Showing results by narrator "Natalie Duke" in All Categories

Downsized, broke, and dumped, 38-year-old Marley sneaks home to her childhood bedroom in the town she couldn't wait to escape 20 years ago. Not much has changed in Culpepper. The cool kids are still cool. Now they just own car dealerships and live in McMansions next door. Oh, and the whole town is still talking about that Homecoming she ruined her senior year.

All those years of adolescent fantasies and this was how Bowie Bodine first touched my boobs. And he apologized. Real life was stupid and unfair. Small town deputy Cassidy Tucker’s dating life is a train wreck on repeat. All she ever wanted was a solid partner. A man to share pajamas with. Cassidy’s officially giving up on love and adopting cats. Good thing the cold case disappearance of Callie Kendall is heating up to keep her distracted. Except the investigation is testing her friendship with all the Bodines - Bowie in particular.

In the idyllic town of Middle Falls, Oregon, a peculiar phenomenon unfolds—those who die but are not prepared to move on open their eyes again at a pivotal juncture in their past lives, all memories of their first life intact. That includes Hattie Kildare. After dying in 2008, Hattie awakens as a teenager in 1943, back in a world gripped by the chaos of World War II. Amidst the echoes of conflict and the specter of loss, she is reunited with Jimmy, her beloved first boyfriend lost to the war in her first life.

I'm one scrappy wizard. As someone with barely a flicker of magic, I've spent my life being mocked and surviving fights with bullies. But when my parents die in an accident, and I find myself responsible for our whole wizard house and family, I know my usual tactics aren't going to cut it. The situation veers from bad to catastrophic when my backstabbing cousin stages a coup and takes my family hostage. I barely manage to flee, but the only supernatural willing to help me is Killian Drake - the most feared vampire in the region.

Gravel-voiced Gibson Bodine takes his lone wolf image seriously. His one love - besides starting a good brawl - is sitting on a rinky-dink stage in a backwoods bar playing guitar and singing about things he’ll never have. When a video of him playing goes viral, Gibson ignores the unwanted attention. He’s got bigger things to worry about. Like the bomb his half-brother’s mom just dropped on him. And the fallout from the memento he’s been carrying around for 13 years. But one night in a bar, 50 miles from home, he meets her. And she changes everything.

Summer is heating up for reluctant psychic Riley Thorn and her handsome private investigator boyfriend, Nick Santiago. First, her disapproving grandmother arrives determined to make Riley take her powers seriously or face the wrath of “the Guild”. Then there’s the homicide detective, who needs her help figuring out who murdered the well-dressed corpse in the walk-in closet.

Riley Thorn and her hot tattooed private investigator boyfriend are all moved in to their new fixer-upper. Not only do they finally have their own place they also haven’t found any new dead bodies on the premises. Yep. It looks like summer is over, and so is Riley’s bad luck. Or is it? While Nick gives up sleeping and showering to obsess over the cold case that still haunts him, his business partner Mrs. Penny is calling the investigative shots. It’s every bit as bad as you can imagine.

On a serene night in 1953, Sally Mason, a dedicated wife and mother of two, drives a twisting road on her way home from night school. Suddenly, a mysterious bluish-white light descends over the road. Terrified, Sally slams on the brakes. After a flash of bright light nearly blinds her, she passes out, awakening to the persistent knock of a police officer on her car window. When she sees the officer and remembers her frightening experience, she screams and faints, and is rushed to the hospital.

He didn't kiss me back like a gentleman. No, Derek Price slammed my back into the front door. A beast off his leash. Emily Stanton's perfect life just became a disaster. She has a trust fund brother looking for a handout, a father who is more board member than dad, and a mother who thinks she should give up on this whole billionaire CEO thing and meet a man with a pre-nup and a yacht. Oh, and then there's that "misunderstanding" with law enforcement witnessed by Miami's paparazzi.

