Showing results by narrator "Amy McFadden" in All Categories

Johnny-Boy is a killer. He lives for the thrill of the hunt, the stalking of human prey. Fittingly, he works as a hitman but always finds time for extracurricular activity on the side. When a new assignment sends him to Baxter, a depressed Rust Belt town experiencing a chaotic upheaval at the dawn of a new economic beginning, Johnny-Boy plans to keep things professional. But when he realizes that the streets are awash with drug activity, small-time mobsters, and loads of transitory laborers in town to construct a new car plant, Johnny-Boy sees an opportunity to have a little fun.

LaDene Faye Howell has spent her life in the small town of Devola, on an oxbow of the Muskingum River, in southeast Ohio. Her family is conservative and deeply religious, although another branch of the Howell clan are notorious criminals. When one of her outlaw relatives returns from prison, LaDene hopes the two of them may share an evening of fun, or even a spark of romance. Instead, Bobby Frank embroils her in kidnapping their old high school principal.

A new Nissan plant is coming to the depressed Rust Belt town of Baxter, and Captain Delia Mariola has been busy cleaning up the crime-addled city ever since the deal was announced. But when the fifteen-year-old daughter of the lead bidder on the construction project—a wealthy out-of-towner—suddenly disappears, and it becomes clear that a professional kidnapping ring may be responsible, Delia realizes that the factory's influx of cash could bring with it an entirely new sort of danger, never before considered in this working class milieu.

Lawyer Layla Forrester guards her heart as fiercely as she cares for her ailing father. But her manufactured aloofness can’t protect her from a mysterious stalker’s terrifying chemical threats. And she fears the hazmat-suit-clad EMT who treats her so kindly has seen through her mask to the core of her vulnerability. First Responder Jack Trenton would give anything to undo the events that sent his dad to the morgue. So when he arrives at the scene of an anthrax scare, his only thought is to comfort the shaken female target.

Single mom Mardie Griffin has a run-down old house in need of fixing and a memory of Jett Casey as her savior in a time of great need. So when her friends acquire Jett’s services at a bachelor auction and send him to fix up her house, she sets aside her mistrust of men and lets him in. Elite athlete Jett Casey has the world at his feet and no desire for stability. But there’s one woman he’s never forgotten and if he can help make her safe this time, maybe she’ll stop haunting him.

When Katy and Malcolm discover a secret stash of Springside ghosts, they can't tell if they're on a rescue mission, walking into a trap—or dealing with something far more sinister.

Real estate mogul Eli Ward needs to keep a low profile on his new project. He's expecting a fight from the somewhat eclectic folks currently living there. What he doesn't expect is for that fight to be led by Brooke Worthington, the woman who rocked his world one unforgettable night. The one woman who doesn't know who he is, which is a good thing. She just sees him as a regular guy. It's refreshing.

Mallory Worthington has had enough of being treated like a fragile flower. She needs to get out of Dodge, as far and fast as possible. Somewhere no one knows about her childhood battle with cancer. A talented chef working at her family's flagship hotel, she leaps at the first job opportunity that meets her criteria - personal chef and nanny for a reclusive and insanely hot billionaire in the Florida Keys. She doesn't know a lot about the nanny part, but how hard can it be?

An unimaginable change is in the air when a long lost love reappears on the sands of Coconut Key to complicate lives and open old wounds. With shocking news that changes history and the family dynamic, the new arrival brings hope, love, and the answers some have been searching for years to find.

A new life begins on Coconut Key when Beck and her family and friends are blessed with a beachfront sanctuary after the hurricane damages their side of the island. Although it is a haven where life and love carries on in an unforeseen way, they face a new set of challenges. As Beck rebuilds Coquina House into a beachfront B&B, she finds safety in a new romance. Her daughter, Savannah, learns how to be a mother and lands in a relationship unlike any she’s ever known.

Kate had high hopes when she moved to her husband‘s hometown, but her domestic bliss was short-lived. Blindsided by her spouse’s public affair with his high school sweetheart, Kate’s determined to hold onto custody of her kids and pull herself together. When Kate’s struck in the head by a drone at her son’s soccer game and face-plants in the grass, it’s more than her self-esteem that’s shattered. The drone’s footage reveals that someone is stalking her.

Mayor Sandra Crawford has survived divorce. She's survived cancer. But she's not at all sure she'll survive the discovery that her town's billionaire philanthropist benefactor is actually the man she nearly left her husband for almost 30 years ago. Gerald Peyton, III didn't fight for Sandy back in college - a decision he's regretted ever since. Now Trey's older, wiser, and determined to win the heart of the woman he's never forgotten.

Elementary school teacher Mary Alice Reed wanted a nice, stable guy to share her happily ever after. When she thought she'd found him, everyone tried to tell her that the guy she thought was her Mr. Right was really Mr. Somebody Else's. Living with a town's worth of I-told-you-so isn't easy, but she's coping. And she's definitely taking a break from love in order to get past her last disaster and chair her favorite Christmas charity.

Misty Pennebaker came to Eden’s Ridge to escape a painful past and find a new beginning. She’s built a life surrounded by beauty, with her gift shop showcasing local artisans and her work as the only florist in town. Contented with her shop and her dog, the last thing she’s looking for is a relationship. Especially one with the gorgeous, tattooed biker who works at the tavern down the street.

Once each year, on orbital space stations, nano-engineered young women compete on the backs of dinosaurs in races as brutal and bloody as any witnessed in the Roman circus 3,000 years before. Highly skilled and capable of superhuman feats, these gladiators live isolated lives - except for the resurrected beasts with whom they form their deepest bonds. Tonight, on the red sands of the arena and inside the hollow asteroid where the dinosaurs are grown, the secrets these gladiators discover will shake their entire world.

In Ansible, 25th-century Islamic explorers transfer their minds across space and time to make first contact...and get marooned in alien bodies on alien worlds. Along the way, they encounter the most dangerous predator humanity has ever faced. Now a Syrian refugee, a 13th-century librarian, and a hijabi shape-shifter from the far future must travel across space and time to defend humanity from this intergalactic and devouring evil.

The pneumavores ("soul eaters") have taken the Earth and have spread to every planet humanity has ever touched. Now, a Syrian refugee, a 13th-century librarian, and a hijabi shapeshifter from the far future must travel across space and time to defend humanity from this intergalactic and devouring evil.

Reunion Prom? Is this really a thing? In Wishful it is. Lexi Morales never imagined her life would turn into the premise for an 1980s teen movie. But when her big high school trauma hit like a ton of bricks, she spent the next decade trying to hide the truth. After years of careful avoidance, she's back in town to care for her injured mother, just in time for the high school reunion she never planned to attend - a reunion that evokes memories she's tried to forget.

Tess Peyton wanted to do something fun and reckless and wholly out of character. A steamy weekend with a Scotsman seems like a plan. When her Scotsman turns out to be a good Southern boy, that's a minor deviation. Then one night turns to two, two turns to more, and suddenly she knows she's in way over her head. This is why one should always stick to the plan.

Highly prized for their beauty, crystals can take the shape of jewelry, household objects, and an array of self-care products. But it's the ideas they stand for that draw people to their raw forms. Like astrology, tarot, and modern witchcraft, crystals help practitioners understand themselves and the wider world around them. In this collection of sharply observed essays, Jaya Saxena reflects on - and challenges - the ideas associated with 11 popular stones.