Showing results by narrator "Dina Pearlman" in All Categories

Leader of the Faction of Humanity. It was a ridiculous title, but the Arena said that was what Captain Ariane Austin was since she'd led the crew of the Holy Grail in their discovery of the impossible, physics-violating place and their eventual return, and when the nigh-omnipotent Arena said something, it meant it. Ariane must discover what it means to be the Leader of Humanity, both for herself and for humanity, before her enemies - at home or in the Arena - depose her, kill her, or worse.

Grand Duchess Vicky Peterwald's father could have showed up to walk her down the aisle, but she's not really bothered about that. Then, suddenly, she is. It turns out he didn't make the wedding because he's broke and living nearly homeless in an abandoned, half-built palace. How'd that happen? News isn't coming out of Dad's side of the empire, so it looks like Vicky may need a battle fleet to go pay Daddy dear a visit. Oh, and four or six brigades of infantry and tanks.

When a sudden impact sends a spacecraft bound for a distant research station hurtling toward a previously unseen and inexplicable planet, responsibility for the safety of its passengers immediately falls on Ivy 'Holly' Wood, a former poster child of the public space program now fleeing Earth's tyrannical leadership. The mysterious planet's startlingly Earth-like atmosphere initially breeds optimism among Holly's group of stranded survivors, but before long it becomes clear that Earth's rules don't apply.

When a mysterious monster carves a path of destruction across the southern River Kingdoms, desperate townsfolk look to the famed elven ranger Elyana and her half-orc companion Drelm for salvation. For Drelm, however, the mission is about more than simple justice - it's about protecting the frontier town he's adopted as his home, and the woman he plans to marry.

There is a human genetic fluke that is surprisingly common, due to a change in a key pair of chromosomes. In the normal condition the two look the same, but in this disorder one is malformed and shrunken beyond recognition. The result is a shortened life span, higher mortality at all ages, an inability to reproduce, premature hair loss, and brain defects variously resulting in attention deficit, hyperactivity, conduct disorder, hypersexuality, and an enormous excess of both outward and self-directed aggression. It is called maleness.

Raised in the shadow of her brother Hank, Vicky now finds herself heir to the Peterwald Empire and hell bent on killing Kris Longknife. When that doesn't work out, she finds herself shipped off to the Greenfeld Navy as a boot ensign. There she learns she can solve problems without taking her clothes off, and really feel good about it! When Kris Longknife crosses Vicky's path again, Vicky is ready to help her save Vicky's dad's life.

"Exposed" by a Boston Herald reporter, Lucy Valentine is suddenly the talk of the town. Long back-story short: Even though the rest of her Valentine ancestors were blessed by Cupid with psychic abilities, Lucy's only special power lies in her ability to find things. This skill has proven quite a blessing for those who come to her matchmaking agency in search of finding their long-lost loves. Now that Lucy's secret is out, she has more new clients than she knows what to do with.

It's dangerous to get too close to one of those damn Longknife. So Senior Chief Agent in Charge Foile volunteers to get too damn close to the whole family of Longknifes. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Kris Longknife feared the survival of the entire human race might hang on what her Grampa Al did next – but she couldn’t figure out what he was up to. After a career in the Wardhaven Bureau of Investigations, Foile was good at finding out what others wanted to keep hidden.

Scarlett Prynne, her feline familiar Runeclaw, and her beloved motorcycle Dusk Runner tracked the instability in the local magic flows to Moab, Utah. A surge of magic and the earthquake that followed it made clear why they'd been led to this place. Scarlett didn't look for trouble, but it always seemed to seek her out like a hound on the trail of a choice steak. And this day was going to make what she'd dealt with before seem like amateur hour. Is Redthorn Industries, the town's biggest employer at the center of the troubles?

