ultimate legend Audiobooks

A stone by any other name… Can lead to murder. Rosemary Grey, who’s just getting settled into the charming town of Paperwick, Connecticut, is looking forward to the holiday season. She’ll be moving into her snug cottage at Jack and Charlie’s farm—so she’ll have her best friends right next door, and she’s loving her new job as a history professor at Paperwick University, home of the Fighting Trout. The fact that she sees the shy Professor Seth McGuire, from the anthropology department, on campus, might have a little something to do with the smile on her face and the spring in her step. But Rosemary soon discovers that the cozy, tucked-away village, has a longstanding mystery in its midst. Thirty-five years ago, what appeared to be a rune-covered megalithic stone was discovered. There were those who believed the runes scattered across the stone were created by the indigenous peoples who’d inhabited the area—but some believed the runes were Norse in origin, lending credibility to the idea that Vikings had once walked the land. None of the theories about the stone could be proved, however, because it went missing almost as mysteriously as it had appeared. Searches proved fruitless and no one could imagine who could possibly slip away with a two hundred fifty-pound slab of granite. Nevertheless, the legend of Bjørn the Lost Viking was born, along with an annual festival that commemorates the stone, the first snow of the winter, and Norse culture. When a twist of fate leads to the discovery of the fabled missing runestone—and a body is found lying next to it—Rosemary and friends will have to separate legend and myth from fact and solve the crime. Seth is targeted as one of the prime suspects, so there’s no time to waste! You’ll want to curl up with a warm, spicy mug of Mrs. Potter’s Glogg and a warm blanket to enjoy this exciting cozy holiday adventure!

“Papa explains the war like this: ‘When the elephants dance, the chickens must be careful.’ The great beasts, as they circle one another, shaking the trees and trumpeting loudly, are the Amerikanos and the Japanese as they fight. And our Philippine Islands? We are the small chickens.” Once in a great while comes a storyteller who can illuminate worlds large and small, magical and true to life. When the Elephants Dance introduces us to the incandescent voice of Tess Uriza Holthe, who sets her remarkable first novel in the waning days of World War II, as the Japanese and the Americans engage in a fierce battle for possession of the Philippine Islands. The Karangalan family and their neighbors huddle for survival in the cellar of a house a few miles from Manila. Outside the safety of their little refuge the war rages on—fiery bombs torch the beautiful Filipino countryside, Japanese soldiers round up and interrogate innocent people, and from the hills guerillas wage a desperate campaign against the enemy. Inside the cellar, these men, women, and children put their hopes and dreams on hold as they wait out the war, only emerging to look for food, water, and medicine. Through the eyes of three narrators, thirteen-year-old Alejandro Karangalan, his spirited older sister Isabelle, and Domingo, a passionate guerilla commander, we see how ordinary people must learn to live in the midst of extraordinary uncertainty, how they must find hope for survival where none seems to exist. They find this hope in the dramatic history of the Philippine Islands and the passion and bravery of its people. Crowded together in the cellar, the Karangalans and their friends and neighbors tell magical stories to one another based on Filipino myth and legend to fuel their courage, pass the time, and teach important lessons.

Love is the ultimate game changer, and this time it’s winner takes all. Now that Vasily is back in his arms, Belphagor’s in no hurry to say the words they both long to hear: You’re my boy. He’s savoring the sweet torture of driving Vasily into a frenzy of unfulfilled need—and seeing just how much both of them can take. Vasily secretly enjoys their increasingly edgy play, until Belphagor auctions him off for a night to the seductive Silk, setting in motion a chain of events that neither could have anticipated. Tight-lipped about the abrupt end of his relationship with the sweet submissive Phaleg, Silk may be at the heart of a conspiracy against the pregnant queen of Heaven—and Phaleg is the angel investigating it. Though Belphagor couldn’t be less interested in the games angels play, angelic and demonic intrigues soon overlap, drawing him in against his will until he’s forced to break his one inviolable rule: never gamble what you can’t afford to lose.