Showing results by narrator "Helen Taylor" in All Categories

It’s 1998, and female students are going missing at Southern State University in North Carolina, but freshman Jessica Fadley, once a bright and responsible student, is going through her own struggles. Just as her life seems to be careening dangerously out of control, she suddenly disappears. Twenty-four years later, Jessica’s sister Lindsey is desperately searching for answers and uses the momentum of a new chart-topping true crime podcast that focuses on cold cases to guide her own investigation.

Stephanie Marchmont, 17 years, has been sent from London to cool her heels in a country house in Surrey, to be separated from her loving family as punishment for her putting herself in danger there once too often. But she encounters a band of footpads attacking a gentleman, and enters the fray with her customary bravery.

When a dully dressed family arrive at Tremaine Towers, home of Cedric Marchmont, Earl of Tremaine, the other residents are shocked, thinking them some poor relations. The earl's family have been dubbed The Royals by his youngest sister Ophelia, for since unexpectedly becoming the family of an earl, they have been encouraged in every fashionable excess to fit their new position in society. Agatha, the countess, Charles the dandified brother, Ophelia and Queenie, the sisters, must hold themselves with new dignity, says the earl.

For Anabelle Baird, the fortnight’s holiday with her fiancé, Philip Ancell, in Lisbon has not been a happy one. At the Lisbon airport she has a surprise encounter with Angus Pemberton, whom she had last seen seven years ago when he left Steyne under a cloud and went to Brazil. Anabelle’s reunion with Angus and her strange meeting with Luis, a small Portuguese boy, are but portents of her involvement in a mystery which pursues her to Steyne and finds its roots there in the home of Angus’ eccentric old grandmother Lady Evelyn Pemberton.

In an inn, on the way to her first London Season, Katerina Fortune hears something that gives her a chance to escape her fate. Acting on impulse, she hires a gig and presents herself to a reclusive gentleman to offer herself as a bride. For Katerina, the eighth daughter of Castle Fortune (her Yorkshire home) has no intention of letting her father sell her to the highest bidder in town.

Georgette Fortune has loved the same man for over two years now, but he does not even know she exists. When the handsome Marquis of Onslow appears at a house party in her home, the crumbling Castle Fortune, he does not recognise her at all. With six unmarried daughters to provide for, and in the hope of marriage settlements, Baron Fortune has invited guests to a home ill prepared for it. He hopes that young Lord Paxton, who has shown interest in his daughter Jocasta will finally offer for her. And while he is at it, he will introduce his other daughters to the company as well.

When wills clash and hearts collide, who will reign victorious? Termed an Incomparable during her first London season, Lady Harriett Cavendish is beautiful, spirited, and confident, capturing the attention of a great many suitors. Unfortunately, they all failed to capture her attention, and she concluded the season as unattached as she'd begun it. Only weeks prior to her second season, Harriett encounters Lieutenant Christopher Jamison while visiting Tanglewood Manor.

When Miss Coralynn Notley's father barters her off to the first titled gentleman to come along, she realizes she must flee her home or be forced to wed a despicable man. Driven by desperation, she applies for the position of housekeeper at Tanglewood Manor, the home of the handsome Mr. Jonathan Ludlow. The moment Jonathan sees Miss Notley, he is intrigued. She is far too young and inexperienced, yet there is something about her that that inspires a certain hope within him.

Marianne has disconcertingly open manners and a liveliness that Miss Wolfraston deplores. When she visits her aunt in Cheltenham, these traits inevitably lead her into a series of scrapes. Lord Cranbourne has already been disappointed in love once and is in no hurry to find a bride. Annoyed at his sister’s matchmaking attempts, he accompanies his friend Sir Horace Bamber to Cheltenham. He expects to be heartily bored. Then, he meets Marianne. Both have lessons to learn; not least that no one is quite what they seem.

For as long as Prudence can remember, it has been understood her sister will one day wed the eldest son of their nearest neighbor. Prudence, an aspiring romance novelist, believes her sister is mad to consider marrying a man she hardly knows, even if he will one day make her a countess. Unable to stand by and do nothing, Prudence sets out to help the awkward couple discover the best in each other with the hope they will eventually find love. What she neglected to foresee, however, was the possibility she might fall in love with Lord Knave herself.

