Showing results by narrator "Sarah Ovens" in All Categories

Poppy Greer is getting married and four of her old schoolmates are to be her trusted bridesmaids. They may have drifted but true friendships last a lifetime, don't they? Plus, who would pass on a free first-class ticket to white sands and bottomless cocktails on a private Caribbean island? But the women have underestimated their host, and each other. And as their darkest secrets are revealed, the trip of their dreams becomes the hen do from hell. Will anyone make it off the island alive?

In Belle and Joni's world, there are two options for girls: One, follow the rules of the Doctrine like Belle: apply your Mask, work hard to be crowned at the Ceremony, be a Pretty. Or two, fight the rules like Joni: leave your face bare, work hard to escape to the Education, be an Objectionable.

Once upon a time, villagers would whisper their desires to The Book of Fortunes, and its pages would reveal how to obtain them. All was well until someone used the book for evil. Afterward, the branches of the Forest Grimm snatched the book away and the village withered. The villagers tried to make amends with the forest, but every time someone crossed its border, they never returned. Despite the warning from her fortune-teller grandmother, Clara embarks on the journey into the deadly forest to procure the Book of Fortunes – to reverse the curse and save her mother and village.

Would she ever find a real-life husband? Would she even find a partner to dance with at tonight’s ball? She just didn’t know. Anna Austen has always been told she must marry rich. Her future depends upon it. While her dear cousin Fanny has a little more choice, she too is under pressure to find a suitor. But how can either girl know what she wants? Is finding love even an option? The only person who seems to have answers is their Aunt Jane. She has never married. In fact, she’s perfectly happy, so surely being single can’t be such a bad thing?

On the goldfields of 19th-century Australia, two very different girls are trying to escape their past. Violet Hartley has fled from England after a scandalous liaison; now she is angling for a rich husband and a new life. Little Cat is fleeing from her home in Southern China after killing the powerful old man who tried to rape her. Disguised as a boy, she joins the huge Chinese workforce on the goldfields of Victoria. But the son of the murdered man is on her trail, intent on vengeance. Love, sexual desire, violence and financial ambition entwine in this mesmerising saga.

During a New Year’s Eve party on a large, luxurious cruise ship in the Caribbean, the ship’s dancer, Lola, goes missing. Two weeks later, the ship is out of service, laid up far from land with no more than a skeleton crew on board. And then more people start disappearing....

It’s 1926, and Anna Darton is on the run from a terrible crime she was forced into committing. Alone and scared in London, salvation comes in the form of Nancy, a sassy American dancer at the notorious nightclub, The Zip. Reinventing herself as Vita Casey, Anna becomes part of the lineup and is thrown into a hedonistic world of dancing, parties, flapper girls and fashion. When she meets the dashing Archie Fenwick, Vita buries her guilty conscience, and she believes him when he says he will love her no matter what.

Mary Poppins takes Jane and Michael on a gravity-defying tea party on the ceiling. Meet the boy who rescues a beached dolphin. Can the barber keep the secret of the Rajah’s big ears?

Paddington Bear has a magical moment, the animals of Brambly Hedge are struggling at the dusty mill. Lara’s godmother sorts out a noisy lion, and Rapunzel is rescued from the tower.

The Banks family are searching for a nanny. Macaw the parrot helps out at the fish and chip shop and a stonecutter dreams of becoming an emperor.

When Scarlet and Ivy return to school after the holidays, they quickly realise that the school is in danger. The twins will need to confront enemies from their past and their present if they are to have any chance of it surviving. Could the last secret at Rookwood be the one that brings it down? Or will Scarlet and Ivy be able to untangle the trails of clues and red herrings in time to save it?

Scarlet and Ivy return to creepy Rookwood School for a third mystery adventure! Perfect for fans of Murder Most Unladylike. With their evil headmaster, Mr. Bartholomew, safely out of the picture and kindly Mrs. Knight in charge, it looks like life at Rookwood School is looking up. There's a ballet recital Scarlet is desperate to star in and more clues to uncover about the twins' mother. But after their beloved ballet teacher, Miss Finch, suddenly disappears and strange Madame Zelda takes her place, freakish things start happening.

Paddington Bear tries to buy a birthday present, the animals of Brambly Hedge set off to the seaside. A greedy queen insists on having the biggest tree in the world, but will Cinderella get to go to the ball?

A frozen palace and a sparkling secret - an epic Russian adventure awaits! Anna Orlov might be the luckiest girl in the world. She is the daughter of a Russian Count and lives in a beautiful snowbound palace that is home to a menagerie of wonderful animals: tigers, wolfhounds and, of course, horses. And she is the owner of a beautiful heirloom - a diamond necklace with a secret past. But when Anna defies her father's wishes and secretly raises a young colt alongside her pet tiger cub, her actions will have far-reaching consequences.

When Lola moves house she can’t help feeling sad to leave her old friends and life behind. She’s always been shy and worries it’ll be hard to make friends at her new school. It’s not all scary, though. Lola loves her new home with its rambling garden and the deer that sometimes wander in through the broken fence. Then one day she comes across a fawn who seems to be in trouble. Lola is determined to do everything she can to help the terrified little deer, but will she be able to do it on her own?

It's a brand-new term for Scarlet and Ivy, and the girls are intrigued by a fascinating new girl, Ebony. She's as enchanting as she is mysterious, and she's began to gather quite the following - in fact most of the younger girls appear to be under her spell. But rumours swirl like ghosts around Ebony, and not all of them are nice. And when a prank on All Hallow's Eve goes horribly wrong, it's Ebony who gets the blame. Ivy and Scarlet aren't so sure.

A small village in the wilds of Northumberland is rocked by the disappearance of 12-year-old Tammy. With his friend Iggy and the mysterious Hellyann, Ethan teams up with a spaceship called Philip, and Suzy the trained chicken, for a nail-biting chase to get his sister back.

Rebecca Riley has always been a bit of a pushover. When her glamorous boss, Vanessa, asks her to jump, she doesn’t just ask how high...she asks if her boss would like her to grab a coffee on the way back down! So whilst overseeing the renovation of Vanessa’s beautiful countryside home, the last thing Rebecca ever expected was to be mistaken for her boss – or that she would even consider going along with it! Far away from the bustling city and her boss’s demanding ways, could she pretend to be Vanessa and swap lives, just for a little while?

When Charlie’s longed-for brother is born with a serious heart condition, Charlie’s world is turned upside down. Upset and afraid, Charlie flees the hospital and makes for the ancient forest on the edge of town. There Charlie finds a boy floating face-down in the stream, injured, but alive. But when Charlie sets off back to the hospital to fetch help, it seems the forest has changed. It’s become a place as strange and wild as the boy dressed in deerskins.

The realm of Aquinta has fallen into a dark age. And no one knows that better than thirteen-year-old Cori, who is fighting for her life in a pirate crew more beastly than Aquinta's sea monsters. But Cori's life changes when she finds the Oceanforged Gauntlet–a piece of armour belonging to the legendary Champions who once ruled the islands. Whoever wears the armour wields the Champions' magic and has the power to return Aquinta to its lost glory.