Showing results by narrator "Laurie Catherine Winkel" in All Categories

For us, it was a literal knock, with two men standing in crisply pressed uniforms. They had news. News that gutted us to the core - the death of our loved ones, a brother and two husbands - in combat zones. The thing about those moments is that it's almost inconceivable that they can happen to you. That is, until they do.

Re •sent •ment: The act of hating - no, f--king loathing Dean Collins. (Yes, I'm well aware that's not the actual definition, but it might as well be....) It's been 10 years since we've seen each other, and the feelings are still as strong. I'm not going to bore you with all the details of how our love was once intoxicating, consuming, and perfect. Because it was...until it wasn't. I've been fine without him. I haven't missed his cruelty, his coldness, and his spite. And after the ugliest breakup in the history of breakups, I forced myself to move on.

Gabby Mendoza just wants to be a normal teenage girl. Unfortunately, she's facing some serious obstacles in the "normal" department. For one, she's living out the zombie apocalypse in an underground bunker. Second, she's been raised by her crazy ex-CIA uncle to be a petite zombie-killing machine. And third - she's not entirely human.

I was a just normal guy until the night the cherry blossoms bloomed, the night that Grace appeared on my doorstep. A failed sci-fi writer, a gamer, but a normal guy nonetheless. Grace was everything I was not - a psychic shifter, beautiful beyond my wildest imagination, a government conspiracy waiting to be unraveled. And that was before the second superpowered woman showed up to kill us both.

Ryan has died, been reborn as a dungeon core, defeated a necromancer, and made a number of friends along the way. Life, well un-life, is good. However, everything changed when the demons attacked. With his dungeon town in danger and cultists scheming in the shadows, Ryan must decide whether to draw upon the darker side of his own nature - unlocking powers far greater than anything he has accessed before. Something his new dungeon fairy seems suspiciously excited about.

As a long-time gamer and guild leader, Cerys has always wondered what it would be like to live in virtual reality. When her guild members convince her to try a new VRMMO, she discovers reality is far more complex than she knew. Chosen by the gods of another world, Cerys finds herself trapped between warring factions: a tyrannical human empire and an oppressed kingdom of demons.

On a frozen wasteland of a planet, a girl is on the run with a wolf who is born to be a killer but bound to be her guide. As they fight to escape ice goblins, giant bears, and a ruthless leader intent on trapping them both, one question drives them relentlessly forward: Where do you turn when there is nowhere to hide?

He could have been way worse off. Sure, Daniel was stuck in-game as the local bard of a quaint village, but people were nice, the quests juicy, and the lore intriguing. Even so, with the mob on the look-out, Daniel would soon find himself sorely tested to avoid detection.

Chance Abbot is cocky. Sexy. Gorgeous. A player in every sense of the word. He broke my heart once, and I swore he'd never get a second chance. But when he smiles at me, flashing those irresistible dimples or looks at me like I'm the best thing he's ever seen, I forget I shouldn't fall for his charms again.

I'm the worst. Seriously. Ask anyone and they'll tell you, "Sylvie Orion is the world's worst witch." But being a supernatural bounty hunter requires more smarts than magic. When my latest client—a kleptomaniac werewolf—disappears, I'm on the hunt to drag him to justice. It should be a simple track ‘em and cuff ‘em operation, something I've done a hundred times before. Instead, I somehow acquire an unwanted vampire sidekick, wake up in a ditch, and piss off half of shifter nation.

In the aftermath of the Developer’s Tournament, Esil has a new life filled with opportunity. He’s the first person to test out their most innovative technology, full-immersion gameplay, in a brand new, unexplored gameworld. Magic and mayhem collide in ways he never thought possible, and soon he finds himself caught in a quest that may alter the course of the game for years to come. As Esil experiences the grandeur of full-immersion and the line blurs between reality and the gameworld, the NPCs he meets feel more like friends than data.

Draysky was born to die on the ridge. Like his father before him, his fate was to harvest elemental treasures until the dust claimed his lungs. As the lowest of society, a Knotted, the thin cord around his neck signifies to all his low rank. He would never progress as a mage, nor learn of the forbidden runes of the kingdom magicians.

Jynn Devhro used to be Earth's lowest-ranked Hunter, one of a breed of enhanced humans trained to fight the monsters terrorizing what's left of mankind. Through rigorous training and death-defying encounters with monsters—along with the help of the vengeance-seeking System grafted onto her soul—she has secretly leveled up, leaving her public ranking untouched. Now, her razor-sharp kindjal at her side, Jynn's ready for battle. But just when things seem to be looking up, it all comes crashing down.

Paris, 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

Things are about to get sticky...I might as well permanently add the label "Ex" to my name. I'm an Ex-Mr. Universe. Ex-Mr. Olympus. An Ex-Hollywood Stuntman. But no one from my small hometown cares anything about that. They only care that I'm the ex-boyfriend to the beloved Mayor's daughter, Elaina Dyker. And now, t10 years later, I'm back, helping my siblings run my mother's bakery while she takes on chemotherapy treatments. What should have been a routine cupcake delivery turns into utter chaos when the bachelorette party thinks I'm a stripper.

Living through World War II working in a Paris bookstore with her young daughter, Vivi, and fighting for her life, Charlotte is no victim, she is a survivor. But can she survive the next chapter of her life? Alternating between wartime Paris and 1950s New York publishing, Ellen Feldman's Paris Never Leaves You is an extraordinary story of resilience, love, and impossible choices, exploring how survival never comes without a cost.

Akio Prince is one of the best in the world at a dying art. He’s put a lifetime of martial arts training to work in the arena, dueling with pulsing resin blades and glowing carbon fiber for the masses. But winning championships is small consolation while his city is taken over by the Hachinin, ruthless criminals spreading corruption, violence, and debauchery across the east.

Double, double, bard in trouble. Mob will catch him in a couple... Okay, the mobsters looking for Daniel still hadn't found him. That was the good news. Bad news? The net was tightening - and Daniel was running out of places to hide inside the Dawnlight Forest in the World of Chains. His skills and achievements as a bard did not help avoid attention - quite the opposite, in fact.

Success beyond my wildest dreams? Too bad I wasn't able to fully enjoy it. No time to sit back and watch the fame roll in when you're being hunted by superpowereds and a private military force. Still, everything was going according to plan. Grace, Veronique, and I were headed south. Our target? The secret government facilities scattered across the country. The second installment of Mutants in the Making was nearing completion, ready to be published any day now. Things were tense, but all was well. I wish they would have stayed that way....

Gideon and the ladies continue their uphill battle against Mercsecure, and along the way, bust even more super ladies out of The New Mexico Facility high-security research lab to join the fight, including the speedy, motor-mouthed Michelle.