Showing results by narrator "Lauren Ezzo" in All Categories

Madison Huntington is determined to live her dreams. That means getting out from under her family’s wealth and influence by saying no to the family business, her allowance, and her home. But on a teacher’s salary, the real world comes as a rude awakening. To get a place of her own (without cockroaches, mold, or crime scene tape), Madison accepts a position as a roommaid. In exchange for free room and board, all she needs to do is keep her busy roommate’s penthouse clean and his dog company.

He was my first crush, my first kiss, my first everything. So when he shows up out of the blue asking me to have dinner with him "for old time's sake", I say I will. After all, it's been 12 years since he broke my heart, and I'm totally over him, no matter what my sisters say. Except, he still does something to me. He's got those eyes that make me weak, those hands that drive me wild, and a body I can't resist - especially once I see the tattoos. It doesn't take long for our trip down memory lane to go from sweet to sizzling.

Twenty-year-old Karina is proud of the independent life she is trying to create for herself in Ft. Benning, Georgia. A dutiful officer’s daughter, supportive sister to a troubled twin brother, and caring friend, she always puts the needs of others ahead of her own, and prides herself on being a fixer of broken things. Like anyone who has grown up around an army base, Karina also knows the background noise that follows men and women home from war. And when she meets Kael, a soldier on the cusp of discharge, she’s immediately intrigued by his brooding presence and enigmatic silence.

Once there was a young woman from a well-to-do New England family who never quite fit with the drawing rooms and parlors of her kin. Called instead to the tangled woods and wild cliffs surrounding her family’s estate, Margaret Harlowe grew both stranger and more beautiful as she cultivated her uncanny power. Soon, whispers of “witch” dogged her footsteps, and Margaret’s power began to wind itself with the tendrils of something darker.

Emma's job is to take note of the real players off the field—Newport's well-bred elite. But the fashionable façade is breached when a woman demands to speak to the wife of Senator George Wetmore—until she is escorted off the grounds by the police. The next morning, police detective Jesse Whyte asks Emma to meet him at the Wetmores's Bellevue Avenue home, Chateau-sur-Mer, where the senator's wife, Edith, has mysteriously asked to see her. Upon entering the mansion, Emma is confronted with a crime scene.

"No strings, no rings." That's Luke Archer's motto. As the champion quarterback for the New York Empire - not to mention a self-made billionaire - Luke has given up on serious relationships. Women only want him for one thing: the thrill of being with a superstar. And he likes it that way too. But when his best friend announces he's retiring from football to spend time with his wife and kids, Luke feels like he's missing out on something much bigger than his career.

A woman’s skeletal remains are excavated on an uninhabited island in Sandhamn’s archipelago, and Thomas Andreasson is called to officially investigate. But his best friend, Nora Linde, can’t help but get involved. On leave after her last case took a dark turn, Nora is tortured by depression, nightmares, and guilt. Her marriage fractured, her pride chipped away, Nora could find redemption in this investigation.

After a disappointing year as a society columnist for the Herald and staying with her more well-heeled Vanderbilt relatives in New York City, Emma has returned to the stately mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, more determined than ever to report on hard news. But for now she's covering the social event of the season at Ochre Court, a ball designed to showcase Cleo Cooper-Smith, who will be literally on display. Modern electricity will allow her to truly shine. But then the ballroom is plunged into darkness. When the lights come on, Cleo sits on her throne, electrocuted to death.

As the “Seeing Eye Girl” for her blind, artistic, and mentally ill mother, Beverly Armento was intimately connected with and responsible for her, even though her mother physically and emotionally abused her. Beverly’s mother regained her sight and went on to enjoy a moment of fame as an artist, but these positive turns did nothing to stop her disintegration into delusions. In this memoir, Beverly shares the coping strategies she invented to get herself through the trials of her young life, and the ways in which school and church served as refuges over the course of her journey.

Anxiety and depression are two of the most common conditions affecting mental health and overall quality of life, but there are tools for managing them. In this audiobook, we’ll explore how depression shows up in the brain, different manifestations of depression and anxiety, various talk therapies, technological innovations, lifestyle interventions, and more.

