Showing results by narrator "Melissa" in All Categories

When Mona the Mouse stumbles across the wondrous world of the Heartwood Hotel in the middle of a storm, she desperately hopes they'll let her stay. As it turns out, Mona is precisely the maid they need at the grandest hotel in Fernwood Forest, where animals come from far and wide for safety, luxury, and comfort. But the Heartwood Hotel is not all acorn souffles and soft moss-lined beds. Danger lurks, and as it approaches, Mona finds that this hotel is more than a warm place to spend the night. It might also be a home.

We seem like perfect families. But our secrets must never come out... I trust my best friend Lydia with my life. We share everything, even the things we can't tell our husbands. So when we go on a beach holiday together, it's a dream come true. One night, we treat ourselves to dinner on the beach with our husbands while our children sleep soundly in the cottage behind us. But when I go to check on them, my entire world shatters. My son's bed is empty, the window wide open, his favourite teddy left between the crumpled sheets. I stifle a scream as my worst nightmare comes true.

Not all alphas are good men. Charlie learned that lesson the hard way. After losing her daughter's father in a senseless act of violence, she hasn't figured out how to move on. She's trapped in a cycle of guilt and misery. It makes her the perfect target for a man who only wants to control her and exploit her impulses. A chance introduction at a neighbor's barbecue changes everything.

Lies filled with half-truths—especially when you want to believe them—are the easiest to believe. After her husband's murder, Riley Bishop is working to put the pieces of her life back together, but there is one lie she never imagined being true. It's going to take everything in her to survive what happens next.

Welcome to the era of true marriages of convenience. Discover the reality of trading someone’s hand in marriage, such as an American heiress, in exchange for money, power, or political clout through compelling history lectures. Showcased in novels such as Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence and in present day pop culture through works like Downtown Abbey, the Gilded Age was an era of contradictions. Life on both sides of the Atlantic was grimy and glamorous, prosperous and impoverished, traditional and revolutionary.

What's it like to be a monster in a town full of monsters, who don't know you're a monster? Complicated and a little scary, but doable. What's it like to be the girl who can't die - that everyone seems to always want to kill? Frustrating as hell. What's it like to accidentally raise a psychotic alpha vampire everyone fears, who drops a lot of bodies on his first day out as a gift for your troubles? Terrifying, if I'm being honest. I really don't know how this stuff keeps happening to me.

I always thought the end of the world was a myth. But then, I also thought Norse gods were make-believe too. They're not. Five of them are coming for me. They claim I will only survive if I surrender to them, body and soul. But they don't realize it's about so much more than carnal servitude. I am so much more than they could ever suspect. So much more than even I knew. I am the only one who can stop Ragnarök from covering the world in ice and darkness. The only one who can save gods and men alike from annihilation.

After being raised by my asshole police officer father and my subservient mother, I went off to college with a penchant for outlaw alpha males. I knew Dalton Biskette was in the Selected Sinners MC, and a bad boy; but the night he walked into my bar I had no idea just how bad he really was. Covered in tattoos, muscles, and wearing his cut, he exuded masculinity and sex from his every pore. On the first night he made me laugh, he made me uncomfortable, and he made me have sex with him. Well, the last part’s a lie, I wanted it more than he did.

Now: Sixteen-year-old Jesse is used to living with the echoes of the past. Her older brother died in the September 11th attacks, and her dad since has filled their home with anger and grief. When Jesse gets caught up with the wrong crowd, one momentary hate-fueled decision turns her life upside down. The only way to make amends is to face the past, starting Jesse on a journey that will reveal the truth about how her brother died. Then: In 2001, 16-year-old Alia is proud to be Muslim....it's being a teenager that she finds difficult.

Krissy Hancock is staying in her adopted hometown of Pine Hills, Ohio, for Christmas this year - and she even has a whole week off from her combination bookstore-cafe. Unfortunately, she's been roped into filling in for a sick elf in the local holiday musical extravaganza. With a demanding director, backstage gossip, and two men in fierce competition for the starring role, it isn't all sweetness and Christmas lights. Then a murder puts a stop to the production, and Krissy is faced with a pageant of suspects.

