Coming Up...Week 46 of 2013

Book to be reviewed:

The Sweetest Thing by Cathy Woodman

If only everything in life was as simple as baking a cake...Jennie Copeland thought she knew the recipe for a happy life: marriage to her university sweetheart, a nice house in the suburbs and three beautiful children. But when her husband leaves her, she is forced to find a different recipe. And she thinks she's found just what she needs: a ramshackle house on the outskirts of the beautiful Talyton St George, a new cake-baking business, a dog, a horse, chickens...But life in the country is not quite as idyllic as she'd hoped, and Jennie can't help wondering whether neighbouring farmer Guy Barnes was right when he told her she wouldn't last the year. Or perhaps the problem is that she's missing one vital ingredient to make her new life a success. Could Guy be the person to provide it?



The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein


A lush, exquisitely rendered meditation on war, The Gods of Heavenly Punishment tells the story of several families, American and Japanese, their loves and infidelities, their dreams and losses, and how they are all connected by one of the most devastating acts of war in human history.

In this evocative and thrilling epic novel, fifteen-year-old Yoshi Kobayashi, child of Japan’s New Empire, daughter of an ardent expansionist and a mother with a haunting past, is on her way home on a March night when American bombers shower her city with napalm—an attack that leaves one hundred thousand dead within hours and half the city in ashen ruins. In the days that follow, Yoshi’s old life will blur beyond recognition, leading her to a new world marked by destruction and shaped by those considered the enemy: Cam, a downed bomber pilot taken prisoner by the Imperial Japanese Army; Anton, a gifted architect who helped modernize Tokyo’s prewar skyline but is now charged with destroying it; and Billy, an Occupation soldier who arrives in the blackened city with a dark secret of his own. Directly or indirectly, each will shape Yoshi’s journey as she seeks safety, love, and redemption.

Short Leash: A Memoir of Dog Walking and Deliverance by Janice Gary

Janice Gary never walked alone without a dog by her side-a big dog. Once she was a risk-taker, a girl who ran off to California with big dreams and hopes of leaving her past behind. But after a brutal attack on the streets of Berkeley, her youthful bravado vanished, replaced by a crippling need for safety. When she rescues a gangly Lab-Rottweiler pup she names Barney, Janice is sure she's found her biggest protector yet. But after Barney is attacked by a vicious dog, he becomes dog-aggressive, making walking him almost impossible. After years of being exiled by her terror and Barney's defensiveness, Janice risks taking him to a park bordering the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. There she faces her greatest fears, including loose dogs, strange men and dangers real and imagined. As the leash of the past unravels, Barney sheds the defensive behaviors that once shackled him and Janice steps out of the self-imposed isolation that held her captive for three decades. Beautifully written, Short Leash is more than a dog story or a book about recovering from trauma. It's a moving tale of love and loss, the journey of a broken soul finding its way toward wholeness.

Wifey by Fey Ugokwe


When life as a curiously paired, young married couple in California--in the midst of a growing state and national economic crisis--becomes literally unworkable, Rodney, an earnestly toiling, playboy of a husband, unilaterally determines that he and P.V., his ambitious but naive, exotic wife, should relocate to Texas. So P.V., a struggling sophomore realtor and avid foodie, and Rodney, a newly unemployed marketer and sports addict, sell virtually everything they own and embark upon a downsized existence in the heart of North Texas--Dallas. But an eerie and horrifying morning dream that P.V. previously experienced becomes a dark and ever-unfurling, pain-filled prophesy that ultimately threatens the very foundations of their humanity. Sex, depravity, despair, and an uneven pavement of good intentions lead to a black, one-way road with a shocking and hair-raising end.