With the world still rebuilding after massive dragon attacks, famous singer Star isn’t willing to rely on a stranger to protect her family, though dragon shifter Lachlan is difficult to resist. Something about him is strangely familiar, but she doesn’t understand why. He’s already helped Star rescue her sister from a recent abduction, but trust doesn’t come easy when his kind has nearly hunted her race to extinction.

With the birth of their daughter, a new era is ushered in for the supernatural world, but not everyone is prepared to accept the terms. Archaic beliefs threaten to derail everything they've fought to protect. War looms on all sides as Sloane's army grows in ways they never could have imagined. In order to take on her sister, Emery must learn to embrace the darkness she's come to fear, even if the price could be her soul. With their enemies closing in and the fates demanding action, August and Emery must choose between the bond they share and the kingdom they've sworn to protect.

My enemy murdered my wife and my father, so I took his daughter... I stole the Bratva princess and locked her away on my island. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Blood for blood. Stealing Isabella is the only way to find her father. I just wasn’t prepared for the temptation of her, nor the effect she’d have on my cold dead heart. One taste I shouldn’t have had and I wanted more. She’s my captive...my enemy’s daughter. Being with her is unthinkable. Yet, I want to claim her, take her, own her. Make her mine.

As the Commonwealth produces more starships and increases recruits, victory begins to slip from Theocratic control. This can only make the Theocracy more desperate to win...and more dangerous to fight. After a mission to liberate an occupied planet ends in nuclear devastation, Kat Falcone - now a commodore in command of HMS Queen Elizabeth - sees firsthand just how far the enemy will go.

As an orphan ward of the Sisterhood in the ancient Tarachand Empire, eighteen-year-old Kalinda is destined for nothing more than a life of seclusion and prayer. Plagued by fevers, she's an unlikely candidate for even a servant's position, let alone a courtesan or wife. Her sole dream is to continue living in peace in the Sisterhood's mountain temple. But a visit from the tyrant Rajah Tarek disrupts Kalinda's life. Within hours, she is ripped from the comfort of her home.

Gavin Miller, the billionaire author of a best-selling thriller series, struggles with a grim secret: he hasn't written a word in more than a year. Writer's block is killing his spirit and jeopardizing his contracts with his publisher and his Hollywood producers. Prodded by his agent, Gavin reluctantly agrees to see Allie Nichols, a sassy physical therapist tasked with treating the novelist's severe neck and shoulder pain - and maybe his writer's block, too.

Two years ago, the angel was mine. She didn’t belong with a mafia devil like me. All it took was one night for me to break her wings. She nearly died from my mistakes. So I left. I planned to stay away, but then my old enemies resurfaced. Forced to go home, I had to face her. One look and obsession made me want her. One forbidden kiss and I wanted her to be mine again. One night with her and I wanted redemption. She can fight me all she wants, but I'll fight back to own her. I’m the selfish devil who will do anything to get his girl back. So when I see her in an auction, I bid.

From the first moment single mother Nicolette Winchester held her daughter in her arms, she knew she'd do everything in her power to keep her safe. Now 18 years old, Ella is bright, kind, and a cello prodigy headed for Juilliard. Nicolette can't help but feel proud of the young woman her daughter's become. Then Ella calls home one night. There's been an accident. A classmate is dead. And Ella is the only one on the scene. To protect her daughter, Nicolette makes an unthinkable decision.

In 1282 AD, the Kingdom of Sicily is under the rule of a tyrannical French king and subject to his brutal Angevin army. Daily acts of violence and persecution are commonplace in a once-prosperous realm. For twenty-year-old Aetna Vespiri, daughter of a revered Sicilian knight, survival has become second nature. As a child, she witnessed the destruction of her family’s vineyard by Angevin soldiers and spent the next decade learning the tenets of stiletto-blade combat. Years later in Palermo, Aetna fends off a nefarious sergeant and sparks an uprising against the Angevin occupation.

Sandis has escaped Kazen’s grasp, but she finds herself unmoored, reeling from her thief friend Rone’s betrayal. Kazen has been hurt but not stopped, and he’ll do anything to summon the monster that could lay waste to the entire world. Sandis knows she must be the one to stop him, but with her own trusted numen now bound to another, and finding herself with no one she can trust, she is in desperate need of allies. Rone seems determined to help her, but Sandis has no intention of letting him get close to her again. What she doesn’t know is how much Rone gave up to protect her.