Showing results by narrator "Johanna Parker" in All Categories

Aspiring actress and single mother Rita Farmer has gone from struggling to find work to downright desperate. If she doesn't land a paying job soon - horror movie, soap commercial, anything - she's afraid her ex-husband will use her dire financial straits to take away Petey, her cherished four-year-old son.

Terrified by her nightmares of the restaurant fire and shaken by norteamericano hotel manager Kurt Rucker's possible move, Emilia Cruz must catch a violent firebomber and find a missing girl before the iconic beach city is destroyed. Neither investigation is easy, because the influence and impact of Mexico's drug war is everywhere, just like the salt breeze coming off the ocean. Emilia's police work is soon hijacked by savage political rivalries, a corrupt vice cop, and a woman in prison who knows more than she'll say.

Shy, fat Susan Calloway knows she has nothing in common with the five other students in the afterschool group counseling sessions she's forced to attend to avoid expulsion. But as Susan and the others verbally attack each other and defend their own viewpoints each week, they begin to understand that none of their lives are as simple and straightforward as they appear on the surface.

Captain Talia Culver is ready to risk her heart again after meeting Navy SEAL Wyatt Lockwood. Still recovering from injuries she received during her last mission in Afghanistan, she agrees to join Wyatt on a visit to his family's sprawling Texas ranch. But things don't go as expected when Wyatt discovers that drug dealers are planning a job that involves crossing his family's homestead. Although she and Wyatt yearn for rest and recovery time together, they can't ignore the danger at his family's back door.

Dark magic, unknown enemies, monsters of every stripe - FBI profiler Jace Valchek has seen it all. In this bizarre parallel universe, shape-shifting werewolves and blood-thirsty vampires don't even warrant a raised eyebrow. That is, until Jace has to face what life might look like as one of them.... It starts off as just another run-of-the-mill assignment: to track down the rogue don of a mafia werewolf family before he upsets the delicate balance of the underworld. But Jace wasn't counting on being bitten....

Writers in Progress literary arts center founder and debut novelist Dori Ostermiller has created a compelling work of love, regret, and forgiveness about a woman with a painful past and a boring marriage. New England landscape painter-turned-teacher Sylvia Sandon becomes fascinated by the father of one of her students. But she’s torn between her desire for this man and her desire to keep her family together.

Beau Gardner, Army Delta Force sergeant, has only a few months left before he can leave military life behind to marry Callie McKinley, the woman of his dreams. Callie has been recovering from an attack at the hands of the Taliban at her parents' Montana ranch, but she knows Beau must return to Afghanistan. When he does, Beau will fight for his survival - and a future with the woman he loves.

Cade Patterson and Kara Knight have known each other since they were kids. But a boy from the wrong side of the tracks has little in common with the homecoming queen, so they never acted on their mutual feelings. After a stint in the Marines, Cade has returned to his hometown older and wiser, and now works for the sheriff's department. When he responds to a break-in call at the Delos Home School Foundation, the last person he expects to see there is Kara. All of his feelings and protective instincts go into overdrive when he learns she has been attacked.

FBI profiler Jace Valchek was pulled into this parallel realm to hunt for Aristotle Stoker, a human serial killer who preys on vampires and werewolves. Now she works for the National Security Agency of the Unnatural States of America - and her boss is a vampire. At a bizarre crime scene, Jace finds a bloodsucker murdered by magic, fried to the bone, and dressed in the costume of the comic book hero The Flash - a character who isn't supposed to exist here. Comic books have been outlawed for their powers, including crossover spells like the one that transported Jace to this world.

Anyone called me in for a job, they knew one thing: Jim Woodward worked alone. Risking my neck was as natural to me as breathing, and I'd never needed anyone to watch my back. Especially if she was a woman - and hotshot Pepper Sinclair. If rescuing those closest to me meant taking on a partner, then so be it. But Pepper's fearless strength and feminine vulnerability made a man think of other things besides getting the job done. And it could all be lost in this dangerous gamble.

