Christina Traister has narrated 105 audiobooks on Listento.it by 73 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 1,834 ratings. The most-rated is A Higher Loyalty.
A Summer Affair
Summary
A gifted but troubled physician, Blue Calhoun runs a thriving medical practice from his Nob Hill mansion in San Francisco while raising his son alone after an unthinkable tragedy. Then one day a female fugitive with a gunshot wound appears in Blue's surgery. Even though she holds a pistol aimed at his heart, the desperation in her eyes awakens Blue's compassion. Reluctantly he is drawn to her fragile beauty, her nerves of steel, and the mystery surrounding her circumstances. Isabel Fish-Wooten has spent most of her life on the run, but everything changes when she forces a stranger to save her life. Yet her rescue comes with an unexpected price. As Isabel recovers from her wounds, she finds herself touched by this remarkable man and yearns to reach out to him and his rebellious son. From danger-filled back alleys to the glittering ballrooms of high society, Isabel and Blue confront the violence and corruption that threatens their newfound passion. Theirs is an unforgettable quest to discover a rare and special love, and the precious gift of a second chance at happiness.
©2016 Susan Wiggs (P)2020 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited
Home for the Holidays
Summary
The Buchanan sisters all share special childhood memories of their Aunt Sassy's beloved Juniper Inn. There, they frolicked in the snow, baked sugar cookies, and celebrated the town's annual Christmas extravaganza. They haven't been back to Colorado in nearly 15 years, but when their aunt invites them for one last Christmas, they can't say no.... With her ex-husband whisking her children away for the holiday, Dahlia decides it's time to do something for herself. Juniper Springs is just as beautiful as she remembers, but it's also full of surprises - like the town's handsome doctor, who makes her feel like herself again for the first time in years. To the outside world, baker Magnolia has the ideal marriage. Only the pain and sorrow of infertility have strained her relationship with her husband, perhaps beyond repair. But a holiday miracle is about to change her life. After a whirlwind romance, youngest sister Rose is about to be married, but as the wedding draws near, she's unsettled by her fiancé's expectations that she become a society wife. Spending Christmas with her family could be a necessary reality check - or the beginning of a brand-new happily-ever-after. Thanks to the strength of their sisterhood, some mistletoe, and the love of their Aunt Sassy, the Buchanan sisters will discover what they truly want this Christmas.
©2020 Sara Richardson (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Warriors
Summary
People have been telling stories about warriors for as long as they have been telling stories. Since Homer first sang of the wrath of Achilles and the ancient Sumerians set down their tales of Gilgamesh, warriors, soldiers, and fighters have fascinated us; they are a part of every culture, every literary tradition, every genre. All Quiet on the Western Front, From Here to Eternity, and The Red Badge of Courage have become part of our literary canon, taught in classrooms all around the country and the world. Our contributors make up an all-star lineup of award-winning and best-selling writers, representing a dozen different publishers and as many genres. We asked each of them for the same thing: a story about a warrior. Some chose to write in the genre they’re best known for. Some decided to try something different. You will find warriors of every shape, size, and color here, warriors from every epoch of human history, from yesterday and today and tomorrow, and from worlds that never were. Some of the stories will make you sad, some will make you laugh, and many will keep you on the edge of your seat. Every story in this volume appears here for the first time. Included are: a long novella from the world of his Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, a new tale of “Lord John” by Diana Gabaldon, an “Emberverse” story by S. M. Stirling, a “Forever Peace” story by Joe Haldeman, and a long tale of humanity at bay by David Weber. Also present are original stories by David Ball, Peter S. Beagle, Lawrence Block, Gardner Dozois, Robin Hobb, Cecelia Holland, Joe R. Lansdale, David Morrell, Naomi Novik, James Rollins, Steven Saylor, Robert Silverberg, Carrie Vaughn, Howard Waldrop, and Tad Williams. Many of these writers are best sellers. All of them are storytellers of the highest quality. Together they make a volume of unforgettable listening.
©2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.; 2011 George R.R. Martin
Within Reach
Summary
The charming vacation house on the coast of Maine was meant to be a heavenly retreat for Danica Lindsay and her husband Blake, a place where they could mend the wounds of a strained and tired marriage. Instead, she finds herself mostly there alone while Blake's political star is rapidly rising back in Boston. Were it not for the companionship of her new neighbor, gentle and caring Michael Buchanan, Danica would surely be overcome by loneliness and despair. But a friendship that is cherished and uplifting is slowly transforming into something less innocent, more passionate - something that could easily be called love. For the first time in her life, a chance for true happiness may be in Danica's reach. But how can she grab onto it when she remains another man's wife, bound by her vows to a marriage plagued by doubt and pain...and by secrets so shocking that an entire nation will take notice?
