Showing results by narrator "Caroline McLaughlin" in All Categories

The riveting story of China's rise from economic ruin to global giant in the four decades is illuminated by another, equally fascinating, narrative beneath its surface - the story of the country's emerging artistic avant-garde and the Chinese people's ongoing struggle for freedom of expression. By following the stories of nine contemporary Chinese artists, The Phoenix Years shows how China's rise unleashed creativity, thwarted hopes, and sparked tensions between the individual and the state that continue to this day.

More than a decade ago, six kids witnessed unspeakable horror. Not all of them lived to tell. Riza is no longer that kid - troubled, angry, and filled with secrets. She’s grown up, and when she stumbles upon an on-line forum about the shuttered Northern Michigan Asylum, she tries to pretend it never happened - not the years of experimentation, nor the strange midnight writings, and most of all, not the murders. But someone wants her to remember. Deaths shockingly similar to those that occurred in 1989 are happening again.

Nadine Levitt expected her 28th year of life to include wedding cake and a work promotion, not a three-day stint as a bloodsucker’s all-you-can-eat buffet. She escapes her captor’s swampy lair alive, but not quite human. Turns out, turning into a vampire isn’t an overnight thing. More like a year-long marathon of misery - insomnia, teething, and weird urges. A whole year of struggling, and failing, to come to terms with losing her humanity. To reconcile her goodness with the monster she’ll become. And the only one who can guide her through it isn’t a person at all.

When her sister disappears, the only clue Leah has is a cryptic message: Underground. By the Woods. It's 1989 in the sleepy town of Longview, Texas, when 10-year-old Lucy disappears. Her parents, the police, and the community all brace for the worst, assuming her body will soon be found in Big Woods. Just like the other unsolved kidnappings. But then Lucy's 14-year-old sister, Leah, starts having dreams about Lucy - dreams that reveal startling clues as to what happened. Leah begins her own investigation, and soon she meets a reclusive widow who may hold the key to finding Lucy....

FBI civilian data analyst, Lacy Merrick, manages the threat of terrorism every day. But when terror strikes home, she is faced with a new reality and a new enemy. When she crosses paths with Special Agent Will Caison after the tragic incident, Lacy begins to unravel a furtive plot to discredit not only her, but her husband and cyber security expert, Jay Merrick. The plot, she soon discovers, balances on the tip of a deeply embedded secret that has the potential to destroy a nation. Lacy recruits Agent Caison and long-time friend and hacker, Aaron Hunter, to help find those responsible.

At 35, Leslie Buck made an impulsive decision to put her personal life on hold to pursue her passion. Leaving behind a full life of friends, love, and professional security, she became the first American woman to learn pruning from one of the most storied landscaping companies in Kyoto. Cutting Back recounts Buck's bold journey and the revelations she has along the way.

Nothing good ever happens after dark. Those were the words country singer Daleigh McDermott's father always repeated. Now her father is dead, and Daleigh fears she has returned home too late to make things right. As she's about to flee back to Nashville, she finds a hidden journal belonging to her father. His words hint that his death was no accident.

Dwayne Carver is set to inherit his family's ranch in the heart of Texas Hill Country, which would be great if his first love wasn't raising and training horses. In order to keep up with his ranch duties and fulfill his dreams of owning a horse farm, he hires top trainer Felicity Lightburne. Felicity, wracked with grief over the death of her father, can't stand to stay on her family farm anymore, so she takes the job at Grape Seed Ranch sight unseen.

The ground work has been laid. Justice for Lacy’s husband and the other victims of the attack six months ago would soon arrive. Expert hacker and close friend Aaron Hunter is working with her side by side to help ensure that happens. But when FBI Agent Will Caison returns to Washington, vowing to help Lacy once again, a disruption to their plan changes everything they had been working toward.

