Akron Public Library

Daunted by the singular tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house. But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Ana cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Ana learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven,...

"Prince Tristan Faasa was never destined for the throne. That was always his brother, Michael. The same brother responsible for both Tristan's tormented childhood and the scar that mars his face. When their father dies, Michael is set to assume the throne, and Tristan is set to steal it. The leader of a secret rebellion, Tristan will stop at nothing to end his brother's reign. But when Michael's new betrothed, Lady Sara Beatreaux arrives, Tristan...

"Aphrodite has never flinched at getting her perfectly manicured hands dirty, and she's not about to start now--even if that means marrying Olympus's enemy number one, the new Hephaestus. She has a wicked plan to keep her deadly new husband off-balance, seducing the one person he seems to care about most in this world: Pandora, a woman as beautiful as she is sweet. Two can play the seduction game, however, and Hephaestus is all too happy to put his...

"When her family executed a coup that dethroned Zeus himself, Psyche knew she was in trouble, but she wasn't prepared for Aphrodite to demand her literal heart as payment. Or for Aphrodite's gorgeous son to be the one determined to strike the blow"--

"As a bloodline vampire, Lizzie has never had a problem taking what she wants, and right now what she wants are the family heirlooms that were stolen from her and a portal home. Too bad even that short list is impossible to accomplish on her own--and her allies have bigger things to worry about. When they rescue a selkie from captivity, it's the perfect solution to her problem. Lizzie needs a guide through Threshold and the selkie needs someone to...

A darkly possessive relationship has left Uma alone and on the run. Beneath her drab clothing, she hides a terrible secret-proof of her abuse, tattooed onto her skin in a lurid reminder of everything she's survived. Caught between a brutal past and an uncertain future, Uma's reluctant to bare herself to anyone...much less a rough ex-con whose rage drives him in ways she will never understand. But beneath his frightening exterior, Ivan is gentle. Warm....

"Society darling Persephone Dimitriou plans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that's ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city's dark facade. With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil's bargain with a man she once believed a myth...a man who awakens...

"Apollo. Keeper of secrets, master of his shining realm and the only man I am powerless to deny. As a disgraced member of a fallen house, Cassandra Gataki has seen firsthand what comes from trusting the venomous Thirteen. But when the maddeningly gorgeous and kind Apollo asks her to go undercover as his plus-one at a week-long party hosted by a dangerous new power player, Cassandra reluctantly agrees to have his back. On one condition: when it's all...

Despite the misleading subtitle of this impressive if uneven anthology, smut is not Nerve's specialty. The 35 pieces reprinted here from the year-old, sex-obsessed webzine range from an article by Meredith F. Small on the habits of the Congolese bonobo ape to Debra Boxer's memoir of a 28-year-old virgin and Jocelyn Elders's arguments in favor of masturbation. This said, if Nerve can establish a lasting specialty, it will probably not be reportage,...