Showing results by narrator "Jennifer Jill Araya" in All Categories

The characters in Happy Like This are smart girls and professional women—social scientists, linguists, speech therapists, plant physiologists, dancers—who search for happiness in roles and relationships that are often unscripted or unconventional. In the midst of their ambivalence about marriage, monogamy, and motherhood and their struggles to accept and love their bodies, they look to other women for solidarity, stability, and validation. Sometimes they find it; sometimes they don’t.

In a tunnel under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Michael, a teacher of investigative journalism, has to confront a powerful opponent. Will he succeed in his race against time? Will he prevail in his attempt to stop Armageddon? To succeed in his mission, Michael must delve into ideas, measurements, and calculations written 300 years earlier by Sir Isaac Newton.

Ally Winter is going through a ruff patch. The 30-something veterinarian lost her fiancé, her clinic, and her savings in rapid succession. So when Ally's grandfather undergoes hip-replacement surgery, she moves back to Willow Bluff, Wisconsin, to care for him. She arrives home, tail between her legs, only to find sleazy lawyer Marty Shawlin murdered in his home office. And the only witness was Marty's faithful boxer, Roxy.

Hope Taylor is ready to start her new life as the first female pastor of Faith Chapel Episcopal Church in Apple Springs. The Northern California town's quaint cottages, bungalows, and shops promise a fresh start. But where is Father Christopher? The kindly old rector who hired Pastor Hope was supposed to meet her upon her arrival, but he's nowhere to be seen. Hope's faith springs eternal, so she explores the little white church hoping to find Father Christopher. But when she enters the columbarium, she instead finds church elder Stanley King - his skull crushed by a fallen burial urn.

On Saturday morning, Cora Maxwell finds her teenage son’s clothes covered in blood. A small town torn apart by a horrific hate crime. An investigative reporter hell-bent on finding the truth. A mother’s worst nightmare. What really happened to the Reyes boy? In the heart-stopping and timely suspense novel Secrets Mothers Keep, widow and mother Cora Maxwell faces the hardest decision of her life. In a world where there are few second chances, do you grant one to your child? And if so...what is the cost?

A young American woman arrives in Florence from Boston, knowing no one and speaking little Italian. But Hannah is isolated in a more profound way, estranged from her own identity after a bout with starvation that has left her life and body in ruins. She is determined to recover in Florence, a city saturated with beauty, vitality, and food - as well as a dangerous history of sainthood for women who starved themselves for God.

Phaedra Brighton is perfectly content with her life of lecturing college students, gossiping with her best friends, and dreaming of Mr. Darcy. As a young, respected (if somewhat peculiar) English professor, her expertise lies in all things Jane Austen — but she knows that the closest she'll ever get to being a real-life Elizabeth Bennet is in her dreams.

When Nate Porter left Helen, Alaska, to become a firefighter with the Forest Service, he claimed it was because he craved adventure. The truth was, he couldn't stand to hang around, pining for a girl the town's century-old feud meant he could never have. But Nate got over Lydia Lipin years ago, or so he thought until he learns that an old rival has come sniffing around. The solution - a trip home with his rescue puppies to prove to himself he completely extinguished that old flame.

Cora hasn’t spoken to her best friend, Quinn, in a year. Despite living next door to each other, they exist in separate worlds of grief. Cora is still grappling with the death of her beloved sister in a school shooting, and Quinn is carrying the guilt of what her brother did. On the day of Cora’s 12th birthday, Quinn leaves a box on her doorstep with a note. She has decided that the only way to fix things is to go back in time to the moment before her brother changed all their lives forever - and stop him.

Newbery Honor winner Kathryn Lasky, author of the Guardians of Ga’hoole series, delivers a riveting adventure about young British spies on a secret mission in Germany in WWII.

