good fiction books Audiobooks

Don’t let your inner critic get in the way of being confident! How to Like Yourselfoffers a quirky, inspiring, and practical guide to help you overcome feelings of self-criticism, improve self-esteem, and be the true star in your life. With all the pressures of school, friends, and dating, you’re especially vulnerable to low self-esteem in your teen years. But often, the biggest threat to your confidence is your own inner critic—whose unrelenting negativity can result in feelings of inadequacy, depression, and anxiety. This must-have guide offers real ways to help you fight back, be kind to yourself, and move forward with confidence. Inside, you’ll learn the importance of self-forgiveness, accepting your faults, and how to focus on the things that make you awesome! You’ll also learn strategies for defeating the dreaded ICK—the inner critic know-it-all who keeps knocking you down—and how to escape the common thought traps that hold you back from feeling good about yourself. This book unlocks the mystery of the most important relationship you will ever have—the one with yourself! So, get ready to find your true inner voice. A kinder, gentler one that will support you as you reach for your goals and create the fabulous life you were meant to live!

Part memoir, part cultural exploration, this book covers the author’s journey as she grows up in an evangelical Christian home, leaves religion behind as a young adult, and goes on to raise children in a family outside of religious belief. Maria Polonchek weaves a personal story with up-to-date studies and philosophic exploration of what it means to raise secular children in an otherwise religious world. Offering careful and respectful advice for other parents who are raising their children outside of a particular religious belief system, she explores the many other ways of instilling identity, belonging, and meaning into our lives and the lives of children. Honest and irreverent, the author admits to her religious “baggage” and searches for better understanding of such topics as religious education, morality, awe, death, purpose, and meaning, and tradition from secular perspectives. She interviews experts, looks at various studies, and turns to a variety of sources for answers, while maintaining a casual and personal tone. While she ultimately argues for parents to let their children shape their own beliefs, she encourages families to tend to existential and social needs that sometimes go unnoticed or unconsidered in life outside religion.

Imagined by one of the world's leading experts on Buddhism, this fictionalised conversation presents the essential biography of its famously wise founder. A relaxed chat with the Buddha tells us what he thought about impermanence, karma, mindfulness, compassion, love, and everything else that leads us toward a true understanding of ourselves and the cosmos. We know him as the Buddha, the "Awakened One". Born Siddhartha Gautama 2,500 years ago in northern India, he became one of the world's greatest spiritual leaders. He suffered as we do, then by his own efforts found the key to liberation from the bonds of desire, hatred and ignorance. As Westerners living in relative prosperity, we can identify with this man who had it all - love, success, money, talent, privilege - but set these things aside to search for something deeper and more enduring. This book presents an account of the Buddha's life followed by a series of plausible and illuminating but imagined conversations, which probe all aspects of his philosophy for living. The insights he conveys here offer us practical wisdom for a better life.

After catching her ex-boyfriend in bed with her half-sister, Chloe turns around and sets her eyes on her ex's uncle. Through an odd set of coincidences, the two got hitched.As she secretly rejoices and makes plans to secure her position as the young aunt, her dim-witted friend drops a bombshell—she has married the wrong person.Perplexed, Chloe gazes at the charming man before her. Even though she has missed her original target, she feels it’s still a good bargain and decides to go along.However, one day during a press conference, she makes a shocking discovery—her husband is a well-known investor, and the uncle her ex highly admires is working under him.

Evie Bell is the white sheep in a family of black ones. Bookish and quiet where her sisters are showy and brash, she doesn’t understand her darker needs that resulted in the catastrophic end to her last relationship. Frederic d’Estang, a stage performer with Byronic dark good looks, is famous for playing villains that women adore – the Phantom, Claude Frollo, Mr Hyde. Facing a distressing premature end to his career due to developing Reinke’s edema, a chronic voice disorder, he recalls how someone took a chance on him when he was just starting out which launched him into stardom, and desires to do the same before his power and influence wane. His agent wants him to write his memoirs, and when he meets Evie Bell, an autobiographical writer with a penchant for gothic anti-heroes, he sees his chance: she has talent, but lacks the confidence and experience to make something of herself. She also has interesting, unexplored tastes, which Frederic discovers when her sister gives him a link to her anonymous fan-fiction archive – much to Evie’s mortification.

