Showing results by narrator "Lucy Rayner" in All Categories

Throughout the Villains series, the Odd Sisters have meddled in the lives of the Wicked Queen, The Beast, Ursula, Maleficent, and Mother Gothel, changing the course of fate for the greatest villains ever known. Now, it's time for their reckoning. This latest novel by the author of the wildly popular Villains series goes deeper into the lives of the twisted, diabolical Odd Sisters, finally revealing the dark truth about who they are and where they're from.

Blaine McNeil is the master-at-arms at Lochlann, set deep in the wild and mysterious Scottish Highlands, and he must defend his clan at all costs. When the woman he loves is taken captive by the evil McDonnell clan, he rides to rescue her. Chrissie Connolly, now a young woman, visits the home of her beloved cousins Amabel and Alina often, especially now that there are Amabel's bonny babes to visit. Chrissie is facing what seems to be her toughest decision - which suitor should she accept has her future husband? Heath Fraser, or the unsuitable but persistent Blaine MacNeil?

Earning the nickname Lady Agony was no minor achievement for Lady Agatha Bolingbroke. It required a great deal of effort to make herself so disagreeable, but she did it for a good cause: The fewer invitations she received, the more time she had to paint. Her mother, refusing to accept an unpopular daughter - or, worse, a talented one - insists on dragging her to every event of the season. To thwart her parents and to vent her frustration, Agatha creates a wicked alter ego: a caricaturist whose mocking illustrations take ruthless aim at the ridiculousness of the ton.

Maleficent was a different sort of faerie. For one thing, she was raised by all the Fair Folk after her parents were killed. For another, she believed there had to be some good in everyone, even humans. Happy and spirited, Maleficent was beloved by all who knew her. That is, until she experienced the ultimate betrayal by a trusted friend. Enraged and embarking on a quest for vengeance, Maleficent must forge her own path in the world to make sense of it all. And while she learns to harness her great powers, the forces against her only grow stronger.

Since they were children, cousins Kate and Cecelia have been inseparable. But in 1817, as they approach adulthood, their families force them to spend a summer apart. As Cecelia fights boredom in her small country town, Kate visits London to mingle with the brightest lights of English society. At the initiation of a powerful magician into the Royal College of Wizards, Kate finds herself alone with a mysterious witch who offers her a sip from a chocolate pot.

The tale of the legendary golden flower is widely known. The story has been told many times and in many ways. But always the flower is coveted by an old witch to keep herself young and beautiful. And always the flower is used to save a dying queen, who then gives birth to a princess with magical hair. Not willing to lose the flower, the old witch steals the princess and locks her away in a high tower, raising her as her own. But the princess always finds out who she truly is and manages to defeat the old witch. And yet this is only half the story. What of the old witch, Mother Gothel?

A bloodied and bruised girl runs out of the woods and into the path of oncoming traffic. The police are shocked to discover that she's a missing schoolgirl they've been trying to find for the past three weeks. Traumatized by her ordeal, she's unable to tell them what happened to her. When the case involving the missing schoolgirl and the murdered woman is taken on by the newly-formed Murder Force, Detective Inspector Danica Summers is touched by the vulnerability of the victims and is determined to capture the monster who ruined their lives.

Etta's happy with her simple life in the mill, but when her aunt passes and leaves her a very peculiar cat, everything goes awry. Now, determined to find her place in the world, Etta's learning to hunt, having audiences with a king, and falling for a man who's keeping something from her. Beau's happy at sea until his father passes and leaves him with an odd last request. Now he's setting up shop in a small town, searching for ogres, and, inconveniently, falling for the miller's sister - who just happens to be taken with someone else. 

Bethan Griffiths has returned home for Christmas to unwrap secrets. It's the 1970s and she is back in the village of Foel in the Welsh hills to raise her daughter. They arrive to the open arms of her family and the community, but not all is what it seems, and Beth isn't home for the reason she pretends, either. Vicious notes start appearing that reveal harsh truths about the village inhabitants, stirring up ancient pasts, old loves, and the dead. Not even local dignitary, the elegant and aloof Lady Melling who hides in her manor house, is safe from the accusations.

July 8, 1921. Ireland. A British Officer is shot dead on a remote hillside south of Dublin. November 22, 2015. United Kingdom. Former police detective Jayne Sinclair, now working as a genealogical investigator, receives a phone call from an adopted American billionaire asking her to discover the identity of his real father. How are the two events linked? Jayne Sinclair has only three clues to help her: a photocopied birth certificate, a stolen book, and an old photograph.