What I'm Reading right now:

After Rain- Karen Anne Stewart (e-book)

“A story intricately crafted with amazing characters and scenes that will leave a lasting image on readers. Raina is the perfect heroine, sweet and caring, but strong at the same time. The risks she is willing to take to save and protect others left me in awe. A great series with romance
and suspense.” Christine Janes – SheReadsAlot.com

Finally able to put her harrowing past to rest, Raina looks forward to her future with Kas, but the Ghost has other plans. As the FBI team gets closer to taking down the largest human trafficking ring in the modern world, the Ghost begins a wicked game, making Raina the pawn and the target. Never before encountering a worthy adversary, he’s fascinated by Raina and is enjoying the refreshing challenge of her intellect.
The danger ignites to a blazing new level, and Kas struggles between the need to finally exorcise the Ghost and his need to protect his wife. Tension mounts as an internal battle wages, tormenting Kas as he watches Raina put her all into taking down the man responsible for horrific sex slavery and gruesome deaths. When a new player takes control, Jefferson orders the end of the Ghost’s game with Raina, which results in one final, devastating act, leaving Kas desperate and willing to do whatever it takes to save her…by whatever means necessary.

I'm beyond thrilled to announce that After the Rain will be live by the end of October. A huge THANK YOU to everyone I have had the amazing chance to connect with along this journey so far!

Chapters: 4 out of 24 plus epilogue

Pages: 42 out of 234

Of Marriageable Age by Sharon Maas


A spellbinding story of forbidden love, spanning three continents and three decades. Set against the Independence struggles of two British colonies, OMA is ultimately a story of personal triumph against a brutal fate, brought to life by a multicultural cast of characters.

Savitri, intuitive and charismatic, is brought up among the servants of a pre-war English household in India. But the traditional customs of her Brahmin family clash against English upper-class prejudice, threatening her love for the privileged son of the house.

Nataraj, raised as the son of an idealistic doctor in rural South India, finds life in London heady, with girls and grass easily available… until he is summoned back to face raw reality.

Saroj, her fire hidden by outward reserve as an ember glows beneath ashes, grows up in Guyana, South America. When her too-strict, orthodox Hindu father proves to have feet of clay she finally rebels against him... and even against her gentle, apparently docile Ma.

But Ma harbours a deep secret… one that binds these three so disparate lives and hurtles them towards a truth that could destroy everything.

Chapters: 18 out of 75 plus epilogue

Pages: 158 out of 530

Till Morning Comes by Suyin Han

Alone in exotic Chungking, beautiful foreign correspondent Stephanie Ryder is warned to keep silent about the atrocities she witnesses in the city’s teeming slums. Defying a brutal Kuomintang officer, she is swept to an electrifying first meeting with Dr. Jen Yong, a handsome, dedicated and compassionate Chinese surgeon. For Yong, a sexual liaison with an American woman could mean a death sentence. For Stephanie, an affair with an Asian man would cause an irreparable breach with her Texas millionaire father. But just when danger threatens to separate them forever, their passion bursts into flame…and carries them on a fabulous romantic journey from the stormy depths of fear and desire, to the moving affirmation that enduring love is truly a many-splendored thing.

Chapters: 14 out of 27

Pages: 290 out of 620

Chasing Hepburn: A Memoir of Shanghai, Hollywood, and a Chinese Family's Fight for Freedom by Gus Lee


“Lee . . . has created a gripping and beautiful portrait of his family. . . . Chasing Hepburn is nonfiction, but it reads just as richly as any novel.”—Boston Globe

“Gus Lee brings to his first work of nonfiction the consummate storytelling skills that have always delighted us in his critically acclaimed novels. I promise you that you will be captivated by this epic story of two families who epitomize all that is rich and varied in Chinese culture.”
—Ron Bass, screenwriter of The Joy Luck Club and Rain Man

Gus Lee takes us straight into the heart of twentieth-century Chinese society, offering a clear-eyed yet compassionate view of the forces that repeatedly tore apart and reconfigured the lives of his parents and their contemporaries. He moves deftly from recounting intimate household conversations to discussing major historical events, and the resulting story is by turns comic, harrowing, tragic, and heroic.

Chasing Hepburn is a saga that spans four generations, two continents, and half of Chinese history. In the masterful hands of acclaimed author Gus Lee, his ancestors’ stories spring vividly to life in a memoir with all the richness of great fiction.

