Category Archives: Cathy Yardley

Stacking the Shelves #44
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 School Spirits (School Spirits, 1) – Rachel Hawkins

Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy’s mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who’s always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt? 

 Carniepunk
 
The traveling carnival is a leftover of a bygone era, a curiosity lurking on the outskirts of town. It is a place of contradictions—the bright lights mask the peeling paint; a carnie in greasy overalls slinks away from the direction of the Barker’s seductive call. It is a place of illusion—is that woman’s beard real? How can she live locked in that watery box?

And while many are tricked by sleight of hand, there are hints of something truly magical going on. One must remain alert and learn quickly the unwritten rules of this dark show. To beat the carnival, one had better have either a whole lot of luck or a whole lot of guns—or maybe some magic of one’s own.

Featuring stories grotesque and comical, outrageous and action-packed, Carniepunk is the first anthology to channel the energy and attitude of urban fantasy into the bizarre world of creaking machinery, twisted myths, and vivid new magic.

 The Last Word (The Spellmans, 6) – Lisa Lutz

Isabel Spellman is used to being followed, extorted, and questioned—all occupational hazards of working at her family’s firm, Spellman Investigations. Her little sister, Rae, once tailed Izzy for weeks on end to discover the identity of her boyfriend. Her mother, Olivia, once blackmailed Izzy with photographic evidence of Prom Night 1994. It seemed that the Spellmans would lay off after Izzy was fired for breaching client confidentiality, but then Izzy avenged her dismissal by staging a hostile takeover of the company. She should have known better than to think she could put such shenanigans behind her.

In The Last Word, Izzy’s troubles are just beginning. After her hostile takeover of Spellman Investigations, Izzy’s parents simply go on strike. Her sister, Rae, comes back into the family business with questionable motivations. Her other employees seem to be coping with anxiety disorders, and she has no idea how to pay the bills. However, her worst threat comes from someone who is no relation. Within months of assuming control of the business, Izzy is accused of embezzling from a former client, the ridiculously wealthy Mr. Slayter, who happens to have Alzheimer’s, which Izzy and he are diligently trying to keep under wraps. Not only is Slayter’s business and reputation on the line, but if Izzy gets indicted for embezzlement, she’ll lose everything—her business, her license, and her family’s livelihood. Is this the end of Izzy Spellman, PI? The answer makes The Last Word, hands down, the most thrilling book in this bestselling, award-nominated series. 

 Crave the Darkness (Shaede Assassin, 3) – Amanda Bonilla

Nothing comes easy for Darian. Her heightened powers make her indispensable to the Shaede Nation, but dangerous missions have driven her lover, Tyler, to his breaking point. Darian must salvage their bond, but a new assignment to protect Anya—a fellow Shaede and the first of their kind to become pregnant in centuries—stands in their way.

It doesn’t help that the two Shaedes are longtime rivals and share nothing besides mutual hatred. But when it becomes clear that someone—or something—is bent on destroying the expectant mother and her unborn child, Darian must put her feelings aside and track down Anya’s would-be assassin.

As she probes into Anya’s past, Darian digs up long-buried secrets—and a connection between Tyler and the mission that could destroy everything between them…

 Sea, sex and Sean de Cathy Yardley

Toute Californienne digne de ce nom sait tenir sur une planche de surf. Sauf moi, Allison Robbins ! Le seul truc sur lequel j’ose tester mon équilibre, ce sont mes stilettos. Normal : mon trip c’est plutôt réunions à rallonge et pause café express. Je ne vous raconte pas le stress ! Jusqu’au jour où j’ai eu une crise d’angoisse en plein milieu d’une présentation. Résultat : mon boss m’a mise au repos forcé et mon médecin m’a prescrit des séances de surf. Rien de tel pour se détendre, a-t-il assuré. Se détendre ? Facile à dire quand le moniteur est un grand blond aux yeux verts et au physique de demi-dieu ! Sean ? c’est le prénom du demi-dieu  a beau être ultra zen, il met en surchauffe tous mes capteurs sensoriels. Pas besoin de vous faire un dessin : je suis amoureuse. A votre avis, est-ce que la reine des plannings serrés et des pronostics de résultats, bref une fille comme moi, a des chances d’intéresser un mec aussi cool que Sean ? En tout cas, je tente ma chance ! 

