romance novels with strong female characters Audiobooks

Do Not Read As A Stand Alone. The guys of major rock band Thick as Thieves come together in this novella, to say goodbye to a beloved friend. Noah will reach an all time high of anguish, sorrow and pain and none of the group, even Carrie, know if he will survive. Saying goodbye may prove too much for Noah, but with TAT at his side he might pull through. This is and Adult Contemporary Romance and not intended for readers under 18. Strong language, sexual content and, well, Noah Beckett so it's reader beware.

An entertaining and insightful pageturner about modern marriage and a tight-knit group of friends navigating their 30s and beyond. It's tradition that on everyone's birthday, the three couples gather to celebrate. They've toasted each other's big life milestones, and been there for each other through loss and disappointment, too. Nathan is the first to turn 40, and when the cake arrives, he makes a shocking announcement. The birthday ritual, and the group of friends, will never be the same again. Confessions follow, and secrets get revealed. One couple's crumbling marriage forces the other two couples to reexamine their own marriages, and the fault lines that lurk beneath. Will their bonds be strong enough to survive issues like infidelity, infertility, and waning passion, plus a series of crises that push each relationship to the brink? The answers may prove surprising. A year after Nathan's big declaration, as the group gathers for the year's final birthday celebration, every person and every relationship will be fundamentally changed. Perfect for fans of Emma Straub, J. Courtney Sullivan, and Rebecca Serle, Reservations for Six is a deeply satisfying novel full of wisdom, humor, and heart. It shines a spotlight on the phase of marriage when the fabric has started to fray, and deftly observes how couples cope, grow, and eventually thrive-together or apart.

This practical guide provides you with all the essentials of beekeeping that will help make your backyard beekeeping a breeze. It introduces some concepts, tools, and resources that can handle your beehive, plan your first colony, with sound advice for caring for your bees so that you can enjoy the harvest of your hard work.<br><br>Learn all you need to know in starting your colony with this how-to guide for a beekeeping This practical guide provides you with all the essentials of beekeeping that will help make your backyard beekeeping a breeze. It introduces some concepts, tools, and resources that can handle your beehive, plan your first colony, with sound advice for caring for your bees so that you can enjoy the harvest of your hard work. Partly a history book and part handbook, this illustrated manual covers important aspects of the ancient hobby of beekeeping in a modern and simple to understand way. In this book, you will learn how to manage hives safely, harvest your own honey, with other simple ideas on how to store and market the honey and beeswax you produce. Other things to expect in this book, include: Practical information on the workings of a hive, how and where to set up hives to increase the chances of maximum success, buying and installing quality bees, and feeding bees Suggested effective for dealing with common hive pests and diseases, including possible reasons for colony collapse disorder (CCD), backed up with studies and research. Guide for enjoying rich and bounty honey harvests, with instructions to aid you processing, storing and marketing the products from your hives, as well as how to make products from your harvest Guidance for different seasons that ensure your hives stay healthy, strong and refreshed throughout their life cycle Identify when your hive goes queenless to ensure your bees do not start producing infertile eggs that can jeopardize the survival of your hive. If you’re new to beekeeping, Beginning Beekeeping is the perfect companion to get you started!

In this short paper Paula Eleta explores the theme of the value of the puppet in the pedagogical field, mainly in early childhood (0-6 years), as an effective tool to improve the quality of the educational service through play. Under the direction of the educator, the puppet can become an excellent ”assistant” to build new educational contexts, able to offer all those who live in the services different accesses to a common and shared space. The puppet can help to found a more inclusive ”school”, giving voice and listening to the past, experiences, knowledge and skills of the various actors involved: children (first of all), families, educators, pedagogical coordinators and other subjects of their own territory. ”The puppet as an educational tool value” is a written text in an accessible and immediate form. Furthermore, the topics covered have been elaborated on the basis of the author's long experience in the field. The content is therefore full of concrete and enlightening examples and, among the many proposed activities to be carried out, there is an easy and quick technique to build puppet characters: an activity that can be performed, at the various educational services, both together with families and children (with the support of adults).

EloIsa, an old woman who in her youth was brutally sexually abused by three masked men, remembers on the last day of her life the stark story that marked her. She tells it to one of the nurses in the sanatorium in which she is dying while allowing her to scrutinize a ringed booklet that contains printed all the letters that she exchanged in his youth with Abelard, the only love of her life.<br><br>Maenza reflects on the psychological, ethical and philosophical aspects of western love and weaves a sweet and intelligent discourse where time, love rites and erotic presence are subtly addressed. It includes a singular vision of writing and a very particular and symbolic Theory of Affection that is used in its analysis of the metaphysics of colors, the zodiacs, the sensations coming from the senses, the imaginary of the alchemist beasts, the classic elements and the arcana of the Tarot. In an age where relationships are made with the dizzying modernity and liquid love swarms (according to Bauman), ”All love letters are ridiculous” claims that secular ritual of love correspondences, increasingly in decline, and he apologizes for the slowness that Kundera claims for romances. ”All love letters are ridiculous” is constructed as a parodic narration of romance novels, but at the same time it is a modern dissertation about love coupled with a story of affection and an ending of tragedy that brings taboo themes like abuse, reification of women and contemporary violence.

