Showing results by narrator "Nicole Poole" in All Categories

Sometimes I wonder what life was like before magic burst into existence, before the Magical War of 810 destroyed our world. What it was like before there were Wyrd Blood, or we were forced into hiding. And that's what I've been doing for years, hiding me and my crew. But that's about to end. My crew is starving and things are getting dire. When I get desperate enough to try and steal from Ryker, one of the toughest men around, things go bad and my Wyrd Blood origins are outed. But it's not all bad. Ryker can help keep me alive from the mysterious illness that's been plaguing me

Pushed to the breaking point, Cara Burrows flees her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can't afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied - by a man and a teenage girl. A simple mistake at the front desk, but soon Cara realizes that the girl she saw alive and well in the hotel room is someone she can't possibly have seen: the most famous murder victim in the country, Melody Chapa, whose parents are serving natural life sentences for her murder.

From cakes to stakes, a celebration of everyone's favorite bloodsucking subculture by a baker's dozen of favorite authors. Each of these 13 original stories offers a fresh and unique take on what birthdays mean to the undead. From Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse attending a birthday party for Dracula to Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden battling bloodsucking party crashers, these suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous stories will ensure paranormal fans will never think of vampires or birthdays quite the same again.

Blasphemy is a victimless crime...Callie Penrose has taken over Castle Dracula all for herself, finally feeling like she has time to take a breath and relax. But the forces of Heaven and Hell have other plans. Callie quickly learns that removing her mother’s protection of binding Excalibur to her soul had very serious consequences. Namely, that it unleashed the Seven Deadly Sins on Kansas City. But they aren’t in town for mayhem - not directly. They came for a wedding. And a very dark prophecy that could bring the age-old Angel War to the streets of the City of Fountains.

After narrowly surviving my debut into the magical world, I made a promise to myself: no more hiding in broom closets. But with the Mages' Guild reorganizing faster than anyone thought possible, and naming me as their number one target, that promise seems a little far-fetched. Especially since my training with Callie and Dizzy, the highly experienced dual-mage pair, goes off like a cake in a cannon. Left to find someone that can fill the role, it isn't until a formal dinner party goes horribly wrong that I find the best (and worst) solution imaginable: Reagan Somerset, the leather-clad crazy woman who busted into my broom closet sanctuary in the first place.

Iolanthe Tennyson has had a very bad year—due in part to the very bad men in her life. So she’s accepted her cousin’s invitation to spend the summer in Austria to indulge her photography hobby. Rumors of a haunted forest there draw Iolanthe into the dark woods—and into the 18th century.... Nikola Czerny is a cursed man, forced by his half brothers to live forever as a Dark One. But his miserable existence takes an intriguing turn when a strange, babbling woman is thrown in his path.

This collection includes four book-centered mystery novellas from four masters of the craft: The Scroll, Reconciliation Day, The Compendium of Srem, and The Mysterious Disappearance of the Reluctant Book Fairy.

Charity hasn't had it easy. Growing up in a bad part of Chicago, left by her mother at 16, she's a survivor. So when she gets a scholarship to a good college out in California, she thinks all her dreams have come true. Instead she falls head first into a nightmare. At a posh party she doesn't belong, she gets the shock of her life: vampires and shifters are real! Magic is real. And she is anything but a mundane poor kid just trying to make it.

Mackenzie "Mack" Dalton and her barstool detectives are happy to help when Tiny, one of the bar's newest patrons, asks them to look into his sister's murder.Though the case has gone cold, Mack's heightened senses quickly put her on the killer's trail. But when a throng of reporters intrigued by her talents descends on Mack's Bar, her efforts are muddled as a real-life Moriarty begins putting her infamous skills to the test, leaving Mack feeling shaken and stirred.

Humor and romance mix delightfully in Katie MacAlister’s New York Times best-selling novels. In this installment of the Dark Ones series, Pia is discovering that wedded bliss with a vampire is a very elusive proposition. With her hubby not trusting her, and his best friend missing, Pia finds solace in her plain old Seattle life. But that all changes when she and Kristoff are falsely implicated in crimes against vampire-kind.

