Showing results by narrator "C. S. E Cooney" in All Categories

Casa del Chocolate is one of Salem's most charming boutique candy shops, making it a perfect profile story. Although preoccupied with her own personal sweet news—Lee and her detective husband Pete Mondello are expecting a bundle of joy—she cheerfully agrees to interview the chocolatier. Since becoming pregnant, the radiant and exhilarated mother-to-be has discovered that she is finally free of the unwanted haunting "visions" she has endured since childhood.

Mattie Fisher's three daughters know that she's been keeping a secret from them. With each item pulled from the beloved family hope chest, they've discovered a new clue about their mother's past. But there's a reason Mattie has been keeping her history hidden, and she's not sure she's ready to reopen old wounds. Will dredging up the past change the way her children view her? Or her marriage to their father? And can she handle the pain of revisiting the memories that preceded the last few happy decades?

Sora is having visions. Strange, terrifying visions brought on by her Cat's Eye necklace, an ancient and magical device. Spurred to action, she leaves her mother's cabin to find Crash, the mysterious assassin who once changed her life. She is certain that together, they can discover what the necklace is trying to tell her. Crash is still on the run from the dark sorcerer, Volcrian, but now a plague is spreading across the land.

A difficult marriage has left the Helmuths' widowed great-granddaughter, Beth, finished with wedlock. She's content to live with her great-grandparents and make a life for herself and her toddler son. But once she turns down handsome Tyler Yoder's proposal, it seems only fair to encourage him to find a suitable wife. Trouble is his gentleness and generous ways are showing her how joyous a real meeting of hearts can be....

Though Cassie Coblenz left her Amish community to go to college, her mother and father's farm will always feel like home. It's the ideal place for an extended study break - at least until her grandmother's handsome Englisch doctor becomes a regular distraction. Zach Reynolds is the kind of heartbreaker Cassie has learned to avoid, no matter how charming he may be.

Martha Sue Helmuth wishes she could just relax and enjoy her extended visit with her beloved grandparents. Instead, she is nursing a broken heart over gentle widower Yost Beiler. Yost's thirteen-year-old son, Jonah, refuses to accept Martha Sue, and she refuses to risk coming between them. For now, she is just trying to avoid her Mammi's choice of yet another eligible suitor. But when Yost moves himself and Jonah to Huckleberry Hill to change Martha Sue's mind, she can't help dreaming that somehow, some way, she and Yost will have a miraculous second chance to be together.

Elsie Stutzman's plain-spoken ways got her in trouble once before, so she needs to make a good impression at her new teaching job. But she's not about to let disabled student Wally Sensenig work below his potential. And she definitely won't put up with his hot-headed older brother sabotaging her efforts, no matter how handsome he is....

Ever since the Helmuths' grandson, Ben, abruptly broke his engagement and moved to Florida, Emma Nelson has kept busy tending her vegetable garden and raising award-winning pumpkins. She can put her heartache aside to help Ben's mother with her own pumpkin patch. At least until Ben shows up to lend support to his ailing father.Gardening side by side with pretty, nurturing Emma is a sweet kind of torture for Ben.

In Desdemona and the Deep, the spoiled daughter of a rich mining family must retrieve the tithe of men her father promised to the world below. On the surface, her world is rife with industrial pollution that ruins the health of poor factory workers while the idle rich indulge themselves in unheard-of luxury. Below are goblins, mysterious kingdoms, and an entirely different hierarchy.

Sensible and cautious, Naomi Coblenz lives to help everyone else be happy—particularly when it comes to her twin sister, Ruth. So Omi certainly can't admit she's always loved handsome Bo Helmuth, since he and Ruth have begun courting. To look out for her sometimes-thoughtless sister, Omi even poses as Ruth on a ride home alone with Bo. But it doesn't take Bo long to see the truth—and really notice Omi for the first surprising, hopelessly-wonderful time . . .

