Priya Parker

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Virginia

How We Meet and Why It Matters

"Hosts of all kinds, this is a must-read!" --Chris Anderson, owner and curator of TED From the host of the New York Times podcast Together Apart, an exciting new approach to how we gather that will transform the ways we spend our time together—at home, at work, in our communities, and beyond. In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play. Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings--conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp--and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience. The result is a book that's both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue--and how you host and attend them.

The Art of Gathering

2fbb65e7-e8c6-4cf3-b009-57e1c7627bef-1

Thomas Erikson

The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life)

Do you ever think you're the only one making any sense? Or tried to reason with your partner with disastrous results? Do long, rambling answers drive you crazy? Or does your colleague's abrasive manner rub you the wrong way?

You are not alone. After a disastrous meeting with a highly successful entrepreneur, who was genuinely convinced he was 'surrounded by idiots', communication expert and bestselling author, Thomas Erikson dedicated himself to understanding how people function and why we often struggle to connect with certain types of people.

Surrounded by Idiots is an international phenomenon, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide. It offers a simple, yet ground-breaking method for assessing the personalities of people we communicate with - in and out of the office - based on four personality types (Red, Blue, Green and Yellow), and provides insights into how we can adjust the way we speak and share information.

Erikson will help you understand yourself better, hone communication and social skills, handle conflict with confidence, improve dynamics with your boss and team, and get the best out of the people you deal with and manage. He also shares simple tricks on body language, improving written communication, advice on when to back away or when to push on, and when to speak up or shut up. Packed with 'aha!' and 'oh no!' moments, Surrounded by Idiots will help you understand and communicate with those around you, even people you currently think are beyond all comprehension.

And with a bit of luck you can also be confident that the idiot out there isn't you!

Surrounded by Idiots

8ff5d97d-faa1-4182-8f2e-1155dd124c31-1

Willow Aster

Irresistible: Special Edition Paperback

3c2e946c-96d2-435c-8ba4-846b31119aaa-0

Someday: a Small Town Childhood Sweethearts Romance

fe988b3b-b995-411d-8098-7e94863adee8-0

"A one-night stand with no promises and no inhibitions... Our night together changed everything. As a list maker and a rule follower, the last thing I planned, on one of the worst days of my life, was to fall into bed with a guy who literally charmed the clothes right off of me. With him, I felt safe to lay my sadness down for the night and embrace a stranger. Little did I know, that hot, gorgeous man would be Jamison Ledger, the one who has taken everything I’ve ever wanted—my legacy, my happiness, and what I’ve worked my whole life to attain. While I am trying to sabotage his success, everyone in our small town is falling in love with the sexy, new lodge owner. And I am trying my hardest not to. There’s a fine line between love and hate, and Jamison Ledger is blurring that line. He might have given me a night I’ll never forget, but I can’t forgive the man who stole my entire future.

Unforgettable: a Small Town Rivals to Lovers Romance

c6ec350e-34c6-4e4a-8633-500bcf4c1bda-0

Antonia Angress

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

A Novel

Four artists are drawn into a web of rivalry and desire at an elite art school and on the streets of New York in this "gripping, provocative, and supremely entertaining" (BuzzFeed) debut

"Captures the ache-inducing quality of art and desire . . . a deeply relatable and profoundly enjoyable read, one drenched in prismatic color and light."--Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of With Teeth

It's 2011: America is in a deep recession and Occupy Wall Street is escalating. But at the elite Wrynn College of Art, students paint and sculpt in a rarefied bubble. Louisa Arceneaux is a thoughtful, observant nineteen-year-old when she transfers to Wrynn as a scholarship student, but she soon finds herself adrift in an environment that prizes novelty over beauty. Complicating matters is Louisa's unexpected attraction to her charismatic roommate, Karina Piontek, the preternaturally gifted but mercurial daughter of wealthy art collectors. Gradually, Louisa and Karina are drawn into an intense sensual and artistic relationship, one that forces them to confront their deepest desires and fears. But Karina also can't shake her fascination with Preston Utley, a senior and anti-capitalist Internet provocateur, who is publicly feuding with visiting professor and political painter Robert Berger--a once-controversial figurehead seeking to regain relevance.   
  
