Showing results for "Cruel" in All Categories

You don’t know me. You think you do, but you don’t. The only thing you know is my name, and even that’s a lie. I’m king of Boston, lord of criminals, ruler of an underworld empire. Or am I? Only one thing’s for sure: I operate alone. Until I cross paths with a brazen little thief who sets my whole kingdom on fire.

I never thought I'd step foot in Royal Manor again. But four years later, here I am...back to finish my senior year at Royal Hearts Academy. And forced to face Jace Covington. My first friend. First crush. First kiss. The one I left behind. Only—he isn't the same boy I gave my heart to. This new Jace is as cruel as he is gorgeous. And he's determined to make my life a living hell. Along with the rest of his glorified family and crew of tyrants. They expect me to worship the ground they walk on like everyone else, but I'd rather eat dirt.

One day I'm Royal Elite School's small fly, the next I'm hunted and left to die. He doesn't only shred my life to parts, but he's also coming after my heart. He thinks he broke me, but the new princess will bring the king to his knees.

Holt Davidson, a Kansas firefighter, hasn’t been back to his hometown of Thompsonville, Colorado, for more than two decades, but when he learns that his estranged mother has taken her own life, he returns for the funeral, hoping to make peace with her memory. He spends the night at his childhood home, rummaging through each room, exploring the past. But instead of nostalgic souvenirs, he discovers a gun, a love letter, and a Polaroid photograph of a man lying in his own blood. Who is the dead man? Was his mother the one who killed him, and, if so, why? Who sent the love letter?

Charlotte had just undergone a mastectomy. Marriage was the last thing on her mind. But to honor her grandfather's dying wish, she agreed to marry the second grandson of New York's most powerful mafia family. It was supposed to be cold. Strategic. Loveless. Until the veil lifted at the altar—and it wasn't her fiancé standing there. It was Cassian Moretti. Her fiancé's older brother. The man she kissed once to escape danger. The man who never forgot. He'd kidnapped his own brother. Planted a bomb beneath the church. And told the priest: Marry us, or watch it burn.

Ben. I’m about to start my senior year of high school, and I don’t see that cycle changing any time soon. I’ve spent most of my life just trying to make it one more day, a precarious war in my head—one I was barely winning. But then he forced his way in and showed me what I was missing. Damon. I’m careless, and I probably shouldn’t have gone out of my way to hook up with a very pretty, very straight boy. His bright eyes drill into me in a desperate attempt to dive inside, but what he doesn’t know is that would be the worst decision of his life.

Just hours after humans are born, the gods take what little power we have. In return, they protect our borders from the vicious, merciless fae. The humans who manage to keep their power are known as the corrupt. And they are burned. When my forbidden power is discovered, I’m forced to flee my tiny village and the life I adore. To survive, I make a desperate bargain with the mercenary who abandoned me at my weakest moment. Our deal is simple: I’ll help him and his mysterious friends sneak into the city, and he’ll help me learn to wield the strange, dark power I’ve always kept hidden.

Shadows so Cruel is a full-length dark fantasy romance novel, and book two in the Court of Ravens duet. The two-part story features two morally gray raven shifters, a young woman at the mercy of their shadows, and a HEA.

He started the fire. Nate Shepherd's client didn't intend to kill anyone. That doesn't matter. After an old friend recruits him, Nate Shepherd heads north to defend a teenager charged with igniting a blaze that killed a toddler and a firefighter. When he arrives, Nate finds a neglected case and a looming trial date for double murder. As he scrambles to discover what happened, Nate is resisted by a stonewalling prosecutor and a grieving town, each bent on punishing his client. Worse, every fact Nate uncovers confirms that his client started the tragic Mission Road fire.

Little did I know my love and freedom would be taken to form a new alliance. Brutal, possessive, and dangerous, Lucian is feared by all. Including myself. When his father is assassinated, Lucian takes his rightful place as head of the Cotroni family. They rule the Mafia with an iron fist, and he's set his sights on my family. Until now, we've been the only threat, but when a new one emerges, my father is forced to arrange a marriage between Lucian and me.

