Showing results by narrator "Marli Watson" in All Categories

What makes love stick? Is it the irresistible spark when you lock eyes across a piazza in Rome? Is it feeling the earth move under your feet? (Wait—that was an actual earthquake.) In these six serendipitous short stories, bestselling authors turn improbable first encounters into hopelessly romantic happy ever afters.

One typo, and a boy and girl connect by chance. Wishing each other a happy Valentine’s Day isn’t the end. In fact, it becomes a friendly annual tradition—with rules: no pics, no real names, nothing too personal. As years pass, the rules for their email “dates” are breaking, and they’re sharing more than they imagined—including the urge to ask…what if we actually met?

Margo Zimmerman is gay, but she didn’t know until now. An overachiever at heart, Margo is determined to ace her newly discovered gayness. All she needs is the right tutor. Abbie Sokoloff has her own gayness down to a science. But a flunking grade in US History is threatening her acceptance to her dream school. All she needs is the right tutor. Margo agrees to help Abbie get her history grade up in exchange for “Queer 101” lessons. But as they spend more and more time together, Margo realizes she doesn’t want just any girl—she wants the girl.

Gage came home to the Ozarks to mend fences with the friends he’d left behind. But when a solar storm reconnects Earth to the Fae Nexus, the world is engulfed in magical energy, altering the laws of nature...violently. Fuel, ammunition, and electronics explode, leaving the world in a dark apocalypse. As the flames die down, demons emerge through the Fae Nexus, swarming Gage’s hometown and enslaving the survivors. To fight back, Gage and his reunited friends harness Fae powers, becoming the Wizard, Ranger, and Fighter they’ve always played in their favorite roleplaying game.

On a humid summer day in Alabama, a mayor’s wife turns up brutally murdered under a railroad bridge. Standing next to her body is fourteen-year-old Mason Hill, the autistic son of former Miss USA Genevieve Hill. The locals are quick to level their verdict on young Mason: he did it. The town detective calls in local autism expert Casey Walker to consult on the case. At first, Casey tries to keep an open mind. But the more time she spends with Genevieve, the more her unease grows, and she suspects that Genevieve is doing more than just protecting her son.

Gage has 10 days to rescue his loved ones before they're sacrificed, but if he's going to fight through an army of demons to get them out of the prison camp, he's going to need a powerful weapon. An ex-Demon Hunter turned lich is rumored to have just the thing: The claws of an ancient storm dragon that will give Gage the powers of a Storm Lord. But, the lich was banished into the Dreaming a century ago, so tracking him down won't be easy. Stealing treasure from a lich is no simple task, but if he has to, Gage will pry the weapon from the monster's cold, undead hands.

Nora and Sophie Linden may be sisters, but they're not friends. Not since the party last month. Not since the night Sophie's boyfriend, Garrett, disappeared. Half the town thinks Garrett is dead, the other half believes he ran away, but Sophie knows something no one else does—Garrett left that party with Nora. And straight-A, Ivy-league-bound Nora had never been to a single party before that night. Then Nora withdraws, barely coming home anymore, right when Sophie starts receiving messages from someone who claims to be Garrett, promising revenge.

1857. Three women—once strangers—come together in unpredictable Utah Territory. Hopeful, desperate, and willful, they’ll allow nothing on Earth or in Heaven to stand in their way. Following the call of their newfound Mormon faith, Tamar Loader and her family weather a brutal pilgrimage from England to Utah, where Tamar is united with her destined husband, Thomas Ricks. Clinging to a promise for the future, she abides an unexpected surprise: Thomas is already wedded to one woman—Tabitha, a local healer—and betrothed to still another.

Reporter Lee Ellerin’s investigation into a young woman’s unsolved murder gained national attention—only for her to lose everything due to a tragic mistake. After being publicly ridiculed for causing a suspect’s death, Lee is forced to leave her career behind. Five years later, pregnant college student Amanda Hartley lies in a coma. The police say she attempted suicide, but the details don’t add up. Where is the father? Who was paying for Amanda’s Manhattan penthouse? Why did Amanda have a note with Lee’s name in her backpack?

