Showing results by narrator "Cassandra" in All Categories

When Misty was six years old, her family started to live and dress like the Amish. Misty and her sister were kept as slaves on a mountain ranch where they were subjected to almost complete isolation, sexual abuse, and extreme physical violence. When Misty reached her teens, her parents feared she and her sister would escape and took them to an Amish community where they were adopted and became baptized members. Misty was devastated to once again find herself in a world of fear, animal cruelty, and sexual abuse.

In A Case of the Meanies, mean boy Joshua continues to plague Stella when he decides to have a birthday party at her parent's candy store. He invites everyone in the class except her! Stella has to figure out how to be a pleasant hostess when she's not on the guest list. It's just another day in the life of Stella Batts!

Meet Stella Batts. She is eight-years old and she loves to write. She loves to write lists; like her favorite things and kids in her class. And she's writing her autobiography. Stella's favorite color is yellow and she LOVES fudge. As a matter of fact, there is a special fudge counter at her family's candy store because fudge is one of her favorite things to eat! But Stella has just one problem - her name. A boy from her class keeps calling her 'Smella' after she trips on their class nature walk.

Imposter Syndrome doesn’t just affect middle-aged suits in big board rooms. The typical thoughts, feelings and behaviours that are part of the imposter experience - things like overwork, perfectionism and procrastination, hiding out, playing small and holding back – are common for so many of us. This is not just a different name for self-doubt. It is pervasive and goes directly to your sense of self-worth and belonging. You don’t need a confidence hack. You need to go to the root cause of your feelings of unworthiness and learn to trust that you are enough.

One of the best things about having parents who own a candy store is getting to be an official taste-tester. When her dad brings home Magical Glow-in-the-Dark Chewing Gum, Stella can’t wait to try it out - especially since her younger sister is already blowing bubbles and making magic-gum wishes that come true. Except the gum seems to bring Stella bad luck. First she can’t even blow a bubble, and then she falls asleep chewing a piece of gum that ends up wadded in her hair, resulting in a drastic haircut. And now her best friend, Willa, announces she’s moving clear across the country!

In Superstar, Stella gets the chance to audition for her favorite television show, Superstar Sam, after a casting director spots Stella out for dinner with her family. He said she is perfect for the role. Stella rehearses her lines until she knows the part by heart. Her little sister, Penny, is jealous, but sometimes older sisters get to do things little sisters can't. But the audition doesn't go as planned. Stella was sure she had the part. Now, will she ever get a chance to show her acting skills and meet her favorite actress?

In Who's in Charge, Stella gets a lesson in responsibility when she volunteers to watch her best friend's dog, Bella, for a few days. The only problem with this plan is that Stella didn’t ask her mother for permission. With new baby Marco at home, Stella's mom already has her hands full. But Grandma agrees it's good for Stella to have some responsibility as she's getting older. It looks as though Stella has things under control. It's only for a few days - what could go wrong?

Stella Batts is back! Stella is in third grade, she wants to be a writer, and her parents own a wonderful candy shop. Life should be pretty good, right? In Pardon Me, Stella needs to find a new best friend after her friend Willa moves away. But finding a new best friend is not easy. Things are looking up when she meets Evie, the new girl in town. She is going to be in Stella s class at school and she needs a new best friend, too.Stella can t wait to introduce her to the other third graders. Except when they get to school, things don't exactly go the way Stella planned....

For centuries I have suffered. Solidified and silenced, all because I failed to destroy what I was created for. Except now, after so long… There is a female. One who always seems to be by my side. Day after day. Night after night. She talks to me. Touches me. Tells me things. She shares stories of a world I no longer know. She is a reprieve from my punishment. A sweet delight. She liberates me from my solitude. But when I rise, my adversary seizes his opportunity, and she's caught between us. He only wants her to get to me. She isn't his. And I'll do anything to protect what's mine.

