Showing results by narrator "Nick Cracknell"

I broke the rules and stole an auction item from her buyers. Because somehow, they’d managed to abduct a Gryfala princess. Though, she doesn’t look, or act, or sound quite like I thought one of her kind would. But I’m merely a Rakhii gladiator; this is the closest I’ve actually ever been to a princess. I’d be considered lucky, indeed, if she chose me to guard her. Instead, I want more. I need her to claim me. Because she doesn’t know it, but now I can’t let her go.

When my human mate was auctioned, she was sold to a savage lot of aliens. I rescued her body from her tormentors. But her mind... She is hurt. She’s afraid I will abandon her; but I’ve been waiting all my life for my mate. I am not going to walk away. I’m going to help her heal. And I will help her fight for us.

Talvi Marinossian has slain maenads and fought off vampire attacks, but nothing has prepared him for getting involved with one of these forbidden "modern girls". When he finally tracks down Annika it's obvious that she's changed since her recent adventure in his homeland. It's also clear that she's not ready to embrace the next chapter in her life. He tries to persuade her to open up to him, but she finds it difficult since he won't even explain how he earns a living.

Darkness has fallen on the Marinossian family, leaving ruined lives in its blood-stained wake and leaving Annika to pick up the pieces. With a deadly doppelgänger still loose and most likely in deadly pursuit, she's escorted back home to wait out the storm and heal her broken heart...however long that may be. But when she makes a shocking discovery, she'll do whatever it takes to make things right. A world away, Talvi has been dragged to the desolate prison on Bleakmoor Island where he awaits trial for murder.

Scandal. Blackmail. Obsession. It's just another day if you're a Marinossian. When Annika disappears without a trace, Talvi launches the hunt for his most infuriating rival yet. His only clues are from a government he's increasingly at odds with. In exchange for access to their resources, he does the unthinkable and reveals Annika's true nature. Time is short, but the list of names Talvi can trust keeps getting shorter.

Aspiring rock star Annika Brisby thinks she knows where her life is going until she steps through a broken portal that leaves her stranded in a fae-filled realm of fairies, shapeshifter druids, psychic vampires, and other mythical beings. Unable to return until it's repaired, she's rescued by wood nymphs who believe her sudden arrival is no accident. After being taken in by a prominent family of elves, Annika finds herself struggling to resist the seductive spell of their youngest son, Talvi.

For thousands of people, this is the ultimate teach-yourself-guitar book. It helped them to learn faster, easier, and more efficiently than any other teaching method. Inside is the most complete program of lessons you will ever find.

I was abducted by aliens and auctioned to a positively lovely, bleak place called the Underwater Pleasure Dome. An amphibious alien with hands like bug zappers helped spring me, and if you've followed my friends' adventures, you know Dohrein and I teamed up because we're both equally stellar, and awesome attracts awesome. This is the story of what happened after abduction life. The good part. The part where we settle in and build brand-new lives on this brand-new planet. I just need to have tea with my alien-in-law and convince her to set her pet humans free. No biggie.

For thousands of people this is The Ultimate Teach Yourself Acoustic Guitar Book. Inside is a Complete Program of Playing Lessons that helped them achieve in weeks, what took many people years to learn.

Escape to Stony Point, cuff your jeans, and walk along the water's edge in this nostalgic story bringing old friends and their lives back to the sea. After years of pursuing a denim design career, Maris Carrington never imagined trading her Chicago studio for a New England shingled cottage. But a forgotten home movie tucked inside a dusty attic box leads to an unexpected summer.... Can Maris ever really go back?

Celia Gray finds herself house-sitting a silver-shingled cottage at Stony Point. She arrives with her guitar, a few staging jobs...and a bit of summertime sadness. That is, until an unforgettable group of beach friends draws her in like a breath of salt air. Sal DeLuca heard the words in a dream: Take me to the sea. So after a decade of demanding work, he takes his first vacation in years. When Stony Point's two wash-ashores, Sal and Celia, meet, some say it's a match made in beach-heaven.

