Showing results by narrator "Kimberly Wetherell" in All Categories

Humans have always been fascinated by darkness. Especially the darkness of a city at night, when the black sky is made ever more inky by the pools of illumination dropped under streetlights. Whether the mean streets be in an alternate past charmed with dark magic or the dirty alleyways of futuristic crowded space stations, the city—and its darkened streets—will always fascinate us. Here then, an anthology of all new stories of science fiction and fantasy with a hardboiled noir twist that acknowledge that the city is a living, breathing entity...and it isn’t always on our side.

Chaos paints the White Kingdom. Missing children, dead nobles, and a daring escape have created an upheaval that threatens the future of the entire realm. The lords and ladies are armed with a powerful secret weapon as they prepare to make a stand against the crown, but the resistance has plenty to overcome before they can claim triumph.

Sea Isle was supposed to be the fresh start Dr. Emilia McRoy dreamed of. Far from the busy emergency room across the Atlantic in Seattle, she hoped to settle down and begin this new chapter as a small-town doctor to the quirky residents who immediately welcomed her. When she stumbles across a dead body, she starts to think that she may not be as Scot free of the drama and intrigue as she initially thought.

Jolene Carter lives in Merrylark Lake, a quaint town where neighbors are like family and vacationers become fast friends. With her dream of opening a downtown storefront on hold, Jolene volunteers wherever she can, whether it be at Cat's Coffee Cart or the town's annual tree lighting. It is while she's tending to her neighbor's vacation rental that Jolene meets Luke, a cowboy with a mustang rescue and a past he's hoping to leave back at the ranch.

Sixteen-year-old Maggie Scott is a little dramatic. Life is just more fun when you’re always putting on a show! But apparently her boyfriend, Theo, disagrees, because he unexpectedly dumps her. She’s so distressed she breaks her foot, has to be rescued by the most obnoxious boy in school, Carson, and can no longer star in the school play. Now everything is terrible and Maggie doesn’t understand where it all went wrong. So when she gets a mysterious text from an unknown number offering her a chance to relive the day when she and Theo met, Maggie can’t help clicking.

In the title story, set five minutes in the future where you not only have a credit score but also a dating score, a woman who’s been banished from all dating apps attends a weekly help group with others who have been “banned for life,” and finds herself falling in love. In “Backwards,” a twist on Benjamin Button, a woman reconnects with her estranged father as he de-ages ten years each day they spend together. In “Welcome to Oxhead,” all the parents in a gated community “shut off” when the power goes out.

What’s a reluctant viscount to do when the woman he can’t have becomes the woman he can’t live without?

He left all he loved behind.... Will he be able to return and win her heart? An earth-shattering secret revealed in his recently deceased mother's diary causes harsh words between Noah Garrett and his brother. Desolate and totally bewildered, Noah leaves Pilot Isle and has no contact with his family or even Elle Beaumont, the girl who has been his shadow all through childhood. Now, 10 years later, Noah is a renowned biologist and returns to Pilot Isle to head up a research lab. Coming back home opens up old wounds and uncovers buried feelings.

Spirited physician Macy Dallas is fervently committed to medicine, but a troubled past has kept her from committing to love. She’s never experienced ardent yearning for a man until she kisses Caleb Garrett...and her awakening passion is impossible to resist. A gifted boat builder who is dedicated only to the sea, Caleb doesn’t believe in the power of love. A wretched childhood has governed his life until he doesn’t believe he has anything to offer. A beguiling puzzle, Macy challenges his fears, and he considers giving in to their explosive passion.

Scarlet receives another cryptic message during her late night call-in show. The man believes she’s responsible for his friend’s disappearance. Scarlet dismisses the accusation until she learns the missing girl and James’ sister, Amy, have a connection. Cedar Acres, the beautiful and tranquil care facility Amy calls home is also the last place the missing young woman was seen. When James is denied access to his sister, the group of amateur sleuths find an alternative form of entry.

