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Duty cora reilly5/14/2023 ![]() ![]() “Of course, you are.” There was the hint of something I couldn’t place in his voice. His gaze lingered on the apex of my thighs slightly longer than on the rest of my body and a small burst of hope filled me. My nipples hardened in the cool air of his office but I didn’t close my silk bathrobe, despite the overwhelming urge to cover myself against Dante’s cold scrutiny. ![]() His blue eyes wandered over my exposed body. For once, he didn’t pretend I was invisible. He didn’t move closer but he was looking at me. Tension radiated off of him when he turned around to me. I think I deserve at least that small decency, Dante.” Subscribe to Cora’s newsletter to find out about her next books, bonus content and giveaways! ( )Ĭover design by Romantic Book Affairs Design All names, characters, businesses, events and places are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. ![]()
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![]() ![]() It accomplishes this mostly by avoiding discussion of how the equipment works and by the sheer brevity of the work (only 124 pages). She accidentally replaces the last astronaut, a man who is great at astrophysics but lousy at remembering day to day things like addresses.ĭespite the goofy set up, the novel ends up being "harder" science fiction than the two similarly aged Tintin adventures: Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon. Unfortunately for the mission, she has actually been on vacation visiting her niece and nephew and has just returned in time for the launch. Her apparently abandoned farm is chosen as the perfect place for a covert government launch. Now as the title implies, Miss Pickerell is the one going to Mars, not the Martians coming to her farm. Her pose and the general set up of the cover reminds me of one of my favorite Backyardigans episodes "Ranch Hands from Outer Space." With that tenuous connection I chose the book to read. ![]() The cover here shows a typical mid-west farm woman standing gobsmacked before a 1950s style rocket ship. ![]() Buttonhouse I was drawn to the book by Paul Galdone's cover illustration. ![]() The other one is her delightful picture book Mr. Miss Pickerell Goes to Mars is the first of the Miss Pickerell series of books and the second Ellen MacGregor book I've read. ![]()
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Grealy autobiography of a face5/14/2023 ![]() ![]() "Well, you don't think there's more than one God, do you?" Nest began to rush her words. “Is the Word the same as God, do you think?" ― Lucy Grealy, quote from Autobiography of a Face It was only as the night wore on and the moon came out and the older kids, the big kids, went on their rounds that I began to realize why I felt so good. We walked around the neighborhood with our pillowcase sacks, running into other groups of kids and comparing notes: the house three doors down gave whole candy bars, while the house next to that gave only cheap mints. ![]() I hated this, but I assumed that one day my hair would grow in, and on that day the teasing would end. Sometimes kids would make fun of me, run past me, knock my hat off, and call me Baldy. By this time my hat had become part of me I took it off only at home. My hair was growing in, and I loved the way the top of the hood rubbed against it. ![]() ![]() I put on a winter coat, made a fish out of paper, which I hung on the end of a stick, and wrapped my face up in a scarf. My mother was the one who came up with the Eskimo idea. For the last couple of years I had been too sick to go out, but this year Halloween fell on a day when I felt quiet fine. Coming from Ireland, we had never thought of it as a big holiday, though Sarah and I usually went out trick-or treating. I felt as if I had been in the sixth grade for years, yet it was only October. ![]()
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Ac the secret crusade5/14/2023 ![]() ‘… conquered the Holy Land?’ prompted Altaïr. Once we … Once we …’ He was fading fast now. ‘A blockade by sea,’ Sibrand told him, ‘to keep the fool kings and queens from sending reinforcements. ‘Linger a while longer, then,’ pressed Altaïr, ‘and tell me of the part you were to play.’ ‘How could I, given what I know? What I’ve seen. Was it true? Sibrand had no faith? No God? ![]() ‘Have my brothers taught you nothing? I know what waits for me. ‘But you’ll be safe now,’ he said, ‘held in the arms of your God …’ ‘Of course I am,’ said Sibrand, as though addressing a dolt.Īltaïr thought back to Sibrand’s callousness before the priest. ‘Please … don’t do this,’ he said, as he folded to the deck with Altaïr’s blade in his neck. He had died as much from his own fear, though he was too stupid to know it. Sibrand was a dead man, thought Altaïr, as he crept up behind him. He waited until Sibrand’s back was turned then pulled himself on to the deck, now just a few feet away from the Grand Master of the Knights Teutonic, who was prowling the deck, shouting threats to the empty sea, hurling insults and orders at his guards, who hurried about below. He waited, clinging to the hull, hearing Sibrand’s panicked shouts from above. A promotion to whoever brings me the head of the Assassin.’Īltaïr leaped from the platform to the ship, landing with a slight thump that seemed to resonate around the area of still water. ![]() ![]() ‘On your guard, men,’ shouted Sibrand, to the lower decks. ![]()
