Showing results by narrator "Brenda Wlazlo" in All Categories

Rachel Clarke is a single mom with three boys, and she needs help. Now. Unfortunately, her only option is John MacDonald-her high school sweetheart and the disgraced hometown hero who's just returned to Lake Bliss. He's perfect for the job. He cooks, he cleans, and he's amazing with kids. He's also still far too sinfully hot for Rachel's comfort . . .

Fallon Monroe, mother of one, self-help book junkie, and budding chocolatier, has always relied on her mom friends in the Chicago suburbs to get her through the trials of adulthood. So when her bestie Beatrice inexplicably starts ghosting her and takes all their mutual friends with her, Fallon’s left wondering how everything went so wrong. Pushing down a lifetime of insecurities, Fallon doubles down and decides to win them back.

Every member of Seconds to Juliet has a girlfriend—except for Nathan Strong. Now the band's manager is leaning hard on "The Cute One" to play the role of the band's heartthrob. With the band's sales in decline, it's up to Nathan to keep the fans' fantasy alive. The plan is to stage a fake relationship and a fake breakup, and then let the fans fight to be the one to mend Nathan's broken heart. Just one problem. There's another girl in the picture—one Nathan can't stay away from. In private, Nathan's stealing kisses with the band's new opening act, Abby Curtis.

Anya Anderson doesn't just need a big break, she needs any break. Living on the streets doesn't leave a girl many options, so when she scores a gig reporting on the Seconds to Juliet tour, she jumps at the chance to earn enough money to sleep somewhere safe. And the paycheck will get bigger—and keep her off the streets for good—if she can dig up dirt on Will Fray, the irritatingly hot "shy guy" of the band.

When Daisy Morris finds out she's spending the summer with her dad, bodyguard for Seconds to Juliet—the hottest boy band around—she knows it couldn't be more perfect. But not because she's a fan. Oh, no. Because ever since front man Trevin Jacobs completely humiliated her by standing her up for homecoming, Daisy is out for a little revenge. Yup, Trevin Jacobs is goin' down . . .

Faerie and the human world may have survived near-annihilation, but that doesn’t mean everything is flowers and singalongs for the residents of the now-combined lands. Humans are coming to terms with finding chunks of a realm they didn’t know existed dumped into their neighborhoods, plus the Fae Court is a bloody battleground for wannabe ruling families. Dropped in the middle of the chaos is Spellmeet, a Wild-West border town where refugees and opportunists try to make a living despite unstable magic and technology.

Dani Sullivan has come to Lake Bliss to write her latest cookbook and take a breather. After the year she's had, she deserves a summer retreat to reevaluate priorities and make peace with past decisions. But from the moment single dad and sheriff Matt Reagan shows up, she has a hard time convincing herself that a life away from the lake could beat the life she might have here. Newly divorced Matt is ready for a new relationship, but he doesn't want short-term—his son needs permanence, and so does his heart. Unfortunately, it's the smart-mouthed, sexy Ms. Sullivan who catches his eye.

Ryder Brooks is living the dream—he's famous, loved by millions of girls, and miserable. All he really wants is to write his own music, not Seconds to Juliet's sugary sweet pop. In order to do that, though, the "bad boy" of the band will have to play by the rules. And that includes behaving with his new—and super cute—tutor. Tutoring her favorite member of her favorite band? Mia Reyes is in fangirl heaven. Then it turns out Ryder is crude, arrogant, and a total jerk. And the worst part? She's roped into pretending to be his girlfriend so that no one finds out he's being tutored.

For over fifteen years, researchers have described a crisis in our nations' early learning classrooms. Hundreds of children are expelled from childcare and preschool every day; a rate nearly three times that of kindergarten-twelfth grade students. Each child's expulsion is symptomatic of a larger crisis—an overburdened, underfunded, undervalued, and fragmented early education system. No Longer Welcome starts a critical conversation between and across sectors of the early childhood field.