 

Guest post ~ Temping is Hell – Cathy Yardley (+traduction)
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Thank you so much for having me!  

I’m thrilled to be able to talk about TEMPING IS HELL, and the Necessary Evil series. A lot of it comes from experiences I had when temping and working as a secretary (before I wrote full time.)  From the time I graduated from University, and even when I wrote my first ten books or so, I juggled writing and office life. And a good chunk of that time was spent in the San Francisco Bay Area – specifically, on the “east side,” or Oakland.

For years, Oakland has had a reputation of being sort of rough, seedy… “ghetto.”  I went to college in Berkeley, which is just north of Oakland, and lived just south of it.  I worked in Oakland for about five years.  

I fell in love with the city.  I would take the train, or sometimes the bus, headed to work.  There would be lots of places with graffiti and urban decay – broken windows, abandoned buildings.  But that made the pockets of sheer beauty that much more startling and stunning.  A roof-top garden on top of a strip mall.  A perfect rose on a grungy street.  The unassuming restaurants with the fantastic food.  The unexpected smiles and helping hands. 

There’s a quote that I found while writing this:  “Every saint has a past.  Every sinner has a future.”

TEMPING IS HELL is about Kate O’Hara, an irreverent temp who seems to have screwed up her life, and who seems to only makes things worse in her efforts to rectify the situation.  But it’s also about second chances, and finding the good where others only see the flawed.  Kate is funny, strong, smart – and more than people give her credit for.  

I love reading (and writing) about those kinds of heroes.  And I hope you enjoy reading about them, as well! 

————–

 

Merci beaucoup de m’avoir ici !

Je suis vraiment contente de pouvoir parler de TEMPTING IS HELL, et de la série Necessary Evil. Une grande partie vient de mes expériences quand je tentais de travailler en tant que secrétaire (avant que j’écrive à tant complet). Quand j’ai eu mon diplôme à l’université et même quand j’ai écris mes dix premiers livres, je jonglais entre l’écriture et le bureau. Et une grande partie de ce temps a été passé à San Francisco Bay Area – plus spécifiquement que la « côte est » or Oakland.

Pendant des années, Oakland a eu la réputation d’être assez dangereux, miteux… “ghetto”. Je suis allée au collège à Berkeley, qui est juste au nord d’Oakland et vécu juste en dessous. J’ai travaillé là pendant cinq ans. 

Je suis tombée amoureuse de la ville. Je prenais le train, or parfois le bus pour me rendre au travail. Il y avait de nombreux endroits avec des graffitis et de l’art de rue – des vitres cassées, des immeubles abandonnés. Mais cela faisait de quelques endroits jolis quelques choses de différent et magnifique. Un petit jardin sur le toit d’un centre commercial, une rose parfaite dans une rue sale. Les restaurants sans prétention avec de la nourriture fantastique. Les sourires inattendus et les mains tendues.

Il y a une citation que j’ai trouvée pendant cet article : “Every saint has a past.  Every sinner has a future.” 

TEMPING IS HELL parle de Kate O’Hara, une vacataire téméraire qui semble avoir raté sa vi, et qui semble ne faire qu’empirer les choses en essayant de rectifier la situation. Mais c’est aussi au sujet des secondes chances, et la volonté de trouver le bien quand les autres ne voient que quelque chose de défectueux. Kate est drôle, forte, intelligente – et plus que ce que les gens pensent. 

J’adore lire (et écrire) sur ce genre de héros. Et j’espère que vous aimerez les lire aussi !

Synopsis: WORST. JOB. EVER.

