Showing results by narrator "Karissa Vackers" in All Categories

Betty Williams was an outsider at a time when conformity was king: Texas in the 1960s. Mack Herring was the quintessential football player, handsome and well-liked by the sweater set-wearing girls Betty scoffed at. When their unlikely relationship came to an end and Betty's life began to spiral, she asked for death and Mack was more than happy to oblige. The resulting trial of Betty Williams' murder would shock no one familiar with the resolutions of today's rape cases.

Cat McGuire's return to Firefly Lake is turning into much more than she bargained for. Sure, she missed the crisp pine-scented air and the comfort of having her family around her. But being home makes her feel less like the successful single mom she is - and more like the awkward teen who never fit in. It doesn't help that hockey-pro Luc Simard is back in town, too. Luc was her childhood crush, the hometown hero who never noticed her, and yet somehow he still makes her heart skip a beat.

When a bet is made between squabbling fairy siblings, Princess Gabriella finds herself magically whisked from her perfect life and replaced by an imposter. Her princess training dictates that she make the best of her circumstances, but Gabriella has her work cut out for her when she's forced to join the chaotic fairy family. Meanwhile, fairy Phleg enjoys the luxurious bedsheets and honeyed milk of royal life, but turns the castle upside down as she tries to pose as the princess.

Claire Fredericksson is the beating heart of Club Deception, LA's most exclusive society of magicians. She's the Queen Bee of Magician WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends) and the real genius behind her husband's award-winning magic show, but her stage fright has kept her out of the limelight. Until Claire's life is upended by the arrival of two new women to the closed group of magicians' wives. When a magician rivalry and a stolen routine erupt into murder, the women must uncover the truth and set things right for the men they love.

Attorney Nick McGuire wasn't meant to be a family man. His career has always been his focus, and after taking time out to help his mother, he's ready to get back to the city...until Mia and her daughters arrive at Firefly Lake. Mia is beautiful and intriguing, and it doesn't take long to realize being "just friends" will never be enough. As the summer nights turn colder, Nick will have to choose between the life he's always wanted...and the woman he can't live without.

From the best-selling authors of The Hell with Love, a fierce, funny, touching collection that takes the sting out of "aging while female".

Charlotte Gibbs wants nothing more than to put the past behind her, once and for all. But now that she's back at Firefly Lake to sell her mother's cottage, the overwhelming flood of memories reminds her of what she's been missing. Sun-drenched days. Late-night kisses that still shake her to the core. The gentle breeze off the lake, the scent of pine in the air, and the promise of Sean's touch on her skin.... True, she got her dream job traveling the world. But at what cost?

Leading us through the wake of these changes is Nanny Goodman, a girl living in Marin County, California. A half-adult child among often childish adults, Nanny grows up with two spectacularly odd parents: a writer father and a mother who is a constant source of material. As she moves into her adolescence, so, it seems, does America. While grappling with her own coming of age, Nanny witnesses an entire culture's descent into drugs, the mass exodus of fathers from her town, and rapid real estate and technological developments that foreshadow a drastically different future.

CEO Luke Cannon has just traded seats with his identical twin. Little did he know that an innocent kiss while pretending he was his brother would soon create havoc. What happens in the air doesn't stay up there. Once on the tropical land, Kate believes that the handsome stranger who gave her the best kiss of her life is now her new client, Drew Cannon, fiancé to the beautiful and wealthy Lauren Kincaid. While Kate struggles with the intense feelings she thinks she has for Drew, Luke discovers Kate's been hired to plan his brother's destination wedding.

Recently separated Amelia Saxton, a dedicated journalist, never expected that uncovering the biggest story of her career would become deeply personal. But when she discovers that a cluster of embryos belonging to her childhood friend Parker and his late wife Greer have been deemed “abandoned”, she’s put in the unenviable position of telling Parker - and dredging up old wounds in the process.

Winning Conditions is a joyful, insightful, and empowering book about delivering your work and ideas so that they (and you!) are more likely to be recognized, accepted, and celebrated. By consciously implementing these ideas, you'll see your colleagues and customers respond more positively to you and your great work. Your strong reputation and overall success will grow. You will begin to win.

"Ageless" Hollywood diva Jessica Gray is finishing the last leg of her one-woman show in St. Louis, Missouri, and the nearby town of Chouteau Forest is dazzled. During the show, she humiliates three homeless women onstage, fires her entourage - not for the first time - and makes a bitter enemy of the town's powerful patriarch. After she collapses at an after-show party and is rushed to the hospital, she ignores the advice of her doctors and discharges herself in order to return to LA.

Madison Porter loves Honey Springs, but her days are one big rinse-wash-repeat routine of working for the mayor’s office and caring for the town’s matchmaking cat, Belle. She once bid on the town’s ice-cream shop with hopes of running it herself, but the sweet deal seemingly wasn’t meant to be. Patrick Manning moves to the tiny town of Honey Springs to start over. After outbidding his competition for a building space, he now owns The Bean & Brew.

Ad exec Cassie Wilkerson is on the fast track to a Manhattan corner office when she’s suddenly called to quaint Honey Springs, California. She hasn’t visited the town since she was 16, but her aunt has passed away and inexplicably left Cassie her honeybee farm, her matchmaking cat, Belle, and the job of acting mayor. But Cassie’s quick trip to sort this out turns into a three-week stay. This fish-out-of-water needs the help of the farm’s foreman and her former crush, Nick Porter, to win over the locals.

Navigating the healthcare system can be challenging and add stress to an already difficult time, but with the help of this useful patient checklist, you’ll be ready for whatever life throws at you.

What if your best days ever happened when you were 11? It's not easy being the only cast member of a 1990s song-and-dance show who didn't become famous. When Holly Danner was 11, she used to do anything for a laugh on Diego and the Lion's Den. Only for her childhood best friends to grow up and dominate the worlds of pop, film, and TV while she had a few near misses and a nanny gig for her niece. She even made peace with the whole thing years ago. But when she finds out there's a 25th anniversary for the show and she wasn't invited, it's time to set the record straight.

The small town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is an unlikely location for a Playboy Resort, and nineteen-year old Sherri Taylor is an unlikely bunny. Growing up in neighboring East Troy, Sherri plays the organ at the local church and has never felt comfortable in her own skin. But when her parents die in quick succession, she leaves the only home she’s ever known for the chance to be part of a glamorous slice of history.

Big hats, big trucks, big oil fortunes — Texas clichés all. And while those elements do flourish throughout Texas, they alone hardly define the place. The Lone Star State is and has always been a great melting pot, home to sprawling cities, trailblazing innovators, and treasured traditions from all over, many of which become ingrained in popular culture and intertwined with the American ideal.

They’re called parachutes: teenagers dropped off to live in private homes and study in the United States while their wealthy parents remain in Asia. Claire Wang never thought she’d be one of them, until her parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai and enroll her at a high school in California. Suddenly she finds herself living in a stranger’s house, with no one to tell her what to do for the first time in her life. She soon embraces her newfound freedom, especially when the hottest and most eligible parachute, Jay, asks her out.

Motherhood is tough. But then, so is daughterhood. When we first meet Claire, she’s living in Sedona, Arizona, with her boyfriend Cal and ducking calls from her mother. Her mom is a world class psychic on the East Coast, and Claire doesn’t want her to discover the truth. Claire works in the family business and calls herself a psychic, but she doesn’t really have “the gift” and hasn’t for a long time. She’s a fraud.