If you want your company to thrive, you need to break one of the oldest unwritten rules of leadership. Leaders in nearly every industry have learned to keep a professional “distance” between themselves and the people who report to them—to avoid getting too close or too personal. This unwritten rule of leadership is pervasive and quietly destructive, and, little by little, keeping ourselves at arm’s length destroys trust, collaboration, and the very fabric of organizations. When Tom Gartland became president of Avis Budget Group, North America, he wanted the corporate culture to become more "open and connected"—so he started with himself. His message was "business is personal—very personal." As he grew closer and connected more with those he was leading, he became a more effective leader, and those around him were inspired to create unprecedented results. Tom found that when we truly open up and care about the people we work with, we can transform organizations into sanctuaries where people feel a deep connection to one another, a profound sense of being part of an important mission, and extraordinary engagement in their work. The result? Employees who feel valued generate exceptional profits. After applying this business philosophy at Avis, not only did Tom see an increase in employee morale, he also saw a significant increase in the company's bottom line. In Lead with Heart , Tom provides an unconventional approach to business leadership, including advice and strategies on how to open yourself up as a leader, recognize potential in your employees, and increase employees' trust in you and the company. Lead with Heart is the revolutionary leadership book that will help managers and employees at all levels grow their businesses by connecting, honestly and meaningfully, with the people they lead.

Longtime manuscript editor and Chicago Manual of Style guru Carol Fisher Saller has negotiated many a standoff between a writer and editor refusing to compromise on the “rights” and “wrongs” of prose styling. Saller realized that when these sides squared off, it was often the reader who lost. In her search for practical strategies for keeping the peace, The Subversive Copy Editor was born. Saller’s ideas struck a chord, and the little book with big advice quickly became a must-have reference for copy editors everywhere. In this second edition, Saller adds new chapters, on the dangers of allegiance to outdated grammar and style rules and on ways to stay current in language and technology. She expands her advice for writers on formatting manuscripts for publication, on self-editing, and on how not to be “difficult.” Saller’s own gaffes provide firsthand (and sometimes humorous) examples of exactly what not to do. The revised content reflects today’s publishing practices while retaining the self-deprecating tone and sharp humor that helped make the first edition so popular. Saller maintains that through carefulness, transparency, and flexibility, editors can build trust and cooperation with writers. The Subversive Copy Editor brings a refreshingly levelheaded approach to the classic battle between writers and editors. This sage advice will prove useful and entertaining to anyone charged with the sometimes perilous task of improving the writing of others.

Age is just a number and getting old doesn't mean you can't have fun. It just means you know how to get away with it… Viagra, Snuff, and Rock ‘n’ Roll <br><br>Fossdyke Retirement Home has seen its fair share of quirky characters, but it’s never seen the likes of these four geriatric musicians who form a band called Fossils. Chaos erupts after winning a national competition, when a local DJ who entered their recording into the contest labels Fossils as a vibrant young rock band. Fearing the English press persecuting them and their families when they find out the truth, the four flee England until they can resolve their situation. Follow the madcap adventures of Britain’s most irreverently lovable elderly rockers as they trip, stumble, and fall into one situation after another while traveling around Southeast Asia evading adoring fans, journalists, and a ruthless record producer. Viagra, Snuff, and Rock ‘n’ Roll

In a fusion of fact and fiction, nineteenth-century women institutionalized as hysterics reveal what history ignored “ City of Incurable Women is a brilliant exploration of the type of female bodily and psychic pain once commonly diagnosed as hysteria—and the curiously hysterical response to it commonly exhibited by medical men. It is a novel of powerful originality, riveting historical interest, and haunting lyrical beauty.” — Sigrid Nunez , author of The Friend and What Are You Going Through “Where are the hysterics, those magnificent women of former times?” wrote Jacques Lacan. Long history’s ghosts, marginalized and dispossessed due to their gender and class, they are reimagined by Maud Casey as complex, flesh-and-blood people with stories to tell. These linked, evocative prose portraits, accompanied by period photographs and medical documents both authentic and invented, poignantly restore the humanity to the nineteenth-century female psychiatric patients confined in Paris’s Salpêtrière hospital and reduced to specimens for study by the celebrated neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot and his male colleagues. Maud Casey is the author of five books of fiction, including The Man Who Walked Away , and a work of nonfiction, The Art of Mystery: The Search for Questions . A Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the St. Francis College Literary Prize, she teaches at the University of Maryland.

He’s a fool for letting her go… Wyoming rancher Quinn McKay is biding his time until his wife comes to her senses and calls a halt to this trial separation—he’d never believed their marital rough patch could become permanent. Libby McKay knew when she married the gruff cowboy that he wasn’t one to blather on about his feelings. But three months have passed, and her stubborn-as-a-mule husband is still living by himself. Seems he’d rather hold onto his pride than hold onto her. When Quinn realizes Libby is determined to move on if he doesn’t change, he asks her for one weekend to rekindle their love life and to hash out their differences. Reigniting their passion is easy. The hard part comes when they open up to each other and sort through past mistakes, figuring out if what remains between them is strong enough to survive a new beginning.