Showing results by narrator "Lyssa Browne" in All Categories

Julie White's once-sweet son has morphed into a teenage terror. She hoped it was normal growing pains but a glimpse into his private messages shatters that illusion. Now she wonders if her moody teen is actually a ticking time bomb. Varvara Perlman's researcher job is hard, but caring for her emotionally-complex daughter is harder. After dismissing the latest call from the school counselor as another ploy for attention, she can only hope it's not too late when she finally understands. This latest crisis may not only be real, but deadly.

Meredith's family's annual game of assassin at Martha's Vineyard during a summer wedding is the perfect chance to honor her sister's legacy, and finally join the world again. But when she forms an alliance with a cute groomsman, she's at risk of losing both the game . . . and her heart.

Thirteen-year-old Evan Hanson is always the last in her family to know what's going on. Her father, Gene, who's been meaner since he began serving in Vietnam, isn't around much, and she likes it better that way. But then her brother, Adam, gets drafted and her anti-war mother, Endura, takes him across the border to Canada, leaving Evan alone with Gene and her younger, special needs brother, Teddy. When he realizes Endura isn't returning, Gene takes Evan and Teddy to Eat and Get Gas, his mother's cafe and gas station.

Ten years ago, in the pine-shaded town of Savage Ridge, Nick, Emmy, and Pete murder their high school classmate, Sammy Saint John. His body is never found, and no arrests are made. The three friends make a pact to leave Savage Ridge and never return. Now, each is drawn home, seemingly by chance or fate. But it's neither: Private Investigator Sloane Yo has brought them back to finally answer for their crime.

After breaking the code of secrecy and facing the judgement of the High Council, Jess and Hannah have no choice but to become Trackers, working to take down those who would exploit the spirit world for profit or power. Their first assignment takes them into the deep South, where Jeremiah Campbell, a self-proclaimed spiritual guru, lures wealthy and desperate devotees with promises of a deeper connection with the dead. As the girls go undercover, it soon becomes clear that they, and the spirit world they are sworn to protect, are once again in unimaginable danger.

For Jess Ballard, the signs could not be clearer; if the Durupinen want to maintain their control over the Gateways to the spirit world, they will have to battle for them at the ancient Skye Priosún, where even now a rebellion is brewing, ready to burst the barriers of the ancient stronghold. It is a near-impossible proposition. The only chance the Durupinen have is to infiltrate the priosún from within-with nothing left to lose, Jess volunteers herself for the job.

What causes a woman to murder her family? Jo's idyllic life would make most people jealous. Until one day her daughter is abducted, and the only way to find her is to unravel her dark past. Ellie is a devoted wife...until she discovers the pain of betrayal. Now vengeance is all she can think about. Party girl Shayla knows how to hide her demons. But when she's confronted with a life-shattering choice, it will cost her everything. June knows suffering intimately, though the smile she wears keeps it hidden. Soon, the lives of these four women intersect, and one of them is about to snap.

Folly Beach, South Carolina, has survived despite hurricanes and war. But it's the personal battles of Folly Beach's residents that have left the most scars, and they are why a young widow has been beckoned there to heal her own. To most people, Folly Beach is simply the last barrier island before reaching the great Atlantic. To some, it's a sanctuary for lost souls, which is why Emmy Hamilton's mother encourages her to buy a local bookstore, Folly's Finds, hoping it will distract Emmy from the loss of her husband.

After uncovering and destroying a Necromancer plot to take over Skye Priosún, Jess and Finn are united at last and longing to move on with their life together. But the Durupinen world has other plans. An enigmatic rune keeps revealing itself to Jess - in artwork, in dreams, and even scrawled upon the ancient stones of the Geatgrima at Fairhaven. No one can identify it, but its warning is clear: Something dangerous is coming, a revelation that could end the Gateway system forever.

For hundreds of years, the Durupinen have carried the power of the Gateway in their bloodlines. Now, a dire warning from the past might mean that power must come to an end. Jess Ballard has often considered her gift a curse - but now it may truly become one, unless she can convince the leaders of the Durupinen world to restore the power of the Gateways where it rightly belongs. The Durupinen have always considered themselves a force for what is good in the world, but has the intoxication of power left them unable to distinguish between what is right and wrong?

