Showing results by narrator "Madeleine Brolly" in All Categories

Rosanna Leigh must find a husband. For her sake, she wants a happy marriage and a quiet life, but her parents demand a gentleman of consequence. Preferably a nobleman. At the very least, a wealthy heir. Certainly not a dashing servant with a smile that makes Rosanna’s heart skip a beat. And despite her better judgment, she finds herself drawn to him…

Six years ago, tragedy tore Eloise and Patrick apart. Shouldering the burden of his brother’s death, he spent years drinking himself into oblivion. Now freed from that darkness, Patrick Lennox returns to reclaim the heart of the young lady he left behind. Eloise Andrews has enough troubles in her life without Patrick stirring things up. Her mother is a heartless beast who controls every aspect of her life, and Eloise is determined to break free of her - even if it means destroying the perfect reputation her mother is desperate to save.

Charity Baxter is trapped in a cage of her own making. After being the tyrant of society for years, she fell from grace—and fell hard. Now, she is overlooked at the best of times and openly despised at the worst of it. Though troubles have a way of changing a person for the better, no matter how she tries to repair her reputation, no one is willing to believe her change of heart. And matters are only made worse when an irritating naval officer appears in town, determined to pester her. Odious man! Why can he not leave her be?

She is a girl three inches tall with eyes like drops of dew. Her clothes are cut from handkerchiefs and stitched with spider silk. For half of her life, she has been trapped in a birdcage while her giant kidnapper sits beside her, writing a leather-bound book the size of a house. Her name is Lily, and tonight she is escaping. She is going home. To Lilliput. Inspired by Gulliver’s Travels, Lilliput is an exhilarating adventure filled with cunning escape plans, evil clockmakers and very talkative parrots.

Collected by the author, these stories from the yoga and Zen traditions are the flint and steel that strike a spark that lights up the mind with insights that one should ponder to bring to light ever deeper meaning. They may be similar in intent to Zen koans - but they are rather different in content. In many Zen koans, someone says or does something extraordinarily inappropriate, which catches your attention just because it's extraordinary - but afterwards the light from them has to be applied to daily life.

Sadie Vaughn has long admired Howard Gibson, but after his fiancée jilts him at the altar, she refuses to be his consolation prize. But his mother has other ideas. Convinced that Sadie is the perfect wife for her son, she’s determined to push them together by any means necessary—whether they like it or not. Howard may be a fool, but Walter Reed is not. Sadie is and always will be his first choice, but his debilitating shyness makes him seem more dour grump than lovesick beau, dooming their courtship before it even starts. And his mother is done waiting.

The oldest bonds are the hardest severed. When Fabio’s aunt Lucretia flexes her match-making muscles, he seeks escape from a marriage to shy, bored Adriane. Luckily, his friend Petros needs help investigating a possible rebellion in Vademlutra. All Fabio has to do is pretend to be poor and keep his wits about him. Certain there’s nothing to investigate, Fabio settles down for a week in the tavern until a lost young woman in the woods captivates him. Where is she from and why is she so keen to die?

A widower ought to mourn his wife, yet Hamilton Baxter feels only relief after her passing. After enduring thirty years in a miserable marriage, he is finally free to spend his days hidden in a library. But when his son begs for his help distracting his sweetheart’s diligent chaperone, Baxter can’t help but agree—only to discover that the spinster aunt is too appealing for his good.

Everyone in town knows Nancy Jones. She loves her cats. She loves her tumbledown house by the sea. She loves her job in the local school where she tries to help the children who need help the most. Nancy tries hard not to think about her past loves and where those led her.... Nancy never shares her secrets - because some doors are better kept locked. But one day she accepts a cat-sitting request from a local woman, and at the woman’s house Nancy sees a photograph in a bright-red frame. A photograph that opens the door to her painful past....

