Showing results by narrator "Whitney Dykhouse" in All Categories

What more could you need than unrealistic romantic expectations from movies, and best friends to watch them with? There's always the funny, mouthy, less-than-perfect best friend in a rom-com, but the sidekick is never the one to get the love interest. Since Ruby can't even keep a roommate, she's fairly sure that's the life she will continue to live, so she has always assumed her role with pride.

Hagatha could not be more pleased as she approached her centennial celebration. All the pieces to her devious plan of destruction were finally coming together. And now, she had cast a spell on her great-granddaughter to help her carry out the crowning blow. Karen Garber-Slaughter, however, felt conflicted. She harbored a web of lies from her husband and wanted to come clean but was never quite able to do so. Something always compelled her to continue the charade as she hurtled toward carrying out Hagatha’s deadly masterstroke.

Hagatha Ketchel was beyond distraught. She was shunned and cast out by her husband for bearing him a daughter instead of a son. Hysterical, she did the unthinkable. And for it, she was committed to a mental institution. They told Hagatha her stay there would help. They claimed that it was much more humane than other insane asylums. Yet, Hagatha’s hopes were dashed. She descended into a deeper and darker place - a place no one would ever want to go.

A treacherous storm, a flat tire, and a touch of serendipity causes Tessa Sullivan and her husband, Jack, to stumble upon the narrow strait that leads into Hamlet. It was supposed to be a one night stop until the rain let up and Jack could figure out how to fix the tire - until Tess lands herself in the local jail cell overnight and Jack is found dead in their hotel room the next morning. There's no doubt it was murder, but with Sullivan’s gentle wife having an airtight alibi, the sheriff has to wonder: Who had any cause to kill the outsider? And is he the only victim?

When Rona Blackburn landed on Anathema Island more than a century ago, her otherworldly skills might have benefited friendlier neighbors. Guilt and fear instead led the island's original eight settlers to burn "the witch" out of her home. So Rona cursed them. Fast-forward 100-some years: All Nor Blackburn wants is to live an unremarkable teenage life.

The moment Ava Weston checked into Shadow Lake Survival’s immersive survival training camp, Shadow Lake Survival’s weapons expert, Micha Nichols, knew something haunted her. He was sure of it. And that something had brought her to Shadow Lake Survival to heal or forget. He’d lived through a similar struggle in his life and knew he wanted to help Ava move on and maybe pursue a mutual attraction that was impossible to ignore.

When IT specialist, Brooklyn Hurst’s cyber stalker grows bolder and the police refuse to do anything about it, she has to take drastic measures. Like fleeing the only home she’s known to a place so off the map that the stalker would never think to look. When she discovers, Colin Graham, a former FBI agent and now Shadow Lake Survival cyber expert, is looking for a live-in caregiver for his mother, she applies for the position and is hired via an online interview.

Her life is about to change—if she survives the road trip. Driving the I-40 coast-to-coast was never on Cora Dalton’s bucket list, until the day she finds out she has inherited a house in New York from a grandmother she has never met. Terrified of flying, Cora talks her best friend, Adele, into accompanying her on what they think will be a rip-roaring fun, 10-day road trip. But when they pick up a teenage runaway at a gas station with a dark and disturbing past, things begin to go awry.

After years of struggle, Raven Kendrick is giving up on her dream of a theater career in New York. Returning to her hometown, she moves back in with her parents and resigns herself to a quiet life. But that humble dream is shattered when her tyrannical father is murdered. Even worse, Raven is convinced her beloved mother killed him while sleepwalking. So instead of calling the police, she decides to cover up the crime. But as detectives close in, Raven's carefully constructed lies begin to crumble. Her alibi isn't holding up and her father's business partner is asking way too many questions.

The tragic events of November 10 were crushing, driving Loralei and David’s orbits onto a collision course. Something had to give. Who would prevail? Guilt and grief overwhelmed Loralei. She never wanted to sing again, and suicide seemed like her best option. But slowly, with the help of her trusty four-legged companion, and the otherworldly guidance of her Oma, she persevered. Recapturing the motivation to complete her deadly mission.

Instead of hosting trivia nights, the parents on Madison Lane decide to play by a whole new set of rules. Anything goes. Petra, Dawn, and Amy are about to indulge in their darkest fantasies, and it all goes on behind closed doors. Behind perfect picket fences and manicured lawns. Until someone pushes those fantasies too far.

When a criminal threatened to kill Megan Cash if she testified against him, she didn’t back down and made sure her testimony put this killer behind bars. Years later, he’s out of prison and ready for revenge against Megan and her critically ill daughter. Megan does the only thing she can do with a child too ill to move. Stand her ground at the hospital to protect her daughter.

Demi-god Vic is back, along with her friends, family, and foes. Thinking she had killed the “sentient virus” Vachel, Vic settles in to a routine of sorts as an outcast at her local high school, while she hones her powers with the help of the goddess Athena. But once again, forces beyond her ken are at work.

Though Liz’s journey is to learn about her grandmother, she finds these lessons turn inward. Content with her life of solitude, Liz is challenged to live a big fat life with no regrets—which just might include a crazy cat, a house in Palm Beach, and a man.

Former FBI serial killer profiler Darcy Haines put the past behind her. She’s happy living along the coast in her new marriage and keeping her family safe. Then a rash of grisly murders force Darcy to make an impossible decision. Will she answer the law enforcement community’s call and risk her sanity? Or will she allow more innocents to die?

The world whipped around her in a dizzying funnel of lights and shouts, people in uniforms pressing in from all directions. Noelle sat motionless in the street, barely able to breathe. His little body was too still. Too broken.

Olivia Dawson can’t seem to catch a break. Her boss is retiring and her immediate supervisor, an awful woman with a personal vendetta against her, looks to be getting his job. Her love life is in shambles, her best friend won’t shut the hell up about Star Trek, and her elderly neighbor won’t stop hitting her car with his pickup.

There is only one Gargoyle left. It is only a matter of time now before the Twelve Generals defeat the remaining Gargoyle and open the gates of hell to let their brethren take over the world. It has been 2,000 years and Gwen and the others are ready to be done.

Mackenzie Steele has been instrumental in keeping Steele Guardians afloat, working long hours for months. Nearing burn out, her family encourages her to take a vacation, and she reluctantly agrees. She needs solitude and quiet, and a vacation rental home in the Oregon desert is just the ticket. But she’s no sooner unpacked her bags when a man lands on her doorstep. A man who can’t remember his identity or why he’s there. All they know is that the name Owen seems familiar to him.

What's it like to be a trail angel and can romance truly blossom from first meeting to marriage on the Pacific Crest Trail? How do trail names get bestowed and what does it mean when you find yourself roaring back at a mountain lion? How have climate change, technology, and the sheer number of hikers affected life on the PCT? Find the answers to all these questions, and so many more, in the diverse writings gathered in Crossing Paths, an anthology of stories and poems written by PCT hikers.