Showing results by narrator "Melissa" in All Categories

Ruby Weaver's curly red hair isn't the only thing that sets her apart from her Amish community in 1863. Twenty-eight and single, Ruby doesn't believe a woman needs to be married in order to be happy. Her ailing friend Lovinia Fischer, however, has other ideas and wants Ruby to promise to marry her husband after she dies. Never imagining she'd have to fulfill that vow, Ruby agrees. And she's not the only one. Lovinia has extracted a similar promise from her husband, Gideon.

We were best friends at 10. Lovers at 16. Going to be married at 19. Until she woke up one day and couldn't remember me. Leaving the small town was easy. Leaving her was my only regret. Ten years later, with a resume that said I had the perfect kill shot, I landed a job at a security firm. Finding my way in the civilian life, I never thought it would be her I would find. She still owned my heart. She still looked at me like I was a stranger.

It's the summer before my Senior year and I'm in trouble. Besides needing to pass my driver's test, I'm cursed with an insatiable hunger for blood. I have to be locked up when the urge strikes me, and the thirst is terrible. Only drinking the blood of a Vampire can sate me. Maxim offers himself to me. But it is another's blood I truly crave. The blood of my ex-boyfriend Dylan. He hates me for breaking his heart. Little does he know I did it for his own protection. And because his Fae family might kick my butt. When he learns the truth about me, nobody expects what will happen.

The illustrious E6 No. 466 locomotive (“Lundbergh Engine”) is a historic tribute to humanity’s ingenuity, strength, and determination...and she’s making her final journey from Newark to Atlantic City, New Jersey, before her permanent retirement. Within the crevices of her iron body and fiery belly, there is something most peculiar about the Lundbergh Engine. A young passenger, named Tommy, soon discovers that Walter, the train’s conductor, is in possession of a special pocket watch that harbors a strange secret connected with the mysterious occurrences on board the train.

Aaron Ebersol left the Amish community 17 years ago when he could no longer bear the restrictions or the constant tension with his father. Despite years of unanswered letters to his parents and the roots he's put down in Missouri, Aaron rushes back to the Amish community of Paradise, Pennsylvania, after receiving word of his mother's stroke. Hesitant to get too close to the family he was once a part of, he decides to stay at the Heart of Paradise Bed & Breakfast. Talking with Linda allows him to explore his feelings about his family and his position in the Amish community.

Princess Raya of Paruth lived alone on a deserted island in a towering lighthouse, forgotten by time. With only a loyal albatross as a friend, she had little hope or joy in her life until he washed up on her shore in the middle of a raging winter storm. Prince Trevor of Galder left his father and kingdom behind to travel north in search of a wife. It was time to settle down and forget Ella Carina, the woman who chose to love a peasant and follow her heart instead of choosing Trevor and fulfilling her duty to her people.

Hope Glassy and Godfrey Meyers are on a mercy mission. Their friend Isabelle has been attacked by a rogue werewolf, and is in the throes of lycanthropic fever. With their respective partners out of town, all Hope and Godfrey can do is get Isabelle to the safety of Little Dip and the Garoul clan before her sire comes to claim her.

In this beautifully crafted and profoundly moving novel, three parallel narratives converge in poignant and unexpected ways, as each character bravely presses onward, trying to recover something they have lost. Emotionally riveting and infused with hope, A Quiet Life celebrates humanity in the midst of uncertainty.

Miss Charlotte Danvers has just received a life-altering shock. After spending most of her life in France in an elite school for girls, first as a student, and then as a teacher, she decides to return to London and take up residence with her mother. When she arrives at her mother’s townhouse in London, she is stunned to discover that the woman who raised her is a well-known courtesan.. After an angry and tearful confrontation with her mother, Charlotte leaves London and makes her home in Bath.

Mary Roberts is an impoverished child living in a council flat in 1950s London. When she and her sister are left at an orphanage by their mother, they don't think their lives can get any worse. Harry Evans is an orphan who finds himself, with Mary and her sister, on board a ship bound for Australia. They're sent to a farm school for children, where abuse and neglect are rife. A journey that will change their lives forever and from which they’ll never return.

Elizabeth Hartwell presents the conclusion to the Guardians of the Fae series.

Once upon a time, a beautiful queen was cursed by a dark faery. That curse, inherited by twin princesses, Aura and Luna, binds their lives in the strangest of ways. At an early age, the girls were more than sisters. They were the strongest of allies until a combination of jealousy, anger, and dark magic tore their relationship to shreds. Aura took everything from Luna: her home, her family, and her love by murdering the prince who'd chosen her instead of Aura. Luna wants revenge, but she's running out of time.

Shepherd Security accepted two cases they need a female Operator to complete. A LinkedIn search brings them to Madison Miller. Convincing her to take the job is their first hurdle. Her rushed training on the male-dominated team is the next. For Cooper, acting as her Supervisory and Training Officer, his biggest problem will be keeping his interest in her professional. She's beautiful, intelligent, more than capable–an attractive spitfire he can't resist.

Miss Addie Mallory is finished with the husband hunt. After six London Seasons as a wallflower, she convinces her parents that she should be allowed to use her dowry to buy a bookstore in Bath where she can live her life the way she wants. Lord Grayson, Earl of Berkshire has never gotten over his deceased wife's betrayal with his own brother. He plans to make his life all about his son, Michael, who is deaf.

Cassie's had a rough few months. Being a vampire came with its own risks. Being a con-artist vampire was even tougher. Being forced to fake one's own death to keep from getting thrown in the slammer or murdered and then resurrecting oneself? Really takes a lot out of a girl. Frankly, she could use a little down time. But, true to form, she's skipped that and opted to jump straight from the frying pan into the fire as a new recruit-in-training for the Old Guard. They think she's got the skill set to help them ferret out some troublemaking vampires in the Undercity.

I had everything. Wealth, power…and her. It started as an irresistible and provocative game. Only elite circles knew about the club and what happened behind closed doors. A monthly auction. A high price bid. A woman I was never supposed to fall in love with.

The Angel of Death wants his Death Knight, and he will do anything to get her. Azrael has taken Audrey, and Mika has to find a way to save her sister without endangering everyone she's sworn to protect. Too many people she thought she trusted are keeping secrets from her while the Angel of Death keeps sending his legions to test her strength and abilities.

When my brother’s best friends walk in on me engaging in self-love, they offer me a deal that I can’t refuse. Why take care of my own pleasure, when they can do it for me? All I have to do is message, and they'll come running.

Discover how to cultivate your first thriving vegetable garden in just one season, even if you can't tell a tomato from a turnip! Are you tired of tasteless, overpriced vegetables? Dreaming of growing your own food but worried about lacking a green thumb? Overwhelmed by gardening jargon? If so, you're not alone. Gardening may seem daunting at first, but fear not! With the right guidance, anyone can nurture a lush vegetable garden, regardless of space, climate, or experience level.

As Melissa Bond raises her infant daughter and a special-needs one-year-old son, she suffers from unbearable insomnia, sleeping an hour or less each night. She loses her job as a journalist (a casualty of the 2008 recession), and her relationship with her husband grows distant. Her doctor casually prescribes benzodiazepines—a family of drugs that includes Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, Ativan—and increases her dosage regularly.