As if it wasn't bad enough to be deemed the "most single person" at her magazine's office, budding reporter Penny has now been tapped to write a series of features called "The Dating Itinerary." From speed dating to Tinder, old-fashioned matchmakers to up-and-coming "dark dating," Penny has to go on a lot of dates. Silver lining: meeting new people should be fun, right? But running into her old rival, George, at her first dating event is decidedly not. Not only does the arrogant know-it-all have zero trouble attracting women, wherever Penny goes, somehow he just. Keeps. Showing. Up.

Azlana's best friend set out to save her, only to become a captive of the Fairy Queen. Now it is up to her to travel to the Twilight Realm to save Luka, but there was one thing she didn't account for: The Darkness doesn't want to go back. When Anhedonia forces Azlana to leave the Realm prematurely, she's met with another task: reclaiming two of the imprisoned Amasai from the human king. Wielding that much power may very well kill her, but it is also her only chance at freedom. Can Azlana rise to the challenge, or will her desire to own her own destiny lead her to her own undoing?

A princess of elves on the run, a changeling lost in the Realm, and a dragon preparing for war. Anhedonia is a thrilling young adult coming of age fantasy novel set in a land where men and magic are at war. Azlana is a runaway princess who believes in uniting the kingdoms of men and magic. She wants is to be rid of the Amasai, Anhedonia before it harms someone she cares about; but the Dragon Fiora cannot take her burden even if she wasn’t holding Azlana captive.

Amasai Rising is an enchanting young-adult coming-of-age fantasy novel set in the Kingdom of Aythia. Azlana is a half-human, half-elf princess on the run, forced from the only home she has ever known and shouldered with the responsibility of uniting men and mystics. But an ancient darkness has taken hold of Azlana’s mind, flooding her thoughts that horrify her.

After a year of banishment in the modern world Persephone must convince Olympus that love comes in many forms. Persephone and Aphrodite must settle an old rivalry regarding their shared lover, or forfeit them to the mortal realm forever in this LGBTQ+ romantic fantasy short story. As their time runs out and the Goddess of Love shows no sign of wavering, it is up to Persephone to find a way to save the mortal she loves, without hurting the immortal she married.

Seventeen-year-old Teagan McNeel falls for captivating Garreth Adams and soon discovers that her crush has an eight-point star etched into the palm of his right hand-the mark of an angel. But where there is light, dark follows, and she and Garreth suddenly find themselves vulnerable to a dark angel's malicious plan that could threaten not only her life, but the lives of everyone she knows.

It’s 2130. The air is full of choking smog and radiation, and former solider Cynthia spends her days (and nights) in a lonely office slaving away as a corporate lawyer for the Alliance, a combination government and business organization that runs most of the world. When she stumbles into a secret meeting that offers a new life in a hidden undersea colony governed by the principles of science and equality, she jumps at the chance to start over.

The system is broken. Both of them. After escaping alien captivity, Kylie and the remaining survivors are no longer caught between competing authorities. The government that trained her and the alien force that manipulated her have both revealed the truth—they were never protectors. They were controllers. When Kylie’s twin is murdered, the last tether to obedience is severed.

In the aftermath of Created, Kylie and Luke uncover the truth hidden inside their own bodies—and inside the base meant to protect them. The lies they were trained to live with are no longer sustainable, and neither are the alliances holding the compound together. As the threat outside escalates and the virus mutates into something far more dangerous, Kylie is forced to confront emotions she was never meant to have. Attachment is forbidden. Desire is punishable. And love—once unthinkable—now carries consequences not just for her, but for her twin.

“No matter how hard it gets, there’s always a version of you who can fight a little longer.” Laney’s world collapsed when she caught her dad cheating. He begged her not to tell, but she did. Her family fell apart and regret consumes her, especially when she learns every decision she makes spawns a new universe for the opposite choice. If only she could skip sideways to the Laney who didn’t tell. But her only escape is through her imagination, until a news story blurs the lines between worlds.

Nearly a century ago, an extraterrestrial attack destroyed the majority of the world and decimated humanity. In a time of war, protection is needed. Designed to fight for their country, twins Kylie and Luke Alexander are Second Generation Creations—emotionless, genetically altered fighters. They have one mission. Fight and live to fight again.