Showing results by narrator "Lauren" in All Categories

Five years in a New York state reformatory have left a blemish on Hazel's real name. So when she takes a job as Doctor Gilbert Watts's lady in attendance in 1898, she does so under an alias. In the presence of her quiet and pious employer, Hazel finds more than an income. She finds a friend and a hope that if she can set her tarnished past in order, she might have a future after all.

During the gilded age, when women live subjugated to men, 18-year-old Bridget prides herself on having earned acceptance to medical school. When her father is murdered, a crime that does not interest the law because he was half Native American, she risks her plans to become a doctor, determined to avenge his murder. Bridget's quest thrusts her into a world of seedy men and glitzy women, in one of Omaha's most opulent brothels. There, she finds herself the prey rather than the hunter. If she is to survive, she must keep alliance with a community considered society's lowest.

Dreams. I never had one; never even knew what a dream was until a certain unassuming Carpino waltzed into my life. That day my world tilted. It became unhinged. I might not have been a dreamer, but she was. She wrote the words missing from my life. Her notes ignited my heart. Her flame lit up my darkness. Her dreams became mine, and I’d move heaven and earth to give them life. Especially when my past surfaced and threatened to kill every dream we had. Until Avery, I had nothing.

Meet the brilliant writer, fiercely independent mother, and passionate woman who captured the heart of C.S. Lewis and inspired the books that still enchant and change us today, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea.

Kalinda has brought peace to the Tarachand Empire, at least for now. Bhutas no longer need to hide their gifts. The last of the rebels have been banished. And Prince Ashwin is set to take over as rajah. But for Kalinda, this came at a great loss. Her childhood home. Her best friend. The love of her life. Deven is still trapped in the Void, though he is able to find his way to Kalinda each night. He has been lucky so far—mortals are not meant to last in the Void for long, and Deven has lasted longer than most. But when he doesn’t visit one night, Kalinda knows that his luck has run out.

A woman’s skeletal remains are excavated on an uninhabited island in Sandhamn’s archipelago, and Thomas Andreasson is called to officially investigate. But his best friend, Nora Linde, can’t help but get involved. On leave after her last case took a dark turn, Nora is tortured by depression, nightmares, and guilt. Her marriage fractured, her pride chipped away, Nora could find redemption in this investigation.

Stuck with Alan's ghost following her around, Bree is in hot water now with no easy way out as she's been framed for his murder and plunked in the local pokey. If that weren't bad enough, Gran's ghost has been kidnapped, and all clues point to the Big Easy - New Orleans. With the police on her never-mind-the-size butt, two men vying for her attentions, and a mystery wrapped around the murder of her Gran and ex, she has more than enough to keep her stressed and turning prematurely gray.

Everyone knows the name Vesper Quill. I used to be a lowly lab rat working in a Regal-owned corporation, but thanks to my truebond with Kyrion Caldaren, I’m now one of the most wanted fugitives in the Archipelago Galaxy. Kyrion and I have spent the last few weeks avoiding bounty hunters, along with the Arrows, the elite Imperium warriors tasked with capturing us. Now we’ve journeyed to a distant planet that’s supposed to be a refuge for truebonded couples, but when new enemies appear, we’re once again in grave danger.

Forensic artist Gwen Marcey is between jobs when she accepts temporary work in Pikeville, Kentucky - a small town facing big-city crime. But before Gwen can finish her first drawing of the serial rapist who is on the loose, the latest witness vanishes. Just like all the others. Gwen suspects a connection between the rapist and the "accidental" deaths that are happening around town, but the local sheriff has little interest in her theories. When her digitally-obsessed teenage daughter joins her, Gwen turns her attention to a second assignment.

Motherhood has turned out to be a lot weirder and lonelier than Mary anticipated - has the world gone crazy, or has she? Most of the time, it feels like both. But when her oldest starts kindergarten, Mary meets another mom, Fiona, and the two form an unusual yet exhilarating friendship. There’s only one problem: Mary doesn’t really like Fiona’s husband, Andreas. What begins as a minor irritation keeps intensifying and changing shape in Mary’s mind as Andreas’s perceived wrongdoings pile up, until she can’t distinguish integrity from self-sabotage.

