Showing results by narrator "Kimberly M. Wetherell" in All Categories

The games and rituals performed by Katherine Heiny’s characters range from mischievous to tender. In ‘Bridesmaid, Revisited,’ Marilee, suffering from a laundry and life crisis, wears a massive bridesmaid’s dress to work. In ‘Twist and Shout,’ Ericka’s elderly father mistakes his four-thousand-dollar hearing aid for a cashew and eats it. In ‘Turn Back, Turn Back,’ a bedtime storxy coupled with a receipt for a Starbucks babyccino reveal a struggling actor’s deception. And in ‘561,’ Charlene pays the true price of infidelity and is forced to help her husband’s ex-wife move out of the family home.

Humans have always been fascinated by darkness. Especially the darkness of a city at night, when the black sky is made ever more inky by the pools of illumination dropped under streetlights. Whether the mean streets be in an alternate past charmed with dark magic or the dirty alleyways of futuristic crowded space stations, the city—and its darkened streets—will always fascinate us. Here then, an anthology of all new stories of science fiction and fantasy with a hardboiled noir twist that acknowledge that the city is a living, breathing entity...and it isn’t always on our side.

It's an exciting time in Sweet River, Texas, and the whole town is talking. Maybe, a little too much. Former English professor Ainsley McGregor has gambled everything on her new business: Bless Your Art, an artisan market where local artists sell their wares and teach classes. The bright, white space is filled to the brim with colorful art, yarn, jewelry, pet treats, antiques, and even a few medieval weapons. Oh, and there are wine tastings. Everything is better with wine. Ainsley is surprised by how well things are going—right up until the moment her Great Dane finds a dead body.

Naia is an outcast. She keeps to herself, avoiding the villagers stares. The way they point. Even though she wants nothing more than to belong. But when her village is cursed with endless summer, Naia must confront the formidable beast who holds the key to restoring the seasons. That's challenging enough, but the beast isn't what she expected. Those soulful dark eyes seem more man than monster. And the way he looks at her, with a clarity she's only dreamed of...

In the title story a husband struggles with the grief and confusion of losing two children, and forms an odd bond with the infant spectrals that visit him in the night. "Dancing Men" depicts one of the creepiest rites of passage in recent memory when a boy visits his deranged grandfather in the New Mexico desert.

The only way Cilla van der Zee can survive the German occupation of the Netherlands is to do the unthinkable—become a spy for the Nazis in Britain. She soothes her conscience with a plan to abandon her mission and instead aid the Allies. Her scheme is thwarted when naval officer Lt. Lachlan Mackenzie finds her along the Scottish shore and turns her in to be executed. But perhaps she is more useful alive than dead.

What’s a reluctant viscount to do when the woman he can’t have becomes the woman he can’t live without?

For Joel and Stella, it’s the trip they’ve been dreaming about. Fresh air, quiet time in the woods, and no work to distract them from each other. Being a new couple, they don’t waste any time with their first full weekend away together. But their perfect getaway turns into a nightmare when an accident occurs and they find a dead woman lying outside their cabin. Clearly, they have to call the police, but what Joel reveals to Stella makes her understand there’s no way they can get the authorities involved.

When Jill Goodman’s picture-perfect marriage implodes, she’s heartbroken. The only thing she receives in the hasty divorce settlement is the deed to her husband’s sprawling beach house on the New Jersey shore. She hates the sight of it but knows she must face it if she’s to move on. With no other choice, Jill travels to Dewberry Beach intending to sell the house quickly - but the task is not as easy as she expects. Still, she can’t help but be charmed by the little town even the unexpected attentions of a handsome local with dark eyes and a teasing smile.

Jolene Carter lives in Merrylark Lake, a quaint town where neighbors are like family and vacationers become fast friends. With her dream of opening a downtown storefront on hold, Jolene volunteers wherever she can, whether it be at Cat's Coffee Cart or the town's annual tree lighting. It is while she's tending to her neighbor's vacation rental that Jolene meets Luke, a cowboy with a mustang rescue and a past he's hoping to leave back at the ranch.

New Orleans, 1944. Sabotage—that's the word on factory worker Justine Byrne's mind as she is repeatedly called to weld machine parts that keep failing with no clear cause. Could someone inside the secretive Carbon Division be deliberately undermining the factory's war efforts? Raised by her late parents to think logically, she also can't help wondering just what the oddly shaped carbon gadgets she assembles day after day have to do with the boats the factory builds....

In desperate need to rid herself of a life lived in bondage to a negative ego, Ameille Zay Marcotte found yoga, or, rather, yoga discovered Marcotte. Through her practice, in conjunction with sobriety, she found the ability to let go and opened her mind to a world of infinity. Marcotte’s deeply personal account demonstrates how the application of spiritual principles unfolded in her life and illustrates the unimaginable healing that occurred through faith and forgiveness.

Lady Victoria Hamilton has a supernatural gift, a fiancé, and a guardian angel. She just never expected her protector to be the most dazzling man in England, a devilish scoundrel they call the Blue Bastard. Victoria has agreed to marry for duty, not love, but her unforeseen desire for her mystical angel threatens to destroy not only her plans for the future, but the armor surrounding her susceptible heart.

In the title story, set five minutes in the future where you not only have a credit score but also a dating score, a woman who’s been banished from all dating apps attends a weekly help group with others who have been “banned for life,” and finds herself falling in love. In “Backwards,” a twist on Benjamin Button, a woman reconnects with her estranged father as he de-ages ten years each day they spend together. In “Welcome to Oxhead,” all the parents in a gated community “shut off” when the power goes out.

Weston Aldrich is known for his devastating looks and crisp Italian suits. He's been groomed to take over his family business and is on the brink of closing a massive merger. Only two wild cards can derail him.

Alex Rush is ready for the trip of a lifetime. She and her friends have made some creepily awesome films together throughout high school, so with only a few months left before they go their separate ways for college, they’re determined to make the best one yet: an epic short film that reimagines the story of Dracula, filmed on location at a remote castle in Romania.

This tale of a 60-year love affair examines the age-old question of why we love the people we do. A beautiful, charismatic, and wildly successful man is adored by a woman. Even as children, he held the power. Though bound by tragedy and friendship, he defined the terms of their relationship, until finally, in old age, the power shifts. Looking at the roles of beauty, insanity, magic, deceit, consolation, sensory fulfillment and, finally, being seen, Judith explores why she loved Elliot — a relationship that impinged on every other in her life.

Junior editor Grace Taylor is doubling as the temporary assistant to senior editor Nicola Valentine…and harboring a secret crush on her. Grace is devastated when a work conference forces her to miss her big family Christmas. However, she gets a gift she doesn’t expect when a snowstorm strands her and Nicola at a small B&B.

Abby Nicholson used to love Christmas. Until she didn’t. After leaving Winter Glen, the small town famous for its Christmas celebration and her family’s greeting card company, Abby is forced to return to the home she left behind when the unexpected passing of her father thrusts the business into her hands. Turning her back on the magic of the holiday beloved by her father and the town, she decides to sell the business. Signing the paperwork with the very pen her father used to create it, she is shocked to discover her hometown has become a whole new world.

In 1920s Fredericksburg, Virginia, young country boy Middy Grove sets out on his own, working at a pickle factory and searching for a place for himself in a constantly changing town uncertain of its identity. One day Middy finds himself drawn to a mysterious city girl with bobbed hair and eyes that seem to shine in the darkness from under her brimmed hat. Like she's some angel fallen from Heaven, he never seems to fully draw her attention, though she always leaves him with the strange phrase "You're too good for me."