Showing results by narrator "Billie Bryant" in All Categories

With a string of unsolved murders up and down the Mississippi River, the FBI assembles a task force, assigning their best Minnesota field agent, Grace Ford, to partner with an agent from their Louisiana office. Despite their culture clash, the two must work together to traverse the country cracking the hardest cases—and stop the next killer before it’s too late.

Dating as a plus-size woman has been exhausting for Haleigh Berkshire. Sure, she's only twenty-five, but she's been doing it for a decade, and she's beginning to think it's time for a sabbatical. It doesn't help that she's been madly in love with her best friend, Jack, for years—but one disastrous weekend in college taught her the hard way that they'll never be more than friends. With her sister's engagement party fast approaching, and her friends and family nagging her about a plus-one, Haleigh and Jack do what they do best: scheme.

At just three years old, Robby faces the unthinkable—rejection from his birth mother and life in an orphanage. For two long years, he rides an emotional rollercoaster of trial days with potential parents, only to be returned each time. But when Catherine steps forward to adopt him, everything changes. She offers not just a home, but a chance to heal, to belong, to become family. A powerful story of unconditional love and healing A journey from childhood trauma to triumph An inspiring testament to the strength of adoptive families A celebration of the bonds we choose to create

Ashley Hope is an average Southern woman, happily engaged, her whole life ahead of her, until dark secrets from her past come bubbling up. She soon finds herself in a race against time to save herself - and her marriage - from her ex-husband turned serial killer, who will stop at nothing until he has her back.

Ashley Hope is an average Southern woman, happily engaged - until dark secrets from her past tear her life apart. On track to join the state police’s violent crimes division, Ashley is assigned to a case near her hometown: A female 22-year-old meth addict has been found murdered. Can it be the work of a serial killer?

Ashley Hope is an average Southern woman, happily engaged, her whole life ahead of her—until dark secrets from her past come bubbling up.

Ashley Hope is an average Southern woman, happily engaged—until dark secrets from her past tear her life apart. Now a member of Tennessee’s state police’s violent crimes division, Ashley is summoned when victims are found murdered in a similar way within the same geographical area. In a mad race against time before the killer strikes again, Ashley must enter the killer’s mind and understand: What do these murders have in common? Where will he strike next?

Angel is a small-town veterinarian with a horny secret. Everly is a stressed-out manager on vacation who just found a darling baby dragon. He knows they were made for each other. But a few things stand between them and true love, namely...

Ashley Hope is an average Southern woman, happily engaged—until dark secrets from her past tear her life apart. Now a member of Tennessee’s State Police’s Violent Crimes Division, Ashley is assigned a frightening new case: victims of a new serial killer are being found deep in rural country, a terrain that Ashley knows all too well—and to which she vowed to never return.

Every choice you make carries a consequence. What if your consequence was an unwanted pregnancy? Theresa graciously agrees to share part of her life for a biographical paper being written by two high school students. She surprises her unsuspecting interviewers with stories of a broken childhood, tales of love found and lost, and the strength summoned to make the hardest decision of her life.

Ashley Hope is an average Southern woman, happily engaged—until dark secrets from her past tear her life apart. Now a member of Tennessee’s State Police’s Violent Crimes Division, Ashley must enter a murderer’s mind and follow a serial killer’s mysterious trail of victims through toxic waste sites. But could Ashley be next?

Ashley Hope is an average Southern woman, happily engaged—until dark secrets from her past tear her life apart. Now a member of Tennessee’s State Police’s Violent Crimes Division, Ashley is summoned when a serial killer’s trail leads them through farm country.

All her life, Christa has hidden her powers from the world. Blending into a human city has kept her family safe so far, but she fears their luck is running out. The man ruling the regions built his kingdom and his reputation on the annihilation of Christa’s people. And now, he’s heading to her sanctuary. Mind and body shattered by the sadistic General’s unceasing torture, Alice longs for freedom.

After a prisoner begs for their life and is granted mercy by The General, his queen is forced to confront her rising jealousy. Jealousy over this prisoner lying for his favor. Jealousy over the mistress he obsesses over. Jealousy that everyone is more powerful than she is. The mounting need to prove her worth distorts the world around her, and blinds her to the powerful position her husband has given her. While the young queen grapples with this urgency to secure the crown upon her head, another kingdom slowly falls into decay waiting for their own ruler to step up and fight for them.

The General’s experiment worked, and he once again has the upper hand. Determined to reestablish his control in his kingdom, The General uses a new, unknown power to remove the threat to his crown. Oblivious to her husband’s manic slaughter, Cerynn seeks out her own people, longing to unite the Àraid and Rak and end the war. She’s forced to confront her own power-hungry decisions face to face as she steps into the Àraid world, and realizes she must pick a side once and for all.

It’s been 10 years since Payton Thatcher’s twin sister died in an accident, leaving the entire family to cope in whatever ways they could. No longer half of a pair, Payton reinvents herself as a partner in a successful party-planning business and is doing just fine - as long as she manages to hold her memories and her family at arm’s length.

Nora Collins works at the Postponement Center helping parents coordinate the controversial cryonic preservation of their newborn babies. Sometimes a choice for medical reasons, but more often because of career or educational obligations, financial aspirations, or due to parental immaturity. Past child-bearing years herself, Nora secretly atones for past decisions by living a solitary life. She develops a questionable, borderline addictive, relationship with the frozen neonates, frequently watching them and communicating with them in their crypod units.

The Queen’s birth was supposed to bring peace, but it only caused animosity between her and her husband’s Mistress. Now, with the Àraid rising in the west, and enemies surrounding her in court, Cerynn is torn between her desire to strengthen her powers, and the maddening need to squash the woman distracting her husband from the war rising against them. But conflict rules his mind, tormenting him with what must be done while filling him with longings from the past to confuse his loyalties.

As the General teaches his new queen how to thirst for blood, a long-lost, powerful race scrambles to crown and accept a queen of their own, knowing if they wait any longer, they’ll be forgotten forever. One queen embraces her place in a cruel world. The other longs to recreate a world that accepts her people. Somewhere between the luxuries of being queen and the betrayals of those around them, both queens must choose: Forget the power coursing through their veins and lose themselves, or stand up against a kingdom that's hunted their kind since before they were born.

These 16 short tales delve into realms of existential investigation, from dark horror and science fiction futures to fantastical flights of scientific wonder. Each story is a self-contained world of its own, a moment in time that illuminates a thought, a person, an experience or a curiosity.