Bøger af Michelle Diener

The planet Aponi sits at the outer edge of the Verdant String.For Wren Thorakis, working as an Aponian Special Forces artifacts consultant, it means interesting assignments and unusual discoveries. Being captured and held for ransom by a shadowy cult while working on the moon Ytla was not something she expected, though. However, while escaping her captors, she stumbles across what could be the discovery of her career-one that no artifact consultant could possibly ignore-a genuine ancestral mothership.The mothership isn't just amazing in itself, though. Wren finds herself the recipient of crazy-powerful nanotech. It helps keep her alive and one step ahead of those trying to hide the ship's existence.When Wren starts working out who's behind keeping her discovery secret, and why, she is plunged into a bigger plot than she ever imagined. A shadowy organization has its eye on Aponi, and isn't shy to use the Verdant String's fiercest enemies, the Caruso, to help them take it from the Coalition.When an Aponi Special Forces soldier, Ed Zeneri, who's existence is also inconvenient to Wren's enemies, is lured into a trap with Wren and they both come under fire, Wren's nanotech does whatever it has to to keep her safe-including enthralling Ed to protect her at all costs. Ed knows his reaction to Wren isn't normal, or even sane, but as the compulsion to put himself in front of anything coming at her recedes, he finds he's more than inclined to do it of his own volition. He joins forces with Wren to try to stop the takeover of their home planet, and as they race the clock to find the answers they need, he also has to convince Wren that what he feels for her is real. As real as the enemy battleships hovering in Aponi's nearspace. As real as the deadline to bring them down. As real as it gets.

It's the summer of 1963 and Gabriella Farnsworth is a newly-minted London traffic warden. She's used to temper tantrums, swearing, and threats, but finding a dead body is an entirely new low.She isn't interested in getting more involved than she already is in the investigation into the man she found's death, but when, a few days later, she stumbles over a second body lying feet away from where she found the first, she can't avoid it.She knows the streets of her route, knows the people on them, but she is absolutely astonished when New Scotland Yard discovers the art gallery near where she found the bodies is a front for mixing up a new psychedelic drug. Suddenly, the reason for the killings starts to make sense, but what neither she nor the New Scotland Yard detective assigned to the case understand is that the killer's agenda is more complex than a drug turf war, and by the time Gabriella works it out, it just might be too late . . .

An unlikely princess . . .Kayla is determined to master her new-found abilities as a wild magic witch. She's learning everything she can so she and her betrothed, Rane, can put a stop to the sorcerers who are recklessly gathering their power, building up their magic to take each other on in a war that will destroy the countries of Middleland.An even more unlikely sorcerer . . .Mirabelle's father was one of the greatest sorcerers in Middleland, but when he used the magic in the silver pear to bespell his pregnant wife to give birth to the greatest sorcerer who would ever live, he never thought that child would be a girl. Mirabelle is nothing like a usual sorcerer, confounding every expectation, and when she comes to the rescue of Rane's brother, Soren, she makes a decision few sorcerers would. She saves him, rather than herself, losing the silver pear in the process.And using magic always exacts a price . . .With war not just a possibility but simply a matter of time, there are no neutral parties and no fence-sitters in Kayla and Mirabelle's new world. Everyone is either an ally or an enemy and there is a price to pay for everything. The question is, how high will it be?The Silver Pear is the sequel to The Golden Apple, and together they form The Dark Forest series.

An artist never betrays her patron . . . especially one of the world's most powerful kings.Susanna Horenbout has learned this lesson from the cradle. But when she receives a letter from her father telling her to do just that, she faces a dilemma. Betray Henry VIII, or carry out the request of her father's employer, Margaret of Austria, and pass secret information to Henry's queen, Katherine of Aragon.Caught between the machinations of her husband, Henry VIII, and her nephew, the Emperor Charles, Queen Katherine needs all the allies she can get. But what can Susanna really do to help her, and even if she does, will it be enough?Susanna and her betrothed, Parker-one of Henry's most trusted courtiers-balance on the knife's edge of treason as they try to make sense of both international and domestic conspiracies. Sometimes, it's better the enemy you know . . .

