Showing results for "Cruel" in Literature & Fiction

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.

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?

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.

He was a stranger to me, a dark and dangerous presence who materialized from the shadows one rainy night to save me from a vicious attack. I didn’t know his name or where he was from. All I knew was that the only place I’d ever felt safe was in his arms. But safety is an illusion. And not every savior is a hero. And - as I’d soon find out - having a king save your life comes with a price. Liam Black wanted something from me in return.

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.

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.

Cobra ist der Thronfolger und ihm wurde ein Ultimatum gestellt. Forme ein Rudel … oder sonst. Jetzt kämpfen wir um unser Leben und umeinander. Werden Jax, Xerxes, Ascher und Cobra unter diesem Druck auseinanderbrechen? Wird Sadie stark genug sein, um mit dem fertigzuwerden, was sie wollen? Wird ihre Spannung in Hass umschlagen? Oder in Liebe?

There are no rules this cruel summer… Samantha Parker has the perfect life—a loving husband, three wonderful kids and a comfortable suburban lifestyle. But on the brink of their long-awaited empty-nest chapter, Will asks Samantha for something she never dreamed of: an open marriage.Desperate...

Andre Ferraro is everything I despise—arrogant, ruthless, and far too handsome for his own good. I'd rather marry anyone else in the world, but my sick mother needs hope, my family needs the Ferraro fortune, and my brother needs allies to seek vengeance for my brother's and father's deaths. There's no way for me to get out of this marriage to Andre unless I want to put the burden on my younger sister. The crazy thing is, I don't want Andre, but I don't want anyone else to have him either.

A gripping thriller that will shock you to the core. Controlled all her life by her religious mother, 15-year-old Kelly Raven commits the ultimate sin. She soon discovers that running away to the cold, frightening streets of London is less harsh than her previous life. A drug dealer, two fraudsters, and a prostitute are her new family now, and she becomes the woman she was destined to be. Little does she know that Eddie Raven is coming for her, but she is no sweet four-year-old child, and he is certainly no doting father.

Ireland, 1790: In the midst of a violent storm, the small fishing village of Dromkeen comes under attack by Moorish pirates. Dromkeen is a poor settlement, but it is rich in what the pirates are hunting: slaves. Among those captured in the surprise raid is the young farmer Brannon Ryan, whose strength and fortitude make him a valuable commodity in the slave markets of North Africa. He is sold into servitude, forced to become a soldier of the sadistic sultan of Morocco. All the while, his heart remains in Ireland, where he can only hope that his beloved Orlaith has met a better fate.

Leo Stone is a ruthless killer or the victim of a miscarriage of justice. A year ago, he was convicted of the murder of two women and sentenced to life in prison. But now he's free, and according to him, he's innocent. DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent are determined to put Stone back behind bars where he belongs, but the more Maeve finds out, the less convinced she is of his guilt. Then another woman disappears in similar circumstances. Is there a copycat killer, or have they been wrong about Stone from the start?

Charles Cullen, a brilliant university professor and ruthless killer, makes a daring escape from a hospital for the criminally insane. Dr. Joseph Kallinger, the psychologist who examined Cullen, is called in to help find him with a burnt-out cop who thinks Kallinger’s diagnosis is to blame for the situation they’re in.

In the aftermath of World War I, nurse Bess Crawford attempts to save a troubled former soldier from a mysterious killer in this eleventh book in the beloved Bess Crawford mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd. The Armistice of November 1918 ended the fighting, but...

Working as Ruslan Oryolov’s personal assistant is the job from hell. After a long day spent tending to the billionaire’s every whim, I need some stress relief. So when I get home that night, that’s exactly what I do. Problem is, my thoughts are still stuck on the bosshole, who’s ruining my life. That’s fine—because of all Ruslan’s many sins, being gorgeous might be the most dangerous.

In the Empire, cultivation is restricted. Weapons are forbidden. Tyranny reigns. When disaster strikes for Oren and his family, there is only one choice: flee the local magistrate and his arrogant son who wants to destroy their family. But to leave the empire means heading to the north: a land of barbaric tribes and monsters. Oren and his family embark on a long and hard, danger-filled journey to escape the Empire, but politics are at play, and the shadow of the empire is cruel, cold, and long.

Stephanie Fuller has had a year from hell, and a vacation to Mexico was supposed to be a way to find her equilibrium again. Instead, she's snatched off the streets and wakes up in a dark, dank underground prison. Nothing could prepare her for what's going to happen to her there or the connection she builds with her fellow captive. When Patrick "Trick" Kramer wakes up in a small cell and learns he's not alone, he quickly puts together the pieces of who took him and why.

It's 1969, and 16-year-old Lucy is about to run away with a much older man to live off the grid in rural Pennsylvania, a rash act that will have vicious repercussions for both her and her older sister, Charlotte. As Lucy's default caretaker for most of their lives, Charlotte's youth has been marked by the burden of responsibility, but never more so than when Lucy's dream of a rural paradise turns into a nightmare.

Jonas Madigan is dying. He spent his life taming towns and upholding justice across the west with no regrets. Along the way, Madigan took the measure of good men like Smoke Jensen, who has traveled to Salt Lick, Texas to pay his respects to the lawman. But when bandits gun down the small town’s current marshal—and Smoke sends the killers to Boot Hill—Madigan asks his friend to wear the badge and keep the peace. Turns out the bandits were members of Bishop’s Mauraders, a gang of trigger-happy thieves led by the vicious Snake Bishop—and they’ve set their sights on Salt Lick.

Un mari qu’elle croyait mort. Ses filles en danger. Trahisons, mensonges et secrets. Trois ans après la mort de son mari, flic des Stups, au cours d’une opération, Laura a quitté ses fonctions au sein de la police et s’est installée avec ses deux filles chez son père, en Bretagne. Mais un soir, ses filles ne rentrent pas de l’école. Et lorsqu’elle les retrouve, affolée, Laura est confronté à l’impossible : l'inconnu qui discute avec ses filles n'est autre que Romain. À peine a-t-elle le temps de le serrer dans ses bras qu'un coup de feu retentit. Romain meurt pour la seconde fois.