My growly, alpha AF pastors broke the ultimate vow in order to be with me. When Pastors Jordan and Jason stepped up to the pulpit, the breath caught in my throat. These were the new pastors at the Village Church? The men had perfect lips, tattoos swirling up their forearms, and cocky, knowing smiles that made my heart race. In fact, all the female congregants let out a collective sigh when Pastors Jason and Jordan got up to preach. But Jason and Jordan are no average men of the cloth. They are godliness personified, yet with a taste for sin. Because I’ve taken a Promise Vow. It’s a vow to keep myself sacred and pure for the hands of my future husband … … but these gorgeous men are temptation personified. Not only will they show me the Garden of Eden but they’ll put the apple in my mouth by doubling down every time we’re together. Jason and Jordan were taught in divinity school to be shepherds to their flock … … but what happens when the shepherds lose their way? Reader beware: This book is *wildly inaccurate* and does not seek to represent the teachings of any particular church or denomination. But if you’ve ever dreamed about a hot preacher and wondered what it might be like, then you’ll definitely adore Pastors Jason and Jordan. Let yourself engage in some hedonism for a fun-loving romp that breaks all the rules: real and make-believe. As always, my books have an HEA with no cheating and no cliffhangers.
An Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Romance of 2018! I'm not a good man, and I've never pretended to be. I don't believe in goodness or God or any happy ending that isn't paid for in advance. In fact, I've got my own personal holy trinity: in the name of money, sex, and Macallan 18, amen. So when the gorgeous, brilliant Zenny Iverson asks me to teach her about sex, I want to say yes, I really do. Unfortunately, there are several reasons to say no--reasons that even a very bad man like myself can't ignore. 1. She's my best friend's little sister. 2. She's too young for me. Like way too young. 3. She's a nun. Or about to be anyway. But I want her. I want her even with my best friend and God in the way, I want to teach her and touch her and love her, and I know that makes me something much worse than a very bad man. It makes me a sinner. And it's those very sins that are about to save me... ***Sinner is a standalone companion to Priest about Father Bell's brother Sean. You do not have to read Priest or Midnight Mass to read Sinner***
There are many rules a priest can't break. A priest cannot marry. A priest cannot abandon his flock. A priest cannot forsake his God. I've always been good at following rules. Until she came. Then I learned new rules. My name is Tyler Anselm Bell. I'm twenty-nine years old. Six months ago, I broke my vow of celibacy on the altar of my own church, and God help me, I would do it again. I am a priest and this is my confession.
"Ever since the creators of the animated television show South Park turned their lovingly sardonic gaze on the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft for an entire episode, WoW's status as an icon of digital culture has been secure. My Life as a Night Elf Priest digs deep beneath the surface of that icon to explore the rich particulars of the World of Warcraft player's experience." —Julian Dibbell, Wired "World of Warcraft is the best representative of a significant new technology, art form, and sector of society: the theme-oriented virtual world. Bonnie Nardi's pioneering transnational ethnography explores this game both sensitively and systematically using the methods of cultural anthropology and aesthetics with intensive personal experience as a guild member, media teacher, and magical quest Elf." —William Sims Bainbridge, author of The Warcraft Civilization and editor of Online Worlds “Nardi skillfully covers all of the hot button issues that come to mind when people think of video games like World of Warcraft such as game addiction, sexism, and violence. What gives this book its value are its unexpected gems of rare and beautifully detailed research on less sensationalized topics of interest such as the World of Warcraft player community in China, game modding, the increasingly blurred line between play and work, and the rich and fascinating lives of players and player cultures. Nardi brings World of Warcraft down to earth for non-players and ties it to social and cultural theory for scholars. . . . the best ethnography of a single virtual world produced so far.” —Lisa Nakamura, University of Illinois World of Warcraft rapidly became one of the most popular online world games on the planet, amassing 11.5 million subscribers—officially making it an online community of gamers that had more inhabitants than the state of Ohio and was almost twice as populous as Scotland. It's a massively multiplayer online game, or MMO in gamer jargon, where each person controls a single character inside a virtual world, interacting with other people's characters and computer-controlled monsters, quest-givers, and merchants. In My Life as a Night Elf Priest, Bonnie Nardi, a well-known ethnographer who has published extensively on how theories of what we do intersect with how we adopt and use technology, compiles more than three years of participatory research in Warcraft play and culture in the United States and China into this field study of player behavior and activity. She introduces us to her research strategy and the history, structure, and culture of Warcraft; argues for applying activity theory and theories of aesthetic experience to the study of gaming and play; and educates us on issues of gender, culture, and addiction as part of the play experience. Nardi paints a compelling portrait of what drives online gamers both in this country and in China, where she spent a month studying players in Internet cafes. Bonnie Nardi has given us a fresh look not only at World of Warcraft but at the field of game studies as a whole. One of the first in-depth studies of a game that has become an icon of digital culture, My Life as a Night Elf Priest will capture the interest of both the gamer and the ethnographer. Bonnie A. Nardi is an anthropologist by training and a professor in the Department of Informatics in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focus is the social implications of digital technologies. She is the author of A Small Matter of Programming: Perspectives on End User Computing and the coauthor of Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart and Acting with Technology: Activity Theory and Interaction Design. Cover art by Jessica Damsky
A DESPERATE SEARCH, A DEADLY GAME Regina Blake races into unknown territory to save her mother from the clutches of the blood sorcerers who have claimed her. But with every step, she enters further into the benighted world of the undead. Her only guides are the seductive Victoria Ash and the mad priest Anatole, but each seems more interested in making her theirs than freeing her mother. Meanwhile, her father and her fiancé scour London to save her, but find themselves embroiled in the intrigues of the damned and the mad. Will Regina's quest cost the lives of those she loves?
"Dealings with the Inquisition; Or, Papal Rome, Her Priests, and Her Jesuits" by Giacinto Achilli Giovanni Giacinto Achilli was an Italian Roman Catholic Dominican friar and anti-Jesuit. n this book, he tackles his religious beliefs and his opinions of what he felt were the shortcomings of the Catholic church after his sudden conversion to the Protestand faith. This pivot and his prior knowledge of the inner workings of the church allowed him to craft an insightful and controversial book that captured millions.