A dark force at workAva and Luc are asked to head north to Skäddar, a move necessary to save the alliance they have created with the mountainous country. Something terrible is killing Skäddar villagers and leaving messages behind with their bodies that the deaths will continue as long as the Skäddar are in alliance with the Rising Wave. If Ava and Luc can't convince the Skäddar Collective to stand up for their new friendship in the face of the tragedy, they will lose a vital ally in the region.A dark room to cage a prisonerMassi is deep inside Grimwalt, successful in her mission to find Ava's incarcerated friends, Tomas and Velda. But the two are not being held alone. Massi finds many others being kept with them, as well as a prisoner kept in darkness whose power shines so bright, Massi can't imagine how the Speaker imprisoned him to begin with.A dark cloud that needs to be dispelledDuncan has been held far from his home on the Skäddar border, and he takes the chance of escape that Massi gives him with both hands. When he and Massi have to part ways, though-Massi to get Ava's friends to safety, him to return to the forest he was ripped away from-he can't deny his attraction to the fierce archer, or his reluctance to let her go.But when he gets home, and finds the power of his domain is being used to commit terrible atrocities, he'll need Massi's help, and those of her friends, to rid Grimwalt of the blight that is trying to take hold.Fate's Arrow is the third book in the Rising Wave series. The series begins with The Rising Wave, a prequel novella, and continues with The Turncoat King and The Threadbare Queen.

Interference (A 25,000 word novella introducing the world of the Verdant String)Interference can go either way . . .The tiny moon of Cepi is on a countdown to destruction, and while Nyha Bartali has been persuaded to take her four wards for a final look at the archaeological wonder, now she's eager to leave. The only problem is, someone has other plans--plans to exploit Nyha and her girls' status as the betrayed orphans of the Verdant String in order to give them time to steal Cepi's secrets.Nyha and her wards' value as survivors of the destruction of Halatia means it would be political suicide for any leader of the Verdant String to endanger them again--something the hostage-takers know very well. What the hostage-takers don't know is that Nyha and her girls have more help than they realize.Mak Carep knows his team's presence on Cepi is the last flex of Arkhor's muscle before the moon is blown to bits. Arkhor has interfered on Cepi since it discovered the ruins four hundred years ago, but sometimes, interference can have unexpected consequences. When Nyha and her girls are taken hostage, Mak and the rest of his special forces team are the only ones who have any hope of rescuing them, and they're ready and willing to do what Arkhor does best . . . Interfere.Insurgency (Insurgency is a 45,000 word short novel set in the Verdant String series)The Parnian city of Var is under siege. Buildings are being targeted by insurgents whose only aim seems to be destruction. Nick Bartega is part of the Protection Unit team investigating the explosions, but with no discernible pattern, and no one taking responsibility, he and his colleagues have hit a blank wall.That is until his neighbor, Tila, is caught up in the first real mistake the insurgents have made. Cornered, forced to take Tila's whole office hostage, the insurgents are surrounded and out of options, until they use Tila as their shield.Tila sees herself as Parnian first, Halatian second, but her dark blue hair, and the strong emotions her very existence provokes in others means the insurgents see her as the perfect hostage. No one on Par wants to give the order that might catch her in the crossfire. They'd rather let the insurgents get away.But Nick, and his commander, Drake, see the first glimpse of a pattern in the insurgents behavior. Not that long ago, Halatians were used as hostages in another incident on the tiny moon of Cepi, and the parallels are hard to ignore. So is this attack on Var an isolated incident, or is there a bigger conspiracy at play?Whatever the truth, Nick isn't prepared to leave Tila in the insurgents hands. And he's prepared to break any rule, and disregard any order to do it.

The Duke of Wittaker has been living a lie...He's been spying on the dissolute, discontented noblemen of the ton, pretending to share their views. Now he's ready to step out of the shadows and start living a real life...but when the prime minister of England is assassinated, he's asked to go back to being the rake-hell duke everyone believes he still is to find out more.Miss Phoebe Hillier has been living a lie, too...All her life she's played by society's rules, hiding her fierce intelligence and love of life behind a docile and decorous mask. All it's gotten her is jilted by her betrothed, a man she thought a fool, though a harmless one. But when she discovers her former fiancé was involved in the plot against the prime minister, and that he's been murdered, she realizes he wasn't so harmless after all.And now the killers have set their sights on her...The only man who can help her is the Duke of Wittaker--a man she knows she shouldn't trust. And she soon realizes he's hiding behind a mask as careful as her own. As the clock ticks down to the assassin's trial, the pair scramble to uncover the real conspiracy behind the prime minister's death. And as the pressure and the danger mounts, Phoebe and Wittaker shed their disguises, layer by layer, to discover something more precious than either imagined-something that could last forever. Unless the conspirators desperate to hide their tracks get to them first.A Dangerous Madness is connected to The Emperor's Conspiracy and Banquet of Lies, although like those two novels, it stands alone.