When Preston concocts an explosive hoax, the fates of all four artists are upended as each is unexpectedly thrust into the cutthroat New York art world. Now all must struggle to find new identities in art, in society, and among each other. In the process, they must find either their most authentic terms of life--of success, failure, and joy--or risk losing themselves altogether. 
 
With a canny, critical eye, Sirens & Muses overturns notions of class, money, art, youth, and a generation's fight to own their future.

Sirens and Muses

d5c37e90-c641-4905-acbc-487041f6e083-1

Julia Langbein

A brilliantly funny debut novel that follows a writer lured to Los Angeles to adapt her feminist mermaid novel into a big-budget action film, who believes her heroine has come to life to take revenge for Hollywood's violations.

"Brilliantly sharp, funny, and thought-provoking, the gripping story of a woman trying to find her way in our chaotic world." --Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe

Broke English teacher Penelope Schleeman is as surprised as anyone when her feminist novel American Mermaid becomes a best-seller.  Lured by the promise of a big payday, she quits teaching and moves to L.A. to turn the novel into an action flick with the help of some studio hacks. But as she's pressured to change her main character from a fierce, androgynous eco-warrior to a teen sex object in a clamshell bra, strange things start to happen. Threats appear in the screenplay; siren calls lure Penelope's co-writers into danger.  Is Penelope losing her mind, or has her mermaid come to life, enacting revenge for Hollywood's violations?

American Mermaid follows a young woman braving the casual slights and cruel calculations of a ruthless industry town, where she discovers a beating heart in her own fiction, a mermaid who will fight to move between worlds without giving up her voice. A hilarious story about deep things, American Mermaid asks how far we'll go to protect the parts of ourselves that are not for sale.

American Mermaid

89ac70ee-4349-405d-97d0-df4c6e2dcfbc-1

Somme Sketcher

A Forbidden Love Dark Mafia Romance

Sinners Anonymous

9f1b2b3f-8a00-424c-8347-ef4fba91124d-1

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

An Enemies to Lovers Mafia Romance

No good ever comes from a red-head in a stolen dress with her worldly possessions at her feet.

I should have known she was trouble when smoke and sin followed her into my bar and she challenged me to a game.

She may have won my watch, but she started a war.

As she slipped my Breitling off my wrist and onto her own, she gleefully announced she was the luckiest girl in the world.

Yeah, lucky to everyone but me.

Because the moment her muddy boots stomped down the stairs and up my spine, my empire started to crumble.

My cashmere charm is wrinkling.

My gentlemanly facade is cracking.

My enemies are closing in.

Maybe the fortune teller was right:

The Queen of Hearts will drag me down to hell.

At least it's wonderfully warm among the flames.

DARK MAFIA ROMANCE - ENEMIES TO LOVERS - AGE GAP - SLOW BURN

***

SOMME'S NOTES:

Sinners Condemned is part one of a duet, and because of this, it ends on a cliffhanger. Rafe & Penny's story continues in Sinners Consumed.

For a better reading experience, please read Sinners Anonymous before reading Sinners Condemned.

You should know that I write dark romance, and my stories-including this one-aren't for the faint of heart. They contain several triggers, so aren't suitable for everyone.

Sinners Condemned

6c3f7207-49b5-42ad-8189-329b0201dabb-1

Sinners Consumed

Patti Smith

It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation. Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. Bound in innocence and enthusiasm, they traversed the city from Coney Island to Forty-second Street, and eventually to the celebrated round table of Max's Kansas City, where the Andy Warhol contingent held court. In 1969, the pair set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community of the famous and infamous—the influential artists of the day and the colorful fringe. It was a time of heightened awareness, when the worlds of poetry, rock and roll, art, and sexual politics were colliding and exploding. In this milieu, two kids made a pact to take care of each other. Scrappy, romantic, committed to create, and fueled by their mutual dreams and drives, they would prod and provide for one another during the hungry years. Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists' ascent, a prelude to fame.

