Showing results by author "Katie Cross" in All Categories

Three years ago, my best friend joined the Marines without warning. Our plans of attending state university together—demolished. He left me in a world of discarded dreams. We haven’t spoken again. Now I’m twenty-years-old and ready to be known as the best outdoor guide this side of the Rocky Mountains. That sort of honor comes with experience, and I’m just about to get my chance for a dream guide. Then Devin crashes back into my world. And everything falls apart again.

The last thing I ever asked for was a divorce. Four amazing boys, one awesome life, and one failed marriage later, I’m smack dab in the middle of my forties with nowhere to go. Talk about unexpected. Then again, romance has always let me down. While juggling my newfound career responsibilities, I reach out for help in the only way I know how: a housekeeper. Someone’s gotta clean this house and it hasn’t been me lately. When I meet Tanner, he’s not what I’m expecting. I can tell he feels the same way. And suddenly, the world looks a whole lot different than I expected.

Once upon a time, I thought my stutter was the worst thing that ever happened to me. But now I know better. Being held at gunpoint outranks a speech impediment any day. Thankfully, my longtime crush Jayson Hernandez tackled that problem to the ground with those broad shoulders—the ones that make my stutter oh-so-much-worse. As if he hasn’t held my heart in his strong, capable hands ever since I adored him from the shadows in high school. Or every day he comes into the coffee shop with a new date. Or each time he shoots me a friendly smile that makes my toes curl.

I can be many things (barista, karaoke legend, impromptu-actress, whatever), but a famous author I am not. Which makes it even weirder when a guy named Bastian rushes into my coffee shop and wants me to pretend to be him, a famous romance author hidden under a female pen name. Um, what? No thanks. Except . . . I can’t deny something is charming about his brooding reclusiveness, or maybe that’s just the sexy scent of smoke that follows him everywhere. My obsessive love of GIFs clearly annoys him, but it doesn’t stop him from begging me for help either. This guy is desperate.

When it comes to men, I'd rather not. In fact, I prefer paints. Cleaning the Frolicking Moose at night, renting the loft out by day, and sinking into my oils and charcoal drawings are really all I want out of life right now. Simplicity and space. Then Hawk walks in on a snowy night. And suddenly everything is different.

There are three rules I implemented five years ago that govern my safety around men. 1. Never alone. 2. Never stranded. 3. Never unaware. In those five years, I've never broken those rules. Not once. Because I will not be a fool again. Then I do break those rules—willingly—to help the older brother of my best friend, Vikram. Vikram is trouble. Has always been trouble. Charming, a little arrogant, and flighty as a bird when it comes to women. I spent half my childhood adoring him, half crying over him.

Charlie Dauphin and Max Sinclair have been best friends since they met on a rainy night at twelve years old. They share more than a powerful magic, a sprawling manor, and a hunger for justice and danger. The Advocacy belongs to both of them. The Central Network, and then the fate of Alkarra, rest on the shoulders of two extraordinary men determined to save the world. With a team of Watchers and Defenders at their back, they'll do just that. But the winds of fate will turn such motivation against them. Charlie and Max have taken on more than any witch could bear alone.

Letum Wood is a forest of fog and deadfall, home to the quietly famous Miss Mabel’s School for Girls, a place where young witches learn the art of magic. Sixteen-year-old Bianca Monroe has inherited a deadly curse. Determined to break free before it kills her, she enrolls in the respected school to confront the cunning witch who cast the curse: Miss Mabel.

Still reeling in the wake of her mother’s death, sixteen-year-old Bianca Monroe is forced to move to Chatham Castle. Not even the sudden appearance of ancient dragons in haunted Letum Wood nor her two best friends can distract her from the strength of her deep, dark rage. Her grief puts her magical powers into chaos, endangering any witch around her. She has six months left to destroy the curse that will kill her and fulfill her contract with the most cunning enemy of all: her former teacher Miss Mabel.