He's on a mission . . .She's running for her life . . .And if they get off-planet alive, she'll have to trust he won't reveal her darkest secret.Tally Riva is not what she seems, and even she's not happy about it. Infected, invaded, she's not quite sure how to describe it, but on a disastrous mission to a ghost ship, something burrowed its way into her body. Into her mind.When her commander decides the best cure for what he thinks is Tally's trauma is to send her on the famous Veltos Trail, Tally goes without revealing what's really behind her mental anguish. Anything to be seen as normal again, anything to ignore what she's afraid is happening to her.But Veltos isn't the safe place it seems. The chosen military personnel lucky enough to be offered the chance to walk the Trail are supposed to be the only people on Veltos. But Ben Guthrie, a captain in Arkhoran Special Forces, knows they're not. He and his team have been on Veltos for a month already, tracking suspicious enemy activity, and he's gone undercover on the Trail in search of a satellite his superiors are sure has been shot down.When Ben's worst fears become reality, and they find themselves hunted by a cunning enemy through the thick forests of Veltos, Tally and Ben fight together to survive. And Tally has to decide if accepting the changes inside her will save them both, or be her doom.TRAILBLAZER is part of the Verdant String series but can easily be read as a standalone novel. Other books in the series include Interference & Insurgency (Two Novellas of the Verdant String), and Breakaway and Breakeven.

Dee had been fighting one war, only to find herself caught up in another . . . When circumstances leave Dee stranded on the Breakaway planet of Lassa, she has to choose--take the easy way out, or stand and fight an enemy much like the one she left behind on her home world of Garmen.For Sebastian, leading the Lassian resistance has come at a heavy price. Forced to gamble the last of his resources on a risky ploy to get some leverage over the Core Companies that run Lassa, he stares defeat in the face when it fails. There's no backup plan left. Nothing more to work with. And all around him, people are starving, and it looks as if the Cores have entered a deal with a hostile alien force, to enrich themselves even more.But Dee inspires him. Even though it's his fault she's on Lassa to begin with, her courage and steady calm are the assets he needs, and unbeknownst to both of them, she has with her the key to bringing the Cores to their knees. Now they just have to turn the lock in time.

Set in Regency England during the Napoleonic Wars, this vivid and romantic historical novel goes from the most elegant ballrooms of London to the city's most tawdry slums, as a spirited young woman helps unravel a plot by Napoleon to bleed England of all its gold.A difficult balance . . . Charlotte Raven escaped the poverty of the London streets, but while she may now mingle with the ton, she lives an uneasy existence between two worlds, unable to turn her back completely on her old life. A dangerous task . . . When Lord Edward Durnham is asked to investigate the alarming movement of gold out of England, his search leads him to the worst stews of London's slums. A dark journey . . . Little could Edward imagine his sister's new friend, Charlotte Raven, someone who saved his nephews from serious harm, would afford him access to a dark world he barely knew existed. As they delve deeper into the underbelly of London, danger lurks at every turn.With the stakes growing ever higher, Charlotte faces a defining choice: continue in the familiar limbo she's lived in for years, or to take a painful and risky leap toward a happiness she never thought possible.

Taya and Garek have survived the worst of what the sky raiders and their own fellow Illians have thrown at them. But now, they'll have to deal with both their enemies working together.As three of the Illian states close in on what they see as the weakness of West Lathor, Garek and Taya have to shore up their defences, call in favors, and forge friendships with whoever they can to protect their friends and family. When the signs that there is an alliance between an Illian liege and the sky raiders becomes harder to ignore, they have to face the fact that they may be defeated.The arrival of a new group of sky raiders, looking for information and help, opens up a new possibility. Garek sees no choice but to make a deal with the devil, but the gamble is, will the enemy of their enemy help them, or betray them?

Sofie lives in the shadow of Felicitos--the tethered way station built to funnel Garmen's mineral wealth to the top of the atmosphere, where it's loaded onto space ships. Because Garmen is a breakaway planet, not part of the Verdant String Coalition, the companies that control it are free to run things as they see fit, and Sofie is part of the resistance that wants to end their rule.Her main goal, though, is to get away from Garmen altogether, and leave the drudgery and violence behind her. That goal is complicated by her involvement with Leo Gaudier, a shadowy crime lord whose ability to cheat the companies that own Garmen is something she admires. And when she stumbles on a terrible new direction the companies are taking, a secret alliance that will endanger everyone she cares about, she sees her chances of escape slipping away.Leo is all too aware he doesn't know enough about Sofie, something his own security detail is not slow to point out, but he can't keep away. When Sofie reveals her links to the resistance, and shows him those in control of Garmen have begun swimming in dangerous waters, he realizeshis plan to overthrown them in a careful operation of a thousand cuts is no longer workable. The time has come for a single, lethal strike--and that will not be without consequences . . .