Showing results by narrator "Saskia Maarleveld" in All Categories

In the Raverran Empire, magic is scarce and those born with power are strictly controlled - taken as children and conscripted into the Falcon Army. Zaira has lived her life on the streets to avoid this fate, hiding her mage-mark and thieving to survive. But hers is a rare and dangerous magic, one that threatens the entire empire. Lady Amalia Cornaro was never meant to be a Falconer. Heiress and scholar, she was born into a treacherous world of political machinations. But fate has bound the heir and the mage. War looms on the horizon....

Shocked by the threat of being forced to marry an aging magistrate, Bliss Stafford flees her New Zealand home. But a chance encounter - and the barrel of her father's pistol - wed her to Jamie McKenna, a handsome, headstrong rancher whose bold touch inflames her innocent senses. Yet Jamie's heart is captive to another - and to a hidden, bitter sorrow. But young, courageous Bliss is determined to face the secrets of his past - to claim the radiant prize of a lifetime of tomorrows.

Hotshot entrepreneur Benjamin Da Silva is used to being in the driver's seat. But when he finds himself in need of a chauffeur, beautiful, straight-talking Jess Murphy proves that sometimes taking his foot off the pedal can be equally pleasurable!

Mermaid Annika is from the sea, and it is there she must return after her quest to find the stars. New to this world, her purity and beauty are nothing less than breathtaking, along with her graceful athleticism, as her five new friends discovered when they retrieved the fire star. Now, through space and time, traveler Sawyer King has brought the guardians to the island of Capri, where the water star is hidden. And as he watches Annika in her element, he finds himself drawn to her joyful spirit.

Alyson is a romantic, and sometimes it gets her into trouble. Like last summer, she thought her co-worker was into her, when in reality he found her flirting pathetic. Then she meets Brenton Riggs Jr., and right away she knows that their connection isn’t just in her head. When he swoops in to save her one night from a less than savory party encounter, she falls head-over-heels. Finally, someone Alyson likes who likes her back!

After sailing to Australia only to find that the man who asked her to marry him has no intention of fulfilling his part of the bargain, Maggie Chamberlain vows to shape a new life for herself in Sydney. Then arrogant, wealthy Reeve McKenna captures Maggie's untried heart, thrilling her senses with the sweet, dark rush of desire. But Reeve cannot be hers alone, for he is obsessed by his search for his beloved brother James, lost two decades before.

Flameskins are born to be shunned and hated, enslaved or killed. It is fire that runs through their veins, not blood, and the demons inside them will always whisper death in their ears. All of them succumb to the lies of the fire in the end, to become creatures of burning and malice. Enslaved as a child, Flameskin Lark has been forced to use her fire to smuggle goods across the Sunken Sea. She has resisted the whisperings of the flames all her life, but her time is running out. When a smuggling job goes wrong, she is abandoned by her slaver to be killed or captured.

Hugh Pennington - Viscount Greysteil, Lord Justice of the Scottish Courts, hero of the Napoleonic wars - is a grieving widower with a death wish. When he receives an expected crate from the continent, he is shocked to find a nearly dead woman inside. Her identity is unknown, and the handful of American coins and the precious diamond sown into her dress only deepen the mystery.

London, 1926. American-raised Maisie Musgrave is thrilled to land a job as a secretary with the upstart British Broadcasting Corporation, whose use of radio - still new and electrifying - is captivating the nation. Soon Maisie is gaining confidence as she arranges broadcasts with famous writers and politicians, but she's also caught up in a growing conflict between her two bosses.

In the kingdom of Axaria, a darkness has fallen. After defeating the evil mother who summoned an immortal demon to kill her, newly coronated Queen Asterin Faelenhart should have every reason to celebrate. Her kingdom is safe, forbidden magic eradicated, and her friends are alive. Except Asterin’s triumph has come at a devastating cost - forced to choose between a lifelong friend and true love, she’s lost both. But the shadows in Axaria have begun to stir once again, and no one is more starved for vengeance than Asterin....

