Showing results by narrator "Jesse Vilinsky" in All Categories

July 1985. It’s a normal, sweltering New Jersey summer for soon-to-be seventh grader Bee Kocsis. Her thoughts center only on sunny days spent at Deer Chase Lake, on evenings chasing fireflies around her cul-de-sac with the neighborhood kids, and on Max, the boy who just moved in across the street. There's also the burgeoning worry that she'll never be as special as her younger sister, Audrina, who seems to effortlessly dazzle wherever she goes.

Sam Miller seems like an ordinary twelve-year-old boy, but the discovery of a mysterious box changes his life forever. He soon finds himself in a strange world full of adventure and magic where he must battle pirates, giant spiders, and an evil tyrant. To survive, Sam must overcome his fears, solve riddles, and most of all, be Extraordinary.

In the middle of an ashen wasteland lies the last known haven for mankind, a small, primitive town in a small oasis, where the dwindling population struggles daily to survive. Part of that survival hinges on an ancient ritual where a special few must make the perilous journey to the sacred Tower of Light. Addy Swift, a 16-year-old born with a power she can't control, is safe from that ritual for another year; that is, until the rules change.

When Louisa is sent to stay with her grandparents for the summer, she’s not looking forward to it. While her brother is determined to find a way to stay on Deer Island forever, Louisa would rather be off having adventures with their globetrotting ornithographer parents. She’s a writer, and there’s nothing on all of Deer Island to write about - right? Louisa quickly discovers that small doesn’t necessarily mean quiet, and the island has plenty of scope for the imagination. It also has George, the boy who helps her see the world in a whole new light.

Twice-orphaned Sylvi has chipped out a niche for herself on Layce, an island cursed by eternal winter. Alone in her truck, she takes comfort in two things: the solitude of the roads and the favor of Winter, an icy spirit who has protected her since she was a child.

After defeating The Hisser - and discovering their power as a team - Infinity Trinity is ready for its next adventure. When Akiko, Mae, and Josie learn that a spy has been betraying secrets to the Japanese military, they join Room Twelve in San Francisco for important work with other code-cracking experts. But soon there is personal code to crack: Akiko spots her mom walking with the suspected spy through San Francisco, which had been her family’s home until Executive Order No. 9066 sent Akiko and all Japanese Americans on the West Coast into internment camps.

Josie O’Malley does a lot to help out Mam after her father goes off to fight the Nazis, but she wishes she could do more - like all those caped heroes who now seem to have disappeared. If Josie can’t fly and control weather like her idol, Zenobia, maybe she can put her math smarts to use cracking puzzles for the government. After an official tosses out her puzzler test because she’s a girl, it soon becomes clear that an even more top-secret agency has its eye on Josie, along with two other applicants: Akiko and Mae.

When Nina decides to take a radio-broadcasting class her senior year, she expects it to be a walk in the park. Instead, it's a complete disaster. The members of Nina's haphazardly formed radio team have approximately nothing in common. And to maximize the awkwardness, her group includes Jamie, a childhood friend she'd hoped to basically avoid for the rest of her life.

Seventeen-year-old Signal Deere has raised eyebrows for years as an unhappy Goth misfit from the trailer park. When she's convicted of her best friend Rose's brutal murder, she's designated a Class A - the most dangerous and manipulative criminal profile. To avoid prison, Signal signs on for a secret program for 18-and-under Class As and is whisked off to an abandoned sleep-away camp, where she and seven bunkmates will train as assassins. Yet even in the Teen Killers Club, Signal doesn't fit in. She's squeamish around blood. She's kind and empathetic....

As she painfully emerges from her grief, Liv comes face-to-face with two facts: She did not truly love Jack, and she does love her long-time colleague and mentor Streeter Pierce. But she wonders if she can find the courage to let him know or just how much longer she can hide her feelings. As Streeter and Liv are drawn together and a tender relationship begins, a gritty and often shocking set of events is unraveling around them. While fans of the series have long waited to know the truth about his past, Streeter’s honest revelations lead to nothing but fear and his worst nightmare.

