Showing results by narrator "Abby Craden" in All Categories

The United States is obsessed with virginity from the media to schools to government agencies. In The Purity Myth Jessica Valenti argues that the country’s intense focus on chastity is damaging to young women. Through in-depth cultural and social analysis, Valenti reveals that powerful messaging on both extremes ranging from abstinence curriculum to Girls Gone Wild infomercials place a young woman’s worth entirely on her sexuality. Morals are therefore linked purely to sexual behavior, rather than values like honesty, kindness, and altruism.

Evangeline is not a very nice witch, and she's not afraid to show it. Her ruthless nature comes in handy as a problem solver until she lands a job where she's forced to work with an uncouth shifter. He's rude, cocky, totally unsuitable, not to mention part animal, but despite it all, she can't help craving his touch. Ryker is big, bad, and brash. When he's partnered with a curvy witch, he does everything in his power to fight her allure. And fails. But he's not too disappointed as he discovers wickedness has its uses, especially in the bedroom.

Much to their mutual annoyance, FBI agent Jacob Wolff and Miami detective Jasmine Adair discover they’re both undercover to bust a notorious organized crime group. But amid a glamorous South Beach nightclub opening, their key informant is found dead, leaving Jacob and Jasmine the dangerous job of infiltrating the ring. With desire igniting between them, can the two set aside their distrust and work together to bring down the brutal mobsters?

A misunderstanding. A man wronged. A heart broken. Can they ever find their way back to each other when their enemies are determined to keep them apart? Until now, Holly Thorne has resisted all romantic overtures from her self-appointed bodyguard, Quentin Buchanan. Believing he's betrayed her, she feigns animosity to protect her vulnerable heart. Unfortunately, now it's her turn to retrieve the final piece of the puzzle to revive her mother, and she needs Quentin's help to do it. From the first moment he set eyes on Holly, Quentin was lovestruck, and she's held his heart ever since.

After searching 20 years for the magical means to revive the love of his life from stasis, Alastair resorts to forbidden magic. But the hard-edged stranger he's brought back bears no resemblance to the woman he once knew. The price was the loss of her soul. Rorie wakes to find the world has moved on in the years she's been asleep. Nothing is familiar, and the man she once called lover seems cold and withdrawn. With a good portion of her former self missing, she finds the connection to her soul mate severed. He'll stop at nothing to win her love.

In a steam-filled diner in a college town, Flannery Jansen catches sight of something more beautiful than she's ever seen: a graduate student, reading. The 17-year-old, new to everything around her - college, the East Coast, bodies of literature, and the sexual flurries of student life - is shocked by her desire to follow this wherever it will take her.

Rise, and be not afraid. Widespread and many-tentacled is the evil that threatens Faern. Before its heart can be found, all of the Seven Sisters will play a part, and all too much blood will be spilled...drow blood. Seven linked novellas tell seven stories of seven sisters by the creator of the Forgotten Realms world!

Wasp's job is simple. Hunt ghosts. And every year she has to fight to remain Archivist. Desperate and alone, she strikes a bargain with the ghost of a supersoldier. She will go with him on his underworld hunt for the long-lost ghost of his partner, and in exchange she will find out more about his pre-apocalyptic world than any Archivist before her. And there is much to know. After all, Archivists are marked from birth to do the holy work of a goddess. They're chosen. They're special. Or so they've been told for 400 years.

Tasked with a mission to seduce another for information, Ryker broke trust with his new wife. He's paid the price every day since. Just as GiGi is ready to move on with her life, her husband decides to give up his commission with the Witches' Council in an effort to salvage what's left of their relationship.

Mackenzie Thorne appears to have it all: beauty, fame, fortune, and a magical family that always has her back. As one of the powerful Thornes, she's revered in the witch community. So what's missing? Love. For that one thing eluding her, she would gladly trade all she has. Loneliness has plagued Sebastian Drake for decades, but everything changes when the incomparable Mackenzie enters into his orbit. No one is more surprised or thrilled than he is when she agrees to spend the weekend with his family at their country estate.

