Showing results by narrator "Amy Soakes" in All Categories

If she can’t bond with a dragon she’ll be expelled for good.... After three unsuccessful terms at Alveria’s Dragon Akademy, 17-year-old tamer trainee Mari has one last chance to bond with a dragon. If she fails, her dream of joining the Dragon Guard alongside the troubled Crown Prince, will be over for good. And that is not something she's willing to accept. Prince Kai has been stuck in his dragon form for two years, making any normal public life impossible.

A short story about how two people stopped smoking. After a day working together Penny teaches Joe how to stop smoking in simple terms.

Few of Emily Dickinson’s poems were published in her lifetime. Her posthumous fame is largely due to the efforts of her editors and supporters Thomas W. Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd.

The three kingdoms lie splintered, their dragon riders fading into legends of past victories. But they’re need now more than ever when a new threat rises in the North. Lady Inyene, a cunning noblewoman, fuels her conquest with mechanical dragons forged from stolen resources. Her ambition? Seize the High Throne and wield the Stone Crown, an artifact of untold power said to unite—or destroy—the realms.

Prince Kai Afkarr-Younger hides a dangerous secret—he’s been infected with the Nightmare Plague. Exhausted from battle and illness, he must force himself to stay awake, or risk spawning yet another monster attack on the already beleaguered city, an impossible undertaking without the strength of his tamer.

The plague has been eradicated and the remaining nightmare monsters have fled Alveria—for now. With the Source of Fire now in their possession, Mari Asadottir and King Kai must remain vigilant during the royal ball held to honor their official bonding and graduation to Akademy initiates. For there are enemies all around.

Jasmine's a tough, savvy woman who's worked hard to get where she is. Used to being used by men and women, looking to get ahead, she doesn't trust easily when it comes to relationships. Shane's her cousin's best friend from Australia who's been working in Cherry Springs while he gets his Masters. Now that school's out, he's going to have to leave the country. She's always kept him at arm's length, afraid to ignite the passion that sparks whenever he's near. He does everything in his power to remind her of what she's missing.

It always happens when you least suspect it. Love. The chemistry. The pull. Even when you don’t want it to. Timing - it’s a bitch. And then you have to make a choice. Do you regret what is, or what isn’t? Because when love’s involved, there’s always regret. And my story is no exception.

Narissea thought defeating the Metal Queen, Inyene, and claiming the Stone Crown would bring peace. But the victory comes at a harrowing cost: the crown cannot be removed, and its poisonous whispers seep into her mind. It commands dragons across the land to obey her every word, bending even her loyal dragon, Yimma, to its will.

Maggie Walker has never called Wirra Station home. Orphaned as a child, she spent more time at boarding school and then working in the city than she ever spent on the edge of the outback. But when her great aunt dies, Maggie inherits everything and reluctantly returns to tidy the place up before selling. Ambitious cowboy-next-door Max O’Connor has the means and the desire to buy Wirra Station outright and return it to its former glory. But first, he wants elusive Maggie Walker to know what she’s giving up.

In the hours just before dawn, blasphemous curses echo throughout the stone manor. A knife clatters to the floor, and a feisty young widow is bound, blindfolded, and led to the marriage altar. The king couldn't possibly have sanctioned this farce of a marriage, could he? After all, she alone transformed a few mud huts and starving serfs into a flourishing town, never once hesitating to pay generous taxes to his royal kingdom.

What foul devilry is this? They told her he was dead. After six long years without a word, her knight falls onto his knees and sings poetry. Then he denies their son? Heed this well. She's no longer an innocent who'll giggle and tarry on his every word. The sharp edge of her tongue and knife is the only welcome he'll get. She'll not marry him. Besides, the pain would be too much to bear should he ever leave again.

Shy librarian Catena likes her quiet life, until a huge naked man muscles his way into her house, insisting he's been woken from his centuries-long sleep to be her personal protector.

The Dove’s Nest and Other Stories is a collection of both finished and unfinished short stories written by Katherine Mansfield. The collection was published posthumously, not long after Mansfield’s death in 1923, by her husband, John Middleton Murry.

The Garden Party and Other Stories was published in 1922. A collection of fifteen short stories, it explores themes including life and death, gender and family roles, relationships and duty.

As with many of Ostrovsky's plays, the target of the author's satire is the merchant class and the inevitable corruption associated with mercantile endeavors. In Ostrovsky's bitterly realistic world, all personal encounters end in transactions, some humourous and some tragic.

This collection was published in 1901 and contains some of Lawson's best known stories. Most of the stories are set in the Australian bush, and feature many of Lawson's iconic characters, like squatters, swagmen, and struggling selector farmers. A persistent theme is the harshness of rural life and the inevitability of personal tragedy.

In his short life, Australian poet Barcoft Boake completed 30 poems, the most famous of which is the pastoral lament, "Where the Dead Men Lie", which was first published in the The Bulletin in December, 1891. This collection was prepared and edited by critic and anthologist, A. G. Stephens, who also appended a detailed memoir of the poet.

Two goblins, a snarky treasure map, and the hilarious quest for a lost gem. Magic never caused so many problems. Sounds straightforward enough. But Sneath and Clutter aren't your usual goblins, and the map has plans of its own. Join the brothers on their hilarious adventure as they bumble through caves, almost drown in an icy lake, and are chased by nasty, magical villains. And all for the love of gold and jewels.

In the summer of 1839, 26-year-old Louisa Anne Meredith, in the company of her husband, Charles Meredith, sailed from England to the British colony of New South Wales, in what was then New Holland. Four years later, she published a detailed account of the years since she had left England. A fascinating window into the past, Louisa's impressions and experiences cover the four-month ocean voyage; life within the fledgling city of Sydney; travels across the Blue Mountains to Bathurst; and eventual settlement at Homebush in Sydney's west.