Showing results by narrator "Khristine Hvam" in All Categories

Perfect Parker Fadley isn't so perfect anymore. She's quit the cheerleading squad, she's dumped her perfect boyfriend, and she's failing school. Her parents are on a constant suicide watch and her counselors think she's playing games, but they don't know that the real reason for this whole mess isn't something she can say out loud. It isn't even something she can say to herself. A horrible thing has happened and it just might be her fault.

There’s an underground magical vault, protected by sorcery, security cameras, guards, and whatnot. Think of the most impenetrable place in the world. Now triple it. It belongs to a dragon, and I was hired to break into it and steal his hoard. I might be an alchemist extraordinaire and the best burglar on the East Coast, but this is not a solo job. I’ll need a team for this one. Accompanied by a powerful sorcerer, a fortune teller, a scam artist, and a hacker, I embark on the heist of the century. If we succeed, we’ll be legends. If not - crispy dragon snacks.

Latona of the Vitelliae, mage of Spirit and Fire, lies still as death. Her fate rests in the hands of her allies, who must redeem her soul from the churning void where Corinna, leader of a banished Discordian cult, has trapped it. Protected by a cabal of corrupt priests and politicians, Corinna plans her most daring assault yet: a ritual striking at the ancient heart of Aven, with the power to swallow the city in a maw of chaos and strife. Her success would be Aven's doom, and the greatest violence would fall upon the most vulnerable.

Leigh Somerset wants to spend some quality time with her kids before they grow up, and her husband has always fancied himself sort of a Clark Griswold figure. So the Somersets will be spending their family vacation on the road, driving from suburban Milwaukee to Orlando, Florida. Already off to a rocky start, they stumble upon an abandoned, half-burned down farmhouse in Indiana, and the Somersets inadvertently unleash an eerie history that will follow them the rest of their trip.

The Bailey School Kids need to do a report on England. Howie picks Camelot as his topic, which is how he knows the new assistant at the library, Mr. Merle, looks just like the ancient wizard Merlin! The kids discover a crystal ball in Mr. Merle's office and learn that he has a huge goldfish named Arthur, just like the ancient king. Then Mr. Merle transforms the library into a medieval castle and starts mesmerizing kids with the magic of reading! Something strange is definitely going on. Could Mr. Merle really be a wizard?

Birdie Binkowitz is just a little bitter. As a young actress, she was the toast of Hollywood, definitely destined for greatness. Then the dragons had to rise up from their thousand-year slumber, take over Earth and ruin everything. Twenty years later, Birdie is living her worst life in her hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, working at her father's Seed and Feed (and Bagels). Then, a mysterious dragon appears in front of the store seeking her help. He’s got a bone to pick with his fellow dragons–and he wants to hit them where it hurts.

When Lieutenant Cam Alvarez is called to investigate a desert massacre in the US Green Zone, she prepares for the worst. Once her team of soldiers arrives on the scene, she realizes the violence wasn’t committed by human hands. Alien invaders already dominate Earth’s expanding polar regions, but Cam had never seen Ringheads survive exposure to heat...until they storm her troops and abduct her.

My name is Amelia Gray. I'm the Graveyard Queen. Restoring lost and abandoned cemeteries is my profession, but I'm starting to believe that my true calling is deciphering the riddles of the dead. Legend has it that Kroll Cemetery is a puzzle no one has ever been able to solve. For over half a century, the answer has remained hidden within the strange headstone inscriptions and intricate engravings. Because uncovering the mystery of that tiny, remote graveyard may come at a terrible price.

Raina Petree is crushing her senior year, until her boyfriend dumps her, the drama club (basically) dumps her, the college of her dreams slips away, and her arch-nemesis triumphs. Things aren't much better for Millie Goodwin. Her father treats her like a servant, and the all-boy Mock Trial team votes her out, even after she spent the last three years helping to build its success. But then, an advice columnist unexpectedly helps Raina find new purpose in a pair of knitting needles and a politically active local yarn store.

Hot on the heels of her podcast debut, Jess Keeler looks for another unsolved crime to investigate—this time with a documentary crew in tow. But she can’t seem to find the right case…until a handsome stranger approaches her in a bar in Lake Castor, Virginia, with an incredible story about wrongful conviction. The Lake Castor sniper struck in 1984. Terrorizing the historically Black part of the old mill town, the killer claimed five lives. No one seemed worried about the first four victims. But when journalist Hal Broadstreet was killed, the police were suddenly interested.