Despite growing pains in her 1846 Amish community in Indiana, Naomi Schrock has settled into a comfortable life in her parents' home with her adopted son, Davey. Surrounded by family and friends, she tries not to think about the fact that she's not at the top of any man's list of potential wives. Yet when Cap Stoltzfus moves into the area and befriends Davey, Naomi finds herself caught between the plans she has made for her future and the tantalizing thought that Cap might be part of a life she never dared to hope for.

Lexi Balefire thought she was finished unearthing new and outrageous information about her heritage - turns out, she was dead wrong. Still reeling from the pain of ultimate betrayal, and the near-loss of her soul mate, Kin Clark, Lexi embarks on a journey through time, uncovering pieces of the Balefire family's sordid past. Her mother's witch blood combined with the divine essence of her father, Cupid, makes Lexi the most powerful Fate Weaver on the planet - but she'll need to repair the pieces of Cupid's Bow of Destiny in order to finally claim her birthright.

Matchmaker Lexi Balefire just found out she's no ordinary witch - she's also a Daughter of Cupid - which explains how she's always been able to recognize a true love match when she sees one. For the first time ever, Lexi's own love life is heating up, and that's not all she's got on her plate. Presumed dead for the past 25 years, Lexi's mother, Sylvana, has suddenly walked back into her life, and is about to reveal just how many skeletons are hidden in the Balefire closet. Can Lexi learn to trust her mother, or is Sylvana just after her daughter's power?

With winter solstice fast approaching, Sora and her companions are running out of time. She must stop The Shade from awakening the Dark God, yet a powerful force has overtaken her Cat's-Eye necklace, rendering the stone almost useless. To use the stone, Sora must learn to trust her instincts and embrace her own inner strength. She joins forces with unexpected allies to protect the City of Crowns. As the city dissolves into chaos, she finds herself barreling toward an epic battle.

Sora and her companions are the only ones who know of the plague's true source. As the disease spreads, Sora must journey to the City of Crowns to retrieve the Book of the Named, her only hope of stopping the Shade. She and her companions arrive just in time for the winter solstice festival, a notorious two weeks of fine wines, grand parties, and legendary debauchery. Sora must don the guise of a noblewoman and infiltrate the First Tier nobility to stop the Shade before it's too late.

A plague is spreading across the land. Crops are rotting. People are dying in the streets. Sora, with the help of her magical Cat's Eye necklace, is the only one who can stop it. She must travel overseas to the Lost Isles, a place of legend and mystery. Only there can she destroy the bloodmage, Volcrian, putting an end to the curse. She is accompanied by Crash, a lethal assassin who once threatened - and saved - her life. But Sora is beginning to question her dark companion.

Mary Anne Neuenschwander knows she should be content with what Gotte has given her. She has a comfortable house, a fruitful farm, and a good, steady husband. But after nearly six years of marriage, she still longs for a baby. Yet her husband, Jethro, seems to care more about fishing than about his wife. Unable to bear Jethro's indifference, Mary Anne moves into a tent in the woods where he won't have to be bothered.

When Mandy Helmuth hears that her best friend Kristina's heart has been broken, she decides to visit her grandparents and cheer her up. Mandy never liked Noah Mischler anyway, with his rough exterior and outspoken ways. Unfortunately, she can't avoid him - especially after he saves her life.

Daisy's orange pekoe is flowing at a fundraiser - and she's also made a new friend, Piper, a young woman whose hopes for motherhood were dashed by a foul-up at a fertility clinic. But before they can settle into a long conversation, the event is disrupted by masked protestors who object to building a shelter in Willow Creek. Among the angry crowd is Eli - who left his Amish community some time ago, with help from a lawyer named Hiram.

The faculty of Willow Creek High School are having a get-together after the spring concert with refreshments provided, courtesy of Daisy's Tea Garden. Oolong tea and chocolate biscuits are just what the staff needs to help them unwind from Althea Higgins's demanding curriculum. Her lessons on such controversial subjects as school uniforms and under qualified substitute teachers are earning her an F from her colleagues. But a failing grade was preferable to Althea falling victim to foul play.