Showing results by narrator "Shiromi Arserio" in All Categories

Evil has come to Luminesa's forest. The Goblin has stolen three innocents and thrust them into a violent and terrible time loop - in her own lands. And the only way to save them is to go to them herself. But there's a problem, because the moment Luminesa steps foot inside that magicked place, she too will get sucked into the Goblin's nefarious scheme. Freedom can only be had if she can figure out the riddle of the key, and she only has one month to try. Failure means death for them all.

Bitsy is no one’s ideal princess. She’s heard it all: that it’s a shame she’s so plain, so lacking in grace. That the best thing for her to do is simply wait (and wait some more) and hope some prince will grant her a happy ending. Then Bitsy pricks her finger on a spindle and falls down, down, down. Into a world where cutthroats and con artists are more common than curtsies. Where no one ages and everyone is beautiful. Where an inscrutable evil rests at its core.

From acclaimed author Phoebe North comes a riveting, unexpected, and beautiful contemporary novel about a girl whose brother mysteriously disappears, the family and friends he leaves behind, and the stories - real and imagined - that they tell themselves to fill the empty space.

Princess Gemma has been trapped for years within a magical turret, a fate she deems fitting for a sickly princess with little purpose. The enchanted walls offer security, which she'd do anything to maintain, for though she knows she should want to escape, her prison seems far safer than the outside world. But the magic of the tower has begun to fade. The tower's shifting magic isn't the only thing changing, for the longer Gemma spends with her faithful guard, Quinn, the more she realizes that her feelings for him are inappropriate for one of her royal status.

Princess Reve of Malvagaria has no idea who she truly is. Hidden away in a cottage in the mountains, she believes she’s a peasant girl named Primrose, a reality frequently challenged by confusing snippets of forgotten royal memories. For there’s a darkness inside her head, one that is slowly claiming her identity, memory by memory. Everything changes when Reve encounters a rugged hunter, a man who offers her a hopeful future despite her blank, forgotten past.

Law student Saraswati “Sara” Bhaduri holds down two jobs in order to make her way through school, but it’s still a struggle. She’s had to do things to pay the bills that most people wouldn’t expect from “a nice Indian girl.” It seems like an ordinary busy Tuesday night at the local dive bar until her boss demands Sara deal with a drunk girl in the bathroom.

In a modern world ruled by territorial Greek gods, the human race has been oppressed, exploited, and now nearly destroyed by the constant infighting of gods. However, a human girl with the power of a goddess is coming of age. Alessandra is the Oracle of Delphi - the last prophesized - and bears the mark of the double omega. Soon after she turns 18, Alessandra is told her destiny: to step between the warring gods and the human race and save her world from certain ruin.

Twelve-year-old Sarah Jacob was the most famous of the Victorian fasting girls, who claimed to miraculously survive without food, serving as flash points between struggling religious, scientific, and political factions. In this novel based on Sarah’s life and premature death from what may be the first documented case of anorexia, an American journalist, recovering from her husband’s death in the Civil War, leaves her home and children behind to travel to Wales, where she investigates Sarah’s bizarre case by becoming the young girl’s friend and confidante.

The one thing Mrs. Bennett most dearly wants is to see her five daughters settled. When wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley moves in to nearby Netherfield Hall and takes an interest in her eldest daughter, Jane, her dream is almost within her grasp. Yet, problems arise when Bingley's friend, the prideful Mr. Darcy, meddles in their relationship, earning him the disdain of Jane's sister, Elizabeth. However, Mr. Darcy can't help finding a match in the intelligent, free-spirited Lizzy Bennett, despite her country manners.

Once upon a time a dragon dared to fall in love with the Queen of Hearts. Zelena Hermosa wants only one thing, to be free. But for a morphling like her freedom will never be possible. Bought by a witch as a baby, she's been raised in a household that knows no kindness or love. She's a broken, dirty child the day she meets her prickly little dragon boy.

The scene is the Caribbean, 1718: Englishwoman Mary Read is forced to disguise herself as sailor Martin Read; then things get more complicated when she falls in love with another sailor, Peter Meredith, a brilliant man but rather clueless about the sea... who also has no idea that his best friend is a woman. To make matters worse, they're both captured by pirates. To make matters worse yet, one of the pirates is Anne Bonny, Southern belle turned scourge of the Caribbean.

Prince Darius of Kallorway is the strongest mage in his family--and the only reason his weak father is still clinging to his throne. Starting at the Academy at the same time as Verene, the crown prince is cold and distant and shows no desire to connect with her. Instead he seems suspicious of both her presence and her claimed lack of power. Surrounded by unfamiliar politics and long-held enemies, Verene discovers that some at the Academy want her gone by whatever means necessary. As the threats grow ever more sinister, she starts to question all of her assumptions.

In the kingdom of Adania, everyone knows what Princess Alyrra did to earn the court's contempt, her mother's disdain, and her brother's hatred. She betrayed her own. Yet, the truth hides another story - one of honor and honesty, of a princess gambling her own life for another's. It's a tale of courage, consequences, and a choice that can never be undone.

A zombie horror told from the zombie's perspective, The End is one woman's account of the end of her life, her family, and everything. Like many single parents in their thirties, Zoe is overworked, overburdened, and low on company, and when the zombie apocalypse begins, she is forced to face the monster that has taken her over, the horrors he shows her, and her own murky past.

A Is for Alien is award-winning author Caitlín R. Kiernan’s first collection devoted entirely to her science-fiction work. It includes the critically acclaimed novelette Riding the White Bull, along with seven other tales of a less-than-utopian future. Ranging from the wastelands and mountains of Mars to the streets of a late 21st-century Manhattan, from the moons of Europa and Saturn to an iceless Antarctica, these tales bring Kiernan’s trademark brand of the eco-gothic to bear on what it means to be human and the paths and decisions that may face mankind....

Three years have passed, and Ally's memories of her kidnapping and torture still haunt her. Determined to keep her demons at bay, David refuses to leave her side. Until....the lies woven to protect come unraveled. Ally has no choice but to return to the land that once imprisoned her.

Equipped with a new identity and a new family, Ally shut the door on her past and refused to look back. But when her new life falls apart, she discovers the key to protecting her future lies in the hands of the very man who forced her into hiding. Eddie stayed away for her sake and his own. But when elements beyond his control come into play, he has no choice but to step in before she winds up dead. Eddie and Ally find themselves sucked into an international game of cat and mouse where the line between love and hate becomes blurred.

Leyla McQueen has finally reunited with her father after breaking him out of Broadmoor - the illegal government prison - but his freedom comes at a terrible cost. As Leyla celebrates his return, she must grapple with the pain of losing Ari. Now separated from the boy who has her heart and labeled the nation’s number one enemy, Leyla must risk illegal travel through unchartered waters in her quest for the truth behind her father's arrest.

Originally published in 1994, When the World Was Steady is award-winning author Claire Messud's first novel.

Listeners will discover lost and forgotten women who wrote horror every bit as effectively as their male contemporaries. They will learn about their lives and careers, the challenges they faced as women working in a male-dominated field, the way they overcame those challenges, and the way they approached the genre - which was often subtler, more psychological, and more disturbing.