A decorated knight for Richard the Lionheart and an ally of the House of de Lohr, Sir Garret de Moray was a man described as cold, intimidating, foreboding. A man with eyes as black as night. Receiving a royal appointment as Captain of the Household Guard, there was no man more qualified or prepared for the role because on the sands of the Holy Land where Garret went on Richard’s great quest, the Christian armies whispered of a knight whose wisdom was ancient. Some wondered if he was the walking dead, an immortal soul who had lived many lifetimes over, because his skill and power exceeded earthly restraints. Kronos, they called him. The father of the gods. Then came a lady without hope…

It was going to be exquisite: a rambling, shingled New England cottage converted into a grand beach inn. Nestled among hydrangeas and swaying dune grasses, this seaside haven would welcome guests on the Connecticut shore. Except the little beach town of Stony Point is no longer feeling like a haven to its residents. Residents including a brooding Jason Barlow, the esteemed architect in charge of the inn's renovation - until a stubborn, grief-induced "For Sale" sign puts an end to that. 

During two August weeks, denim designer Maris Carrington and coastal architect Jason Barlow prepare for their much-anticipated wedding. The wedding is a reason for old friends to gather again; to meet in their shabby beach hangout and get the jukebox cranking; to walk that weathered boardwalk beneath a starry sky; to breathe the sweet salt air. "Cures what ails you," one of the friends, Neil, always said, long before his life was sadly claimed. When Maris discovers Neil's long-lost journal, its passages reveal a heartbreaking secret.

After a heartbreaking summer on the Connecticut shore, a group of beach friends is as adrift as an unmoored rowboat. When a dismayed Jason Barlow drives as far away from the sea as he can, leaving behind his wife, Maris, as well as their stately cottage on the bluff, that news hits like a sudden wave. Gathering over an intimate meal in a coastal diner, the friends make a solemn pact to lean on each other and not make any more rash decisions. Which is all well and good, until each friend wavers--testing relationships, commitments, and especially love in the little beach community of Stony Point. But can the magic of the weathered boardwalk, whispering lagoon grasses, and sweet salt air cure what ails them?  

Runic Awakening is the first book in the Runic series, a contemporary epic fantasy series set in the world of Doma, where magical engineers called Runics rule the land. They are equaled in power only by Weavers, men and women that can manipulate the very fabric of the universe with their wills.

Terrorist leaders are not benevolent men inclined to make peace but vicious bullies. The IRA was the Islamic State of its day. Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan are similar wars. In these, an insurgency like the IRA/Sinn Fein mix is the main problem. A proven solution is the rule of law, where police intelligence dominates because investigative practices fail. The approach - widely misrepresented and commonly misunderstood - devastated the IRA. Some terrorists were killed, most were in prison, and many were on the run.

As a child, Jackston Forbes made a promise to lovely - and pushy - Lizelle Menzies. A man of his word, Jackston never forgot that promise. Through the years of experience and growth, Jackston has become a powerful warrior, now returning to his home in the highlands to assume his place as his father's heir. But along the way he meets a young woman who will test the strength of his vow to marry Lizelle, and when he discovers the brutal and petty woman Lizelle has become, it becomes a difficult choice for him - will he remain true to a childhood vow?

A week has passed since the Empire was nearly destroyed by the dark god Xanos. Now the leader of the most powerful government in the world, Kalibar must protect his people against Xanos's undead army. But when an assassin nearly succeeds in murdering Kalibar, he realizes that the Empire stands little chance against Xanos's enormous power.

Having barely survived the dark god Xanos's devastating attack on the Empire, Grand Weaver Kalibar knows all too well that another assault is coming...and that this time, the Empire will not survive. Now he is forced to make a terrible decision...does he surrender to Xanos, enslaving his people to the will of the dark god? Or will he fight one last time, risking the annihilation of his people...and the death of his children?