Kate O’Hara can’t wait until this temp assignment is over. The woman who hired her is a psychotic pageant queen, her coworkers are convicts-turned-clerks, and it’s so boringly corporate it makes her skin crawl. Even her sexy-as-sin boss, famed billionaire Thomas Kestrel, isn’t enticement enough to keep her there. Once she makes enough to pay off her bills, she’s out. Or so she thinks…

WHAT THE HELL?

Next thing she knows, she’s accidentally signed over her soul. Literally. And she’s discovered Thomas’s real mission: to kill thirteen bad guys in one year, in order to get his—now his and Kate’s—souls back.

IT’S NOT JUST A JOB. IT’S A MISADVENTURE.

From learning to boost the morale of some paper-pushing demons to navigating her way through blood-red tape, Kate has to work closely with her super-hot supervisor and get her flaky act together, before somebody clocks her out—p permanently!

Temping is Hell by Cathy Yardley
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Synopsis: WORST. JOB. EVER.

Kate O’Hara can’t wait until this temp assignment is over. The woman who hired her is a psychotic pageant queen, her coworkers are convicts-turned-clerks, and it’s so boringly corporate it makes her skin crawl. Even her sexy-as-sin boss, famed billionaire Thomas Kestrel, isn’t enticement enough to keep her there. Once she makes enough to pay off her bills, she’s out. Or so she thinks…

WHAT THE HELL?

Next thing she knows, she’s accidentally signed over her soul. Literally. And she’s discovered Thomas’s real mission: to kill thirteen bad guys in one year, in order to get his—now his and Kate’s—souls back.

IT’S NOT JUST A JOB. IT’S A MISADVENTURE.

From learning to boost the morale of some paper-pushing demons to navigating her way through blood-red tape, Kate has to work closely with her super-hot supervisor and get her flaky act together, before somebody clocks her out—p permanently!

Review: I must admit that I did not expect much of the story at the beginning of this book. I liked the summary, but I did not really know how it would be. But what a surprise when I started it, and realized that I could not put the novel down! This is not a very complicated story, but it is pleasant and full of ideas.

 

Kate is a young woman who loves to help those in need, even if it always ends in disaster. I was really impressed with her explosiveness. She doesn’t hesitate to tell what she thinks, even when she’s talking to her boss, as she is determined to do what is right regardless of the circumstances. I really loved this character, her ideas and convictions. She is very stubborn and kind. We wait each time to see the impact of her actions. Our young heroine is hired as temporary in a very important company, something she does not like and it’s really not a secret, even from her boss Thomas. But the relationship of these two characters is not to the taste of Maggie, the Secretary. She will therefore do everything she can to ruin Kate’s life, even worse if possible. We gradually discover Thomas in this novel, and we try to understand what he seeks to do by working with demons. In fact, he looks for 13 names through soul contracts for his own revenge but we don’t know for a long time the real reason of all that. However everything is longer than he would have thought and the results are lacking. At least until Kate arrives and begins to dig a little everywhere, befriending demons. A Thing that is also very surreal and nobody can understand the reason.

 

I really enjoyed this story, it is full of surprises and the relationship between our two heroes grows slowly in the novel. We meet many characters we enjoyed easily, including Slim, the demon who befriends Kate. A strange relationship arises between them, but it’s really interesting to learn more about him and his family. He is really different from the image that we can have of this kind of people. We also discover the best friend of our heroine, who is different from what we could initially think.

 

It was a very nice story and although I am surprised by the end, I’m really curious to learn more now. I do not know when there will be a sequel but I’ll really read with a great pleasure. It is a light novel, combining conspiracies, demons, all with a little naive girl who attracts problems like anyone else.

 

 

Temping is Hell de Cathy Yardley (VO)
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Résumé (traduction personnelle) : PIRE. JOB. DU. MONDE.


