Sweet Thing

After the death of her father, classically trained pianist Mia Kelly gives up a possible career as a musician to run her father's New York City café, but all that changes when she meets a charming guitarist named Will. Original.

As children, many of us learn to sing, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands." But despite the familiarity of this tune, few of us realize that what we're singing is actually part of a pervasive - and centuries-old - musical scheme. This particular pattern, the "Sweet Thing" scheme, has generated a large group of songs spanning a broad range of topics, genres, and time periods, but all related through a specific stanzaic form. Early twentieth-century blues songs "My Babe" and "Motherless Children," country songs "Peg and Awl" and "Crawdad Song," and gospel songs "Pure Religion" and "This Train" use this form, along with popular songs like Ray Charles's "I Got a Woman," The Beatles's "One After 909," and the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man." Sweet Thing: The History and Musical Structure of a Shared American Vernacular Form studies one of the most productive and enduring shared musical resources in North American vernacular music. Author Nicholas Stoia offers the most comprehensive examination to date of the long history of the "Sweet Thing" scheme, exploring how it made its way from sixteenth-century Scotland to eighteenth-century British broadside ballads to nineteenth-century American ragtime. Stoia also examines the form in various contexts, including early blues and country music, and moving forward to rhythm and blues, soul, and rock music, connecting these modern forms to their ancient roots. Through this close look at a ubiquitous musical from, Sweet Thing shows us how it has linked listeners and musicians alike across the boundaries of genre, race, and even time.

It has been a year of change since Gemma Doyle arrived at the foreboding Spence Academy. Having bound the wild, dark magic of the realms to her, Gemma has forged unlikely and unsuspected new alliances both with the headstrong Felicity and timid Ann, Kartik, the exotic young man whose companionship is forbidden, and the fearsome creatures of the realms. Now, as Gemma approaches her London debut, the time has come to test those bonds. As her friendship with Felicity and Ann faces its gravest trial, and with the Order grappling for control of the realms, Gemma is compelled to decide once and for all which path she is meant to take. Pulled forward by fate, the destiny Gemma faces threatens to set chaos loose, not only in the realms, but also upon the rigid Victorian society whose rules Gemma has both defied and followed. Where does Gemma really belong? And will she, can she, survive?

Patrick My name is Patrick Neumann, and I have the world's worst-kept secret-I'm in love with my boss, Aaron (aka: Nyx), and everyone knows it but him. You'd think an award-winning romance author would be able to spot his own happily ever after a mile away, but nope. Aaron is clueless. I could show up on his doorstep in a jockstrap with a rose clenched between my teeth and he'd still think I only want to be friends. Which is why I've written myself my own perfect happily ever after and published it under my new secret pen name: Miller Night. It's seventy thousand words of sweet, steamy romance starring thinly veiled versions of me and Aaron-all my deepest, darkest desires spelled out right there on the page. I haven't been subtle about it, but I'm not worried. It's not like Aaron will read it. And even if he does, he's so oblivious he'll never figure out that Miller is really me. Nyx I've read a lot of romance novels in my life, but the one I just finished is the most perfect of all. It's swoony, sweet, indulgent, and so hot the words almost melt off the page. It's so good that if I didn't know better, I'd think it was written just for me. Best of all, it's helped distract me from the feelings I shouldn't be having for my cute blue-haired personal assistant, Patrick. I don't know the author who wrote it, but I need to be his friend. Miller Night, watch out, because I'm going to make you mine. Sweet Thing is the second book in the Masters of Romance series, where romance authors don't just write about happily ever afters-they live them. Get ready for love, laughter, and some serious steam. No cheating and no love triangles, guaranteed. This boss/employee, friends to lovers, secret identity rom-com romp of a book can be read as a stand-alone, but it's way more fun to binge them all. Which author are you most excited to see get his HEA?

One night was supposed to ease her craving...But after one taste, she's hooked! Abby loves her new life working at Sydney's finest patisserie. Working alongside brooding new man–in–charge Tanner is an unexpected but delicious challenge, especially as each night their attraction only grows hotter! But Tanner's past is as dark as the ink on his skin...he'll let her get closer than close in the bedroom, but dare Abby go deeper?

Sweet Thing One and Two are bunnies of remarkable delight as you will confirm as you read this book.

Includes an excerpt from the author's upcoming book Nowhere but here.

How much help do you want from computers? I mean, really want? When technology makes life easy for you, it’s sweet. And Jess’s new home is marvel of modern technology—a smarter than smart home. And it’s also built to help him with his work, making his influencer videos. A muse is great. Automating boring stuff is even better. But how much creative help is too much? Better to ask the questions up front. Help comes at a price and it’s smart to know what the price is. A short story of artificial intelligence finding its place in the world.