Showing results by narrator "J. A." in All Categories

With wedding planning underway and a short timeline, my best friend, Lia, has recruited me to help her battle the snarly beast that is Mrs. Beaver. Not scared at all, I accept the challenge as her man-in-waiting--aka, man of honor--and take matters into my own hands. The only problem is, with every second we draw closer to the wedding, I'm starting to see my best girl in a different light. She's always been beautiful to me, but now . . . I find myself staring a touch too long. My hand lingering for one more minute. And when she's upset? Allowing her to sleep in my bed.

Adam and Sophie Warner and their three-year-old daughter are vacationing in Washington State’s Hood Canal for Memorial Day weekend. It’s the perfect getaway to unplug—and to calm an uneasy marriage. But on Adam’s first day out on the water, he sees Sophie abducted by a stranger. A hundred yards from shore, Adam can’t save her. And Sophie disappears.

When Wren Jacobi sets eyes on Wolf Hall Academy’s newest inductee, all he sees is an easy mark. A reserved little girl with a target painted on her back. He knows nothing of my troubled past, though. Nothing of my mother’s suspicious death or the horrific treatment I’ve had to endure at the hands of my psychotic father. And he has no idea of the lengths that I, unassuming little Elodie Stillwater, will go to in order to break the savage beast who dreams of breaking me first.

I don't have time for mysterious strangers. Even the really hot ones. I met him in a bar the night before I left to move across the country - and I never expected to see him again. But then he followed me.... It would be creepy if he was just a stalker - but he’s not. He’s a protector, shielding me from a group of nutjobs who believe in dragons. He saved my life - but now it’s my turn. And apparently, the nutjobs aren’t wrong. Dragons are real. And I hold the key to saving them all.

My arranged marriage should have forged an alliance between my fiancé's gang and my father's. It turns out my fiancé had other plans. Like slaughtering my entire family the night before the wedding. I make it out alive, left with nothing but a thirst for vengeance. To crush the prick who betrayed me, I have to turn to the biggest pricks of them all. Hot, cocky, and dangerous, Wylder Noble and his men rule Paradise Bend. If I pass their brutal tests to prove I deserve their help, my ex doesn't stand a chance.

Luke is an apprentice leather worker, training with his family to one day take over the business. He and his friends Andre, Taylor, and Zed have known each other forever, and swear that nothing will ever tear apart their friendship. Then the Royal Decree comes. With the Dynasty of Dogs invading, and strange monsters appearing in the Hollow Kingdom, a draft has been implemented. Everyone 17 or older is required to be tested for "Potential". If they have it, they will join the mysterious and renowned Ascender Corps. If not, they will be drafted into the Legion as a forced recruit.

Olympic gold medalist skiers Jayla Stone and Rush Remington have been best friends for years. They've seen each other at their best and worst and have kept each other's secrets without fail. Only there's one secret Rush has kept close to his chest. After months of introspection, Rush realizes he's been filling his bed but not tending to his heart. He's changed his womanizing ways, and the only woman who can fill his heart has been right by his side all this time.

“Can we keep you?” After my mom attempts to throw me out—literally—I’m forced to find my own place to live. A sanctuary with peace, quiet, and… Is that another party next door? So, I unknowingly move in next to three bad boy bikers. They’re loud, they’re hot, and they love being in my business, especially the one with chocolate eyes and a delectable dimple. I keep trying to put as much distance between us as possible, but Coty races motorcycles. Closing gaps is his thing. What he doesn’t know is, the walls I put up aren’t for my protection. They’re for his.

He and the other heroes of earth were charged with defending a perilous stretch of space known only as the Frontier. Hordes of long-forgotten Monsters would pummel them, breaking free from the mysterious Dungeon X to terrorize the galaxy once more.

