Showing results by narrator "Natalie" in All Categories

Beautiful, penniless American girl meets handsome, wealthy Scotsman. Sounds like the beginning of a fairy-tale romance? It's not. This story begins with a contract. And an exchange of money. A lot of money. An angel perches nervously on one shoulder. A devil lounges smugly on my other. And even that dark little bastard is leery of what I'm doing.

Mingshin outsmarted three princes to help the man she loved become king. But she doesn’t see Ren’s betrayal coming, not until she’s lying in a pool of her own blood on the palace steps. As she’s dying, Mingshin makes a desperate plea to the gods to turn back time and give her a chance to make things right. Mingshin wakes up two years earlier, her prayer granted, and swears two things: Ren will never become king, and she will never fall in love again. But the timeline in this life has changed.

The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin’s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Trapped by his opium addiction, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry. But when Meilin discovers her husband-to-be is another violent, ill-tempered man, she realizes that nothing will change for her unless she takes matters into her own hands. The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father’s place.

At 21 Queenie Hanlon has the world at her feet. Startlingly beautiful, wealthy and intelligent, she is the only daughter of Tingulla Station, the famed outback property in the wilds of western Queensland. At 22, her life lies in ruins. A series of disasters has robbed her of everything she has ever loved. Everything except Tingulla – her ancestral home and her spirit's Dreaming place. Now she is about to lose that too....

Her body seems to hover above the forest floor. Arms and legs torn away from the trunk. A bloody stump mounted upright on a skewer. Not just a corpse. A warning. The most recent body was discovered in the woods just beyond a logging cabin. Dismembered. Put on display. Ghostly pale skin stark against the forest's green.

If living well is an art, then Toots Loudenberry is a modern-day Michelangelo. She and her best friends - Sophie, Ida, and Mavis - have shared joys and troubles, forged new businesses and love interests, and discovered talents they never knew they possessed - like Sophie’s blossoming psychic gift. The foursome returned from a trip to Sacramento to discover another situation demands their attention. Laura Leigh, a Hollywood starlet whose main talent seems to be landing in trouble, is missing.

Roanna Davenport grew up a wealthy orphan on her grandmother’s magnificent estate, Davencourt. There, she wanted for nothing - except to be loved by her cousin Webb. When he marries another, Roanna is devastated, but life at Davencourt takes an even darker turn when Webb’s new wife is found bludgeoned to death. After the shocking murder, Webb leaves for Arizona, abandoning the privileged life that he had once believed was all he wanted. Years later, a grown-up Roanna walks back into his life to bring him home.

The Republic of Chaonia fleets, under the joint command of Princess Sun and her formidable mother, Queen-Marshal Eirene, have defeated and driven out an invading fleet of the Phene Empire, though not without heavy losses. But the Empire remains undeterred. While Chaonia scrambles to rebuild its military, the Empire’s rulers are determined to squash Chaonia once and for all. They believe their military might is strong enough to defeat the enemy, but they also secure a secret alliance with a deadly religious sect skilled in the use of assassination and covert ops.

Our Broken Love is a collection of novellas by Terri Anne Browning, three of which were originally written under a different pen name. Follow five stories of women who don't realize just how strong they are until their hearts are shattered.

Dear Wendy's Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual college students, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in this dual POV Young Adult contemporary debut from Ann Zhao.

Author, broadcaster and 'rock star classicist' Natalie Haynes is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome. In these four series, she explores some of the most prominent historical and mythological figures from the classical world, telling their stories through a mix of stand-up comedy and conversation.

Some truths are carefully concealed; others merely forgotten. In this spellbinding collection, seven acclaimed fantasy authors create characters who venture into the depths where others fear to tread. But when forbidden knowledge is the ultimate power, how far can they go before the darkness consumes them?

In the lonely woods around Grizzly Falls, Montana, the first body is discovered, stripped naked and tied to a tree. Alvarez and Pescoli have been hoping for a career-making case, but this is a nightmare. The killer stages car accidents on icy, isolated roads and “rescues” his victims. He toys with them, heals them, earns their trust...before subjecting them to a slow, agonizing death.

What does it take to have a long writing life? Drawing on her years of writing, teaching, and practicing Zen, Natalie Goldberg shares the experiences that have opened her to new ways of being alive - experiences that point the way forward in our lives and our writing. The "great spring" of this book title refers to the great rush of energy that arrives when you think no life will ever come again - the early yellow flowering forsythia, for example.

Rubi Whiting is a member of the Bounceback Generation. The first to be raised free of the troubles of the late 21st century. Now she works as a public defender to help troubled individuals with anti-social behavior. That’s how she met Luciano Pox. Luce is a firebrand and has made a name for himself as a naysayer. But there’s more to him than being a lightning rod for controversy. Rubi has to find out why the governments of the world want to bring Luce into custody, and why Luce is hell bent on stopping the recovery of the planet.

Daniel Abe, a young doctor in Chicago, is finally coming back to Hawai'i. He has his own reason for returning to his childhood home, but it is not to revisit the past, unlike his Uncle Koji. Koji lives with the memories of Daniel’s mother, Mariko, the love of his life, and the scars of a life hard-lived. He can’t wait to see Daniel, who he’s always thought of as a son, but he knows the time has come to tell him the truth about his mother, and his father.

They say a painting can have a life of its own... In the case of Ghosts in the Mind by Henry Sebastian Hubert, that’s more than just an expression. This painting is reputed to come to life - and to bring death. Wherever it goes, death seems to follow. Danielle Cafferty and Michael Quinn, occasional partners in solving crime, are quickly drawn into the case.

Sam and the mysterious mustang known as the Phantom have become friends, and Sam is determined to defend his freedom on the open range. But the mustang has been accused of stealing tame mares from local ranchers. Sam knows the Phantom isn't to blame, and she races to prove his innocence. Then, a local rancher offers a reward to anyone who can capture the wild stallion. A price on his head means it's not just the Phantom's freedom Sam is fighting for - it's his life.

Dive into the pastoral world of Toby Dog of Gold Shaw Farm, a delightful and adventurous tale penned by Morgan Gold, the creator behind the Gold Shaw Farm social media accounts. Step into a story told through the eyes of Toby, a courageous and endearing livestock guardian dog. Journey with Toby as he navigates farm life, forms enduring bonds, and becomes the farm's valiant protector.

“I love you, Vanessa.” He said the words with ferocity in his eyes, declaring his love for me without a second thought. It was impossible to get a man like him to commit, but he did it freely. But that declaration only made me realize how wrong this relationship was. It could only end one way. My mother set me up on a blind date, with a family friend named Matteo. I show up and try to be good company, but Bones is the one that’s on my mind. I try to focus, but flashbacks of our nights together hit me like sweat on the skin.