Once she restores it to the attic, she starts hearing whispers, her loving husband becomes a stranger, and her baby daughter learns a chilling new word. Maybe Ana has unlocked the house’s secrets. Or maybe she’s becoming just a little unhinged herself.Brandi Reeds’s Oak Avenue is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.

    You should not read this novella prior to completing Trouble in Mudbug. The novella contains major spoilers for the novel and would not make sense if read beforehand.Do you love Helena Henry?Did you wonder what she was thinking during Trouble in Mudbug, or what she was up to when she was off-page in the novel?If so, then this novella is for you. All of Helena’s thoughts and actions during Trouble in Mudbug, compiled in a diary for you to enjoy.

    Things quickly go from bad to worse when details of their assignment make their way through the supernatural grapevine, and what started as a simple bodyguard job ends up being a fight for survival that neither Cat nor Bones saw coming. This story takes place after the events of Destined For An Early Grave and before the events of This Side Of The Grave.

    Jenna had promised her mother that if the worst happened during her dad’s weekend, they would meet at Red Hill Ranch. When she finds seven words spray-painted on her dad’s wall the morning after a deadly outbreak, she makes a promise to herself: to get to the ranch with her seven-year-old sister, Halle, and to get them both there alive. Among Monsters is the companion novella to Red Hill, both exploring from different perspectives what many broken families experience every other weekend: What if your children aren't with you when the world ends? What would you do to get to them? What would they go through to get to you? For Jenna, seeing her mother again is worth everything. Determined to keep her promise, she is faced with experiences and decisions that force her to leave her childhood behind.

    Learn her secrets. Expose her lies. And if she's guilty...lock her up.Undercover FBI Agent Zander Todd typically spends his days and his nights tracking killers. But, lately, he's been pretending that he's a different man. He's been working his way into the life of beautiful but reserved Alice May. He's supposed to make her trust him completely. Alice is the key to a serial murder case that the FBI has been working for years. She's also the chief suspect.Alice was engaged to Hugh Collins, the man who turned out to be the elusive "Secret Admirer" killer. Hugh picked women that he thought were perfect, he seduced them, and when they failed to live up to his image of perfection...their Secret Admirer brutally killed them. The only time that Hugh broke his MO--that was with Alice. Hugh was on his way to the chapel to marry Alice when the FBI killed him. The FBI has long suspected that Alice may have been involved in the killings, but they could never find solid evidence to tie her to the crimes.Her goal: Bury her past. Pretend to be someone new. Live a lie.Alice May knows better than to trust a handsome man with a seductive smile. The last time she fell for a charmer, she learned her lover was a serial killer. Not the news a woman expects to learn on her wedding day. Since that brutal revelation, she's sworn off men, she's gone into hiding to get away from voracious reporters, and she hasn't let herself get close to anyone.But...a year has passed since her life fell apart. And it's hard to be alone all the time. She thinks that one night, one date with Zander might remind her of what it's like to be alive. To feel normal. The passion that burns between them is white-hot and electrifying. It's so intense that it scares Alice. She never expected to ever want anyone that much.He will punish her.Their passion ignites the fury of a killer who has been watching her, waiting for her. A man who has finally decided that Alice isn't quite so perfect. And if she's not perfect, then Alice has to die.When Alice's life is threatened, Zander must reveal his true identity. The new betrayal batters at Alice's soul, but when Zander takes her into protective custody, they are forced into close proximity. With a killer watching her every move, Alice has no choice but to trust Zander. Because her past isn't dead, but if Alice isn't very, very careful...she will be.Author's Note: SECRET ADMIRER is a romantic suspense novella of 40,000 words. It is a complete, stand-alone story.

    Her relationship with Chris has reached the breaking point and it is time to leave. But can she leave? And if she does, what is she willing to leave behind? This stunning short story, the prequel to Tanya Anne Crosby’s remarkable new novel, THE GIRL WHO STAYED, is tense, poignant, and deeply satisfying – exactly what readers have come to expect from this New York Times bestselling author.

    Featuring seven reprints, a brand new story "The Toll", an introduction, and rounded out by the author's recommended reading and viewing lists, DEAD LEAVES makes for the perfect autumnal read.

    Since she's never visited the property, Danielle's not sure what awaits her in Oregon. She certainly doesn't expect to find one of the house's previous owners still in residence. After all, the man has been dead for almost ninety years--shouldn't he have moved on by now? Charming Walt Marlow convinces Danielle the only way he can move on is if she solves the mystery of his death. Danielle soon discovers her real problems may come from the living--those who have their sights on Marlow House's other secrets.