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Grace by Robert Lacey5/14/2023 ![]() But, actually, he’s become a monarch quicker than people expected.” Royal Family News – Charles In ChargeĬharles’ reign has not been hiccup free: there was his early clash with royal fountain pens and his ongoing beef with Harry the Horrible.īut some see the king’s public emotion as a welcome balance to the late Queen Elizabeth’s stoicism, including Charles fighting back tears when he addressed the nation after his mother’s death. Royal historian Robert Lacey said “We are already surprised by the Prince Charles who was turned into King Charles and who we still call Prince Charles, because that’s how we think of him. ![]() To this end he has met with religious leaders across the country, booted his shiftless son Harry out of royal lodging, had an overseas state visit, and opened the royal archives to researchers investigating the monarchy’s links to slavery. How will he be remembered? Even before his official coronation on May 6 at Westminster Abbey, Charles has shown himself to be a man on a mission. British royal family news reveals that King Charles waited nearly ¾ of a century to become monarch. ![]()
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![]() ![]() No diagnostic tests were available, other than a suggested breath test that almost no one was willing to conduct. The bubonic plague was far more deadly than our pandemic, and symptoms progressed rapidly after infection. ![]() The charlatans themselves often died from the disease or else sped away with their profits. ![]() ![]() None worked, but many of the poorer residents were customers, some of whom died after taking the potions. For example, once the bubonic plague had begun to take its toll, London was filling with “quacks” (Defoe’s own term), posting notices at street corners promising cures and preventives. Throughout the book, I found unfamiliar phrasing but many familiar happenings. Also evident is his deep concern and empathy for fellow citizens, even some of his flakiest characters. One of the hallmarks of his tale is a painstaking effort to avoid recounting rumor, gossip, and exaggeration. Had Google and (anti-) social media been available, he might have finished much sooner, but what a mess that would have been. Defoe spent intervening years collecting information from informal and formal sources, including records of weekly deaths posted across London. ![]()
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First Blood by David Morrell5/12/2023 ![]() Rambo forces his way out, killing an officer in the process, steals a motorcycle, and hides in the nearby mountains. ![]() Kept inside a claustrophobia-inducing cell, Rambo experiences a flashback to his days as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and he attacks the police as they attempt to forcibly cut his hair and shave him. When Rambo repeatedly returns, Teasle finally arrests him on charges of vagrancy and resisting arrest and gets permission to hold him for 35 days in jail. He wanders into Madison, a town in Basalt County, Kentucky, and is quickly intercepted by the local police chief, Wilfred Teasle, who drives him to the town limits and orders him to stay out. ![]() The story centers around a homeless Vietnam veteran known only by his last name, Rambo. It was adapted into the 1982 film First Blood starring Sylvester Stallone, which ended up spawning an entire media franchise around the Rambo character. ![]() First Blood is a 1972 American action- thriller novel by David Morrell about a troubled homeless Vietnam War veteran, known only by his last name of Rambo, who wages a brutal one-man war against local and state police in Kentucky. ![]()
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Meet cute diary characters5/12/2023 ![]() ![]() Once haters start to get suspicious and call Noah out, he weaves the ultimate lie that he, himself, is in a happy relationship. He soon finds himself running a popular internet blog, The Meet Cute Diary, where he features different Trans love stories submitted by readers. ![]() As a Trans teen, Noah has never seen an epic Trans love story, so he decides to make one up. This is the primary question Noah Ramirez faces in Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee. ![]() Darcy, a Jack from Titanic, a Harry or Sally to remind us that we are worthy of attention.īut what if there were no great romances to aspire to? What if you had never seen someone like you get their dream person? How do you hold out hope for something you've never actually seen happen? Valentine's Day is a time for love, a time to celebrate all the great love stories we secretly hope we can one day live out. ![]()
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Aussie Grit by Mark Webber5/12/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() He hit the front pages of newspapers around the world in December 2014 when he slammed into the barricades in the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in South America, and was lucky to escape with his life. There could only be one winner.Since retiring from Formula One Mark has concentrated on endurance racing, including the legendary Le Mans 24 Hour race. In 2010, while racing for Red Bull, he and his team mate Sebastian Vettel went head to head for the World Championship. Long-awaited autobiography of Formula One Racing legend Mark Webber Mark Webber was at the center of one of the most captivating chapters in the history of Formula One. In 2010, while racing for Red Bull, he and his team mate Sebastian Vettel went he. ![]() |