Showing results by author "Melanie Karsak" in All Categories

Scotland, 1032. Everything Gruoch loves has turned to ash. With Gillacoemgain gone, Gruoch rides north with her newborn son and a broken heart. While she desperately clings to hope, Gruoch's new alliance with Macbeth proves more challenging than she ever anticipated. Only her unexpected reunion with an important person from her past offers solace. All may yet be well, but the raven's wary eyes cannot help but notice clouds gathering on the horizon.

In my dreams, Odin whispers to me. He tells me I'm destined to wield a legendary sword. He tells me my road will bring me to Valhalla. But when I wake, I'm only Hervor. Fatherless. Unloved. Unwanted. Jarl Bjartmar, my grandfather, calls me cursed. My mother, her memories stolen by the gods, has forgotten me. Everyone tells me I should have been left to the wolves, but no one will tell me why. None but Eydis, a thrall with völva magic, believes I'm meant for a greater destiny. Yet who can believe a devotee of Loki?

Iceland, 985—When Eirik the Red sailed from Iceland to journey west, everyone knew he was mad. Everyone knew Jörmungandr would swallow him and his crew whole. Everyone lost faith in him, including his wife, who turned to her Christian friends for solace.

An orphaned descendant of Loki. A princess without a kingdom. A shield-maiden plagued by the shadows of Valhalla. Born to rule two jarldoms, Ervie should have had a life of ease. But fate has not been kind. Her parents’ jarldoms destroyed in the wars of a previous generation, Ervie is set adrift in the world. Taking refuge in the lands of the famed King Gizer, Ervie finds a temporary retreat from her aching sense of loss. But when Gizer’s warband is summoned to defend one of his staunchest allies, the journey promises more than just battle for Ervie.

The rebellion of the Northern Iceni under King Caturix results in dire consequences for Boudica. Without Aulus Plautius’ protection, Boudica must face the new, more severe Roman Governor Scapula. Struggling to make their way in a war-torn landscape, Boudica and Prasutagus persevere, but fate has a way of undoing our best intentions. Catastrophic events take place, undermining everything Boudica worked so hard to achieve. As the eagle betrays, the queen of ash and iron rises to protect all that she loves.

Journey to gaslamp Victorian London to battle werewolves alongside Agent Clemeny Louvel. As part of Her Majesty's Red Cape Society, it's Agent Louvel's job to keep the streets of London safe from supernatural creatures. In this Red Riding Hood retelling, Clemeny takes on lycans, demons, excessively snobbish godmothers, and a dark fae prince intent on kidnapping Queen Victoria.

After years of working for my family's business, I'm finally back in college and ready to chase my dream of becoming a perfumer. It seems like the stars are all aligning when Chancellor College invites a preeminent French fragrance expert to speak at a symposium. Everything is working out just right, as long as I can continue to ignore my growing feelings for a certain hippie beekeeper. That, it seems, is turning out to be easier said than done.

Britain, AD 38, Princess Cartimandua—Carti—of the Brigantes tribe faces an uncertain future when her father’s sudden death ignites turmoil. Suspicion falls on the Crow People of the Votadini tribe, straining the fragile peace between the factions. But they’re not the only ones bearing a grudge. A tangled web of political games soon unfolds. When enigmatic Prince Cormag of the Votadini shows the princess unwanted attention, the Brigantes’ alliance with the Carvetti is shaken. Cartimandua’s dream of marrying gallant Prince Venutiux of the Carvetti is put at risk.

Being the heir to Camelot is a tangled mess. Rapunzel has spent her entire life living in Merlin's cave on the coast of Cornwall. Under the protection of her faerie guardian, Gothel, she's stayed safe. Safe and bored. Dreaming of a life that looks more like a Jane Austen novel, Rapunzel fears she'll never have the chance to explore Victorian England's modern delights. Or meet a man. Or be kissed. Or anything else remotely resembling normal.

