Showing results by narrator "Natalie Duke"

The bride is a doll. The groom is the perfect gentleman. But the rest of the wedding party? They're the stuff of nightmares. Rich? Check. Vapid? Double check. Entitled? Not enough checks in the world. And the best man? More like the worst man. But maid of honor Franchesca takes her duties seriously. Kidnapped groom? She's got this. Rude attendees? You just watch her handle them. So a best man with a big attitude and an even bigger...checkbook? Yeah, there's no way she's going to let that pretentious, judgmental jackhole ruin her best friend's wedding. No matter how sexy he is.

When people started getting sick, they thought it was just the flu. My roommate, my boyfriend, my family ...they're all gone now. I got sick too. I should have died with them-with the rest of the world-but I didn't. I thought witnessing the human population almost disappear off the face of the earth was the craziest thing I'd ever experience. I was so wrong. My name is Dani O'Connor, I'm twenty-six-years-old, and I survived the ending.

A year ago, Dani and Zoe were lost. They traversed the country to find one another, losing some of the people dearest to them along the way. They fought for their right to simply live, uncovered long-buried secrets, and discovered irreversible truths. And after everything Dani and Zoe have been through - even with the battle wounds that they bear - they're still not safe. It's time for the struggle to end, for survivors to take back their lives, their families, their safety. It's time to really begin to live, and to do that, they must wait for the first rays of dawn.

What makes a romance novel a romance? Writing a well-structured romance isn't the same as writing any other genre - something the popular novel and screenwriting guides don't address. The romance arc is made up of its own story beats. Told in conversational (and often irreverent) prose, Romancing the Beat is like sitting down to coffee with romance editor and author Gwen Hayes while she explains story structure - the way she does with her clients, some of whom are regular inhabitants of the best-seller lists.

The International Butter Festival has come to town! When Harlow Torrent, part-time journalist and full-time Slip Witch stumbles upon a dead body, frozen and drained of blood, she's pulled into a murder mystery. Someone has murdered one of the Festival competitors. Was it Zero Bend, punk sculptor with a history of violence? Perhaps Fusion Swan, a sleazy agent playing the publicity game when his clients meet their end.

I thought my choices were my own, that I was in control. I was wrong. Now, I was dying - slowly being destroyed by the power I had worked so hard to obtain. My team and I were trapped within NIX’s web of lies and manipulation, and even my allies couldn’t be trusted. Deep below, the alien called out to me like a beacon, and I decided to forge an alliance. As they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. 

They captured me in a dirty alley and injected me with a virtual reality chip, a GPS tracker, and my first Seed. They made me a Player. At first, I loved the miraculous ability to level up anything about myself. Then they yanked me off my world for the first time and sent me to fight for my life on a vicious alien planet where the other Players are just as dangerous as the monsters, and if you can’t level up, you die. But I’m the type to cling to life by the tips of my bloody fingernails. And I hate it when people try to control me.

As Dani and Zoe make the perilous trek home to Bodega Bay, they learn that danger can take many forms--other survivors, their friends, even themselves--and that things are rarely what they seem. Zoe is desperate to become the woman she sees in others' memories, while Dani struggles to conceal damaging secrets, risking losing herself--her humanity--completely. Together, they must rediscover the true meaning of friendship, love, and trust, and learn just how hard they're willing to fight.

In the wake of destruction left behind by the Virus, it took Dani and Zoe months to find each other. But their reunion was short-lived. Dani has been taken, and though little distance separates them, they might as well be worlds apart. From the moment she hears Dani's scream, Zoe's only goal is to save her best friend.

Gannon King is great with his hands and - if you believe what you read on Twitter - he's "sex in a toolbelt." The reality TV star learned his lesson about falling for pretty packages the hard, painful, humiliating way and he's not making that mistake again. Sure, "Legs" is gorgeous as hell and smart-mouthed - two of his favorite qualities in a woman. But she's an icy network kiss-ass. At least, that's what he thinks until he catches her being human. Field producer Paige St. James has zero time for temperamental stars, especially Gannon who does his best to get under her skin.

Murder, sabotage, a talking mouse, and a high-school reunion - life is getting busy for part-time journalist and full-time Slip Witch Harlow Torrent. When the family businesses come under attack, the Torrent Witches gear up for war...except a little Slip magic problem gets out of hand. Is it the work of the diabolical Coldwell family or a dark force intent on mayhem?

Three years after Courtney McAllister loses her partner in a car accident, she's finally trying to move forward. She's even dated half-heartedly over the past year, but no one is able to penetrate her emotional barricades until she meets aggressive real estate broker Rachel Hart. Despite Rachel's cool facade, Courtney is drawn to her - when she isn't furious with her. Still, despite an undeniable attraction, Courtney has given her heart once and doesn't have room for that kind of love in her life again.

Adrienne Pierce, buffeted by fate and abandoned by love, seeks refuge from her past as well as her uncertain future on Whitley Point, a secluded island off the coast of Maine. Tanner Whitley - young, wild, restless - and heir to a dynasty, desperately tries to escape both her destiny and the memories of a tragic loss with casual sex and wild nights, a dangerous course that may ultimately destroy her. One timeless summer, these two very different women discover the power of passion to heal - and the promise of hope.

A passionate romantic-suspense of love, betrayal, and obsession, She Belongs to Me will have you falling in love and wondering if you can trust anyone right up to the very end.

Follow Harlow Torrent, part-time journalist and full-time slip witch in this three-book cozy mystery box set! Fabulous Witch: A movie is filming in Harlot Bay, but when the lead actor, Mattias Matterhorn, dies on his first day on set, Harlow Torrent is pulled into a dangerous plot. Holiday Witch: A series of thefts around Harlot Bay turn deadly. Shadow Witch: Elderly residents of Sunny Days Manor are going wandering, leaping fences, stealing cars and then forgetting everything before they die...or are murdered.

It’s meant to be an easy job for Harlow Torrent, Slip Witch: personal assistant to Red Forrest, best-selling cozy mystery author in town for Writerpalooza. But when a man staggers out of an alleyway claiming he was attacked by a monster, Harlow is pulled into a dangerous mystery decades in the making. Between Red running her own investigation, two possible charlatans with a history of faking monsters, Aunt Cass leading expeditions under the mansion, mysterious symbols appearing everywhere, and Jack’s parents in town, Harlow has her hands full.

Drew Clark, ex-Marine and martial arts master, is the new instructor at the Golden Tiger dojang. Intense and aloof, she hides dark secrets and unhealed wounds beneath her warrior's exterior. Sean Gray is the young psychologist and senior student who threatens to bring down the barriers Drew has erected around her heart. Battle hardened and world weary, Drew discovers that Sean wields a weapon she has no defense against - tenderness.

Love and Shakespeare have come to town! Harlow Torrent, Slip Witch, is just trying to make a buck as assistant to Hans Holtz, tyrant director of The Taming of the Shrew. When he's poisoned by an unknown assailant and the play comes under attack, Harlow is pulled into a dangerous mystery decades in the making. All is fair in love and war... but Harlow is going to need help if she is to survive this one....

All six of the Ending series prequel novellas in one volume! The virus changed everything. This is how it began. 

The International Butter Festival has come to town! When Harlow Torrent, part-time journalist and full-time Slip witch stumbles upon a dead body, frozen and drained of blood, she's pulled into a murder mystery. Someone has murdered one of the Butter Festival competitors. Was it Zero Bend, punk sculptor extraordinaire with a history of violence? Perhaps Fusion Swan, a sleazy agent playing the publicity game when his clients meet their untimely end?