©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Water Memory
Summary
A fast-paced, pause-resisting thriller that contemplates the consequences of motherhood, memory, and crime as a commodity. Black ops specialist Aubrey Sentro may be one concussion away from death. But when pirates seize the cargo ship she’s on, she must decide whether to risk her life to save her fellow passengers. Sentro’s training takes over, and she’s able to elude her captors, leaving bodies in her wake. But her problems are just getting started. Her memory lapses are getting more frequent, symptoms of serial-concussion syndrome. As she plays a deadly game of cat and mouse with the pirates, she pushes herself to survive by focusing on thoughts of her children. She’s never told them what she really does for a living, and now she might not get the chance. While her memories make her vulnerable, motherhood makes her dangerous.
©2021 Daniel Pyne. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Estrid
Summary
The epic Valhalla saga continues as bloody power struggles sweep across the Nordic lands and a Viking queen's daughter must forge her own destiny. Fearless Queen Sigrid wants her twin children to fulfill their destinies: her son, Olaf, to become heir to the kingdom of Svealand, and her gifted daughter, Estrid, to secure passage to the underworld as she is promised to Hel, the Norse goddess of death. But Olaf's ascension to the throne depends on Sigrid's former husband, King Erik the Victorious, who despises her and suspects the twins are not his but Sweyn Forkbeard's, Denmark's exiled king. As long as the Danish throne is in question, Christian kingdoms and pagan clans battle for control. As Sigrid and her people await Erik's return from war, a cross-worshipper is taken captive, whose strange power over Estrid sways her to question her allegiance to the death goddess. When Estrid is kidnapped, Sigrid vows to rescue her - at any cost.
©2016 Johanne Hildebrandt (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. English translation © 2017 by Tara F. Chace
Cold Dark Places
Summary
From the bestselling author of Pretty Girls Dancing comes a shattering serial-killer thriller about revenge, deliverance, and survival. Cady Maddix survived a brutal upbringing - emotionally scarred but hardened - with a will for self-preservation. Hunting fugitives has given her life purpose and control. But when the Deputy US Marshal returns home to care for her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother, a new case stirs old memories. Child killer Samuel Aldeen has broken out of a nearby facility for the criminally insane, and the authorities believe he was aided by accomplices, both inside and out. Enlisted to track him down, Cady follows an unexpected lead. Her name is Eryn Pullman, a young woman recently released from a neighboring psychiatric facility, a mentally fragile survivor of childhood abuse, and Aldeen’s next designated victim. To save Eryn’s life, Cady must work fast to uncover the unimaginable link between predator and prey - even as it pulls her into the cold dark places of her own past.
©2018 Kim Bahnsen (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Missing Pieces
Summary
New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf returns with a chilling pause resister about a woman chasing clues into a decades-old mystery that could have shattering repercussions.
Sarah Quinlan's husband, Jack, has been haunted for decades by the untimely death of his mother when he was just a teenager, her body found in the cellar of their family farm, the circumstances a mystery. The case rocked the small farm town of Penny Gate, Iowa, where Jack was raised, and for years Jack avoided returning home. But when his beloved aunt Julia is in an accident, Jack and Sarah are forced to confront the past that they have long evaded.
Upon arriving in Penny Gate, Sarah and Jack are welcomed by the family Jack left behind all those years ago - barely a trace of the wounds that had once devastated them all. But as facts about Julia's accident begin to surface, Sarah realizes that nothing about the Quinlans is what it seems. Caught in a flurry of unanswered questions, Sarah dives deep into the puzzling rabbit hole of Jack's past. But the farther in she climbs, the harder it is for her to get out. And soon she is faced with a deadly truth she may not be prepared for.
©2016 Heather Gudenkauf (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
One More Day
Summary
A missing son returns - only to vanish again within 24 hours. Can a secret from his mother's past unlock the mystery of his disappearance?
When Carrie Morgan's young son is snatched from the backseat of her car, she prays for one more day with him. Months later, she comes home to find Ben safe and sound in his crib. But the next day he's gone again, and the police suspect her involvement. Carrie is convinced that Ben is dead and that his brief return was a miracle sent to help her move on. Her husband, however, fears that she is descending into madness.
Over the course of the next week, more dead people from Carrie's past return, each for their own reason and all involving a dark secret. Carrie will have to choose between how badly she wants to discover what happened to Ben and how much of her past to reveal....
