Showing results by narrator "Laurie Winkel" in All Categories

Ruth is a no-nonsense 40-something journalist from the Midwest desperate for a child with her new husband, Hal. Their hope rests with Cally, a 19-year-old who wants to go to college - but doesn’t have the cash. The arrangement seems perfect for everyone. But within a day of the baby’s birth, Cally has a change of heart - and engineers a harrowing escape from the hospital with the newborn. When Ruth and Hal discover that Cally and their daughter are gone, a whole series of doubts and secrets is revealed, and the difference between right and wrong is no longer clear.

Gabby Mendoza just wants to be a normal teenage girl. Unfortunately, she's facing some serious obstacles in the "normal" department. For one, she's living out the zombie apocalypse in an underground bunker. Second, she's been raised by her crazy ex-CIA uncle to be a petite zombie-killing machine. And third - she's not entirely human.

Eighteen-year-old Devi Bennett is surrounded by mysteries: her unknown heritage, a recurring dream about an African tribal ceremony, an inexplicable attachment to a certain tree and a psychic ability she'll never understand - unless she finds her biological parents. Things take a shocking turn when she meets Baron, an intense and alluring energy healer who receives prophetic dreams which all seem connected to her.

I was a just normal guy until the night the cherry blossoms bloomed, the night that Grace appeared on my doorstep. A failed sci-fi writer, a gamer, but a normal guy nonetheless. Grace was everything I was not - a psychic shifter, beautiful beyond my wildest imagination, a government conspiracy waiting to be unraveled. And that was before the second superpowered woman showed up to kill us both.

Things are about to get sticky...I might as well permanently add the label "Ex" to my name. I'm an Ex-Mr. Universe. Ex-Mr. Olympus. An Ex-Hollywood Stuntman. But no one from my small hometown cares anything about that. They only care that I'm the ex-boyfriend to the beloved Mayor's daughter, Elaina Dyker. And now, t10 years later, I'm back, helping my siblings run my mother's bakery while she takes on chemotherapy treatments. What should have been a routine cupcake delivery turns into utter chaos when the bachelorette party thinks I'm a stripper.

Nothing is ever as it seems. In a world where lies and deceit rule, my carefully hidden secrets weren’t an exception. The privileged hide behind masks that only elitism and power can provide. Yet, I’m still learning just how vile and ruthless you need to become to play their twisted game. In my naiveté, I thought my heart would always be safe in their hands. But I was wrong. So very wrong. And now I have to live with the tangled mess my actions have created.

In the aftermath of the Developer’s Tournament, Esil has a new life filled with opportunity. He’s the first person to test out their most innovative technology, full-immersion gameplay, in a brand new, unexplored gameworld. Magic and mayhem collide in ways he never thought possible, and soon he finds himself caught in a quest that may alter the course of the game for years to come. As Esil experiences the grandeur of full-immersion and the line blurs between reality and the gameworld, the NPCs he meets feel more like friends than data.

As a long-time gamer and guild leader, Cerys has always wondered what it would be like to live in virtual reality. When her guild members convince her to try a new VRMMO, she discovers reality is far more complex than she knew. Chosen by the gods of another world, Cerys finds herself trapped between warring factions: a tyrannical human empire and an oppressed kingdom of demons.

Chance Abbot is cocky. Sexy. Gorgeous. A player in every sense of the word. He broke my heart once, and I swore he'd never get a second chance. But when he smiles at me, flashing those irresistible dimples or looks at me like I'm the best thing he's ever seen, I forget I shouldn't fall for his charms again.

Liam "Mr. Popular" Carter will always be the closest thing to the "walking plague" in my eyes. His cockiness seeps through his every move, and no matter how many state championships he wins with the basketball team, he will forever be a "loss" to me. Because he's my older brother's best friend, I'm forced to tolerate him, and he's forced to tolerate me. In fact, unless my brother is around, we happily ignore each other every chance we get. It wasn't always this way, though....

On a frozen wasteland of a planet, a girl is on the run with a wolf who is born to be a killer but bound to be her guide. As they fight to escape ice goblins, giant bears, and a ruthless leader intent on trapping them both, one question drives them relentlessly forward: Where do you turn when there is nowhere to hide?

Esil is content with his quiet life beta testing new game worlds, so he doesn’t give the invitation a second thought. Having every detail of his life scrutinized while pursuing gold and glory are ambitions of the past, and mentoring is at the bottom of his to-do list. That all changes when Dean, a teenager from the same orphanage where Esil grew up, begs for help. This is a life-changing opportunity for a kid from the boxes.

Living through World War II working in a Paris bookstore with her young daughter, Vivi, and fighting for her life, Charlotte is no victim, she is a survivor. But can she survive the next chapter of her life? Alternating between wartime Paris and 1950s New York publishing, Ellen Feldman's Paris Never Leaves You is an extraordinary story of resilience, love, and impossible choices, exploring how survival never comes without a cost.

Financial expert Catey Hill shows moms how to spend less and save big in this savvy guide where each step is designed to take 30 minutes at most. Financial expert Catey Hill has created smart, simple strategies to help you maximize your money in minimal time (yes, even your 401k). Drawing on extensive research and exclusive studies on the actual cost of raising a child at each age, she'll show you how to save in each area of your life, including practical tips on buying clothes, lowering your grocery bill, building up a college fund, saving insurance, and more.

In the aftermath of the Civil War so many people struggled to put their lives back together. Iris Sands travels from Virginia to Texas as a mail-order bride. When she arrives in Sweet Water she finds that the man who sent for her died. The Union Soldiers thought her to be a new saloon girl and thought to get to her first before she started working. Lex Willis and ex-Confederate Soldier was about to leave town when he saw Iris being tossed back and forth by the soldiers. He puts a stop to it and takes her to the Eastman Ranch. He swore never to marry but Iris makes him rethink his vow.

Hey, all you cool cats and vampires, I'm witch and bounty hunter Sylvie Orion. Or at least, I was. Who and what I am seems to be up for debate these days. I mean, other than the fact I'm now the world's most wanted witch. (The reward is buy-your-own-island money. I even want to turn myself in) Currently, I'm missing my soul and all the magic that comes with it. For extra athame-in-the-eye fun, I'm being held prisoner by Shifter Nation. Whoa Goddess, do they have plans for me. Plans no sane witch would ever agree to be a part of.

Gideon and the ladies continue their uphill battle against Mercsecure, and along the way, bust even more super ladies out of The New Mexico Facility high-security research lab to join the fight, including the speedy, motor-mouthed Michelle.

Paris, 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

Re •sent •ment: The act of hating - no, f--king loathing Dean Collins. (Yes, I'm well aware that's not the actual definition, but it might as well be....) It's been 10 years since we've seen each other, and the feelings are still as strong. I'm not going to bore you with all the details of how our love was once intoxicating, consuming, and perfect. Because it was...until it wasn't. I've been fine without him. I haven't missed his cruelty, his coldness, and his spite. And after the ugliest breakup in the history of breakups, I forced myself to move on.

Jessa Mae Love is done with relationships. No matter how tempting he might be, she cannot - will not - fall for a man like Lance Cortez. The outrageously handsome cowboy is practically a living legend in Colorado, as famous for riding bulls as he is for breaking hearts. What would a big-time rodeo star like him see in a small-town veterinarian who wears glasses, rescues animals, and cries when watching rom-coms? Turns out, plenty.