Marcus isn’t an ordinary 13-year-old. He’s a half vampire, with incredible special powers. And together with his friends, Tallulah and Gracie, he hunts and fights a totally evil enemy: the deadly vampires, who are out to destroy all humans and half vampires. But something strange has happened to Marcus. He’s lost his memory and can’t remember anything about his previous life as a vampire hunter. Tallulah and Gracie are seriously worried.

1941. Hitler unleashes Operation Barbarossa, taking the German forces to the outskirts of Moscow. Fearful of Lenin’s mausoleum falling into enemy hands, Stalin orders Lenin to be moved a 1,000 miles behind the Urals. Caught up the web of intrigue is beautiful Allied spy Eva Molenaar. She uncovers a plot involving a Hollywood mogul, Hitler’s propaganda machine, and a Nazi spy ring to bring Lenin’s body out of Russia for a propaganda coup.

Rosie Lee's owner, Abby, is a woman without a plan...and her beloved little cafe is a business with a serious lack of customers. The Rosie Lee's fry-up is legendary, but cooked breakfasts alone - however perfectly sizzled the bacon - aren't going to pay the bills. Fast approaching 40 and fighting a serious case of empty nest syndrome, Abby realises it's not just her menu that needs a makeover. And when Jack Chance, her 'The One That Got Away', saunters through the cafe doors and back into her life things definitely look set to change....

Evelyn Finch has given up on love. Finding a man to dance with her was difficult enough; finding one to spend his life with her was impossible. Better to embrace spinsterhood and rid herself of that false hope. No man will see her in a romantic light. But when a dashing gentleman sweeps into her life, reigniting her dreams, Evelyn can’t help but wonder if her greatest wish will finally come true.

Seven years ago, Lady Lydia Whiting married for the good of her parents, and widowhood was supposed to mark the beginning of her freedom. But when her husband spurns her from beyond the grave and cuts her from his will, her parents are determined to force her into another wretched marriage of convenience. Fleeing is the only option. Robert Bradshaw has a good, quiet life. Work and his daughter are all he needs, even if others think he ought to remarry. Why should he? His beloved wife was an angel among men, and no other could compare—especially a young widow who is more mouse than woman.

Benjamin Leigh is at a crossroads. Having reached his majority, his parents expect him to do his duty and break the entail that keeps them from selling off bits of the family’s estate. Doing so would destroy his family’s legacy, but to deny his parents would bring their wrath down upon his head.

Between keeping his father from bankrupting their mill and managing his mother’s and sisters’ fretting, David Archer has enough on his plate, thank you very much. Love and marriage never crossed his mind. But when a chance encounter at a masquerade throws the perfect lady in his path, David knows he’s found the woman of his dreams. No other will do.

Irish Luck, Chinese Medicine is about improbable allies: an Irish single mother and a Chinese physician. Set against the backdrop of the Catholic Church in 19th Century America, it’s the story of how entrepreneurship and strength become a gateway for family survival despite injustice, tragedy, and ill-fated love. Follow the journey of a woman finding her strength as she rescues her sons from child labor and saves her family’s inheritance, only to risk everything for the man she loves.

Natasha is a woman with a problem. The party lifestyle that she enjoyed with her partner, Helen, is about to come crashing to an abrupt end. While she battles with her addiction, she meets the charismatic Caroline who has the way of life that she yearns for. As Helen resists all change, Natasha searches for the bridge to a better life and finds herself facing hard choices.

Courageous or foolish? Marian Wakefield hadn’t thought herself either, but when she confessed her love to her closest friend, Marian discovered she had a hearty helping of both. And a broken heart to boot. No man shall ever secure her affection as he had, but with spinsterhood looming, her father gives her a choice—find herself a husband or he will do it for her. Must Marian settle for a marriage of convenience? Why does fate hate her so?

When Silas Byrnes married, he wasn’t expecting a happy ending for him and his wife. Theirs was a union of duty and not love, but fourteen years of marriage had been a misery for them both. Luckily the navy rarely allowed him time ashore. Now widowed, Silas has no choice but to return to a house that doesn’t feel like home and reclaim his children, who are determined to hate him as their mother did.