Luca Wexler (AKA The Avalon Knight) is an aspiring super hero... or at least he hopes to be! At seventeen, he's only started training when San Francisco becomes the target of a cyber-terrorist hell-bent on stopping development in The City at any cost. As this elusive anarchist known as The Gentleman wreaks havoc, Luca takes it upon himself to hunt him down. As San Francisco descends into chaos, Luca's personal life threatens to derail his investigation. But with America's premiere super heroes missing, The Avalon Knight may be the only chance for stopping The Gentleman before his plans reach their destructive conclusion.
A down-on-her-luck dancer stripping to survive. A billionaire playboy who’s locked his heart behind a wall of money and charm. When passion sparks between them, will she listen to her fears—or her heart? When I look in the mirror and see what I’ve become, I don’t recognize myself. Regardless, I need money, and the only employer who’s saying yes is the Gentlemen’s Club, a high-end Manhattan strip joint catering to every male fantasy you’ve ever heard of and then some…for a price. When I took the job, I expected to dance for men. To entertain them. To please them—at least, enough to get the tips I’m desperate to earn. But I never expected to dance for him. Nick Santoro is gorgeous, persuasive, and used to getting whatever he wants, which—for the moment—is me. It’s just a dance. A one-time thing. Until he touches me, and the spark between us ignites into something I’m afraid to feel—yet can’t resist. I shouldn’t want him. Hell, I shouldn’t even like him. And I don’t belong in his glittering billionaire world. Not to mention his complicated history—a past rife with enemies who could destroy us both. Is Nick the man of my dreams—or the biggest mistake of my life? From #1 international bestselling author Erika Rhys, The Gentlemen’s Club is a steamy billionaire romance series that concludes with a Happily Ever After in Vol. 3. If you like sizzling romance, razor-sharp wit, and twists you won’t see coming, you’ll love this sexy page-turner!
On its first publication in 1979, Lejeune's The Gentlemen's Clubs of London rapidly established itself as a widely sought-after and quoted work around the world among those intrigued by and participating in the rarefied world of the famous clubs of London society. This is a new, thoroughly updated edition. This book lays forth the histories of the clubs, why and how each came into being, who belongs and belonged to which, how members are chosen, and how the clubs have changed down the generations - if indeed they have. This work tells of the ambiance and grace of the clubs, their privacies and eccentricities, and of the yarns, disputes and scandals to which they have given rise. Here are new and archival photographs of the clubs' interiors, ranging from the elegant to the snug, premises which are sometimes secret and quirky and sometimes grand, each unique and fitting the character and contributing to the needs and lives of its members.
On passing through a certain curtain and a certain door, pleasure, pain and titillation could be enjoyed in the company of ladies who returned the virile salute of desire with the same enthusiasm in which it was given. They wielded power over men, whether in domination or submission, and embraced the exquisite surrender of being watched by many eyes. Lord MacCaulay becomes obsessed with the mysterious Mademoiselle Noire, despite suffering the ultimate humiliation at her hands. His pursuit of her brings about a descent from which there may be no escape. The novella unfolds through a series of fantasy tableaux scenes (explicitly sexual) with an underlying theme of obsessive love.
Based on her experiences as a stripper in a city she calls Laurelton—a southeastern city renowned for its strip clubs—anthropologist Katherine Frank provides a fascinating insider’s account of the personal and cultural fantasies motivating male heterosexual strip club "regulars." Given that all of the clubs where she worked prohibited physical contact between the exotic dancers and their customers, in G-Strings and Sympathy Frank asks what—if not sex or even touching—the repeat customers were purchasing from the clubs and from the dancers. She finds that the clubs provide an intermediate space—not work, not home—where men can enjoyably experience their bodies and selves through conversation, fantasy, and ritualized voyeurism. At the same time, she shows how the dynamics of male pleasure and privilege in strip clubs are intertwined with ideas about what it means to be a man in contemporary America. Frank’s ethnography draws on her work as an exotic dancer in five clubs, as well as on her interviews with over thirty regular customers—middle-class men in their late-twenties to mid-fifties. Reflecting on the customers’ dual desires for intimacy and visibility, she explores their paradoxical longings for "authentic" interactions with the dancers, the ways these aspirations are expressed within the highly controlled and regulated strip clubs, and how they relate to beliefs and fantasies about social class and gender. She considers how regular visits to strip clubs are not necessarily antithetical to marriage or long-term heterosexual relationships, but are based on particular beliefs about marriage and monogamy that make these clubs desirable venues. Looking at the relative "classiness" of the clubs where she worked—ranging from the city’s most prestigious clubs to some of its dive bars—she reveals how the clubs are differentiated by reputations, dress codes, cover charges, locations, and clientele, and describes how these distinctions become meaningful and erotic for the customers. Interspersed throughout the book are three fictional interludes that provide an intimate look at Frank’s experiences as a stripper—from the outfits to the gestures, conversations, management, coworkers, and, of course, the customers. Focusing on the experiences of the male clients, rather than those of the female sex workers, G-Strings and Sympathy provides a nuanced, lively, and tantalizing account of the stigmatized world of strip clubs.
