The Mates’ Choice, The Family’s Threat, The Lovers’ Offence, The Friends’ Support, The Parents’ Strength and The Omegas’ Destiny, which takes place in the non-shifter Omegaverse Mates World and contains mpreg (male-pregnancy). These novellas may include any of these elements: steamy scenes, ‘I need tissues NOW’ moments, cries of ‘why, oh, why’ and cliffhangers that make you bite your nails (and curse the author).
Dive into the Omegaverse Mates World! This collection includes the first three serials taking place in the emotional but also magical world of Omegaverse Mates, where men can get pregnant and families aren’t always bound to you by blood, but instead made up of people you love and who love you! Dive into this more than 450,000 words or almost 1,800 pages long saga today! Second Chance Mates What would you do if your estranged Alpha died, leaving behind an Omega and child with no one to care for them? Wilder Ten years ago, Logan left me. He told me that two Alphas cannot be together, that our mating wasn’t real. Yesterday, my sister called and told me that Logan passed away. That he’s leaving behind an Omega and a young child. Today, I’m at Logan’s funeral. Trying to stay out of sight, I notice how Logan’s family treats his Omega. Why am I the only one willing to help them? Sterling Logan and I had everything we ever wanted. A lovely cottage, a beautiful daughter and lots of big dreams. Then he was ripped away from us in a car crash. Now, Logan’s family is about to leave me to fend for myself after the funeral. Until one of Logan’s old friends steps in. Only, in all the commotion, I didn’t keep an eye on the calendar. And my heat starts at the most inconvenient of times. Why is Logan’s friend reacting to my heat? Only true mates are supposed to react to a mated Omega… What’s going on? Making a Family When your idea of asking a cute Omega to be your pretend-husband for a weekend takes an unexpected turn… Clay I have my pride as an Alpha, and I don’t want to be the only unmated sibling at my youngest sister’s wedding. What’s a successful, but bachelor, Alpha to do? Well, maybe ask the cute Omega frequenting my cafe to be my fake husband for the weekend. Only, I didn’t expect a weekend of fun to go so very differently… Aiden The day after my sister leaves her three-month-old to look after, to be the parent she can’t be, I get an odd request from the handsome Alpha running the cafe I frequent. And who can resist a request from the only man able to make me smile this week? So, I show up, play the role of adoring husband, and that’s when things go a little off-script… Omegas’ Destined Alpha Two Omegas. One kiss. And an Alpha who wasn’t supposed to see it happen… Nathan I’m supposed to be an author, but I haven’t finished a book in years. Not since things got out of control. So, to hopefully get back on my feet, I move to a new city, start teaching at college and suddenly find myself intrigued by two Omegas that pass me by every morning. One day, on a whim, I follow them and see something I shouldn’t have seen. A kiss. A beautiful kiss. And it’s the start of a journey I never expected to make… Zeke I fled from the arranged marriage my parents set up for me and I was ready to give up on love entirely, and then my best friend saved his younger Omega brother, Wes, from a bad situation and suddenly I was falling, head over heels. It’s amazing to be at Wes’ side and to see him flourish, even if our relationship is a little complicated, we’re making it work. Maybe love isn’t so bad after all. What I hadn’t counted on was the Alpha walking into the cafe, and the way my eyes keep getting drawn to him... Wes After my brother saved me from my abusive ex, I’m getting my feet back under me. I’m finally doing the things I was never able to do, like having a job and going to college. It’s not easy to combine it with caring for my four children. But with my Omega boyfriend Zeke and my brother’s family at my side, we make it work, they’re all the people I’ll ever need. Until, one morning, an Alpha walks into the cafe that I work at, and he asks Zeke and me out on a date, together...
Two Omegas. One kiss. And an Alpha who wasn’t supposed to see it happen… Nathan I’m supposed to be an author, but I haven’t finished a book in years. Not since things got out of control. So, to hopefully get back on my feet, I move to a new city, start teaching at college and suddenly find myself intrigued by two Omegas that pass me by every morning. One day, on a whim, I follow them and see something I shouldn’t have seen. A kiss. A beautiful kiss. And it’s the start of a journey I never expected to make… Zeke I fled from the arranged marriage my parents set up for me and I was ready to give up on love entirely, and then my best friend saved his younger Omega brother, Wes, from a bad situation and suddenly I was falling, head over heels. It’s amazing to be at Wes’ side and to see him flourish, even if our relationship is a little complicated, we’re making it work. Maybe love isn’t so bad after all. What I hadn’t counted on was the Alpha walking into the cafe, and the way my eyes keep getting drawn to him... Wes After my brother saved me from my abusive ex, I’m getting my feet back under me. I’m finally doing the things I was never able to do, like having a job and going to college. It’s not easy to combine it with caring for my four children. But with my Omega boyfriend Zeke and my brother’s family at my side, we make it work, they’re all the people I’ll ever need. Until, one morning, an Alpha walks into the cafe that I work at, and he asks Zeke and me out on a date, together... This collection includes the first four novellas about Alpha Nathan and Omegas Zeke and Wes in Omegas’ Destined Alpha, The Baristas’ Surprise, The Alpha’s Mistake, The Mates’ Choice and The Family’s Threat, which takes place in the non-shifter Omegaverse Mates World and contains mpreg (male-pregnancy). These novellas may include any of these elements: steamy scenes, ‘I need tissues NOW’ moments, cries of ‘why, oh, why’ and cliffhangers that make you bite your nails (and curse the author).