Chapters:4 out of 72 plus preface

Pages: 29 out of 532

Ida's Story by Steven A. Segal 

As he pulled up and shut down the engine, he took a deep breath to calm himself, and in that instant, the flash of anger he had felt the night he was torn from his mother returned. He shook it from his mind, slid out of the seat, and went up the stairs to the front door. Ida opened the door and threw her arms around his neck with exactly the same loving abandonment he had seen her often leap into his father's arms so many years ago. She hung onto her boy, hung on tight with her face buried in his shoulder and sobbed. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist, fighting hard for control. He couldn't help himself. Her tears and unrestrained love swept away his resistance. He stood up straight, lifting her off her feet. They stood there, mother and grown son, in the open doorway, holding each other in an endless embrace as their tears rained down. Ida's life reveals the story of an incredibly resilient human being born in a Boston ghetto in the late 1870s who fights to survive, educate herself, and protect her family in the midst of the rampant political and social corruption of the early 1900s, the wide-open crime of mob violence of the Prohibition era, the economic destruction of the Great Depression, and the devastating tragedy brought on by the rise of Nazi Germany as it engulfs the world in the chaotic senselessness of World War II.

Chapters: 15 out of 42

Pages: 136 out of 466

The Tale of Genji-Murasaki Shikibu, Edward G. Seidensticker


The Tale of Genji was written in the eleventh century by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady of the Heian court. It is universally recognized as the greatest masterpiece of Japanese prose narrative, perhaps the earliest true novel in the history of the world. Until now there has been no translation that is both complete and scrupulously faithful to the original text. Edward G. Seidensticker's masterly rendering was first published in two volumes in 1976 and immediately hailed as a classic of the translator's art. It is here presented in one unabridged volume, illustrated throughout by woodcuts taken from a 1650 Japanese edition of The Tale of Genji.

Chapters: 7 out of 54

Pages: 132 out of 1090

Future Books I will read:

The Obsession by T.V. LoCicero (e-book)

At a conference in Italy’s lake district, American graduate student Stanford Lyle is enchanted with Lina Lentini, a lovely Italian professor of comparative lit. And when she lectures for a term at his mid-Michigan university, she considers a fling with Stan—until she meets John Martens, a professor, author and Stan’s mentor. In her passionate affair with John, Lina becomes Stan’s obsession, a hated nemesis for John’s troubled wife, and the object of a vicious series of attacks aimed at destroying her reputation.

Lina loves the line from Keats, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” even as her life fills with duplicity. John is pledged to do the right thing with his wife but often does not. And Stan surprises himself with the depth of his own perversity.

Forced back to her home in Bologna, Lina begins to reset her life. Then Stan appears on her doorstep. When John joins them, Stan schemes, threatens and stalks the lovers, first under the city’s ancient porticoes and finally to the legendary Sicilian mountain town of Taormina with a shocking confrontation on the slopes of volcanic Mt. Etna.

Chapters: 49

Pages: 385

The Disappearance by T.V. LoCicero (e-book)


On leave from the University of Bologna, lovely Italian scholar Lina Lentini is staying with a friend in Geneva and soon finds herself caught up in the shadowy world of Swiss banking, sorting through mysteries that will link to cold-blooded betrayal, corruption and murder.

At the villa of her octogenarian pal Cecile Eaton, an American philanthropist, Lina befriends Clara Marche, who works on Cecile’s account at the Banque Privee Morneau. Both Cecile and Lina are fascinated by Clara’s unlikely transatlantic romance with Marc White, her African-American lover—neither speaks the other’s language.

The revelation of devious schemes begins one night when Clara discovers her manager at the bank has been looting Cecile’s charitable contributions. When Clara is further shaken by what she learns from the bank’s security chief, she flees to Italy, only to find herself accused of fraud by the bank and hunted by police.

Back in Geneva Lina and Clara’s lover Marc embark on a desperate search for Clara. When a mysterious email claims she is being held in the Bahamas, they fly to the quiet island of Eleuthera. There they are shocked to find false-named lovers living a secret life and meet a man with a plan to rescue Clara. What happens next will stun everyone and change their lives forever.

Chapters: 45

Pages: 315

The Distancers- Lee Sandlin 

A sweeping, lush, and quintessentially American tale that is heartbreaking, hopeful, and cut from the very fabric of the heartland.A VINTAGE ORIGINAL.

