Showing results by narrator "Susan Duerden" in All Categories

In a near-future London, Millie Dack places her hand on her belly to feel her baby kick, resolute in her decision to be a single parent. Across town, her closest friend - a hungover Toni Munroe - steps into the shower and places her hand on a medic console. The diagnosis is devastating. In this stunning, bittersweet family saga, Millie and Toni experience the aftershocks of human progress as their children and grandchildren embrace new ways of making babies.

In the age of demons, when the Earth was still flat, Prince Chuz, Delusion's Master, stole Azhriaz, daughter of the Demon Lord of Night, from the underworld citadel meant to be her eternal prison. Pursued by the vengeful Lord of Night, Chuz and Azhriaz fled to the world above, to the lands of mortal men, seeking a haven for their love. Yet when demons dwelt in the realm of men, terror and wonders were bound to result.

Mary Masterton is a desperate woman. Facing the advances of loathsome suitor she can’t imagine marrying, she is short on choices. She convinces a handsome stranger, the victim of a head injury, that they are engaged. Left with no memory of his previous life, the man has no reason to doubt her. The man’s signet ring is the only clue to his true identity as the Duke of Avalon. Determined to reclaim his past, he begs Mary to accompany him on a journey to track down the meaning of the ring. Once more Mary finds herself in a hopeless situation....

Fashion is many things. It is self-expression, big business, trend-setting, a lifestyle choice. But however you see fashion, it relies on one simple characteristic: the incredible speed with which clothes make their journey from the drawing board to the High Street hanger. Fashion is fast. Fast fashion influences the types of garments we have in our wardrobes.

Virtuoso pianist Isabette Grüber captivates audiences in the salons and concert halls of early nineteenth-century Vienna. Yet in a profession dominated by men, Isabette longs to compose and play her own music - a secret she keeps from both her lascivious manager and her resentful mother. She meets and loves Amelia Mason, a dazzling American singer with her own secrets, and Josef Hauser, an ambitious young composer. But even they cannot fully comprehend the depths of Isabette's talent.

Tormented at home and bullied during her studies abroad, second-born Iona of Wessett hides in the quiet corners of her father's castle. Her art and music provide refuge, but her cruel sister Lisenn ever lurks like a monster stalking its prey. Such has been her life for 20 years. However, a promise of reprieve and retribution arrives when the neighboring kingdom of Capria proposes an alliance between their new crown prince and Wessett's heir to the throne. The treaty will rid Iona of the toxic Lisenn, and the potential groom is none other than her erstwhile bully, Jaoven of Deraval.

Alice Perivale saved the world, now she's pleased to make a teacup garden. Seventy-three year old Mrs. Perivale is enjoying time with her grandson when her secret vial of dragon's blood begins to glow brightly, and she fears that things have gone terribly wrong in the magical land of Coreve since she left. Alice loses no time in calling her mighty dragon friend Diovalo out of foreboding, thunderous skies, to land in Hyde Park and whisk her, her six cats, her butler Henderson, and her stunned grandson away.

Lady Elizabeth is hiding in plain sight...and very plain dresses. To escape her traitorous father's reputation, she's left behind the glittering balls of London Society to act as a governess. For the first time in her life, she's independent and taking care of herself. All is fine...until the irresistible Lord Hawkins arrives at her employer's house.

Along the southern coast of England, atop the White Cliffs of Dover, stands a castle. And at that castle's old keep is an orphanage. Delphi Keep has seen many youngsters come and go through its gates, and Ian Wigby and his sister, Theodosia, are happy to call it home. Life has always been simple at the Keep, and the orphanage safe, until one day, Ian and Theo find a silver treasure box. And within the box, a prophesy. Three thousand years ago a great Greek oracle wrote of a quest.

