Showing results by narrator "Ryan James" in All Categories

Elise was always made fun of for her big ears and buck teeth. She tried her best to overcome the mockery, only to work herself to death and wake up as... a big-eared, buck-toothed rabbit. Now, with nothing but an almost worthless System Assistant to help her, she needs to survive in a world full of magic and monsters. On top of all that, for some reason she's been given the ominous [Mark of Fate] skill. She has no idea what it does, but things keep happening to her, most of them unpleasant.

On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is...different: Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because she’s responsible for the deaths of millions and someone might shoot her on sight.

Being a different breed of shapeshifter—a walker—Mercy can see ghosts, but the spirit of her long-gone father has never visited her. Until now. An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River—and innocent people are dying. As other walkers make their presence known to Mercy, she must reconnect with her heritage to exorcise the world of the legend known as the river devil.

Oli the goblin is the last creature anyone would send on a world-ending quest. But the Dark Lord's under siege and without his doomsday weapon, those pesky forces of Good might just get it done this time. Seizing the long-awaited opportunity to serve their Big Boss, Oli and his cousins strike out on a super secret mission to retrieve the doomsday weap-on a road trip to see their family. With the hopes of every creature sinister and foul riding on them, the goblins hurry directly to their destination. Mostly directly. Okay, so it's more of a zigzag.

For over a year, I've been hiding from my ruthless mob boss father and lying to everyone around me. Jordan is a sweet, protective biker who thinks we eloped in Vegas the night we met. The truth is, he was just supposed to be my ticket out of my gilded prison. I had nowhere to go, so when Jordan asked me to live with him after we got to his home in Rockland, I reluctantly agreed. After that, it was impossible to resist falling in love with him. But every second we're together is ruined thanks to the agonizing guilt eating away at me.

A charming novella in the Innkeeper Chronicles, from #1 New York Times bestselling author, Ilona Andrews. Thank you for joining us at Gertrude Hunt, the nicest Bed and Breakfast in Red Deer, Texas, during the Treaty Stay. As you know, we are honor-bound to accept all guests during this oldest of innkeeper holidays and we are expecting a dangerous guest. Or several. But have no fear. Your safety and comfort is our first priority. The inn and your hosts, Dina Demille and Sean Evans, will defend you at all costs. [But we hope we don’t have to.]

The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death. Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella's village to be their Human Queen. To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she's dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town's only healer. That is, until the Elf King unexpectedly arrives... for her.

Being a lowly “walker” in a world of vampires, werewolves, and fae once kept her safe. But Mercy’s bark–and bite–are not so harmless any more. Though Mercy can shift her shape into that of a coyote, her loyalty never wavers. So when her former boss and mentor, Zee, asks for her help, she’s there for him. A series of murders has rocked a fae reservation, and Zee needs her unique gifts, namely her coyote sense of smell, to sniff out the killer.

My father was once a powerful player in the Chicago underground, but six years ago, he left that life behind. We changed our names. Our identities. Our lives. The ghosts of the past never forgot him, though. They never forgot me. Dad promised me we were safe, but I should’ve known that was just another one of his lies. The past always finds you, and mine finds me on my wedding day when four brutal, dangerous men drag me from the altar in a hail of gunfire. Four men who used to be four boys. Four boys I cared about. Four boys I left behind.

Toby never meant to be a highway robber, but needs must. He didn’t plan to impersonate a top London valet either, but when the chance comes to present himself as the earl of Arvon’s new gentleman's gentleman, he grabs it. Unfortunately, the earl is the man he seduced and robbed on the road to get here. Oops.

Adair Finch, the most powerful warlock in the world, is back in business! But first he must complete his pact with a mischief spirit by finding her a human body. Seemingly no easy task, as the mischief spirit is beyond picky about her future body. But on his way to Oakland, Finch stumbles upon the dead body of a social media star—both a solution and a major problem.

Abby Mann's classic story about the Nuremberg trials, under which German leaders were found guilty of crimes against humanity in 1945 and 1946. Even today, the play remains a shattering indictment of the consequences of unchecked authority and the seductive power of group thought.

Andrei had finally found his mate and he couldn't believe his luck when he found Sage. Second-chance mates have never been heard of. However, he soon realizes that Sage is just as broken as he is. Sage spent years in the hands of monsters and now finds herself in Andrei's forsaken hands, which are just as tainted as those that kidnapped her. Yet now he must win her over, only the goddess loves to twist fate, Andrei hates rogues except Sage, his Newfound second-chance mate.

Captain Felix Duval and the crew of the Temerarious quietly patrol a remote Mentak Coalition colony system where nothing ever happens. But when they answer a distress call from a moon under attack, that peaceful existence is torn apart. They rescue a scientist, Thales, who's developing revolutionary technology to create new wormholes. He just needs a few things to make it fully operational...and now, ordered to aid the scientist, the Temerarious is targeted by two rival black-ops teams intent on reacquiring Thales.

Abandoned by her allies, the Republic of Venice holds out as the last beacon of resistance against the hobgoblin armies. Armed with new weapons the Southern Horde drives upon the floating city by land and sea. The Northern Horde drives deep into the heart of Europa and all fall before it. The Horde is vast beyond measure. Assassin daggers lurk in every shadow. Necrotic evil seeps and infects.

Adley’s going through it. Her dream job is a nightmare and her boyfriend recently ran off with her best friend and her cat! Alone, friendless, and catless, she asks the universe for someone to love and maybe a cat. The universe more than delivers, sending her two cats that can transform into super hot dudes who claim to be her fated mates. Unfortunately, being a fated mate doesn’t mean you’re miraculously emotionally and mentally prepared for such a relationship. It’s hard to find a therapist when you technically don’t exist in this world and don’t have health insurance.

For John Sutton, things are finally looking up. For now. The farm is running smoothly, the local bandits have been pacified, and he is starting to understand how magic works. Though none of that will matter if he can’t get his Doom Points under control.

For Smoke and his daughter Denny, life on the Sugarloaf Ranch is more valuable than all the gold in the world. Which works out fine, since all the gold mines in Big Rock were squeezed dry years ago. Even so, that won’t stop a pair of businessmen from the East from trying to squeeze out a little more. One of them has developed a newfangled method for extracting gold—something called “hydraulics”—and they’ve bought up all the old mines to do it. Smoke isn’t sure what to think of. Especially when they hire a small army of gunfighters to protect their mines from sabotage.

The magical tea has worn off. My eyes are wide open. And it’s with horror that I realize the fate of two realms rests on my shoulders after my mother’s ultimate sacrifice to trap Rubezahl in Underhill. Terrified humans clamoring for answers, whispered rumors from both Seelie and Unseelie, and a stepmother who seeks the throne for surprising reasons are the least of my troubles. Rubezahl has returned far sooner than I thought possible. I’m not ready. I can’t win this. And not only that… He has something crucial if we are to win. He’s taken something I cannot live without.

In a future of near-instantaneous global travel, of abundant provision for the needs of all, a future in which no one living can remember an actual war, a long era of stability threatens to come to an abrupt end. For known only to a few, the leaders of the great Hives, nations without fixed location, have long conspired to keep the world stable, at the cost of just a little blood. A few secret murders, mathematically planned. So that no faction can ever dominate, and the balance holds. And yet the balance is beginning to give way.