Showing results by narrator "Jess Moran" in All Categories

An unsuspecting couple is treated to a luxury vacation by their deceased neighbor. After begrudgingly agreeing to volunteer at a nursing home, a middle school girl gambles over games of bridge with elderly residents. A single mother struggles to understand the unique bond between her autistic son and his dying grandmother. Four friends experience decades of highs and lows as pawns in The Game of Life. A professional gynecology patient runs into a high school flame while at work, undressed, on the job.

When journalist Holland Tate is granted an interview with Catriona Bouchard, her former best friend turned mega-popular tradwife, she jumps at the chance to also possibly rewrite their bitter ending. But at the Bouchards’ gated compound, what she finds is not the independent woman she once knew. Cat may have six beautiful children and be married to the man she calls the love of her life, but she’s a ghost of her former self.

Twelve-year-old Tuva couldn’t imagine living anywhere other than the Stockholm archipelago and her island home of Harö. Even if she mostly keeps to herself at her small school. Even if she sometimes gets kind of lonely. But when a classmate goes missing, Tuva finds herself at the center of the mystery, along with Rasmus, the new boy at school. Neither one of them can understand what they saw that day in the woods near the water: Is something magical at work? Something evil?

An autumn chill is in the air. Another gemtower is broken. And the teapots are... gossiping? It's nearly Samhain in Ellamere, but while the town enjoys apple picking, pumpkin carving, and autumn feasting, a stranger is coming to weave some trouble into everyone's lives.

Camp is supposed to be fun, but Sarah hates Camp Cold Lake. The lake is gross and slimy. And she's having a little trouble with her bunkmates. They hate her. So Sarah comes up with a plan. She'll pretend to drown—then everyone will feel sorry for her. But things don't go exactly the way Sarah planned. Because down by the cold, dark lake someone is watching her. Stalking her. Someone with pale blue eyes. And a see-through body...

Celeste is about to become one of the thirteen Fées Gardiennes, a centuries-old sisterhood of fairy godmothers. To be granted full status, she must usher her first protégé onto their path of destiny. Where better to find a starry-eyed ward than in the land of magic and illusion called Hollywood? It’s 1927. The moviemaking business is booming when Celeste befriends a young studio seamstress whose dreams outshine everyone else’s. Rose is talented and underappreciated and could use some enchanted intervention in her life.

When a dragon-blooded emperor reaches for godhood, Earth reaches back—with bullets. The plan was simple: conquer a new realm, harvest its souls, and become a god. But nothing about Ohio is simple. Armed with grit, ingenuity, and a lot of guns, the scrappy humans of Earth prove they're not the kneeling type. In a clash of magic and modern firepower, alliances are forged, friendships are tested, and ambitions burn brighter than the skies over the Midwest. Can humanity stand its ground, or will the emperor's quest for divinity grind them to dust?

Everyone knows the Demon Lord is a villain, but what kind of villain he becomes depends on how his story ends. With a writing contest to finish his series underway, he refuses to leave that ending to chance. He's going to choose his own writer, one who will make his final act unforgettable. But Willow is definitely not interested. Her last book was rejected by the story gods, and that failure still stings. It's easier to bury herself in the family business than face disappointment again. She's an apothecary, not a writer.

We are all surrounded by darkness. And we are all drawn to the light. The Orkney Islands north of Scotland are steeped in stories of selkies, seal folk who swim in cold ocean waters and shed their skins to sing and dance on land. One young girl named Isla uses legends of selkie brides to understand her parents’ troubled marriage and navigate her strained relationship with her mother. As Isla comes of age, she confronts the sacred points of transformation found between sea and land, nature and civilization, and past and present, uncovering the key to her identity.

For three hundred years, humanity’s greatest works of art have been on loan at the Greenwood Museum. It was finally time for them to come home...but the alien curators were disinclined to return them. Force was out of the question. Earth’s government was clear: they were not going to press the issue. So, all we had was guile and hubris to fuel our little intergalactic art heist.

“The characters are just as vivid as the setting . . . an addictive contemporary that will delight hopeless romantics and armchair travelers alike.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review A gorgeous, seductive fiction debut from wine and dating columnist Eliza Dumais, about parsing romantic...

Astra has made a terrible wish—to be so beautiful that wealthy men propose at the sight of her. In Everspring, her magical parade of wealthy suitors quickly becomes a violent mob, and worst of all, the king himself sets his sights on her. But the king possesses dark magic of his own, and when Astra displeases him, she finds herself banished to the deadly fairy realm. Her only refuge is another outcast more trapped and lonelier than she. Dust was born to be the heir of Everspring, but his isolated tower in the fairy realm is the only home he’s ever known.

This is the first of the Anne of Athelhampton trilogy, which is inspired by true historical events and characters from England's Dorsetshire in the 1500s. It is written by Giles Keating, who lives in Athelhampton's Tudor rooms just as Anne did five hundred years ago and who welcomes visitors to see the secret passages that she discovered, and the symbols in stone that she searched out to solve the Riddle.

A busy florist. Blooming magic. And a dashing yet infuriating new neighbor. It’s been months since the first gemtower responsible for keeping magic out of Ellamere shattered. The witch may be gone, but the memory of the chaos she wrought in the town still lingers. Since the fracture of the second tower, Tansy Fullbright has been holding her breath waiting to see if magic will take root in their beloved village.

When Hazel wakes up in a dungeon full of monsters, she's told to choose a weapon and start fighting. Instead, she picks a grilled cheese, because who needs weapons when you've got food? The system rewards her ridiculous decision with a brand-new class: Culinary Mage. Instead of grinding monsters, Hazel's winning over slimes with homemade treats and discovering that a good meal can do far more than fill an empty stomach.

In the heart of Ellamere, where magic is banished, Abrielle Grainwick works tirelessly to keep her late grandmother’s bakery running smoothly. But when a souffle recipe goes awry, Abrielle must add something she never expected to her long list of things to do: Unsummon the otherworldly man standing in her kitchen.

Ireland, 1879. Maura Doyle has always felt she was meant for more than her life as a poverty-stricken farmer’s daughter in County Laois could provide. Her father has arranged for her to marry into a wealthier local family, but she has more interest in her neighbor, Joseph O’Malley. Forced to leave school at age 16, she takes a full-time job as a maid in the local landlord’s mansion after a family tragedy. But the arrival of the lord’s son upends her role in the house and the equilibrium of the entire community.

After the Second Kingside War, magical folks like baker Lillie Dean are once again able to live freely and use magic openly. Lillie is taking this new freedom to heart, and has just moved to the seaside town of Silverkeep to start a brand new bakery and begin her life again. But all is not sweet in the idyllic village, especially when Lillie gets a threatening note saying if she doesn't get out of town, everyone will find out about her villainous past.

Being the first librarian in their small town is everything Beatrice Montgomery has ever dreamed of–except no one in town knows what to make of her, or the library. But spending her days surrounded by books is an occupation beyond her wildest dreams, and she'll do whatever it takes to make the library a success. Lord Alexander Dunham's time is running out. Providing for his estate and the people dependent on him before his curse ruins his life is his first priority--and that means he needs a wife, immediately.