Showing results by narrator "Carmen" in All Categories

Six hours. That’s how long seven-year-old Sophie Lewin was missing. Found seventeen miles away on a desolate road, she has no memory of the incident, and the police have no leads. But one thing is certain: Sophie has not been the same since.

Hop in, buckle up, and get ready to RIDE with Elmo! He’s driving around in the Elmobile, which can magically turn into ANYTHING – a train, a helicopter, a giant spring, or even a banana!

Lysandra Keates is running out of options. Her father is dead, her mother is ill, and her efforts to find respectable employment have ended in failure. With her small savings bleeding away, she swallows her pride - and her terror - and turns to Vivien Manning, an infamous courtesan, to match her with a wealthy protector. For years, Viscount Andrew Callis has lived a monastic existence at his country estate, hardening his body against the snobbish, lazy young man he once was...

Mina's well-ordered life is thrown into disarray when her father drops a bombshell on his deathbed: She has a brother she never knew of. Not only that, he is on his way to rescue her from the collapse of their school under a mountain of debts. A wild journey across country later, Mina finds herself thrown at the feet of the brutish William Nye, prize-fighter and owner of a disreputable inn, The Merry Harlot. Respectable Mina is appalled to find herself obliged to wed this surly stranger.

London 1812. War hero Adam Grey returns with a burning ambition to run for Parliament. But he needs the support of the local baronet, who controls the seat. And his father has promised him to the baronet's daughter. Adam wants nothing to do with marriage or his father's problems, so he fakes an engagement to Cass Linford—his best friend's sister. Cass has been through hell since she last saw Adam and given up on marriage. So when Adam suggests a temporary engagement, she agrees. He needs help with his campaign, and Cass can't resist his charm or the chance to be involved in politics.

Vivian Barrera, a professional woman focused on her company's success, doesn't know what to think when her sometimes-lover and long-time business partner Jack hires someone without her permission. The only thing she does know is that she doesn't like the newcomer. April Hawkins is determined to make her new job work. Left as the sole provider for her niece, she just wants to keep her head down and collect her paycheck. That proves to be difficult when one of her bosses seems to hate her and the other seems to like her a little too much.

After eight years of waiting for Piers Brandon, the wandering Marquess of Granville, to set a wedding date, Clio Whitmore has had enough. She's inherited a castle, scraped together some pride, and made plans to break her engagement. Not if Rafe Brandon can help it. A ruthless prizefighter and notorious rake, Rafe is determined that Clio will marry his brother - even if he has to plan the dratted wedding himself.

As the daughter of a famed author, Isolde Ophelia Goodnight grew up on tales of brave knights and fair maidens. She never doubted romance would be in her future, too. The storybooks offered endless possibilities. And as she grew older, Izzy crossed them off. One by one by one....Now Izzy's given up yearning for romance. She'll settle for a roof over her head. What fairy tales are left over for an impoverished 26-year-old woman who's never even been kissed?

Adored by all, Britta is an ambitious waitress working at Sluggers. The popular bar holds a special place in her heart and is a regular hangout for the Bridgeport Bandits, the local hockey club. With a half brother on the team, Britta has a strict no-dating policy for hockey boys. But she does have a soft spot for one particular player.

Like a songbird in a cage, Anya has spent her entire life as the General's perfect daughter. He snaps his fingers; she jumps. He tells her to smile; she beams like she is made of the sun itself. But underneath all those games and glitter, she's working to destroy her father and save the city she loves. When an undine sneaks his way into her city, intent on kidnapping her, she lets him take her.

One of the many engineers that keep Beta, the city under the sea, running, Mira only wants to make her family proud and to prove herself worthy. She knows the mysterious city better than anyone and it's her dream to help it flourish. Then, on a solo job in an abandoned section of the city, she encounters a monster of legend: an undine, a dangerous merman from an ancient civilization, long forgotten.

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who usually resides as an amorphous lump in the swamp of a ruined manor, unless impolite monster hunters invade intent on murdering her. Through a chance encounter, she meets a different kind of human, warm-hearted Homily, who mistakes Shesheshen for a human in turn. Shesheshen is loath to deceive, but just as she's about to confess her true identity, Homily reveals she's hunting the shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family.

Miss Charlotte Allston is unwittingly ensnared in a sinister web of traitors and spies when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome stranger on the beach. Fiercely determined to redeem his honor after a humiliating military defeat, the Earl of Beckport is living incognito, hunting a band of smugglers at the center of a French plot to invade England. The enigmatic Miss Allston instantly becomes a person of interest to the earl, and not just in the smuggling case. But when her attempts to help with his secret mission endanger it, he must question where her loyalty truly lies.

On the night of the Parkhurst ball, someone had a scandalous tryst in the library. Was it Lord Canby, with the maid, on the divan? Or Miss Fairchild, with a rake, against the wall? Perhaps the butler did it. All Charlotte Highwood knows is this: It wasn't her. But rumors to the contrary are buzzing. Unless she can discover the lovers' true identity, she'll be forced to marry Piers Brandon, Lord Granville - the coldest, most arrogantly handsome gentleman she's ever had the misfortune to embrace.

As a genetic experiment and personal guard to one of the Originals, Alexia has always known her purpose. Keep her Original safe. Ensure the city of Tau remains hidden amongst the depths of the ocean. And destroy any and all undine who try to make those jobs difficult. Fortis has always known he was going to die early. His wife had seen a prophecy of his death in great detail, so he knows the exact moment he will expire. Which means he isn't afraid. Fate can not be changed, not even by the warrior woman who captures his attention. After all, he knows the hour and circumstances of his death.

Alice McAllister is a successful solicitor who likes a quiet, disciplined life. But when her business partner, Miranda, forces her to take a vacation at her holiday home in Portugal, the presence of Miranda's daughter, Joy, turns Alice's world upside down. Despite their age difference, Alice and Joy embark on a fiery holiday romance...until they have to return home to London. Will Alice be able to forget about Joy and what she has awakened in her? And how can she face Joy's mother without guilt after such a passionate summer fling?

Lucy Locket, the long lost granddaughter of a duchess, has never been a part of Society. One day, she was living a secluded life as the prisoner of a criminal, and the next day she was an heiress in a world she did not even remotely understand. She can't curtsy, she doesn't hide her emotions, she's too clever by far. But in three months, she must marry a suitor with a royally bestowed title, or she forfeits a fortune—leaving her and the duchess in dire straits.

After years of wild adventures overseas, Miss Sophie Everton is in no hurry to return home to the boring strictures of the ton. But she's determined to reclaim her family's fortune - even if she has to become a spy for the Prince Regent to do it. Before she can get her first assignment, she lands right in the lap of the dark and dashing Duke of Rockeforte. She's faced hungry tigers that didn't look nearly as predatory.

On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shy, pretty, and talented with a drawing pencil but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen. She was certain to be a dismal failure on the London marriage mart. So Maddie did what generations of shy, awkward young ladies have done: She invented a sweetheart.

In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado's engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad. Tracing the full arc of a harrowing experience with a charismatic but volatile woman, this is a bold dissection of the mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse. Each chapter views the relationship through a different lens, as Machado holds events up to the light and examines them from distinct angles.