Showing results by narrator "Ann Richardson" in All Categories

Ever since Avery Hawthorn left small town Frisco, Colorado for college at UCLA, her parents have visited her in sunny California for the holidays. When a freak accident at her father’s hardware store derails their plans, Avery must find a way to spend Christmas with them. As a big fan of Christmas, Avery knew this wouldn’t do. She needed to see her family. But, there was one thing standing in the way of her taking time off… The chance for a big promotion at work.

A fire breaks out in the basement of Manatee Bay Inn, trapping Jake and Sage in a risky adventure that brings them closer… Until the flames leave behind a riddle that shocks them to their core. Relieved to see her daughter safe from harm, Annie soon faces another threat. Rochelle, her ex-husband’s fiancée returns, and she’s not who she claims to be. But when the storm hits the Bay’s wildlife shelter, her second daughter, Emily, suffers a terrible accident while helping the animals.

There’s a reason Sage Davies dreaded returning to Manatee Bay again. Even after losing her job as a reporter and her parents’ catastrophic divorce, the heaviest blow in her life was yet to come. Facing Jake Bellamy, the man who broke her heart into a million pieces and left a void in its place, nearly shatters her. Now all Sage can do is squash the impulse to be near him, especially with chaos taking her family by storm again.

Elin Willows’ popular debut Inlands explores the emotional journey of a young woman who leaves behind her life in Stockholm and finds herself in a new place at the edge of the Arctic Circle. Overwhelmed by nature’s magnitude and the simplicity and strangeness of her new life, she searches for a new identity and for ways to overcome her feelings of alienation. Rather than returning to the known (Stockholm, her friends and family), she chooses to stay and struggles to adapt to its new customs.

In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the American government confiscated the homes, animals, businesses, and personal possessions of Japanese Americans, citizens all. At the Tule Lake Internment Camp, a Japanese American girl sought solace by retreating to the furthest edge of the camp’s barbed-wire enclosure. Outside the barbed-wire-crowned metal fence, with its frightening armed guard towers, a curious American boy one day cautiously approached on his bike to say a nervous hello to the girl who so intrigued him from a distance. This visit started four years of meetings.

Refugia (reh-FU-jee-ah) is a term describing places of shelter where life endures in times of crisis, such as a volcanic eruption, fire, or stressed climate. Ideally, these refugia endure, expand, and connect so that new life emerges. Debra Rienstra applies this concept to human culture and faith, asking: In this era of ecological devastation, how can Christians become people of refugia? How can we find and nurture these refugia in our human cultural systems and in our spiritual lives? Refugia Faith speaks to people securely within the faith as well as to those on the edge.

In the days leading up to Christmas, Dómhildur delivers her 1,922nd baby. Beginnings and endings are her family trade; she comes from a long line of midwives on her mother’s side and a long line of undertakers on her father’s. She even lives in the apartment that she inherited from her grandaunt, a midwife with a unique reputation for her unconventional methods.

When Annie’s ex-husband goes missing, she puts their differences aside to search for him. But when he turns up with a bullet wound and paler than death, Annie knows she’s seen it all. What has Roger done this time, and who is after him? And why will Roger trust no one but Tom, his lifelong rival, with his secret? Annie needs answers only Tom can give her, but she can’t stop him from carving his way back into her heart. The newcomers at her childhood home—where life began with a promise and dreams ended before they began—are not what they seem.

An aging drifter seeking answers about his father, and an academic on a quest to rediscover her literary heroine navigate troubled relationships and the Nebraska Sandhills, as they uncover little-known history about Mari Sandoz. When Steve Kaminski realized that the man who raised him wasn’t his father, he left the family’s Nebraska ranch in a rage. In 45 years he’s never been back. Now his sister, Wanda, is dying, and wants him to spend her final days with her in the house they once called home.

The PREQUEL to Amazon #1 Best-Selling Author, Amy Rafferty's, Nantucket Romance Series. A strong and kind-hearted woman is a force to be reckoned with… and Cody Moore is about to capture your heart.

