Showing results by narrator "Zura Johnson" in All Categories

Loren Calla has only ever been ordinary. As a human struggling to survive in a city that caters to the needs of vampires, werewolves, witches, and other supernatural creatures, she always assumed her life would remain simple, predictable, and as safe as her world would allow. Until she barely escapes abduction at the hands of Darkslayers—supernatural bounty hunters that possess the Sight, a magical tracking ability that allows them to see a person's aura—and one of her friends is taken in her place. The abductors are demanding a ransom: Loren's life in exchange for her friend's safe return.

Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she's going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that's no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Loren soon finds herself caught in a new storm of trouble when the Terran Imperator blackmails her into working for him. There's only one problem: he expects her to use her magic, and she doesn't seem to have any of it left. To keep Darien and the other Devils safe, she agrees to everything the imperator asks of her. But the secrets she is forced to keep from Darien and her involvement with the imperator's son threaten to drive her away from Darien in ways she might never recover from…

Museum curator Amara Grant has big plans. Open a museum in Haiti plans. Return local artifacts to their country of origin plans. Getting fired from the prestigious museum she works at? Not part of the plan. But that’s exactly what happens when she discovers that a priceless set of bracelets on display are actually fake.

For well over a century, Monster Hunter International has kept the world safe from supernatural threats far and wide. Now, join us as we delve some of the wilder stories from the library archives which have never seen the light of day. The Monster Hunter Files Vol. 2 continues the secret lore and mythical battles against the forces of evil, and the fallout from these conflicts.

She followed a thief to a gaming house. A dragon followed her home. Joanna Marlow has a weakness for charming men, but sadly, her current love interest has sticky fingers along with his handsome face. When he filches a family heirloom for his entry fee to a gambler's den, she resolves to reclaim it—ideally without having to confront the scoundrel. Instead, she unleashes chaos. Her brand of magic, the ability to skip through space like a stone across a pond, lands her in a dragon's conservatory, where the beast takes potent interest in her.

When Melanie D'Angelo arrives at Rose Cottage, she’s only looking to mend her shattered heart and restore the beautiful house her grandmother once called home. The last thing she wants is to become involved with her landscape designer.... Single dad Mike Mikelewski can't deny his instant connection with the gorgeous Melanie, but he already has a woman in his life - his adorable but troubled young daughter, Jessie. So even though Melanie makes his heart pound - and Jessie smile - he won’t allow himself to take a chance on a love that’s blossoming just like the Rose Cottage garden.

The Alliance has been fighting the Syndics for a century—and losing badly. Now its fleet is crippled and stranded in enemy territory. Their only hope is a man who's emerged from a century-long hibernation to find he has been heroically idealized beyond belief. Captain John “Black Jack” Geary’s exploits are known to every schoolchild. Revered for his heroic “last stand” in the early days of the war, he was presumed dead. But a century later, Geary miraculously returns and reluctantly takes command of the Alliance Fleet as it faces annihilation by the Syndics.

Hot on the heels of her 2018 This Is Horror Award–winning short story collection Spectral Evidence, critically horror author Gemma Files compiles fifteen more of her most startling recent nightmares—a creepily seductive downward spiral of dark poetry and existential dread, entirely suitable to the slow apocalypse going on all around us. So take your mind off your troubles and send it somewhere the rules still operate, if only to punish those who violate them.

All that stands between rowdy long-haul trucker Jill MacLeod (aka Junkmouth) and her family back in Boston is two thousand miles of asphalt. Well, that and the monstrous game the System has had her playing ever since it descended on Earth. The reward: mana. Jill's goal: kill, score, drive—and stay alive. Behind the wheel of a turreted forty-ton semi named Bertha, Jill hammers east from Montana through a gauntlet of every kind of chomping, hissing, rabid creature imaginable. Barreling forward in her magical soulbound big rig and chalking up a bumper crop of roadkill, Jill isn't alone for long.

Ivil Antagonist has everything a woman could want. Power enough to blanket out suns and turn worlds into molten hells, a fleet of warships at her command, and the fear of an entire space-faring nation. But she's silently growing tired of being at the top. There is no place more lonely for someone who has killed all of the competition, and she knows that it will be impossible to find an equal.

When twenty-seven-year-old Ingrid Lourdes receives a series of ominous messages, the mysteries of her past quickly unravel, and the nightmares she suffered from all her life are made flesh. She is catapulted into a new world full of immortals, wraiths, cursed monsters, a raging religious war, and a secret society of beings just like her called world-walkers—living on Earth, but driven from their home world of Ealis. With the help of Dean Crassus, one of the leaders of this secret army of world-walkers, she is forced into a Homeric series of misadventures.

Nevada Baylor can’t decide which is more frustrating—harnessing her truthseeker abilities or dealing with Connor “Mad” Rogan and their evolving relationship. Yes, the billionaire Prime is helping her navigate the complex magical world in which she’s become a crucial player—and sometimes a pawn—but she also has to deal with his ex-fiancée, whose husband has disappeared, and whose damsel-in-distress act is wearing very, very thin.

When Lykke finds herself sentenced to death for murdering a fae noble, she’s shocked to see it’s the older brother—Connor—who steps in to save her...and not in the way she expected. In a world jaded by war, where love is weakness, a fae prince finds himself torn between his desire to save his country and his growing love for a human. He can’t save both, but how can he choose between his duty and his heart?

This is a tale that used to be about dungeons... But these days it's more about learning how to properly dress a rabbit for a stew or trying to figure out if your new eight-stringed lute can actually replace a whole orchestra.

For the past six months, Loren Calla's life has consisted of one simple objective: stay alive. With the help of her new friends and the love of a ruthless Darkslayer, she has defied the odds. But with the Veil rapidly falling, and swarms of bloodthirsty creatures invading Yveswich, survival has once again stepped beyond her reach. Pushed into a war between worlds, she must ask herself a question: what—or who—is she willing to sacrifice for victory? For love?

When Darkslayer Darien Cassel first took human Loren Calla under his wing, he made a promise to protect her from anything. Now that she has fallen into a coma, every day a losing battle to return to life, he is determined to save her. When he hears rumors of the one place in Terra that houses a secret that just might bring her back to him, he drops everything to try it, leaving behind the city he grew up in and the people he calls family. His decision sets his best friend Maximus Reacher onto a road of his own.

Nevada Baylor runs a small-time detective agency in Houston, Texas, busting scammers, exposing cheaters, and dealing with petty criminals. She's very good at her job–helped by a magical ability to sense when someone tells the truth or lies. But when she's forced into accepting a case to find a radical pyrotechnic who can conjure heat and fire at will, Nevada knows she's out of her league. To bring him to justice, she'll have to join forces with someone who wields an even more dangerous power.

When a master craftsman dwarf is fired, he threatens retaliation. The rogues-for-hire known as Riyria are commissioned to find and stop him. Traveling to the paradise resort of Tur Del Fur, the two are granted a lavish allowance that, along with the easy job, promises to turn the trip into a vacation. Everything would have been perfect except that the disgruntled employee’s last name is Berling and the target of his wrath is the legendary towers of Drumindor.

This is a tale that used to be about dungeons... Now it's mostly about walking in the woods with a friend, looking for mushrooms to put in your soup. Maybe haggling with the squash seller, or taking care of a neglected garden, or even just putting some jam on a good shortbread biscuit. And yes, sometimes you still go down into the dungeons with your friends, and kill monsters there, disarm traps, avoid spiked pits etcetera, etcetera. But when you come out now, it's not really about the gold and loot.