Just Kids

d20d7461-8576-425f-9e5e-d5214c3526a7-1

Willow Winters

W. Winters

Oversized Paperback (4 to 6 lbs)

From USA Today bestselling author Willow Winters comes a heart-wrenching, edge-of-your-seat gripping, romantic suspense.

I ran from him, even though my heart knew better. Love was one thing, but survival another. I should have known he'd come for me. Men like him always get what they want. The temptation in his eyes, the heat of his touch . . . it's all still there, but his gaze is harsher now and his grasp unrelenting. He's not the boy I fell in love with, although pieces of what we once had are still there. I can feel it. I know what he wants from me, and I know it comes with a steep price. I'll pay it though, if for no other reason than to touch him again. Just once more. I'll close my eyes and forget about the risks that come with this life and with him. I only hope he doesn't do the same.

"...the darker side of romance with epic twists of passion, lust, want, need, love, hate, and epic suspense!" - The Sass Nerd BlogNot

Not My Heart to Break is the complete collection of the USA Today bestselling, Hard to Love series.

Not My Heart to Break

4da74adb-fe73-4b6c-9c7f-40e30052a604-1

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

USA Today Best Selling Author, Willow Winters, brings you an all-consuming, sizzling romance featuring an epic, anti-hero you won't soon forget. He enters the car accompanied by a chill from the evening wind and the car rocks gently until he's seated behind me and the door is shut. His scent fills my lungs first and as it does, I remember that I've been told that smell is the sense that holds the most memory. Maybe I read it somewhere, but I've never known something to be truer than that fact is now. When I open my eyes, his chilling gaze is on mine in the rearview mirror and my treacherous heart chokes me in an attempt to escape. It hovers at the base of my throat, pounding viciously in protest. I did always love him. There wasn't a moment that I didn't love him. He knows that. He has to know that I still love him; we just simply couldn't be together. We decided. We decided together. "You said you'd let me go," I whisper, speaking over my strangled breaths. My gaze never leaves his, even as tears prick my eyes. Not until he answers me. "I changed my mind."This is the complete This Love Hurts trilogy in one collection.

What I Would Do for You

e7a23c7c-748c-44d1-aa98-924eb3c66654-1

Mads Rafferty

One hundred and fifty years ago the Fae race vanished. Along with their magic and creatures. With the fallen Fae lands the humans were soon to follow as corruption spread throughout the realm. Heir to the throne, Delilah Covington is forced to watch her people suffer under the sinful hands of her father, the king-while she herself suffers his cruel hand. Delilah has longed for change, her prayers going unanswered until she discovers salvation.Fae are alive.In desperation, Delilah flees her home and crosses the border, in hopes that the Fae will save her people.Yet she isn't the only one who needs help.Caught in a web of lies and riddles Delilah's only chance at hope is Knox, one of the irritating, yet frustratingly charming Fae kings. Together they'll need to unravel the many mysteries to bring freedom to both their oppressed people, or damn them all.

Heir of Broken Fate

b794f19e-a2ad-46bd-925a-4f1777f2f016-1

Kristin Hannah

Vivid, universal, and emotionally complex, Night Road raises profound questions about motherhood, identity, love, and forgiveness. It is a luminous, heartbreaking novel that captures both the exquisite pain of loss and the stunning power of hope. This is Kristin Hannah at her very best, telling an unforgettable story about the longing for family, the resilience of the human heart, and the courage it takes to forgive the people we love. "A rich, multilayered reading experience, and an easy recommendation for book clubs." —Library Journal (starred review) Life comes down to a series of choices. To hold on... To let go...to forget...to forgive... Which road will you take? For eighteen years, Jude Farraday has put her children's needs above her own, and it shows—her twins, Mia and Zach, are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill moves into their small, close-knit community, no one is more welcoming than Jude. Lexi, a former foster child with a dark past, quickly becomes Mia's best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable. Jude does everything to keep her kids out of harm's way. But senior year of high school tests them all. It's a dangerous, explosive season of drinking, driving, parties, and kids who want to let loose. And then on a hot summer's night, one bad decision is made. In the blink of an eye, the Farraday family will be torn apart and Lexi will lose everything. In the years that follow, each must face the consequences of that single night and find a way to forget...or the courage to forgive. "You cannot read Night Road and not be affected by the story and the characters. The total impact of the book will stay with you for days to come after it is finished." —The Huffington Post

