Showing results by narrator "Natalie Naudus" in All Categories

No one in Eden remembers when Starling House was built. But everyone agrees that it's best to let the house – and its last lonely heir – go to rot. Starling House is uncanny and ugly and fully of secrets, just like its heir. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but it might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. It feels dangerously like something she's never had: a home. But Opal isn't the only one interested in the house, or the horrors and wonders that lie beneath it. If Opal wants a home, she'll have to fight for it.

Xishi’s beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue—convinced that the best fate for a girl is to marry well and support her family. When Xishi draws the attention of the famous young military advisor, Fanli, he presents her with a rare opportunity: to use her beauty as a weapon. One that could topple the rival neighboring kingdom of Wu, improve the lives of her people, and avenge her sister’s murder. All she has to do is infiltrate the enemy palace as a spy, seduce their immoral king, and weaken them from within.

The Jeveni have finally found freedom on the distant planet Capamame, delivered from Kindom oppression through their alliance with stoic Cleric Chono, intrepid caster Jun Ironway, and Six, the wildly unpredictable manipulator who has outwitted the Nightfoot family. But when Six and Chono return to the Treble star systems, the dream of freedom meets a dangerous test. The Secretaries of the Kindom are intent on reclaiming power in the Treble, as well as control over the Jeveni.

A wildly successful innovator, Vivian Liao is prone to radical thinking, quick decision-making, and reckless action. In the chilly darkness of a Boston server farm, she sets her ultimate plan into motion. A terrifying instant later, she is catapulted through space and time to a far future where she confronts a destiny stranger and more deadly than she could ever imagine. The end of time is ruled by an ancient, powerful Empress who blesses or blasts entire planets with a single thought. Rebellion is literally impossible to consider - until Vivian arrives.

The Future – as the richest people on the planet have discovered – is where the money is. The Future is a few billionaires leading the world to destruction while safeguarding their own survival with lavish bunkers. The Future is private weather, technological prophecy and highly deniable weapons. The Future is a handful of friends—the daughter of a cult leader, a non-binary hacker, an ousted Silicon Valley visionary, the concerned wife of a dangerous CEO, and an internet-famous survivalist—hatching a daring plan. It could be the greatest heist ever. Or the cataclysmic end of civilization.

As an FBI agent, she specialized in hunting America’s most elite thieves. Now, she’s become one of them. Blair Morgan’s world is in shambles. After being used as a scapegoat by a corrupt former boss, she is unceremoniously fired from the FBI. Now, with her reputation, pride, and years of service stripped away, Blair just wants to start over. But when a chance date turns into a mysterious job offer, her past comes crashing back to haunt her. In a flash, Blair becomes entangled in a high stakes bank heist.

Alex and Molly don’t belong on the same planet, let alone the same college campus, but when their paths cross unexpectedly and Alex discovers Molly’s hidden crush, they realise they might have a common interest after all. Because maybe if Alex can help Molly to get her dream girl, she can prove to her ex that she’s serious about love. As the two embark on their five-step plans to get their girls to fall for them, though, they both begin to wonder if maybe they’re the ones falling...for each other.

In retreat from a devastating loss and crushing injustice, Katie lives alone in a fortresslike stone house on Jacob’s Ladder island. Once a rising star in the art world, she finds refuge in her painting. The neighboring island of Ringrock houses a secret: a government research facility. And now two agents have arrived on Jacob’s Ladder in search of someone—or something—they refuse to identify. Although an air of menace hangs over these men, an infinitely greater threat has arrived, one so strange even the island animals are in a state of high alarm.

Ellery has never believed in magic. Everyone else may swear there’s a supernatural force about to save them from a five-year winter, but Ellery’s not convinced. If there were goddesses out there, wouldn’t they have put a stop to it by now? Knox hasn’t heard from his queen in years. A magical assistant, he’s been helping humans who have made crossroad deals with demons and is worried about what he’ll find when he returns home to the Other World. When a chance encounter finds Ellery coming to Knox’s rescue, they're suddenly face to face with a guy who claims to be a supernatural familiar.

Riley is so confident and kind, and she and Valerie bond quickly over existing as multiracial teens in a very white Christian community. As Valerie explores her feelings for Riley, she begins to see that the world she knows is a carefully crafted narrative. Publicly, the girls are close friends—holding hands in prayer, rooming together at a conference. Privately, they grasp at any chance to continue their forbidden romance—until they are found out. Now, Valerie must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her, or running away with the girl she loves.