Melissa Dilkes Pateras is the most competent housekeeper, DIY-project master, and home repair genius that you’ve ever fantasized about becoming. When she followed her kids on to TikTok, she discovered a community hungry for her approachable, tongue-in-cheek advice on everything from balls—dryer balls, that is—to why color-coded closets are a spiritual experience. She doesn’t expect you to know what you were never taught, and she doesn’t care about transforming your home into a minimal, beige Instagram post; she simply wants to help make your life easier.

2nd Chance: Booktrack Edition adds an immersive musical soundtrack to your audiobook listening experience! 2nd Chance reconvenes the Women's Murder Club, four friends (a detective, a reporter, an assistant district attorney, and a medical examiner) who used their networking skills, feminine...

Beatrice Kizza, a woman in flight from a homeland that condemned her for daring to love, flees to London. There, she shields her sorrow from the indifference of her adopted city and navigates a nighttime world of shift work and bedsits. Howard Pink is a self-made millionaire who has risen from Petticoat Lane to the mansions of Kensington on a tide of determination and bluster. Yet self-doubt still snaps at his heels, and his life is shadowed by the terrible loss that has shaken him to his foundations.

It’s summer in New York City and Faye Walker has it all. She’s not only scored one of the most highly coveted internships in all of Wall Street, she’s also just met the head-over-heels love of her life. With her natural-born gift for numbers and a work ethic that knows no bounds, Faye is a shoo-in for a full-time position at the illustrious merchant bank Greene Brothers Hale. Then, just as she awaits her offer and her signing bonus, a treacherous betrayal arrives to shatter Faye’s plans and her young life.

Fiona knew Knox would be mad when she moved in next door. And not because she brought a collection of wild animals with her. And she was right. So she intended to leave him alone. Mostly. But he’s not ignoring her. He’s actively working to send her and her “ridiculous menagerie” (rude) right back out of town. Still, as hard as she tries, it’s impossible to stop thinking about the small town grump’s long hair and tattoos and that mouth.

Their second chance at love turns lethal when a man from her past is determined to see her dead. Navy Chief Cooper Talon is on leave to clean out his dad's house and shut the door on the abuse he suffered there. He takes a break to go camping with a buddy, never expecting to run into his friend's younger sister, Ginny - the girl he secretly adored 12 years ago. With an upcoming deployment, he can't make a play for her heart. But when someone stalks her, his protective instincts kick in.

Burnt-out social worker Amalie Holmes thinks she's finally caught a lucky break in the form of a free cottage from her mystery great aunt. With nothing to lose, Amalie heads for the hills, or, in this case, the mountains. Turns out the cottage comes with a big family secret: Amalie is from a long line of witches. She quickly discovers that living in a new town isn't easy, especially when lightning strikes whenever she loses her temper! When an orphaned 11-year-old stands accused of murder, Amalie's social worker instincts compel her to solve the case and clear the child.

May you live in interesting times. I'm not quite sure who said it, but I'd sure as hell like to find him and beat him in the head with a shovel. One thing about Cedar Falls...it was definitely interesting. I'd have settled for boring. Maybe even dull with a smidge of mediocrity. I guess I had nobody to blame but myself. That's what happens when your mother is the biggest witch, and I mean that literally, on the planet, your father is the god of night, and you're something in between. Something that keeps getting stronger. Something you can't always control.

Lively, determined, and independent, Poppy Christner isn't about to let some vandal keep making mischief on her family's farm. She's been outrunning boys and standing up for picked on children ever since she was a girl - no matter how much her prideful, arrogant schoolmate Luke Bontranger insulted her. So Poppy certainly doesn't need his interference now, especially since he's made it plain he prefers demure, ladylike companions.

Charlie Adams has two best friends—Ember Elliot and Hailey Grant. She’s secretly been in love with Hailey since the moment they met more than a decade ago. She has watched Hailey date all the wrong women and never said anything about how she wanted to be Hailey’s forever love.