Jude knows he isn’t relationship material. The entire population of Mars made it abundantly clear he’s damaged goods, and he agrees. His issues are why he works a remote job flying around the galaxy prospecting for metals, and why he ruthlessly quashes any feelings for Cal, his surveying partner. Cal has been looking for an opening to suggest he and Jude could be more than friendly coworkers. When they crash on a tundra planet, the men have a lot of free time, and they put it to good use having sex. It’s fun, but Cal wants Jude as a boyfriend, not a friend with benefits. Marooned on a hostile world, with Jude’s demons rearing their heads, Cal’s first task is to keep the two of them alive. His second is to convince Jude that, no matter how much he’s suffered, romance can still be in the cards.
The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince. You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring. The first lesson is to make yourself strong. After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished. When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.
When seventeen-year-old Jude sees his coach's handwritten note on the bulletin board offering two free tickets to the Rose Bowl, he thinks his small-town life as a preacher's kid is suddenly about to change for the better. Rather than being buried in the bleak Minnesota winter, he and a friend could be on their way to sunny California. But as Jude and his friend Stick set out to hitchhike Route 66, they soon realize they've embarked on more than a road trip. As the teens encounter a series of trials that test their fortitude and challenge their beliefs, they are forced to evaluate what really matters and whether freedom is possible. A story of friendship and discovery written in the vein of The Catcher in the Rye, David Beck's novel addresses the larger questions of life through the fresh and fervent eyes of youthful angst.
It certainly was hard. What was the freedom of a country in which the voice of the original founders was spent in vain? Had not they, the "Forty" miners of Bottle Flat, really started the place? Hadn't they located claims there? Hadn't they contributed three ounces each, ostensibly to set up in business a brother miner who unfortunately lost an arm, but really that a saloon might be opened, and the genuineness and stability of the camp be assured? Hadn't they promptly killed or scared away every Chinaman who had ever trailed his celestial pig-tail into the Flat? Hadn't they cut and beaten a trail to Placerville, so that miners could take a run to that city when the Flat became too quiet? Hadn't they framed the squarest betting code in the whole diggings? And when a 'Frisco man basely attempted to break up the camp by starting a gorgeous saloon a few miles up the creek, hadn't they gone up in a body and cleared him out, giving him only ten minutes in which to leave the creek for ever? All this they had done, actuated only by a stern sense of duty, and in the patient anticipation of the reward which traditionally crowns virtuous action. But now—oh, ingratitude of republics!—a schoolteacher was to be forced upon Bottle Flat in spite of all the protest which they, the oldest inhabitants, had made! Such had been their plaint for days, but the sad excitement had not been productive of any fights, for the few married men in the camp prudently absented themselves at night from "The Nugget" saloon, where the matter was fiercely discussed every evening. There was, therefore, such an utter absence of diversity of opinion, that the most quarrelsome searched in vain for provocation. On the afternoon of the day on which the opening events of this story occurred, the boys, by agreement, stopped work two hours earlier than usual, for the stage usually reached Bottle Flat about two hours before sundown, and the one of that day was to bring the hated teacher. The boys had wellnigh given up the idea of further resistance, yet curiosity has a small place even in manly bosoms, and they could at least look hatred at the detested pedagogue. So about four o'clock they gathered at The Nugget so suddenly, that several fathers; who were calmly drinking inside, had barely time to escape through the back windows.
of Laura’s Quest Almost a decade after Christina Andrews’s death, her daughter, Laura, still grieved. She sensed that something was missing in her life, in spite of her successful law practice, a wonderful husband, and two precious daughters. Then came an unexpected call from her mother’s uncle, an invitation to visit him in New Jersey. Would a trip to her ancestral home be an opportunity to discover the answers she was seeking? Against the backdrop of South Jersey’s villages, farms, and pine barrens, this is the story of a quest that would unlock the doors to family secrets and change Laura’s life.
“A triumph of the human spirit! This book will make you laugh and cry as you cheer Taylor on in her fight against childhood cancer” (Jeff Gordon, retired NASCAR champion and founder of Jeff Gordon’s Children Foundation). In Paint Your Hair Blue, Sue Matthews tells the heartwarming tale of heroic courage and devastating blows that characterized her daughter Taylor’s odyssey through the underfunded world of pediatric cancer. Most of us will be touched by cancer in some way during our lifetimes. Discover how Taylor and her family learned to balance the necessity of her continuous medical treatments with the need for her to be a kid and live as normally as possible. Matthews gives dozens of tips and pointers, gleaned by trial and error, about navigating the maze of pediatric oncology through the lens of a layperson and better understand how to face fears with strength, fortitude, and confidence while living life to the fullest. Matthews and her sister, Andrea, will make you a better warrior in the war on cancer with this story of survival, where love transcends all and where every moment is a celebration of life. “Paint Your Hair Blue is a love story where heartbreak, joy, and tears will capture your heart and make you believe that love can conquer all.” —Cher “Beautifully written . . . Paint Your Hair Blue will make you hug your children tighter and fight harder to find a cure for pediatric cancer.” —Angie Harmon, mother, actress, director, UNICEF ambassador “A heartwarming memoir . . . [An] incredible story of love and perseverance—a poignant reminder to both live life and love others to our greatest capacity.” —Hannah Storm, ESPN award–winning journalist