Once there was a prophecy that a chosen one would rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, an immortal god-king. But the prophecy was wrong. Now Jian, the former chosen hero, is just an ordinary young man trying to find his own way. But he may yet have an extraordinary destiny, because he joins forces with Taishi, his grumpy grandmaster, who instructs him in the ways of her family’s powerful war art. Jian still has a long way to go before he can become her heir, so she recruits a band of elderly grandmasters out of retirement to whip him into shape and help with this one last job.

It’s been twenty-five years since The Midnight Club last convened. A tight-knit group of college friends bonded by late nights at the campus literary magazine, they’re also bonded by something darker: the death of their brilliant friend Jennet junior year. But now, decades later, a mysterious invitation has pulled them back to the pine-shrouded Vermont town where it all began. As the estranged friends gather for a weeklong campus reunion, they soon learn that their host has an ulterior motive: she wants them to uncover the truth about the night Jennet died.

Hollywood teen actor Arden James' messy reputation is interfering with her career when a notoriously picky director won't give her a role based on her party-girl image. So she and her publicist make up a lie – not only is she from a small town (true) but her childhood best friend Caroline, is her long-term girlfriend (false) and she can prove it when she goes home for Christmas.​ Caroline Beckett hasn't thought about her ex-best friend Arden James for years, focusing instead on her dreams about becoming a journalist.

For Naomi, every day begins the same way: She awakens in a strange garden with a box of unopened letters. Will the letters contain answers or reveal unbearable truths? Naomi wanders the garden every day but can't remember how she got there. An ever-present and mysterious box of unopened letters calls to her. Even though these letters might provide the answers, she can't bear to open them.

Having recently moved both herself and her formidable perfume bottle collection into a tiny bungalow in Los Angeles, mid-list author Astrid Dahl finds herself back in the Zoom writer’s group she cofounded, Sapphic Scribes, after an incident that leaves her and her career lightly canceled. But she temporarily forgets all that by throwing herself into a few sexy distractions—like Ivy, a grad student researching 1950s lesbian pulp who smells like metallic orchids, or her new neighbor, Penelope, who smells like patchouli.

In 2108, Colony Ship Voyager departed Earth for the planet of Promissa with 18,000 of the world’s best and brightest on board. 250 years and 27 light years later, an arrival is imminent. But all is not well. The probes that they’ve sent ahead to gather the data needed to establish any kind of settlement aren’t responding, and the information they have received has presented more questions than answers. It’s a time when the entire crew should be coming together to solve the problem, but science officer Sheila Jackson can’t get people to listen.

Princess Sun has finally come of age. Growing up in the shadow of her mother, Eirene, has been no easy task. The legendary queen-marshal did what everyone thought impossible: expel the invaders and build Chaonia into a magnificent republic, one to be respected - and feared. But the cutthroat ambassador corps and conniving noble houses have never ceased to scheme - and they have plans that need Sun to be removed as heir, or better yet, dead. To survive, the princess must rely on her wits and companions: her biggest rival, her secret lover and a dangerous prisoner of war.

Maud Demille is a daughter of Innkeepers - a special group who provide "lodging" to other-planetary visitors - so she knows that a simple life isn't in the cards. Once a wife to a powerful vampire knight, Maud and her young daughter, Helen, were exiled with him for his treachery to the desolate, savage planet of Karhari. Karhari killed her husband, and Maud - completely abandoned by his family - has spent over a year avenging his debts. Rescued by her sister Dina, she's sworn off all things vampire.

Raised far away on the moon, Xingyin was unaware she was being hidden from the Celestial Emperor–who exiled her mother for stealing the elixir of immortality. But when her magic flares and reveals her, Xingyin is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind. Alone, powerless and afraid, Xingyin makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. In disguise, she trains alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, despite the passion that flames between them.

Sergeant Nix Marr is a damn good soldier, but she's desperate to leave her haunted past in the bioluminescent ocean, buried alongside old friends...and old flames. Unfortunately, even the icy ocean can't extinguish some fires. When Kessandra, everyone's favorite princess—and Nix's loathed ex—requests Nix's help investigating a massacre in the abyssal city of Fall, Nix refuses. Vehemently. But Kessandra always gets what she wants.