Liv has been forced to take a leave of absence from her job at the FBI following the tragic death of her love, Jack Linwood. She finds herself back home in Rapid City, South Dakota, far from her closest friend and colleague, Streeter Pierce, and her trusted dog, Beulah. Struggling with the risks and pressures of her career and the nostalgia of home, a heartbroken Liv questions whether or not she has made the right choices in life. As if that weren’t enough, she finds herself sitting in a bar staring up into the faces of the bizarre wax heads of the infamous citizens of of Deadwood.

Once an amateur sleuth, Liv “Boots” Bergen has now found her footing as an official FBI agent. It should be Liv’s dream career - she’s working closely with a bureau legend, Agent Streeter Pierce, as well as the exotic Agent Jack Linwood, with whom she shares a growing romance. Liv has proven to be an adept agent, and the whole office has been moved to a brand new, state-of-the-art facility in central Denver. And yet, doubt plagues her. Liv is tormented by the knowledge that her work with the FBI could endanger her extended family.

Twenty-four-year-old Charlotte Stahl would do anything for her older brother, Ian. After all, he'd done everything for her growing up. He played Burken with her - a hide-and-seek game they made up as kids. He comforted her when their mom deserted them. He raised her when their dad went to prison for murder. Ian is the only reason she's still alive. So when Ian asks her to play Burken in the isolated woods of Cadillac, Michigan, she feels she could use the nostalgia and agrees. Burken - it's the one thing that never changes...until Ian threatens to kill her in the middle of the game.

Noah’s Rainy Day combines classic Liv Bergen irreverence and brainpower with an unflinching look at the darkest of human motivations, all while a whirlpool of increasingly terrifying events threatens to engulf Liv and Noah both in one final rainy day....

Sharp-witted Liv Bergen can't avoid becoming embroiled in murders, it seems. Her family's hometown of Sturgis, South Dakota, is quickly becoming the Sodom of the Black Hills during the dog days of summer as it hosts the infamous rally of grizzled hard-core motorcycle bikers - half a million of them. Crime comes too close for comfort when Liv must solve the mystery of a beautiful young townie to clear her brother's name. Liv witnesses the vile death of another young woman, and during her investigation of both crimes she attracts the uninvited attentions of the leader of Lucifer's Lot.

The third Liv Bergen mystery picks up right where the second one left off: the murder of Liv’s sister-in-law has been solved, but an older rancher has been bludgeoned to death in a style eerily reminiscent of a long-inactive killer known only as the Crooked Man. FBI agent Streeter Pierce, still on assignment in Sturgis, South Dakota, must now turn his sights on tracking down the killer, who happens to be his nemesis from 10 years earlier. Pierce doesn’t complain, though; he’s falling in love with Liv Bergen and works to recruit her for the FBI’s training camp in Quantico.

Liv becomes involved in the investigation of the murder of Jill Brannigan, a summer intern at the limestone mine Liv manages near Fort Collins, Colorado. In doing so, she inadvertently puts her friends, her family, and herself at risk of being swallowed in the belly of a madman bloated with perverse appetites for women, surrealistic art, and renown. Perhaps a bit too daring (and at times irreverent) for her own good, “Boots,” as Liv’s eight siblings call her, soon realizes she has a knack for outsmarting and tracking down the Venus de Milo murderer - and she enjoys it!

Writing at Work covers everything professionals need to know about writing on the job today. HR and L&D managers can use this new course to train experienced employees who already know the basics of business writing but could use a refresher.

All her life, 17-year-old Chessie has had recurring dreams about a little white farmhouse. Quaint? Not quite. The house is the site of the unsolved murders of Villisca, Iowa, where eight people were slaughtered in 1912. With her parents on the verge of divorce, Chessie is stuck spending the summer with her grandparents in Villisca - right across the street from the axe murder house.

Denise Farber has just moved back to New Orleans with her mom and stepdad. They left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and have finally returned, wagering the last of their family's money on fixing up an old, rundown house and converting it to a bed and breakfast. Nothing seems to work around the place, which doesn't seem too weird to Denise. The unexplained noises are a little more out of the ordinary, but again, nothing too unusual. But when floors collapse, deadly objects rain down, and she hears creepy voices, it's clear to Denise that something more sinister lurks hidden here.