Showing results by narrator "Alexandra Hunter" in All Categories

Growing up in a ghastly orphanage run by an abusive matron, Nica coped in the only way she could—by retreating to her imagination, where she lived out fantastical stories, especially about the Tearsmith, the man who makes tears, a terrifying figure who forges all the fears that dwell in people’s hearts. When she’s finally taken in by an adoptive family at seventeen, Nica thinks she’s leaving the group home, its torments, and her prison of otherworldly tales behind her. That is, until Rigel—a young man raised from birth in the same dreadful orphanage—joins her new family.

It’s been decades since the deadly GM virus decimated humanity, but the world continues to hold out for a cure. Hidden underground in the dark, GEOs remain, what’s left of the population as Farrow Corp works tirelessly in their never-ending search for a miracle. For seventeen-year-old Tylia Coder, survival is all she knows. With virus mutations continuing to spread, Tylia must either watch her ailing mother be ravaged by illness or hack her way into the terrifying Acceptance trials and face the infected world above to save her family.

Ena never hoped for a peaceful life. She never dreamt she’d become a killer either. Ilbrea: A country mercilessly ruled by the seven Guilds where commoners struggle to survive - no one knows the cost of survival better than illegal healer Ena Ryeland. Ena is offered a life of freedom and a chance to fight the Guilds. But she can’t win the battle alone....

Growing up within the walls of Grave's Orphanage, Nica's imagination burned with fantastical stories. Including that of The Tearsmith, a mysterious craftsman, guilty of having forged all the fears and anxieties in the world. When at seventeen, she's adopted by Mr and Mrs Mulligan, Nica thinks she's leaving her world of dark fairy tales behind her. But the Mulligans also adopt Rigel, an orphan who is as mesmerising and handsome as he is troubled. They share a past filled with grief and isolation, and the ever-gentle Nica starts to fall for her forbidden love.

Atlas has lost her way. In a last-ditch effort to pull her life together, she’s working on a community service program rehabbing trails in the Western Sierras. The only plus is that the days are so exhausting that Atlas might just be tired enough to forget that this was one of her dad’s favorite places in the world. Before cancer stole him from her life, that is. Using real names is forbidden on the trail. So Atlas becomes Maps, and with her team—Books, Sugar, Junior, and King—she heads into the wilderness.

From the founder of the Fat Girls Hiking community comes an inclusive, inspiring call to the outdoors for people of all body types, sizes, and backgrounds. In a book brimming with heartfelt stories, practical advice, personal profiles of Fat Girls Hiking community members, and helpful trail reviews, Summer Michaud-Skog creates space for marginalized bodies with an insistent conviction that outdoor recreation should welcome everyone. Whether you’re an experienced or aspiring hiker, you’ll be empowered to hit the trails and find yourself in nature. Trails, not scales!

Esther Larson has been cooking for funerals in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for seventy years. Known locally as the “funeral ladies,” she and her cohort have worked hard to keep the mourners of Ellerie County fed—it is her firm belief that there is very little a warm casserole and a piece of cherry pie can’t fix. But, after falling for an internet scam that puts her home at risk, the proud Larson family matriarch is the one in need of help these days.

Anna Hunt may be the new girl at East Middle School, but she can already tell there’s something off about her eighth-grade class. Rachel Riley, who just last year was one of the most popular girls in school, has become a social outcast. But no one, including Rachel Riley herself, will tell Anna why. As a die-hard podcast enthusiast, Anna knows there’s always more to a story than meets the eye. So she decides to put her fact-seeking skills to the test and create her own podcast around the question that won’t stop running through her head: What happened to Rachel Riley?

Humanity is on the brink of extinction. After being decimated by a deadly virus, Earth’s population was saved only by the genius of Farrow Corp. Now, the scientists in Farrow’s Labs work tirelessly to search for a cure to the genetic plague that has left everyone hiding below ground, suffering in fear. Underground survival is dark and dank, an existence Tylia will do anything to escape in order to save her mother from the ravages of illness. There is one answer: the Acceptance Trials.

Jude loves photography, and he’s good at it, too. Between his parents’ divorce and his anxiety, being behind a camera is the only time his mind is quiet. Florence is confronting the premature end of her dance career as a degenerative eye disease begins to steal her balance. She’s having a hard time letting go.

Ro Devereux can predict your future. Or, at least, the app she built for her senior project can. Working with her neighbor, a retired behavioral scientist, Ro created an app called MASH, designed around the classic game Mansion Apartment Shack House, that can predict a person’s future with 93% accuracy. The app will even match users with their soulmates. Though it was only supposed to be a class project, MASH quickly takes off and gains the attention of tech investors.

Decades ago, a band of neurally augmented rebels, the Seventy-Seven, and their leader, Arthur Lannius, helped liberate a remote mountain town from the Perpetual Corporation in a great machine war. Eventually defeated, the Seventy-Seven scattered, and Lannius went into exile without a trace...except for a child. When memories of a stranger burst into her mind, Aurora learns she is not an ordinary orphan of the war, but that she is augmented and that her past is more than it seems. 

Ancient magic lurks in the shadows. The Black Bloods’ home is more magnificent than Ena imagined, and more perilous than the life she fled. The time has come for the Black Bloods to unite against the Guilds, but loyalties born in blood will be tested by fire. And not everyone she loves will survive the flames. As murder and malice surround her, Ena must prove her innocence or risk a fate worse than death. Facing her enemies will test every friendship she has and risk the heart she has won.

When Israel Hansen purchases a dilapidated old cottage along the Maryland seaboard, it all seems too good to be true. He is a real estate salesman with a successful wife, charming little daughters, and now an idyllic vacation home. As a family, they seem to have it all. But the cottage hides a blood-chilling history more terrifying than death itself, and hideously more powerful.

Some battles cannot be won. The time has come to fight. There are no allies left. There is nothing but flames ahead. The end has arrived. Prepare for the final installment in the Ena of Ilbrea series.

Tylia Coder has joined the resistance after her ejection from the Labs. Yet, if the Farrows discover she’s still alive, her family and friends in both the GEOs and the Greens will be in terrible danger. What’s more, her supposed death only spurs on the bitter rivalries. The Rejs ramp up their attacks on the Labs’ sky transports, their leader so desperate now that he doesn’t care who gets hurt anymore.

Tylia Coder is the bridge between worlds. Born of the GEOs underground, she’s one of only two known victors of the Acceptance trials - a survival contest that promises to prevent infection from the GM virus that nearly wiped out humanity, decades ago. Now with precious antibodies in her blood, she may finally hold the key to finding a cure.

Princess Elisandra is saved from her impending marriage to the loathsome Count Ransford by Alaric, pirate captain of The Dread. His crew is searching for a mythical treasure, and Elisandra just might be the key to finding it. Despite her worries that she’s traded one horrible fate for another, the ship becomes home and the crew becomes family.

Ilbrea: A country mercilessly ruled by the seven Guilds where commoners struggle to survive—no one knows the cost of survival better than illegal healer Ena Ryeland. Ena is offered a life of freedom and a chance to fight the Guilds. But she can’t win the battle alone....

Ena has pledged herself to the Black Bloods’ cause, spending months saving children from the grips of the Sorcerers Guild. But freedom demands a steeper price. Following her heart has led Ena through danger and to a sanctuary she never dreamt existed. Surrounded by magic, a future free of blood and pain seem within her grasp. But hope and love have never been a part of her story.