Showing results by narrator "Kristin Kalbli" in All Categories

While we joke that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, our gender differences can't compare to those of other animals. For instance: the male garden spider spontaneously dies after mating with a female more than fifty times his size. Female cichlids must guard their eggs and larvae--even from the hungry appetites of their own partners. And male blanket octopuses employ a copulatory arm longer than their own bodies to mate with females that outweigh them by four orders of magnitude. Why do these gender gulfs exist?

After a flood damages the looms at Zenus Dane’s Philadelphia textile mill and the bank demands loan payment, Zenus turns to his aunt for help repurposing his textiles. Trouble is...his aunt has already been hired by the lovely yet secretive Englishwoman Mary Varrs. Eager to acquire his aunt’s quilt patterns, Zenus attends the summer Quilting Bee, a social event his aunt has uniquely designed with the secret purpose of finding Zenus a wife.

When Alyssa Denham, a single career woman, wins a fun getaway for two on Mackinac Island where her grandmother lives, she gives her carefree best friend a call. Together, they tour the old shops and hidden treasures of the quaint island while helping Alyssa’s grandmother piece together an heirloom quilt. Their quest gains them entrance into the homes of many longtime residents of the island, parts of the city that are otherwise off limits to tourists.

LOVE IS AN ACT OF BRAVERY Retired Navy SEAL Alex Rojas is putting his life back together, one piece at a time. Being a single dad to his young daughter and working at Hope's Crossing Kennels to help rehab a former guard dog, he struggles every day to control his PTSD. But when Elisa Hall shows...

Meet Ladarat Patalung -- the first and only nurse detective in Thailand. Two nights ago, a young woman brought her husband into the emergency room of the Sriphat Hospital in Thailand, where he passed away. A guard thinks she remembers her coming in before, but with a different husband -- one who...

A heartwarming story that celebrates how life-changing friendships can be found in all seasons of life. The sprawling lake home Lynn Lundberg built with her husband has been an epicenter of joyful family life, from summer holidays spent around the water, to cookies baked in the kitchen with...

Angela Carson wants nothing more than to be the third generation to run her family’s holiday store, Heart of Christmas, successfully. They’ve weathered more than 60 tourist seasons, major hurricanes, and urban sprawl from their old decommissioned lighthouse. But the national chain that set up shop in their small North Carolina town of Pleasant Sands may be more than Heart of Christmas can survive. Encouraged by her niece to ask Santa for help through the Dear Santa app, Angela gives in and lets the words fly in a way that would no doubt land her on the naughty list.

Earth, the fantasy - the place where mankind originated, the storied vista of green, rolling hills and unblemished mountains and fields of amber grain waving in a light breeze. Earth, the reality - a junk world, a dirty, dangerous, rundown planet filled with detention camps, flop houses, taverns, human body parts factories, mobsters' palaces, and a lawless immigrant community of aliens and humans on the run.

Sydney Ragsdale is looking for a fresh start far away from her controlling ex-husband and the self-doubt that has plagued her since the divorce. Returning to her childhood home in Hopewell, North Carolina, is just what her soul needs. Praying some Christmas magic will follow her, she moves with her daughter to a farmhouse that once belonged to her grandparents. While there Sydney finds solace working at The Book Bea, her favorite bookstore. Single dad Kevin MacAlea, Mac to his friends, is the local high school history teacher and baseball coach.

Already provoking debate and garnering significant attention in France and within the wine world, Vino Business is a surprising and eye-opening book about the dark side of French wine by acclaimed investigative journalist Isabelle Saporta.

Practical advice on how to enjoy the unique benefits and avoid the pitfalls of investing in real estate abroad.

Joy Holbrook might be all work and no play, but that changes when her Aunt Ruby takes a fall that lands her in a rehabilitation center before the holidays. Joy takes a leave of absence from her job as a market researcher to run the family farm, even though the timing may hinder her chance at garnering the promotion of her dreams.

Shelby Preston, a young single mother, is at a crossroads. She feels suffocated by her hardscrabble life in rural Georgia and dreams of becoming a professional chef. Lord knows her family could use a pot of something good. In Atlanta, Mallory Lakes is reeling from a bad breakup. The newspaper food columnist is also bracing for major changes at work that could put her job at risk. Determined to find the perfect recipe for how to reinvent herself, she gets involved in the growing farm-to-table movement.

I Don't Know What I'm Doing Here is a collection of essays for every person out there who feels like they're never going to fall in love or they're never going to be happy or they're just not sure that they'll ever get their life together. It answers questions like, "When are you supposed to drop the 'what are we' bomb?" and "What's the difference between being happy and being happier than someone else?" And, perhaps most importantly, "Why do women's menstrual cycles sync up?"

Ross Gardiner has had his fill of difficult relationships. Returning to Last Chance after a rough divorce, the town's handsome new fire chief just wants safety and stability-a tall order given his dangerous job and the way he has the attention of all the single women in town. All except Sabina...

Dear Reader,You won't believe what's happened. My son Tulane has come back home! You remember Tulane? He'd set out to find fame and fortune in the big, wide world outside of Last Chance, and I'm mighty proud. But that's not the half of it-Tulane isn't only back, he's brought a young lady with...

Emily Lime and her equally palindromic dog Otto live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (zip code 11211), in a warm community of friends and fellow artists. Her life becomes more complicated when she falls in love with Marcus, a dog walker and fellow Scrabble nut whose father is Emily's shady ex-husband, who wants the lovable Emily dead. A mystery unravels, a valuable lost cache of paintings is found, and Emily's life changes in ways she could not have anticipated.

"The essence of Southern charm!" -- Sherryl Woods, New York Times bestselling author This small town has one beauty shop, one bar, one hardware store... and the one man she's been waiting for all her life. Last Chance, South Carolina. As soon as Wanda Jane Coblentz sees the name of the town, she...

Riley Cooper is offered the chance of a lifetime: to find the Crux Fidelis, the coronation cross of Charlemagne. Under Water Sea Adventures members believe they have found the remains of the Indigo, a heavily laden cargo ship commissioned by Charlemagne and presumed lost on its maiden voyage off the coast of southern Italy in the early 800s.

Multiple award-winners Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling have gathered together 22 tales of unearthly temptations wickedly concocted by some of today's most potent literary conjurers - including Neil Gaiman, Jan Yolen, Michael Swanwick, and Joyce Carol Oates. Here are stories of incubi and succubi, of forbidden fruits harvested in erotic gardens, of pleasures that persist beyond death. So heed the sirens' song. Lie back, relax, and submit to the darkest delights you have ever experienced.