Showing results by narrator "Raquel Beattie" in All Categories

Khalani Kanes has never stood on the surface of the earth. In the underground city of Apollo, faith and dreams are as absent as the sun. She longs to visit Genesis, the infamous Domed City and the final place where humanity lives aboveground. But when Khalani is given a life sentence and thrown into prison for a theft she didn't commit, that wish shatters into oblivion.

Falling into another world and getting captured by an arrogant, shadow-wielding fae prince wasn't on my to-do list. Neither was being told I'm his soulmate, or discovering that behind the glamor of a beautiful, violet-haired prince stood a seven-foot-tall winged beast. Stabbing him seemed like the best option. But the Prince of Shadows needs to be betrothed to avoid being sold to a goddess by his father, and he's desperate enough to make a deal: access to the glittering world of the fae nobility in return for pretending to be his mate.

Amber Patterson Parrish has come a long way. Hard work and immaculate planning turned her from invisible wallflower to prominent socialite, but there have been bumps along the way. Less than a year after her husband Jackson's tax-evasion scandal, Amber reigns supreme over the Bishops Harbor community. But with Jackson being released from prison, Amber's free time - and money - is vanishing. With shocking turns and entertaining characters, The Next Mrs. Parrish will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about duplicity and betrayal.

Scarletta: bastard, daughter of a traitor. To the Italian Don of New York, I’m nothing more than a tool to be wielded. My obedience was the price I had to pay for the sins of my father. But Dominick Romano should have worked on gaining my loyalty because the chains he shackled me with have been undone. The Four Families have always run New York: Italian Mafia, Irish Mob, Russian Bratva, and the Jirocho Yakuza Clan. An alliance cloaked in proclamations of peace while they hold knives to one another’s backs. But a new player has emerged: The Syndicate.

Unlikeable Female Characters traces the evolution of highly memorable female characters, examining what exactly makes them popular, how audiences have reacted to them, and the ways in which pop culture is finally allowing us to celebrate the complexities of being a woman. Anna Bogutskaya, film programmer, broadcaster, and cofounder of the horror film collective and podcast The Final Girls takes us on a journey through popular film, TV, and music, looking at the nuances of womanhood on and off-screen to reveal whether pop culture—and society—is finally ready to embrace complicated women.

El has trained all her life to do two things—to fly the skies on wings of roaring flames, and to burn her enemies to the ground. Now, having graduated the academy, she's ready to do both those things. . . . until she's dispatched in the opposite direction of the war effort. To a city named after vegetables of all things. Seriously, who names a place after those? But, despite it being a routine mission, El and her unit find a new enemy waiting for them. One who isn't afraid of a little fire.

Rosa Mandolini knows in her heart that her family are the greatest painters of magical illuminations in the city. But the eccentric Studio Mandolini has fallen on hard times and the future is no longer certain. While trying to help her family, Rosa discovers a strange magical box protected by a painted crow. But when she finds a way to open the box, she accidentally releases the Scarling, a vicious monster determined to destroy the Mandolini family at any cost.

To survive in the Los Muertos Cartel, you have to stay useful, especially when you're a woman. So I made sure I couldn't be replaced. Now my name is whispered about in the shadows—La Brujita de Los Muertos. Too bad I forgot that lies and deceit are the lifeblood of this toxic paradise. I should have seen the betrayal coming. My hands were always destined to be drenched in the blood of guilty men.

Lost in the wilderness, I thought the handsome stranger was my salvation—until I looked into the eyes of a beast. They say not to bargain with the fae, but there was no other choice. The deadly prince of Stag Court claims I belong to him. I only have a year and a day to convince him to let me go before I'm his forever. He's without mercy, known as a ruthless killer. Yet he protects me. Defends me. Tells me his secrets. In front of the Court, he's the Beast, but behind closed doors he gives me the chance to choose him, or not.

Blackmail isn’t the most romantic way to propose, but with the history between us…I had no choice. Long story short: I broke her heart and pushed her away. Years later we reconnected, and this time she walked away. Neither of us knew she was pregnant. So, when we had a second chance to be a real family, I led her to believe our marriage was fake—that one football season by my side was the only way to prevent another scandal for my career.