Night Road

3dd3863a-0e99-4d6d-ae89-26116061420e-1

K J Dell'Antonia

Rhett Gallagher's adventurous life is imploding. Just as she turns the big 4-0, her long-term relationship collapses, and news of a tragedy forces her to return to the family farm. The only silver lining is that Rhett s inspirational book, The Modern Pioneer Girl - written under a pseudonym has become a wild success, so much so that in a moment of panic, self-doubting Rhett persuades her best friend Jasmine to step into the limelight as the famed author.

In Her Boots

e1570806-b77c-44c6-90f3-f8e582367c33-1

Penelope Douglas

Hellbent One

Hawken Trent. So polite. So sweet. Such an upstanding young man. A virgin, too, I hear. He never gets naughty with a girl. Probably because Jesus told him not to. And now here he is, trying to be the hero by protecting another girl from me. He calls me a bully. Irrational. Unreasonable. A criminal. He can call me anything he wants, I’ve heard worse. And he can try to stand between me and my money, but he’s never had to fight for food. That rich, clean, school boy doesn’t have what it takes. I surprised her. You should’ve seen her face. Just because I don’t have a record, honey, doesn’t mean I’m clean. It just means I’m better at not getting caught. That is until I realize I might’ve actually gone too far this time. She’s there. I’m there. The scene of the crime. It’s dark. The police show up. We have no choice. We run. Down High Street, into Quinn’s bake shop, and I pull her through the entrance to the old speakeasy that everyone forgot was here decades ago. The door locks, the cops circle the building, never knowing we’re right here, and I’m hidden in plain sight, indefinitely, with someone’s who’s awful. Mean. Rough. Dirty. A thief, a delinquent. Until one night, lost in all of these rooms together, I don’t see any of those things anymore. She’s smart. Daring. Soft. Hot! Everything’s changing. It’s this place. It does something to people. We have a silly urban legend in Shelburne Falls about mirrors. They’re a gateway. Don’t lean back into them. But we came through front first. I don’t care what the county records say. This was never a speakeasy. It’s Carnival Tower.

Falls Boys

6aa0ee81-0e07-4d51-90dd-4636eb11f79d-0

Benched 

Taylor Torres

Sometimes holding on to pain means letting go of love.If there's no place like home, that's more than okay for Mara Makinen. In fact, she prefers it that way. Going back to the place where she made the worst mistake of her life? Not ideal.So when a family emergency forces Mara to return home to her small lake town in Maine after seven years, she knows there's only one way she'll get through it unscathed: Avoid Ambrose King at all costs.But that might prove difficult considering he lives right across the street.

The Two of Us

88bb72c0-8db5-45e3-a37c-8af4d0b02100-1

Leigh Bardugo

"Readers will be wowed." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. The Ivy League is going straight to hell in the sequel to the smash New York Times bestseller Ninth House from #1 bestselling author Leigh Bardugo.

"Bardugo's imaginative reach is brilliant." -Stephen King

Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy "Alex" Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory--even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.

Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can't call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies' most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren't just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she'll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university's very walls.

Thick with history and packed with Bardugo's signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters.

