Showing results by narrator "Brittany Pressley" in All Categories

A few generations from now, the coastlines of the continent have been redrawn by floods and tides. Global powers have agreed to not produce any new plastics, and what is left has become valuable: Garbage is currency. In the region-wide junkyard that Appalachia has become, Coral is a “plucker", pulling plastic from the rivers and woods. She’s stuck in Trashlands, a dump named for the strip club at its edge, where the local women dance for an endless loop of strangers and the club's violent owner rules as unofficial mayor.

It’s not every day you're slapped on stage by two different women you've been dating for the last year. What sort of ballsy woman gets on stage and slaps a rockstar? Does nobody have self-control anymore? It may have been the talk of the Grammys. I was 33, hardly ready to settle down. Except now it's getting forced on me. Seaside, Oregon. My bandmates were more than happy to settle down, dig their roots into the sand, and start popping out kids. Meanwhile I was still enjoying life. Until now. I'm teaching freaking guitar lessons at the local studio for the next two months.

Young married couple Gabriel and Chloé have a picture-perfect life. But when athletic Chloé suddenly drowns, Gabriel is left to grapple with the mysterious circumstances of her death. Brokenhearted, he pours out his grief in a bereavement group and is consoled by photographer Emma. While the two grow closer, Gabriel can't help but feel Chloé's presence everywhere he goes. And as revelations about Chloé slowly emerge, he begins to wonder, is Emma really that different?

Jaine has been hired by uber-pushy stage mom Heather Van Sant to write lyrics for her daughter Taylor's song in the talent competition for the Miss Teen Queen America pageant. It's different from anything Jaine has done before, but if nothing else, she's looking forward to a free weekend in a swanky hotel and a chance to see what really goes on backstage at a beauty pageant. But the hotel is a dump, the cattiness is out of control, and Candace - the perfectly coiffed, whip-cracking pageant director - is making even Jaine's life miserable.

As a young girl in Miller's Valley, an ordinary farming town that may be facing its final days, Mimi is observing adults, selling corn, growing up and changing, and watching the world around her change, too. As the years go by, the unthinkable starts to seem inevitable. Anna Quindlen's novel takes us through the changing eras of Mimi and her family, as secrets are revealed, and the heartbreaks of growing up and falling in love with the wrong man are overcome.

Zoe thought she could accept the terms of their affair: exceptionally hot, no-strings-attached sex. But when Andrew coldly informs her of his impending move to New York - and unknowingly turns her world upside down - Zoe tries to forget her unspoken wishes for something more and attempts to move on with her life.

An eight-year-old trauma victim is enlisted as an underground courier, rushing frozen organs through the alleys of Eastern Europe. A young janitor transforms discarded objects into a fantastical, sprawling miniature city until a shocking discovery forces him to rethink his creation. A brazen child tells off a pack of schoolyard tormentors with the spirited invention of an 11th commandment. A wounded man drives eastward, through tears and grief, toward an unexpected transcendence.

Harper Proulx has lived her whole life with unanswered questions about her anonymous sperm donor father. She's convinced that without knowing him, she can't know herself. When a chance Instagram post connects Harper to a half sibling, that connection yields many more and ultimately leads Harper to uncover her father's identity.

Wellness influencer Ava Maloney’s enormous success is based on total transparency, extolling the well-documented virtues of her full, balanced life. But the truth is, Ava’s social media platform is built on a lie. And her double life is beginning to take its toll.

Joan Blakely had an unconventional childhood: the daughter of a globe-trotting supermodel and a world-famous artist. Her artist father died on 9/11, and Joan—an art historian by training—has spent more than a decade maintaining his legacy. Life in the art world is beginning to wear on her—and then one fateful afternoon her husband drops a bombshell: he’s fathered twins with another woman.

