Showing results by author "Melissa McShane" in All Categories

Elinor is an Extraordinary and the only one in England capable of wielding fire in over 100 years. As an Extraordinary she is respected and feared, but to her father she represents power and prestige for himself. Mr. Pembroke, having spent his life studying magic, is determined to control Elinor and her talent by forcing her to marry whom he chooses, a marriage that will produce even more powerful offspring.

Helena has come far from the day she became custodian of Abernathy’s, the world’s only living oracle. Now, she faces her greatest challenge yet: the oracle’s prediction that it, and she, will end.

With two threats to the oracular bookstore Abernathy’s behind her, Helena finally feels secure in her role as custodian. But when a new danger rises, it threatens not the store, but the magi of Portland. As tensions between the factions grow, and monsters terrorize the city, the conflict tests Helena’s neutrality and requires her to solve the mystery — before she becomes the next victim.

Helena Davies just wants a job that will get her out of her parents’ basement. Abernathy’s Bookstore is disorganized, out of the way, and smells funny, but it pays well and promises to be interesting. She has no idea how interesting. By the end of the first day, Helena has a dead boss in the basement, an unexpected promotion, and the news that she is now a part of an endless war against creatures from another reality. As Abernathy’s newest custodian, Helena is responsible for its secrets, including the most important one: Abernathy’s isn’t just a bookstore.

Helena and the oracular bookstore Abernathy’s stopped an attack by the alien invaders’ human allies and destroyed their attempt at a second oracle, giving the Wardens much-needed victories. Now, after months of fighting a defensive war, the Wardens plan a direct assault on the enemy stronghold. But as the battle approaches, Abernathy’s has other plans. The oracle directs Helena to contact four ordinary people with extraordinary talents whose abilities will change the course of the war. If she fails, it will mean the deaths of thousands—including those Helena loves most.

As the custodian of the oracular bookstore Abernathy’s, Helena has faced any number of challenges in learning her new role. But when the store begins giving out false prophecies, Helena comes up against her greatest challenge yet: how can she fix Abernathy’s when she doesn’t truly know how it works? Armed only with a few special talents and her desire to protect her magical charge, Helena navigates the treacherous depths of the magical world, where secret enemies lurk behind illusions capable of fooling even the most powerful of magical entities.

Sophia Westlake is an extraordinary seer, gifted with the ability to see past, present, and future in dreams and visions. Her talent led to the destruction of the Caribbean pirates plaguing England's shipping and gained her renown and the accolades of her peers. But when she accuses a prominent politician, Lord Endicott, of embezzling from the army, her dream is "proved" false, and she is disgraced, her reputation ruined and her career in the army's War Office over.

For more than 70 years, the use of familiars - monsters bound by magic to fight beside humans in the Long War - divided magery into two factions. Now, the monsters strike back. As Helena prepares for the Conference of Neutralities, reports of familiars breaking their bonds to attack and kill their masters raise tensions between the factions to an unprecedented high.

For five years, Aderyn has waited to get the Call—the event when the system controlling her world grants her a class and appropriate skills to become an adventurer. When the system makes her a Warmaster, Aderyn eagerly sets out on her first journey. The problem? Her class is useless. No one believes a Warmaster is anything but a joke. They aren’t strong fighters, they have no magic, and they don’t have powerful skills. But Aderyn hasn’t waited all these years to give up now

In returning to the north, Aderyn leaves behind the horrors and personal nightmares she suffered in the Southlands. But going north has its own challenges, because the new Fated One’s Destiny quest says only that they must bring peace to the Northlands. With little information about this mysterious, uninhabited place, Aderyn’s imagination conjures up dread monsters, terrible environmental hazards, and dungeons no one has ever seen.

With the Mercy’s attacks on the Wardens neutralized, Helena prepares for her upcoming wedding to Malcolm Campbell. But when Helena steps into the oracle’s space and finds herself somewhere unfamiliar, the mystery threatens to destroy the Wardens’ tentative peace. Having no explanation for the oracle’s strange behavior, Helena reaches out to a new ally she hopes can answer her questions. Is the oracle trying to communicate with her? Is it under attack again? Or is Helena traveling through time?

With a successful challenge to the Accords behind her, and her relationship with Malcolm Campbell made public, Helena Davies’ life seems perfect. Then, the attacks begin. As the enemy magi known as the Mercy wreak havoc on Warden strongholds, Helena and the oracular bookstore Abernathy’s play their role in guiding the Wardens. But the oracle knows a deadly secret, one Helena struggles to interpret while the enemy draws nearer. And the one question she needs the answer to is the one question the oracle will not answer: Who are the weavers?

Lady Daphne St. Clair, who as an Extraordinary Bounder is capable of transporting herself anywhere in the world with a thought, has longed to serve in the Army for years. But an unexpected weakness at the sight of blood makes her responsible for a good man's death in battle. Unable to serve on the battlefield, Daphne is sent to India to be transportation for the Governor-General's wife and children. In disgrace, Daphne fears she will never achieve the fame and glory she has worked so hard for. A chance encounter with Captain Fletcher leads to Daphne being given a new opportunity.

Alison Quinn, Countess of Waxwold, is content with her bookish life - until she's summoned to be a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Tremontane's mother for six months. Even the prospect of access to the Royal Library doesn't seem enough to make up for her sacrifice, but Alison is prepared to do her service to the Crown. What she's not prepared for is Prince Anthony North, Queen Zara's playboy brother, who's accustomed to getting what he wants - including the Countess of Waxwold.

After accepting the responsibility of the Fated One quest, Aderyn, Owen, and their friends must travel north to the Repository, home to strange sources of knowledge. There, they will discover the next step on their adventure. It should be a straightforward journey, with no complications. But antagonistic traveling companions, an old man who knows more about Aderyn than he should, and countless vicious monsters stand in their way.

The war with the orcs has reached its peak, and Aderyn must use every Warmaster skill she has to defeat their violent, relentless onslaught. But when a former enemy appears with new information about the Fated One quest, Aderyn’s loyalties are tested: keep her promise to lead the human armies, or travel deep into the Blighted Range to find and destroy the orcs’ stronghold of Charnel Keep?

Aderyn’s courage and skills are put to the test when she and her friends travel to the Southlands on a quest to repel an invasion of vicious orcs—a quest that requires Aderyn to find and command an army. But in a land where politics can be deadlier than warfare, military strategy soon becomes the least of her concerns.

Aderyn and her friends can tackle any challenge they’ll encounter on their eight-week trek across the continent. They’re ready for monsters, bandits, unexpected quests, and lost dungeons. But nothing could prepare them for the greatest challenge of all: escorting a whiny, self-absorbed fledgling adventurer through the wilderness to Guerdon Deep. The Pathseer Jessemia’s hostility and antagonism turn everyone against her—everyone but Aderyn, who sees Jessemia’s potential to be a true adventurer.

The knowledge gained in the Repository directs Aderyn, Owen, and their team to the distant, lawless city of Obsidian, in search of the next clues to the Fated One quest. Obsidian is dangerous for low-level adventurers, and the overland journey through monster-infested wasteland takes months. When they learn of a dungeon called Gamboling Coil that can transport adventurers instantly anywhere in the world, they leap at the chance. But nothing in the dungeon is as it seems, and it will take all the team’s skills to make it out alive.