©2016 Kelly Simmons (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Bones of Paradise
Summary
The award-winning author of The River Wife returns with a multigenerational family saga set in the unforgiving Nebraska Sand Hills in the years following the massacre at Wounded Knee - an ambitious tale of history, vengeance, race, guilt, betrayal, family, and belonging, filled with a vivid cast of characters shaped by violence, love, and a desperate loyalty to the land. Ten years after the Seventh Cavalry massacred more than 200 Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee, J. B. Bennett, a white rancher, and Star, a young Native American woman, are murdered in a remote meadow on J. B.'s land. The deaths bring together the scattered members of the Bennett family: J. B.'s cunning and hard father, Drum; his estranged wife, Dulcinea; and his teenage sons, Cullen and Hayward. As the mystery of these twin deaths unfolds, the history of the dysfunctional Bennetts and their damning secrets is revealed, exposing the conflicted heart of a nation caught between past and future. At the center of The Bones of Paradise are two remarkable women. Dulcinea, returned after bitter years of self-exile, yearns for redemption and the courage to mend her broken family and reclaim the land that is rightfully hers. Rose, scarred by the terrible slaughters that have decimated and dislocated her people, struggles to accept the death of her sister, Star, and refuses to rest until she is avenged. A kaleidoscopic portrait of misfits, schemers, chancers, and dreamers, Jonis Agee's bold novel is a panorama of America at the dawn of a new century. A beautiful evocation of this magnificent, blood-soaked land - its sweeping prairies, seas of golden grass, and sandy hills, all at the mercy of two unpredictable and terrifying forces, weather and lawlessness - and the durable men and women who dared to tame it. Intimate and epic, The Bones of Paradise is a remarkable achievement: a mystery, a tragedy, a romance, and an unflagging exploration of the beauty and brutality, tenderness and cruelty that defined the settling of the American West.
©2016 Jonis Agee (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers
You Don't Want to Know
Summary
In Ava’s dreams, her son, Noah, looks just the way she remembers him: a sweet two-year-old in rolled-up jeans and a red sweatshirt. When Ava wakes, the agonizing truth hits her all over again. Noah went missing two years ago, and his body has never been found. Almost everyone, including Ava’s semi-estranged husband, Wyatt, assumes the boy drowned after falling off the dock near their Church Island home.
Ava has spent most of the past two years in and out of Seattle mental institutions, shattered by grief and unable to recall the details of Noah’s disappearance. Now she’s back at Neptune’s Gate, the family estate she once intended to restore to its former grandeur. Slowly, her strength is returning. But as Ava’s mind comes back into focus, her suspicions grow. Despite their apparent concern, Ava can’t shake the feeling that her family and her psychologist know more than they’re saying. But are they really worried for her well-being - or anxious about what she might discover?
Unwilling to trust those around her, Ava secretly visits a hypnotist to try and restore her memories. But the strange visions and night terrors keep getting worse. Ava is sure she’s heard Noah crying in the nursery, and glimpsed him walking near the dock. Is she losing her mind, or is Noah still alive? Ava won’t stop until she gets answers, but the truth is more dangerous than she can imagine. And the price may be more than she ever thought to pay….
©2012 Lisa Jackson (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
The Golden Dice
Summary
During a bitter siege between Rome and the Etruscan city of Veii, three women follow different paths to survive. Caecilia, Roman born but Etruscan wed, forsakes Rome to return to her husband, Vel Mastarna, exposing herself to the enmity of his people while knowing the Romans will give her a traitor's death if Veii falls. Semni, a reckless Etruscan servant in the House of Mastarna, embroils herself in schemes that threaten Caecilia's son and Semni's own chance for love. Pinna, a destitute Roman prostitute, uses coercion to gain the attention of Rome's greatest general at the risk of betraying Caecilia's cousin. Each woman struggles to protect herself and those whom she loves in the dark cycle of war. What must they do to challenge Fate? And will they ever live in peace again? The Golden Dice is the sequel to The Wedding Shroud. The third book in the A Tale of Ancient Rome series is Call to Juno.
©2015 Elisabeth Storrs. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Down the Darkest Road
Summary
An obsessive killer, a witness with secrets, and a deputy US marshal with her own dark demons collide in this gripping mystery from the bestselling author of Cold Dark Places. Dylan was only a child when he and his friend stumbled onto a crime scene deep in the woods. His friend was killed that night. And Bruce Forrester, the man who had chased the boys in the woods, disappeared. But he’s never stopped looking for the only living witness. Ever since, Dylan and his family have been on the run. Deputy US Marshal Cady Maddix knows what it’s like to be haunted by a traumatizing childhood. She’s determined to track Forrester down and give Dylan the peace of mind he deserves. Only the more Cady delves into the case, the more pieces of a strange puzzle emerge - about Forrester, Dylan, and Cady’s own inescapable demons. As Cady grows closer to separating the truth from the lies, someone is determined to stop her at all costs. And the consequences of putting the past to rest could prove deadly.
