Showing results by narrator "Zura Johnson" in All Categories

Blame the booze, her shaky marriage, her troubled son, or a thousand other things, but Jewelann Jordan has one thing on her mind when she attends her class reunion: making sure her old crush Christian Campbell sees exactly what he lost all those years ago. A late night, a hotel room, a rekindled flame that burns even hotter than it did back then—what could go wrong? Everything. The night with Christian isn't the first secret Jewelann has kept from her husband Ken, so one more shouldn't be much harder—except that Christian shows up without warning.

This compulsive novel wrestles with vital questions of our time: sentience, purpose, life, death, and how to make a really good commercial. Told entirely through questionably obtained company emails, chat transcripts, TED Talks, training sessions, and more, this all-too-probable future pits emotionally intelligent AI against emotionally stunted humans.

Experience the myth and magic of antiquity's most alluring—and provocative—goddess as never witnessed before, in this gorgeously rendered, unflinching, and deeply vulnerable retelling from the author of Mother of Rome and Medusa's Sisters. Two hundred years before the common era, Aphrodite...

Everly Winters is perfectly happy to navigate life like a good neutral paint color: appreciated but unnoticed. That’s why she’s still a receptionist instead of exploring a career in art, why she lurks but never posts on the forums for her favorite makeover show, On the Plus Side, and why she’s crushing so hard on her forever-unattainable co-worker. When no one notices you, they can’t reject you or insist you’re too much. This plan is working perfectly until someone secretly nominates Everly for the next season of On the Plus Side.

Sidra Solei is a cynical, deep-sea siren whose heart hardened after the final battle between her pod and the humans. When her sister arrives in the one place Sidra finds solace to inform her their pod's hunger has become too great, Sidra is determined to act. Dead set on saving her starving pod, Sidra sets off beyond their territory for the first time since childhood. In the vast, open sea, she crosses paths with a pesky seal intent on stealing her catch. But when they're both caught in the same fisherman's net, Sidra discovers the seal is actually a selkie named Breena.

Marrying for love was never in the stars for Creslyn. Drake is calculating, cruel, and wields a blade of death. But something about him draws her in, his shadows call to the darkness she keeps locked away inside of her. She isn't foolish enough to expect love from a marriage contract, but when they bind their vows in blood, Creslyn does the unthinkable—she claims Drake as her mate.

Solarius has grown accustomed to being unloved, though nothing prepares him for being tasked to marry the one female in Aeramere who loathes him. Granted, he and Narissa have a troubled past, but now they will be forced to endure whatever fate awaits them together. As suspicions toward his mother grow, Solarius knows he should focus on uncovering the truth of his bloodline, yet a new distraction with frosty green eyes has taken hold of his thoughts. Unfortunately for Solarius, he wants the one thing he can't have—his wife.

Becoming a parent, once the expected outcome of adulthood, is increasingly viewed as a potential threat to the most basic goals and aspirations of modern life. We seek self-fulfillment; we want to liberate women to find meaning and self-worth outside the home; and we wish to protect the planet from the ravages of climate change. Weighing the pros and cons of having children, millennials and zoomers are finding it increasingly difficult to judge in its favor. With lucid argument and passionate prose, Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman offer the guidance necessary to move beyond uncertainty.

Rune Dragomir is a valkyrie who, after centuries of service to Odin, has grown weary of her duties in the most prestigious sect of the House of Wings. Each night, when she is expected to be gathering the souls of fallen warriors, she sneaks away to the quaint village of Stormheim. It's there she watches the object of her deep, yet confusing fascination: Kari Kettlesdotter.

“Perfect for fans of Terry Pratchett and Delilah S. Dawson.”—Library Journal, starred review Dive into the breakneck conclusion to the Slavic folklore-inspired Witch's Compendium of Monsters duology, which began with Foul Days Foul Days featured in Book Riot | Apple Books | Screen Rant |...