On the eve of Princess Sophia’s wedding, the Scandinavian city of Skyggehavn prepares to fete the occasion with a sumptuous display of riches. Yet beneath the veneer of celebration, a shiver of darkness creeps through the palace halls. A mysterious illness plagues the royal family, threatening the lives of the throne’s heirs, and a courtier’s wolfish hunger for the king’s favors sets a devious plot in motion.

After being forced into a brief marriage with an elderly earl, Celia Dorsett is ready to embrace her freedom, and take a lover. A masquerade with the demimonde sounds like the perfect way to find a companion for the evening without revealing her identity. But days after the most perfect evening of her life, she comes to realize her Lord Desire is none other than Christopher Sinclair, Viscount Stormont, her younger brother's best friend. The man who sits with her at the breakfast table nearly every morning making her laugh.

When Gia Landon is tricked into a London season by her father, she is pleased to have found a friend who shares her love of horses in the Duke of Roxburghe. The surly Scot enjoys living in London and hates the country, while Gia despises everything about society.

Lady Tabitha Hampton has the memory of an elephant. But this talent fails to help the twenty-seven-year-old bluestocking attract the attention of a single wealthy suitor. With three sisters of marriageable age, a sickly father, and a series of bad investments that left them impoverished, Tabitha's marriage could save or ruin her entire family. Arthur, the Duke of Collingford, needs a wife but not just any lady will do. Arthur's future duchess must be perfect in every way-fair of face, impeccable manners, with enough social influence to impact his parliamentary projects.

Lady Sarah Hampton would rather sew up a wound than tend to her own heart. Or matrimonial prospects. When the small hospital she's been volunteering at faces financial peril, she seeks to save them the best way she knows how—one dare, one wager, and one foolish rake at a time. No matter the risk to herself. If her friend's irritatingly handsome and brutish brother doesn't stand in her way.

Persephone Honeyfield is witty, intelligent, and very aware that the only way to escape the monotony of the life she shares with her father and sister in the English countryside—and the wagging, ever-critical tongues of the people around her—is through marriage. She also knows the likelihood of it being a love match is nearly zero.

Big business is booming and state institutions are thriving thanks to advances in genetic engineering, which have produced a compliant population free from addictions. Violent crime is now a rarity. Mayhew McCline, a major corporation that analyzes global trends, has hired a genius: Jayna. A brilliant mathematical modeler, she has the ability to produce accurate predictions that are both good for the world and good for the bottom line. Her latest coup: finding a link between northeasterly winds and violent crime.

Responsible for the care of an opium-addicted uncle, George's life poses dangers to a bride that he'll never risk. It's why he avoided the independent and kind Lady Jane last year, despite her brother's request he protect her during her season. His neglect no doubt led to Jane's tattered reputation. In reparation, he's sent preapproved suitors to the house party to ensure she marries well, not to a man whose life is a nightmare.

After the woman he loves rejects his marriage proposal, Edmund Crenshaw, Viscount Escher, has sworn off women. If he can't marry Mrs. Katherine Brighton, he'll marry no one. When he discovers a daring debutante in his coach, intent on seduction, he'll do anything to protect his bachelorhood. He must remain uncompromised or doom himself and the lady to a loveless marriage. Because his heart always has, and always will, belong to only one woman—his Kat.

A new year and a new season means a new Lillian Clarke. She's transformed herself from wallflower to incomparable. But she's no Cinderella. She's washed her hands of love and of Lord Devon, her own charming prince who barely knew she existed. She'd rather be the fairy godmother, helping invisible debutantes gain the attention they deserve on the marriage mart. But even though she's booted Lord Devon from her heart, he's not done with her. His sudden appearance at her home and inexplicable teasing threaten to distract her from her debutante dreams.

This novel take on the history of wine reveals that, whether by adding toxic sweeteners or passing off counterfeit bottles, wine fraud is abundant—and as old as wine itself. Vintage Crime will intrigue even the most sated of wine drinkers with its juicy tales of deception, raising interesting questions along the way: what counts as wine, why do we drink it, and what makes a wine truly authentic?