Adrian has had a hard time since the birth of her son and is at her wits end, until a long-time acquaintance of hers, Hildegard, offers her a place to say at her apartment. But that doesn't mean things are easy now, only that they get easier, one day at a time. Q: Why do none of the characters wear any pants? A: Because I am the author and want to make it fun for me. This book contains the first three issues of A&H Club!
A fun and sizzling paranormal romance featuring a succubus, a vampire, and a fallen angel. Jackie Brighton woke up in a dumpster this morning, and her day has only gotten weirder. Her sex drive is insatiable, and apparently she had her first one night stand ever...with a fallen angel. All she remembers is gorgeous Noah’s oddly hypnotic blue eyes...and then a dark stranger whose bite transformed her into an immortal siren with a sexy itch. With help from Noah, Jackie begins to adapt to her new lifestyle until she accidentally sends Noah into the deadly clutches of the vampire queen and lands herself in a fierce battle for an ancient halo with the queen’s wickedly hot right-hand man. Who just happens to be the vampire who originally bit her. How’s a girl supposed to save the world when the enemy’s so hard to resist?
Payne: In search of: room to rent. Must ignore the patheticness of a forty-year-old roommate. Preferably dirt cheap as funds are tight (nonexistent). There's nothing sadder than moving back to my hometown newly divorced, homeless, and lost for what my next move is. When my little brother's best friend offers me a place to stay in exchange for menial duties, I swallow my pride and jump at the offer. I need this. I also need Beau to wear a shirt. And ditch the gray sweatpants. And not leave his door ajar when he's in compromising positions ... Beau: In search of: roommate. Must be non smoker and non douchebag. Room payment to be made in meal planning, repairs, and dumb jokes. Since my career took off, I barely have time to breathe, let alone keep my life in order. I'm naturally chaotic, make terrible decisions, and scare off potential dates with my "weirdness". So when Payne gets back into town and needs somewhere to stay, I offer him my spare room with one condition: while he's staying with me, I need him to help me become date-able. And while he does that, I can focus on my other plan: ignoring that Payne is the only man I've ever wanted to date.
The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers Soon to be a Showtime/Paramount+ series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov From the number one New York Times-bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and Rules of Civility, a beautifully transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel 'A wonderful book' - Tana French 'This novel is astonishing, uplifting and wise. Don't miss it' - Chris Cleave 'No historical novel this year was more witty, insightful or original' - Sunday Times, Books of the Year '[A] supremely uplifting novel ... It's elegant, witty and delightful - much like the Count himself.' - Mail on Sunday, Books of the Year 'Charming ... shows that not all books about Russian aristocrats have to be full of doom and nihilism' - The Times, Books of the Year On 21 June 1922, Count Alexander Rostov - recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt - is escorted out of the Kremlin, across Red Square and through the elegant revolving doors of the Hotel Metropol. Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count has been sentenced to house arrest indefinitely. But instead of his usual suite, he must now live in an attic room while Russia undergoes decades of tumultuous upheaval. Can a life without luxury be the richest of all? A BOOK OF THE DECADE, 2010-2020 (INDEPENDENT) THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 A MAIL ON SUNDAY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 A DAILY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 AN IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2017 ONE OF BILL GATES'S SUMMER READS OF 2019 NOMINATED FOR THE 2018 INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS WEEK AWARD