In The Distancers, seven generations worth of joy and heartache is artfully forged into a family portrait that is at once universally American yet singularly Lee Sandlin's own. From the nineteenth century German immigrants who settled on a small Midwestern farm, to the proud and upright aunts and uncles with whom Sandlin spent the summers of his youth, a whole history of quiet ambition and stoic pride-of successes, failures, and above all endurance-leaps off the page in a sweeping American family epic. Touching on The Great Depression, WWII, the American immigrant experience, the uses of proper manners, how to ride the rails in the dust bowl years, and home brewing during prohibition, The Distancers is a beautiful and stark Midwestern drama, about a time and place long since vanished, where the author learned the value of family and the art of keeping one's distance.

Chapters: 11 plus prologue and afterword

Pages: 191

Seeing Through the Eyes of My papa's heart- Lamarr Wenrich


He slipped away...creating his own reality, a peaceful existence within a tortured mind...This lost soul without roots would spend his life seeking, craving, searching for love, acceptance and an identity...forever shaped by the cruelty of life...No one who crosses this gentle man's path would imagine that he endured such a cold, cruel and demeaning upbringing--void of love, affection or any notion of self-worth. Until the mention of his father's name...it brings him to his knees and tears flow down his cheeks unabashedly. How did he control his demons of anger, hate and vengeance that surely fumed at the surface? Was it fear that kept his emotions from spilling over, or had he always known, innately, there was more to be discovered than the cruelty he knew...a warmth and love he yearned for...

Chapters: 24

Pages: N/A

Tainted Angel- Anne Cleeland 

A deadly game of deception
A notorious beauty with a shadowy past

In the time of Napoleon, Vidia Swanson appears to live a gilded life of ease and luxury. Beneath this façade, however, she works for the Home Office as an ‘angel,’ coaxing secrets from powerful men who may or may not be traitors to the Crown. In the course of her latest assignment, matters take an alarming turn when she realizes that her spymaster suspects that she is the one who is tainted--a double agent working for the enemy.

Lucien Carstairs is a fellow agent with his own dark secrets--unless he is setting an elaborate trap to reveal her own supposed treason. Backed into a corner, she can only hope to stay one step ahead of the hangman in a race to stop the next war before it destroys them--and destroys England.

Tainted Angel offers up a compelling game of cat and mouse in which no one can be trusted--and anyone can be tainted.

Chapters: 47

Pages: 350

The Curtain - A Novel by Patrick Ord


Have you met Henry Maddox? He knows you — not personally of course… he really only knows your data. But from that data he actually may know you better than you think you know yourself. Henry knows where you’ve been and what you’ve bought. He knows all of your friends. Henry not only knows your behaviors, he understands your tendencies. And from those tendencies, he can predict what you’re going to do before you’ve actually done it.

Who is Henry Maddox? He is a 21st century marketing consultant and he specializes in highly personal and irresistibly persuasive advertising.

Henry’s strategies combine modern data mining (Big Data) techniques with other advanced and controversial marketing practices (Market Fragmentation, Cross Promotion, and Conglomerate Propagandizing) to the point where consumers don’t even know their being sold. Businesses love Henry because he not only moves product, he actually controls their customers.

But when Henry is forced to face how his techniques affect real people, he realizes he has inadvertently given corporations the power to destroy society for their own ends.

THE CURTAIN explores the effect that increasingly sophisticated marketing techniques have on communities, families, and individuals. In an age of digital distractions, who remembers the transcendent morality that has allowed past civilizations to prosper? When corporations have the influence and motive to define people by what they consume, are we as individuals losing the substance of who we really are?

Chapters: 36 plus prologue and epilogue

Pages: 309

The Carrion Birds- Urban Waite

Set in a small town in the Southwest, a soulful work of literary noir rife with violence, vengeance, and contrition from a fresh voice in fiction-the author of the highly acclaimed The Terror of Living

Life hasn't worked out the way Ray Lamar planned. A widower and father who has made some tragic mistakes, he's got one good thing going for him: he's calm, cool, and efficient under pressure, usually with a gun in his hand. A useful skill to have when you're paid to hurt people who stand in your boss's way.

But Ray isn't sure he wants to be that man anymore. He wants to go home to Coronado, New Mexico, to see the twelve-year-old son he hopes will recognize him. He wants to make a new life far from the violence of the last ten years. One last job will take him there. All he has to do is steal a rival's stash. Simple, easy, clean.

