Showing results by narrator "Liam" in All Categories

So, you fell in love with your daughter's boyfriend. What happens next? I'll tell you…You finally begin to live again. You take trips, celebrate anniversaries, and attend your first Pride parade as an out-and-proud polyamorous throuple, apparently.

An authoritative biography of Offa of Mercia, revealing his importance as the king who stood at the turning point of Anglo-Saxon history Offa ruled the Mercian heartland of the west midlands from 757 to 796. But while Alfred the Great and his dynasty are seen as agents of a new beginning that...

'I wolfed down this brilliant book' ADAM KAY 'Immensely clever and moving, dark and mature, a reflection on loss, on our compartmentalised selves, delivered in a gripping mystery' MHAIRI McFARLANE 'A deliciously dark departure for Justin Myers, full of twists and turns and plenty of laughs, too'...

At first, I thought it would be an easy payday. A few pew pews for bad people, a couple of suitcases of cash for me. People have done worse for an honest living. The problem is that after a couple of jobs, I’ve never actually managed to unalive someone, and not for lack of trying. Apparently, a basic requirement of a hitman is being a good shot. Despite my constant duck-ups, I’m given another name, and I very nearly follow through. Only after obliterating this guy’s ear and his fervent pleading to spare him, I’ve sent him into hiding and collected the cash anyway.

The Four Points of the Compass takes the listener on a journey of directional discovery. Jerry Brotton reveals why Hebrew culture privileges east; why Renaissance Europeans began drawing north at the top of their maps; why the early Islam revered the south; why the Aztecs used five colour-coded cardinal directions; and why no societies, primitive or modern, have ever oriented themselves westwards. He ends by reflecting on our digital age in which we, the little blue dot on the screen, have become the most important compass point. 

I didn't know if I'd ever see him again. Adam Kane. My best friend, stepbrother... and the guy I fell for when I was eighteen. Three and a half years ago, Adam had a choice to make. Spoiler alert—he didn't choose me. He left me after our high school graduation and took my heart with him. Now he's back, living with me and my teammates, and the real kicker? He wants to be friends again. Brothers. He wants things to go back to the way they were before. Before he broke me. Before he broke us.

I'm the hotshot—both on and off the track. I know how to work the crowd and show off. And I'm good at it. I've had to become very effective at putting on a show. But my agent is not a fan of my over-the-top antics. So she did something I still can't believe... She called in the press—the media. Specifically, the reporter who hates everything I stand for. And now, he's tasked with showing the world a different side of me. Yeah... Good luck with that.

I've given up a lot to pursue a career in professional wrestling, and I'm not going to have it all derailed by an uncouth ghoul with a huge chip on his shoulder, who decided he disliked me for no reason on his very first day at Goliaths. Vince Burke has been the thorn in my side for five long years, but things have taken a turn for the worse. Management is threatening to get involved. I refuse to let Burke take the life I've worked so hard to build from me, so I try to be on my best behaviour at work, but something about him just gets to me. He consumes my thoughts. I can't stand him.

With incomparable wisdom, skill, and wit, world-renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith traces the history of the major speculative episodes in our economy over the last three centuries. Exposing the ways in which normally sane people display reckless behavior in pursuit of profit, Galbraith asserts that our "notoriously short" financial memory is what creates the conditions for market collapse. By recognizing these signs and understanding what causes them we can guard against future recessions and have a better hold on our country's (and our own) financial destiny. 

In this, the first book to take a big-picture view of the entire post punk period, acclaimed author and music journalist Simon Reynolds recreates a time of tremendous urgency and idealism in pop music. Full of anecdote and insight, and featuring the likes of Joy Division, The Fall, Pere Ubu, PiL and Talking Heads, Rip It Up And Start Again stands as one of the most inspired and inspiring books on popular music ever written.

