Showing results by narrator "Paige McKinney" in All Categories

Senator Meredith Mitchell has been groomed from young adulthood for a future run for president, and as scion of a political dynasty, every public and private move she makes is carefully calculated. But Meredith’s focus on the right causes, the right people, and the right timing evaporates when she meets Stevie Palmer, a dashing public defender with a hard knock past.

Elite operative Domino is no stranger to peril and impossible situations. Trained all her life to be just as comfortable fighting terrorists as mixing with the gala crowd, she is proficient at playing any role necessary to accomplish her objective and believes the cause sanctifies the means. But her latest assignment to investigate journalist Hayley Ward will test more than her skills, ingenuity, and courage, because this time she faces the ultimate dilemma: a choice between loyalty and love.

A fragile melody of love is played between these damaged souls, a song made sweeter and stronger by the day. But will their blossoming romance be destroyed by an outsider's greed or will it succumb to the discord of Graham's tormented heart? Can Graham find happiness with Anna, caught up in the fiery overtures and darkly gothic strains of Love's Melody Lost?

Music producer Mason Liner has one passion: The acts she can bring to the top of the charts. When the biggest record label in Nashville hands her a new client, country music royalty, Sophie Roddy, Mason’s reluctant to take on a problem diva whose excessive lifestyle almost ruined her career, but can't turn down the challenge. Victoria Roddy has lived in Sophie Roddy’s shadow for as long as she can remember. Being her mother's assistant is more than a job description...it’s her life.

Emery Lawson reinvents herself after another near-death experience prompts a thorough reevaluation of her priorities. Empowered to live a life of no regrets, she casts aside all that is familiar to face her fears and chase her dreams. But as she heads for the wilds of Alaska, romance is definitely not on her agenda, because she's convinced she's incapable of falling in love.

Meet law school friends Campbell, Abby, and Grace, law partners at Austin’s premier boutique legal firm for young, hip entrepreneurs. Or, it will be as soon as they score a victory for their first big client. Campbell Clark wins the big pitch, and lands the client, or so she thinks, until the internet start-up insists her firm work with the legal counsel Campbell thought they’d be replacing. Wynne Garrity has never been second best, and she’s not going to let anyone screw up her chance of making partner, but to do so she needs to hang onto her client.

Master carpenter Blaze Carter has upheld her family legacy for honesty and excellence and honed a reputation to match. Her greatest desire is to pass her knowledge on to her children. All she has to do is find her perfect partner who wants the same things—a full life and a family of their own. Trinity Greene grew up poor and has risen above the stigma of believing she’ll never amount to anything. She’s worked hard and is well on her way to becoming head nurse in the ED.

In the aftermath of a shattering personal loss, Detective Kyle Bain buries her pain in the routine of fulfilling her professional and family obligations. When she meets Lane Connor, the owner of a popular restaurant on the shores of the Pacific Ocean who is struggling with a broken heart of her own, the chance for happiness suddenly seems possible. As Lane and Kyle take the first tentative steps toward rebuilding their lives and exploring the attraction between them, Kyle makes a shocking discovery about the woman she is coming to love.

For Lindsay Kent, Vineyard is her dream job. She's thrilled when her boss leaves her in charge (well, half charge) and tells her to feel free to make changes. Lindsay has tons of ideas that she's been dying to put into action, and this is her big chance to increase the success of the business and prove she's more than ready to run things solo. But getting the boss's daughter on board is harder than expected. The uptight and annoyingly attractive Piper is blocking her every move. For Piper Bradshaw, Vineyard is not her job. She already has one.

Following the execution of Lukas Morris, Preternatural Private Investigator Kassandra Lyall told herself that she'd learn more about the local werewolf pack's Alpha female. Just as she begins her investigation, she's interrupted by a phone call from friend and ex-colleague, Detective Arthur Kingfisher. The body of a 16-year-old boy has been found. It's not just any 16-year-old boy, it's Timothy Nelson, a boy Kassandra knew was curious about the preternatural.

Preternatural private investigator and paranormal huntress Kassandra Lyall is used to working alone. Whenever there's a murder or a mystery to solve that involves the preternatural she's the witch they call. When she's contacted to help the local cops work on a mysterious murder case, she finds herself needing all the help she can get. A bloodthirsty werewolf is loose in the city and on a killing spree. As if her plate weren't full enough, a strange she-wolf seeks Kassandra's aid, asking her to help find her missing brother.

Jay "Flash" Reynolds has a brilliant future as a trauma surgeon until a truck on a rainy night changes her life. Assistant chief medical examiner Olivia Price is more at ease with the dead than the living - at least the dead never lie. All she needs to do is listen to their stories. What she doesn't need is a surly new resident who would rather be somewhere else. Two women, one with a damaged body, the other a damaged spirit, challenge each other to dare to live again.

Agent Harper "Shield" Kennedy's specialty within the Elite Operatives Organization is security, although she's long lost any gratification from babysitting most VIPs. However, her new assignment - to safeguard the US president - will prove to be the biggest challenge of her career. Shield's mission to protect the first female chief executive is complicated by threats to her own life when she begins to question the president's orders.

Game of Thrones, book and show alike, is spun from classic myth, from the tales of Robin Hood and King Arthur to the Norse Ring Cycle and saga of Ragnarok. Above all these human adventures soar Daenerys' dragons adapted from the dragons, wyverns, and wyrms of Western bestiaries. But what about the merlings, seal folk, wargs, greenseers, grumpkins, and snarks: Which mythologies created them?

Leslie Raymond spent the past two years wishing her life had taken a different turn. It’s time for a fresh start, a move across the country, and a new set of rules to help heal her heart—no straight women, no women with kids, and no commitment. But when she meets her new neighbors, the beautiful Erica and her special needs daughter, Siena, she struggles against the pull she immediately experiences. Erica Cooper has learned to rely only on herself. She knows most people don’t stick around when the going gets tough.

Attorney Siobhan Collins’ life has been shrouded in mystery from the moment she was born, but she is certain of one thing - she owes her life and everything she has achieved to the Mancuso family, and she has pledged to protect their interests at any cost. Her loyalty will be put to the test when she learns the woman who has stolen her heart is determined to destroy the only world she has ever known.

Veterinarian Grace Hammond is looking for a fresh start. Haunted by her past, she hopes moving back to her hometown will help her find the strength to stand up for what she needs in matters of the heart. The moment her first love, Bobbie Del Rey, walks into her clinic - tall, dark, and soaking wet - the boundaries Grace desperately needs become paper thin.

Kai Merlin is heir to her mother’s throne in Atlantis, and she takes her duties seriously, but lately her mind has been on her fiancée Vivien Palmer. After a chance encounter when they were children, meeting again and falling in love proved to be fate, but melding their worlds as they plan their wedding isn’t going to be easy.

Quinn Burke loves being a bartender. She meets new women every night and has her choice of bed partners. That's fine with her because she isn't interested in anything serious after having her heart shattered 18 months ago. Grace Everett is perfectly content owning a bookstore, but not so much in her personal life. She wants forever but hasn't had much luck with relationships. She's hoping the newest woman in her life will be the one.

We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human. Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader, and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else.