Another work day, another case for the Bloodhound Files. But this time, Jace is truly stumped: How is she, a mere human, supposed to penetrate the dark heart of a child-trafficking ring of pire orphans - one that turns out to be part of a blood-farm operation, in the crime-ridden border city of Vancouver, British Columbia? Jace is in over her head. But with the help of her former lover, Tanaka, - whose family is one of the last samurai clans left in Japan - she stands a chance at seeking justice for the condemned children.... Until the Yakuza tries to put an end to Jace's investigation.

Jace's return to Kansas is an instant reminder that there really is no place like home. The tavern is still brimming with losers, practical jokers, and motorcycle chicks. Even the town's only Goth is still wearing eyeliner. But just as Jace is about to click her heels and hightail out of there, she's roped into a brand-new case. Somebody is possessed. And the bodies are piling up....

Alexa Culver has survived unspeakable trauma at the hands of the Taliban, but she refuses to let them break her spirit. Her work with Artemis Security, protecting young girls from sex traffickers, gives her purpose. But it comes at a cost. Her fiance, Gage Hunter, has stood by her side during her recovery, but Alexis knows she is holding part of herself back. When Alexa insists on attending an international sex trafficking conference in Paris, she draws the attention of one of the world's most dangerous men.

When stunning Dara McKinley, a visiting pediatric physician, arrived in Afghanistan to help needy children, she had no idea that Delta Force Sergeant Matt Culver would not only win her heart - he would also save her life during an attack by the Taliban. Now, the couple is ready for a much-needed vacation in Hawaii, eager for days and nights of passion and relaxation. But once again danger stalks them. Dara knows she's in good hands with Matt beside her, but her fears rise again that she and Matt can lose each other as they face an unpredictable new enemy....

In this latest entry in the Shadow Force series, with danger closing in, Paige Grayson and Delta Force operative Mace Stevens must depend on each other.

Clients, women, money...ruthless CEO Sev Derzhavin is a master at getting whatever - and whomever! - he wants. Rejected as a child, Sev has never been refused since. So when his personal assistant resigns, Sev can't resist the challenge of enticing the beautiful brunette to stay.... Naomi Johnson has to walk away before she gives in to the chemistry with her infamous heartbreaker boss and opens her heart to yet more bruises.

FBI profiler Jace Valchek's ticket home from the twisted parallel universe where she's been called to duty hinges on the capture of serial killer Aristotle Stoker - and an alliance with a sorcerer known as Asher. The problem: Asher has joined forces with some of the most dangerous creatures Jace has ever encountered. The solution: There is none, without Asher's help. Jace's goal seems simple enough - to get her man, like always. But just hours after she arrives in Vegas, she's abducted....

Her life is a shadow of a life. Her future is not her own to fashion. Her family is a tangle of secrets. She cannot read. She cannot write. But she is Parastrata Ava, the Captain's eldest daughter, the so girl of a long-range crewe - her obligations are grave and many. And when she makes a mistake, in a fragrant orchard of lemons, the consequences are deadly. There are some who would say, "there but for the Mercies go I". There are some who would say Parastrata Ava is just a silly earthstruck girl who got what was coming to her.

Emma Monroe is a Fallen Siren, cursed by the gods and banished to Earth for her failure to prevent the kidnapping of Persephone. She's had many names and many lives, but only one mission: redemption. Now she works for the FBI and is on temporary assignment in Charleston. Solving this next missing persons case could be the key to ending her ancient curse - unless the temptation that's her new partner gets in the way.

Once a teenage runaway, Kate Jennings is finally getting her life together. She's moving to picturesque Shaw Island, Washington, to marry the man of her dreams - billionaire Chase Cole. Chase is everything she could want in a man. He's handsome, smart, and funny...so what if he's 30 years her senior? The only trouble is the media won't put to rest the disappearance of his previous wife.