Showing results by narrator "Karissa Vackers" in All Categories

Dara Willcox, in New York for a weekend, meets Austin Clarke at an art gallery. The two are on different courses-Austin is British, temporarily in New York. Dara's from North Carolina, set on law school. They fall in love at first sight, and are determined to make their lives together. Days after their engagement dinner, Austin hears unsettling news from London that wrecks their plans. Dara abruptly cancels the wedding. She refuses to reveal why, not even to her best friends or her parents or grandmother, disrupting their family tradition of openness.

A brilliant young philosophy student bent on seducing her famous philosopher-mentor finds herself outmaneuvered; diabolically clever high school girls wreak a particularly apt sort of vengeance on sexual predators in their community; a woman stalked by a would-be killer may be confiding in the wrong former lover; a young woman is morbidly obsessed by her unfamiliar new role as “mother.” In the collection’s longest story, a much-praised cutting-edge writer cruelly experiments with “drafts” of his own suicide.

Wes and Ivy are madly in love. It's the kind of romance people write stories about. But what kind of story? Because when it's good, it's very very good. But when it's bad, it's bad. But their breakneck cycle of catastrophic vengeful break-ups and head-over-heels reconnections needs to end fast. Because suddenly, Wes and Ivy have a common enemy - and she's a detective. One wrong move will be fatal - so if Wes and Ivy can't stick together, this break-up might just be their last.

From Sandie Jones, the author of The Other Woman and The Guilt Trip, comes a new dark suspense thriller—a psychologist becomes involved with a patient and each blame the other for what happens next. Who's telling the truth? Perfect for fans of K S Slater, C L Taylor and Tammy Cohen.

Estranged for a decade, sisters Leslie and Robin must reunite if they are to claim the fortune their father left them. Leslie desperately needs that money, but when she arrives at her sister's apartment, she finds her body instead. Leslie needs another plan. Without Robin, she won't see a penny. Mary, an aspiring actress, spends her nights slinging beers at a seedy restaurant. She'd do anything to start her life over. When Leslie offers her a huge sum of money and the chance to be someone else - to be Robin - she takes it.

Jacs, an inventor’s apprentice from the Lower Realm, has only ever dreamed of what the land among the clouds holds. That is until she finds a letter from Connor, an Upperite boy hoping to learn more about the land below. Little does Jacs know, Connor is actually Prince Cornelius of the Queendom of Frea. With wooden boats and hot air balloons, the two begin a secret correspondence. But their friendship is divided by a heavily-guarded bridge and an inescapable prejudice.

Winning the crown was only the beginning. Jacs, now the rightful Queen of Frea, seems to be Queen in title alone. She scrambles to learn the customs and traditions of a Realm she had only read about in books. The Council of Four have her firmly under their thumb, and their ideas for the Queendom are oppressive and outdated. Their knowledge of her mother and Master Leschi’s whereabouts is the only leverage they need to make the new Queen dance to their tune.

Jackie is the story of a woman who forged a legacy out of grief and shaped history. It is the story of a love affair and a complicated marriage. It is at once a deeply human work of imagination that captures what she was thinking and feeling, what she was afraid of, fought for, and believed in. This is Jackie.

After quitting her job at as a NYC journalist, Claire Campbell heads home to South Carolina, planning to finally face her past. But unable to face her mother’s melancholy, and the eerie stillness of her childhood home, she seeks refuge at Galloway Farm. In exchange for free room and board she agrees to work the summer harvest. But as she gets to know the farm's other inhabitants – an illusive elderly couple and a young man named Liam – Claire begins to realise that she isn’t the only one with a mysterious past. And Galloway Farm has secrets of its own

When Janie's husband Max doesn't come home one night, she's doesn't know what to do. Why would he leave her and their baby daughter, with no explanation? Then the police turn up, asking questions about the body of a woman found outside a local bar. They want to know where Max was last night. Where Max is now - but Janie has no idea. They want answers, but Janie only has questions. She loves Max more than anything. But did she ever really know him at all?