FULL OF TWISTS AND TURNS, A HEARTSTOPPING MYSTERY FROM YOUR NEW CRIME FICTION OBSESSION: BIBA PEARCE. A serial killer who dumps the victims’ bodies in Soho Square. A sleepless detective thwarted by his box-ticking boss. Detective Rob Miller thinks he’s seen it all, but this murder scene takes his breath away. The victim is bound and gagged, with whip marks on his back. The location is one of the busiest squares in London. The cause of death appears to be strangulation. Murder or a game gone wrong? The prime suspect is the victim’s partner. Under pressure from his superiors, Rob makes an arrest despite his doubts. But another body is found: bound, gagged and dumped in the middle of central London. Again, there are no witnesses. Now Rob’s on the hunt for a serial killer with a fetish — and a talent for staying invisible. Then the killer makes it personal . . . AN UNSTOPPABLE CRIME MYSTERY THAT YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO PUT DOWN. This gripping page-turner is perfect for fans of Helen H. Durrant, Mick Herron, Joy Ellis, Angela Marsons, Rachel McLean, Alex Smith and J.M. Dalgliesh. MEET THE DETECTIVE DI ROB MILLER An ambitious young detective gunning for promotion. He will do anything for his job, but can he also keep his personal life under control? His ten-month-old son has yet to learn how to sleep through the night, but at least he has his dog. THE SETTING The Murder Investigation Team is based out of leafy Putney, with its overgrown often-flooded riverbanks. One way the river leads into central London, the other out into the countryside. It’s an idyllic setting that masks a criminal underworld.

Silvia Pond thought that she could make Neil Remus fall in love with her three years into their marriage. Yet, all she got were photos of him having sex with her twin sister!Silvia eventually gave up on him and decided to free herself from their marriage. However, when Silvia passed Neil the divorce agreement, he tore it up right in front and threatened her. “You want a divorce? Over my dead body!”Silvia only felt indifferent when she saw his enraged expression. “You can only choose one. It’s either me or Ada.”In the end, Neil chose Ada. But when he lost Silvia for good, he finally realized that he had fallen in love with her a long time ago.

Betrayed by her childhood sweetheart and best friend, Lila Anderson found herself stripped of everything, her life hanging by a thread. On the verge of death, she encountered her rescuer—Ryder Kingsley.With a single sentence, the man prompted her to change her name and identity. The woman thought to be dead was now the CEO's fiancée.She declared, "We'll each take what we need. We owe nothing to the other!""Oh, really? Then let's find a way for you to owe me for good," said the man.As Lila sought her revenge, he drowned her with affection and care. Soon enough, she held the spotlight in high society as the CEO's soon-to-be wife. However, on their wedding day, his childhood sweetheart reappeared…

A marriage that lasted for ten years… Calida Artermis thought that she married a good man, but unknown to her, this man would be the one who personally caused her death! In the name of marriage, he toyed with her feelings, plotted for her inheritance, and even destroyed all of the Artemis family, all so that he could get his true love to smile for him. But the assassination he had been plotting for a long time allowed her to return to the time ten years ago!This time, she would definitely ruin his reputation and destroy his family. She would have his lover wish for death. She wanted all the people who hurt her before to suffer her pain one hundred times! Hence, the first thing she did once she returned to the past was to reject the scum. And with great determination, she married his rival, even though she knew that he was a powerful person whom she should not bother. She originally thought that no feelings would be involved in this marriage, so she did not expect that after their marriage, she would end up spoiled rotten by this man.

"Good morning, Mr. Smith."The principal shook hand12332123 with him. "Morning, Principal Dawson." He smiled. "So, Lauren here is a new student of this prestigious school, and she is a student in this grade.""Good morning, Mr. Smith."The principal shook hand with him. "Morning, Principal Dawson." He smiled. "So, Lauren here is a new student of this prestigious school, and she is a student in this grade.""Good morning, Mr. Smith." The principal shook hand with him. "Morning, Principal Dawson." He smiled. "So, Lauren here is a new student of this prestigious school, and she is a student in this grade."