The bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed goes back undercover to do for America's ailing middle class what she did for the working poor Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed explored the lives of low-wage workers. Now, in Bait and Switch, she enters another hidden realm of the economy: the shadowy world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with a plausible résumé of a professional "in transition," she attempts to land a middle-class job—undergoing career coaching and personality testing, then trawling a series of EST-like boot camps, job fairs, networking events, and evangelical job-search ministries. She gets an image makeover, works to project a winning attitude, yet is proselytized, scammed, lectured, and—again and again—rejected. Bait and Switch highlights the people who've done everything right—gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive résumés—yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster, and not simply due to the vagaries of the business cycle. Today's ultra-lean corporations take pride in shedding their "surplus" employees—plunging them, for months or years at a stretch, into the twilight zone of white-collar unemployment, where job searching becomes a full-time job in itself. As Ehrenreich discovers, there are few social supports for these newly disposable workers—and little security even for those who have jobs. Like the now classic Nickel and Dimed, Bait and Switch is alternately hilarious and tragic, a searing exposé of economic cruelty where we least expect it.

Although our era is marked by human rights rhetoric, human wrongs continue to be committed with impunity, and the idea of human rights is becoming impoverished.

When Greyson Archer tosses a twenty on the stage of a strip club, the last thing he expects to see are the haunted green eyes staring at him. Finley should be home raising her infant daughter and baking cookies, not tucking singles into her G-string and giving lap dances. Greyson can't deny that he'd like his own private show, but there's not a chance in hell of that happening. The last time the former Navy SEAL saw her she was dressed in black, holding a folded flag and sobbing that it was all his fault... and he agreed with every single word. He couldn't do anything to help her then, but he can now. Finley deserves better than this dingy club, and when an obsessed customer crosses the line, Greyson leads the rescue and will do whatever it takes to make amends for their broken past. He never expected to want to settle down, but with Finley, everything is different. For the first time ever, he can breathe. But Greyson will have to fight for what he wants in order to keep the woman with the green eyes he's dreamed about so often. SLOW & STEADY is the second in the Alphas Undone series, but can be read as a standalone novel.

Lena and Webb had it all figured out. They couldn't go about the start of their budding family in a traditional way, but they were willing to try anyway. That was until Hugo came to town. Thinking a chance at a true mate had long-since passed him by, Webb picked up the pieces of Lena's tattered heart years ago only to break it again when she was most vulnerable. "What are you doing?" Hugo questioned. "Touching the baby." "You're-what?" "His hand is on my belly," I told Hugo. "It's the closest you can get to touching the baby. If it makes him feel better..." I drifted off, closing my eyes again. There was a heavy silence in the room. "Does it...does it feel like anything?" Hugo asked. "No, her tummy is still flat," Webb said. I could hear the smile in his voice as I was pretty accustomed to it after living with him for so many years. " But I can almost imagine I can feel him or her kicking in there." That was met with another long pause. "Can I feel?" Hugo asked. He sounded like a boy of 2 years old, wanting to touch some animal in a petting zoo. "Sure," I said, my eyes still closed. This was getting weird. I heard Hugo get up and then move over to the other side of the bed before hopping on. Then two hands were on my stomach, still as they tried to sense any movement. I almost wanted to laugh at the two of them. Both stubborn. "I see what you mean," Hugo said. "It's almost like there's something moving around inside there." "Well, when you're done, turn the damn light off," I grumbled, tired enough not to care if they continued to place their hands on my belly. "Sorry, Lena," Webb said, and flicked the switch off. I was soon asleep in the land of nod. If I had any interesting dreams, I didn't remember them, though I woke up with two warm bodies on both sides of me, their hands still placed over my stomach.

As the children of an infamous supervillain, Bait and Switch find themselves ostracized and isolated from their peers in the superhero school they attend. Even many of their teachers distrust them on the basis of their parentage. Switch wants to leave the Academy and break their supervillain mother out of prison, while Bait sees the Academy as their best chance at rising above their mother's legacy and become superheroes themselves. The two fight over these differences of opinions more often than they fight supervillains, but when their long-lost supervillain father returns with sinister plans for the twins, Bait and Switch must put aside their differences to defeat him. If they can't, then not only will they fail to get what they want, but their world will be destroyed. KEYWORDS: superhero action fiction, superhero fantasy, superhero fiction novel, superhero science fiction, superhero scifi, superhero young adult, superhero city, superhero books, superhero action, superhero books for kids, superheroes, cool superheroes, action adventure books, superhero action adventure books, action adventure fiction, superhero action adventure fiction, young adult action adventure, action adventure young adult, free superhero books, free superhero fiction, free action adventure books, free young adult books, free young adult, free action adventure, free superheroes

I’m a rescuer. It’s in my DNA. Stray dogs. Stray women. But this one doesn’t need rescuing. She needs something real, but I never keep the ones I rescue. I could let her go… but I can’t watch her walk away. I’m an ex-Navy SEAL, and I never give up on a mission. Bait & Switch is Book 1 in the new contemporary romance series Alphas Undone, which will each feature a new couple. This is a standalone full-length novel.

In this charming, sexy, and "laugh-out-loud" (USA Today) funny romantic comedy, an online dating ghostwriter's life gets hilariously complicated when she recognizes one of her clients' matches--her ex!--and finds herself forced to flirt with him again, on someone else's behalf... We switch. I bait. Let me help you snag a date. All through college, Blanche Carter was known as the love doctor in her sorority. Now she's parlayed her talent into a unique consulting business: she runs the online dating profiles of Washington D.C.'s most eligible women. Armed with a battalion of rules, Blanche expertly helps her clients optimize their profiles and ace that first date. But although she'll happily message handsome strangers (and fend off dick pics) for other ladies, Blanche's most important rule is the one she has for herself: no relationships. She's seen too much heartbreak to believe in real love anymore. When a former fling pops up among the matches for one of her favorite clients, Blanche gamely messages him on her behalf. Blanche is definitely over him, and this is how she'll prove it. But if she doesn't watch out, Blanche might end up not only screwing over a client--and possibly tanking her entire business--but breaking her rule about love as well . . . Ricki Schultz's trademark irreverent humor and wry insight into the absurdities of modern dating are both outrageously funny and genuinely moving in her unforgettable new novel. "A wry, audacious romance that is perfect for our contemporary moment...[with] sparkling, irreverent banter that is so good you might be tempted to steal it for your own online dating one-liners." -- Entertainment Weekly "Funny, sexy and unexpectedly touching...An often-hilarious and surprisingly endearing read, perfect for beach season!" -- RT Book Reviews "Romantic and funny...a great summer read." -- BookTrib "Ricki Schultz's relatable novel will have readers LOLing." -- US Weekly on Mr. Right-Swipe "A brilliantly funny debut novel about a 21st century girl searching for her happily ever after." -- Bustle on Mr. Right-Swipe "Breezy, brazen...a fun beach read." -- Seattle Times on Mr. Right-Swipe "This book gave me my absolute favorite feeling: laughing out loud alone in a room, chased immediately by the swoons." -- Christina Lauren on Mr. Right-Swipe