Showing results by narrator "Kate Handford" in All Categories

The Labasques aren’t like other families. Living in a shack out in the swamps, they scrape a living hunting down alligators and other animals just to get by. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are troublemakers, outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn’t want living on your doorstep. So when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two rough-cut brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter’s childhood friend, Loyal Duval, who has just returned home to care for her ageing mother.

In a cabin by a lake, a mother and father tuck their little girl into bed and kiss her goodnight. But they can’t enjoy the evening summer breeze—because this is no ordinary family on vacation. This is a family with nowhere left to run…and no one left to trust.

We all know a George. He's the kind of guy who's brimming with potential but incapable of following through; he doesn't know if he's in love with his girlfriend, but he certainly likes having her around; he's distant from—but still reliant on—his mother; he swears he'll finish his novel one day. Sure, you might find him disappointing. But no one is more disappointed in George than George himself.

When Scarlett Melrose receives a call from her estranged sisters, she immediately knows something is wrong. Their mother’s inn has been cursed, and they need her help to save it. As the conflicted middle-child, returning home is giving Scarlett the heebie jeebies. And to make matters worse, she’s just come face-to-face with charming old flame and handyman, Nate. When her spell to break the curse goes horribly wrong, all Scarlett wants to do is flee back to the peace and quiet of her San Francisco flat. But she can’t keep running away forever, and she’ll need all the help she can.

Children run through the streets in their Halloween costumes, giggling happily, not noticing the blood on the house is real. A baby girl is tucked up asleep in her room. Her mother’s body lies motionless in the front yard, pink petals on the ground beside her… Arriving in the quiet community of Mulberry Creek, Special Agent Nikki Hunt is shocked that amongst the chaos of costumes and fake, silver spider webs, a new mother called Kiania Watson has lost her life. A blooming rare flower placed carefully in her cold, bound hands.

Seven months ago, our family left suburban Connecticut for my parents’ isolated lake house in a naïve attempt to reconnect. Life had imploded, or so I thought then. I hoped the change would reset us: a montage of Hallmark moments—card games in candlelight, spontaneous hugs and important, healing chats. What I got was a nuclear holocaust five days after we arrived. A week ago, the lake house burned to the ground. Our last place of safety. Now, I watch my children huddle together, their faces lit up by our tiny campfire beneath the towering blackness of endless pine forests.

For modern-day detective Mallory Atkinson, being trapped in the body of a Victorian housemaid means overcoming endless obstacles. Her current challenge is winning over the suspicious young parlormaid, Alice. Mallory’s plan starts with teaching the girl to make Molotov cocktails, which is a perfectly valid science experiment and not at all a desperate ploy to gain Alice’s attention. Before the lesson can begin, though, Alice receives a letter that has her slipping off in the night. Concerned for her safety—and naturally curious—Mallory follows.

It’s a warm, early summer’s evening, when Mia’s doorbell rings unexpectedly. She opens the door to see the silhouette of a teenage girl, standing in the shadow beyond the porch light - and in an instant, she realizes who it is. Daisy, the daughter she gave up as a baby. She says she has a terrible secret. And she believes the only person who can help her is Mia. Her birth mother. Mia, however, has secrets of her own. Ones that she is afraid to let Daisy or anyone else know.

When a forgotten ring reveals Mevlida Brennan’s true heritage as the long-lost princess of Aetheria, a kingdom of immortals and magic, her world is turned upside down. But there’s just one problem—Mev didn’t know she was missing. Thrust into a realm on the brink of war, Mev is caught between her newfound legacy and a dangerous political game. A powerful king holds the key to restoring the ancient portal that connects their realms, but his son, Kael, stands in her way.

Anna works two jobs to get herself through college and never, ever talks about her family. It’s easier to keep her distance from everyone until she can finally leave her old life behind. That is, until chance throws her together with Gabe....

