Showing results by narrator "Jessica Ball" in All Categories

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College–Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky. Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them. With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success.

Set in a fractured United States, in the southwestern country now known as Texoma. A world where magic is acknowledged but mistrusted, especially by a young gunslinger named Lizbeth Rose. Battered by a run across the border to Mexico Lizbeth Rose takes a job offer from a pair of Russian wizards to be their local guide and gunnie. For the wizards, Gunnie Rose has already acquired a fearsome reputation and they’re at a desperate crossroad, even if they won’t admit it.

Her missing daughter was just the start of the nightmare. Twenty years ago, Christine Donovan took a call she should have ignored while shopping. In those few seconds while her back was turned, her toddler, Heidi, was kidnapped. She's never been seen again. Despite having two other children with husband Greg, Christine remains guilt-stricken that her neglect caused her child to be stolen, while haunted by a secret that consumes her.

One betrayal is all it takes to change history. It's 1382. Daughter of John of Gaunt, sister to the future King Henry IV, Elizabeth of Lancaster has learned the shrewd tricks of the court from England's most powerful men. In a time of political turmoil, allegiance to family is everything. A Plantagenet princess should never defy her father's wishes. Yet headstrong Elizabeth refuses to bow to the fate of a strategic marriage.

Fitchner’s quest for revenge continues as he and the other Sons of Ares seek out the Golds who have wronged his family. But actions come with repercussions, and an elaborate game of cat and mouse is on. A battle of Gold versus Gold erupts further into more than acts of vengeance and becomes the seeds of a revolution.

What happened after the Queen married her handsome prince? Did they live happily ever after, or did their marriage, like so many royal marriages past and present, fizzle into a loveless bond of duty? Victoria and Albert were the royal couple that broke the mould - it may have been an arranged match, yet their union was a passionate, tempestuous relationship between two extremely strong-willed individuals.

You went to bed at home, just like every other night. You woke up in the back of a taxi, over 250 miles away. You have no idea how you got there and no memory of the last 10 hours. You have no phone, no money, just a suicide note in your coat pocket, in your own writing. You know you weren't planning to kill yourself. Your family and friends think you are lying. Someone knows exactly what happened to you. But they're not telling....

Since time immemorial, humans have worshipped the gods they call Fhrey, truly a race apart: invincible in battle, masters of magic, and seemingly immortal. But when a god falls to a human blade, the balance of power between humans and those they thought were gods changes forever. Now only a few stand between humankind and annihilation: Raithe, reluctant to embrace his destiny as the God Killer; Suri, a young seer burdened by signs of impending doom; and Persephone, who must overcome personal tragedy to lead her people. The Age of Myth is over. The time of rebellion has begun.

In the future, when mankind has spread across the stars, the hierarchy of man is dictated by the color of one’s caste. The Golds rule all, but what will happen when one falls for a lowly Red? See how a forbidden love will set the course of events for the future and lead to the formation of the formidable Sons of Ares!

In many ways, my life has been rather like a record of the lost and found. Perhaps all lives are like that. It's when life started in earnest. Hertfordshire, 1928. The paths of Tom and Alice collide against a haze of youthful, carefree exuberance. And so begins a love story that finds its feet by a lake one silvery moonlit evening... It's when there were no happy endings. Paris, 1939. Alice is living in the City of Light, but the pain of the last decade has already left its mark.

Raithe, the God Killer, may have started the rebellion by killing a Fhrey, but long-standing enmities dividing the Rhunes make it all but impossible to unite against the common foe. And even if the clans can join forces, how will they defeat an enemy whose magical prowess renders them indistinguishable from gods?

The perfect summer romance from the author of A Christmas Tail. Perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan and Holly Martin. Summer Freeman returns to the waterside village of Willowbeck to rescue the Canal Boat Café, her late mother's picturesque narrowboat, which has run into choppy waters. A family friend, Valerie, has been trying to keep things afloat, but the coffee machine is jammed, the cake offerings are paltry, and not all of the locals want to see the café succeed.

Emily Jacobs, a nurse, is in hospital for a minor operation. When she wakes in the night, woozy with anaesthetic, she sees the doctor trying to resuscitate the woman in the bed next to her. In the morning, she is told that she must have had a nightmare. The bed has been empty all along.... When Emily returns to work, she discovers a bracelet that she believes belonged to the missing woman. Soon, she becomes convinced that her colleagues are hiding a terrible secret. What if she's wrong? What if her own troubled past has affected her more than she knows? But what if she's right?

From the author of What to Eat and Shopped, a revelatory investigation into what really goes into the food we eat. Even with 25 years' experience as a journalist and investigator of the food chain, Joanna Blythman still felt she had unanswered questions about the food we consume every day. How natural is the process for making a "natural" flavouring? What exactly is modified starch, and why is it an ingredient in so many foods? What is done to pitta bread to make it stay fresh for six months?

While on holiday at the beach with her mother, Sasha Samokhina meets the mysterious Farit Kozhennikov under the most peculiar circumstances. The teenage girl is powerless to refuse when this strange and unusual man with a sinister air directs her to perform strange and uncomfortable tasks. He rewards her efforts with a strange golden coin. As the days progress, Sasha carries out other acts for which she receives more coins from Kozhennikov.

On a summer’s morning in 1860, the Kent family awakes in their elegant Wiltshire home to a terrible discovery; their youngest son has been brutally murdered. When celebrated detective Jack Whicher is summoned from Scotland Yard he faces the unenviable task of identifying the killer – when the grieving family are the suspects.

Picking up right where A Longer Fall left off, this thrilling third installment follows Lizbeth Rose as she takes on one of her most dangerous missions yet: rescuing her estranged partner, Prince Eli, from the Holy Russian Empire. Once in San Diego, Lizbeth is going to have to rely upon her sister Felicia, and her growing Grigori powers to navigate her way through this strange new world of royalty and deception in order to get Eli freed from jail where he’s being held for murder.

I'm the last surviving member of my pack, and I'm running for my life. As the future pack leader of the Silver Wolves, my life was carefully planned: stay hidden, and learn to fight. In an instant, everything changes. My pack was slaughtered by an unknown enemy. Alone and unsure who to trust, I search for safety. Now, there's a pack leader who offers me something that no one else can—protection. He’s sexy, an absolute jerk, and my fated mate.

They say every marriage has its secrets. But no one sees what happens behind closed doors. And sometimes those doors should never be opened.... Sal and Charlie are married. They love each other. But they aren't happy. Sal cannot leave, no matter what Charlie does - no matter how much it hurts.