Showing results by narrator "Deborah Balm" in All Categories

After escaping to the garden for a reprieve from the stuffy ballroom, Miss Evelyn Trainor bumps into a handsome stranger through a hedge. When he boldly requests an introduction, she lies and tells him a fake name, Lady Eve, positive she’ll never see him again. But when she returns to the country for Christmas and finds her handsome stranger—the Duke of Alverton—has moved in next door for the holidays, she does what she must to guard her secret. For he has declared the importance of titles and cannot find out she is a commoner.

Only in an insane world would a young wizard find herself battling monsters and automatons one day and returning to Convocation Academy to cram for finals the next. But this is the world Alise Phel lives in. Like it or not, Alise must face the consequences of ditching out a second time and dealing with the crushing workload assigned to her as a punishment. Worse yet, succeeding at the Academy means Alise must learn to master her powerful and unusual magic—the same magic that caused her to accidentally murder her own mother.

Sowena’s life changes forever when she is forced from her home chased by soldiers and dogs. Her birth mother’s coven, that she never knew existed will reveal her mother’s sordid past and her own magik gifts. She will join a lifelong sisterhood and learn the truth of her lineage as well as how to hone her magik. Amid the chaos of war, fear of capture, and struggle to learn her magik spells, Sowena will experience something she didn't expect, the confusion of first love. The witches need to join forces with other magik allies, some of whom are not thrilled to be working with them.

Soldark. A city where stories are written, destinies ignited. Caz Coppersdown wants nothing to do but stay in Soldark and get a job as a journalist. But when her parents ship her off to her aunt’s country estate, she fears she won’t find anything newsworthy to write about. Until she realizes this small town is harboring a few surprises: Her aunt isn’t the fussy old lady Caz thought she was. The local air show is hiding a catastrophic secret. And soon fingers are being pointed at innocent people. Caz has found her story. But can she solve the mystery behind it?

Aurelia Sundon has always wanted to join the Inventor’s Union, and now she has her chance: the prestigious union will accept submissions on Christmas Day—the only problem is, that’s four days away. She thinks she’ll have her invention ready in time to present. Except Aurelia’s old love and current rival Frederick shows off his entry: an incredible clockwork creation that creates snow. And then, of course, Frederick’s invention goes out of control.

Award-winning youth activist Katie Hodgetts founded The Resilience Project after a period of burnout from climate activism. In this book she empowers young adults to navigate a changing world by building up resilience through rest, community, connection, and celebration. Drawing on her own...

Vivacious Vivienne has finally won her family's approval by getting engaged to the wealthy and upright John Vandergrift. But when threatened by a vicious blackmail scheme, it is to her childhood friend that Vivienne turns; the deliciously wicked Viscount Dashiell. Lord Dashiell promised himself long ago that his friendship with Vivienne would be the one relationship with a woman that he wouldn't ruin. He agrees to help her just to keep the little hothead safe, but soon finds that Vivienne has grown up to be very, very dangerous to all of Dash's best intentions.

Waking in paradise with no memory of who she is, can Agent Harris piece together the true picture and retrieve her skills before it’s the last thing she ever sees?

It’s 745. The kingdom is split between the two eldest sons of Charles Martel. Carloman, the oldest, has the support of the king and the church, while Pippin refuses to bend the knee. Civil war is imminent.

After a grueling training exercise in the Scottish mountains, Agent Carrie Harris is called to a place hidden from all civilization. Ill-prepared and under-equipped, she discovers a secret world filled with gruesome evidence of events she can’t comprehend.

Moli has never seen a dragon, but she'd imagined one many times. Following the death of her father, a museum curator and historian, her need to escape from the real world has never felt so acute. Travelling from China to London to attend the funeral, Moli takes the opportunity to visit her father's last exhibition, "The Lost Dynasty of Rouran". The trip reveals Moli's connection to an ancient khanate and, unexpectedly, opens the door to another realm.

With the help of her niece, Moli, and two strangers, James and Kiza, the group must travel through time to collect nine wonders from history in just nine days. Only then can they hope to save the world from Pandorai, a murderous AI bent on destruction, along with its two maniacal henchmen-resurrected Adolf Hitler and Dr. Shiro Ishii.

Based on a true story, this is the tale of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard’s fight to take her rightful place in the competitive art world of 18th-century Paris. With a beautiful rival who’s better connected and better trained than she is, Adélaïde faces an uphill battle. Her love affair with her young instructor in oil painting gives rise to suspicions that he touches up her work, and her decision to make much-needed money by executing erotic pastels threatens to create as many problems as it solves.

Devastated by the disappearance of his sister, the Earl of Stranraer has gone to extraordinary lengths to find the notorious rake responsible, and enters his household incognito to wreak his vengeance. But his enemy has an unexpected protector—the innocent but headstrong Miss Cassandra Blythe. Cassie is determined to learn the art of seduction. But she is blindsided by her body's thrilling response to the wrong man—a mysterious servant who shows up at the most inauspicious moments to spoil her lessons in love with warnings of her imminent ruin.

Determined to avoid the strife-filled marriage of his parents, Marcus, the Duke of Ulvercombe, wants an amenable, biddable wife, and has set his cap for a certain pretty miss. Unfortunately, her vastly opinionated, frustrating, and lamentably beautiful guardian, Lady Clara Tinniswood, keeps distracting him, tempting him to consider a far more tempestuous—and passionate—union. Recently widowed Lady Clara Tinniswood wants only to organize a quiet new life for herself, beyond the control of any man. But one shockingly unguarded moment catapults her headlong into a forbidden passion.

Lewis Milken is a dying man who has one last wish: to find out what happened to his sister nearly 40 years ago. Emma Milken supposedly died of tuberculosis while working as a governess in Spain. But Lewis believes there is more to the story. Part-time fixer Chance Yang has troubles of his own. His relationship with girlfriend Catherine Roxborough is on the rocks. But when his flamboyant former boss, Felipe Kazama, sends Lewis his way, Chance heads straight from London to Spain to search for the answers Lewis seeks.

Nikolas Whitworth is handsome, charming. And a traitor. He can outwit and out-con any Englishman - and any Englishwoman. When his debts are called in, a savior appears, the criminal mastermind known only as the Tailor. Nikolas is bought and sold; his future, no longer his. But when a beguiling thief picks his pocket, Rosalyn Devereaux steals more than his coin. The Tailor notices her skills, and demands Rosalyn enlist in his cause. With every moment beside Rosalyn, Nikolas changes from a life of lies, to a man with conviction.

An apparent suicide and an apparent case of stalking bring two very different investigators together. This isn't an ordinary day's work for them, especially when personal feelings start to emerge. And the deeper their investigations go, the harder it gets to uncover the truth. From London to Shanghai, this thrilling and surprising mystery will take you on a journey that keeps you guessing until the very end.

Glynis Solomon came from a long line of angry, broken females. She had fought every day of her young life, to survive the regular outbursts of her violent, alcoholic mother. Barely coping psychologically, she was dragged through the social care system, confused and afraid as her silent rage simmered. She kept herself tightly, like a coiled spring, observing all around her but never speaking. At the age of 10, she was put into long-term foster care with Billy and Jessica Coleman.

With her guiding hand, Lady Ada turns the mundane into the magnificent, lumps of charcoal into beautiful sketches — and second-hand clothes into gorgeous gowns. Only her debilitating stutter is beyond reach. When her cruel brother is accused of treason, he threatens her — she must help him, or be thrown into an asylum, claiming her stutter as evidence of an unsound mind.