Showing results by narrator "Cris Dukehart" in All Categories

The Dark Court is no place for a lady. After tricking the king, Tempest has finally won her long sought-after prize - a place on the king’s council - but it comes with a steep price. Stuck between her duty to her kingdom and her duty to what is right, she throws herself into the assignment, determined to discover her true enemies. But Tempest is no man’s pawn. Her destiny was never to sit back passively. She makes her own path. Even if it’s painted with blood, strewn with bodies, and scattered with the pieces of her broken heart.  

At 17 Ileni lost her magical power and was exiled to the hidden caves of the assassins. She trained the assassins in magic - and fell in love with one of them. And she discovered her entire life had been built on a lie. After all of this, she wants to see the truth for herself. She infiltrates the Imperial Academy of Sorcery. She will see everything she despises about the corrupt empire - its thirst for power, merciless control, and careless violence.

When the Faction returns to Creel Creek, Constance thinks it's to help solve the mystery surrounding her missing mother. But they have other priorities . . . like the spike in attacks coming from the shadow realm. It doesn't help that Constance has her own demons to face—the kind from hell. Can they work together to rid the world of these threats? And will Constance finally find out what happened to her mother?

The small town of Humble Hills, Colorado, is abuzz with excitement over the upcoming annual Bee Festival, sponsored by Bailey’s Granny Bee and the Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch. The long weekend of festivities includes a beauty pageant, beekeeping demonstrations, a local restaurant bake-off, and a 3K Bear Run where all the participants are dressed as bears. The bake-off brings in a television crew from California to film, so it’s the most drama-filled part of the weekend, especially when the famous celebrity host winds up dead.

How do you kill someone who cannot die? The wrath of Poseidon is falling upon land and sea. In Mera's search for a way to destroy him, she returns to the kingdom she once abandoned. Atlantea. Meanwhile, Bast tackles the frail political balance in Tagrad, and tries to regroup with his soulmate. He will do anything to see Mera again, and she will do anything to protect him. Even if the price might be her own life. The stakes have never been higher, and the fall has never been steeper. Poseidon is here. And it's time to end it all.

Becoming the depraved king's consort was never the plan - neither was being tossed in the turbulent waters of the Crown's court - but Tempest was trained to roll with the punches. Even if it means getting her hands dirty and betraying what her heart wants the most. But being the king's betrothed is no protection. One wrong move and she finds herself in more danger than she ever imagined. Surrounded by too many corrupt enemies and not sure whom to trust, Tempest turns to the only person who is more devious than Destin - the Jester.

It's June in Virginia, and the scent of flowers and the sound of wedding bells are in the air, an unwelcome reminder to Cooper Lee of the long-distance relationship she recently ended. When Cooper and her Bible study group are invited to spend a weekend at a newly renovated historic inn, it's the perfect chance to get away with friends and put her bittersweet memories behind her - until the inn's pompous co-owner is murdered and one of the suspects is Cooper's own mother.

Sleep-deprived Faith Daniels is desperate for help to plan the charity bachelor auction for the fall festival. Surprisingly, her best friend agrees to chip in, but the offer comes with strings attached. Faith must toss a coin into the infamous "Fountain of Love" and then undergo a complete makeover. She knows it's all just a ridiculous ploy to get her back into the dating pool, but she would be crazy to say no. Besides, it's not like wishes in that fountain come true.

With the amulet still stuck around her neck, Addie must outwit her powerful captors who will do anything to get to the power held within the ancient artifact. If they find out she doesn't know how to use it, she's dead.

When Texas Ranger Faith McClellan is called to investigate a series of gruesome small-town murders, she doesn’t expect to find a slaughtered pig - but she agrees to take the case, suspecting the latest murder was targeted at Kelsey Marie, the teenage handler of the victim. Kelsey Marie is smart, pretty, and successful, supporting her family’s lavish lifestyle with her highly lucrative YouTube channel. She’s also the target of massive online hate, with dozens of threatening messages sent to her channel each day. 