    He keeps to himself until a pesky female journalist arrives, anxious to interview him about his checkered past—his last assistant disappeared under mysterious and bloody circumstances, earning him the nickname “The Deadly Daggerman.”Unsinkable journalist and adventurer Jacinda Harville doesn’t take no for an answer, and she’s determined to wear down Marco no matter how threatening—or incredibly desirable—he might appear. He agrees to an interview—but only if she’ll let him strap her to a spinning table and throw knives at her body. How can she say no? And how can she resist him when he leans close for a kiss that strikes her more sharply than any blade? It’s the first time she’s let a man get the better of her, and she’s determined it will be the last…Just when she thinks she can’t take any more of his games, Jacinda receives a note from Marco saying he’s finally ready to tell her the truth about what happened to his missing assistant. She sets out for an address miles away, but what she finds there turns the tables on everything she thought she knew about the tender lover who wears a smile as sharp as his knives.As secrets are unraveled and passions take hold, Jacinda realizes her hard heart has melted. But will it be too late to save Marco—and herself—from the daggerman’s dangerous past?

    Brothers Liam and Nicolas have been nominated for Coven Leader of the Year. Things take a strange turn when ghosts and magic collide during the ceremony. There will be no awards given out if Halloween doesn’t gain control of the event. Previously published in the Spell of the Ball anthology.

    Rex McReady joined the Crew to survive in prison, but he also killed two of his onetime brothers to save Laurel, the woman he loves. Now in the witness protection program, he is trying to sort things out in his tempestuous on-again, off-again relationship with Laurel. He loves her, she loves him, but the breakups and makeups go on and on. After one of their all-too-frequent fights, Laurel is tracked down by Mose, a Crew enforcer. Rex comes by to try to patch things up with Laurel and, with eyes only for her, Rex allows Mose to get the drop on him, too. Is death the only way out of the Crew for Rex and Laurel?

    We were first introduced to Gabriel in The Dark Divine when Grace recieves a book of ancient letters that Gabriel (a young monk at the time) wrote to his sister during the Crusades, detailing his search to know more about the Urbat. The book of letters ends just before Gabriel falls to the Urbat curse, leaving us to wonder what happened to him in the following years to turn him into the man he is today.Most of Gabriel’s letters were written during the thirteenth century, and later translated and compiled by an Orthodox priest in the eighteenth century. For whatever reason, some of Gabriel’s letters were lost after translation and did not make it into that original book. But good news! A few of these “lost letters,” detailing Gabriel’s fall to the Urbat curse and his quest to seek revenge on the man responsible for his demise, have recently been “discovered” by the indomitable crew at Egmont USA, and are compiled here for your reading pleasure.I hope you enjoy The Lost Letters of Brother Gabriel. I think they give a lot more depth to Brother Gabriel’s character and the mythology of the Dark Divine trilogy. Always, Bree Despain

    Later published online via Janet's email newsletter (August 2015).

    1 The Bastard Stepchild - George R.R. Martin 2 Death by Dahlia - Charlaine Harris 3 The Bleeding Shadow - Joe R. Lansdale 4 Hungry Heart - Simon R. Green 5 Styx and Stones - Steven Saylor 6 Pain and Suffering - S.M. Stirling 7 It's Still the Same Old Story - Carrie Vaughn8 The Lady is a Screamer - Conn Iggulden 9 Hellbender - Laurie R. King 10 Shadow Thieves - Glen Cook 11 No Mystery, No Miracle - Melinda M. Snodgrass 12 The Difference Between a Puzzle and a Mystery - M.L.N. Hanover13 The Curious Affair of the Deodand - Lisa Tuttle 14 Lord John and the Plague of Zombies - Diana Gabaldon15 Beware the Snake - John Maddox Roberts 16 In Red, with Pearls - Patricia Briggs 17 The Adakian Eagle - Bradley Denton

    Locals and newcomers alike find themselves eager for that special countdown…and that midnight kiss.Drew Foley and Sunny Archer are each visiting Virgin River for the holidays. Sunny was dumped at the altar the previous New Year’s Eve and is in no mood to celebrate. But her uncle and his fiancée drag her to Jack’s Bar. Drew, getting over his own heartbreak, sees Sunny across the crowded room and he’s instantly smitten.As the townspeople gather, two lonely revelers decide the best balm for their broken hearts might just be each other.Originally published in 2010