As the skies turn red over Los Angeles, Jack the Ripper roams once more. Saucy Jack is back, and women are dying. Caught up in the case, artist Lizzie Stride, whose custom masks are being used in the Ripper murders, is haunted by dreams of the crimes. And even more disturbing? Her name is identical to a victim from 1888. J. R. Damien, a newspaper reporter, is likewise haunted by dreams of the murders, dreams vivid with details only the Ripper could know. Details that later prove true. When he meets Lizzie, he knows something else only the real Ripper would know-she's the next victim. Or will be if he doesn't stop Jack, even if that means stopping himself.

Karen Moffett and Gavin Keoph have investigated vampires in Los Angeles in Night Life and werewolves on the Northern California coast in Bestial, but this time they face something utterly baffling...and deadly.

Growing up in the only Korean family in a Minnesota town, Michelle Lee-Barnewall has felt the pain of racial discrimination and the resulting identity confusion that follows. Through the telling of her personal story, she seeks to transcend the current divide between those who emphasize social justice concerns and those who believe these concerns compromise the core of the gospel. A Longing to Belong integrates a biblical worldview and personal experience on the topic of race and race relations.

When beautiful and successful Susan Harris jumps from the roof of her apartment building, she sets a tremor through her New York City mothers’ group that forces them all to look at one another with new cynicism: How could this have happened right under their noses? To one of them? Between her death and the harrowing private school admission season on the horizon, these women are forced to explore the hard truths about themselves.

As Liuan Huska went through years of chronic pain, she wondered why God seemed absent and questioned some of the common assumptions about healing. Countering a Gnosticism that pits body against spirit, Huska takes us on a journey of exploring how healing is not an escape from the limits of the body, but becoming whole as souls in bodies and bodies with souls. As chronic pain forces us to pay attention to our bodies' vulnerability, we come to embrace the fullness of our broken yet beautiful bodies. She helps us redefine what it means to find healing and wholeness.

ER Nurse Macy Wynn learned gritty essential lessons in the California foster-care system: Land on your feet and trust no one. She’s finally located the fellow foster child she loves like a sister, but the girl’s in deep trouble. Macy’s determined to help, no matter what it takes. Her motto is to “make it happen” in any situation life throws at her - even when she butts heads with an idealistic cop.

Evette Harding's world of maternal bliss is perfect except for one thing: there’s something wrong with her husband. John is a lawyer and loving husband by day. However, ever since the baby, dark habits from the past have been re-emerging. Once, she was fine with playing Bonnie to his Clyde. Now, with the baby to think about, it terrifies her. As she delves into his hidden life and dangerous lies, she begins to fear for her safety. Will she go too far to protect her child? Delivery is a dark domestic thriller with a jaw-dropping twist.

A collection of 15 beloved Chinese myths, legends, and folktales that are rich in tradition and culture. Each story transports the listener back to ancient times and is filled with excitement, adventure, magic, and laughter.

May Sotheby is the heiress to the ritziest restaurant in Grape Seed Falls. In business for over a hundred years, her father wants the restaurant in Texas Hill Country to stay in the family for generations to come, so he lays down some hard news for May: She has one year to find a husband, or the restaurant where she's worked since a teen will go to her already-married sister.

Unwilling to be tied down, farrier Robin Cook has managed to pack her entire life into a 280-square-foot house, and that includes her Yorkie. Now, if things get too hard, she can pack up and get out of town in under an hour, and that's just the life she thinks she wants. No roots. No commitments. No relationships. Cowboy and co-foreman at Grape Seed Ranch Shane Royal has had his heart set on Robin for three years, even though she flat-out turned him down the last time he asked her to dinner.

Third grade teacher Heather Carver has had her eye on Levi Rhodes for a couple of years now, but he seems to be blind to her attempts to charm him. She's about to throw in the towel, when an accident on his horse farm finally has him looking her way. Levi, who started his boarding stable from scratch, thinks he has everything he needs. Plenty of money, horses, and his beloved Texas Hill Country. Women have never brought him anything but trouble, and he's not interested.