Family secrets. A handsome crime reporter. Can a single mom solve the case before her feel-good column gets killed? Piper Harrington’s life is a blur. Between raising two kids alone and scrambling to keep up at work, she craves a chance to prove her own dreams are still valid. When she’s given her lucky break to take over a feature column at the local paper where she works, she jumps at it...even though it requires telling one teensy, tiny lie.

Milo is dead. And Nellie Bly has to write his obituary. Not exactly what she was hoping for when she left her post as the local weather girl in Kansas for a posh Southern California beach side community. But as more and more upstanding citizens of La Joya turn up dead in ghastly ways, Nellie and her pals at the Coastal Crier join forces with Detective Wendy Nakamura to follow the murderous trail of a ruthless cartel that traffics in endangered wildlife.

Christmas is a hot button for Kimberly Perez, and not in a good way. Having grown up in the foster system, she's as frugal as she is smart and can't abide the materialism of the holidays. In an effort to use precious funds to help children in need instead of wasting money on meaningless commercialism, she pitches a new city ordinance to Red River's town council that would cut all holiday decorations and festivities from the budget.

Shortly after a young mother mysteriously disappears, a serial killer begins leaving corpses and clues across the Texas Hill Country. Texas Ranger Faith McClellan and her mentor, veteran Ranger Archie Baxter, are assigned to the case. This killer is more clever - and sadistic - than any they’ve ever encountered, and the list of seemingly unrelated female victims is growing by the day - an attorney, a pastor, a stay-at-home mom. The murders feature similar injuries, with a cryptic message carved into each corpse.

The interwoven tales of three women unfold in the voices of Sarah, Miriam, and Beth, whose unshakable friendship takes root in a Buffalo college dorm in the late 1960s. Fueled by the optimism and bravado of that era, they charge into adulthood with high expectations and lofty ideas. They were, as Beth would later observe, the first generation of women to feel entitled to interesting lives. At times, they find themselves living long distances from each other as each of them seeks new directions and new locales. Nonetheless, they remain deeply connected in the decades after college.

Spirited Ember Burns is led back home to open her own veterinary practice, and her first client lands her in the middle of a murder mystery. When the evidence points to the horse as the cause of death, she vows to protect him. But horses don't talk and neither do the dead, so Ember has to rely on her intelligence and instinct to get to the truth. A truth buried under layers of small-town secrets. Some that are big enough to get you killed.

In the lonely years following the death of her fiancé, Helen is unable to move on with her life. But life itself is moving on around her literally: The building of a dam is forcing her small town and her family home to relocate. But the construction project means more than the loss of a home. Helens brother, Robbie, who disappeared without a trace 15 years earlier, suddenly resurfaces. As he re-enters his sisters life, he reveals the secret of why he left in the first place: a secret that tore their family apart, and affected Helens life in more ways than she ever realized.

Each day is full of possibilities, and Zoe wants to be ready for everything this one might bring. But that makes getting dressed really, really hard! If it's a twirling day, she'll need to wear the purple skirt. But if it's a cartwheeling day, she'll want the polka-dot tights. Or it might be a hiding day, perfect for the flower crown that will help her blend into the garden...or a flying day, which demands butterfly wings!

High above the jungle floor, fearless Zoe, explorer extraordinaire, catches a glimpse of the rare, wild Addiebeast. She springs over the treeline in hot pursuit, and then Zoe's mother calls, "We're leaving in five minutes!" Yet Zoe still has so much to do on the playground, which transforms into a jungle in her imagination!

Zoe is the queen of the whole universe...but her favorite place in the universe is her own room, where she hosts tea parties, builds empires out of blocks, and gazes out upon the stars. Then her parents announce that her little sister, Addie, is moving into Zoe's room. Little sisters aren't good at tea parties (too rude), block building (too clumsy), and starwatching (just plain too young!). So the queen's new roommate is a royal pain...until Zoe discovers that even her smallest subjects can be useful in a storm!