In the new Blacktop Cowboys® Novel from the New York Timesbestselling author of Hillbilly Rockstar strange bedfellows find common ground after the lights go down…Flower child, vegetarian and humanitarian Harlow Pratt and gruff and strapping cattle ranch foreman Hugh Pritchett have been taunting each other for years. Hugh thinks she’s nothing but a spoiled rich girl, and he’s had enough of that life with his ex-wife. Harlow thinks Hugh is an ill-mannered trouble-maker who wouldn\'t know fun if it bit him on his tight denim-clad butt.When they’re forced together at the Split Rock Ranch and Resort, everything changes. They might be polar opposites, but working out their differences skin to skin, in the dark, seems to help their incompatibility a lot. But when trouble from both their pasts comes calling, Harlow and Hugh have no one else to lean on. Can they trust one another enough to make it through the hard times together… or will their tentative truce fall apart?

***MISADVENTURES ARE STANDALONE ROMANCES THAT CAN BE READ IN ANY ORDER***An Overnight Billionaire... When Carson Frost inherits a confectionary that rakes in billions but is too cash-strapped to last another sixty days, he agrees to take a loan from his late father\'s rival. There are two catches: Carson has to sign over a permanent stake in the company, and marry the man\'s daughter.Concocts a Fake Bride... Two weeks before the wedding, he gets cold feet and claims he\'s in love with someone else. The investor says he\'ll still hand over the cash if Carson takes a stroll down the aisle--with the woman who owns his heart. Since he isn\'t even dating anyone, Carson panics. Where is he going to find a bride willing to jilt him at the altar on such short notice? And Whips Up a Little Love. Ella Hope is an actress happy for any paying gig, but jilting a hottie in public isn\'t what she had in mind. Still, she needs rent, and he\'s in a bind. How hard can it be? While playing at matrimony, suddenly their intimacy isn\'t so fake. Ella can\'t help but fantasize that Carson is her groom and they will live happily ever after. But once his company is safe, will he want her anymore?

ReviewThe Observer (UK)[HTML_REMOVED], August 8, 2010“Cool and concise… It isn't often that you see foreign policy, healthcare and pensions discussed in the same breath, but it makes you sit up when you do.”Financial Times, August 8, 2010“Mr Mandelbaum has been preaching the gospel of petrol taxes for a long time, and does so persuasively… The author is always reasonable and clear.”Sunday Times (UK), August 8, 2010“Mandelbaum is persuasive in defining the structural problems of the American economy, and the consequences.”Basil & Spice, August 17, 2010“Mandelbaum writes in... clear, easy-to-comprehend prose. I recommend The Frugal Superpower without reservation and I hope that President Barack Obama and his Cabinet and advisors and Congress will follow the sensible policies advocated by its author.”Pajamas Media, August 13, 2010“My friend Michael Mandelbaum has a new book out this month with the timely title and theme The Frugal Superpower. It’s also short, as if Michael were reminding us this is not a good moment to overspend on excess paper in our cash-strapped world. As an advocate of the short book in general (with some obvious exceptions), I call that a win-win.”Thomas Friedman, The New York Times, September 4, 2010“Very timely”_Harvard Magazine_“It’s easy to be powerful (if not loved) when rich. But what happens when the chief guarantor of world security becomes less so? The author, of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, sees a more modest U.S. profile, and less imported oil.”Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, December 13, 2010“In explaining the connection between recent domestic policy developments and U.S. foreign policy, the author provides an uncomplicated foundation for understanding the direct line between politics and economics.”Washington_ Diplomat_, February, 2011“The book, released in August 2010, is timely not only because of lingering uncertainties surrounding the supposed economic recovery, but also because of the underlying, long-term issues it addresses. Mandelbaum makes a strong, clear case that America’s unrestrained foreign policy will crack under the weight of crippling deficits — fueled by the huge costs of the financial crash and the nation’s entitlement programs.”Modern Judaism, February, 2011“An excellent…account of a country whose historic poverty, exacerbated by the Vietnam War, remains remarkably unchanged.”_Vingtieme Siecle_, January 20, 2011“This concise and elegant history of ‘Commentary’ is a good introduction for those looking to understand the influence and role of the monthly in the intellectual wars of the post-WWII United States.”Product DescriptionIn this incisive new book, Michael Mandelbaum argues that the era marked by an expansive American foreign policy is coming to an end. During the seven decades from the U.S. entry into World War II in 1941 to the present, economic constraints rarely limited what the United States did in the world. Now that will change. The country's soaring deficits, fueled by the huge costs of the financial crash and of its entitlement programs—Social Security and Medicare—will compel a more modest American international presence.In assessing the consequences of this new, less expensive foreign policy, Mandelbaum, one of America's leading foreign policy experts, describes the policies the United States will have to discontinue, assesses the potential threats from China, Russia, and Iran, and recommends a new policy, centered on a reduction in the nation's dependence on foreign oil, which can do for America and the world in the twenty-first century what the containment of the Soviet Union did in the twentieth.

