Showing results by narrator "Barrie Kreinik" in All Categories

In Where the Wild Cherries Grow by Laura Madeleine, it is 1919, and the end of World War I has not brought peace for Emeline Vane. Lost in grief, she is suddenly alone at the heart of a depleted family. And just as everything seems to be slipping beyond her control, in a moment of desperation, she boards a train and runs away.

Charlotte, a gifted and superbly trained young musician, has been blindsided by a shocking betrayal in her promising career when she takes a babysitting job with the McLeans, a glamorous Upper East Side Manhattan family. At first the nanny gig is just a way of tiding herself over until she has licked her wounds and figured out her next move as a composer in New York. But as it turns out, Charlotte is naturally good with children and becomes as deeply fond of the two little boys as they are of her.

Frederick is the shy new boy, and Xio is the bubbly chica who lends him a pen on the first day of class. They become fast friends - but when Xio decides she wants to be more than friends, Frederick isn't so sure. He loves hanging out with Xio and her crew, but he doesn't like her that way. Instead he finds himself thinking more and more about Victor, the captain of the soccer team. But does that mean Frederick's gay? He hopes not - he sees how everyone makes fun of Iggy, a boy all the other kids think is gay. Frederick has to deal with some tough choices.

Gabi Bloom doesn't believe in signs. She believes in photographic evidence, the view through her camera lens, and the snap of the shutter. It's why she traveled to Europe - to satisfy her wanderlust and to kick off her photography career. But in Ireland, all of that changed when Gabi gazed into the impossibly blue eyes of an American bartender. She wasn’t prepared for their intense and immediate attraction or the fact that she’d be bringing Ethan home with her...as her fiancé.

Miss Angelina Rule is a spectacular beauty, a dream match for any man. But she is fiercely independent - and full of passion - and is all set to rebel against her royal order of marriage...until she meets the devilishly charming Harrison. With him by her side, Angelina devises a scheme that will teach her meddlesome relatives a lesson once and for all. But little did she and Harrison expect to fall into a tempestuous attraction - and a powerful desire that neither of them can deny....

After years of watching her best friends, Ben and Claire, try for a baby, Romily has offered to give them the one thing that they want most. Romily expects it will be easy to be a surrogate. She's already a single mother, and she has no desire for any more children. But Romily isn't prepared for the overwhelming feelings that have taken hold of her and which threaten to ruin her friendship with Ben and Claire - and even destroy their marriage.

After being attacked by a serial killer, being saved by Loki - so-called god of mischief, lies, and chaos - being dragged to Alfheim, losing every cent in her bank account, and caring for her grandmother, Amy Lewis has lost her scholarship to veterinary school. But it's all right. She has a plan. If she manages to keep her day job as a receptionist and her night job as a vet tech, she may be able to get her scholarship reinstated and save enough money for the dreaded "miscellaneous fees". Too bad her day boss is unbearable....

Loki vowed that Asgard would burn. Bohdi Patel, latest incarnation of Chaos, wants nothing to do with Loki's psychotic oath. Stranded on the icy world of Jotunheim with Amy Lewis, his friend Steve Rogers, and an unlikely band of civilians, magical beings, and elite military, Bohdi just wants to keep himself and his friends alive - but when you're Chaos incarnate, even the simplest goals are complicated. If Jotunheim doesn't kill them, Odin will. And if Odin doesn't, the secrets they harbor might.

Two years ago Loki, god of mischief and chaos, destroyed a large chunk of Chicago's financial district and then vanished into thin air. He still has not been found. Odin, ruler of the Nine Realms, is desperate. To find Loki, he sends his son, Thor, on a dangerous quest to consult the all-seeing Norns. But Thor needs humanity's help.... Loki's former lover, veterinarian Amy Lewis, is carrying all of Loki's memories - but missing some of her own. Hoping to keep Loki from Odin's machinations, she agrees to help Thor on his journey.

Bohdi Patel is keeping the revelation that he is Chaos incarnate a secret - and handling the revelation about as well as one would expect. He's in a downward spiral: losing his lease, totaling his car, and trying to keep everyone he cares about at arm's length. Veterinarian Amy Lewis is wondering what happened to the funny, flirty, curious Bohdi she knew in the land of the Norns. He's become moody and sometimes cruel. She is definitely glad that she didn't become romantically entangled with him...most of the time.

