Showing results by narrator "Kate Rudd" in All Categories

All roads lead to Ecbatana, as the trading masters say. This ancient fortress with its multi-colored interlocking walls, vibrant bazaars, and powerful sorcerers who use a mysterious magic called metamorphistry lies in the path of the rag-tag group of refugees from fallen Clairvaux. But as Cimree, Azra, Trinati, and the others soon learn, there is a tradition in Ecbatana both perilous and promising—Ecbatana is periodically ruled by a tyrant queen, chosen to wield absolute power while the scheming nobles react to drastic changes in fortune.

A bargain was struck beyond memory, sealed by an immortal covenant that promised either peace or extinction for humanity. The Aesir will uphold this covenant, whatever the outcome, but the Erlking will do everything in his power to ensure their victory. Two people hold the key to defeating him, but only one of them remembers who they are.

Dylan O’Connor is a gifted young artist just trying to do the right thing in life. He’s on his way to an arts festival in Santa Fe when he stops to get a room for himself and his twenty-year-old autistic brother, Shep. But in a nightmarish instant, Dylan is attacked by a mysterious “doctor,” injected with a strange substance, and told that he is now a carrier of something that will either kill him...or transform his life in the most remarkable way.

A teacup, a diary, and a body at the foot of the stairs.... When Ruth Townsend’s job and marriage both end abruptly, she heads home to the mountains for a fresh start. Nine months later, she has a new hobby, good friends, and a potential new romance - but only two dozen subscribers to the weekly newspaper she’s intent on reviving. What she needs is a good mystery...but nothing ever happens in sleepy little Thistlewood. Then Edith Morton is found dead at the bottom of her staircase.

I’ve been listening to my father sing for my whole life. I carry him in my pocket on my MP3 player. It’s just that we’ve never met face to face. My mother would never tell me how I came to be, or why my rock star father and I have never met. I thought it was her only secret. I was wrong. When she dies, he finally appears. Suddenly I have a first-class ticket into my father’s exclusive world. A world I don’t want any part of - not at this cost. Only three things keep me going: my a cappella singing group, a swoony blue-eyed boy named Jake, and the burning questions in my soul.

The truth can be dangerous—especially when it's buried. In the If I Run series by New York Times bestselling author Terri Blackstock, one woman's desperate quest for justice collides with a man's search for redemption in a gripping trilogy packed with heart-racing suspense, emotional depth, and faith-fueled resilience.

The best of Deep Magic: Volume 1—fantastical worlds of space adventures, changelings, and dragons await—stories with depth, strong protagonists, high tension, all told while pulling at your heartstrings, or making you smile with understanding. In this volume, you'll find twenty-two stories, including many novelettes. Go on adventures from deep space to ancient Rome (with magic), to Mars, and many other new fantasy worlds.

The Cyrists are swiftly moving into position to begin the Culling, and Kate's options are dwindling. With each jump to the past or the future, Kate may trigger a new timeline shift. Worse, the loyalties of those around her - including the allegiances of Kiernan and the Fifth Column, the shadowy group working with Kate - are increasingly unclear.

For now, the centuries-long war between mortalkind and the Aesir is quiet. Yet not over. With the coming of winter, a season in which the Aesir thrive, they will resurface. Only two people, united by magic, can stop them. But first they’ll have to survive more imminent threats to their lives. Robinson Hawksley is of the tragic belief that his beloved wife, McKenna, has perished in a sorcerer’s fire—just as he is about to ascend to the highest rank in the magic order of the Invisible College.

When the rusted-out remains of a vehicle with a unique vanity plate are hauled out of the Freedom River, journalist Ruth Townsend and her best friend, Wren Lawson, think they’ve finally learned the truth about the disappearance of their high school friend, Tanya Blackburn. The rest of Thistlewood may have believed that Tanya simply packed up and headed for the bright lights of Nashville, but the story never made sense to Ruth and Wren, and the mystery has haunted both of them for more than three decades. Things aren’t always what they appear on the surface, however.

When Ruth Townsend discovers Tessa Martin’s body in an abandoned factory, sprawled across a Ouija board, she does the responsible thing and calls 911. But by the time Sheriff Blevins arrives, the girl’s body has vanished. Blevins is convinced that Tessa is playing an elaborate hoax. But Ruth and her daughter, Cassie, know better. They both saw the body.

Twenty-one years ago, Carol Fullerton's car was found abandoned by the side of a California highway. The teenager hasn't been seen or heard from since, and the case has long since gone cold. Now Carol's mother is dying. But before she draws her last breath she wants to know, once and for all, exactly what happened to her daughter... Six months ago, Diane Kramer emptied her savings account and vanished. According to her sister, the only clue is her obsession with a charismatic weight-loss guru.

A simple blink is all it takes to yank Pru from the car with her dad into a world of hurt. She awakens in 2305 to find herself pinned under what's left of CHRONOS headquarters, thanks to a recent terrorist attack. Their prime suspect? Her mother, Katherine Shaw. And everyone wants to know how Pru got her hands on a CHRONOS key.

With Beach Girls, Luanne Rice returns to the place that she was born to write about—the Connecticut shore—to tell a story about a family of women whose lives encompass three generations, their histories intertwined with that of the mystic coastal town that has forever bound them to one another.

A devastating disaster has left the Forbidden Court in ashes, its fountains destroyed, and its magic at risk. It was destined as the site of Trynne Kiskaddon’s coronation as empress. Now, all Trynne can imagine is the roar of flames, the cries of Gahalatine’s people, and the smell of cinders in a city gone dark. Tragic as the threat to Kingfountain is, it’s nowhere near as foul as the treachery posed by Morwenna.

Newlywed Jade Westmore has finally found her forever in husband Wells, a charming, successful, and recently divorced architect—only there’s one caveat: behind the gates of their elysian estate, hidden from street view in the caretaker’s cottage … lives Wells’s first wife, Sylvie. Three years ago, the original Mrs. Westmore suffered a nervous breakdown—and hasn’t uttered a sound since. Not a physician, psychologist, or world-renown specialist has been able to elicit so much as a word from the silent woman … until now.

Private investigator Lizzy Gardner believed in law and order once. But after losing a loved one to a killer and watching too many vicious predators game the system and walk free, she's traded flawed justice for perfect vengeance.

Faith McMann comes home to a nightmare: her husband is killed and her son and daughter are taken. Although the intruders leave her for dead, she survives. Crippling grief and fear for her children make life unbearable. Until her anguish turns to anger...and she trades victimhood for vengeance.

Life for private investigator Lizzy Gardner will never be the same. It's been three weeks since her fiancé Jared, was shot on what was supposed to be their wedding day. He's in a coma now, and Lizzy is being forced to make a decision she might not be able to live with. But a string of deaths has forced her to get back to work. While they appear to be unrelated accidents at first glance, a closer look shows they all have something in common.