It's summer in St. Louis and Mercy Watts is on vacation from her parents. The great detective and his nosy wife are on a cruise and Mercy thinks she's off the hook for doing any investigating for them. But when a family friend has a fatal heart attack, Dad has one of his famous feelings and orders Mercy to look into it. Mercy tries not to get sucked in. She really does, but she's her father's daughter. Soon Gavin's death leads to a more grisly one, the death of a bride on her wedding day. Can the two be connected?

The Romans have a famous saying: "The stars incline us; they do not bind us." The words hold so much weight and importance they're stained on my skin—just like she is. The ink may not be visible, but the binds are indisputable, pulling me back to her like a rough tide. Impossible to leave. However, time has proven, free will or not, it will take more than bending the rules to be with her. It will require breaking them.

Secrets lurk in these hallowed halls… Jess and Hannah Ballard’s time in Edinburgh has revealed a formidable new enemy in the form of Alasdair MacLeod, the vicious spirit of a former Caomhnóir whose deranged and dangerous experiments on other ghosts have led to chaos in the spirit world. While Hannah works to reverse the terrible and mysterious Collection Alasdair left behind in the city’s underground closes, Jess and Finn track Alasdair to Kingshurst University, where they suspect Alasdair first encountered the Necromancers.

In her 20s, Emily Watson was on top of the world: she had a best-selling novel, a husband plucked from the pages of GQ, and a one-way ticket to happily ever after. Ten years later, the tide has turned on Emily's good fortune. So when her great-Aunt Bee invites her to spend the month of March on Bainbridge Island in Washington State, Emily accepts, longing to be healed by the sea. Researching her next book, Emily discovers a red velvet diary, dated 1943, whose contents reveal startling connections to her own life. The Violets of March announces Sarah Jio as a writer to watch.

Event planner Lexi Mannis has a busy life in Chicago - too busy to have a boyfriend. For special occasions, she has her stand-in boyfriend, Mac Northrop. Mac offers (almost) all the perks of a real boyfriend - furniture assembly, a date to big events, and someone to cook for. But they've never been "with benefits"...until one wickedly hot night crosses the line.

Without warning, Russia starts an operation to seize control of a vital arctic waterway off the Alaska coast. For hot-wired naval aviator Karen 'Bunny' O'Hare, it's about to be a bad day at the office. Not everyone takes impending nuclear Armageddon as calmly as O'Hare. From an airfield in Russia, Major-General Bondarev is leading a war he doesn't understand against machines instead of men. Under the US embassy in Moscow, Ambassador Devlin McCarthy discovers she can follow her conscience or the orders of her Secretary of State, but not both.

It's been several years since Jess and Hannah Ballard foiled a cataclysmic prophecy that could have destroyed their fellow Durupinen, an ancient clan of women who allow spirits to cross between the worlds of the living and the dead. The girls swore, after the devastation and chaos they endured, they would never get caught up in the inner workings of the Durupinen again. They were wrong.

It started with a crush. The best stories always do. Our story sounds predictable, short-lived, and destined for failure. Lincoln Beckett is the star wide receiver at Brighton University—smart, funny, and, like many would guess, heartbreak shines in his dark eyes and is etched across his jaw. He's popular, a guaranteed draft pick, and, worst of all, my brother's best friend. I tried not to like him. I have an entire list of reasons. Reasons that have become my rules for dating. Rules that Lincoln continues bending.

From best-selling author E. E. Holmes comes a collection of short stories that will take you on an unforgettable journey into the lives of your favorite characters from the Gateway Trilogy and the Gateway Trackers series. Go back in time and explore Fairhaven Hall with Karen and Elizabeth when they were just Apprentices. Hear in her own words how Savvy discovered the truth about her gift when she was only four years old, and how a fateful visit from a future High Priestess revealed her calling as a Durupinen.

Cassie Madison has it all: A high-powered advertising career; a stylish Manhattan apartment; and a sophisticated, rich, and gorgeous fiancé. It's a far cry from her childhood in Walton, Georgia, home of the annual Kudzu Festival and hot, sticky summers. And then there are all the bad memories, the heartache. When Cassie's estranged sister calls to say that her father is dying, Cassie knows it's time to set aside her feelings and go home and face the sister she hasn't seen in 15 years.