Ever had ex-housemates you can't get rid of? When Killian and the rest of the Drake vampires kicked me out of their mansion without any explanation, I felt beyond betrayed. I was livid! But I refused to waste my energy thinking about them. Thanks to all the free training I got while living with vampires, I had the skills I needed to finally free my family. I even got my house back! Best yet, I can pass on the magic techniques and fighting skills I've learned to all the wizards in our group.

Nora hasn’t looked back. Not since she left home and her broken heart far behind her. But now tragedy calls her back, where she must finally come face-to-face with ex-boyfriend Charlie and best friend Sophie. Sophie seems to have everything. Married to Charlie, with a wonderful daughter and a successful career. Yet underneath that perfection lies an explosive secret. A secret that ripped through their town and destroyed her friendship with Nora. So when Sophie finds out that Nora has returned, she hopes Nora’s stay is short. The life she has built depends on it.

What makes a romance novel a romance? Writing a well-structured romance isn't the same as writing any other genre - something the popular novel and screenwriting guides don't address. The romance arc is made up of its own story beats. Told in conversational (and often irreverent) prose, Romancing the Beat is like sitting down to coffee with romance editor and author Gwen Hayes while she explains story structure - the way she does with her clients, some of whom are regular inhabitants of the best-seller lists.

Heavily pregnant with her second child, Tessa Irons has enough on her mind without her toddler throwing tantrums at the local coffee shop. The boy is inconsolable, shouting “Gigi!” to a woman Tessa’s never seen before—and never will again. The next morning, the woman’s body is dredged up from the canal outside the Ironses’ posh Venice Beach home, and Tessa’s gut tells her it’s no coincidence.

Adrienne Pierce, buffeted by fate and abandoned by love, seeks refuge from her past as well as her uncertain future on Whitley Point, a secluded island off the coast of Maine. Tanner Whitley - young, wild, restless - and heir to a dynasty, desperately tries to escape both her destiny and the memories of a tragic loss with casual sex and wild nights, a dangerous course that may ultimately destroy her. One timeless summer, these two very different women discover the power of passion to heal - and the promise of hope.

Humanity survived. Barely, and thanks to networks of gigantic tower systems created to surround small villages with a protective barrier of lethal energy. It kept everything out...and everyone in. Sixteen years have passed, and a girl born the night the world fell apart learns that she has a strange talent. The towers can speak, and she is the only one who can hear them.

Darcy Evans doesn’t have the time or the patience for a road trip up with her estranged mother, Marja. She’s busy running her website, getting married in a week, and trying to figure out how she feels about a bombshell confession of love, from her best friend – and her fiance’s sister – Chloe. She does not need a secretive mother with no interest in explaining herself, and her dog who barks when Darcy swears – which is a lot!

Harlow Torrent, part-time journalist and full-time Slip Witch has a new job working on the set of Bella Bing's latest movie, filming in Harlot Bay. It's meant to be a change of pace but when the lead actor, Mattias Matterhorn, dies on his first day on set, Harlow is pulled into a dangerous plot. A saboteur is on set and they'll do anything to shut the film down... including murder.

There’s no such thing as witches…right? Emerson Wilde has built the life of her dreams. Youngest Chamber of Commerce president in St. Cyprian history, successful indie bookstore owner, and lucky enough to have her best friends as found family? Done. But when Emerson is attacked by creatures...

Luna dreamed of life outside her village but never imagined how different it would be out there. Facing intrigue and danger, she must navigate her way through a world she does not understand in order to save those she loves.

I don’t care what other people think as long, as they leave me alone to focus on my research on soil microbiology. Plus, I walk with a cane thanks to a childhood accident. I have scars on my face. And if that isn’t enough to scare people off, my bad attitude and general grumpiness seal the deal. Which is just the way I like it. Except, I’ve been short listed for one of the most prestigious academic fellowships around. To win it, I’ll have to give a series of speeches. On a stage. With an audience. While being filmed.