Ray knows there's no such thing as easy, and sure enough, the first day ends in a catastrophic mess. Now, the runners who have always moved quietly through this idyllic desert town on the Mexican border want answers. And revenge. Short on time, with no one to trust but himself, Ray must come up with a clever plan or Coronado's newly appointed lady sheriff will have a vicious bloodbath on her hands.

Relentlessly paced and beautifully orchestrated, with refreshingly real, vulnerable, and very human characters and a vivid sense of place, The Carrion Birds is an unsettling and indelible work of literary noir in the tradition of Cormac McCarthy, Elmore Leonard, and Dennis Lehane.

Chapters: 5

Pages: 270

The Secret of Emotions (Love, Lust and the Longing for God #1) by Justice Saint Rain


If following your heart has repeatedly gotten you into trouble, but to follow your head feels like a kind of soul-death, then this book will open up a whole new world of possibilities for you. It will teach your head how to understand the language of your heart, and teach your heart how to speak the language of God.
This book explains that our emotional sensations tell us about the virtues we are experiencing, and that these virtues are reflections of the qualities of God in the world. Making the connection between emotions and virtues gives us a whole new vocabulary for understanding our feelings. Since most people make their life-choices based on their feelings rather than reason, understanding the meaning of our emotions is the SECOND-most important lesson we can learn in this life.
The MOST important lesson is that virtues are our path to the Transcendent. Whether you call it God, Higher Power, Creative Spirit, or just your better self, we are all born with a longing to become more than we are right now – to demonstrate that we are, indeed, created in the image of the Divine.

Chapters: 8

Pages: 1-76 out if 267


4 Tools of Emotional Healing (Love, Lust and the Longing for God #2) by Justice Saint Rain

Though they are not quite the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the painful emotions of shame, anger, loneliness and fear have destroyed countless lives. The need to numb and distract ourselves from them leads us to engage in behaviors that only draw us deeper into shame and isolation. We do not need distractions or drugs, we need healing. This healing is not about solving our problems; it is about making us whole.
This book explains how the qualities of honesty, forgiveness, compassion and faith can ease the pain of these negative emotions by filling the empty spaces they represent. Emotions are messengers. Positive emotions tell us when we are experiencing the presence of virtues such as kindness, and justice. Negative emotions tell us which virtues are missing in our lives. By developing our own capacity to practice these four core virtues, we not only heal our painful emotions, but we become masters of our own feelings. This book builds on the understanding of emotions explained in The Secret of Emotions, book one in the Love, Lust and the Longing for God trilogy, but is a stand-alone introduction to the practice of Honesty, Forgiveness, Compassion and Faith.
If you or someone you care about is struggling with anger, shame, loneliness or fear, this book will jump-start the healing process. This series can be used by therapists and treatment centers to build a foundation for a wide range of recovery programs.
This book is the second of three in the Love, Lust and the Longing for God trilogy. Look for excerpts on our FaceBook page of the same name. Other books in the series include:
The Secret of Emotions
Longing for Love

Chapters: 11

Pages:  77-171 out of 267

Longing for Love (Love, Lust and the Longing for God #3) by Justice Saint Rain


The problem with most relationship-advice systems is that they assume that we are rational people and then give us rational advice as to how to attract another rational person.

But we aren’t rational. If we were, life would be much easier.
Longing for Love backs up to the beginning – explaining how our irrational infatuations are based on familiar patterns rather than healthy attraction. It teaches us how to retrain our hearts to love the kind of people that will nurture our souls, not just satisfy our lusts. Full of profound insights and practical advice, it is unlike any relationship guide you’ve ever read.
The problem with most relationship guides is that they assume that we are rational people and then give us rational advice as to how to attract another rational person.

This is book three in the series Love, Lust and the Longing for God. In the first book of this series, The Secret of Emotions, I explain that emotions are sensations that tell us about the attributes of God, or virtues, that we experience in our environment, and that love, in particular, is an attraction to these virtues.

An understanding of these two ideas, especially the second, is critical to any attempt to find true love and have healthy relationships.

