Showing results by narrator "Rachael Beresford" in All Categories

Roach would rather be listening to the latest episode of her favorite true crime podcast than assisting the boring and predictable customers at her local branch of the bookstore Spines, where she's worked her entire adult life. A serious true crime junkie, Roach looks down her nose at the pumpkin-spice-latte-drinking casual fans who only became interested in the genre once it got trendy. But when Laura, a pretty and charismatic children's bookseller, arrives to help rejuvenate the struggling bookstore branch, Roach recognizes in her an unexpected kindred spirit.

Jael Hawkins is a troublesome girl. Everyone says so. When yet another relative tires of her, she is banished to Moon Hollow with the family's other black sheep. There, her aunt and uncle make her feel welcome for the first time, and she meets the intriguing Sebastian Westwood, in whom she senses a kindred spirit. But something is not right at Moon Hollow. Wails echo in the corridors at night, and a ghostly figure roams the riverbank in the moonlight.

From the very moment Agnes Watkins walked into his life, Fletcher Banks, Earl of Wakefield, has wanted her. Agnes is not just beautiful, she's clever and determined. Despite her uncommon beauty, she refuses to conform to society's standards. She's also the sister of the man who holds Fletcher's career as a spy in his hands. And that makes her completely off-limits.

Harriet Wheatley is the mastermind behind the Ladies of Virtue's quest to rehabilitate the gentlemen of the ton. So when it comes to selecting her own target, she knows who to choose: Oliver Weeks, Marquess of Davenport—the most extravagant wastrel in all of London. Known for his opulent lifestyle, Oliver isn't surprised by Harriet's confrontation. It's obvious Harriet longs for any way to take him down a notch. She says she'll help him find a bride, but he knows it's only because it gives her the excuse to chastise his indulgent ways.

Born into a kingdom where power is outlawed, Penny has little reason to love her magic. She barely remembers her mother, and even her father dies unaware of her abilities. Now, magic or not, Penny is powerless to escape the bitter tangle of competition her stepmother has created between her and her stepsisters. And a series of chance encounters with the crown prince only adds to her troubles. The last thing she needs is to attract the notice of the very royals who have turned her existence into a crime.

Unlike everyone around her, Princess Azalea has never been especially troubled by the curse placed on her at her christening. But, as her sixteenth birthday approaches, even Ben—usually her only sanctuary from her well-meaning protectors—starts to worry. Not to mention he begins acting strangely about the betrothal that's bound them since childhood. Being forced to marry her best friend has always seemed like a far bigger problem than a mere curse—until the unthinkable happens.

Galanta is only one step away from successfully releasing Santanas. The faeries must either stop her or hope that their allies stand strong in the coming storm. While they seek her out, they are forced to cement old allegiances and create new ones. With this in mind, Orion offers himself as a groom to the treacherous night faeries, asking only that Aethan go in his stead to choose his bride. Meanwhile, Galanta's spell means that while Izzy now remembers Aethan, he has no memory of her.

It's been thirteen years since the Dark Years ended. Thirteen years since the mad War Faery responsible was imprisoned in stone. Now, with goblin attacks on the rise, it seems Galanta, the Goblin Queen, is intent on returning the land to chaos and terror. Isadora Scrumpleton is trying not to think about the Dark Years. She's just been chosen by her "familiar", found out she's half faery, and discovered she's dating the second-in-line to the Faery Throne. That's enough for one teenage witch to handle. But when goblins attack her village, Izzy is forced into action....

In a world of honor and obligation, falling in love can be a dangerous game. Jane Dawson would pay any price to renew her family’s happiness, but is the cost of marrying Lord Litchfield too high? A woman of virtue and honor, she cannot break a promise once given, especially when doing so would ruin those she seeks to protect. But can she ignore the connection she feels to the wild soldier who understands both her duty and her heart?

