Showing results by narrator "Khristine Hvam" in All Categories

There’s an underground magical vault, protected by sorcery, security cameras, guards, and whatnot. Think of the most impenetrable place in the world. Now triple it. It belongs to a dragon, and I was hired to break into it and steal his hoard. I might be an alchemist extraordinaire and the best burglar on the East Coast, but this is not a solo job. I’ll need a team for this one. Accompanied by a powerful sorcerer, a fortune teller, a scam artist, and a hacker, I embark on the heist of the century. If we succeed, we’ll be legends. If not - crispy dragon snacks.

When a new Vampire Underground is found in England, Hollywood stuntwoman-turned-vampire hunter Dawn Madison and her crack team are dispatched to carry the fight from the flash and dash of Los Angeles to the seemingly staid and stolid streets of London. Dawn knows by now how deceiving appearances can be - and she's about to find out that it's not only the beautiful people of Hollywood who are willing to bargain with evil.

Perfect Parker Fadley isn't so perfect anymore. She's quit the cheerleading squad, she's dumped her perfect boyfriend, and she's failing school. Her parents are on a constant suicide watch and her counselors think she's playing games, but they don't know that the real reason for this whole mess isn't something she can say out loud. It isn't even something she can say to herself. A horrible thing has happened and it just might be her fault.

It all began with one stolen kiss.... Ten thousand years ago, deep in Regia's forests, the Dryads lived, hidden and aloof, determined to serve the Heart of the World and keep it secret. Shi was chosen at birth to become a Verdant, one of the 20 princesses to sacrifice to the flame. Plagued by curiosity, one night Shi breaks the rules.

Eleven-year-olds Nora and Charlotte were best friends. When their teenage babysitter, Rose, disappeared under mysterious circumstances, the girls decided to investigate. But their search - aided by paranormal theories and techniques gleaned from old Time-Life books - went nowhere. Years later, Nora, now in her late 20s, is drawn back to her old neighborhood - and to her estranged friend - when Rose's remains are finally discovered.

Newly jobless, newly single, and suddenly apartmentless, writer Grace Hammond has come unmoored. A grammar whiz who's brilliant at correcting other people's errors, she hasn't yet found quite the right set of rules for fixing her own mistakes. Desperate to escape the city and her trifecta of problems, Grace hits pause and retreats to her Connecticut hometown.

The fascinating characters that roam across the pages of Emma Donoghue's latest fact-inspired fictions have all gone astray: they are emigrants, runaways, drifters. They cross other borders, too: those of race, law, sex, and sanity. They travel for love or money, incognito or under duress. Donoghue describes the brutal plot hatched by a slave in conjunction with his master's wife to set them both free.

Marooned in the dark. Alone. Hunted. Faced with terrifying magic that's waking in her blood. Lilik, a 17-year-old from a port town slum, already knew how to suffer. This expedition was supposed to offer a way out. A chance to drag her family out of poverty. The night-drenched shores of the volcanic island, Ioene, promised mystical power. Salvation. Lilik didn't count on the eruption that destroyed the expedition's hopes.

Lilik is on the warpath. Behind her, House Ulstat is a smoking pit. Ahead, Mieshk Ulstat wields terrible magic from within an impregnable fortress. The battle approaches. Never mind that Lilik's fighters are actually a ragtag assortment of smugglers and thieves. Forget that something is terribly wrong with the aether, leaving Lilik's magic unpredictable. Lilik is the last hope for stopping Mieshk's cataclysm. Unfortunately, Lilik's problems aren't limited to insurmountable odds and questionable allies. A dark force has awakened in the island's heart.

Thief. Murderess. Sacrificial messenger. Netriet has faced death many times, but she never consented to the transformation she endured the last time her life was pulled back from the edge of death. She's compelled to live a solitary life for fear the shadow inside her will terrify others. Lonely, Netriet longs for acceptance and friendship. Joining up with the Fair, a haven for misfits, she believes she's found home and love with Merick.

Anyan may be trapped in an evil dragon and Blondie may be gone, but Jane knows one thing: she's not about to give up. She's ready to tear down heaven and earth to save her lover, despite those who believe he's lost. Luckily for Jane, those who've given up on Anyan do not include those closest to her. Defying The Powers That Be, Jane and company form their own crack squad of misfits, in whose hands the fate of the world may well rest.

Is death the end...or only the beginning? Ethan Wate always dreamed of leaving the stifling Southern town of Gatlin. But he never dreamt that finding love with Lena Duchannes would drive him away. Lena is a Caster girl whose supernatural powers unveiled a secretive and cursed side of Gatlin, so powerful it forced him to make a terrible sacrifice. Now Ethan must find a way to return to Lena - and Gatlin - as she vows to do whatever it takes to get him back. Even if it means trusting old enemies or risking their loved ones’ lives.

Anna Brisker is a 29-year-old graduate student in English at Collegiate University who can't seem to finish her dissertation. Her project: an intellectual history of inspiration. And yet, for the first time, Anna has found herself utterly uninspired. Rather than work on her thesis, she spends her days eating Pop-Tarts and walking the gritty streets of New Harbor, Connecticut. As Anna's adviser is quick to remind her, time is running out. She needs the perfect case study to anchor her thesis - and she needs it now.

Words have power - everyone knows that. What few realize is the power that lies in silence. Incapable of speech, Leesa lived in isolated silence for 16 years. But now she’s met Eron. Through an inexplicable ability, her beloved can hear her thoughts. A member of a clandestine renegade group, Eron plans to free their city from tyranny. Unfortunately, when Leesa’s mistake exposes him, Eron is thrown in prison for life. Leesa will do anything to free her beloved. But disquieting magic, backstabbing politics, and a shocking murder complicate her quest.

No one knows how the world will end. On a secret compound in the Washington wilderness, Honey Juniper and her sisters are training to hunt, homestead, and protect their own. Prepare for every situation. But when danger strikes from within, putting her sisters at risk, training becomes real life, and only one thing is certain: Nowhere is safe.

Ruby was murdered on Earth 18 years ago and reincarnated on Zadok as a Pastel Zeek named Harlow. To be born at the bottom of her race’s caste colour system to a middle-class family of Magentas has made Harlow a source of conflict amongst the ruling Purples, and a source of derision from all three colours.

With the female master of the London Underground in her hands, stuntwoman-turned­-vampire hunter Dawn Madison must fight off her followers, a vicious pack of undead teenage girls who put the vamps Dawn had to deal with in Los Angeles to shame...

London couldn't be further from L.A., but stuntwoman-turned-vampire hunter Dawn Madison knows that her job hasn't changed - find the local vampire Underground and wipe it out. She and her team have located the vamps' lair at a private girls' school and now they have the undead on the run. But the vicious pack is starting to realize that its greatest threat may be from within its own ranks.

Emma looks forward to the day when she can let go of her past - both of them. After more than a year on the run, with clues to her parents' whereabouts within her grasp, she may finally find a place to settle down. Start a new life. Maybe even create new memories with a new family. But the past rises to haunt her and to make sure there's nowhere on the planet she can hide.

Someday a bird will poop on all of us. But that's okay. In a world of bad news, fake news, delays, disappointments, trash talk, and tweets, things are bound to get a little poopy. What matters is not how big the mess is - but how well you react to it. Someday a Bird Will Poop on You is a modern parable about life hitting us with something unexpected - and the perfect gift for anyone leaving home without an umbrella.