Showing results by narrator "Jennifer Jill Araya" in All Categories

Ally Winter is going through a ruff patch. The 30-something veterinarian lost her fiancé, her clinic, and her savings in rapid succession. So when Ally's grandfather undergoes hip-replacement surgery, she moves back to Willow Bluff, Wisconsin, to care for him. She arrives home, tail between her legs, only to find sleazy lawyer Marty Shawlin murdered in his home office. And the only witness was Marty's faithful boxer, Roxy.

On Saturday morning, Cora Maxwell finds her teenage son’s clothes covered in blood. A small town torn apart by a horrific hate crime. An investigative reporter hell-bent on finding the truth. A mother’s worst nightmare. What really happened to the Reyes boy? In the heart-stopping and timely suspense novel Secrets Mothers Keep, widow and mother Cora Maxwell faces the hardest decision of her life. In a world where there are few second chances, do you grant one to your child? And if so...what is the cost?

What happens when you're middle-aged? Is it over? Will you change or remain the same? What will you do with the second half of your life? All of the short stories and essays in this collection illuminate this incredibly interesting and vital stage. All characters demonstrate how they have chosen to navigate this new world. Some are more successful than others, but all are interesting.

New York City, 1906. With the fast-approaching death of their mother, the lives of two sisters, Martha and Lilah Caldon, are about to change. Lilah, the younger of the two, is favored by their mother. She receives the best education and attends various social events outfitted in the finest wardrobe. The only exception is the annual Broadway play Martha attends with her parents, when Lilah is left at home. Every year since she turned 16, Martha and her parents have gone backstage after the play to meet Miss Sahara, the beautiful leading actress.

They drowned Victoire's mother, claiming she was a witch. Then, her father died beneath the wheels of a nobleman's carriage. Forced to leave her village, Victoire finds work in Paris. But domestic employment comes at a high price, and the orphaned girl suffers gruesome abuse at the hands of a diabolical aristocracy. Accused of a heinous crime, they imprison her in the depraved lunatic asylum, La Salpêtriere. With the help of ruthless seductress, Jeanne de Valois, Victoire must find the strength to join the revolutionary force storming the Bastille.

When Callie took over the Gull5's Nest Bed-and-Breakfast, she thought life would be stable and predictable. Instead, the last few months have taken her on a journey of some of her highest highs and lowest lows. Looking for some semblance of peace, Callie focuses on the things within her control. So, when a man sitting on the boardwalk outside the B and B dies from what looks like natural causes, Callie should be able to leave it alone. Except that the man's spirit implored her to solve his murder as he passed on, and she couldn't get the mystery out of her head.

The Princesses of Ever are beloved by the kingdom and their father, the King. They are cherished, admired. Cursed. Jane, Alice, Nora, Grace, and Eden carry the burden of being punished for a crime they did not commit, or even know about. They are each cursed to be without one essential thing - the ability to eat, sleep, love, remember, or hope. And their mother, the Queen, is imprisoned, frozen in time in an unbreakable glass box. But when Eden’s curse sets in on her 13th birthday, the princesses are given the opportunity to break the curse.

Callie and the Gulls Nest are back in the spotlight when a high-profile guest books a room at the bed-and-breakfast. When the man doesn't show up for his reservation, Callie thinks it was too good to be true. Everyone is shocked when his body washes up in a dinghy the next morning.

With a human mother and a werewolf father, Xander Binnigas has never fit anywhere. His father wasn't keen on being saddled with a clueless cub. His mother hated when he drank out of the toilet bowl and marked mailboxes on their Sunday strolls. Even so, he survived to adulthood, his one desire never wavering. And like a wolf with a bone, Xander still longs to find a place to belong. But after years of working like a dog in hopes of officially joining the Manhattan pack, he realizes that he’s been barking up the wrong skyscraper.

Callie Norris is the proud new owner of the Gulls Nest Bed-and-Breakfast in the picturesque fishing village of Pebble Cove. She's got everything she's always dreamed of: a found-family who supports her, a job she loves, and a boyfriend she's crazy about. Well, she's been avoiding her family, maintaining the reputation of one of the towns long-standing businesses is proving to be harder than she thought, and her boyfriend is acting distant. But things can't be sunshine and rainbows all the time, right?