The shock that Minneapolis restaurateur Jane Lawless is in for when Chester Garrity, her ex-husband, returns to a city that he swore he'd never see again is nothing compared to Chester's own. After their divorce many years ago, he took off with his inheritance to travel the world, leaving Jane with enough seed money to open her first restaurant, which worked out well for Jane but less so for Chester.

I thought I was ordinary Rory Franco: college student, artist, and over-protected daughter. Then, mages barge into my family’s home, murder my parents, and whisk me off to a university known as Villain Academy. It turns out I’m Persephone Bloodstone, the long lost heir to one of the five royal families of dark magic. I’m destined to learn how to manipulate the world with fear—and to stand beside the four other scions: the scorching-hot, arrogant young men who rule this school. The four of them crush anyone who doesn’t kowtow.

All newly minted pediatrician Jamie Malek wants is to borrow a roasting pan for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, that requires her to interact with Marc—her best friend’s troublemaking brother, who’s now a tech billionaire. He’s the one who got away. She’s the one who broke his heart. Outside, a howling blizzard. Inside, a crackling fire. Suddenly, being snowbound with the man she never expected to see again might not be such a bad way to spend a winter’s night.

I know nothing of the Sickness at Eastpoint University. I know only the backroads that slip past the southern beaches and the gators that make their way onto the swamp's shores. Until him. Until the killer known as Braxton Smalls finds his way into my stilted trailer on the coast of Port Charlotte. He came looking for Ace, but he found me instead…

Life is a cruel game, where only the most ruthless survive. It’s a truth my mother rebelled against, and she paid for it with her life. Now, I play their game. Publicly accepting the destiny that lies in wait for me when I turn 18. But behind closed doors, I plot my escape. Trent, Charlie, and my twin Drew rule the hallways of Rydeville High with arrogance and an iron fist. I execute my role perfectly, hating every second, but they never let me forget my place in this world.

A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. Offering bold new ways of conceiving the present, Lauren Berlant describes the cruel optimism that has prevailed since the 1980s, as the social-democratic promise of the postwar period in the United States and Europe has retracted.

I didn't choose to attend the Royal Academy, an elite school full of vicious Fae. I never wished for an arranged marriage to a nasty Shadow prince. I especially never wanted to meet Aidan Summers—the most beautiful man I've ever laid eyes on—the one who broke my heart beyond repair. He was the fire to my ice. Our relationship was forbidden, and the fallout almost cost me my life.

Christian Miller hat sich als rücksichtsloser Anwalt in New York einen Namen gemacht. Der Selfmade-Millionär hat nur ein Ziel: endlich Rache an Hedgefonds-Tycoon Philipp Roth nehmen, der seine Familie zerstörte, nachdem er Christian dabei erwischte, wie er dessen Tochter küsste. Als eine Klientin Roth der sexuellen Belästigung beschuldigt, sieht Christian seine Chance gekommen. Nur eins steht ihm im Weg: seine Jugendliebe Arya, die als Pressesprecherin ihren Vater verteidigt. Arya weiß nicht, dass Christian der Junge von damals ist, doch er hat sie nie vergessen können.

They stole my throne and stood by while I was taken captive. To reclaim my crown, I must trust my worst enemy. When I wake up in a coffin after the worst Clan wedding in Malhaven’s history, vengeance is the only thing keeping me alive. But the world I claw back into is colder than death. My father, the leader of the Protectorate Clan, is dead. My uncle sits on the throne meant for me. I’ve been taken to a brutal, frozen land ruled by the ruthless Commander, a man as terrifying as he is magnetic.

Knox Ashcroft. One of the so-called gods of Hatherley Hall. He's everything I despise—a spoiled, arrogant, lacrosse-playing rich boy. From the moment we met, he made it clear that the loathing was mutual. I don't belong in his world, and he wants me gone. Too bad for him. I'm not leaving until I get what I came for. Everyone has skeletons in the closet, right? I'll uncover his. I just have to make sure he doesn't discover mine.