Alexandra Hayden, the current guardian of Nimway Hall, is badly in need of funding to repair the crumbling estate. American Robert Curtis has just arrived to take possession of the estate next to Nimway and his newly inherited title Viscount Brynmore. Alexandra needs money, and Robert could use a well-connected wife. Marriage would benefit both of them. But each has been having romantic dreams about the other, and a marriage of convenience could turn out to be anything but. And even on an estate filled with magic, it’s not always easy to recognize love is the greatest magic of all.

No, no, no! It doesn't matter how many times the Duchess of Trent (The Harlow Hoyden) requests her help with a delicate matter regarding a patent for her sister's invention, Tuppence Templeton will not lend a hand. She has a habit, yes, of coming up with ingenious plans to solve other people's problems, and it is true that she's clever and daring enough to pull off the proposed scheme. But there's no way she's going to confront the arrogant and dismissive Earl of Gage again.

England 1801: Lady Louisa, daughter to the Earl of Whickerton, never thought she would ever have reason enough to hate anyone; especially not Phineas Hawke, Viscount Barrington, the man with the most wickedly dark eyes she has ever seen. Louisa is suddenly forced to realize that the man she could easily have lost her heart to has discovered her most shameful secret. Anger settles in her heart, burying all tender emotions, as she tries her utmost to ignore him. That is easier said than done.

Joanna MacConnaway's future looks dark when her great-uncle passes, leaving Lochlann Castle in the hands of a new leader. This handsome stranger, who has haunted Joanna's dreams, soon finds himself in mortal danger. Joanna chooses to help him, against her misgivings and sense of impending doom. Can she trust him? And is he worthy of the feelings she soon develops for him? 

Alice has always been haunted by the women from her husband’s past. As an MP and now a TV personality, George Bell’s reputation as a ladies’ man precedes him. But when Alice falls pregnant, her unease becomes an obsession. And there’s one ex in particular she can’t get out of her head: a beautiful student George dated in his first year, who went missing before they finished university. Ruth. When Alice sees a woman who looks just like Ruth, she can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to her disappearance than George has been telling her.

Gil Truman has eyes only for the beautiful Tilly - until he is forced to marry plain, sickly Rose Davenport to reclaim the lands his father foolishly gambled away. After a disastrous wedding night tainted with his bitterness, he deposits Rose at his remote, Northumbrian estate, soothing his guilt with the thought that she need never lay eyes on him again. Five years after the mortifying wedding night that destroyed all her romantic fantasies, Rose is fed up with hearing second - and third - hand reports of Gil's philandering ways. She is no longer the shy, homely girl he left behind.

Jane Ellen Harrison (1850-1928) is the most famous female Classicist in history, the author of books that revolutionized our understanding of Greek culture and religion. A star in the British academic world, she became the quintessential Cambridge woman—as Virginia Woolf suggested when, in A Room of One's Own, she claims to have glimpsed Harrison's ghost in the college gardens. This lively and innovative portrayal of a fascinating woman raises the question of who wins (and how) in the competition for academic fame. Mary Beard captures Harrison's ability to create her own image.

February 1816: A race through the icy, twisting cobblestone streets of London ends inside an abandoned church - and a horrific discovery. Bow Street Runner Sam Kelly is called to investigate the grisly murder of Sir Giles Holbrooke, who was left naked and garroted, with his tongue cut out. Yet it becomes even stranger when symbols that resemble crosses mysteriously begin to appear across the dead man's flesh during autopsy. Sam turns to the one person in the kingdom who he believes can solve the bizarre murder - the Duke of Aldridge's odd but brilliant ward, Kendra Donovan.

Jacqueline Tregarth, lady and guardian of Nimway Hall, is devoted to protecting her people, the Hall, the estate’s wood, and its farms. She yearns for a husband to help her meet the challenges, but all those seeking her hand are interested only in controlling her lands. With the estate’s stream running dry and summer looming, she sets men digging to reopen an old spring. Her workers discover a dirt-encrusted ornament buried at the spot; once removed, water flows and fills the old lake - and Jacqueline realizes the ornament is some kind of ancient orb.

Tavish was the best boyfriend Kelsey ever had, but seven years ago he disappeared. She coped with her heartbreak by finishing her doctorate in Celtic Artwork, and now her career is taking off. Except Tavish keeps showing up at her job sites and butting into her business - all the while wearing that stupid sexy kilt. But she's here to see the ruins, not Tavish. So she'll just have to show him who's boss at this site. Because under these cliffs at Dunskey Castle, it is rumored, lies the ancient palace of the kings of Alba.