It’s not every day you discover you might be related to Anastasia…or that the tragic princess actually survived her assassination attempt and has been living as the woman you know as Aunt Anna. For Jess Morgan, who is growing tired of living her life to please everyone else, discovering her late aunt’s diaries shows her she’s not the only one struggling to hide who she really is. But was her aunt truly a Romanov princess? Or is this some elaborate hoax? With the help of a supremely dorky but undeniably cute local college student named Evan, Jess digs into the century-old mystery.

A futuristic alien world, supernatural abilities, an ancient conspiracy, and the power of love and friendship; a teenage girl's life changes when she is abducted from home and becomes the human race's last hope to survive a deadly illness. Harper just wants to be a normal 17-year-old girl, playing soccer with her friends and going to school, not understanding why her mom keeps her inside, locked away from the outside world. But once Harper stumbles upon a mysterious glowing figure in the Nevada desert, a chain-of-events is triggered that will change her life forever.

Pebble Cove is home to more than just fishermen, Victorian houses, and coastal beauty. It also harbors long-running feuds and buried secrets. When a local man drops dead after drinking a matcha tea latte, Rosemary Woodmere suspects foul play. As a witness to the murder, she’s called in for questioning. At the station, she meets a new ghost and learns the town’s police force has a dark past when it comes to covering up murder.

Georgia and detective Cal Perkins are through. Fine. Maybe, it’s an opportunity to give charmer Hamlet Miller a chance. But there’s no time for romance when Georgia hosts her stepsister and her roommate Quincy during a college chorale tour - and Quincy steals Georgia’s car and disappears. When her car turns up in a cemetery with a cryptic note lying on the front seat, Georgia decides to take action.

Now, I really did mean to keep my mouth shut. I was going to be the perfect, quiet, well-heeled fiancé. But since I am neither well-heeled nor a fiancé, it was only a matter of time before I would mess up even with the best intentions. Breakfast with the Somersets was about as much fun as Russian roulette. Between the evil sneers, rotten barbed comments, and just plain condescendence, it was hard to get my good eat on, despite the lavish spread.

Georgia Rae Winston’s life in the farming community of Wildcat Springs, Indiana, has found a nice, quiet rhythm. She’s dating Detective Cal Perkins, and everyone predicts wedding bells - if only Cal weren’t so consumed with work. But then Clara Alspaugh, the town prodigal, comes home after 38 years. She just so happens to be the woman who broke Georgia’s dad’s heart back in high school.

Pebble Cove is not the sleepy coastal town Rosemary remembers from her childhood. Ghosts are everywhere. But apparently only she can see them. When Rosemary Woodmere inherits her estranged grandmother's Victorian teahouse, she doesn't expect to also inherit a ghost named Asher from the 1920s. Things get weirder for Rosemary. Her grandma was supposedly murdered. A body has washed up on the beach and the police suspect her in the man's murder. She's trying to navigate her newfound ability to talk to ghosts. And she doesn't even know the first thing about tea.

When the ladies of the Enchanted Cafe get invited to the prestigious 3P cooking event, they couldn't be happier. But when the King of Pasta falls over dead after eating their event special pie, things take another turn. Soon another body turns up and the mystery unravels as multiple suspects and multiple bodies add up to one amazing mystery! Death by Rolling Pin is set in the small mountain town of Kissing Bridge. Magic and miracles live here along with some of the nicest people you ever met.

The annual River Run is a fall favorite in Stoneybrook. Participants end the race win a commemorative mug from local potter, Josie Cobb. But when one of the mugs is shattered over Josie's ex-husband's head and he's found dead along the riverside trail, the sheriff is sure the potter finally snapped.

Hannah Morgan is a content producer for internet sensation and millionaire playboy, Mathew Albrecht. When she discovers his possible ties to a global terrorist organisation, her investigation becomes more troubling the deeper she goes. Could her client’s involvement also be linked to the death of her husband years earlier or is it something more sinister? Enlisting two ex-military guns for hire, a young hacker and her dead husband's AI, Hannah must confront the demons of her past to save the future.