Amy loved everything about her mom: her smile, her smell, her gentle laugh. On the day her mom died, it felt as though the sun went dark. Her dad bought a house with wheels, and they started moving, but no matter how many new places they went, the sun never came back out. At least, not until Mary showed up and handed Amy a box of Froot Loops.

The moment Chloe Romano meets Liam Esposito in the Washington DC airport, lightning sparks flare between them. But the handsome stranger disappears without so much as asking for her number. Shaking off her disappointment, Chloe continues on to the Quantico Training Academy with her best friend Jenna so they can pursue their life-long dream of becoming FBI agents.

While Phaedra Brighton might not have a Mr. Darcy (yet), she's quite content with her loving family and loyal cat. Phaedra's sister Hannah is the Jane to her Elizabeth, and Phaedra is ecstatic that Hannah has decided to move home for her next adventure—opening a business. All of Laurel Springs is out in full force to celebrate the grand unveiling of Hannah's new patisserie, Tout de Sweet, including local celebrity Rachel Brandon. Hannah is a master of her craft, with confections so divine, one bite will make you think you've died and gone to heaven.

Raised by stepparents after the loss of their birth parents, Liz and Meredith McCallister are the only constants in each other’s lives—until Meredith is murdered in her lake home. Devastated by the loss, Liz becomes desperate to know why Meredith was killed. When Liz digs deeper into her sister's life and murder, she finds that their family had many buried secrets. But as Liz uncovers the truth, she realizes that not all secrets were meant to come to light and her efforts have drawn the attention of someone who is determined to keep the past hidden—even if the cost is Liz's life.

Georgia Rae Winston believes she’s found her happily-ever-after. But life is about to prove her very wrong. Georgia is back with Detective Cal Perkins, and they’re looking toward a blissful future. But her ex-boyfriend’s family isn’t thrilled with that idea. And neither are Cal’s multiple admirers.

When the last man on Earth reveals he has a nuclear weapon pointed at the tiny Martian colony, the colonists can only survive by working together. Jaye, a Trueborn Child of Mars, isn’t like her father, Merlin. Like all the Trueborn, she is cursed with perfect memory and deep sensitivity. But not even the knowledge that Merlin killed her mother can change the fact: They need each other for more than survival.

Rocio Lopez and Finn Lockwood survived the deadly trials of the Mages' Exam in a bid to keep their magic. But the world outside presents vicious threats of its own. Forced into the Confed's military special ops unit, Rocio must walk a fine line between complicity and resistance, or everyone she loves could pay the price. With the magic's pleas growing increasingly urgent, can she make her stand in time? Stripped of his talent, Finn is determined to fight the corrupt magical government - and to find his way back to the girl he's fallen for.

Each year, the North American Confederation of Mages assesses every 16-year-old novice. Some will be chosen. The rest must undergo a procedure to destroy their magical ability unless they prove themselves in the mysterious and brutal Mages' Exam. Disadvantaged by her parents' low standing, Rocio Lopez has dedicated herself to expanding her considerable talent to earn a place in the Confederation. Their rejection leaves her reeling - and determined to fight to keep her magic.

When life has taught you to hide, can you ever spread your wings in the light? Writing songs has always been the way that Beatrice Cipriani processes the world around her, but as a painful introvert, none of those songs are ever performed. She excels at being invisible—she’s the best server in a fancy restaurant. Sometimes, though, it feels like she’s dying a little more with every passing day. Easton Moorland has finally made it big, but with a public company comes a board that has demands. As the chairman of a luxury brand, all eyes are on him, and they want him to look the part.

Every day in Clara's world, a dark cloud descends upon her town. The storm comes like clockwork, erasing everyone’s memories. Everyone except Clara. But after Clara’s father mysteriously disappears, things change. The Diviners, captive souls who feed off memories, come for her. With the help of a mysterious figure, Clara escapes the Diviners and flees to Khalom, a city in a parallel world, where she hopes to find refuge. There, Clara discovers that she is a Noble—one of the few people to have knowledge of both worlds, along with the ability to venture between the two.