Noah Downsby has always had one goal: play professional hockey. Now that he’s finally made it, he’s determined to prove himself. And if he’s going to have the best rookie season in NHL history, he needs zero distractions. But Noah didn’t plan for Allegra—Ally—Callahan moving in with him. With her sassy smile, smart mouth, and bad habit of ‘borrowing’ his jerseys—nevermind her stupid cat who won’t stop sleeping in his bed—one thing’s for certain: Ally is officially a distraction.

This is the landmark book that changed the way exceptional families think about their heritage, their wealth, and their legacy to future generations - now revised and expanded. Charles W. Collier, Senior Philanthropic Adviser at Harvard University, hails this as, "A masterpiece. No one is more astute than Jay Hughes about the topics of family wealth and family life."

Living in a year around Christmas town has its drawbacks. The caroling, the decorations, the insanely cheery spirit, it never disappears. It's why I like to hibernate away in my cave - I mean housekeeping a healthy distance from the holly jolly spirits. And all was going according to plan until my nemesis, Storee Taylor, moved in next door to care for her Aunt Cindy. Without blinking, she turned my simple world into a real nightmare-before-Christmas, especially when she decided to enter the town Christmas Kringle contest - which she was determined to win.

Five years spent running, reinventing myself at every turn, until my stepbrother finally caught up to me. Zach Knight is cold, dangerous, and determined to make me pay for almost destroying his hockey career. But beneath that icy exterior burns something far more intense than revenge.

No wrong moves. Those were the words the first boy I ever loved whispered in my ear on graduation weekend. Naively, I believed him. Now those three little words feel like a bad omen I can’t escape. Every move I’ve made since I returned to South Chapel hurts my ex-boyfriend, Greedy. But it’s for his benefit. That’s what I tell myself. Intentionally hurting him is for the best. It has to be. I said goodbye to the possibility of forever with him the moment my mom and his dad “introduced us” at their engagement dinner. Three years have passed, but that doesn’t matter to Greedy.

Kai Fletcher thought he could go straight, until he couldn’t. And when his last "last" job goes wrong, he finds himself stowed away in a starship belonging to an alien crime syndicate. Forced into servitude to pay the debt for passage off world, Kai bargains with the syndicate. All he has to do is help them rob the Vakness Empire, the most powerful alien empire in known space, and he gets to go home. Easy Peasy. Until it isn’t.

I meet the grumpiest man on the planet, and I’m head over heels in lust. No joke. Oak Ridge Ranch’s new part-time-vet-slash-ranch-hand is a bear, and he’s built like one too. If I were smart, I’d keep my distance. In a twist, I’m not so smart. But I can tell that under his hard-as-nails exterior, the cowboy is a gentle giant. Axel is a devoted single dad, a dedicated vet, and…I think he likes me. Or he wants me.

On his 11th birthday, Jackson is nervous about moving up to middle school where he knows he'll be bullied by older kids, so he makes his wish, "I don't want to grow up!" When his 12th birthday rolls around, he discovers his wish came true: he's still 11, and he's starting fifth grade (again). At first, this is the perfect life. Jackson is the smartest kid in his class, the best on his baseball team, and the star of the school band. But after a few years of being eleven, he realizes his life is passing him by.

I live my life head over heart and never rock the boat, which is how I wound up engaged to Bryan Davenport—the biggest mistake I ever made. We were a power couple, but no one knew how cruel he could be behind closed doors. When I decide to leave, my fiancé shows just how ruthless he can be and sends me running to the last person I expect: his best man.

Ever since disgraced associate Orrie Cather’s suicide, armchair detective Nero Wolfe has relished retirement in his Manhattan brownstone on West 35th Street. Two years after Cather’s death, only a visit from Maria Radovich - and the urging of Wolfe’s prize assistant, Archie Goodwin - could draw the eccentric and reclusive genius back into business. Maria’s uncle, New York Symphony Orchestra conductor Milan Stevens, formerly known as Milos Stefanovic, spent his youth alongside Wolfe as a fellow freedom fighter in the mountains of Montenegro.

The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre. No lesser an authority than Robert A. Heinlein called it "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read".