A product of beige California suburbs, Pam Mandel was overlooked and unexceptional. When her father ships her off on a youth group tour of Israel, he inadvertently catapults his 17-year-old daughter into a world of angry European backpackers, seize-the-day Israelis, and the fall out of Cold War-era politics. With no guidance and no particular plan, Mandel says yes to everything and everyone, embarking on an adventure across three continents and thousands of miles.

I’m Lou Vitalis, dragon-robber, mobster-killer, end-of-the-world-preventer. Big job titles, and it’s hard to fit them on a business card, so most people just know me as “that weird alchemist down the street.” And I’ve got some problems. There’s this angry soul that occasionally takes over my body. I probably could have handled that, but Pandora’s Box is slowly opening in my apartment. Also, an Inkslinger is trying to kill me. Yeah, when it rains, it pours. In my case, it hails.

After the disastrous expedition to the island volcano, Ioene, Lilik is home with a warning. The malevolent tyrant, Mieshk Ulstat, is gathering devastating magical power. Unchecked, Mieshk will obliterate Kiriilti civilization. But when the ruling Trader Council refuses to heed her, Lilik turns to her own kind: the gutterborn. As Lilik rallies rebels from the slums, she delves into her abilities as a soul priestess through contact with a nightforged dagger.

Lilik is on the warpath. Behind her, House Ulstat is a smoking pit. Ahead, Mieshk Ulstat wields terrible magic from within an impregnable fortress. The battle approaches. Never mind that Lilik's fighters are actually a ragtag assortment of smugglers and thieves. Forget that something is terribly wrong with the aether, leaving Lilik's magic unpredictable. Lilik is the last hope for stopping Mieshk's cataclysm. Unfortunately, Lilik's problems aren't limited to insurmountable odds and questionable allies. A dark force has awakened in the island's heart.

My name is Amelia Gray, and I'm a cemetery restorer who lives with the dead. An anonymous donor has hired me to restore Woodbine Cemetery, a place where the rich and powerful bury their secrets. Forty years ago, a child disappeared without a trace and now her ghost has awakened, demanding that I find out the truth about her death. Only I know that she was murdered. Only I can bring her killer to justice. But the clues that I follow lead me to a series of disturbing suspects.

Magic. Intrigue. Romance. Lilik's gutterborn resistance flattened their oppressors and freed the city, enabling a return to the island volcano, Ioene. But in the hours following Lilik's victory, a bid to rescue her family from Ulstat clutches led to her capture. Now, cut off from her soul magic and held hostage by the Ulstats, Lilik plots to overturn the situation. She'll destroy House Ulstat from within, helping herself to the ships and soldiers she needs to retake Ioene.

You heard the story on the news. A girl and a boy went into the woods. The girl carried a picnic basket. The boy wore bright yellow running shoes. The girl found her way out, but the boy never did.... Everyone thinks they know what happened. Some say Tabby pushed him off that cliff - she didn't even like hiking. She was jealous. She had more than her share of demons. Others think he fell accidentally - she loved Mark. She would never hurt him...even if he hurt her.

There have always been some pretty weird grownups in Bailey City, but the new custodian at the Bailey School is one of a kind. When he appears out of nowhere just before Christmas to help out at the school, Mr. Jolly's white hair and beard and longing for cold temperatures bring the fabled St. Nick to everyone's mind. Could this man really be Santa Claus? The Bailey School Kids are going to find out!

Brianna can see her future, but it's the past that haunts her. Plans laid in place centuries ago are threatening not only her and her sister, but all of the Seven Lines. As the shadows plot their way to old rule, the visions shift again. Her power has led to some hard choices - and the occasional stab wound - but this set of futures holds nothing but darkness.

After a college student speeding in a blue Honda Civic kills her husband of less than a year, Olivia is completely lost. One hot summer day, she walks into the beachfront Rhode Island cottage she and David bought the previous August—the place where they had planned to someday start a family—and finds a stranger sitting at her kitchen table. Pregnant fifteen-year-old Ruby is looking for a safe haven for herself and her baby-to-be. Olivia takes her in, desperate to assuage her grief through human connection, even with a troubled teenager.