Arriving at Princeton for her freshman year, Thea Slavin finds herself alone, a stranger in a strange land. Away from her family and her Eastern European homeland for the first time, she struggles to adapt to unfamiliar American ways and the challenges of college life - including a young man whose brooding good looks and murky past intrigue her. Drawn to the elusive Rhys and his equally handsome and mysterious brother Jake, she ventures into a sensual mythic underworld as irresistible as it is dangerous.

In this final installment of the Cera story arc, the noose around Loki's neck is tightening. Gerðr, the frost giantess, wants him dead; Cera, the World Seed, wants his head - literally and figuratively; the FBI wants him in Guantanamo; and an old friend from Asgard wants to bring him home, whether Loki likes it or not.

Winnie Parker, mother to an angst-ridden teenage daughter and ex-wife to a successful game show host who left her for a twenty-something contestant, begins a normal day in her hum-drum existence by dropping her car off at the repair shop. After accepting what she believes is a ride to pick up her rental car, Winnie realizes too late that she's been kidnapped. What follows is a riveting psychological game of cat and mouse set in the kidnapper's tropically heated house - kept that way for Cookie, a menacing seven-foot long Iguana headquartered in the kitchen.

New York City, 1932: Eva Le Gallienne is trying to save her theatre company from the jaws of the Depression by mounting an innovative new production of Alice in Wonderland. She agrees to give a radio interview for the sake of publicity, but while revisiting the moments that shaped her career, she struggles with the need to keep a significant secret: she and her leading lady are in love. As Eva’s work careens toward catastrophe, she fights to preserve her dream of a people’s theatre—but will she destroy the people she loves in the process?

Rose Gallagher always dreamed of finding adventure, so her new life as a freshly-minted Pinkerton agent ought to be everything she ever wanted. Only a few months ago, she was just another poor Irish housemaid from Five Points; now, she’s learning to shoot a gun and dance the waltz and throw a grown man over her shoulder. Better still, she’s been recruited to the special branch, an elite unit dedicated to cases of a paranormal nature, and that means spending her days alongside the dashing Thomas Wiltshire.

When 18-year-old Eleanora's father is shot dead on the cobblestone streets of 1910 Albania, Eleanora must abandon her dream of studying art in Italy as she struggles to survive in a remote mountain village with her stepmother, Meria. Nearing starvation, Meria secretly sells Eleanora into marriage with the cruel heir of a powerful clan. Intent on keeping her freedom, Eleanora takes an oath to remain a virgin for the rest of her life - a tradition that gives her the right to live as a man.

As a notorious member of the Heirs' Club, Bray Drakestone can't resist a challenge from one of his well-heeled colleagues - especially when it involves money and horses. But the friendly wager takes an unexpected and deadly turn.

Rare books librarian Juniper Blume treats every researcher’s question like a mini-mystery to solve. However, no inquiry compares to her ex-brother-in-law Rory begging for her help in finding the Book of Kells’ long-lost covers. He claims they are in a southern Maryland cemetery. Juniper is not sure how the bejeweled covers of a ninth-century European masterwork could have ended up there, but she’s curious enough to find out. Juniper hops in her vintage Karmann Ghia convertible with her dog Clover and heads to the former resort town of Rose Mallow, on the western coast of the Chesapeake Bay.

While god is sending her signs through Instagram and Spotify demanding she break up with her girlfriend, Norma meets with a new therapist for one reason: she really needs to write again. With only one chapter missing in her manuscript, Norma is desperate to know if she needs to leave her girlfriend in order to write The Last Story. The new therapist diagnoses Norma with Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder, but Norma isn’t having it. It’s just Oblivion.

It's 1996, and alt-rocker Emma Cantor is on tour, with her sights trained on a record deal. Emma’s got no lack of inspiration for her music—chiefly her mother Judie, a 1960s folk legend whose confessional songs made her an icon before her mysterious withdrawal from the public eye. Emma is baffled by Judie's coldness, and is deeply shaken when she learns a long-kept secret about their family. When Emma uncovers more about her mother's past, she is vaulted to new heights as a performer.