Letty is a delicate girl who is forced to move from lush Virginia to desolate West Texas in the 1880s. The numbing blizzards, the howling sand storms, and the loneliness of the prairie all combine to undo her nerves. But it is the wind itself, a demon personified, that eventually drives her over the brink of madness.

"Let me do something for you." Carrie Stephens offers these words of hope from the heart of God in Jesus, Love, & Tacos as she uses vibrant metaphors and comical self-deprecation to tell the story of lordship, community, and mission. These three ancient values will offer you help and hope as they shape your spiritual life, define how to gather in unity, and lead you to God's missional love in action.

Freshly graduated from high school and ready to put a dead-end relationship behind her, Annie is prepared to spread her wings and conquer the dancing world. Roger Davies, kind, handsome, with a heart of gold—everything a girl her age could ever want in a boyfriend—never really swept her off her feet. Annie’s one true love would always be ballet. Or so she thought.

Annie Williams is no fool. She knows her marriage to Roger Davies has been a well-rehearsed lie she’s told herself over and over for years… Anything to keep the old wounds in her heart from opening again. When Roger announces their beautiful lie is finally over, everything Annie has built and dared to dream of is about to shatter around her. Soon, Annie’s darkest secret comes tumbling out from its hiding place. A place she thought she had left behind, buried deep beneath the sands of Manatee Bay.

As October slides into November, Cody Bay enjoys a few rare moments of peace. Finally able to focus on her personal projects, Cody Moore sets out to start renovations on the Bay. December's Christmas rush is but a breath away, and with the trouble following them around at every turn, she needs to be ready. But Cody's hopes for a quiet November are soon shattered. The last guest to arrive at the Inn brings with them chaos anew.

Brandon Newton has two failed marriages under his belt, a shy teenage daughter abandoned by her mother, and a hope to start anew in Nantucket. After accepting a job at the local hospital, Brandon books into Cody Bay Inn, ready to start anew. He is completely unaware that his life is about to change forever. When a freak storm hits Cody Bay, a woman is found stranded on a lifeboat with no memory of who she is or how she got there. The only clue to who she may be is a medical alert necklace around her neck that identifies her as Summer Pearce.

As the Moore family and friends prepare for the annual Cody Bay Inn Halloween party, an unexpected guest arrives to stir up things at the Bay. Strange things start to happen around the Inn and the town, coinciding with the arrival of James Argent. A tall, dark, handsome man with silver eyes, a soothing voice, and an erased past. His distinguished accent, attire, and his valet make him look like he stepped out of the nineteenth century. But that's not all... On the night of James’ arrival at Nantucket, a storm blows in, knocking out the power on the island.

Cody, Christopher, Carla, and Steven are about to uncover a truth hidden for almost three decades. While they unravel the shocking mystery that will change their lives forever, they must find a way to forgive the past and each other and find their way to love again. While mysteries unravel and feelings blossom, Cody learns that true love deserves a second chance, after all. Escape into the beauty of the Atlantic coastline and fall in love with Cody Moore, her adorable teens, and her crazy house full of loveable pets.

By beginning a conversation that encourages self-examination and compassion, Combined Destinies invites listeners to look at how white Americans have been hurt by the very ideology that their ancestors created. Editors Ann Todd Jealous and Caroline T. Haskell, both experienced psychotherapists skilled at facilitating dialogue about racial issues, are cognizant of the challenges that even the thought of such conversations often presents. Their book is based on the premise that for positive and lasting change to occur, hearts as well as minds must be opened.

Noted art historian Harriet F. Senie tackles pivotal subjects and more in Monumental Controversies. Senie places partisan politics aside as she investigates subjects that have not been adequately covered in classrooms or literature and require substantial reconciliation in order for Americans to come to terms with their history. She shines a spotlight on the complicated facts surrounding these figures, monuments, and sites, enabling us to revisit the flaws of our Founding Fathers and their checkered legacies while still recognizing their enormous importance and influence.