Showing results by narrator "Nicol Zanzarella" in All Categories

Velveteen Vargas is an 11-year-old from Brooklyn who is granted a summer vacation in the country, courtesy of the nonprofit Fresh Air Fund. Her host family is a couple in upstate New York: Ginger, a failed artist on the fringe of Alcoholics Anonymous; and Paul, an academic who wonders what it will mean to "make a difference" in such a contrived situation.

The world of New York City school politics takes a deadly turn when Hector Sanchez, the popular principal of an up-and-coming public school, is murdered. Detective Claire Codella catches the high-profile case while she's still struggling to get back up to speed. This is her first case since taking leave to battle cancer.

When it comes to negotiation, there is an ugly double standard. As women, if we make concessions to further a deal, we're viewed as weak. But if we play hardball, we can be seen as overly aggressive - and the strategy backfires. No wonder most women hate negotiating.

Elaine's was a world-famous New York restaurant that became home to writers and celebrities. Owner Elaine Kaufman was known to be "New York feisty", controversial, often rude, always blunt, with the flare of Gertrude Stein and Dorothy Parker. Elaine was highly respected and frequently feared, and Elaine's the restaurant received the public's love and praise time and time again. Woody Allen held a regular table there, and Elaine's was even featured in Allen's Manhattan and Billy Joel's song "Big Shot".

"Open your eyes, Michelle." She gasped at the sight of the infinite night sky stretching all around her, full of more stars than she'd ever imagined. He'd thought of this. For her. It was so perfect, so romantic, it stole her breath. She smiled and curled her fingers around Ray's. When everything you love is on the line... The Isles of Scilly off the coast of England is remote, windswept and wild. It's the perfect place for Ray Powell to recuperate after the toughest Afghanistan mission the military contractor has ever run.

This could work, whispered the little voice in the back of her mind, the voice that had been silent for seven years...Years ago, former Marine Captain Cecily Knight fled her dark past and the nightmares forever haunting her nights. Alone in the remote Canadian wilderness, she survives day to day...until Ian Fairchild comes storming into her life and shatters her protective seclusion. Until one touch bared her soul. Aloof but intriguing, defensive but undeniable, Ian is everything Cecily shouldn't want but can't ignore.

After decades apart, the five siblings find themselves together again at their ailing mother’s bedside, caught in a deadlocked feud over her hospice care. Into the morass steps Murron Teinetoa, one of their bastard children, who carries an idealistic hope of finally fitting in among her estranged relatives.In an interweaving narrative, Malae portrays the Felices in their formative years of the fifties; he excavates the personal lives of the siblings in the eighties and nineties; and he follows Murron in the present as she raises her son as a single mother.

A murder victim is turned into a zombie, just long enough to cover up the circumstances of his own death.... A silent ghost with a friendly grin greets those about to meet their doom.... The only clue to who's killing a party of adventurers is the letter 'H', written in the blood of one of the victims.... All new stories of murder, suspense, and intrigue by Elaine Cunninham, Jeff Grubb, Ed Greenwood, and other favorite Forgotten Realms authors.

After all the testing and touring and applying, your child has been accepted to college. Congratulations! Now what? Every new student grapples with making a successful transition to college—with remaining healthy, happy, grounded, and in school. Indeed, the national statistics are sobering...

For centuries, women who emerge as mystic leaders have played vital roles in American culture. For just as long, they've been subjugated and ridiculed. Today, women and others across the nation are once again turning to their mystic powers to #HexThePatriarchy and help fight the forces that seem bent on relegating them to second-class citizenry.

Moving to a new city was supposed to be a fresh start for her family. Now it’s a nightmare. Her little girl was supposed to be at day care when Kelsey arrived to pick her up. But they have no record of her daughter ever being there. And to make matters worse, her husband is missing too - he won’t pick up his phone, and the school he supposedly works at says he never accepted their job offer.

Two grisly murders are committed at a meatpacking plant by a person wearing a cow mask. Not long after, the CEO of a water park is brutally killed by someone wearing an orca mask. Interpol Agent An Chang believes these are the latest acts of a ruthless serial killer he has been chasing for more than 20 years...a killer who targets those who harm innocent animals.

It’s 1965, and thirteen-year-old Gia, along with her older brother and cousins, are desperate to escape their sleepy, tree-lined neighborhood where nothing ever happens. The only thing Gia would miss is the surrounding marsh, where she feels at home among sea birds and salt water. But when one of Gia’s cousins brings drugs into their neighborhood, it sets off a chain of events that quickly turn dangerous. Everyone will be caught in the ripples, and some may be swept away entirely. Gia is determined to keep herself and her family afloat while the world is turned upside down.

Stroke by stroke, color by color, the past comes alive as a young woman in Lombardy, Italy, trains to paint with the masters. Will her ambition be too much for them? Or will she secure her place in the world of Renaissance art, despite them? As Sofonisba struggles to make her name, the Spanish empire invades Italy. With Michelangelo as her mentor and her father as her champion, Sofonisba dreams of painting the Spanish king.

Ida is a married woman in her late 30s, who lives in Rome and works at a radio station. Her mother wants to renovate the family apartment in Messina, to put it up for sale and asks her daughter to sort through her things - to decide what to keep and what to throw away. Surrounded by the objects of her past, Ida is forced to deal with the trauma she experienced as a girl, 23 years earlier, when her father left one morning, never to return.

Eight kids, ages nine to 17, awaken to find that almost everything they have ever known has been stolen from them. They were ripped from their beds in the middle of the night and transported to an unfamiliar and unforgiving new world where there are strict rules, and they are punished if they refuse to obey. As the kids grapple with their mysterious new reality, they struggle with disconcerting questions. Where in the world are they? Why were they taken away from their families? Will they ever get to go back home? And will this be the place where they die?

Equal parts information and inspiration, After You Vote: A Woman's Guide to Making an Impact, from Town Hall to Capitol Hill is both a primer and call-to-action for women of all ages who want to exercise their voices and engage more fully in civic life. It's the ultimate guide to political engagement, filled with practical (and proven) tactics to make your voice heard and have an influence on the issues you care about most - whatever those may be.

On the run from the brutal Sage and his army of Legions and Cormorants, 17-year-old Cera Marlowe knows the only place strong enough to protect her is the Alliance Council Estate. Cera’s introduction to the Estate is far from welcoming. As a Blight, her dueling powers of light and darkness make her a half-breed threat to the Alliance’s sacred powers. Cera’s ability to decipher hidden messages in classical artwork buys her shelter temporarily, but the clock is ticking as she’s faced with a daunting choice that could cost her everything.

Seventeen-year-old Cera Marlowe wants a normal life; one where she and her mom can stop skipping town every time a disturbing vision strikes. But when a girl she knows is murdered by a monster she can't explain, Cera's world turns upside down. Suddenly thrown into an ancient supernatural battle, Cera discovers she's not alone in her gifting and vows to use her visions to save lives. But why does John Milton's poem Paradise Lost keep interrupting her thoughts?

Annadel, West Virginia, was a small town rich in coal, farms, and close-knit families, all destroyed when the coal company came in. It stole everything it hadn't bothered to buy - land deeds, private homes, and ultimately, the souls of its men and women. Four people tell this powerful, deeply moving tale: Activist Mayor C. J. Marcum. Fierce, loveless union man Rondal Lloyd. Gutsy nurse Carrie Bishop, who loved Rondal. And lonely Sicilian immigrant Rosa Angelelli, who lost four sons to the deadly mines.