When her husband, Harry, walks out after just six months, Sam has never been in more need of a getaway. So when her friends Diana and Margaret - newly single themselves - suggest a girls' weekend away, Sam can't accept soon enough. But then things start to go wrong. Car trouble on the road leaves them stranded. And what's more, it's in the town where he lives. Sam is sure a big night out can't hurt. After all, it's hardly likely that Harry would show up, right? And no one could ever expect the night would end in murder....

Set in our world, spanning the near to distant future, the author, Arwen Elys Dayton, explores the possible consequences of advanced medical breakthroughs and how they may shape and reshape humanity. From organ donation to plastic surgery to full bodily reconstruction, these stories take you by your (for now, organic) hand and lead you into a future where the line between person and machine becomes increasingly blurred. Deeply thoughtful, poignant, horrifying and action-packed, this novel strikes new ground while also seeming so strangely...likely. Just try to disconnect.

The body of a young woman found in an Arizona border town walks out of the morgue. To the CDC investigator called in to consult the local police, it's a bizarre medical mystery. More bodies, dead of a mysterious disease that solidifies their blood, begin disappearing from morgues nearby. In a futile game of catch-up, the CDC, the FBI and the US government realise that it's already too late to stop it: the vampire epidemic will sweep first the United States and then the world.

For generations, the rangers of Black Water Island have guarded the Old Herd against the horrors released by the Rift. And Cal West, an apprentice ranger, fights daily to prove he belongs within their ranks. But even greater challenges await with the return of his childhood friend Meg Archer and the onset of a new threat that not even the rangers are prepared for. Now Meg and Cal, while struggling with their mutual attraction, must face their darkest fears to save the island from disaster.

Surviving the plane crash is only the beginning for Allison. The life that she’s built for herself - her perfect fiancé, their world of luxury - has disappeared in the blink of an eye. Now she must run, not only to escape the dark secrets in her past, but to outwit the man who is stalking her every move. On the other side of the country, Allison’s mother is desperate for news of her daughter, who is missing, presumed dead. Maggie refuses to accept that she could have lost her only child and sets out to discover the truth.

Music teacher Beth and film producer Jay seem to have the perfect life together in LA. When Cassie, Beth's old best friend and college wild child, turns up unexpectedly, everything changes. But what neither of them know is what Cassie is running from. And that it's going to have consequences for them all. Something is about to go very wrong. And someone is going to lie about it.

What if your best days ever happened when you were 11? It's not easy being the only cast member of a 1990s song-and-dance show who didn't become famous. When Holly Danner was 11, she used to do anything for a laugh on Diego and the Lion's Den. Only for her childhood best friends to grow up and dominate the worlds of pop, film, and TV while she had a few near misses and a nanny gig for her niece. She even made peace with the whole thing years ago. But when she finds out there's a 25th anniversary for the show and she wasn't invited, it's time to set the record straight.

At sixteen, Honora 'Nora' Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in Gammamix; her family controls all the money—and all the magic—in the entire country. But when her mother is found murdered in an alley, the family throne and fortune are up for grabs, which means Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the deadly Veritaz trials to determine the rightful inheritor. But there's a surprise rival in the form of Ottoline, aka Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora's aunt, who was left with nuns as a baby.

From the best-selling authors of The Hell with Love, a fierce, funny, touching collection that takes the sting out of "aging while female".

Harriet York is not a Scrooge. She donates to the local toy drive, she helps deliver her neighbors’ packages when misplaced by their errant mailman, and her house looks like a Christmas fever dream. So, when Nolan, the Ghost of Christmas Past, appears in her living room ready to perform his holiday haunting, they’re both more than a little confused. As Nolan leads her through memories of Christmases past, everything feels wrong about his so-called mission. Nothing in Harriet’s past seems to hint at her need for a haunting.