Showing results by narrator "Lauren Ezzo" in All Categories

When dreams and expectations clash in a flurry of sparks, an actress and an aristocrat find themselves searching for common ground. Lady Victoria Penchant has had enough scandal for one lifetime, and she’s sworn off drama for good. But when she makes an unexpected return to her family’s castle during high tourist season, drama is exactly what she finds—in the form of a Hollywood film crew and their sharp-tongued, stunning star, Sophia LeBlanc.

In his Locus review of Two Worlds and in Between - the first volume of The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan - Gary K. Wolfe wrote, “...it makes you wish the second volume were here now.” Well, the long wait is over. This second volume completes this ambitious undertaking, collecting the finest of Kiernan’s stories from 2004 to 2012, selected by the author herself. The book includes 25 short stories and one poem, plus the short novel Black Helicopters - more than 200,000 words of fiction, including the World Fantasy Award-winning “The Prayer of 90 Cats”.

Massimo D’Agostino is the heir to his father’s empire. Don’t be fooled by his handsome face or that piercing blue gaze. He’s no prince charming. He’s dangerous and feared, possessive and fierce. Our first meeting began with a contract that forced me to marry him and sign my life away. I was a debt repayment and a pawn in his game to exact revenge against my father. The only way out is death. I belong to him now. Me, the Balesteri Mafia princess. Pure and untouched. Owned by the devil who placed me in a gilded cage.

There was only one reason the bond would choose Emery Montgomery. Her twin was dead. As soon as the silver band of the Culling appeared on her wrist, binding her to the vampire prince himself, her world turned upside down. Forced to compete for the heart of her enemy in an archaic version of The Bachelor, Emery had only three things on her mind: Keep her witch heritage a secret, find her sister's murderer, and above all, don't fall for the sinfully handsome prince.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

Madeleine Talmage Force is just 17 when she attracts the attention of John Jacob "Jack" Astor. Jack's mother was the Mrs. Astor, American royalty and New York's most formidable socialite. Despite their 29-year age difference and the scandal of Jack's recent divorce, Madeleine falls headlong into love. On their honeymoon in Egypt, the newlyweds finally find a measure of peace away from photographers and journalists. Madeleine feels truly alive for the first time - and is happily pregnant. The couple plans to return home in the spring of 1912, aboard an opulent new ocean liner.

Long before she ran away with Paris to Troy, Helen of Sparta was haunted by nightmares of a burning city under siege. These dreams foretold impending war - a war that only Helen has the power to avert. To do so, she must defy her family and betray her betrothed by fleeing the palace in the dead of night. In need of protection, she finds shelter and comfort in the arms of Theseus, son of Poseidon. With Theseus at her side, she believes she can escape her destiny.

Pretending to date isn't as easy as it sounds. Belle Evans has won a cruise at just the right time. But when her ex-fiance shows up on the same ship with his new love, she can't let him think she's a loser. Good thing her cute neighbor in the suite next to hers was hanging around. When Tristan Stone inherits his grandmother's cruise line, he thinks it the perfect opportunity to be a regular guy - all while checking out his new business. A relationship wasn't even on the horizon until Belle Evans blurts out he's her boyfriend.

Quinn Roberts is dead and she wants to know how it happened. She's angry, confused and disappointed that her life is over. Most of her friends have moved on and it seems like no one cares who was responsible. Her adult children are in shock but their mother's death is too painful, so they do nothing. Soon after her murder, Quinn's husband, Alec, acquires a new wife and Quinn becomes a distant memory. Only her sister, Erin, and Detective John McQuillan continue to search for answers.

From the mind of the man Stephen King calls "a master of the macabre", comes a brilliant new collection of no-punches-pulled horror stories, some never-before-collected and many originals that have never been published anywhere before. Bentley Little can take the innocuous, twist it around, and write a story that will change your way of thinking. Walking Alone: Short Stories is a shining example of his talent to scare you, creep you out, and make you shudder.

After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises. The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles.

Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden. In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees...and a collection of precious “butterflies” - young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.

Forced to give up her career as a dentist, and still unemployed a year later, Valentina Knight has finally run out of options. With foreclosure looming she acts in desperation, lying to get a position as an assistant to the county medical examiner. Val's relieved. She won't be homeless. But Val didn't count on the lie trapping her in a dangerous game with a killer. Val quickly becomes involved in the case of Francine Donohue, who disappeared from her neighborhood and is discovered dead six months later. The bizarre circumstances surrounding the murder are not the first of their kind.

Years after the Salem witch trials one witch remains. She just doesn’t know it...yet. Growing up, Lydia Montrose knew she was descended from the legendary witches of Salem but was warned to never show the world what she could do and so slowly forgot her legacy. But Willow Hall has awoken something inside her.... 1821: having fled family scandal in Boston, Willow Hall seems an idyllic refuge from the world, especially when Lydia meets the previous owner of the house, John Barrett. But a subtle menace haunts the grounds of Willow Hall, with strange voices and ghostly apparitions in the night....

The dense Michigan forest. Haunting wails. The clip-clop of demon hooves on a bridge to nowhere. It’s more than a tall tale to Brenda Jennings, whose sister disappeared in those woods one fateful night. Three years later, on a solo stakeout in the dark, Brenda goes in after her. She’s desperate for answers, and terrified to find what lies waiting on the other side of that bridge.

Twenty-year-old Karina is proud of the independent life she is trying to create for herself in Ft. Benning, Georgia. A dutiful officer’s daughter, supportive sister to a troubled twin brother, and caring friend to her roommate, Elodie, Karina always puts the needs of others ahead of her own and prides herself on being a fixer of broken things—whether it’s the house she’s just bought or the fragmented family she works hard to keep intact. Like anyone who has grown up around an army base, Karina also knows the background noise that follows men and women home from war.

True crime podcaster Trinity Scott is chasing breakout success, and her brand-new serial may get her there. Her subject is Clayton Jay Pelley. More than two decades ago, the respected family man and guidance counselor confessed to the brutal murder of teenage student Leena Rai. But why he killed her has always been a mystery. In a series of exclusive interviews from prison, Clayton discloses to Trinity the truth about what happened that night beneath Devil’s Bridge. It’s not what anyone in the Pacific Northwest town of Twin Falls expects.

Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text... You’re not safe anywhere now. Her refuge at Stillhouse Lake has become a trap. Gwen leaves her children in the protective custody of a fortified, well-armed neighbor.

At age ten, Riley Lambert watched helplessly as her sister was abducted from her bedroom. Fifteen years later, she's channeled the pain of her past into a career as an FBI profiler. Riley devotes her life to bringing violent criminals to justice...and secretly uses government resources to search for her sister, who was never found. When Riley gets a call from the only man who's ever swept her off her feet with a killer two-step and dangerous smile - ex-Navy SEAL Thayne Blackwood of Singing River, Wyoming - it stirs up dark memories.

As an orphan ward of the Sisterhood in the ancient Tarachand Empire, eighteen-year-old Kalinda is destined for nothing more than a life of seclusion and prayer. Plagued by fevers, she's an unlikely candidate for even a servant's position, let alone a courtesan or wife. Her sole dream is to continue living in peace in the Sisterhood's mountain temple. But a visit from the tyrant Rajah Tarek disrupts Kalinda's life. Within hours, she is ripped from the comfort of her home.