Showing results by narrator "Lucy Rayner" in All Categories

Angus Stuart is more used to managing boardrooms than castles, but when his father dies he finds himself thrust into an unfamiliar world. Returning home, he intends to sell the estate as quickly as possible. However, with Christmas around the corner, fate has other plans…Showing up on his doorstep, Australian chef Holly McIntosh is bursting with festive cheer. But she's desperate for a job, and she's not taking no for an answer! Not usually one for taking a risk, Angus offers her a temporary position. But if anyone can melt this brooding Earl's heart this winter, it's Holly!

How well do you really know your Facebook friends? My husband loves me. I love him. But, a secret is eating us alive. It's not the one I keep from him. It's not the one he couldn't keep from me. And, someone knows everything. A stranger. A stalker. An online nightmare. I've got mail.

In 1914, despite the clouds of war threatening Europe, Pearl Gibson's future is bright. She has secured a position as a lady's maid to a wealthy Northumberland aristocrat, a job that will win her not only respect but an opportunity to travel and live in luxury. Her new life at Lady Ottoline Campbell's Scottish summer estate is a whirlwind of intrigue and glamour, scandals and confidences - and surprisingly, a strange but intimate friendship with her employer. But when violence erupts in Europe, Pearl and Ottoline's world is irrevocably changed.

Harmony is tired. Tired of working so hard, tired of the way she looks, tired of being average. But all that changes when she decides to splash out and upgrade her nanos. And why not? Everyone's doing it now. With a simple in-app purchase, you can update the tech in your bloodstream to transform yourself - get enhanced brain power, the perfect body or a dazzling smile.

Cinderella's powers will destroy the Kingdom of Fantasia, and the only one who can save the kingdom is her "wicked" stepmother. Lady Angelique puts her second husband to rest, then tries to do right by her step-daughter Eleonore, but when Eleonore's mystical abilities put Angelique's own daughters' lives at risk, she makes the difficult decision to lock the girl in the tower to keep the family safe.

Carolyn’s parents did not, after all, make genomics history by synthesizing her genome in a lab. She has known she is the “Human Hoax” ever since a high school genetics exercise revealed she has trisomy X - a chromosomal abnormality - yet no synthetically constructed genome would have such clear traces of natural conception. Many years later, as a molecular biologist, Carolyn hopes her colleagues never learn of her embarrassing origins. But when someone ransacks her office and lab, she finds professional embarrassment is the least of her worries.

Robert: Left on the steps of a church as a baby, Robert was often hungry but never stole food like the other orphans in town. Introverted and extraordinarily intelligent, he knew all the Latin prayers and hymns by heart by the time he was five years old. Georgette: Her own mother died in childbirth, leaving Georgette with a father who, seventeen at the time, had neither experience nor aptitude as a nurturing parent, and a brother known in town as Le Fuer - The Spitfire - for his terrible temper.

The kingdom knows their princess as Snow White, but the Queen Francesia, her stepmother, sees her for what she truly is, a monster. None other than the queen can see beyond the illusion of beauty. None see that she appears to be bone and ashes. No one else realizes that the child drinks blood and even kills. As the child grows, so does her thirst. Francesia knows she must stop Bone Ash, lest the princess devastate the entire realm. One will be the harbinger of the other's death, but who will survive?

Everyone knows that you don’t go into Ma Jessop’s woods. Everyone but new boy Josh. He’s not scared by spooky stories about a wild old witch who drinks human blood. To prove his point to Ella and her friends, Josh goes into the quarry at the heart of the woods and steals a souvenir. But suddenly, terrible things start to happen. Can Ella and Josh find a way to appease Ma Jessop before anyone gets really hurt? Or is the horror only just beginning...

Maleficent was a different sort of faerie. For one thing, she was raised by all the Fair Folk after her parents were killed. For another, she believed there had to be some good in everyone, even humans. Happy and spirited, Maleficent was beloved by all who knew her. That is, until she experienced the ultimate betrayal by a trusted friend. Enraged and embarking on a quest for vengeance, Maleficent must forge her own path in the world to make sense of it all. And while she learns to harness her great powers, the forces against her only grow stronger.

The lovely maiden meets her handsome prince in the woods. The story has been told many times and in many ways. Always the maiden finds out she is a princess - a princess who has been cursed by a dark fairy to prick her finger on a spindle and fall into an eternal sleep. And yet this is only half the story. So what of the dark fairy, Maleficent? Why does she curse the innocent princess? What led to her becoming so filled with malice, anger, and hatred? Many tales have tried to explain her motives. Here is one account, pulled down from the many passed down through the ages.

Ruling a kingdom is challenging under any circumstances. But Aurora - queen of Perceforest and queen of the Moors - is reigning under the weight of two crowns. Caught between the prejudices that divide her kingdom and eager to establish lasting peace, Aurora is determined to sign a treaty to unify the humans and the Fair Folk. But as spiky dark flowers grow fiercely around Perceforest’s borders and a stable boy mysteriously disappears, tensions between humans and faeries are at a dangerous high.

Ruling a kingdom is challenging under any circumstances. But Aurora - queen of Perceforest and queen of the Moors - is reigning under the weight of two crowns. Caught between the prejudices that divide her kingdom and eager to establish lasting peace, Aurora is determined to sign a treaty to unify the humans and the Fair Folk. But as spiky dark flowers grow fiercely around Perceforest’s borders and a stable boy mysteriously disappears, tensions between humans and faeries are at a dangerous high.

Zachariah and Rachel Wolff are brother and sister. Well, not exactly. They are star-crossed lovers. Well, not exactly. Rachel is the cherished daughter born to a Russian family living in London, and Zachariah is her parents' adopted son, who arrived from the orphanage with one jumper, a head of rambunctious curls, and a dexterous set of fists, or fives, as he likes to call them. As children, Rachel and Zach were as close as two people could be. But when they crossed this forbidden line, there was no going back.

After 10 long years, the earl of Devenham has returned to wed Mary Anstey, only to find that their feelings for each other have cooled off considerably. Nevertheless, they both put on bright faces for the benefit of family and friends. But Mary's younger sister, Emily, sees through their masquerade and would sacrifice anything rather than see her retiring sister married to the now-haughty earl.

A dark, breathless, beautifully written gothic thriller of murder, madness, and a mysterious island.... London, 1894: Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself - working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumours about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns her father is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations were true.

Back in London after her trip to Dr. Moreau's horrific island, Juliet is rebuilding the life she once knew and trying to forget her father's legacy. But soon it's clear that someone - or something - hasn't forgotten her, as people close to Juliet start falling victim to a murderer who leaves a macabre calling card of three clawlike slashes. Has one of her father's creations also escaped the island? As Juliet strives to stop a killer while searching for a serum to cure her own worsening illness, she finds herself once more in a world of scandal and danger.

Holly's family move to the old house so her dad can do his job: bulldozing the ancient trees to make way for a housing estate. But there's something haunting the old house. Something old, and angry, that doesn't want the trees cut down. Something alive....

Mo hates her new school and her new town. She has no friends and home life is awful. So when a nice-looking guy friends her on Facebook, she’s happy to accept. Darko’s messages keep her going while life just gets worse. Then he invites her to meet him. And Mo decides to take a risk....

Connie doesn’t stand a chance with Josh - not when he worships the wonderful Megan. Fed up, she writes a letter to the universe asking for Josh to fall in love with her, and for Megan’s hair to fall out. The next day, Megan’s hair is almost shaved off, and Josh is all over Connie like a rash. It’s like a miracle - except it’s totally unfair! Consumed with guilt, Connie has to put things right....