When three nine-year-old boys go missing on a field trip to Lakemore’s annual spring festival, panic tears through the small town. Detective Mackenzie Price and her partner, Nick Blackwood, lead the search, but no trace of the boys is found - until one of them is found murdered, a note stuffed down his throat.

Just like the whole town of Starr’s Fall, thinks Laurie Ellis – as she and her beloved dog Max head to collect the store keys. Maybe she has seen better days, too, but she’s certainly ready for a new start—and to leave her past behind. Still Laurie wonders whether she made a terrible mistake in coming to lovable but shabby Starr’s Fall. Will she even find customers for her pet store and bakery, never mind a community to welcome and accept her?

In the cursed Kingdom of Aragoa, the punishment for magic is death. Even the students at Vandenberghe Academy aren't spared. When Viola Sinclair's deadly shadow magic is discovered, the queen gives her assassin a new assignment and a new cursed tattoo: seven-thorned rose on his arm for the seven days he has to hunt Viola down and kill her. If he doesn't, he will be the one to die.

Grey has been revealed as the rightful prince of Emberfall. But the kingdom is crumbling fast, torn between his claim and that of the reigning Prince Rhen and Princess Harper. Newly crowned as queen of the enemy kingdom Syhl Shallow, Lia Mara struggles to rule with a gentler hand than her mother. But as Grey moves closer to claiming the crown of Emberfall, both Harper and Lia Mara are forced to question where they stand - and how far they can follow the dictates of their hearts.

When a man is arrested for a long-unsolved murder, Detective Bridgette Cash is tasked with closing the investigation. But powerful forces are determined to secure a conviction, and as Bridgette uncovers evidence pointing to the man’s innocence, she realizes the real killer is still out there. With her life and career on the line, Bridgette races against the clock to unravel a web of lies and corruption. Can she expose the shocking truth before it’s too late?

In Pepper Street, an attractive suburban neighbourhood filled with bullies and egotistical bigots, the feelings of the inhabitants are shallow and selfish: what can a neighbour gain from another neighbour, what may be won from a friend? One child stands alone in her goodness: little Caroline Desmond, kind, sweet and gentle and the pride of her family. But the malice and self-absorption of the people of Pepper Street lead to a terrible event that will destroy the community of which they are so proud.

Headteacher Ella Lucas and football star Jake Prince have a very complicated history! Their mind-blowing encounter two years ago is proving impossible to forget now Jake has reappeared in Ella’s life after being booted out of the NFL. She knew he was trouble back then but Ella has enough on her plate right now to worry about Jake and his shenanigans. Except, her school’s on the brink of closure, and it appears he’s the one person who can actually help. All he has to do is coach the underdog football team to a winning streak and maybe Ella can help Jake restore his reputation in the process.

In Afghanistan, an experienced pilot is shot down during a covert mission. The man survives the crash but is pursued into the mountains by Russian operatives. In New York, a wealthy businessman hires Jack Morgan to track down his daughter, who has gone missing along with her two children. But it is more than a missing-persons case.

Kweku Ashworth is a child of the cataclysm, born on a sailboat to parents fleeing the devastation in search for a refuge in the Southern Ocean. Growing up in a world forever changed, his only connection to the events that set the world on its course to disaster were the stories his step-father, now long-dead, recorded in his manuscript, The Forcing. But there are huge gaps in the story that his mother, still alive but old and frail, steadfastly refuses to speak of. When he discovers evidence that his mother has tried to cover up the truth, he knows that it is time to find out for himself.

On a warm March night in 2083, Judy Wallach-Stevens wakes to a warning of unknown pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay. She heads out to check what she expects to be a false alarm—and stumbles upon the first alien visitors to Earth. These aliens have crossed the galaxy to save humanity, convinced that the people of Earth must leave their ecologically-ravaged planet behind and join them among the stars. And if humanity doesn't agree, they may need to be saved by force. But the watershed networks that rose up to save the planet from corporate devastation aren't ready to give up on Earth.