©2019 Kim Bahnsen (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
American Woman
Summary
A stifling heat wave rolls into New York City, amplifying the already critical level of tension in the fragile concrete ecosystem. The air tastes of electricity - the negative charge of bad things to come - but everyone hopes it’s just the temperature. Then, on the morning homicide detective Alexandra “Hemi” Hemingway finds out she is pregnant, a twisted serial killer makes his debut. And the heat goes up. Not for the faint of heart - American Woman is a relentless ride that takes you through the fractured world of a nascent killer. And you will never feel safe again.
©2014 Robert Pobi (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
The Wedding Shroud
Summary
In 406 BC, to seal a tenuous truce, the young Roman Caecilia is wedded to Vel Mastarna, an Etruscan nobleman from Veii. Leaving her militaristic homeland, Caecilia is determined to remain true to Roman virtues while living among the sinful Etruscans. But, despite her best intentions, she is seduced by a culture that offers women education, independence, sexual freedom, and an empowering religion. Enchanted by Veii but terrified of losing ties to Rome, Caecilia performs rites to delay becoming a mother, thereby postponing true entanglement. Yet as she develops an unexpected love for Mastarna, she's torn between her birthplace and the city in which she now lives. As war looms, Caecilia discovers Fate is not so easy to control, and she must choose where her allegiance lies. The Wedding Shroud is the first book in the series A Tale of Ancient Rome. Subsequent books in the series include The Golden Dice and Call to Juno.
©2015 Elisabeth Storrs. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Katie's Redemption
Summary
After two years away, Katie Lantz returns to her Amish community nine months pregnant - and unmarried. With nowhere else to turn, she nervously knocks on her family's door, fearing she'll be shunned. Yet the handsome stranger who now owns the farm welcomes her in - just in time for Katie to give birth. Carpenter Elam Sutter and his kindly mother care for Katie and her newborn in a loving way she never dreamed was possible. But in the face of a heart-wrenching choice, Katie learns just what family, faith, and acceptance truly mean.
©2010 Patricia Davids (P)2021 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited
The Horsemaster's Daughter
Summary
Once a privileged son of the South, Hunter Calhoun now stands a widower shadowed by the scandal of his wife's death. Burying himself in his success with breeding thoroughbred racehorses, he's left his family to crumble and forgotten how to comfort his grieving children. When a prized stallion arrives from Ireland crazed and unridable, Hunter is forced to seek help for the beast. Removed from the world of wealth and social privilege, Eliza Fylte has inherited her father's famed gift for gentling horses. And when Hunter arrives with his wild steed, her healing spirit reaches further yet, drawing her to his shattered family and to the intense, bitter man who needs her, just as she needs him. Eliza understands what Hunter refuses to see - that love is the greatest healer of all. But can her kind, humble being manage to teach such an untethered man what truly matters in life?
©2012 Susan Wiggs (P)2020 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited
Crossing the Line
Summary
Cocky farmer Eli Cross plays twice as hard as he works. When his latest stunt drums up a heap of negative PR for the family farm, he grudgingly agrees to play host to an ambitious New York City photographer. Her feature on Cross Creek could be just the ticket to show the country what the Cross brothers do best...which is more problem than solution for Eli. Scarlett Edwards-Stewart has photographed everything from end zones to war zones. She's confident she can ace this one little story to help her best friend's failing magazine. At least, she would be if her super-sexy host wasn't so tight lipped. But the more Scarlett works with Eli, the more she discovers that he's not who he seems. Can his secret bring them closer together? Or will it be the very thing that tears them apart?
©2017 Kimberly Kincaid (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Walk a Crooked Line
Summary
In the follow-up to the #1 Kindle bestseller Walk into Silence, a young girl takes her own life. But what - or who - drove her to it? When a teenager’s body is found at the base of the old water tower, Detective Jo Larsen is one of the first on the scene. Tragically, it appears to be a clear case of suicide. But the more Jo learns about Kelly Amster, the more she finds herself needing to understand why the high school sophomore would take that fatal plunge. As they interview family and friends, Jo and her partner, Hank Phelps, begin to fit together the pieces of a dark puzzle. Something happened to Kelly in their small town of Plainfield, Texas - and it sent the young girl straight over the edge. Haunted by the memories of her own childhood, Jo digs deep into the shadowy corners of a seemingly tight-knit community - to uncover a devastating secret…
©2018 Susan McBride (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Tongue in Chic
Summary
How can one little lie land Meadow Szarvas in such trouble? Sure, Devlin Fitzwilliam catches her breaking into his mansion to steal a precious painting. And, yes, in sheer desperation she tells him she has amnesia. But then he claims she’s his wife. As Devlin’s own treacherous agenda comes to light, Meadow finds herself locked in a match of high-stakes deception. She doesn’t dare take her eyes off him, and doesn’t want to; yet the danger is just beginning. For a third player has entered the game, and is trying to kill them both….
©2010 Christina Dodd (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.