As a procurer of magical artifacts, Nash Thorne has his sights set on an exquisite ruby necklace believed to have been cursed by a goddess. This particular piece of jewelry is rumored to bring disaster to its wearer and turn one's heart to evil. Nash's assistant, Ryanne Caldwell, has certainly witnessed some shady business dealings. But when her boss confesses he's from a powerful magical family and needs her help to pull off a jewel heist, she flatly refuses - until she discovers her sister is smack in the middle of two feuding factions.

Family patriarch Preston Thorne is forced to return to the earthly plane when the Otherworld is invaded by evil magic. And he's not happy about it. He's finally met the woman of his dreams and was certain he was only one roguish smile away from luring Selene Barringer into his arms - or better yet, his bed.

Set Up in the City: Deputy Willie Colt feels at home in the wide-open spaces of Montana. Attorney Eleanor Shaffer has a corner office with a spectacular view of Seattle. He was brutally attacked while trying to extradite her client. And though Willie and Eleanor have every reason to distrust each other, they’ll have to work together if they’re going to mete out justice. Move over big-city tactics—and meet good old cowboy grit.

Born of the Sea follows Anne as she cross-dresses, drinks, and fights her way through the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy. But Anne's life is changed forever when she meets Mary Read, plotting a new course on a voyage of self-discovery.

Returning to Madison hurts. I thought I'd left my past behind, but the past goes on living. I carry it inside of me, it's a piece of me. People have marked me in indelible ways, and I drag the shreds of my soul behind me, trying to put my pieces back together. I'm not the Amber I used to be. I fly under the radar, try to be invisible. It doesn't always work. Drawing attention scares me. It always spells trouble. Returning to my hometown is a last-ditch effort to lay my demons to rest and start anew, for good this time.

Ricci Velez is a fiercely independent woman that worked her way up from the poverty line to become a respected engineer and property developer. Mistaken as the little wifey by Tara Reeves, the new tenant at her Manhattan apartment building, Ricci wants to evict her before she even signs the lease. A slighted ex-tenant, a vandalized apartment, and an interfering best friend means that she’s forced to offer Tara a room in her own apartment. Can she survive having the secretive hard-nosed executive judging her in her own home?

Ex-SEAL and LOST founder Gabe Spencer is accustomed to the unusual in his job. But when knockout Eve Gray steps into his office, he's rattled. For the mysterious woman is a dead ringer for the heiress thought to be the latest prey of the serial killer who goes by the name Lady Killer. When Eve awoke in an Atlanta hospital, her past was a blank slate. Then she recognized her own face in the newspaper and vowed to learn the truth.

Liz Thorne has suppressed her impulsive nature for the last four years because her one reckless weekend ended in heartache. Now, the dangerous, sexy man who tempts her inner bad girl is back, and he's trying his damnedest to bring the wild child out to play. Since the day Rafe Xuereb was recalled for his Witches' Council duties, he's lived with regret. Despite his magical skills, he's been unable to find the one woman who turned his world on its head. Through a twist of fate, Liz lands on his doorstep with his termination papers, and Rafe can't be more delighted.

For years, Libby Morgan dreamed only of making partner in her competitive, high-pressure law firm. She sacrificed everything for her career - her friends, her marriage, her chance at creating a family. When her boss calls Libby into his office, she assumes it will finally be good news, but nothing can prepare her for the shocking reality: she's been let go and must rebuild her entire life… starting now. With no job prospects in sight, Libby reaches out to old friends and spends her afternoons at A Good Yarn, the local knitting store.

Los Angeles Police Detective Margaret Nolan and her partner have worked a lot of different cases, ones where things aren’t always as they appear. And it’s Nolan’s job to find the truth in the darkness around her. When they’re called to the scene of what looks like a fatal car-jacking, Nolan soon realizes her victim was a founder of a company about to sell for millions, and within a day of his death, his partner’s wife is abducted. As Nolan learns more about the victim and his life, she gets pulled into a disturbing world of sex, violence, and big business.