The goal of this third book is to expand our ability to recognize and become attracted to virtues so that we fall in love with people who are ready to have healthy, nurturing relationships. We will take a look at what these ideas look like when applied to finding and building healthy relationships in the real world.

How does our understanding of the relationship between emotions and virtues help us find healthy people to be friends with?

How does understanding the difference between love and lust change the way we enter into sexual relationships?

How do we tell the difference between the sensation of love and all of the other sensations that are generated by relationships?

How do we maintain healthy relationships once we commit to them?

How do we avoid temptations that can destroy the relationship we have?

These are the questions that we will be exploring in this third book. If you are unsure of the answers, then this book is a good place to start.

This series can also be used by therapists and treatment centers to build a foundation for a wide range of recovery programs.

Chapters: 11

Pages: 175-265 out of 265

Mine for Tonight ~ Simon (The Billionaire's Obsession #1)by J.S. Scott

Genre: Adult Contemporary Erotic Romance

Down on her luck, nursing student and full-time waitress Kara Foster gets a massive blow to her already desperate financial situation that will surely find her living on the streets. Needing nothing less than a miracle to save her, Kara gets rescue from an unknown, unlikely and overwhelming source. Billionaire Simon Hudson makes her an offer that is impossible to refuse, but terrifying to accept from a man that she's never met. Will the handsome, alpha billionaire really be a solution to her problems, or will he end up being a major complication and a danger to her emotional sanity?

Reclusive billionaire Simon Hudson would rather be behind a computer creating computer games than rubbing elbows with the elite and he knows exactly what he wants...until he meets Kara Foster. Something about Kara touches Simon in ways he's never experienced and definitely doesn't like. For over a year, Simon watches over Kara, but stubbornly refuses to admit his desire to possess her, not even to himself. But when she ends up in a situation that could very well be her destruction, Simon steps up to help her, not realizing that in saving Kara, he might very well be salvaging his own soul.

"Mine For Tonight" is book one of "The Billionaire's Obsession" trilogy. Books in this trilogy do not stand alone and need to be read in order. They include:

Mine For Tonight - Book 1 "The Billionaire's Obsession"
Mine For Now - Book 2 "The Billionaire's Obsession"
Mine Forever - Book 3 "The Billionaire's Obsession"

This is an erotic romance and is not intended for YA readers. It contains graphic language, explicit sex (including bondage) and other subjects not appropriate for YA readers.

Chapters: 7

Pages: 1-61 out of 279

Mine for Now ~ Simon (The Billionaire's Obsession #2)by J.S. Scott 


Mine For Now is Book 2 of The Billionaire's Obsession trilogy and is not a stand alone book. Mine For Tonight, Book 1, should be read before this title.

Genre: Adult Contemporary Erotic Romance

Down on her luck, nursing student and full-time waitress Kara Foster gets a massive blow to her already desperate financial situation that will surely find her living on the streets. Needing nothing less than a miracle to save her, Kara gets rescue from an unknown, unlikely and overwhelming source. Billionaire Simon Hudson makes her an offer that is impossible to refuse, but terrifying to accept from a man that she's never met. Will the handsome, alpha billionaire really be a solution to her problems, or will he end up being a major complication and a danger to her emotional sanity?

Reclusive billionaire Simon Hudson would rather be behind a computer creating computer games than rubbing elbows with the elite and he knows exactly what he wants...until he meets Kara Foster. Something about Kara touches Simon in ways he's never experienced and definitely doesn't like. For over a year, Simon watches over Kara, but stubbornly refuses to admit his desire to possess her, not even to himself. But when she ends up in a situation that could very well be her destruction, Simon steps up to help her, not realizing that in saving Kara, he might very well be salvaging his own soul.

"Mine For Now" is book two of "The Billionaire's Obsession" trilogy. Books in this trilogy do not stand alone and need to be read in order. They include:

Mine For Tonight - Book 1 "The Billionaire's Obsession"
Mine For Now - Book 2 "The Billionaire's Obsession"
Mine Forever - Book 3 "The Billionaire's Obsession"

This is an erotic romance and is not intended for YA readers. It contains graphic language, explicit sex (including bondage) and other subjects not appropriate for YA readers.