The year is 2047, and teleportation is the cutting-edge transportation method of choice - Teleportation Services International (TSI) operates facilities in all of the world’s major cities. When Lillian, a TSI employee, wins a once-in-a-lifetime family vacation, she knows it’s just a photo op for the tech giant, but she takes the opportunity and books a trip to Tokyo with her husband Jackson and their six-year-old son Cole. But before they arrive, tragedy strikes: Cole disappears in transit.

When Lucas and Jessa parted ways, everything fell apart. No matter how foolish, no matter what it takes, Jessa is determined to learn the truth. Is Lucas really dead? But the price of answers might be higher than the cost she’s willing to pay. Turns out, the stakes are higher than ever. Sasha knows that better than anybody. She’s stranded on the wrong side of the border, caught between two amazing men. It seems both of them hold a piece of her conflicted heart. But there’s a war waging, lives are on the line, and true love must wait.

Roma Victrix. The Republic of Rome is on a relentless march to create an empire - an empire built on the backs of the conquered, brought back to Rome as slaves. Attia was once destined to rule as the queen and swordmaiden of Thrace, the greatest warrior kingdom the world had seen since Sparta. Now she is a slave, given to Xanthus, the Champion of Rome, as a sign of his master’s favor.

Thanks to an ancient artifact, Victoria Brie is stuck with dark magic in her blood until the day she dies. And if she’s not careful, that day will come too soon. There are those who would kill her simply for what she is: a Rhazdon host, master of incredible power. To make matters worse, the madman who murdered her parents is dead-set on slitting her throat, too. Like hell. Victoria won’t go down without a fight.

Everything you know is about to change. Victoria Brie is getting her life together. She may be just a cashier, but she has big dreams and high hopes for what comes next. In the meantime, she has everything that matters: her family and her best friend. If only life were that simple. When she comes home to find her parents murdered by an elf — yeah, an elf — she’s thrust into a world of magic, mystery, and a madman who wants her dead. The question is… why? Merged with a powerful artifact created by an evil mastermind, Victoria is hunted, stabbed, burned, shot, and attacked in the street… but she’s a survivor, damn it, and no one’s taking her out. She falls in love with the magical underground city of Fairhaven, and when the elf who assassinated her parents comes after her new home, she not taking any prisoners. This series is an enchanting urban fantasy saga with sarcastic ogres, wise-cracking wizards, and a brutally addictive full-contact sport called Berserk. Your only regret will be not starting it sooner.

Celebrities hold zero interest for photographer Jo Wilder. That's a problem, since snapping pics of the stars is how the pretty paparazza pays the rent. So when Jo attempts to catch a money shot atop the broad shoulders of a helpful bystander, the only thing she notices about the stranger she straddles is that he's seriously hot. Only later does Jo learn that he's also Micah Sinclair - one of rock's notorious bad boys....

A city girl can survive. Or at least that's what New Yorker Frances Genovese hopes when she agrees to stay in Morning Glory, Mississippi for a few weeks after her brother's wedding. Though she may not know much about small-town living, she does know a thing or two about the new restaurant her brother's building. But she didn't bargain for a big country boy naysaying her vision. And she darn sure didn't expect to be so attracted to the infuriating contractor.

Since she started penning dialogue for Some Day My Prince Will Come - a cheesy dating show that features bachelorettes competing for the heart of Spencer Dalworth VII, a very distant heir to the British throne - Jaine's life has been a royal pain. She's been fending off golf-ball-size bugs on the sweltering tropical island and having her patience tested by an irritable production crew and the fierce contestants who will do anything to get their prince. But Jaine never expected murder to enter the script.

When Emmaline Beaumont's father started building the ghost machine, she didn't expect it to bring her mother back from the dead. But by locking himself in the basement to toil away at his hopes, Monsieur Beaumont has become obsessed with the contraption and is neglecting the living, and Emmaline is tired of feeling forgotten. Nothing good has come from building the ghost machine, and Emmaline decides that the only way to bring her father back will be to make the ghost machine work or destroy it forever.

Newbery Honor winner Joan Bauer's new novel will touch your heart.