Showing results by narrator "Sasha Higgins" in All Categories

A prodigy pygmy owl. A possessive firedrake. A booby-trapped castle. Gargoyles come to life. Who said magic would be ordinary? No one can access magic like Clara, but her powers are unpredictable and dangerous. She has to learn how to control them.

Set on the eve of the financial crash of 2008, this evocative novel is made up of three stories linked by time and place, and also by the moving, unexpected interactions of a rich cast of characters. Barcelona Dreaming is narrated, in turn, by an English woman who runs a gift shop, an alcoholic jazz pianist, and a translator tormented by unrequited love, all of whose lives will be changed forever. Underpinning the novel, and casting a long shadow, is a crime committed against a young Moroccan immigrant.

As the newly minted Lady Fairfax, she finds herself exiled to the tranquil but stifling confines of her husband's Derbyshire estate, her only companionship being that of a governess. Yet amidst the isolation, she encounters Mr. Darcy, the formidable Master of Pemberley, whose aloof demeanor belies a heart yearning for connection.

Ellie Simons's delightful mother-in-law comes to visit for a simply lovely weekend of crocheted doilies, thinly-veiled insults, and passive-aggressive "suggestions." It's enough to make anyone wish their mother-in-law was dead. But it turns out the ladies of Chitterton Fells should be more careful what they wish for. Only last night Ellie and her friends raised their gin and tonics to toast an end to mothers-in-law the world over. The next day, Pamela Pomeroy's own MIL is found dead.

Charlotte Browne could just kick herself. What on earth possessed her to tell the Duke of Rockford that she is a lady? But something about the duke’s handsomeness and kind intelligence makes Charlotte blurt out the teeniest, tiniest falsehood. Now it’s too late to admit she’s just plain Charlotte of no particular importance—with cinder-stained hands, a wretched stepfather, and no prospects for marriage.

Marianne Carstairs has unexpectedly inherited a fortune from a father she has never known. In the will, her trustee—Marquess Justin Raymond—is tasked with introducing her into respectable society. But as the manager of her family's farm, Marianne is reluctant to leave behind a life of freedom. What's more, she finds Justin high-handed and stubborn. At the insistence of her grandfather, Marianne agrees to stay with Justin and his family at their Somerset estate. As their relationship grows stormy, Justin sees that it might prove impossible to turn his ward into a debutante.

Hugo Hayes has it all; the voice, the money, the looks. Adored by fans all over the world, there's nothing more he could ever wish for. Or so it appears. But no one sees what happens off stage. Nobody knows where he came from, what he goes through, where he's heading . . . Except the girl he left behind. She'll know. She always did.

Clara barely survived the dark force that attacked Irele Castle. One of her teachers didn't. But the number of dark magicians hunting her and her friends has only increased. She still doesn't understand the extent of her powers, and her foes are cutting off every opportunity for her to discover it. As if the immortal count weren't terrifying enough, now Clara's former fiance and a magician she believed dead have combined their efforts to kill her. And it gets worse. The Merqueen's already stolen three years of Clara's life. But she wants more, and she's as powerful as the count.

Thirteen-year-old Clementine Merlyn lives with her mom, her aunts, and her cousin Mirabelle at Number Fifteen Pendragon Road. The Merlyns are a family of witches, but because of an ancient falling out with the other branch of the family, the Morgans, they only have powers for a single month of the year: October. And this October may be the one that Clemmie gets her magic.

Meet William Armstrong: rogue, rakehell, devil may care duke-to-be. Everyone knows Will can't walk away from a wager, especially if it involves horseracing. The subject of this wager? The prim and proper Lady Simone Laurent. This is a bet he will enjoy winning. The youngest sister of a large and boisterous family, Simone is used to being overlooked. She is wise enough not to fall for a future duke's honeyed words. But as she is swept into his world of racing and excitement, she feels herself changing and becoming confident that the feelings Will inspires are more than a passing fancy.

London, 1952: Forty-six-year-old Elizabeth Dalloway feels she has failed at most everything in life, especially living up to her mother, the elegant Mrs. Dalloway, an ideal socialite and model of perfection until she disappeared in the summer of 1923—and hasn’t been heard from since. When Elizabeth is handed a medal with a mysterious inscription from her mother to a soldier named Septimus Warren Smith, she’s certain it contains a clue from the past.

As far as William Easton—the Duke of Blackheath—is concerned, love can go to the devil. Why would a man need passion when he has wealth, a stately home, and work to occupy his mind? But no one warned the duke that a fiery and frustratingly strong-willed activist like Lady Beatrice Haven can also be a stunning dark-haired siren who tempts a man’s mind, body, and soul.

Alexander Markby, the sixth Earl of Derby, is her brother's closest friend and is positively rife with roguishness. Too much money, too much time, and much too well-endowed...with good looks (obviously). He's the perfect cover to help Rose infiltrate his world. He has just one rule. In the name of "protecting" her, she must pose as his mistress. The very idea!

Chitterton Fells is all of a flutter. Along with every female member of the village Library League, Ellie Haskell has developed a veritable obsession with novels of the romance variety. The steamier, the better. But tragedy strikes when Miss Bunch the librarian is found dead between the non-fiction stacks. Then the local milkman collapses in broad daylight.

What is it about her that attracts disaster? Lady Cecily Garrity is starting to believe that she is cursed. Left devastated after her husband's sudden death, she has made one wrong choice after another. And now her little farm—and her sanity—are falling to pieces.

Amidst the turmoil of Civil War era New York, a young, immigrant woman seeks to escape a life of prostitution so that she may rescue a child from a terrible fate. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Cast adrift in an unfamiliar city, a young Irish immigrant named Molly finds herself forced into prostitution and has a child stolen out of her arms. With the city descending into the chaos of the Draft Riots, Molly must save herself before she can save the child.

Georgiana Milford may be a wealthy heiress without title, but even she has her limits. It's vexing enough to be courted by every fortune-hunting noble during the Season—goodness, you'd think she was hiding a gold mine beneath her skirts! But this is not to be condoned. Because during a merry two-week party at a lord's country home, she's forced to endure her father's greatest enemy and the most wretched duke in all of England: the Duke of Despots.

Daniela Rames cares nothing for the haute-ton or their rules of decorum. When she is unexpectedly torn from the life and home she knew, she throws caution to the wind and follows her dream of working with horses . . . by disguising herself as a boy and becoming a racetrack rider. Eric Weathers, Earl of Fordham, needs his new racing ventures to be successful in order to save his crumbling estate. But when he discovers his talented new rider is actually a brazen young woman in disguise, their quarrel ends with a passionate kiss . . . and marks the beginning of a scandalous liaison.

Jessica returns home one day to find her husband, Patrick, dead. It's unclear what caused his death and though the shock is huge, she cannot pretend it's entirely unexpected. The police have questions, and Jessica knows that once they hear the answers her fate may well be sealed. Eight years ago, Jessica was living another life.

Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Alvaria joins her father the King for an illustrious visit to Royal Ascot hoping for just two things—a break from the strictures of the royal court and a bit of adventure. Samuel Thorne has made a career of uncovering the dark underside of London's haute ton. He enjoys subverting the society that burned him so badly. But Alexandra is from a whole other world—and when she enters his, she immediately turns it upside down. But the very investigation that brings two lovers together may also be the one that tears them apart.