In the wake of her son’s sudden death, Margaret Dobrescu struggles to keep it together in the face of her grief…and her guilt. She can’t help but blame herself for Kyle’s own lifelong struggles—namely, the alcoholism that plagued him. But within mere days of his funeral, secrets and suspicions begin to surface, and Margaret’s husband admits that Kyle once confessed to having a daughter. Clinging to the hope that some part of her son is still out there, Margaret embarks on a search to find her rumored granddaughter.

With her sister’s medical bills mounting, Diana Parker can’t say no to a high-paying opportunity like this: accompany a wealthy couple to Aspen and nanny their precocious five-year-old son for three months. Necessary qualifications? She must know how to ski and teach math, speak fluent French, excel at social graces, and hold a master’s degree in childhood development. Who’ll be the wiser that Diana’s only skill is packing for Colorado?

She has never lived a normal life outside of the dance studio. He has never fallen in love. Levi O’Connor is trouble. At 22, there are a few things that he was sure he would never do: go back home, and fall in love. After spending months on tour with his band and making bad decisions that landed him on the front cover of numerous tabloids, it is not until an incident happens at one of his shows that everything changes. 

Lightning and thunder crash around her as Elizabeth runs from her pursuer. She rests for only a moment...or so she thinks. Castles...swords...men of war...Elizabeth is stunned! How did she arrive in England? Who brought her here? As she struggles to uncover the events that landed her at Fairwick Castle, nothing is as it should be. Danger surrounds her. Forced to put her trust in the arrogant Lord Nicolas Fairwick, Elizabeth prays for God's intervention.

When the Headless Horseman goes on a mysterious vacation, Mina takes on her biggest pet-sitting job ever - Nightflower, the headless horseman's horse! But a new monster is searching for an ancient treasure and is willing to destroy the entire Monsterhood to find it!

Mina, the world’s only paranormal pet sitter, is back and still determined to earn enough money to go to Zoo Camp this summer. This time, she’s guarding an alien’s pet from a weirdo secret agent named Oswald and confronting Silvia, the evil robot cheerleader, who’s hatching a sinister plan for revenge. But when Mina uncovers an unearthly secret, she discovers that she doesn’t even have to leave Earth to have an out-of-this-world adventure.

 A paranormal pet sitting adventure of epic proportions! Desperate to earn the money to go to summer camp, Mina takes a job pet sitting for the residents of the super-spooky monster neighborhood. How dangerous could it be? When Count Dracula can’t take his cat to the vet, mina leaps into action. But this creepy cat has giant wings and an even bigger attitude. The cat slips through Mina’s fingers and she must race against time to rescue him and return...Dracula’s cat!

Mina’s dream has come true. Mina and her best friend, Vanessa, set out for the ultimate summer adventure, but Count Dracula is worried that the evil robot SILVIA is still on the loose and looking for revenge! At camp, Mina and Vanessa discover that something is horribly wrong with the animals at the zoo. Will Mina’s dream vacation become a nightmare?

Eleven-year-old Mabel Cunningham is a quiet loner who only feels free to be herself when she’s “extreme treasure hunting” with her grampa—much to her perfectionist mother’s disapproval. Nothing excites Mabel more than discovering a heart find, an item that calls to her heart, and the maybes that come along with it. But when her friendships start to crumble and her grampa suffers a stroke, Mabel quickly learns that real-life maybes are harder to handle than imagined ones.

Ten years ago, the Scar Squad promised each other nothing would tear them apart. They stuck together through thick and thin, late-night surf sessions and after school spodies. Even when Casey Jones Caruso lost her twin brother Sammy to an overdose, and their foursome became a threesome, the squad picked each other up. But when Casey’s feeling for the remaining members—Francesca and Benjamin—develop into romantic attraction, she worries the truth will dissolve them and vows to ignore her heart.

Once upon a time...Ellie bid farewell to her childhood friend Prince Alexander eight years ago and never thought their paths would ever cross again. After all, the two of them lived in separate worlds. He was a prince, and she was a humble servant. Surely it was better for her to leave their old friendship in the past and accept her dreary fate.