Showing results by narrator "Hallie Ricardo" in All Categories

Finally! After months of begging their parents for ballet lessons, Ivy and Bean finally get what they want...well, not exactly. Much to their surprise, it turns out ballet lessons do not cover karate chops and roundhouse kicks. The girls have no interest in learning how to dance gracefully, but they promised their parents they would finish the entire ballet course! When it comes time for Ivy and Bean to participate in the ocean-themed class recital, the girls must figure out a way to get out of it without breaking their promises.

Five years ago, Tessa Chamberlain was the lone survivor of a beach house massacre that left three of her friends dead—and Tessa with an inescapable, unending dread. Now she’s going back to face her fears. Renting the same beach house where she almost died, Tessa returns to lonely Cassadaga Island off the coast of Maine long after the tourists and summer residents have departed for the winter. But as the fog rolls in and the nights grow longer, she wonders if she made a terrible mistake. There are footsteps on the porch, creaks from the second floor, and an unsettling feeling of being watched.

World record fever grips the second grade, and soon Ivy and Bean are trying to set their own record by becoming the youngest people to have ever discovered a dinosaur. But how hard is it to find one?

In today’s world, voices of the marginalized are in the spotlight and people across the globe are recognizing animal rights as a social justice movement. During a time of historic actions and victorious campaigns, Voices for Animal Liberation depicts the full spectrum of animal rights activism that is currently at work to create change. This book offers the words of both new and highly influential voices in the movement today, with the intention of inspiring and educating those who are sparked by the vision of a more ethical world.

Lily makes a magical deal and books passage to Europe on a shipping freighter in pursuit of her missing mother. Of course, trouble starts as soon as they reach France...magicals across Europe are being killed with the same cryptic message left behind: A silhouette of a flying heron, the words “Complete the Circle”, and spells most can’t see. But what does it mean? Can Lily and Romeo figure it out before it’s too late for Greta Antony?

Every day Zoe struggles to keep going. The cruel winter took her father's life and left her angry and broken-hearted. As she carries her little brother through a snowstorm that could kill him in minutes, her only thought is finding shelter. The cabin beyond the woods is far from the place of safety she hoped it would be, but it is there that she meets a man whose muscular body marked with strange and primitive tattoos hints at an extraordinary story. He has the power to light up the lake, and with it Zoe's world.

Leaving town when she was 18 had been Laura's only option. She feared a stifling existence in a town ruled by its past, its mythological devotion to Mark Twain, and the economic and racial divide that runs as deep as the Mississippi River. She can't forget that fateful Fourth of July when the levees broke or the decisions that still haunt her. Now, as the Mississippi rises again, a deep wound threatens to reopen, and Laura must decide if running away once more might be the best way to save herself.

Life is about finding things - finding yourself, finding love, finding good friends, finding your happiness after losing someone you loved, and finding peace in the midst of chaos. This book takes you through the stages of falling in love, getting heartbroken, getting over your heartbreak, appreciating friends & family, and the journey to becoming who you really are.

Mellie has always been the reliable friend, the good student, the doting daughter. But when an unspeakable act leads her to withdraw from everyone she loves, she is faced with a life-altering choice - a choice she must face alone. Lise stands up - and speaks out - for what she believes in. And when she notices Mellie acting strangely, she gets caught up in trying to save her…all while trying to protect her own secret. One that might be the key to helping Mellie.

Another magical clue takes Lily Antony to a burned-down house in Colorado with her fave werewolf by her side. The house might be ruined, but the magical message hidden in the walls remains. Someone wants to keep Lily from finding out about her world-traveling mother, but Lily has a Winnebago and will travel, and the truth is going to come out. Lily and Romeo decipher her mother’s message and end up back on the road - this time heading to Mexico and a potion witch with a few secrets of her own. The witch, having made some bad deals, is in trouble herself.

After Del Walker fled her small hometown and its cult-like church, she vowed to never return. The man she loved, Lars, left her to marry the local golden girl Eve, and their romance is now the focus of Eve’s viral blog espousing the pastor’s conservative philosophy about women and marriage. But six years later, Lars is suddenly killed, and she’s convinced it couldn’t have been an accident.

Alison is mired in loneliness and grief. Freshly twenty-three and mourning the loss of her younger sister, who has drowned at sea, she’s moved out of her hometown and into a cramped apartment on New York’s Lower East Side. Now she’s living the cliché—barely making rent as a restaurant hostess, avoiding her roommates, and watching the bright, busy passersby from her bubble of grief. She doesn’t need originality; she just needs to be alive. So why does she feel she isn’t truly living? Until late one night, when she rounds the corner and sees a shape in the air—a ghost.

Seven generations of women in Susana Prather’s family have been lost to the Georgia swamp behind her house. The morning after her eighteenth birthday, she awakens soaked with water, with no memory of sleepwalking. No matter how she tries to stop it, she’s pulled from her safe bed night after night, haunted by her own family history and legacy. Now, the truth feels unavoidable: it’s only a matter of time before she loses her mind and the swamp becomes her grave.

Best friends Malena and Klepetan always adventure together! The two storks excitedly prepare to fly thousands of miles for the flock’s annual migration to a warm winter. But when Malena is injured, she stays in Croatia while Klepetan goes to South Africa—and the pair must navigate the turbulent winds of separation for the first time. But even over the vast distance, the two brave explorers discover ways to enjoy their separate seasons while keeping their hearts connected—and their hopes aloft that spring will bring them back together.

In the virtual reality game Heir Apparent, there are way too many ways to get killed—and Giannine seems to be finding them all. Which is a shame, because unless she can get the magic ring, locate the stolen treasure, answer the dwarf's dumb riddles, impress the head-chopping statue, charm the army of ghosts, fend off the barbarians, and defeat the man-eating dragon, she'll never win.

The Fehler sisters wanted to be more than bug girls but growing up in a fourth-generation family pest-control business in rural Missouri, their path was fixed. The family talked about Fehler Family Exterminating at every meal, even when their mom said to separate the business from the family, an impossible task. They tried to escape work with trips to their trailer camp on the Mississippi River, but the sisters did more fighting than fishing. If only there was a son to lead rural Missouri insect control and guide the way through a crumbling patriarchy.

Lily and Romeo are just one desert away from reaching the High Seat of the Black Heron Society, where they’ll finally learn the fate of Lily’s mom, Greta. But Lily is going to need some guidance before she shows up at the Black Heron’s door.

Lily, Greta, and Romeo are on their home turf, chased all the way home by the Black Heron. Can they finally put an end to them? They’re going to need help. Can they get the full support of the Council of Magic? It’s not going to be so easy with a traitor inside the council. On to plan B then! Carmichael is still out there gathering Black Heron survivors. He will do whatever it takes to complete the transference spell and turn magic on its head.

The completed By Design Trilogy is here! Anne is a young, Southern professional with just the right connections and a privileged point of view. Confident in her innate value, she has complete faith in her power to control her own future. After all, even with the challenges that come with working at a high-profile interior-design firm located in the heart of Atlanta, she knows exactly where she’s headed. What she doesn’t expect is Dr. Brad Young, Jr.

The third and last novel of the By Design Trilogy continues the journey of Anne and Brad as they make their way through the many complications, heartaches, and joys of life. Inevitably, they begin to think of their own mortality as the years move forward. Anne thinks of her mother a lot these days. Even though her mother's life had ended way too soon, Gretchen had managed to prepare her daughter well--she left a legacy to be envied. Now, after so many years, that legacy has the daunting task of seeing Anne through. Will life be gentle with Anne?