Something sinister is going on at Bay Radio. Is it possible there’s a connection between the mafia-type men who show up after dark, the terrified young women they have in tow, and the ominous commune Scarlet’s sister calls home? A troubled caller’s cryptic clues point to a man from Scarlet’s past. Could he be the key to breaking her sister Violet out of a seemingly impenetrable commune? Scarlet’s new boyfriend gets a crash course on the life and times of Violet, as they enter a world of shadows, sex, and secrets.

Struggling to pay the rent after her boyfriend’s sudden departure, continue her role as mediator in an unconventional family, and feed a micro pig who appears less micro by the day, Scarlet’s life is far from perfect. But when an eerie sounding caller is identified as the bay area’s latest serial killer, it appears her life will never be same. With the killer continually calling into Scarlet’s show, while managing to stay one step ahead of the San Francisco police, Scarlet begins to fear she’s his next victim.

Spirited Savannah Connor is passionately committed to stamping out social injustice. Yet, when she arrives in Pilot Isle, North Carolina, ready to take up a new cause, she quickly finds herself on the outs with the town constable. Zachariah Garrett is the most arrogant, infuriating, maddeningly attractive man it’s ever been her misfortune to meet. And suddenly, Savannah is fighting a whole new battle - this one against her own yearning for a man who is impossible to resist.

Lady Victoria Hamilton has a supernatural gift, a fiancé, and a guardian angel. She just never expected her protector to be the most dazzling man in England, a devilish scoundrel they call the Blue Bastard. Victoria has agreed to marry for duty, not love, but her unforeseen desire for her mystical angel threatens to destroy not only her plans for the future, but the armor surrounding her susceptible heart.

Now, the king is dead. The would-be brides have forged their own destinies - some for the better, others for worse. Not all who started this dance will finish it. Those left will wear the lingering scars with a mix of pride and remorse. From his stolen throne, Oldwin rules with a hand that grows shakier by the hour, as his once unparalleled magic dwindles. His grasp on power is reliant upon his truths remaining hidden by the shadows, just beyond the reach of the fraught kingdom.

Vivian Ellenshaw is fat, but she knows she doesn't need to lose weight, so she's none too happy to find herself forced into a weight-loss camp's van with her ex-best friend, Allie; a meathead jock who can barely drive; and the camp owner's snobby son. And when they arrive at Camp Featherlite at the start of the worst blizzard in the history of Flagstaff, Arizona, it's clear that something isn't right. Vee barely has a chance to meet the other members of her pod, all who seem as unhappy to be at Featherlite as she does, when a camper goes missing down by the lake.

Rhiain enjoys a charmed life as the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the realm. Spoiled and vain, she has never met a need or want she couldn’t attain. The dark spots in her memory have been tucked away, with all other unpleasant things. Then a terrible mistake brings her entire world crashing down around her. Her life shifts in an instant; her fate, uncertain. Her father’s punishment for her is forcing her to train for a life as one of his prized assassins. But a chance encounter in a familiar tavern will change everything.

Inside the walls of Arlington Hall, a former women's college in Virginia that has been taken over by the United States Army, hundreds of men and women sit, bent over stacks of paper. Pencils in hand, they labor to decode countless pieces of communication coming from the Axis powers. Justine works among them, handling the most sensitive secrets of World War II. But she isn't there to decipher German codes. She's there to find a traitor.

In the summer of 1966, crammed into a DC hotel suite and passing paper cups of liquor, twenty-eight women hatched a revolutionary plan. Betty Friedan, the well-known author of The Feminine Mystique, and Pauli Murray, a lawyer at the front lines of the civil rights movement, had quietly pulled away attendees from the State Womens’ Commissions annual conference. Frustrated with government inertia, they laid out a vision for an organization to unite and advocate for all women. Inspired, challenged, skeptical, they debated the idea late into the night and the next day.

Iris Clayton is supposed to be on a tropical island, soaking up the sun and a few dozen mojitos. Instead, she’s snowbound in Chicago overnight, holding out hope the morning flight isn’t cancelled. Good thing there’s a hot cowboy to keep her company. And it doesn’t hurt that Mr. Tall, Calm, and Sun-Streaked can make her tremble with one sultry look from under his well-worn hat.