Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Make Me Beg

  Rebecca Brooks

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  Bartender Mackenzie Ellinsworth has always gone it alone. So when she has a chance to open her own bar and restaurant, she's got a plan for how it should go. Not in that plan: a ripped and rugged playboy stepping in to take over. Mack doesn't do players, and she doesn't do one-night stands. If Connor wants to work with Mack, he's going to have to keep his strong, sexy hands to himself. 
   
   
   
  Connor Branding is determined to prove he's not the directionless playboy Mack thinks. But opening a place together causes more problems than it solves. The two of them can't agree on anything—except how scorching hot their chemistry is. Connor may be ready to indulge every desire Mack's been denying herself . . . but turning business into pleasure is likely to get him burned. 
   
   
   
  Contains mature themes.

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  The Skylight Room - A tender...

  O Henry

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  William Sydney Porter was born on 11th September 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. At age 3 his mother died from tuberculosis. From an early age it was clear Porter had a large appetite for reading as he absorbed the world around him. 
   
  He first attended at a school run by his aunt before enrolling at the Lindsey Street High School and then worked at his uncle’s drugstore and gained a pharmacists’ license in 1881.  
   
  A persistent cough took him to Texas in the hope that a change of climate would help his symptoms. He took on various types of work, initially from ranch hand and cook and then as varied as pharmacist, draftsman, bank teller and journalist. He also began to write, though for now, purely as a hobby. 
   
  He was a member of several singing and dramatic groups when he met 17 year old Athol Estes, daughter of a wealthy Austin family. Despite her mother’s objection owing to Athol’s tuberculosis, they began courting and in July 1887, they eloped and soon married. 
   
  Athol, impressed by his writing, encouraged him to get them published. A job as a draftsman at the Texas General Land Office paid a healthy $100 dollars per month and life was good. 
   
  But then life turned cruel. His son died a few hours after birth although a daughter, Margaret, came the following year.  His job had to be vacated but another was found at the First National Bank of Austin. The bank operated informally and Porter was careless in keeping the books. He lost that job but began writing for the humourous weekly The Rolling Stone and the Houston Post. Some time later the federal Bank auditors went through his former accounts and he was arrested on charges of embezzlement. 
   
  Porter fled the day before his trial to Honduras. Holed up for several months he began to write.  Athol had become too ill to travel to meet him and learning that her health was deteriorating he surrendered to the court in February 1897.  Bail was obtained so that he could stay with Athol during her final days.  
   
  Porter was sentenced to five years at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. His pharmacy qualifications got him the job of night druggist.  His sentence also gave him time to write and publish fourteen short stories. In December 1899 in McClure’s Magazine he published a short story as O Henry.  
   
  He was released two years early in July 1901, and reunited with Margaret, now 11, in Pittsburgh.  He now began his most prolific period of writing; a short story per week for the New York World, while also publishing works in other magazines.  Eventually over 600 of his short stories were published. 
   
  Porter was a heavy drinker and in 1908 his health, which had deteriorated for several years, took a dramatic turn for the worse, as did his writing. 
    
  O Henry died of cirrhosis of the liver complicated by diabetes and an enlarged heart on 5th June 1910.

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  The Magic Skin

  Honoré de Balzac

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  The Magic Skin by Honoré de Balzac is a haunting and imaginative novel that fuses fantasy with philosophical reflection, offering a powerful meditation on desire, ambition, and the cost of unchecked wishes. First published in 1831 as part of Balzac's monumental La Comédie Humaine, this captivating tale explores the fragile balance between human longing and the limits of life itself.
  
  The story follows Raphaël de Valentin, a young aristocrat reduced to poverty and despair. Disillusioned by failure and burdened by unfulfilled ambition, Raphaël wanders the streets of Paris contemplating ending his life. In a mysterious antique shop, he discovers a strange talisman—a piece of enchanted shagreen, or wild ass's skin—that promises to grant any wish he makes. Yet the gift carries a terrible condition: with each fulfilled desire, the magical skin shrinks, and as it diminishes, so too does the span of Raphaël's life.
  
  Tempted by wealth, pleasure, and social success, Raphaël cannot resist the power offered to him. His fortunes transform almost overnight, and he ascends into the glittering world of Parisian high society. Surrounded by luxury and admiration, he gains everything he once craved. But as his wishes multiply, the talisman steadily contracts, serving as a visible reminder that every indulgence exacts a fatal price.
  
  Balzac masterfully blends supernatural elements with sharp social realism. The opulence of Parisian salons, the restless pursuit of status, and the illusions of happiness are depicted with vivid detail. The enchanted object becomes both a literal and symbolic representation of human desire—revealing how ambition, when unrestrained, can consume the very life it seeks to enrich.
  
  At its heart, The Magic Skin is a philosophical exploration of free will and self-control. Raphaël's tragedy lies not in fate alone, but in his inability to resist temptation. Even when he understands the cost of his wishes, he struggles to renounce them. The novel raises timeless questions: Is fulfillment worth the sacrifice of longevity? Can happiness be achieved without moderation? And are we masters of our desires—or their servants?
  
  Balzac's narrative is rich with psychological depth and moral reflection. Through Raphaël's rise and decline, he critiques a society driven by materialism and vanity. The novel's blend of romance, fantasy, and social commentary makes it one of Balzac's most imaginative and enduring works.
  
  Darkly poetic and intellectually provocative, The Magic Skin remains a timeless allegory about the perilous allure of unlimited desire. Balzac's powerful storytelling transforms a supernatural premise into a profound examination of human ambition, reminding readers that every wish carries consequences—and that life itself is the ultimate currency.

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  The Housewife 1 | Erotic Novel

  Valery Nylons

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  Jasmin is a young woman who chose a man too early. Soon after the first few months of her marriage, she realizes that Günther, her dream man, is not enough to satisfy her needs. 
  While he's away for a week, her desire for other men awakens. She subtly arranges various sex dates with strangers. 
  But Jasmin didn't anticipate the unexpected twists and turns that would turn her life upside down.

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  My Dreadful Dreams - 13 Tales of...

  Hokunani Sorci

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  We all have deep-seated fears: monsters, the unknown, death. My Dreadful Dreams: 13 Tales of Terror brings these and other horrors to life in unsettling worlds where average people overcome—or succumb to—their darkest dreams: 
  A child accidentally summons a demon, which is then soul-bound to protect her for life; a frightened woman fleeing her abuser finds shelter at an unusual motel; the voice of God speaks to a devout teenager for the first time—but what He asks of her isn’t what she expected; a man longing for affection, and more than a casual friendship, meets a shy boy. These grim, disturbing, and dangerously grotesque short stories—and more—await you. 
  Reader beware: your dreams may be dreadful tonight.

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  A Far Cry

  Francis Martineau

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  Set in postwar Scotland, A Far Cry is a quietly powerful novel about childhood displacement, memory, and endurance. 
  The story follows seven-year-old Andy – renamed “Meikle” upon arrival – after he is sent away to a remote boarding school governed by rigid routines, unspoken hierarchies, and sudden acts of discipline. Far from home, he must learn how to survive a world that feels both bewildering and absolute, where fear and tenderness exist side by side. 
  Told in an intimate voice that moves fluidly between immediacy and reflection, the novel captures the emotional logic of childhood: the ache of separation, the solace of small friendships, and the imagination’s ability to offer refuge when escape is impossible. 
  Based on the author's own life story, A Far Cry is a meditation on how early experiences shape us – and how their echoes carry far into adulthood.

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