Showing results by narrator "Chelsea Stephens" in All Categories

Michael Dahl is broken. After sacrificing his magic, his health, and his lover to exorcise a demon spy, the nineteen-year-old agent is devastated to learn that the people he sought to protect see him as a conspiracy theorist and an embarrassment. But when he is shunted away to a meaningless research post, Dahl uncovers a disturbing revelation: his victory over the demon was not the end, but a portent of the impending apocalypse.

In Dreams of the Overworked, Christine M. Beckman and Melissa Mazmanian offer vivid sketches of daily life for nine families, capturing what it means to live, work, and parent in a world of impossible expectations, now amplified unlike ever before by smart devices. We are invited into homes and offices, where we recognize the crushing pressure of unraveling plans, and the healing warmth of being together. Moreover, we witness the constant planning that goes into a "good" day, often with the aid of phones and apps.

When a demon king demands the repayment of a favor, Karian Vanador finds herself prisoner to his wishes. But all is not as it appears.... Working behind enemy lines, Kari must turn the unexpected into an advantage. War between the worlds of Citaria and Mehr’Durillia is inevitable, but the question of where it will be fought lies in her hands. If she can strike just the right blow, Kari may keep the battle far from the realms of her people.

Seventeen-year-old film noir fan Neve Lanier is a girl who just wants to be seen, but doesn't really fit in anywhere. When Neve is betrayed by her best friend, Yasmin, at the end of the school year, she heads off to a girl's empowerment camp feeling like no one will ever love her again. So when she grabs the attention of the beautiful, charismatic Diane, she falls right under her spell, and may accidentally promise to murder Diane's predatory step-brother, Javier, in exchange for Diane murdering Yasmin. But that was just a joke…right? Wrong.

Within the sprawling ruins of Seattle, the Nest looms high above as a stronghold of the aristocratic Crow class, ruled with an iron fist by Lord Corvus. Rayna and her resilient Hydrans have long toiled at the depths of Lake Union, crawling for valuable scrap metal to trade with the Crows.

Demon lights, granted wishes, strange things, and brutal love at the Lucky Lounge Motel. A haunted sister, desperate parents, a little human touch, and the end of the world. These are the stories whispered among dead leaves, the script etched bare for all to see. Welcome to Glenn Rolfe’s Land of Bones, 14 tales of the strange and macabre.

When Katherine Miller was first asked to train chefs to be advocates, she thought the idea was ludicrous. But she quickly learned that chefs and other leaders in the restaurant industry are some of the most powerful forces for change in our troubled food system. Chefs are leading hunger relief efforts, supporting local farmers, fighting food waste, confronting racism and sexism in the industry, and much more.

Annie Fitch, a former police detective, struggles to make ends meet as a private investigator in the sleepy town of Leesburg, Virginia. On partial disability because of gunshot injuries, she’s relegated to doing surveillance gigs and background checks. But things are looking up, since her on-again, off-again relationship is back on and might stay that way.

Bounty hunting is rewarding, but nobody ever said it was easy. When your partner is a powerful dark witch with anger issues, it can get downright terrifying. Good thing Matt Bordelon is up for a challenge because the weather isn’t the only thing heating up in the Big Easy. A cabal of dark witches and wizards will do anything to control magic. A powerful, idealistic, and extremely misguided politico can only make things worse. As if that wasn’t enough, something evil is snatching people from the New Orleans area.

Everest Lovecraft is going to be murdered. After joining forces with a devil to destroy a tyrannical shadow corporation, Everest is furious when he foresees a massacre at the hands of the other-worldly prince. But preventing the demon’s rise to power comes with an unthinkable price: saving the world will kill his partner. Setting a trap to force the demon’s hand, Everest hopes to slay the would-be overlord and change the flow of fate. But with cutthroat traitors stalking his every move and his honor stained with treason, Everest knows he cannot face the apocalypse alone.