In Anguis, magic is forbidden. Deep in a magical forest lives the sleepy village of Anguis, where dragons are the rulers and witches are the Servants. Seventeen-year-old twins Sanna and Isadora Spence must soon face the Selectis—the moment when a dragon chooses them. For Sanna, the Selectis can't happen soon enough. For Isadora, she'd rather die.

Mildred Graeme is a witch that knows what it’s like to fail. She loathes small talk, struggles with magic, and grew up wretchedly poor. When her best friend Evelyn gains power and threatens to obliterate the Network, Mildred must overcome her fear of failure to save the lives of those she loves. Even if it means betraying her best friend.

Sisterwitches Isadora and Sanna Spence aren't sitting back anymore. In fact, they're both tangled in separate new worlds—ones they didn't anticipate. Despite the Dragonmasters home burning to ash, Sanna is certain of one thing—she will not be a tyrant, even though managing a brood of frightened dragons falls on her reluctant shoulders. When a devastating tragedy strikes the Dragonmaster families, Sanna is forced to face a world she never knew existed.

Rae Burke is a brigand assassin, and he's good at what he does. But when the winds of change whistle by, he throws himself into the chance for freedom and safety for his family. Wren Burke knows that she trusts her husband, so she accepts the grimoire he shoves into her arms, plunges into the wild forest with her three children, and throws herself into the mercy of magic and mayhem. Ghosts from Rae's past won't let him, or the magic, go so easily.

Members of the legendary silkmaking clan in the Southern Network understand one thing: the clan keeps the Sirilas magic in balance by obedience to its rules, and the Sirilas magic keeps them alive. When loyal, steady future Guide to the Clan Andrei Kuzmin finds a sword that stands in his way to ease and prosperity—quite literally—he's shoved out of his stable world and into a new magic. A magic that doesn't care about the requirements of the Sirilas magic.

Wealthy landowners own the Eastern Network, so uneducated witch Vittoria Gutia isn't about to make any waves. She either works as a lavanda maid, or she and her beloved nephew starve to death. That sort of math is pretty simple. When an unexpected savior lands in her lap, fate falls with him. La Salvatorra—Giver of Justice—beckons her with him. To save her nephew, Vittoria takes the reckless Landowners' soon-to-be-disastrous offer. She's thrust into a glittering new court, a world without conscience, and the burden of saving her entire Network.

Astrid would give anything to be one of the Ulfsark—fearless warriors who ride giant Amarok wolves. Like her ancestors, she yearns for the soul-deep bond with a wolf. The connection. The union. A chance to prove her worth and honor her mother's legacy.

Astrid and the Skolvarg people are outnumbered and outmatched. Their enemy, Uzell, hunts the Greater Spirits, and as the Skolvarg gods vanish, so does their power. With no other choice, Astrid and her companions must journey across Vigard in search of allies before it’s too late. After traveling to Ochland to seek aid, the situation Astrid and her friends find is far worse than expected—Uzell’s influence runs deeper than they ever imagined, and no country is beyond his reach.

As a summer of swords approaches, everything Astrid hoped for is coming true. She’s found her wolf. A war looms on the horizon—just what a young hero needs to make a name for herself. The path to becoming a warrior of legend is finally clear. Until strange powers awaken in Astrid and her wolf, Maera. Meanwhile, Queen Rosamund has made good on her promise of conquest since taking the throne. Thyrden’s armies march for the Wolfmoors. Wielding forbidden magic, she’s determined to succeed where her father could not. Nothing short of total victory will sate her ambition.

During an attempt to save a burning orphanage, Bianca finds herself caught in a trap. Mabel kidnaps her, taking her to the hot sands of the Western Network where things are not as they seem. Mabel is more dangerous—and unhinged—than she’s ever been before.

At the third annual Celebration of all Networks, Bianca is thrust into an unexpected challenge: a mortal girl named Ava lands in her lap with a most unwelcome surprise. As the Celebration continues, it's clear that the only witch who cares whether Ava lives or dies is Bianca. And Bianca's magic has stopped working. Can Bianca save Ava from the high-ranking witches that want her blood, even if it means the end of the blossoming peace? Or does Bianca protect her Network the only way she knows how?