Kate O’Hara a hâte que cette affectation temporaire soit terminée. La femme qui l’a embauchée est une reine de concours psychotique, ses collègues sont des condamnés reconvertis commis, et c’est une entreprise tellement grosse que ça lui donne la chair de poule. Même son sexy  patron, le célèbre milliardaire Thomas Kestrel, n’est pas assez séduisant pour la maintenir là. Une fois qu’elle aura gagné assez d’argent pour payer ses factures, elle s’en va. Ou du moins, c’est ce qu’elle croit …

Qu’est-ce qu’il se passe ?

La prochaine chose qu’elle sait, elle a accidentellement vendu son âme. Littéralement. Et elle a découvert la vraie mission de Thomas: tuer treize méchants en un an, afin de récupérer son âme et maintenant celle de Kate.

CE N’EST PAS UN EMPLOI. C’EST UNE MESAVENTURE.

Apprendre à remonter le moral de certains démons papier qui poussent à la navigation à travers les lourdeurs administratives, Kate doit travailler en étroite collaboration avec son super hot superviseur avant que quelqu’un ne la mette hors du chemin – définitivement!

Avis : Je dois avouer que je ne m’attendais pas à grand-chose en commençant ce livre. J’avais bien aimé le résumé mais je ne savais pas vraiment ce que ça allait donner. Mais quelle surprise quand j’ai commencé l’histoire et que je me suis rendue compte que je n’arrivais plus à décrocher du roman ! Ce n’est pas une histoire très compliquée mais elle est agréable et pleine d’idées.


Kate est jeune femme qui aime venir en aide à ceux qui en ont besoin, même si cela finit toujours par une catastrophe. J’ai été vraiment impressionnée par son caractère explosif. Elle ne ménage pas ses mots, même quand elle parle à son patron, et reste déterminée à faire ce qu’elle pense être juste quel que soit les circonstances. J’ai vraiment adoré son personnage, ses idées et ses convictions. Elle ne se laisse pas faire et n’en fait qu’à sa tête. On espère à chaque fois assister aux retombées de ses actions. Notre jeune héroïne est engagée en tant que vacataire dans une très grande entreprise, chose qu’elle n’aime d’ailleurs pas et ne s’en cache pas, même auprès de Thomas son patron. Mais la relation qui nait de ces deux personnages n’est pas du tout au gout de Maggie la secrétaire de la boite. Elle fera donc tout pour ruiner la vie de Kate, voire pire si cela est possible. On découvre petit à petit Thomas dans ce roman, et on essaie de comprendre ce qu’il cherche à faire en travaillant avec des démons. En effet, il cherche 13 noms à travers des contrats d’âmes par vengeance mais sans que nous en sachions la véritable raison. Tout est cependant plus long que ce qu’il n’aurait pensé et les résultats manquent. Du moins, jusqu’à ce que Kate arrive et commence à fouiner un peu partout, se liant d’amitié avec les démons. Chose qui d’ailleurs et complètement surréaliste et dont on ne comprend pas la raison.

J’ai vraiment beaucoup aimé cette histoire, elle est pleine de surprises et la relation entre nos deux héros se développe doucement au cours du roman. On rencontre de nombreux personnages auxquels on s’attache facilement, notamment Slim, le démon qui se lie d’amitié avec Kate. Une drôle de relation nait entre eux mais c’est vraiment intéressant d’en apprendre plus sur lui et les siens. Il est vraiment différent de l’image que l’on se fait de ce genre de personnes. On découvre aussi la meilleure amie de notre héroïne, qui est plus différente que l’on ne pourrait penser au départ.

C’était une très jolie histoire et bien que je sois surprise par le fin mot de l’histoire, je suis vraiment curieuse de pouvoir en apprendre plus à présent. Je ne sais pas s’il y aura une suite mais si c’est le cas je la lirai vraiment avec grand plaisir. C’est un roman léger, combinant complots, démons, le tout avec une jeune fille un peu naïve qui attire les problèmes comme personne d’autre.


Stacking the Shelves #25
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Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews



 Mr. Real (Code Shadow, 1) – Carolyn Crane


He finds the girl of his dreams…with the secret agent of his nightmares.

