Monster Town

Working with kids is totally my jam, and I'm damn good at what I do. Just call me Maxy Frickin' Poppins! When a new job prospect comes my way, I'm intrigued. A chance to move to Mystic Hollow (aka Monsters Hollow) to be a well-paid manny for two adorable orclings? Talk about a dream position. Sold! But when I lock eyes with the seriously sexy orc who's their guardian—and my new de facto boss—for the first time, I'm a goner. Big, muscular, and green all over–he's giving me full-on Hulk meets stern professor vibes—and I like it.

Packed full of adventure, this collection features eight of the best-loved stories from the creators of The Gruffalo, read by Julia Donaldson – perfect for listening to at home, in the car, at bedtime or any time at all! Join in the adventure as Mouse wanders through the deep dark wood to meet the Gruffalo, travel the world with the snail and the whale, join the witch as she zooms through the sky on her broom, and much more! Julia Donaldson Reads The Gruffalo and Other Stories features eight treasured tales, from the bestselling picture-book partnership of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

Julien Doran arrived in sleepy Maudit Falls, North Carolina, with a heart full of hurt and a head full of questions. The key to his brother's mysterious last days might be found in this tiny town, and now Julien's amateur investigation is starting to unearth things the locals would rather keep buried. Perhaps most especially the strange, magnetic manager of a deserted retreat that's nearly as odd as its staff.

In I Am Not a Serial Killer, John Wayne Cleaver saved his town from a murderer even more appalling than the serial killers he obsessively studies, using his own repressed homicidal proclivities to even the odds. But it turns out even demons have friends, and the disappearance of one has brought another to Clayton County. Soon there are new victims for John to work on at the mortuary, and a new mystery to solve. But this time something's different. John has tasted death, and the dark nature he used as a weapon might now be using him.

When Elara flees corporate life to open a coffee shop in the small southern town of Fairhaven Falls, the last thing she is looking for is a relationship. But when she meets Grondar, the gruff orc owner of the bakery next door, sparks fly. Literally. Grondar has been burned by human females before. He has no intention of letting the feisty little female next door get under his skin—no matter how attractive he finds her. And it certainly doesn't mean he's going to let her get away with sabotaging his business.

Dive into the story of Larry Gene Bell, one of the first killers who used phones to terrorize people. Uncover the origins of this local monster as we peel back the layers of his past. Discover the complexities of his twisted personality that led to national attention. Step by step, follow the details of Bell's heinous, cunning acts, from victim selection to killing methods. You will see why it took innovative investigative techniques to get Bell behind bars.

On the run from my cruel captors, I stumble into Grayhaven. This secret supernatural settlement is packed with biker demons, fae royals, and witches dealing in death-magic. Their small town could be my salvation...or doom. But when the Grayhaven werewolf pack tracks me down, I feel the noose of impending capture tightening around my throat. I’m an omega, the least dominant werewolf in the supernatural world. If I’m given an order - any order - I’m powerless to refuse.

When Pippa finds herself in Fairhaven Falls with empty pockets and a brand new baby, she's thrilled when a sweet—and slightly scary—old lady offers her a job and a place to live. Their new home isn't much, but it offers a desperately needed shelter. Then, her grumpy orc neighbor comes charging into their lives. She should be wary of the huge male, but when she watches him handling his hammer, fear is the last thing she feels. And when he cradles her daughter so tenderly against that big muscular chest? Her heart isn't the only thing melting!

Three years after running away from home, Olivia is stuck with a dead-end job in nowhere town Chapel Hill, Pennsylvania. At least she has her best friend, Sunflower. Olivia figures she’ll die in Chapel Hill, if not from boredom, then the summer night storm which crashes into town with a mind-bending monster in tow. If Olivia’s going to escape Chapel Hill and someday reconcile with her parents, she’ll need to dodge residents enslaved by the storm’s otherworldly powers and find Sunflower.

Today is Liz Adams' first day on the job as an agent of the Center for Specter Control. Established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1890, its clandestine mission is to protect the world from the stuff of myths and legends or, at the very least, cheesy movies. To say that she has a few questions would be an understatement. However, before Liz can be fully briefed by her new partner Craig Wright, alarm bells sound, indicating that the perimeter of Res-Site-Alpha has been breached. Not an escape. An incursion.

Mayhem explodes when monsters mix with guns, rednecks and beer. Craig Nybo's second novel, Small Town Monsters, visits the town of DePalma Beach, Montana, a peaceful lake community with a five-star rating in any tour travel guide. Monster hunter isn't in the job description when Kurt McCammus, a Los Angeles homicide detective, leaves the big city and all its violence behind to take a job as chief of police in DePalma Beach. He falls in love with the clean air and peaceful community. That is until a local rancher finds 50 head of sheep mutilated on his spread.

“Sharks are as timid as rabbits,” says a superintendent of the Coast Guard, dismissing the possibility that a shark could be the culprit in an unprecedented fatal attack at the Jersey Shore. It’s July, and swimming in the sea is a popular new pastime, but people up and down the East Coast are shocked and mystified by the swimmer’s death. A prominent surgeon at the shore, Dr. Edwin Halsey is the one who examines the victim, and the only one who believes the perpetrator was a shark—and that it will strike again.

Brad's mostly been a loner, content with his job and his tiny apartment. He's never thought much about being part of something. He's never really thought about the bigger picture. Until he meets a beautiful (and possibly psychotic) girl named Dawn. Dawn leads Brad into a vicious world as hedonistically carnal as it is brutal, forcing Brad to decide if he's going to dig deep within himself and continue to resist the community he's remained apart from his entire life or embrace it and accept his new reality.

John Hunter isn't bad at this whole monster hunting thing. Along with Shannon and Evan, he's even formed his own company, Hunters for Hire. But events will soon turn deadly as Hunters for Hire is contracted to solve a case so twisted and mysterious, it'll make every conspiracy theory you've heard of sound like just another episode of Golden Girls.

Welcome to Pearl, a town obsessed with Halloween: the spooky decorations, the costumes, the candy. No one seems to notice that every October 31st, a kid goes missing. Mason Miller does, though. Somehow he’s the only one who has any memory the person existed at all. When Mason’s sister, Meg, vanishes while they’re trick-or-treating, Mason and his friends are pulled into an underworld where monsters roam the streets. They need to fight the evil taking over Pearl, but none of them know the true danger they're facing.

Eleven-year-old Sel lives in the remote, isolated town of Tremorglade where every month on the full moon, kids like him must lock up and guard their parents while they transform into werewolf-like creatures called Rippers. This is everyone’s new normal since the Disruption changed ways of life around the world, well before Sel was born. …Or is it?