Showing results by narrator "Esther Wane" in All Categories

When Jess Tidy was Mark Winter's student, she made a shocking accusation. Mark maintained his innocence, but the damage was done. Karen Winter stood by her husband through everything, determined to protect her family. Now, 10 years later, Jess is back. And the truth about that night is finally going to come out....

Mary Ryan leaves the orphanage and heartbreak behind and follows her friend Katie to Clover Springs to become a mail order bride. She's nervous, but reminds herself that Davy Sullivan must be a nice man or Katie wouldn't have recommended him.

Alicia Carstairs had it all—or so she thought. Financially secure, well brought up, engaged to a prominent young man. So why was she on a train headed west in the hopes of securing a position as a governess? Aaron Higgins thought he was happy until all his friends, his brother, and now Little Beaver, too, were married and having children. He wrote to Mrs. Gantley, asking for a bride. Miss Carstairs ends up in Clover Springs, offending everyone—most of all, Aaron.

Princess Sophia has helped her twin sister Lily save the duchy of Marin. But now Sophie faces an even greater threat when she sets out to free the cursed kingdom of Palinar from its beastly prince. Alone, and with danger on every side, Sophie must navigate a magical castle and its even more mysterious master to discover the secret to breaking the curse. Except the more time she spends with Prince Dominic, the more she starts to question who exactly she's supposed to be saving. 

Charlotte has always longed to be accepted by her older sisters. She would gladly exchange her vaunted beauty for their friendship. But they ask a far higher price. Pushed into marriage with a stranger, Charlotte is left betrayed and alone. All she knows of her new husband is that he has secrets—and that her heart beats a little faster whenever he calls her Lottie.

Eighteen-year-old Sorcha Matthews's happy future is shattered when her soul mate, Luke, is tragically killed before she even gets to unite with him in Clover Springs. She flees Boston rather than face a life filled with horrific abuse. Widower Brian Peterson needs a wife to look after his two daughters. He isn't interested in romance but no self-respecting woman will live on his homestead without a ring on her finger. Sorcha needs a husband, Brian needs a wife. Is this a match made in heaven? Or is Socha jumping from the frying pan into the fire?

1586, London: Covert espionage agent Kit Scarlett is once again tasked with defending Queen Elizabeth against an assassination attempt. With the attacks on the queen's life mounting, Kit and spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham know they need to find a firm link between these deadly plots and Mary Queen of Scots. But Kit is also keen to investigate a more personal matter. Her espionage partner, Iohmar Blackwood, did not return from his last mission set by Walsingham and has not been seen for a year.

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, “The Stranger”, left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the story lines of her favorite literature.

This collection investigates the origins of our most intriguing old-fashioned superstitions, many of which we still find ourselves abiding by today. Hundreds of the beliefs passed down through the generations have their foundations in our ancestors' efforts to ward off evil, which they blamed for hardship, illness, and injustice in times when life was, as often as not, "nasty, brutish and short."

When Princess Liliana and her twin sister set sail for new lands, Lily hopes to find adventure and romance. But the people of Marin live under the shadow of a curse-one powerful enough to destroy entire kingdoms. To protect them all, Lily and 11 other princesses are forced to participate in a mysterious and secret tournament. Lily spends her nights competing in a magical underground realm and her days unraveling the dangers of this new court. Although she needs the help of the Marinese prince, Lily knows she can't let herself grow too close to him.

When Juliet Carlisle returns home to her family's gorgeous, crumbling manor house in the English countryside, she doesn't expect to stay long. But she's intrigued by the new cookery school being launched on the grounds… that is until she meets the guy who's been hired to run it. Though undeniably handsome, disgraced celebrity chef Léo Brodeur immediately strikes Juliet as bossy and rude. Juliet has enough troubles in her life without adding a snooty French chef to the mix.

A family holiday to the seaside takes a dramatic turn when Lady Ottilia Fanshawe's young son Luke accidentally stumbles on a body in a cave. Lady Fan and her husband Francis quickly rush to the scene and find the corpse bound and blindfolded with a bullet hole in his head. It appears the man was executed, and with smugglers well-known to operate in the area, the local sergeant suggests it was a quarrel amongst the reprobates.

She married for duty. She smuggles for freedom. Lady Arabella has a secret. Posing as Captain Ara—a fearless smuggling captain, running contraband along the wild Yorkshire coast, her heroic exploits at sea have earned her the respect of her crew and other captains alike. But when she accepts...

Like any mother, Chrissie wants to protect her family. She would do anything to keep them safe. So when a mysterious stranger turns up at her door, offering to prevent the deaths of the people she loves, it sounds too good to be true. The only problem: she must choose someone to die in their place. A substitute. When her daughter Holly has a terrible accident, Chrissie has no option but to enter the programme. In that horrifying moment, she would do anything to save her.

Only fourteen, Stella Infuriati is the youngest member of her town's resistance network during World War II. Risking imprisonment and death, she relays messages, supplies, and weapons to partisan groups in the Tuscan Hills. Her parents have no idea, consumed instead by love and fear for their beloved son, Achille, a courier and unofficial mechanic for a communist brigade fighting the fascists.

Earth is nothing like Romy expected. A disappointing fact made clear far too many times. Over the last year and a half, her world has shattered again and again, along with her sanity, and now Knot 27 is split in two with no sign of reconciliation. There is no end in sight. When the leader of their rebel movement steps down, the man Romy loves takes over the role of commander-general. They are outnumbered. They are outgunned. Not only are the Mandate Membersas deprived of humanity as ever, butanother lethal player has taken the field.

The residents of an apartment block in Central Krakow are trapped in their own building. All windows and doors are sealed, phone lines are down and the internet is off. Seven people, cut off from the world. It quickly turns out that they are participating in a strange game played by the mysterious ‘THEY’. Suspicions are cast, and conflicts break out. Paranoia thickens. Until finally, blood is shed.

The perfect spy needs the perfect cover story. Love wasn't part of the plan. Lady Alexis knows only the pampered life of a debutant. That soon changes when she is forced to run away. Accidentally boarding the wrong ship, she is stranded in the French smuggling port of Gravelines. She naively...

Upon a Starlit Tide is a dark and enchanting historical fantasy combining elements of "The Little Mermaid" and "Cinderella" into a wholly original tale of love, power, and betrayal. *The hardcover edition features beautiful custom endpapers.* Saint-Malo, Brittany, 1758. To Lucinde Leon, the...

Isla may be a mermaid princess, but she's never felt at home in her undersea kingdom. Instead she dreams of the day her people can return to the surface - and the boy whose life she once saved. But while Isla foresees danger for her people beneath the ocean, she has no concept of the dark forces working to keep her people submerged. When an impetuous vow sets her on the course of the truth, Isla discovers that shadowy foes beset the kingdoms of both land and sea.