Alix Gordon is a woman who doesn’t take life too seriously. What’s the fun in that? So when she stumbles across occult software that can bring any computer image to life, she conjures up lots of awesome outfits and accessories. And then, on one drunken, horny night, she conjures up Sir Kendall, the sexy TV ad spy . . . who looks exactly like Paul Reinhardt, the super-sexy martial arts teacher who kicked her out of class three years ago.

Fighter Paul Reinhardt has good reason to hate Sir Kendall, the character he brought to life to land a part in a TV ad; he’d do anything to forget him. A cross country road trip seems just the thing . . . until Paul finds himself inexplicably drawn to Minnesota and is shocked to discover Sir Kendall – in the flesh – with the girl he’d once loved from afar. He barges into Alix and Sir Kendall’s love nest, determined to stop the madness – somehow.

But is superspy Sir Kendall transforming into something more dangerous anyone can imagine? And what will Sir Kendall do when Paul and Alix finally give into their mad lust for each other?

 The Wish List (Time of Transition, 1) – Gabi Stevens

Kristin Montgomery is more than a little shocked when her aunts inform her they’re fairy godmothers. Worse, after dropping that bombshell they hand her a wand and head off on a world cruise. Now Kristin’s uncomplicated life as a CPA in San Diego has disappeared like magic and she not only has to deal with her burgeoning magical powers, but also a reluctant and distractingly sexy magical arbiter.

Tennyson Ritter is a historian. A scholar by choice, he is yanked from his studies to act as arbiter for the newly chosen fairy godmother. He doesn’t want to waste his time with a woman who doesn’t know anything about magic or the magical world, but soon the beguiling Kristin draws him away from his books and into her life.
But before Kristin can hone her skills and pass the tests necessary to fully claim her powers, she and Tennyson must work together to defend the world – both magical and human – against those that would claim her powers for their own.

 Les péchés du Démon (Kara Gillian, 4) – Diana Rowland

The homicide beat in Louisiana isn’t just terrifying, it’s demonic. Detective Kara Gilligan of the supernatural task force has the ability to summon demons to her aid, but she herself is pledged to serve a demonic lord. And now, people who’ve hurt Kara in the past are dropping dead for no apparent reason. To clear her name and save both the demon and human worlds, she’s in a race against the clock and in a battle for her life that just may take her to hell and back.

Les gens tombent comme des mouches autour de Kara. Les victimes ont un point commun : elles lui ont toutes fait du mal par le passé. La jeune femme cherche désespérément à comprendre le mobile des crimes pour éviter d’en être accusée. Lorsqu’elle découvre que la magie des arcanes et le royaume des démons sont impliqués dans ces décès, c’est la sécurité des deux mondes qui est mise à mal. L’enquête prend alors une toute nouvelle dimension.
Une course contre la montre qui pourrait bien mener Kara droit en enfer.

 Belladone (Nightshade, 1) – Michelle Rowen

Jillian Conrad never believed in vampires-until she was unwillingly injected with a serum that was supposed to act as a deadly poison to them. Now, tormented half-vampire Declan Reese wants her blood to destroy the undead kingdom. Unfortunately, the serum has also made her blood irresistible to all vampires-including Declan, whose desire for Jillian is more than mere hunger.

Pour Jillian Conrad, l’expression « être au mauvais endroit au mauvais moment » prend tout son sens. En effet, kidnappée par un assassin, elle se retrouve au beau milieu d’une guerre sans merci qui oppose les vampires à une organisation gouvernementale tentant de protéger l’humanité de ces monstres sanguinaires. Mais les apparences peuvent être trompeuses et son ravisseur, Declan, pourrait bien être son seul espoir.

 Larguée et Recyclée (Ex Trophy Wives, 1) – Dakota Cassidy

She was the perfect party-planning, haute-to-the max trophy wife. Now Maxine Cambridge is broke, unemployable and living with her mother and teenage son in a retirement village, with her self-esteem kicked to the curb.