Soon after her twin Leonora's marriage a bereft Marguerite Fortune is going home to Castle Fortune, with only her self serving male relatives for company. But Baron Fortune, her papa, has a diversion planned on the journey…one that concerns getting his last daughter wed.

When Colin Cavendish, the new earl of Drayson, informs Lucy Beresford that she and her mother need to vacate the house they've called home for the past two years, Lucy is fit to be tied. They have no money, no relations they can turn to for help, and nowhere to go. How dare the earl break the promise his father had made to the Beresfords without so much as a twinge of conscience?

Four very different women, all wanting to escape cold and dreary London for different reasons, come together to share a month's holiday in an Italian medieval castle. There’s timid Lotty Wilkins, terrified of her domineering husband; sober and religious Rose Arbuthnot; rigid and judgemental Mrs Fisher; and the breathtakingly beautiful but disillusioned and unhappy Lady Caroline Dester. They are lured to the castle by the advertised 'wisteria and sunshine', but they end up finding there so much more than they had bargained for.

Hugh Brandforth, the seventh earl of Ormsley, returns to his estate after wasting several weeks searching for a bride. He is looking forward to some much-needed rest and recreation. All is not as he left it, however. Within an hour, he finds himself berated by his old nurse and assaulted by Miss Cressida Harrington, an eccentric termagant he has never before encountered. She is not at all the sort of woman he admires. He wants a respectable bride who will not ask for more than he can give—love. She has no need or desire to marry, and love is the only thing that might change her mind.

When her sister decides to throw an impromptu summer house party, Sophia reluctantly agrees to help. What she doesn’t realize is that her sister has plans of her own — plans that would bring a certain childhood friend back into Sophia’s life. It’s been nearly a decade since Sophia has seen Hugh Quinton. He’s grown into a handsome, charming, and successful — yet completely unacceptable — tradesman. Her mother looks down on him, her father detests him, and society would snub him in an instant. Sophia shouldn’t even consider him.

Captain Charles Bassington of the 13th Light Dragoons is famed for his good luck, high spirits, and devil-may-care attitude. He escapes serious injury at Waterloo only to succumb to an inflammation of the lungs. When he returns home to recuperate, cracks begin to appear in his cheery façade. It is only when two eminently eligible bachelors appear to be vying for the hand of his childhood friend, Lady Selena Sheringham, that Charles realizes his heart’s desire. But how can the younger son of a baron ever hope to be worthy of the wealthy daughter of an earl?

Lucille Abbey runs her London secretarial agency with utmost efficiency. When, therefore, a certain Professor Hallam rejects three girls sent by her to apply for the post of his secretary and they each pronounce him "impossible", Lucille herself sets out to interview the Professor at his home in Hampshire. He is, she finds, eccentric—even impossible; but he represents a challenge and, what is more, an excuse to delay what promises to be a trying holiday in Paris. She stays on to tame and to organize him—a less formidable task than she had imagined; in fact, she grows fond of him.

If you like spirited heroines and strong heroes, dive into the Bachelor Brides Collection - a series of traditional Regency romances.

There was no doubt about it, Felicity Oldfield’s grand London adventure had commenced. First, she had been abducted by a peer of the realm, released, then in less than a few hours she had arrived in London for the post of governess, been cast off without a sou, walked the streets of London alone, been pursued by a young gentleman, met a man of bad character who might have led her onto a path of ruination, saved by a rich and fashionable couple in their velvet-lined coach, and was even now being taken to her mad Aunt Ellingham where she expected to be treated appallingly....

To the miserable atmosphere of the country house of Studham, home to the Fighting Fox family, Miss Ianthe Eames, a whirlwind, arrives. Known in London as the Fighting Foxes, Lord Edward Fox is at odds with his stepmother, Lady Fox, and her spoiled son Curtis. Studham is hardly a joyful place to live. As the Fighting Fox family await the arrival of a poor relation from France, Lady Fox is ready to berate her late arrival, Lord Edward Fox is resigned to ignoring her, Curtis is ready to patronise her - while the resident visitors are ready to sympathise.