Showing results by narrator "Deborah Balm" in All Categories

Vivacious Vivienne has finally won her family's approval by getting engaged to the wealthy and upright John Vandergrift. But when threatened by a vicious blackmail scheme, it is to her childhood friend that Vivienne turns; the deliciously wicked Viscount Dashiell. Lord Dashiell promised himself long ago that his friendship with Vivienne would be the one relationship with a woman that he wouldn't ruin. He agrees to help her just to keep the little hothead safe, but soon finds that Vivienne has grown up to be very, very dangerous to all of Dash's best intentions.

He was dangerous, infamous, scandalous . . . and the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. Fighting for her land, widowed Kerry McKinnon can't believe the handsome Arthur has come to seize her home and leave her to a terrible fate. Yet from the moment they meet, a scandalous passion ignites...

New recruit Agent Carrie Harris is deployed on assignment at last. As the weeks go by, still not knowing her purpose and with nothing other than the mundane to report, will Carrie keep focused when the tedious veneer cracks to reveal the deplorable reason for her dispatch? Can she be ready to act, ditching the temptation to make her cover story real, or revert to be the honed, ruthless operator again? Will she make the right choices or be sucked into a different life, distracted by a passion which threatens to overwhelm her?

Formed of audio transcripts of covert recordings and team member journal entries, this book documents Operation Dawn Wolf, an eyes-only covert operation to identify and terminate the perpetrators of ongoing [redacted] of the highly secret Special Operations candidate-selection process. The transcripts document the progression of covertly recruited 2Lt [redacted] (now known as Carrie Harris, a.k.a. candidate Corra Hughes) through the agency’s Special Operations selection process [redacted].

Nicholas Montford is tired of the London Season, tired of the marriage mart, and most of all, he is tired of encountering a certain duchess from his past. The Hatton viscountcy has an estate in Ireland, a place his father wrote fondly of in his journal. By journeying to Ireland, Nicholas could escape the duchess he once loved as well as see to a property that a Montford has not visited since he was a boy.

With the hidden archives unlocked and their explosive secrets waiting to be deciphered, the Convocation teeters on the edge of chaos. Alise Elal, rescued from her evil father’s clutches by an unlikely hero, faces the ultimate test of her hard-won powers—if she and Cillian Harahel can fight their way to Convocation Center. There they will be joined by old friends and new in the final attempt to solve the riddle of the fall of House Phel.

In 2024, exactly one hundred years after his death at the age of 40, readers and listeners all over the world will reach for the works of Franz Kafka. Many of them will want to learn more about the enigmatic man behind the classic books filled with mysterious courts and monstrous insects. Who, exactly, was Franz Kafka? Karolina Watroba, the first Germanist ever elected as a Fellow of Oxford's All Souls College, will tell Kafka's story beyond the boundaries of language, time and space, travelling from the Prague of Kafka's birth through the work of contemporary writers in East Asia.

Christmas 1940. Despite the rationing and the blackout, excitement at Mollison Farm is building as Alice and her workforce prepare for the annual Christmas Eve party. The snow has arrived, and this year, Alice has a big secret. She has invited her evacuee children’s mother to spend a few precious days with her kids at Christmas. But disaster strikes, and Alice is given the shocking news that Rose’s home is now nothing more than a pile of bricks, and the woman herself is missing, lost in the blitz.

1173, France. Eleanor of Aquitaine has been arrested for rebelling against her husband, King Henry II of England. Her loyal ladies-in-waiting, Alice and Joanna of Agen, have fled to the nunnery at Fontrevault, where they are anxiously awaiting news of their queen. Alice and Joanna struggle to adapt to their cramped new home at the Abbey. Each is secretly nursing a broken heart—and harboring unholy desires. Joanna left behind a lover, Jean, at Eleanor's court in Poitiers, and Alice has long been in love with the queen's daughter, Marie.

How do I change my dog’s behaviour without taking away their freedom to be a dog? How do I know if I’m meeting my dog’s needs? Or even what those needs are? The answer is Good Guardianship. Join best-selling writer and dog obsessive Sally Gutteridge to consider what your dog needs in their life with you in her latest book. Get right to the heart of your dog and learn how to recognise and meet their individual preferences. Provide safe opportunities to practice natural dog behaviour, while also creating enriching experiences that build confidence and reduce stress.