If you have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), you may struggle with mental compulsions—such as ritualistic counting or "emotional checking." You may even believe that these compulsions will reduce your anxiety or prevent something "bad" from happening. But the truth is that mental compulsions can be debilitating, and greatly impact your life, your career, and your relationships. This workbook offers evidenced-based skills drawn from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness to help you reduce rumination, worry, and other mental traps, so you can live with more freedom and vitality.

In 90 Days to Level Up Your Teamwork, bestselling author Amy Edmondson teaches you how to become a better team player by focusing on a specific element of cooperative achievement each week. From overcoming barriers to creating psychological safety, this book walks you through exactly how to develop your teamwork skills, one step at a time.

What better time than Halloween to dig into a bracing discussion of a diabolical murder mystery? And what better choice for the Jane Doe Book Club than Agatha Christie's Crooked House? Lyla Moody and her friends are soon embroiled in debate over whether the heroine's actions are particularly believable. But not long after the meeting, sleepy Sweet Mountain, Georgia, is rocked by a murder that uncannily echoes the novel in question.

In a small town like Oakwood, Ohio, everyone knows everyone else's business - except for Charley Carpenter's standoffish new neighbors, who tend to keep to themselves. But behind closed doors, Paxton Sharpe's habit of screaming bloody murder at all hours of the day keeps Charley awake all night. Coupled with the stress of the increasingly delayed expansion of her shop, Old Hat Vintage Fashions, the insomnia is driving Charley crazy. Her only distraction? The local paper's irreverent new advice column, "Ask Jackie".

How much would you sacrifice to save the life of a child? In the fourth novel of best-selling author Barbara Hinske's beloved Rosemont series, Maggie Martin faces her biggest challenges when her future at Rosemont and the life of someone dear to her are at stake.

This third book in the beloved Rosemont series finds Mayor Maggie Martin knee-deep in the financial problems facing Westbury. With a stagnant investigation into the fraud and embezzlement that brought the town to the brink of bankruptcy, Maggie needs results - now. The bad guys, however, are always one step ahead, with bribes and blackmail at their disposal.

Ariane Austin and her crew had learned these lessons the hard way, and - with luck, skill, and sheer will, had managed to survive so far. But now a debt of honor to Humanity's oldest, if sometimes self-serving, ally, Orphan, has come due. The threat of war looms with the xenophobic Molothos, one of the five Great Factions; the dark and omnipresent legacy of the Hyperion Experiment lingers. As Leader of the Faction of Humanity, Captain Ariane Austin had to deal with all of these problems, and deal with them soon.

It's 1955. Seven days before her graduation from Barnard College, Susan Levitt asks herself, "What if you lived your entire life without urgency?" - just before going out to make things happen to her that will shatter the mask of conformity concealing her feelings of alienation. If Susan continues to be "good", marriage and security await her. But her hunger is rising for the self-discovery that comes from existential freedom.

In Strange Bedfellows, David P. Barash and Judith Eve Lipton look at how biology actually promotes monogamy in some species and how these lessons apply to human beings. An accessible work of science that is relevant to our intimate daily life, Strange Bedfellows will reassure some people, surprise others, and engage everyone.

Lillian Byrd's battered Chevrolet Caprice is convulsing through the last of its death throes; her pet rabbit, Todd, ails; and as usual she's single—and flat broke. For a few extra bucks she signs on to help an old friend, retired police detective Erma Porrocks, renovate her house, but of course nothing ever goes smoothly in the life of Lillian Byrd. The end of her first day on the job yields a partially demolished wall, a mysterious stash of cash, and a fresh corpse. And Lillian's attentions are diverted by the appearance of a drop-dead gorgeous neighbor.

Everyone has known since Kris Longknife: Mutineer that Kris ran off to join the Navy after graduating college much to her parents’ dismay. However, the story has never been told of how that came to pass. Worse, how does a scion of the Longknife clan survive that massive drop in social levels, plummeting from the prime minister’s brat to a lowly boot recruit. Here, at last, is the story in all its fuss and feathers still on this rare bird. Enjoy.