Nico Michaels pretends to be carefree, avoiding anything serious, especially relationships; his chaotic past has taught him that love only complicates things. He’s content with one-night stands and his close-knit group of friends, including his roommate, Malachi Mizrahi. Neurodivergent and gender-fluid, Malachi wakes up each morning with a whole new personality, but one thing remains constant: his love for Nico. They clicked perfectly from day one, sharing a love of everything from anime to nature documentaries. They even share a bed. Platonically, of course.

Savage and bloodthirsty, or civilized and peaceable? The Celts have long been a subject of enormous fascination, speculation, and misunderstanding. From the ancient Romans to the present day, their real nature has been obscured by a tangled web of preconceived ideas and stereotypes.

On the ice, they call me East—fast hands, sharp edges, zero hesitation. Off the ice? I keep my life simple. Hockey. Teammates. No complications I can’t skate away from. Unfortunately, I’m terrible at thinking things through—like the moment I agreed to a late-night pool bet with my teammate and accidentally ended up with a wife. Katerina Popovich isn’t the Russian ballerina I expected. She’s sharp, sarcastic, and entirely unimpressed by my NHL contract. She also happens to have a ticking visa deadline, a powerful family with opinions about her future, and zero patience for my chaos.

The infected didn't break me. They didn't capture me for experiments and use me like an object. Humanity made me into the monster I am. I'm reckless because it makes me feel alive, careless because I'm addicted to pain. And I'm dangerous because I've got nothing left to live for. Nothing, until I meet a raider who seems to see right through me…who demands I do the one thing I said I'd never do again. Let him in.

Too many companies are managed not by leaders but by mere role players and faceless bureaucrats. What would it take to replace these empty suits with real leaders - men and women who are confident in who they are and who truly inspire people to achieve extraordinary results? Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones argue that leaders don't become great by aspiring to a list of universal character traits. Rather, effective leaders are authentic: They deploy individual strengths to engage followers' hearts, minds, and souls.  

They say love comes from the most unexpected places. I found mine hiding in my bushes from the cops. My life before Luke was a carefully structured routine. It was predictable and organized, just the way I like it. Some would call it boring, but I call it smart self-preservation. If there’s one thing that could threaten to bring it all crashing down, it’s Luke van Beek. He swept into my world like a tropical cyclone, all hot and chaotic, and tore down my safeguards. Now I can’t seem to rid myself of this charming, larger-than-life, ridiculous man. 

Moms are good at one thing: the guilt trip. It’s the only reason I’m at the funeral of a man I’ve never had anything to do with. I’ll show up, make her happy, and get out. At least that’s what I think until I learn daddy dearest has left me a crap load of money and the obligation to learn about the family business. All from his eldest son who looks nothing like the rest of us.

Returning to my hometown, to normalcy, after all I've been through feels strange, to say the least. Returning to the friends and family who have all moved on with their lives while I'm still trapped with demons of my past haunting me is the worst kind of torment. I'm safe now. Lydia, the woman who stole me when I was just nine years old, is in prison. I'm free. But I don't feel free. I don't even know who I am anymore. The child I was is dead, and the man I've become is lost.

Between running a garage full of beefed-up gear-head mechanics and bailing my idiot brother out of trouble every other week, the last thing I have time for is a relationship. I’ve tried it too many times, and the ridiculous reasons I always find to end it have become a running joke around the garage. But I’ve learned my lesson. No. More. Boyfriends. I don’t care how many times Porter falls asleep drunk in my bed or how cute he looks covered in oil smears while I teach him how to fix up the vintage car he has rusting away in his garage; I’m not going to fall for him.

That neighbor of mine is a cute, surly ghoul whose pretty green eyes and angry scowl just make me want to rile him up even more. We've never really been buddies, despite living side by side for three years. But when he starts working at Goliaths as our IT manager, helping to bring us into a new digital age, our lives begin to become a bit more entangled. Mainly because he starts watching me each night while I… relax. So I make sure to give him a good show through my living room window.