Showing results by narrator "Rider" in All Categories

Madeline is cursed with the unrelenting ability to survive, and this has made her a valuable prize to those who want to control her. Deep within the confines of a secretive facility, she lives her days as a lab rat and the intellectual property of Omni Biomedical. Nearly two decades of torture and brutal experiments have numbed her to the depths of humanity’s depravity.

Donors, leaders of nonprofits, and public policy makers usually have the best of intentions to serve society and improve social conditions. But often their solutions fall far short of what they want to accomplish and what is truly needed. Moreover, the answers they propose and fund often produce the opposite of what they want over time. We end up with temporary shelters that increase homelessness, drug busts that increase drug-related crime, or food aid that increases starvation.

The darkness never truly left me. It's always there, waiting for the right moment to strike. It's been months since I ran away from the nightmare that was slowly killing me. I ran for my life, straight into the arms of a man who I thought would be worse than the nightmare I'd left behind. Little did I know he'd become my savior. But my happy ending was ripped away from me in a blink of an eye. I had everything...and I lost everything.

Marilyn Ellis is finally putting her life back together. The domestic abuse she suffered may be labeled "textbook" by therapists, but it’s the parts she’s never told anyone that haunt her. She refuses to get trapped in that hell ever again. Former Special Forces soldier turned rancher Noah Dempsey is more than capable of training the delicate single mom in moves and tactics that will help her feel safe. But his own tortured past makes him decidedly less qualified for anything more. No matter how much her big eyes—and even bigger heart—draw him in.

If educators’ realities are filtered through the belief that they can do very little to influence student achievement, then it is likely these beliefs will manifest in their practice. The solution? Collective efficacy (CE)—the belief that, through collective actions, educators can influence student outcomes and increase achievement. Educators with high efficacy show greater effort and persistence, willingness to try new teaching approaches, and attend more closely to struggling students’ needs. This book presents practical strategies and tools for increasing student achievement.

Ann Armbrecht describes her journeys to herb collection sites, farms, and factories in North America, Europe, and India to tell the stories of the people and places behind the bottles of herbal products on grocery store shelves. The Business of Botanicals is the first resource of its kind for listeners who wish to take the extra step in curating ethically sourced products.

My wings were ready to fly, but he clipped them. Feather by feather, until I had nothing left. Then my savior came. He waged a bloodbath to find me. He loves me. He wants his Angel to be free. But how can I fly again when my wings are broken?

Alex spends his days learning to manage the family sheep ranch. He wants nothing more than to take over when his parents retire, because his family has owned and worked it since the Westward Expansion.

Just because Gavin's goal is simple, doesn't mean it's easy! His friend's home is Vushaar, the world's oldest monarchy and a land fractured by civil war. Slaver parties roam the countryside at will, claiming any they desire for their vile trade, and a great army lays siege to the capital.

Claim an inheritance. It's a simple goal, right? Nothing is simple when Cole returns to Centauri, the seat of Coleson Interstellar Engineering. Challenges at every turn, with no idea who he can trust. And then...the Solar Republic gets involved. Will Cole find the people working against him in time? Will they succeed in ending the Coleson line once and for all?

What happens when all means of transportation and communication suddenly vanish? What happens when you can't call for help? What happens when the only person you can rely on is yourself? Captain Kate Hillman is about to discover those answers after an EMP sends New York City, and it's nine million residents, back into the stone age.

Sullivan Sinclair has high-powered friends as well as his new family. Invited to attend a masquerade at Jethro’s Hawksridge Hall, he agrees. Eleanor Sinclair has a new husband and untold wealth at her fingertips. While living on an island in the Java Sea, their lives are their own. However, a simple trip to England has both of them missing the tropics of home. A monster and a goddess who have a special power to escape. A fantasy that Sully dares to share. A visit to Euphoria like no other.

Water scarcity is on everyone's mind. Long taken for granted, water availability has entered the realm of economics, politics, and people's food and lifestyle choices. But as anxiety mounts - even as a swath of California farmland has been left fallow and extremist groups worldwide exploit the desperation of people losing livelihoods to desertification - many are finding new routes to water security with key implications for food access, economic resilience, and climate change.

New York Times best seller Pepper Winters brings a new Dark Romance Series to life. This is the second book in Goddess Isles. “There was a monster once. A monster who bought me, controlled me, and took away my freedom. There was a man once. A man who dealt in myth and secrets, hiding behind his mask, making me hunger and wish to know the truth.”

Trust holds a small town together. When times are tough, you know you can lean on your neighbor for help. But when a political movement splits the town of Barta, North Dakota in half, and a young girl goes missing, the trust is broken. Who took Kaley Hayes?The body count in Baltimore is rising, and the weight of those lives rest on Homicide Detective Adila Cooper's shoulders. It's only a matter of time before the killer strikes again, and the sands of the hour glass have already started sifting away.

We had run. We had adapted. And when our magic came back, we changed course again. Hiding instead of running, knowing that we needed to remain hidden from the Collective. Knowing that our lives, our freedom, depended on it. Then the sorcerer showed up, drained and disoriented. And when my past came quickly following him, I had to make another choice. Fight or flight. Continue to deny the power that resided in my blood, in my DNA. Remain perpetually caught between being Amp5 and Emma Johnson. Or face my demons.

Nothing is ever easy...Tensions rise as the Coalition pursues its war of conquest. Who will be their next target? The Provisional Parliament in the old Commonwealth sinks deeper into fascism as people flee their worlds in droves. Those fleeing head straight for Beta Magellan. Only time will tell when Cole must face the next major choice: Get involved in the war or let it pass him and Beta Magellan by. Which will he choose?

There was a beginning, once. A beginning that started with being sold to a monster I fell for. There was an ending, once. An ending that came cloaked in bloodshed and fury. Eleanor Grace is a simple mortal who has the power to topple a god. She captured his heart, fed him a different future, and fought for a fantasy that wasn’t make-believe but destiny.

They called me an amplifier. And they had bred me, raised me, and trained me to be a killer with preternatural precision. I was capable of taking, holding, and transferring power that wasn’t my own with a simple touch. Skin-to-skin contact. Along with four others of my generation, I could infiltrate any magical organization, extracting whoever or whatever I’d been ordered to extricate. Then I could destroy all evidence of our passing presence. They had made me. They directed me. Controlled me. Then they tried to kill me.

I should be hiding away with wine and snacks while waiting for Christmas to end. Instead, I’m wearing a reindeer mascot costume and pretending I’m oh-so-excited to meet New York City’s most eligible billionaire bachelor! Christmas is already a stressful time of the year without adding a billionaire to the mix. Between dodging bake-off sabotaging cousins, applying for a long-shot prestigious museum internship, and trying to survive being broke in Manhattan, I’m up to my black lipstick in my own special nightmare before Christmas.