Gem's life has gone from bad to worse faster than her secret demon baby can say "baby daddy". What started as a crappy job and a possible killer to bring to justice has become a full-blown conspiracy from hell. Literally. Demons are being summoned into New Orleans and Gem is sure there's a Nephilim behind it. Now, all she has to do is prove it. Oh yeah, and not get herself killed in the process. Too bad for Gem, everyone has secrets, including her. And when the powers-that-be find out what she's capable of, they'll stop at nothing to silence her once and for all.

Never should have been the end of my problems. I should be back on Grimm. With Hook. Hating Crowley. And working alongside my partner, the Hatter. But life rarely turns out how I expect. The Sea Witch, and oh, incidentally my mother, has told me I'm a witch. Not just any witch either, but one of the biggest bad. I wouldn't believe her, except I can do magick now. Unfortunately, I can't do enough to escape the predicament I'm in. Hook's dead. Crowley's dead. And I'm alone in a realm that hates my guts. And there has been a murder. My sister's, Aquata's. The realm blames me.

What a long, strange trip it's been for Chloe. After her dream of becoming a Parisian pastry chef—and a wife—crashed and burned, she returned home to the seaside town of Azalea Bay, California and opened a cannabis cafe. Despite some residents' misgivings about how such a business may affect the community's reputation, Baked by Chloe has become a popular destination for tourists and locals alike. Nothing mellows out people like sweet edibles and frothy drinks with a dash of CBD.

When his three-year-old daughter goes missing, Nick Rossi fears he’ll relive his sister’s disappearance from twenty-five years ago. Only this time officer Ruby Orton and her K-9 partner, Pepper, rescue the child. But as the kidnappers escalate to murder and target Nick, Ruby knows there’s more behind the abduction. Together, can they find the connection with a decades-old cold case…before the past turns deadly?

By night, the Ankou is a legendary, permanently young mercenary - the most fearsome sword for hire in all of the Five Lands, and its most abiding mystery. But when the sun rises, a dark magic leaves him no more than bones. Cursed with this cycle of death and resurrection, the Ankou wants only to find the final rest that has been prophesied for him, no matter the cost.

When their hopes for ending Moquoia's brutal system of bondage are crushed, unlikely allies Lark and Veran are forced to flee into the harsh desert. With no weapons or horses, they must make their way to safety across the 50-mile expanse of waterless plains known as the water scrape. It is an odyssey filled with unexpected dangers that challenge even a skilled outlaw like Lark - though the farther they travel, the more she wonders if she even fits the fearsome title of the Sunshield Bandit anymore.

In 1927, 17-year-old Elsie is dropped off in a new city with three other teenage girls, who have each trained since childhood to become the wife of a powerful man. And when they learn that their next target is earmarked to become president, their mission becomes more than just an assignment; this is a chance at the most powerful position in the society. But as these ambitious girls compete for the heart of a boy who has been given everything, Elsie starts to wonder what would happen if the name on that future ballot was hers.

The desolate canyons of Alcoro - and the people desperate enough to hide there - couldn’t be more different from the opulent glass palace and lush forests of Moquoia. But the harsh desert and gleaming court are linked through their past, present, and future: a history of abductions in the desert to power Moquoia’s quarries and factories and a bleak, inhumane future built on the sweat and sacrifice of these bond laborers.

Vampire Alexis Black just wanted to be human again. Now she just wants to stay alive...and undead. After Alexis tried and failed to kill Delano Melazi, an ancient bloodsucker hell-bent on revenge, he’s been trying to repay the favor one pointy-toothed minion at a time. An army of undead intent on stalking and staking her.

After flipping her twin brother from foe to friend and staking her sadistic sire, Alexis Black hoped things would become a little less vamp-centric. But when, Lysette, the sister she thought was dead shows up alive and allied with her enemy, the vengeful vamp Delano Melazi, Alexis finds herself up to her fangs in undead.