Cate thought she knew darkness. As a trauma nurse, she had witnessed the worst of humanity. But nothing could have prepared her for the fae underworld. A realm where beauty is a weapon, desire is a trap, and mortals who stray too far don't return. She almost didn't. Until Lachlan Gage—shadowed, ruthless, and feared—bound her to him with a deadly bargain. As the prince of New Orleans and ruler of the Nether Court, he is as much a curse as he is salvation. And with the Wild Hunt at his heels and war stirring, even his protection may not be enough. 

I risked my life to help fae flee a tyrant king. When my own escape goes wrong, I'm left stranded in the wilderness with an injured, arrogant fae mercenary. The last thing he wants is to claim his mortal soulmate, but we have to rely on each other, or die. Unfortunately, he's half-basilisk, and a single glance will kill me. Unless we mate . . . every three days.

Cate Holloway knows the unspoken rule of New Orleans: avoid the powerful Gage crime family at all costs. Of course, that was before her brother got caught in their chaos. Now Cate has no choice but to confront the dark and forbidding prince of New Orleans himself . . . and beg for her brother's life. But Lachlan Gage is as lethal as he is beautiful . . . and the only currency he's interested in is her soul. Because Lachlan isn't just some ruthless criminal. He's fae. And he has his own secret reasons for binding her to him.

At Breakneck Bay, the rides are fast, the injuries frequent, and the lawsuits endless. But when a teenage employee vanishes after closing, leaving behind a blood-soaked crime scene, it’s clear this summer will be the deadliest yet. Suspicion falls on park manager Mitch Blue, forcing his newlywed wife Kit to confront the cracks in their marriage—and the unsettling secrets he’s been keeping. But Kit and the police aren’t the only ones looking for answers. Someone is watching from the shadows, waiting to finish what they started years ago.

Horror fan and aspiring film director Yuiza gets a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school. But something is not quite right. As one of the few students of color at Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy, Yuiza immediately feels out of place. A brutal work-study schedule makes it impossible to keep up...

The past tore them apart. After a terrible accident took everything from Callie Stewart, enrolling at Blairwood University is supposed to be a chance at a new beginning. Living his best life, Hayden Watson, star wide receiver for the Blairwood Ravens, is heading straight for the NFL draft, and nothing is going to stand in his way. The present brings them together.

Phoenix detective Veranda Cruz is dead set on taking down the Villalobos crime family, but the ruthlessness of her quarry demands a ruthless edge of her own. Targeted by an increasingly unstable foe, Veranda must protect her family and navigate adversaries within the force while she sets a trap for Bartolo. As the action heats up, Veranda and her new Homicide team - along with an arson investigator who kindles a flame of his own - are all drawn into a deadly gambit.

A business start-up planner and toolkit for women in leadership, business, and beyond, Jefa in Training offers women entrepreneurs the female empowerment needed to take a side hustle to the next level. Whether it's learning to define your brand, set up a beta test group, or draft an LLC operating agreement, this compendium of lessons, anecdotes, and quotes teaches the next generation of women in business how to work for yourself and turn your ideas into something much bigger.

Beck Daines has everything he needs—at least that's what he wants everyone to believe. As the starting first baseman for the Blues, he has his dream job, amazing friends, and, while he's a romantic at heart, watching his friends find the love they deserve is more than enough. However, love for himself is an idea he's benched for good. After his mother was diagnosed with Early-Onset Alzheimer's, Beck stopped planning a future that could fall apart. No feelings and no forever loves to potentially forget, zero exceptions. That is, until Jensen James.

A house embedded with an artificial intelligence is a common thing: a house that is an artificial intelligence, infused with a thinking creature that is not human? That is something else. But now Deniau's been dead a year, and Rose House is locked up tight, as commanded by the architect's will: all his possessions and files and sketches are confined in its archives, and their only keeper is Rose House itself. Rose House, and one other.