Chapters: 8

Pages: 63-142 out of 279

Mine Forever ~ Simon (The Billionaire's Obsession #3) by J.S. Scott

Mine Forever is Book 3 of The Billionaire's Obsession trilogy and is not a stand alone book. Mine For Tonight, Book 1 and Mine For Now, Book 2 should be read before this title.

Genre: Adult Contemporary Erotic Romance

Down on her luck, nursing student and full-time waitress Kara Foster gets a massive blow to her already desperate financial situation that will surely find her living on the streets. Needing nothing less than a miracle to save her, Kara gets rescue from an unknown, unlikely and overwhelming source. Billionaire Simon Hudson makes her an offer that is impossible to refuse, but terrifying to accept from a man that she's never met. Will the handsome, alpha billionaire really be a solution to her problems, or will he end up being a major complication and a danger to her emotional sanity?

Reclusive billionaire Simon Hudson would rather be behind a computer creating computer games than rubbing elbows with the elite and he knows exactly what he wants...until he meets Kara Foster. Something about Kara touches Simon in ways he's never experienced and definitely doesn't like. For over a year, Simon watches over Kara, but stubbornly refuses to admit his desire to possess her, not even to himself. But when she ends up in a situation that could very well be her destruction, Simon steps up to help her, not realizing that in saving Kara, he might very well be salvaging his own soul.

"Mine For Now" is book two of "The Billionaire's Obsession" trilogy. Books in this trilogy do not stand alone and need to be read in order. They include:

Mine For Tonight - Book 1 "The Billionaire's Obsession"
Mine For Now - Book 2 "The Billionaire's Obsession"
Mine Forever - Book 3 "The Billionaire's Obsession"

This is an erotic romance and is not intended for YA readers. It contains graphic language, explicit sex and other subjects not appropriate for YA readers.

Chapters: 7 plus epilogue

Pages: 145-222 out of 279

Mine Completely: The Billionaire's Obsession Valentine's Day Romance ~ Simon (The Billionaire's Obsession #4) by J.S. Scott


GENRE: Adult Contemporary Erotic Romance

Author Note: This book is a short story add-on which is part of The Billionaire's Obsession Trilogy.

If you chose to read this book without first reading The Billionaire's Obsession trilogy, you probably won't understand the references to previous events or the characters' personalities. It is recommended that you read Kara and Simon's story before reading this book.

The Billionaire's Obsession trilogy includes:

Book 1 - Mine For Tonight
Book 2 - Mine For Now
Book 3 - Mine Forever
Mine Completely - The Billionaire's Obsession Valentine's Day Romance

Watch For Sam and Maddie's story "Heart Of The Billionaire" coming soon!

KARA AND SIMON ARE BACK!

Kara and Simon have been together a year, their wedding looming in the very near future. When they face a tough challenge in their relationship on Valentine's Day, will the rift ultimately bring them closer...or tear them completely apart?

The Billionaire's Obsession trilogy synopsis:

Down on her luck, nursing student and full-time waitress Kara Foster gets a massive blow to her already desperate financial situation that will surely find her living on the streets. Needing nothing less than a miracle to save her, Kara gets rescue from an unknown, unlikely and overwhelming source. Billionaire Simon Hudson makes her an offer that is impossible to refuse, but terrifying to accept from a man that she's never met. Will the handsome, alpha billionaire really be a solution to her problems, or will he end up being a major complication and a danger to her emotional sanity?

Reclusive billionaire Simon Hudson would rather be behind a computer creating computer games than rubbing elbows with the elite and he knows exactly what he wants...until he meets Kara Foster. Something about Kara touches Simon in ways he's never experienced and definitely doesn't like. For over a year, Simon watches over Kara, but stubbornly refuses to admit his desire to possess her, not even to himself. But when she ends up in a situation that could very well be her destruction, Simon steps up to help her, not realizing that in saving Kara, he might very well be salvaging his own soul.

This is an erotic romance and not appropriate for YA readers.

Chapters: 5 plus epilogue

Pages: 227-279 out of 279

Heart of the Billionaire ~ Sam (The Billionaire's Obsession #5) by J.S. Scott 

Heart Of The Billionaire (The Billionaire’s Obsession ~ Sam)

GENRE: Adult Contemporary Erotic Romance

Author Note: This novel is the complete story of Sam and Maddie, but reading The Billionaire’s Obsession – The Complete Collection (Simon and Kara’s story) first is highly recommended to enhance your reading pleasure.