A lady seeking forgiveness for her past, Lady Viola Haversham is determined to put her past where it belongs. A woman forging a new path in life, Mrs. Ruby Jakeston is tired of others taking care of her. A girl lost and in search of a place to belong, Lady Ellington is on the brink of losing the only home she's ever known. A trio of women holding out hope for three different holiday miracles: Christmas ever more.

I watch him watching us, imagining how he would take me. I send him the message with my eyes. This is who I am. I am Veronica Franco. I am a COURTESAN. I court the cultural elite for fame and fortune, giving my body to many. And I'm good. So very good. After all, I was taught by my mother, and mother always knows best. How else to please the future King of France than with the imaginative use of Murano glass? How else to fulfill the desires of all yet keep my sense of self-worth?

While the elusive Secret Symphony of Giovanni St. John captivated the world's fascination, it left his daughter closed away in the Silent House; she, the one who holds the fullness of truth about the ninth symphony. Now Aria St. John is determined to not only break free of the loss that has defined her, but to honor her father through one final gift in his last days.

This magical fantastical story is about a house for sale which, when cleared, reveals cracks in the walls and ground floor which cannot be explained. We find that underneath the house is a lake inhabited by a sea dragon, Zadie, and her friends and slaves. She has a Tall Ship, and she yearns to return to warmer times and Utopia. Her slaves are "fish people" who have to live partly in the water below and partly in the house, which they enter via the cracks.

The veil is sealed for 30 days and Izzy is looking for distractions to help her forget about Aethan. When a strange dragon and rider appear in Eynsford, Izzy and Isla travel with Emerald to another world. There, they discover the mystical city of Millenia; home to to a band of renegade dark faeries, Ubanty, and dragons. Unable to return, Izzy is forced to battle pirates, assassins, and the advances of the devastatingly handsome Turos. But at home, the shadow of war is marching across the land. Santanas is back and gathering an army, and Izzy is needed.

While fleeing an arranged betrothal to a heartless lord, Lady Isabelle becomes injured and lost. Rescued by a young peasant man, she hides her identity as a noblewoman for fear of reprisal from the peasants who are bitter and angry toward the nobility. Cole Warwick cannot turn his back on a person in need and soon finds himself falling for Izzy, the gentle and beautiful runaway who is mending in his cottage. As the leader of an imminent uprising against the nobility, he tries to resist his growing feelings for Izzy.

Cinderella stories captured the imagination of girls in the 1950s, when dreams of meeting the right man could seem like a happy ending, a solution to life's problems. But over the next 50 years women's lives were transformed, not by the magic wand of a fairy godmother, nor by marrying princes, but by education, work, birth control - and feminism.

They thought she died the day the crown was stolen. Now she's been reborn with revenge coursing through her veins and fire in her heart. Hidden away in Báscogar prison, Princess Maeve Moran has buried her past and her very identity to seek revenge against the ones that took everything from her...

Ember's defiance has always been a frustration to the rest of her island community. But even she didn't expect to be selected as the next sacrifice, years before another is due. She can't help but wonder if it relates to the strange new ability that's just begun to stir within her. She doesn't intend to go down without a fight—in fact, the chance to confront the monster demanding sacrifices is a more welcome path than the marriage her parents had arranged to a local farmer.

After over forty years of interpreting birth charts, astrologer Andrea Taylor has made a revolutionary discovery: your rising sign represents more than how you appear to the outside world-it is tied to your most recent past life. This book explores each rising sign, its significance in your natal chart, and how it's connected to the south node, which is a common past-life marker.

Nonetheless, Augusta cannot refuse a plea for help when one of her society friends believes her life is in peril. To investigate a murder attempt, Augusta must set aside thoughts of her increasingly sinister tenant, Mr. Hawksworth, and the arrival of the troublingly handsome anatomist, Adam Seagrave. She must forget about the mysterious intruder who keeps trying to break into her house, and above all, she must banish thoughts of the dead body in her late father's locked study.