Until her geeky former classmate Campbell Barker returns, all grown-up- and off-the-scale smokin’ hot. Campbell refuses to believe Max isn’t that smart, funny girl he’s crushed on since high school. The more Max tries to show him he’s wrong, the more she rediscovers her long-retired mojo. Now, she’s ready to throw down some payback on her ex-life and fight for what she deserves…

C’est la débâcle pour Maxine Cambridge : cette future-ex-femme au foyer richissime, toujours tirée à quatre épingles, doit retourner vivre chez sa mère avec son adolescent de fils. Impossible de dégoter un emploi : même le fast-food du coin ne veut pas d’elle. Réduite à ramasser des déjections canines pour se faire un peu d’argent, elle est au fond du gouffre…
Et si un petit coup de pouce du destin, en la personne de son ancien copain de classe, le magnifique Campbell Barker, était justement ce qu’il lui fallait pour remonter la pente ?

Blood Bath & Beyond (Immortality Bites Mysteries, 1) – Michelle Rowen

Sarah Dearly is adjusting to life as a fledgling vampire, satisfying her cravings at vampire-friendly blood banks. But when her fiancé Thierry takes a job with the Ring—the secret council in charge of keeping vampires in line—Sarah’s about to get more than a taste of danger…

Being engaged to a centuries-old master vampire can be challenging—especially when he takes a job with the Ring. Thierry’s in for fifty years of nonstop travel and deadly risk. It’s enough to make any woman reconsider the wedding…any woman except Sarah, that is.

Traveling to Las Vegas for his first assignment, they encounter a child beauty pageant contestant from hell, as well as a vampire serial killer leaving victims drained of blood, potentially exposing the existence of vampires to the whole world. But when Thierry’s truly ancient history comes back to haunt him, and he’s accused of a crime he didn’t commit, it’s up to Sarah to clear his name before their immortal lives come to an end. 

 Darklands (Deadtown, 4) – Nancy Holzner

They call it Deadtown: the city’s quarantined section for its inhuman and undead residents. Most humans stay far from its border—but Victory Vaughn, Boston’s only professional demon slayer, isn’t exactly human…

Boston’s demons have been disappearing, and Vicky’s clients are canceling left and right. While fewer demons might seem like a good thing, Vicky suspects foul play. A missing Celtic cauldron from Harvard’s Peabody museum leads her to an unwelcome conclusion: Pryce, her demi-demon cousin and bitter enemy, is trying to regain his full powers.

But Pryce isn’t alone. He’s conjured another, darker villain from Vicky’s past. To stop them from destroying everything she loves, she’ll have to face her own worst fear—in the realm of the dead itself.

Divergent (Divergent, 1) – Veronica Roth
  
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue–Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is–she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are–and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series–dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

Cinq destins. Un seul choix.

Tris vit dans un monde post-apocalyptique où la société est divisée en cinq factions. À 16 ans, elle doit choisir sa nouvelle appartenance pour le reste de sa vie. Cas rarissime, son test d’aptitudes n’est pas concluant. Elle est divergente, elle est en danger de mort ! 

 Iron Duke (Iron Seas, 1) – Meljean Brooks

After the Iron Duke freed England from Horde control, he instantly became a national hero. Now Rhys Trahaearn has built a merchant empire on the power-and fear-of his name. And when a dead body is dropped from an airship onto his doorstep, bringing Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth into his dangerous world, he intends to make her his next possession.

But when Mina uncovers the victim’s identity, she stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens the lives of everyone in England. To save them, Mina and Rhys must race across zombie-infested wastelands and treacherous oceans-and Mina discovers the danger is not only to her countrymen, as she finds herself tempted to give up everything to the Iron Duke.

Angleterre, 1901. Les invasions de la Horde ont ruiné le pays. Nombreux sont ceux qui ont fui devant ce peuple barbare. D’autres restent et se battent. Comme Rhys Trahaearn, surnommé le duc de Fer, devenu un héros depuis qu’il a vaincu les forces ennemies. Alors que le pays se relève lentement, les ténèbres demeurent. Au côté de la sublime détective Mina Wentworth, le hors-la-loi enquête sur un meurtre des plus obscurs.

