Showing results by narrator "Avita Jay" in All Categories

Weathering critical scorn, Lady Audley's Secret quickly established Mary Elizabeth Braddon as the leading light of Victorian 'sensation' fiction, sharing the honour only with Wilkie Collins. Addictive, cunningly plotted and certainly sensational, Lady Audley's Secret draws on contemporary theories of insanity to probe mid-Victorian anxieties about the rapid rise of consumer culture. What is the mystery surrounding the charming heroine?

At their wedding Mia and Roy Kapoor promised to love and cherish each other. Whilst not perfect, their marriage is sacred and their commitment absolute. But a knock at the door changes everything when Roy is questioned over the disappearance of a young woman. As Roy and Mia’s life unravels, they must question everything they know about each other if their marriage is to survive. But what if the real truth is not what they, or you, think?

Aderyn's ancestral bird is a swan. But she has not transformed for years, not since witnessing the death of her mother. With the benevolent shelter of her mother and her father now lost, Aderyn is at the mercy of her brutal uncle, the King, and his royal court. Driven by revenge and love, she must venture into the malevolent heart of the Citadel in order to seek the truth about the attack that so nearly destroyed her, to fight for the only home she has ever known and for the land she has vowed to protect.

Soma is a shy young woman adrift in a strange new country. After moving from Sri Lanka to Yorkshire to become a nanny to baby Louis, Soma tries to settle into life in the UK, even if every day presents her with a new challenge, from trying new food or getting to grips with the language. But the one thing Soma never counted on was falling in love....

Naia dreams of becoming a Jaihar Blademaster, but after assaulting a teacher, her future seems ruined. The timely intervention of a powerful stranger suddenly elevates her into elite Upper Grounds training. She has no idea that the stranger is Dal Gassan, head of the Daljeer Circle. Seventeen years ago he witnessed the massacre of Challimar’s court and rescued its sole survivor, a baby girl. Gassan plans to thrust a blade into the machinations of imperial succession: Naia. Disguised as the legendary Princess Xarimet of Challimar, Naia must challenge the imperial family and win.

Kyndra has finally mastered her cold Starborn powers - but is it too late? A faction of assassins who can manipulate time plan to rewrite the history of Acre. These Khronostians will ensure the Sartyan Empire was never founded. And in this new narrative, Kyndra is never even born. With her ally Char and the rogue Khronostian Ma, Kyndra resolves to enlist the help of the dragons, banished long ago. They must find them first, but together they could generate a huge amount of power. It could propel Kyndra far back in time, to avert the ending of an era.

Luck Uglies was a name whispered around the docks and darkest taverns, places where men played fast and loose with the law…Rye has grown up hearing the legend of the Luck Uglies - notorious deadly outlaws who once stalked the streets. Now they have faded to ghosts and rumours and Rye isn't sure they ever existed. Then on the night of the Black Moon, strange cries are heard from the forest Beyond the Shale, and dark shapes glimpsed in the shadows.

On the day Kyndra comes of age, she accidentally disrupts an ancient ceremony. So when an unnatural storm targets her superstitious community, Kyndra is blamed. She fears for her life until two strangers save her, wielding powers not seen for an age. Together, they flee to the hidden citadel of Naris, where Kyndra will be tested to unlock her own magic. If she survives the ordeal, she'll discover a force greater than she could ever have imagined.

Carrie Fraser cannot believe her luck when she is invited to work at Oakenbury Hall, a beautiful manor house in the English countryside. Nor can she quite get over the owner of Oakenbury – the gorgeous Morgan Harrington. The more time Carrie spends with him, the further she begins to fall. But the likes of Carrie Fraser could never be enough for a high-flying businessman like Morgan… could she?

Meet eleven-year-old Dara Palmer. She loves dancing and dreams of being a world famous actress - which means she has to get the main part in the school play. When she doesn't get any part at all, Dara begins to wonder whether it's because of her looks rather than her acting skills. But Dara has big ideas - and is determined not to let prejudice stop her from being in the spotlight.

Jarlath 'Jar' Costello's girlfriend, Rosa, committed suicide when they were both students at Cambridge. Jar is obsessed with the idea that Rosa is still alive and is tormented by disturbingly real sightings of her. When a startling discovery convinces him more than ever that these are not just hallucinations, Jar is thrust into the heart of a larger intrigue that may finally shed some light on Rosa's death.

A gripping Orwellian vision of Britain, with a rebellious Hunger Games heart, Bright Ruin is the third and final title in Vic James’ electrifying Dark Gifts Trilogy, following Tarnished City. In a world where the lower classes must endure 10 years of forced service to a magical aristocracy, a revolution is brewing that will transform - or destroy - the world. And not everyone will be saved....

Rosie and Daniel have moved to Ceylon with their little daughter to start a new life at the dawn of the 1920s, attempting to put the trauma of the First World War behind them and to rekindle a marriage that gets colder every day. However, even in the lush plantation hills it is hard for them to escape the ties of home and the yearning for fulfilment that threatens their marriage.

Married to a soldier who has returned from Afghanistan injured in body and mind, Stella Carey leaves the house every evening. During her nursing shifts, Stella writes letters for her patients to their loved ones - some full of humour, love and practical advice, others steeped in regret or pain - promising to post them after their deaths. Until one night Stella writes the letter that could give her patient one last chance at redemption, if she delivers it in time....

In the brief golden years of King Edward VII’s reign, Rosie McCosh and her three very different sisters are growing up in an eccentric household in Kent, with their neighbours the Pitt boys on one side and the Pendennis boys on the other. But their days of childhood adventure are shadowed by the approach of war that will engulf them on the cusp of adulthood. When the boys end up scattered along the Western Front, Rosie faces the challenges of life for those left behind.

Punk rocker, bird nerd and book lover Rob Bell had a full, happy life. He had a loving wife, a big-bottomed dog named Daisy and a career as a respected science journalist. But beneath the carefully cultivated air of machoism and the need to help other people, he struggled with mental health and a drug addiction that began as a means to self-medicate his illness. In 2015, he ended his life in New Zealand on a winter's night.

Kyndra has saved and damned the people of Mariar. Her star-born powers healed a land in turmoil but destroyed an ancient magic - which once concealed them from invaders. Now Kyndra must head into enemy territory to secure peace. And deep within the desert, Char Lesko struggles to control his own emerging powers. But when Kyndra and Char meet, will their goals align?

Luke is a prisoner condemned for a murder he didn't commit. Abi is a fugitive desperate to free him before magic breaks his mind. But as the Jardines tighten their grip on a turbulent Britain, brother and sister face a fight greater than their own. New alliances and old feuds will remake the nation, leaving Abi and Luke questioning everything - and everyone - they know. And as Silyen Jardine hungers for the forgotten Skill of the legendary Wonder King, the country's darkest hour approaches.

Sam Morpeth is left to fend for her younger sister when their mother goes to prison. But when a stranger begins to blackmail her online, she's drawn her into a trap she may not escape alive. Reporter Jack Parlabane is indebted to a volatile source, and now that debt is being called in, it could cost him everything. Thrown together by a common enemy, Sam and Jack are about to discover they have more in common than they realise - and might be each other's only hope.

A modern Britain. An age-old cruelty.Britain's magically skilled aristocracy compels all commoners to serve them for 10 years - and now it's the Hadleys' turn. Abi Hadley is assigned to England's most ruthless noble family. The secrets she uncovers could win her freedom - or break her heart. Her brother Luke is enslaved in a brutal factory town, where new friends' ideals might cost him everything.