Planet Lara

Lara J. Clarke is used to getting her own way. Motherless at ten and raised by her oft-absent eco-warrior/philanthropist grandfather, she lives the high life afforded by her seemingly bottomless trust fund-swanky downtown Vancouver loft, apartments and villas around the world just a chartered flight away, a passport overflowing with stamps from the chicest hot spots, a closet bursting with catwalk couture, and a spoiled B-list actor boyfriend whose interest in Lara is tied to her exclusive L'Inconnu wallet. But then Grandfather Archibald sheds his mortal coil in a very public manner, and Lara's privileged life is set adrift. According to the will, she will step into the role of Project Administrator, wherein she has one year to fulfill her late grandfather's dream of a self-sustaining, eco-friendly, family-centered island utopia-but if she fails, she'll lose access to the family fortune forever. Soon, Lara is surprised to find her new coworkers-and neighbors-aren't as pliable as the underlings of her former life. Even with the hunky lead engineer Finan Rowleigh showing her the ropes, she quickly learns just how unprepared she is to trade her Louboutins in for steel-toed Timberlands. When a series of calamities reveals a sinister element undermining the security of the island and its residents, Lara and Finan must reach beyond their job descriptions to protect Archibald's precious utopia from those who would do it harm.

Although the Dea Vitae cult has been evicted from Thalia Island, Lara J. Clarke and her grandfather's eco-utopia are still in peril. Rupert's ongoing lymphoma treatment deposits Lara at Thalia's helm-with no idea how to navigate the rough waters. Finan is back from the mainland after two tense weeks of silence, but the sting of his unscheduled departure lingers. Beyond the grind of running her own "planet"-while privately grieving the loss of her beloved grandfather and worrying if the cancer will take Number Two-Lara must contend with the reappearance of Jacinta Ramirez, a fugitive Clarke Innovations has been shielding all these years. Jacinta unveils disturbing secrets that reshape the history Lara's been fed about her late mother's past. When overwhelming stress sends Lara to the bottom of the whisky bottle, Finan gently reminds her that slipping into old habits won't fix what's broken. As she tries to pull herself together, a tragedy strikes that brings her and Finan close again, but with a series of cryptic clues arriving on the island, the mystery of Dea Vitae and its sought-after treasure deepens...with menacing consequences. Lara and Finan must work with investigators, and a few unsavory players, to dismantle the sinister machinations of Dea Vitae before it destroys their blossoming romance, and the sanctity of Thalia Island herself. Please note that “Planet Lara: Tempest” includes medical scenes involving reproductive complications that some listeners might find triggering.

Finan is gone, Jacinta has disappeared, and Lara is holding on by a thread. She will do whatever it takes to recover the other half of her heart, even if it means trusting those most unworthy of her trust. As terrible new threats burst onto the scene, Lara must rely on her Thalia Island family to bring Finan home in one piece, and save the utopia her grandfather fought so hard to create. With the curtain pulled back on incendiary secrets concealed for decades, reckoning comes from all sides: who is telling the truth, and who pays the price for the sins of our forebears?