The much anticipated second installment of the Strapped Trilogy, Strapped Down picks up where the first installment concluded. Eric is not going down without a fight, but Shyla and Taylor are willing to go to equally dark lengths to make him pay for his betrayal. In their quest to seek revenge and find happiness, deeply guarded secrets from their pasts begin to surface, revealing they are linked to each other in ways they could never have imagined. For every secret they uncover, another seems to surface as they find themselves raveled in a web that extends much further than the confines of the darkroom. As Shyla and Taylor become more entwined with each other, Shyla learns that Taylor's dark side is far more dangerous than she initially believed. Will Shyla continue to follow Taylor into the darkness, or is he far too gone for her light to shine through?Please note: This is a dark novel and it contains adult themes and content. Both main characters have mental health and emotional issues and are deeply flawed. You will likely have conflicted feelings about the characters. This is not a typical romance novel. 

By all appearances, Shyla Ball has an enviable life: a loyal boyfriend, a great job, and family that loves her. She doesn't realize how deeply unsatisfied she is until she has an embarrassing encounter with a handsome stranger at a coffee shop. Taylor Holden, a successful businessman, takes a sudden special interest in her and offers her a job she cannot refuse. Soon after, she learns there is much more to this intensely private man than meets the eye. He is hiding many painful secrets, including why it is that he has seemingly plucked her out of obscurity for such a lucrative position. Her "perfect" world is turned upside down by her infatuation towards Taylor and in just a couple of months, her life looks nothing like it did before. While she is frightened by the changes she sees in herself, she cannot resist the lure of Taylor Holden. As Shyla slowly gains Taylor's trust, she learns of his complex history and how it has molded him into the person he has become. When elements of Taylor's secret past resurface and threaten to destroy them, Shyla finds out there may be more to Taylor's story than even he is aware of. Strapped is a story of passion, manipulation, obsession, and family secrets. Strapped is told in the voice of Shyla. Despite the dark subject matter of the book, Shyla's often sarcastic and humorous personality lends an unusual voice to this heroine.Beware: Strapped contains explicit adult themes and content.

What do you do when the man who you love more than anyone else in the world terrifies you?This is a question Shyla must confront and it takes her to her breaking point.The only person who can bring her back is the same person who is capable of destroying her beyond repair. Shyla has seen a side of Taylor she can never forget. She now understands that not only is he capable of immense tenderness, but ruthless violence. She must decide if she will fully trust Taylor and embrace both his light and darkness, as it is clear both exist equally within him. Their pasts continue to cast a shadow over their relationship as Shyla attempts to convince Taylor that the only way they can truly embrace the future is to reopen and repair old wounds. Taylor swears anything he has ever done was to protect Shyla, but Eric's words haunt her and cast doubts on Taylor's intentions.Taylor will do anything for Shyla.Now she must decide if that is actually good thing.