Get ready for an enchanting collection of stories, starring all the Disney Princesses! Solve a mystery with Rapunzel and the gang from the Snuggly Duckling. Gallop along with Merida after she meets a mysterious horse. Travel to Paris with Tiana as she competes in a global baking contest. Filled with wonder, excitement, and discovery, each princess's tale is a royal delight!

The Batts family has arrived at a hotel in Los Angeles and everything is all set for Aunt Laura’s wedding weekend. Stella and Penny are going to be getting a new uncle, and a new cousin! Plus, they get to be flower girls, and wear fancy dresses, and walk down the aisle throwing rose petals. It’s going to be perfect - just the way Aunt Laura has imagined it. Just the way Stella has imagined it, too. But sometimes a wedding doesn’t happen the way anyone thinks it will - including the bride. Things are starting to go wrong, and Stella is worried that it’s all her fault!

Are you afraid of the dark? Stella Batts never thought she was. In fact she's not feeling afraid of anything right now. She's just excited. Her class read the most books out of every class in school. The prize is a sleepover in the library. What could be better than that? Everyone is in pajamas, even the teachers. The kids break off into groups to go on a scavenger hunt. That's when Stella finds a really old book by an author who is also named Stella B. Though the subject matter is nothing this Stella would ever write about.

In Fairview Heights, there’s one rule everyone knows. Don’t cross the Black Rose gang. Not if you want to live. My father broke that rule. Now he owes the notorious Black Roses a favor, and to make sure he pays up, they’re taking me as collateral. Until Dad completes whatever job they gave him, three gang members will be my keepers. Sloan, Rory, and Levi. The boss’ son. The man with a secret. The flame from my past. They’re all dominant, cocky, and hot as hell, and I know from personal experience that one of them is a damn good lay.

It’s New Year’s in Sinful, and the competition for the New Year’s Queen is heating up as the warring churches go head-to-head. Fortune Redding is not the sequined dress kind of woman, but reluctantly agrees to partake in the debacle so that Ida Belle and Gertie can best their nemesis, Celia, who’s put up former Sinful mean girl RJ Rogers. RJ and her friend Ricky Benoit left plenty of devastation in their wake when they fled Sinful after high school. So when they return and Ricky is found dead, there’s no shortage of suspects.

In this sweeping, threaded narrative of the global phenomenon known as the Vampire Wars, mankind is unwittingly infected by a millennia-old bacteria unknowingly exhumed by a scientific expedition in Antarctica. Now, in some rare cases, a person’s so-called junk DNA becomes activated. Depending on their racial and ethnic heritage, they begin to manifest one of the many diverse forms of the "others" that are the true basis for the legends of supernatural creatures. These aren’t your usual vampires and werewolves - it goes much deeper than that.

Some people wear their heart on their sleeve. I wear vengeance like a suit of armor. I’ve got a list with six names on it. Six people who wronged me, who hurt me, who took everything from me. Six people who turned me into the monster I am now. And I’ve crossed off every name but one.

An enchanting New York Times and international best seller and award-winner about life, art, literature, philosophy, culture, class, privilege, and power, seen through the eyes of a 54-year-old French concierge and a precocious but troubled 12-year-old girl.

The year is 1883, and in New York City it's a time of dizzying splendor, crushing poverty, and tremendous change. With the gravity-defying Brooklyn Bridge nearly complete and New York in the grips of antivice crusader Anthony Comstock, Anna Savard and her cousin, Sophie - both graduates of the Woman's Medical School - treat the city's most vulnerable, even if doing so may put everything they've strived for in jeopardy.

Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie are finally off to Florida on the vacation they’ve always talked about. Days filled with white sand, turquoise water, and fruity drinks are the only thing on the agenda. But when Gertie’s “hot date” turns up dead and she’s the number one suspect, they’re forced to hang up their bathing suits and shift to investigating mode.

From the author of the million-copy global best seller Lilac Girls, comes a captivating new historical novel, set during the American Civil War. It's a sweeping story of women caught in a country on the brink of collapse, in a society grappling with nationalism and unthinkable racial cruelty.