Atlas Skye is the renowned prince of pleasure with the magical ability to elicit desire. Repulsed by his son's shameless reputation, the kralv issues Atlas an ultimatum. Find a wife or be shipped to a remote camp in the mountains to mine for fire rubies. Everinne Auvyre is touched by death. She thrives on careless decisions to avoid her volatile magic and the nightmares haunting her. When her brother refuses to aid her destructive habits, she finds employment at the Mystic Obscura, an exclusive parlor full of provocative entertainment, where the price to enter is a single drop of blood.

Humor and heart collide when two fake dates accidentally ruin a wedding and must play matchmaker to fix it, perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Tessa Bailey.

Annie Oakley has always suspected there is something "uncanny" about herself, but has never been able to put a name to it. But when Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show goes on tour through Germany, Bill temporarily hires a new sharpshooter to be part of his "World Wide Congress of Rough Riders": a woman named Frida, who also happens to be an Elemental Master of Air. Alongside this new performer, Annie discovers that she and her husband, Frank, are not simply master marksman, but also magicians of rare ability.

Walking home late one night, burned-out barista Nell accidentally incinerates someone. Whoopsie! Now, if this tale began in a fantastic far-away land, or Nell was, perhaps, a wizard, such a mishap might make some kind of sense. But this is not a wondrous fantasy world. This is real life, and Nell just wanted to go home and eat macaroni. As Nell stares at the smoldering corpse, she realizes something with horrifying certainty: She's magic. And not the cute pulling-a-rabbit-from-a-hat kind of magic.

A year ago, Elle made a deal with the devil to save her sister. Now, they live on a desolate spit of land beyond Halifax harbor. Elle, as lighthouse keeper, steers unsuspecting sailors to their destruction; those are the terms of her bargain. Liney need never know the cost. Her safety is worth every drop of blood. But a sinner's pact is not so simple. When the devil returns, demanding more–more shipwrecks, no survivors–Elle knows what she must do to keep Liney safe...

Deep in the dark forest, in a cottage that spins on birds’ legs behind a fence topped with human skulls, lives the baba yaga. A guardian of the water of life, she lives with her sisters and takes to the skies in a giant mortar and pestle, creating tempests as she goes. Those who come across the baba yaga may find help, or hinderance, or horror. She is wild, she is woman, she is witch—and these are her tales.

Mia Madden is pretty sure that the road to dating app hell is paved with suspiciously hot profiles. Take tonight's date, for example. Alex Conroy is unreasonably gorgeous—he's got that whole "board-room in the streets, lumberjack in the sheets" happening—but he also represents everything she loathes about corporate hustle culture. Yet another lousy date to laugh-cry about later. Except, it turns out that Alex is also the hot-shot new boss her dad can't stop complaining about—the Forbes thirty-under-thirty company fixer of his nightmares. Worse, their respective best friends are dating.

In the Underworld, Prue must stop Apollo from stealing the throne. But when Cyrus allies himself with the enemy, she fears losing him—and her kingdom—forever. In the mortal realm, Mona and Evander seek out allies to help them take down Apollo. When they hear whispers of the Titans reawakening, they realize the threat is more deadly than they imagined.

The relics of St. Nicholas are among the most divine and prized possessions in the Christian world, said to hold the power to heal the most incurable diseases and protect those who come in contact with them. Biblical archeologist Maggie Shepherd has the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to extract and study one of these priceless artifacts buried in the tomb of the man who is now known as Santa Claus. In just a few weeks, on Christmas Eve, the Pope will present the venerated relic of St. Nicholas to the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Moscow in the hope of reuniting East and West.

After losing her husband, Sarah is doing everything she can to hold herself—and her young son Theo—together. When Elena appears, calm, capable, and eager to help, she seems like the answer to Sarah's prayers. Theo adores her, and for the first time in months, Sarah feels like she can finally breathe. But soon, little things start to feel… off. Lullabies Sarah has never sung filling the house. Documents moved. Unfamiliar items appearing in Theo's room. And the way Elena looks at her son—as if he belongs to her.