From Notting Hill with Love… Actually (Actually, 1) – Ali McNamara

Scarlett O’Brien is in love . . . with the movies. Utterly hooked on Hugh Grant, crazy about Richard Curtis, dying with lust for Johnny Depp, Scarlett spends her days with her head in the clouds and her nights with her hand in a huge tub of popcorn. Which is not exactly what her sensible, DIY-obsessed fiancé David has in mind for their future. So when Scarlett has the chance to house-sit an impossibly grand mansion in Notting Hill ? the setting of one of her all-time favourite movies ? she jumps at the chance to live out her film fantasies one last time. It’s just a shame that her new neighbour Sean is so irritating ? and so irritatingly handsome, too. As a chaotic comedy of her very own erupts around Scarlett, she begins to realise there’s more to life than seating plans and putting up shelves. What sort of happy ending does she really want? Will it be a case of Runaway Bride or Happily Ever After? The big white wedding looms, and Scarlett is running out of time to decide. 

 Moonshifted (Edie Spence, 2) – Cassie Alexander

After surviving a brutal vampire attack, Nurse Edie Spence is ready to get back to work—attending to supernatural creatures in need of medical help. But her nursing skills are put to the test when she witnesses a hit-and-run on her lunch break. The injured pedestrian is not only a werewolf, he’s the pack leader. And now Edie’s stuck in the middle of an all-out were-war…

With two rival packs fighting tooth and nail, Edie has no intention of crossing enemy lines. But when she meets her patient’s nephew—a tattooed werewolf named Lucas with a predatory gleam in his eye that’s hard to resist—Edie can’t help but choose sides. The question is: can she trust this dangerous new ally? And can she trust her own instincts when she’s near him? Either way, Edie can’t seem to pull away—even if getting involved makes her easy prey… 

 Sealed with the Curse (Weird Girls, 1) – Cecy Robson

Celia Wird and her three sisters are just like other 20-something girls—with one tiny exception: they’re products of a backfired curse that has given each of them unique powers that make them, well, weird…

The Wird sisters are content to avoid the local vampires, werebeasts, and witches of the Lake Tahoe region—until one of them blows up a vampire in self-defense. Everyone knows vampires aren’t aggressive, and killing one is punishable by death. But soon more bloodlust-fueled attacks occur, and the community wonders: are the vampires of Tahoe cursed with a plague?

Celia reluctantly agrees to help Misha, the handsome leader of an infected vampire family. But Aric, the head of the werewolf pack determined to destroy Misha’s family to keep the region safe, warns Celia to stay out of the fight. Caught between two hot alphas, Celia must find a way to please everyone, save everyone, and oh yeah, not lose her heart to the wrong guy—or die a miserable death. Because now that the evil behind the plague knows who Celia is, it’s coming for her and her sisters. This Wird girl has never had it so tough. 

 Tempting is Hell – Cathy Yardley

When the temp agency sent free spirit Kate O’Hara to Fiendish Enterprises, a ginormous, soul-sucking conglomerate, she didn’t realize just how appropriate the term soul-sucking would be. On the plus side, she does get to meet the sexy, devil-may-care playboy CEO, Thomas Kestrel. She’s just not sure if he’s a good guy or a bad guy or just a hot guy.
Thomas Kestrel has a problem. Nine years ago, he signed over his soul to save the woman he loved…only to realize he’d been set up. Now, to save himself from damnation, he must find and kill the thirteen key signatories who signed their souls over to the same man he did. Which would be a lot easier if the cute redhead he has nothing in common with wasn’t distributing Ho-Ho’s to the demons wading through soul contracts, creating a riot with talk of labor codes and unionization. He’d fire her if not for the fact that Kate’s irresistibly attractive—or that she’s created a program that makes finding signatories easier.
In fact, it’s so successful, she’s already found one.