Coyote shifter Tate Allen has been watching. Learning his mate every possible way before he moves in. Protecting her through the night, always from afar. He'll be the one to teach her about her gifts. He’ll be there when she changes for the first time. With him, she’ll fulfill her destiny. Elise Ralston loves Tate for the patience he's shown. The faith he's demonstrated - denying himself what he needs sexually, even as he teaches her about pleasure. But someone unknown is still stalking the clan.

The Citadel of Wizards was under siege. Deep in the Vaults beneath the walled city, gates into inhuman realities were opening and closing without warning. Monsters emerged from other dimensions; and ancient, malign magics came to life under the influence of cosmic chaos. Someone was tampering with the Void. The Council of Wizards blamed Antryg Windrose, the rebel mage who had fled their justice to find haven in the City of Angels.

Scholarship student Thracius "Tracy" Belmanor and Princess Mercedes de Arango have graduated from the High Ground and become officers in the Orden de la Estrella. Stung by Mercedes' choice of Beauregard “Boho” Cullen as her consort, Tracy is glad they are posted on battleships light years apart but soon finds that without her protection, he is nothing but a target. Meanwhile, Mercedes' posting has its own challenges, not least her unfaithful husband.

Killing Lord Boneclaw once wasn't enough. The deadly elder dragon has returned through a combination of human and dragon magic, and he'll stop at nothing to be avenged on those who wronged him in the past! More than anything else, Boneclaw desires the powers Kylara Diamantine possesses. If he can steal her ability to learn new dragon powers, he'd be truly unstoppable. If Kylara is killed in the process, well, Boneclaw considers that a small price to pay....

Katie MacAlister’s sultry paranormal romances zip to the top of best-seller lists across the globe. Here, Francesca Ghetti returns to GothFaire in order to deal with her latest problem, Loki - the Norse god of mischief. However, Fran is surprised to once again encounter her ex, the vampire Benedikt, who just happens to have his new girlfriend on his arm. And that’s just the beginning, as Vikings, shapeshifters, and rabid opera fans soon work their way into her life.

One of the Vatican’s most infamous Shepherds has been murdered, and Callie’s friends are the prime suspects. To prove them innocent, Roland and Callie must risk their very souls.... Because Callie can’t reveal that she’s hearing strange whispers when she uses her magic, or that she’s harboring an Angel’s Grace. And if the Shepherds discover the hellish bargain Roland made, the streets of Rome will flow with blood as brother turns against brother.

Since the age of 12, McKenzie Arnold has spent every summer at Albany Beach, Delaware, with her best friends, Aurora, Janine, and Lilly. The seaside house teems with 30 years of memories - some wonderful, others painful - and secrets never divulged beyond its walls. This summer may be the last they spend together, as Janine contemplates selling her family cottage.

Pyre's humans suffer multiple cultural shocks. They discovered the Messinants dome, an ancient construction that houses a quantum-coupled gate. More shocking, they find that sentient alien races utilize a network of these domes to journey between their far distant worlds in pursuit of alliance matters. If humans wish to join this elite collection of sentients, they must contribute significantly in trade, tech, or something of equal value.

Best-selling author Sharyn McCrumb returns to the world of NASCAR with Once Around the Track.When a team of female investors decides to sponsor a car for the female equivalent of Viagra, they shake up the racing world. Badger Jenkins, a sexy driver past his racing prime, is recruited by the investors and their all-girl pit crew to drive the new car. But every woman has a different plan to get the car (and herself ) into the fast lane.

After millennia of slumber, the goddess-dragon named Tiamat has returned to Earth. Her first move is to consolidate her power by taking down the Dragon Council. Her next? Well, complete world domination seems like it's on the menu. Kylara barely survived her first encounter with Tiamat. Only thanks to her friends and allies did she escape at all