Jane Montford is at a loss. She has received calls and requests to dance from gentlemen at balls, yet nothing comes of them. Her stepmother, Mrs. Bennet, always told her she was not so beautiful for nothing, yet both her sister Elizabeth and her cousin Amelia wed before her—even her cousin Nicholas found love before her! What do gentlemen find so objectionable about her? And why does no man seem inclined to court her? While walking in Hyde Park, Jane stumbles across two alone and frightened little girls in need of her aid.

Only hours after stepping off a plane, and still reeling from the turmoil of her last assignment, agent Carrie Harris’ journey to headquarters is interrupted when the Operation Center tasks her to hunt down something so sensitive they can’t even tell her about it. Can our hero stay focused enough to see if she’s a match for the evil she’s confronted with and return what was stolen, or will Carrie lose everything she holds dear, including her life?

The Galaxy Unit was relatively new to the force; it had been set up two years previously, specifically to work with cases of child abduction and murder. All of the team worked well together, handling over 30 cases at any one time. The hardest to deal with by far were those children who were taken completely randomly, by strangers for sexual exploitation, trafficking, or sometimes, to replace a lost child. These cases were rare and up until now, Rocco could count the cases she’d personally headed up, on one hand. All that was about to change for all of them, forever.

Jadren El-Adrel knows he’s a mess. He’s a cobbled-together monster pretending to be a wizard, still unable to master the magic that makes him pretty much immortal and is useless for anything else. Though he’s tried to learn to work with his familiar, Seliah, he’s still terrified to discover what might happen if he gives himself full access to the depths of her powerful magic. Some questions should never be answered.

Lord Gabriel Phel at last holds his dream in his grasp—and faces losing everything. He’s finally won the love of his wife, familiar, and mother of his child, and she offers him a heartfelt commitment he can truly believe in. Together they’re building a true house, one with a growing family of friends and allies that can help them stand against their enemies. And he’s learning to master his magic, to use it as the powerful tool and weapon it should be. But old and new enemies array themselves to take it all away.

Lady Veronica Elal has been freed from her tower—and entered a life of servitude. It doesn’t matter that her wizard master has odd ideas about circumventing Convocation tradition and making their relationship equal. Nic prides herself on her practicality, and that means not pretending her marriage is full of hearts and flowers. Besides, she understands that, despite her new husband’s idealism, they face obstacles so great the pair of them could be crushed to nothing, even without dashing themselves brainless trying to fight the Convocation.

A month after solving the murder of the Duke of Everton, Miss Victoria Parker is ready to indulge in a week of leisure. And, what better setting than the quiet solitude of the farm belonging to the brother of her assistant, James Kensington? Although the getaway sounds promising, it does come with two caveats: Victoria and James must quieten their budding romance, and they must play guardian to James’ 18-year-old niece, Dinah, a task to which Vicky readily agrees, and a decision she will soon regret.

The Witzel Solstice Party is the highlight of an otherwise quiet winter season in Pigsend. But when Vellora and Ida Witzel start receiving mysterious, threatening letters, the party—and their own safety—may be in jeopardy. Across the street, Bev's got an inn full of suspects—and a freak winter storm to keep them all in one place. They all have their secrets, and it's a race against time and melting snow to figure out who's blackmailing the butchers—and which secret they're threatening to expose.

Things are heating up in Pigsend, starting with mysterious magical events around the summer solstice and continuing through the annual Pigsend Harvest Festival. Get the final four books in the Weary Dragon Inn Series, including Zealots and Zeniths, Campaigns and Curses, Perils and Potions, and Royals and Ruses in a convenient bundle.

Georgiana Darcy wants nothing more than to fall in love, yet her innate reserve as well as a traumatic event in her past makes her uneasy in company—particularly in the company of gentlemen. She desires a husband and family, but how is she to manage such a feat when she will not even consider partaking of a London Season? She cannot so much as hold a meaningful conversation with most men, which does not bode well for falling in love.