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

It is 1887, and Alma Rosales is on the hunt for stolen opium. Trained in espionage by the Pinkerton Detective Agency - but dismissed for bad behavior and a penchant for going undercover as a man - Alma now works for Delphine Beaumond, the seductive mastermind of a West Coast smuggling ring. When product goes missing at their Washington Territory outpost, Alma is tasked with tracking the thief and recovering the drugs. In disguise as the scrappy dockworker Jack Camp, this should be easy.

Damian Venturi isn't aware of it yet. But as small shifts start to crack the foundations of the Ombrazian power structure after the Rebellion's attack, cracks are beginning to show in Damian's own facade. Uncontrollable anger is bubbling to the surface and can't always be pushed down. Can he keep everyone safe, even from himself? Rossana Lacertosa should feel victorious. She accomplished everything she set out to do, and more. The Rebellion's attack set countless prisoners free and brought attention to the unfairness in the Palazzo's structure.

While exiled king Alix Saint Croix lies in wait to reclaim his throne, a mistress would provide a welcome distraction. Entering a Parisian perfume house to buy a fragrance for a current lover, he leaves with a powerful craving for another woman altogether - stunningly exotic perfumer Leila Verughese. The very smell of Alix awakens Leila's every nerve. If she's going to give her innocence to anyone, who better than a king? But it's an alchemy with life-changing repercussions....

Frey, Ovie, Juniper, and Runa are the Boneless Mercies - girls hired to kill quickly, quietly, and mercifully. But Frey is weary of the death trade and, having been raised on the heroic sagas of her people, dreams of a bigger life. When she hears of an unstoppable monster ravaging a nearby town, Frey decides this is the Mercies' one chance out. The fame and fortune of bringing down such a beast would ensure a new future for all the Mercies. In fact, her actions may change the story arc of women everywhere.

As a Russian Jewish émigré to France, Vera's wealth cannot protect her or her four-year-old-daughter, Lucie, once the Nazis occupy the country. After receiving notice that all foreigners must report to an internment camp, Vera has just a few hours to make an impossible choice: Does she subject Lucie to the horrid conditions of the camp, or does she put her into hiding with her beloved and trusted governess, safe until Vera can retrieve her? Believing the war will end soon, Vera chooses to leave Lucie in safety.

Things have changed for Samantha. She leaves quiet Mount Bedford for the bustle of New York City and the company of Aunt Cornelia's ten-year-old twin sisters. Agnes and Agatha are good at getting into mischief—and at bringing Samantha with them. When the three girls visit Grandmary's summer home, an adventure leads to danger on Goose Lake—the same lake where Samantha's parents drowned! Then word comes that Nellie and her sisters are in serious trouble. It's up to Samantha to save her friends before it's too late.

The student witches are growing increasingly reckless, preying on the mundanes below the mountains as their tutors plot and scheme to take advantage of the chaos. And no one seems to know why. Emily is in no condition to intervene. But she cannot refuse. Heading to Laughter, Emily finds herself dragged into a world of schoolgirl games, staffroom politics, and a deadly plot aimed at the heart of the Allied Lands themselves.

Meet the Godmothers: Filomena is a clever and resourceful war refugee with a childhood secret, who comes to America to wed Mario, the family's favored son. Amie, a beautiful and dreamy French girl from upstate New York, escapes an abusive husband after falling in love with Johnny, the oldest of the brothers. Lucy, a tough-as-nails Irish nurse, ran away from a strict girls' home and marries Frankie, the sensuous middle son. And the glamorous Petrina, the family's only daughter, graduates with honors from Barnard College despite a past trauma that nearly caused a family scandal.

Five years after the highly publicized trial of Klaus Barbie, the “Butcher of Lyon,” law student Valérie Portheret began her doctoral research into the 108 children who disappeared from Vénissieux fifty years earlier, children who somehow managed to escape deportation and certain death in the German concentration camps. She soon discovers that their rescue was no unexplainable miracle.