When actress Elyse McKenna fell in love with Lord John Waldegrave, she was prepared to keep their liaison secret. What she wasn't ready for was how her newfound love would rock her relationship with her dearest friend, Doctor Kai Murray. With the 1814 London Frost Fair in full swing, Elyse and her troupe at the Ice House Theatre find themselves at the heart of the excitement on the frozen Thames. But when an exotic ship captain, whose vessel is trapped in the ice, turns her attention to Kai, everything Elyse thought she knew about her feelings for her old friend gets flipped upside down.

My name may be Alice, but Wonderland Academy is everything my real life isn't. Who wouldn't want to learn how to ride a jabberwocky, train with a vorpal sword, cast spells using a teacup, or shapeshift into a fairy? As long as no one figures out my real name, I should be fine. The only problem? Aden, the Queen of Hearts' son, is quickly becoming my best friend. And then there's Corbin. Brooding, surly, tattooed, and definitely not my type, I can't stop thinking about him. But Corbin has secrets of his own, and Wonderland and secrets don't mix.

With the 1824 British airship qualifying race only weeks away, Lily Stargazer is at the top of her game. She's racing like a pro, truly in love, and living clean. But on one ill-omened day, everything changes.

People think being haunted is a bad thing. That’s because they’ve never visited The Curiosity Curio. The spirits who linger in my store dance the jitterbug, look after the plants, and gossip about long-dead relatives. Even though no one believes me about my mediumistic gifts, it’s my job to aid these lost souls. I can help them, even if I gave up hoping to find someone who understood me long ago.

While Layla Petrovich returns home to rural Hamletville after a desperate call from her psychic grandmother, she never could have anticipated the horror of what Grandma Petrovich has foreseen. The residents of Hamletville will need Layla's cool head, fast blade, and itchy trigger finger to survive the undead apocalypse that's upon them. But even that may not be enough. With mankind silenced, it soon becomes apparent that we were never alone.

They say opposites attract, but there have never been two more opposite people than Stone Schneider and me. Stone, the brawny owner of the Chancellor Brewery and Biergarten, is my definition of nemesis. His noisy pub is a constant source of irritation. Where my bookshop brings beauty and stories to the world, Stone brings a Friday-night cover band. Even though Stone has the most adorable, bookish child on the planet, that handsome tapster and I cannot find a way to get along. If Stone could stop being annoying for five seconds, I might ask him out.

Layla and the other survivors now find themselves caught in a war for our world, the unwitting victims of a grudge seething for eons. Surviving the zombie apocalypse has become the least of their worries as they come up against vampires, shapeshifters, and fae. When she uncovers an unspeakable horror, whom can Layla trust? The carnie girl? The doctor searching for a cure? The tarot reader? The stranger with alluring gold eyes? Or the man she loves?

With the undead walking, vampires hunting, and kitsune closing in, everything seems lost. Layla and the others will need help if there is any hope of survival. But how can you endure in the dying world? Join Layla, Cricket, Amelia, and the other survivors for the final chapter of The Harvesting Series in The Torn World.

In the little town of Brighton, Amelia's practice of Wicca has always marked her as odd. But Amelia can't change what she is. Knowing how to see auras, heal, and create spells comes naturally to her. Only Madame Knightly, the ancient matriarch and owner of Witch Wood Estate to whom Amelia plays caretaker, doesn't seem to mind her conjoining. In fact, the crumbling old mansion is full oddities.

Carnie. Ride jockey. Roustabout. White trash. Tilt girl. Gypsy. Cricket has been called a lot of things, but she never thought survivor of the zombie apocalypse would be one of them. One day she's barking on the midway, and the next day, the world is eating itself alive.

A mermaid princess destined to wed a handsome king.... It sounds like a fairy tale, but the reality is far murkier. Ink, Princess of the Florida Atlantic mers, is slated to wed the ancient enemy of her tribe, the King of the Gulfs. After years of war that led to countless mer deaths, as well as the genocide of aquatic shapeshifters and the freshwater mers of Florida, Ink's marriage will bring lasting peace.