Showing results by narrator "Helen Stern" in All Categories

Madelaine Alexander is on a mission. When her boss sends her to the hottest nightclub in town to meet with the owner, she won't be deterred, even if that means standing in line for 58 minutes in torturous heels while she'd rather be home in her pj's with a bowl of popcorn.

It is the eve of the Longest Night. Eliza Baker and the rest of Lord Jayden's servants excitedly prepare for the lavish festival as their masters enjoy a head start on the debauchery that awaits. Eliza's madly in love with Kell, a sweet, deliciously sexy guard. Kell returns her feelings, but is striving to make himself a worthy man before he asks Eliza's father for permission to court her. To keep the Demon of Winter at bay, an offering must be made during the festival.

Victoria's work with automatons has gained her renown and changed the face of London. But her concern that the clockworks are taking too many jobs away from humans, creating social unrest, is ignored. Given the ugly mood of the underclass, she fears more outbreaks of violence similar to the murder spree of the notorious Southwark Slasher.

On Solstice Eve long ago, a Druid priestess and Norse warrior succumb to forbidden, erotic desire. Their passion is one that neither death, decree - nor time - can tear asunder. Now three women of later centuries begin their own sensual journeys, awakened by the ancient power of the priestess's words: "Burn bright of winter's desire."

This is the story of Esther Simpson, a remarkable woman history has largely forgotten, but whose selfless actions left an indelible mark on the cultural and intellectual landscape of the modern world. Forgoing marriage, family, even, it seems, a private life, she committed her whole life resettling academic refugees before, during and after World War Two. She thought of these refugees as her family and by the end of her life could count among her 'children'.

Wretched be the woman of wealth and fortune who fails to produce a suitable heir....And wretched is what Duchess Camille feels living with the cruel and debauched duke. But that soon turns to desperation when she learns her lecherous husband is plotting to have her killed to make way for a more nubile and fertile companion. Knowing she cannot sit idly by and wait for death, she flees into the night, taking with her her own young lover - the stable hand Henri - and her most loyal servants.

"There I was, retired from time pirating, enjoying a full if somewhat conventional life as a wife and mother. Then a chance encounter with a stranger drew me back into a world I'd thought I'd left, quite literally, in the past. From his odd behavior and even odder answers to my questions, I knew Phineas Grubb was up to something. I should have trusted my instincts—before he pulled out a time-travel mechanism and dragged my brother, Bacon, back with him...."

Mary Bennet - overlooked, laughed at, despised - married a missionary and vanished into a life of service out in Africa. But now Miriam, her daughter, is coming to England, disliking everything she has been told about her family. Her aunts and cousins are expecting someone quiet, dull and bookish, just like her mother, not the quick-tempered, impulsive girl who arrives. How can this adventurous girl with her desire for freedom possibly fit into their well ordered world? And what havoc will she cause as she tries?

They are his inspiration. He is their obsession. Icon, rebel, unabashed romantic… With a single look painter Thomas Rodin conveys the ecstasy of creativity—the pleasures awaiting the woman who can fuel his artistry.

. In the Cousins of Pemberley series we follow a new generation of heroines - cousins with lives as different and interesting as those enjoyed by their mothers. The Darcys have always worried about their daughter Jane. Gentle and delicate, she has been cosseted and protected from the world. But all the Darcy wealth and power cannot save Jane from heartbreak and betrayal. Can she find a courage no one believes she has? Can she break free from the golden cage that imprisons her?

Pirate captain Thayer Drake lures ships onto reefs for plunder, and business is lucrative. Yet, saving a lass from drowning after her ship wrecks becomes more than he bargained for when the crazy wench dives back into the raging sea for her blasted purse. Tavern songstress Gilly McCoy, penniless and fleeing from the man who murdered her lover, stowed away on the doomed ship. Now at Drake's mercy, Gilly must earn her passage by performing for the captain. And that is not all: she must also kiss the captain at every ring of the ship's bell....

"I'm a time pirate - born in 1810, now a 21st-century woman. I travel through time trying to right wrongs without disrupting the fragile balance between what is and what can never be. That's why it's vital that I go to 1836 and find the man who conned my brother out of his Time Travel Mechanism as quickly as possible. If the technology falls into the wrong hands, it could change the world as we know it."

To the rest of the ton, Lord and Lady Atwood seem to have the perfect marriage. They wed for love and their marriage bed doesn't lack for passion - but Imogen is haunted by the memory of her first marriage, while Charles harbors secret thoughts and desires he's been unable to confess to his wife. Then Charles's ex-lover Alexander arrives in town, throwing Charles into a tailspin - and awakening a surprising attraction in Imogen. Now, both have to face the possibility that they need more than each other.

Over twenty years of marriage to Max, Prue has remained a busy, contented mother and stepmother. Now, Prue's stepdaughter, Violet, has returned with her new husband from New York and, suddenly, Prue is precipitated into a secret life. As she moves between a sleepy village in Hampshire and buzzing London, Prue finds herself crossing the boundary between innocence and knowledge, exploring the line between the gluttony and surrender of desire and facing the stark realities that result.

Catherine Collins, a very ordinary young woman - plain, quiet, often overlooked but possessing a reputation for having great common sense. Or so her distant cousin Elizabeth Darcy believes when she recommends her as governess for little Matilda Courtney. Catherine travels to Northumberland, full of good intentions to do her best and be a credit to the family. But appearances and reputations can be deceptive, and Robert and Martin Courtney will soon learn exactly what type of girl Elizabeth has sent them.

The hectic world we live in demands so much of you, it can be exhausting to keep up. You crave spa days and holidays to recharge but, while they offer short-term respite, they don’t give you the long-term rejuvenation you really need. To achieve complete rest, we need to develop eight different rest habits. Packed with simple activities, backed by science and personal experiences, calmism takes a fresh look at the eight essential habits for rest and offers a menu of easy-fit options to give you the variety that’s key to wellbeing.

In the summer of 1889, a young man sits painting a line of elms in Kensington Gardens. One day, he glimpses a mother at play with her two daughters and decides to include them in his picture. From that moment, he is haunted by dreams that seem to foreshadow his doom. A century later, in Kentish Town, a painter and her grown-up daughters receive news of an ancestor linking them to the long-vanished double portrait of Molly & the Captain. Meanwhile friendship with a young musician stirs unexpected passions and threatens to tear the family apart.

Politicians from all sides compete to convince us they can fix our immigration “problem”, but all the solutions on offer look remarkably similar. Apparently, if we want less inequality at home, we need less immigration from abroad. But what if this assumption is wrong? What if the drive to restrict migration isn’t reducing poverty here, but creating a migration system that is actually exacerbating local inequality? In The Huddled Masses, migration researcher Katy Long shows why we need to rethink the relationship.

Wild, hot, addictive sex…. After seeing one too many patients die regretting the things they haven’t done, nurse Lucy Seymour realizes she’s been making the same mistake. So when Robbie, the sexy golf instructor, makes his move, she responds with uninhibited passion, telling him there’s nothing she won’t try. Long sessions of foreplay lead to thrills and fantasy fulfillment…until Lucy sees Daniel, the greenkeeper, watching them.

Tova Friedman was just five years old when she and her mother were sent to a Nazi labour camp. She was six when she was transported to Auschwitz. At twelve she was on her way to America, ready to start a new life and tell her tale of survival. From the destruction of the Jewish ghetto in Central Poland where she lived as a young girl, to the dark days of the camps and eventual liberation by Russian forces in 1945, Tova's story is one of incredible courage, resilience, bravery and the enduring power of hope.