Hell Bent

752948f4-945a-4b3c-8435-f84a546b8fb3-1

Kingdom of Frost and Fear

Vanessa Rasanen

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

AN HEIR ON THE RUNIn one month, Aoife Cascade will turn twenty and take her seat on the Council of Cregah, an honor she's been preparing for her whole life. But when she lets a secret slip to her mother with devastating consequences, all her plans for the future crumble. Believing her people to be better off without her, she flees Cregah, stowing away aboard a pirate ship bound for dangerous waters.A PIRATE CAPTAIN WHO NEEDS HER HELPCaptain Declan McCallagh is young compared to the pirate lords, but after twelve years on the grueling sea, he has earned a well-respected ship and the attention of the lords, who'd like nothing better than to see his ruin. All he wants is to leave the Aisling Sea-and his past-behind him. But when his sister demands he find the enchanted dagger her rebel faction needs to overthrow the ruling Council, he'll have to decide whether to cast off all family ties or take the perilous voyage to waters guarded by sirens, only passable with the help of the last remaining fae, currently imprisoned by the Council.With murder and betrayal at every turn, can Aoife and Declan learn to rely on one another?Or will the secrets they carry destroy their people-and each other?

On These Black Sands

20b28715-b84f-40ea-87fd-423ae9ecd719-1

Saffron A Kent

He was an artist. She was his muse.




To everyone in town, Abel Adams was the devil's spawn, a boy who never should have been born. A monster.




To twelve-year-old Evie Hart, he was just a boy with golden hair, soft t-shirts and a camera. A boy who loved taking her picture and sneaking her chocolates before dinner. A boy who made her feel special.




Despite her family's warnings, she loved him in secret for six years. They met in empty classrooms and kissed in darkened church closets. Until they couldn't.




Until the time came to choose between love and family, and Evie chose Abel.




Because their love was worth the risk. Their love was the stuff of legend.




But the thing about legends is that they are cautionary tales. They are made of choices and mistakes. And for Abel and Evie, the artist and the muse, those mistakes come in the form of lights, camera, sex.

Gods & Monsters

1b114955-c49c-4c06-8164-4a7f9074bfdf-1

Ivy Asher

Six years ago, I awoke in a cage with no knowledge of who I was or where I'd come from. Six years ago, I was spared the flesh markets and instead thrown in with a group of savages, where I learned it was fight or die. Now, eight Orders of Assassins are converging on the only home I've ever known. All in hopes of purchasing new blade slaves for their ranks. I'm for sale, yet all I want is a life far from death and ownership. Then I meet them, the Order of Scorpions. Their allure is a threat to the freedom I crave, but I won't fall victim to their sting, no matter how tempting it might be. They want to own me, to claim me, but the Scorpions have no idea what they've bargained for. They're about to learn what venom flows in my veins. I don't just bite...I destroy. This book is a dark fantasy romance. It contains graphic violence, strong language, explicit romance, and other content that could be triggering. Please see the author's note inside for a more detailed description of content concerns. Order of Scorpions is a Why Choose standalone story.

Order of Scorpions

8370b022-5465-420f-b658-b9aab9cbe26d-0

Emily Awtrey

Browse by categories

Priya Parker

The Art of Gathering

Thomas Erikson

Surrounded by Idiots

Willow Aster

Irresistible: Special Edition Paperback

Willow Aster

Someday: a Small Town Childhood Sweethearts Romance

Willow Aster

Unforgettable: a Small Town Rivals to Lovers Romance

Antonia Angress

Sirens and Muses

Julia Langbein

American Mermaid

Somme Sketcher

Sinners Anonymous

Somme Sketcher

Sinners Condemned

Sonne Sketcher

Sinners Consumed

Patti Smith

Just Kids

Willow Winters; W. Winters

Not My Heart to Break

W. Winters

What I Would Do for You

Mads Rafferty

Heir of Broken Fate

Kristin Hannah

Night Road

K J Dell'Antonia

In Her Boots

Penelope Douglas

Falls Boys

Colleen Charles

Benched

Taylor Torres

The Two of Us

Leigh Bardugo

Hell Bent

Whitney Dean

Kingdom of Frost and Fear

Vanessa Rasanen

On These Black Sands

Saffron A Kent

Gods & Monsters

Ivy Asher

Order of Scorpions

Get The App