Sam and Maddie are here!

Billionaire Sam Hudson has pretty much lived his life with no apologies because he tries never to do anything that he’s sorry about…except for what he had done in the past to Dr. Madeline Reynolds. Many years and regrets later, Sam meets up with Maddie again by chance; his brother Simon is marrying Maddie’s best friend and the two of them are forced to be civil. But Sam wants to be more than polite, and he wants another chance to make things right, so he offers Maddie a bold proposition, an offer he knows she’ll have a very hard time declining even though she hates him.

Dr. Madeline Reynolds adores her best friend Kara and her fiancé Simon, but being forced into the company of Sam Hudson, because they are both in Simon and Kara’s wedding, is pure torture. She’s hated Sam for years, but when he offers her a bargain, something near and dear to her heart, she’s torn between her dislike for the man and the offer of something she’s always desperately wanted. Once, Sam Hudson nearly destroyed her, but Maddie discovers that sometimes things aren’t always what they appear to be. Is Sam really a devious heart-breaker, or is there something more to him beneath the surface?

Can two people with so many years of hurt between them learn to trust each other again?

Please note: This is an erotic romance and not appropriate for YA readers. The book contains graphic sex, language and situations not appropriate for YA readers.

Chapters: 15 plus prologue and epilogue

Pages: 154

The Billionaire's Salvation ~ Max (The Billionaire's Obsession #6) by J.S. Scott


Billionaire Max Hamilton thought he was finally starting to find contentment, more than two years after losing his wife Mia in a tragic drowning accident.

He'd been reunited with a sister he hadn’t realized existed. Finally he had family again, a reprieve from the pain and loneliness that had haunted him since his devastating loss. Yeah…he was as happy as a man could be, considering he had lost the other half of his soul and most of his heart when fate had torn his wife away from him.

Or so he believed…until the day he rescued a mysterious woman in the park, a female who somehow had managed to reignite a part of him that he thought was long dead...
Suddenly, Max's protective, dominant, possessive male instincts flare to life, leaving him at a loss as to how lightning could possibly strike twice in one lifetime. Is he truly being given another chance at real happiness, or would it be dangled in front of him, only to be taken away once again?

Find out by reading The Billionaire’s Salvation, Book 3 in The New York Times Bestselling series, The Billionaire’s Obsession. This is a complete contemporary erotic romance novel with no cliffhangers!

Chapters: 13 plus epilogue and prologue

Pages: 158

Living Reed: A Novel of Korea-Pearl S. Buck

The Living Reed follows four generations of one family, the Kims, beginning with Il-han and his father, both advisors to the royal family in Korea. When Japan invades and the queen is killed, Il-han takes his family into hiding. In the ensuing years, he and his family take part in the secret war against the Japanese occupation.
Pearl S. Buck's epic tells the history of Korea through the lives of one family. She paints an amazing portrait of the country, and makes us empathize with their struggle for sovereignty through her beautifully drawn characters.

Chapters: 3 plus epilogue and historical note

Pages: 478


Sons- Pearl S. Buck


Second in the trilogy that began with The Good Earth, Buck's classic and starkly real tale of sons rising against their honored fathers tells of the bitter struggle to the death between the old and the new in China. Revolutions sweep the vast nation, leaving destruction and death in their wake, yet also promising emancipation to China's oppressed millions who are groping for a way to survive in a modern age.

Chapters: 29

Pages: 313







A House Divided-Pearl S. Buck

"A House Divided," the third volume of the trilogy that began with "The Good Earth" and "Sons," is a powerful portrayal of China in the midst of revolution. Wang Yuan is caught between the opposing ideas of different generations. After 6 years abroad, Yuan returns to China in the middle of a peasant uprising. His cousin is a captain in the revolutionary army, his sister has scandalized the family by her premarital pregnancy, and his warlord father continues to cling to his traditional ideals. It is through Yuan's efforts that a kind of peace is restored to the family

Chapters: 4

Pages: 343

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