Showing results by narrator "Amanda" in All Categories

With kids to look after, an ailing mother and a neglected husband, life is full for Emma Fountain—too full, she realises, when she wakes up in IKEA after falling asleep in one of the show beds. Only her crazy, funny best friend Roz keeps her sane. But when Roz climbs in through her bathroom window one day to deliver terrible news, Emma’s belief that she can find a way around any obstacle crumbles in the face of a problem she just can’t fix.

The threat of war has arrived at Diem's doorstep, along with a new discovery that could save her people. To use it, she must survive the next thirty days by forming a devil's bargain with the people she hates most: the royal family of House Corbois. As she dives into the world of the Descended elite, Diem quickly realizes good and evil aren't as simple as they seem. Old prejudices are challenged, and new loyalties blur the line between friend and foe.

My life was going just fine by most standards. I ran a successful business in a tight-knit magical community, and lived just blocks from a beautiful lake and series of hiking trails. Then Selene showed up. According to some magical code I inherit my aunt's ancient familiar; a grumpy ten-pound cat with a broken filter. She fancies herself something of a saber-toothed tiger, and claims to have wrestled the thread of her ninth life from the hands of the Fates themselves—although, I'm pretty sure that last part isn't true. Almost positive.

For identical twins Remy and Ashleigh, everything changes with one childhood decision. A simple act of love that unwittingly alters the paths they will both walk—an act of love that will echo through decades… As the years unfold, their lives take dramatically different courses. Ashleigh soars through a glittering London career with the perfect house and family, but beneath her success lies a gnawing truth: her whole life is built on a lie. Meanwhile, Remy stays close to home, finding joy in simple pleasures, yet forever feeling the weight of being ‘the other twin’—the one who didn’t shine.

Brought to you by Penguin. In this sizzling dystopian romance, perfect for fans of­ Fourth Wing ­and ­The Hunger Games, your secrets can be a death sentence, and there are rules to survival: TRUST NO ONE. Twenty-year-old Wren Darlington is not your ordinary Mod. She’s one of the most...

Ever since magic stormed the world, the price for human survival is surrendering your firstborn to the monsters. But this year it's Nova's turn, and the monsters better watch their backs. 

Barbara Pym is one of the 20th-century's wittiest, and most underrated, novelists. Her perceptive comedies of manners, centred around the domestic lives and loves of unassuming middle-class Englishwomen, won her many devoted readers and saw her hailed as a modern-day Jane Austen. Yet she spent 15 years out of print in the 1960s and '70s, until Philip Larkin championed her work in the Times Literary Supplement. Her seventh novel was subsequently shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and writers from Jilly Cooper to Alexander McCall Smith continue to laud her talent today.

In this sweeping history of the ancient Near East, Amanda Podany takes listeners on a gripping journey from the creation of the world's first cities to the conquests of Alexander the Great. The book is built around the life stories of many ancient men and women, from kings, priestesses, and merchants to brickmakers, musicians, and weavers. Their habits of daily life, beliefs, triumphs, and crises, and the changes that people faced over time are explored through their own written words and the buildings, cities, and empires in which they lived.

Daisy Harrop has always felt like she exists in the background, and since her mother stopped getting out of bed, her life has come to a complete standstill. Daisy would give anything to leave the shabbiest house on the street and be more like the golden Kelleways next door, with their perfectly raked driveway and flourishing rose garden… Winnie Kelleway is proud of the beautiful family she’s built. They’ve had their ups and downs—hasn’t everyone? But this weekend, celebrating her golden wedding anniversary is truly proof of their happiness, a joyful gathering for all the neighbours to see.

I have exactly 5 hours and 10 minutes to get from Boston to New York City or the professional opportunity of a lifetime disappears. My only travel option? The second to last seat on a discount bus. Across from the bathroom. Wearing last night’s clothes (don’t ask). All worth it if I can make it in time.

On the worst birthday of my life, I come home to find my boyfriend in bed with another woman. Within hours, I’m drunk, homeless, and pledging to stay single forever. And that is when the dangerously sexy Seelie King rolls through town, looking for fae like me.

Riley Denton-Everett always felt like something was missing in her life—and her numerous odd jobs and short-lived relationships haven’t brought her any closer to finding it. Everything changes when she receives a mysterious message: You’re a Denton. You belong on Starfall Point. Once you’re here, I’ll tell you everything you need to know. When Riley arrives on the island, she learns her aunt has left her a historic mansion brimming with haunted antiques. Turns out, that’s not the only thing she’s inherited. Riley also hails from a long line of witches.

Against all the odds, Dolly Rawlins and her gangland widows managed the impossible: a heist their husbands had failed to pull off - at the cost of their lives. But though they may be in the money, they're far from easy street. Shocked by her husband's betrayal, Dolly discovers Harry Rawlins isn't dead. He knows where the four women are and he wants them to pay. And he doesn't just mean getting his hands on the money. The women can't keep running. They have to get Harry out of their lives for good. But can they outwit a criminal mastermind who won't hesitate to kill?

Maybe it was the Shenanigans gift certificate that put her over the edge. When children's librarian and self-professed nice girl Jane Jameson is fired by her beastly boss and handed $25 in potato skins instead of a severance check, she goes on a bender that's sure to become Half Moon Hollow legend. On her way home, she's mistaken for a deer, shot, and left for dead.

A human with dragon blood who tries to hide it. A world ruled by tyrannical dragons that have enslaved all the races. A martial school where those who have dragon blood and manifest the Power are sent to learn to fight for their dragon lords. A training of sword and magic that only the strongest will survive. An academy where a simple look, a small mistake, a sign of weakness can cost you your life. Dragons have no mercy. Dragons despise the weak.

Trust can be a dangerous thing. Trusting your instincts, trusting your friends, but more so, Trusting your heart. Because the General wasn’t what I thought he was. No, he was so much more. More than the cruelty and malice I believed consumed his soul. More than the darkness in his eyes and the monsters he commanded. And now he needed my help. Help with the Rift that ruptured and caused our worlds to collide. But as the truth started to unravel, I was left asking myself how far into his world was I willing to let myself fall? And more than anything…

Caroline Wilton has no time for romance. She’s too busy running her family’s bar to even think about dating. She’s also one of Starfall Point’s resident witches, responsible for keeping the local ghost population in check. But even the most magical of witches can use a shoulder to lean on, which is what happens when Ben Hoult, the handsome doctor she never quite got over, walks back into her life. Ben is a single dad now, and as he and Caroline reconnect, they discover that they both have a knack for helping and protecting the people near and dear to them.

In this honest discussion of mental health, the founder of Therapy for Women explores our reasons for drinking alcohol—and the benefits of taking a break. When “retired party girl” and popular therapist Amanda White admitted she was an alcoholic, it wasn’t because she’d done something...

In a world where costumed heroes soar through the sky and masked vigilantes prowl the night, someone has to make sure the "supes" don't get out of line. And someone will! Billy Butcher, Wee Hughie, Mother's Milk, The Frenchman, and The Female are The Boys: a CIA-backed team of very dangerous people, each one dedicated to the struggle against the most dangerous force on Earth - superpower! Some superheroes have to be watched. Some have to be controlled. And some of them - sometimes - need to be taken out of the picture. That's when you call in The Boys!  

Patrick Hamilton is renowned for his gritty, slice-of-life tales chronicling the hopes, dreams and obsessions of London's working class in the inter-war years. This collection brings together his key pieces, together with some lesser-known classics and a bonus 2004 documentary exploring his achievements and legacy.