Ten years, and he could still make my toes curl with a single kiss. Famous actors Ben and James have been best friends and lovers since they met at drama school ten years ago. They have kept the true nature of their relationship a secret, to protect their careers. But when they agree to help an old friend making a low-budget film, a moment of indiscretion leads to a photograph of them kissing appearing in a national newspaper. They must now decide whether to let James' publicist 'fix' the situation, or to finally step out of the shadows.
From the international bestselling author of "Land of the Living," and "Killing Me Softly," comes a chilling new novel about a broken affair that leads to a deadly obsession.
Emojis—we've all seen then and we've all most likely used them at one time or another, but in reality we know very little about them... until now! Emojis are everywhere, from Facebook and Twitter to the desperate texts from your mom asking again how to log into her Netflix account. We're all familiar with the smiley face laughing hysterically, the grinning cat, and the guy with the dodgy 'stache, but what's the story behind these ubiquitous pictograms? Over the following pages, Emojis reveals all with a series of hilarious interviews and exposés with some of the most popular icons from the social media scene. Did you know, for example, that the dancing girl emoji despises the Macarena? Or that the happy devil smiley face has an unhealthy obsession with eating plenty of fiber? You do now! Along with these eye-opening tales, you will also meet the pictograms that the developers never wanted you to see, like the emoji nerd who is making a fortune through internet start-ups, the punk with the Mohican or the bearded hipster who is way cooler than you. And if that's not enough, there's a hilarious section on misunderstanding emojis plus fun quizzes on the best films, books, TV shows, and more described for you only in the language of emoji.
This is a story of love. Love, which is the same no matter the soul's shell. No one should have to be ashamed of the people they love as we are all human. I love you. Who would have ever thought the words which caused me such dread in the past could ever come to sound so beautiful and feel so very wonderful? Returning to Japan after the loss of his mother, Hitori hopes to start anew. He enters school and longs to make new friends. Quickly, he realizes that friendship will not be the only thing he finds. Befriending a quiet classmate, Hitori finds himself falling hopelessly in love. Akaya is a shy, quiet boy who finds himself stumbling through life, afraid of many things. At first, he is bothered by the outrageous look of the new student. Before long, however, he comes to enjoy the company of the blue haired man and wonders how he made it so long without a friend like Hitori. As their friendship blossoms then turns to love, the boys have to learn to ignore harsh words from school, society and family alike. Despite this, their love grows and soon they realize soul mates really do exist. The sun shines brighter than ever before and the nights aren't nearly as cold as they once were. Love has finally warmed the two distraught souls and created an illusion of serenity. As seasons change, the boys continue to defy society and become something magical. But upon receiving horrible news from his mother, everything in Akaya's life changes. When a time limit is placed on their love, the boys fight to make their remaining time together something meaningful. Love becomes their whole life as they realize they may not get the fairytale ending to their relationship. Without him I am like a book ripped in half. Without the beginning, you would surely be confused and without the end you will never be fulfilled. What could tear these two apart? After fighting past societal norms, school bullying, and angry parents, what could finally break them apart?
Karla was a misguided youth who witnessed everything that she was supposed to be protected from. Growing up without a father in her life and a mother who didn't know how to show her love forced her to go out into the world unprepared for the realities of it. She became a mother at the age of eighteen by a man who was six years older with children. Although she never felt love at home, she still opened herself up to the possibilities of being loved and loving someone in return. That search led her to a young man whom she eventually spent eight years of her life with and shared two more children together. During their time together she suffered from mental, physical, and emotional abuse, causing her to finally get up enough courage to leave him. Single again, Karla started doing things that she never had the opportunity to do while with such a controlling man. She started to drink and go out more, which eventually caused her to make decisions that affected and disrupted her household. She met a few men and settled down with one that caught her eye. While trying to pick up the pieces of her life, she started doing a little better and was looking forward to her future without the hurt and pain that she suffered through for years. Trying to better her relationship with her siblings, she invited them to her apartment so that they could spend time together, but nothing would prepare herself for what lay ahead. One night with her family had turned her whole world upside down and left her fighting for her freedom. With everything that she had already gone through, nobody would have ever expected for her to end up in jail, not even her. Leaving behind her children, Karla had to adjust to her new life behind bars. There was no turning back now, she had to fight harder than she had ever fought before. During that fight, she was sexually assaulted by a male deputy that worked at the courthouse. Leaving her with distrust for the same people put in place to protect her, she started to give up and accept things as they were, but God didn't want that for her, so He gave her the vision and sign that she had been waiting for. After being away for almost two years, Karla was released back out into the same cold, cruel world that she was abruptly taken from and had to start rebuilding what was torn down. She also needed to repair the broken relationship with her children, but none of that would come easy for her. Battling depression, being homeless, and running into people that had taken advantage of her instead of helping only made her stronger, and after two years of parole Karla packed the few things she had along with her children and headed for a new life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, leaving behind everything that was meant to break her and starting a new life for herself and children.
A bestselling and award-winning debut collection from one of South Korea's most prominent young writers. In crisp, unembellished prose, Eun-young Choi paints intimate portraits of the lives of young women in South Korea, balancing the personal with the political. In the title story, a fraught friendship between an exchange student and her host sister follows them from adolescence to adulthood. In "A Song from Afar," a young woman grapples with the death of her lover, traveling to Russia to search for information about the deceased. In "Secret," the parents of a teacher killed in the Sewol ferry sinking hide the news of her death from her grandmother. In the tradition of Sally Rooney, Banana Yoshimoto, and Marilynne Robinson--writers from different cultures who all take an unvarnished look at human relationships and the female experience--Choi Eunyoung is a writer to watch.
The National Book Award–winning story collection from the author of The Orphan Master’s Son offers something rare in fiction: a new way of looking at the world. “MASTERFUL.”—The Washington Post “ENTRANCING.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “PERCEPTIVE AND BRAVE.”—The New York Times Throughout these six stories, Pulitzer Prize winner Adam Johnson delves deep into love and loss, natural disasters, the influence of technology, and how the political shapes the personal, giving voice to the perspectives we don’t often hear. In “Nirvana,” a programmer whose wife has a rare disease finds solace in a digital simulacrum of the president of the United States. In “Hurricanes Anonymous,” a young man searches for the mother of his son in a Louisiana devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “George Orwell Was a Friend of Mine” follows a former warden of a Stasi prison in East Germany who vehemently denies his past, even as pieces of it are delivered in packages to his door. And in the unforgettable title story, Johnson returns to his signature subject, North Korea, depicting two defectors from Pyongyang who are trying to adapt to their new lives in Seoul, while one cannot forget the woman he left behind. WINNER OF THE STORY PRIZE • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Miami Herald • San Francisco Chronicle • USA Today AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • NPR • Marie Claire • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • BuzzFeed • The Daily Beast • Los Angeles Magazine • The Independent • BookPage • Kirkus Reviews “Remarkable . . . Adam Johnson is one of America’s greatest living writers.”—The Huffington Post “Haunting, harrowing . . . Johnson’s writing is as rich in compassion as it is in invention, and that rare combination makes Fortune Smiles worth treasuring.”—USA Today “Fortune Smiles [blends] exotic scenarios, morally compromised characters, high-wire action, rigorously limber prose, dense thickets of emotion, and, most critically, our current techno-moment.”—The Boston Globe “Johnson’s boundary-pushing stories make for exhilarating reading.”—San Francisco Chronicle
In 1559 England, Meg, an orphaned thief, is pressed into service and trained as a member of the Maids of Honor, Queen Elizabeth I's secret all-female guard, but her loyalty is tested when she falls in love with a Spanish courtier who may be a threat.
