Showing results by narrator "Luci Christian-Bell" in All Categories

Commercial artist Whitney Campbell loves her Malibu Beach home - a place away from the world where she can pursue her work in peace. But Whitney’s privacy is violated when her house is broken into by the "Malibu Intruder" and the press prints stories about the event. When Detective Anthony "Shadow" Tallwalker is assigned to the case, Whitney finds his charm irresistible, and the two of them are soon caught up in a riptide of passion. But as Whitney loses her heart, she wonders if she, a solitude-seeking artist, can live with a man whose life is always on the line.

Against the backdrop of the high-stakes and intensely competitive equestrian sport of show jumping, Finny, a fifteen-year-old girl in California, adopts an emaciated, untrained horse without her parents' knowledge. Soon after adopting Sky, Finny meets Joe, a sixteen-year-old, who has run away from his cruel uncle in Montana.

Dowsing, a way of locating underground water, lacks any scientific basis, according to most geologists. How, then, do we account for its many successes?

Ruben Crosscroft is not your typical butler, a proper old gent in black tails. The awesome Aussie arrives sporting athletic shorts and a T-shirt. Blue-eyed, virile, tanned - he is no sexless wooden servant.... Which comes as a shock to divorcee Blaire Thomlin, who'd won Ruben's services in a contest for two whole weekends. Having a man around the house again made Blaire nervous, but Ruben cooks, cleans, and caters to Blaire's ever desire...including a few not in his job description. He turns Blaire's life around and makes her start to believe in love once more. Until ugly rumors surface about his past....

The first time I ever saw Smoky, she was on fire. My three children and I had arrived at the dump outside our Arizona desert town to throw out the weekly trash. As we approached the pit, which was smoldering, we heard the most mournful cries of a cat entombed in the smoking rubble.

Shadows dancing around the table mirrored the excitement in the faces of the children. It was a party - and not just any party. It was New Year's Eve. And for once they were allowed to stay up.

Most people living in the world today believe that heaven exists, and regardless of their vision or religious persuasion, most believers expect it to be a better place. Perhaps that explains why there is sometimes ruthless - even bloody - disagreement over who exactly gets in. Author Gail Cameron Wescott explores these topics and more here.

In the dreary days of November 1965, American actress Iolanthe Green has become the toast of the West End. Charismatic, mysterious, and beautiful, she brings color and a sprinkling of glamour to the scuffed boards of Soho's Galaxy Theatre. But one evening, after another rapturously received performance, Iolanthe walks through the stage door and out into the cold London night - and vanishes.

Taking a friend's advice, Litty Matthew decided to try the opposite of shopping to boost her mood and escape the sense of constriction that had settled over her life. "And I don't mean just giving to Goodwill, honey," her friend had said. "You should try holding a giveaway."

Once in a while, a first novel arrives like a bolt of lightning, commanding attention with an explosion of power, grace, and light. Flying in Place is such a book. As unflinching as The Lovely Bones, as startling as Beloved, it is a work to bear witness - with bravery and compassion - for the experience of millions of readers and their loved ones. Emma is 12, a perfectly normal girl, in a perfectly normal home. With a perfectly normal father...who comes into her bedroom every night in the hours before dawn. Emma will do anything to escape.

Whitney has been in so many foster homes that she can give a complete rundown on the most common varieties of foster parents - from the look-on-the-bright-side types to those unfortunate examples of pure evil. But one thing she doesn't know much about is trees. This means heading for Foster Home number 12 (which is all the way at the top of the map of California, where there looks to be nothing but trees) has Whitney feeling a little nervous. She is pretty sure that the middle of nowhere is going to be just one more place where a hyper, loud-mouthed kid who is messy and small for her age won't be welcome for long.

Dani was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body. In her 15 years of life, she’s had more doctor’s appointments, X-rays, and tests, and eaten more green hospital Jell-O than she cares to think about. Fourteen-year-old Amanda is a competitive gymnast, her body a small package of sleek muscles, in perfect health. The two girls don’t know each other, don’t go to the same school, don’t have any friends in common. But their lives are about to collide. Acclaimed author Jill Wolfson tackles this fascinating story with her trademark honesty and wit.

Author Ardis Whitman looks at the ways in which we tend to understand and experience joy, explains the difference between joy and happiness, and offers guidance on how to restore our lives to the eager openness to all the world that is so often the prelude to joy.

I remember the first time I saw Freddie. He was standing in his playpen at the adoption agency where I work, giving me a toothy grin, and I thought, What a beautiful baby. Gathering him into her arms, his boarding mother asked, "Will you be able to find a family for Freddie?" Then I saw it. Freddie had been born without arms.

Astrid Llewelyn has always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one attacks her boyfriend - ruining any chance of him taking her to prom - Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient Cloisters the hunters have used for centuries. However, all is not what it seems at the Cloisters. Outside, unicorns wait to attack.

Astrid Llewelyn is now a fully trained unicorn hunter, but she can't solve all her problems with just a bow and arrow. Her boyfriend, Giovanni, has decided to leave Rome, the Cloisters is in dire financial straits, her best friend's powers seem to be mysteriously disintegrating, and Astrid can't help but feel that her hopes of becoming a scientist are nothing but impossible dreams. So when she's given the opportunity to leave the Cloisters and put her skills to use as part of a scientific quest to discover the Remedy, Astrid leaps at the chance.

In a world shrouded by soot and smoke, young Makarria has literally been forbidden to dream.… Legend has foretold the demise of Emperor Thedric Guderian at the hands of a sorceress with royal blood, and the Emperor has made it his legacy to stamp out all magic from the Sargothian Empire in favor of primitive coal fired smelters and steam-powered machines. When Guderian’s minions discover a Dreamwielder on a seaside farmstead, a chain of events forces Guderian’s new threat - the young Makarria - to flee from her home and embark upon an epic journey.

All Eden wants is redemption...but the road to redemption is never an easy one. Travelling to Scotland to find her mother’s bloodline, Eden is soon embroiled in the politics and training of the Scottish Warriors of Neith. It is a world where some stand with open arms ready to welcome her as family, while others keep a wary distance, conspiring against her. Through it all Eden learns of love, friendship, and what it means to be a warrior. Her future has promise...that is until a man she thought was forever gone from her life returns to threaten it all. When the one person Eden loves above all else is endangered, she will have to make a choice. Him...or her?

Adele Bishop stares in disbelief as the tall, imposing figure of Reno Gold steps off the train. Her mail-order husband is no stranger, but the man who gave her a delicious taste of his wild streak years ago - when she was too young to know how to handle him. Now he’s here, foiling her plan to turn the tables on the men of Whistle Stop, who order their brides as if they were commodities. Adele has no thought of following through on marriage, and every intention of sending the devilishly irritating Reno on his drifting way.

Eden’s life has taken a turn she would never have imagined. She’s gone from soul eater to warrior, left behind a family she was ashamed of, and moved in with one she admires. She has a purpose, a future, and…she has Noah. Life should be good. But…the most fervent and powerful soul eaters are determined to take down the Ankh and Eden is the key to the destruction of the warrior race. Moreover, a shadowed enemy is still after Eden, and the mortal Warriors of Neith have chosen the worst time imaginable to start an uprising. With an enemy in every corner the problems before her are overwhelming.