I have a special power, the ability to calm a berserker, but I’ve been warned never to use it. My mother said, “If you see a berserker in a rage…not your monkeys, not your circus. Get the hell away. They’re too dangerous, and you’ll lose your freedom.” But the thing is…we’re flying 30,000 feet in the air in a speeding aluminum cage, and there’s a berserker raging out in the aisle beside me. Security won’t be able to hold him. And if he gets a taste of blood, he’s going to rampage through the entire plane, leaving a path of death and destruction, including me.

Raven Elliot blasts into town like a wrecking ball - striking and devastating. With a few simple words, my reliable routine crumbles to dust. "Is this seat taken?" I could close my eyes and let her voice wrap around me like a lover's caress. But this isn't that type of story. And I'm sure as hell not that kind of man. She hovers in my space, batting her lashes and smiling shyly. The glimmer in her sapphire eyes is a promise of peace. But I'm not falling for it. And Raven doesn't take the hint.

It's my third year at The Academy of the Devil, and things finally seem to be falling into place. I've reached a tentative agreement with my new lovers. My life is finally headed in the right direction. Until he shows up. They say he is an exchange student. They call him Lucian and cluster around him like flies drawn to honey. They are blind. I know the truth. I can see his true identity in his eyes, in his smile, in the sinful power bubbling under his skin. He is Lucifer, the Fallen One, the Brightest Star. He wants me to be his. There's just one problem with that. Callum, Stefan, Mikael, and Meph aren't willing to hand me over to anyone.

The Sylvan Vale and the Sylvan Wyld are at war. Now that the unsteady truce between them has been broken, lines must be drawn. In an effort to protect the weakened Winter Court, Bastien rallies powerful allies and friends in New Orleans to come to their aid.

I like to think I’m a practical person. Car stop working? Thank God for mechanic boyfriends. Goldfish floating upside down? Well, I clearly shouldn’t have a fish. Irrefutably attracted to one of my new roommates? I’ve lost my mind, obviously.

It’s Gin Blanco's party - and you’ll cry if she wants you to. Against her better judgment, Gin is coerced into attending a high-society gala with the rest of Ashland's elite underworld. On display: the priceless art collection of her deceased nemesis, Mab Monroe, and an excess of crime-boss swagger. While not comfortable in her fancy attire, Gin gets vastly more interested in the evening’s events when a group of thieves bursts in and tries to seize the valuable, dangerous gems.

Teagan Frost's life is finally back on track. Her role working for the government as a psychokinetic operative is going well, and she might even be on course for convincing her crush to go out with her. But, little does she know, that sh*t is about to hit the fan.... A young boy with the ability to cause earthquakes has come to Los Angeles - home to the San Andreas, one of the most lethal fault lines in the world. If Teagan can't stop him, the entire city - and the rest of California - could be wiped off the map.

I used to murder people for money, but lately it’s become more of a survival technique. Once an assassin, always an assassin. So much for being plain old Gin Blanco. With every lowlife in Ashland gunning for me, I don’t need another problem, but a new one has come to town anyway. Salina might seem like a sweet Southern belle, but she’s really a dangerous enemy whose water elemental magic can go head-to-head with my own Ice and Stone power.

"My name is Larkspur, and I am an Elemental." My people use the power of the earth to sustain life and defy our enemies. I should be at my father's side as a royal princess. But as a half-breed, bastard child, that isn't going to happen. The King is missing and his mind is cracked. It is up to me to find him before the Rim is taken over by the bloodthirsty heir to the throne. But the path to finding the King is anything but straight, and I find myself in the human world facing possible banishment. All to find a Tracker who happens to be on the run from a demon, yet she is my only hope.

With a little bit of country, a whole lot of faith, and a healthy dose of sass, award-winning singer-songwriter Lauren Alaina's debut book, Getting Good at Being You, invites you to take the road less traveled as you step right up to who God calls you to be.