Showing results by narrator "Thérèse Plummer" in All Categories

When Jill McCorkle feels a short story coming on, she goes right ahead and "wastes" wonderful ideas instead of hoarding them for a novel. The result is another extraordinary collection of stories and characters. In "It's a Funeral! RSVP," the storyteller is a woman who takes up self-styled "careers" that suit her circumstances. Now she's stumbled onto one that's so successful that she just can't quit. It's planning funerals, what she calls Going Out Parties, in which the clients are the soon-to-be-deceased themselves.

Gen's family is more comfortable spending time apart than together. Then Gen's mom signs them up for Camp Frontiera vacation that promises the "thrill" of living like 1890s pioneers. Forced to give up all of her modern possessions, Gen nevertheless manages to email her friends back home about life at "Little Hell on the Prairie", as she's renamed the camp. But it turns out frontier life isn't without its good points, like the cute boy who lives in the next clearing.

She's looking good, but Allison Avery can't believe it. Growing up with beautiful, blond sisters, Allison has always been the dark-haired, "interesting-looking" Avery. So when the devil shows up and offers to make her gorgeous, Allison jumps at the chance to finally get noticed. But there's one tiny catch, and it's not her soul: The devil wants her cell phone.

Twelve-year-old May is living in a desolate situation with only her grandmother, who is depressed about the absence of May’s mother, and her father, who works long hours and is almost never around. Due to her circumstance and her resentment over having to live in a low-income neighborhood, May often finds herself picking fights and getting into trouble. But when May is caught graffiti-ing her least favorite teacher’s classroom, she is faced with a choice: expulsion or one-on-one summer school with the teacher she most detests.

Niki Ky spends her days in a medicated haze, haunted by the ghosts of those she left behind 10 years ago after a confrontation against an unspeakable evil that left her shattered. To find peace, Niki must return to the house on the side of Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama-to face creatures no human should ever have to face.

When Heather and Matt Campbell find 10-year-old Tatiana Rusesa on the side of the highway, she is thousands of miles away from her village in Sierra Leone. She hasn't seen her family in almost two decades, not since she and her mother were killed by rebel soldiers. Now Tatiana has inexplicably returned, a lost orphan with no place to call home. As the world dives deeper into uncertainty and chaos, Heather is determined to save Tatiana and help her find her way back to her family. But how much is she willing to lose to protect a girl she doesn't even know?

After years spent surviving in the wastelands, a young woman returns to the city to find answers about her past. Instead she discovers a violently shifting landscape of betrayal and a power-hungry man who, if given control, might be unstoppable. Wicker City is no place for a lone wolf. Will she choose a side in the city’s constant power struggle? Or will she forge her own path?

Denise Farber has just moved back to New Orleans with her mom and stepdad. They left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and have finally returned, wagering the last of their family's money on fixing up an old, rundown house and converting it to a bed and breakfast. Nothing seems to work around the place, which doesn't seem too weird to Denise. The unexplained noises are a little more out of the ordinary, but again, nothing too unusual. But when floors collapse, deadly objects rain down, and she hears creepy voices, it's clear to Denise that something more sinister lurks hidden here.

Lights, camera - all Maeve needs is action. But at 18, a rare form of muscular dystrophy usually stands in the way of romance. She's got her friends, her humor, and a passion for filmmaking to keep her focus off consistent rejection...and the hot older guy starring in her senior film project. Tall, bearded, and always swaying, Cole Stone is everything Maeve can't be. And she likes it. Between takes, their chemistry is shockingly electric.

Thirty years in the future, when AI is so advanced that humans live side by side with cognizant robots called Artificials, Kestrel Hathaway must come to terms not just with what machines know, but what they believe. Soon after experiencing a personal tragedy, Kestrel witnesses a terrorist attack and is drawn into a world of conspiracies and lies that she and Jordan, her Artificial, have to untangle. With a second, more brutal attack looming on the horizon, their best chance of stopping it is teaming up with federal counterterrorism agent Nick Vernon.

In this book, investigative journalist Haley Sweetland Edwards offers a detailed look at one little-known but powerful provision in most modern trade agreements that is designed to protect the financial interests of global corporations against the governments of sovereign states. She makes a devastating case that Investor-State Dispute Settlement - a "shadow court" that allows corporations to sue a nation outside its own court system - has tilted the balance of power on the global stage.

When the wild geese migrate over the little pond with its pink flamingos and clipped grass, Skylar and the others watch with envy. They like their pond, but there is something elegant and brave about being a real wild goose. But they've never flown before, and besides, there's never been a reason to go. Then a lost heron wants the pond geese to take him to Lost Pond, and Skylar thinks it's time for this motley crew to spread their wings and try out the great blue yonder. Adventure awaits...but, as they'll soon find out, so does great danger.

It's just not fair! No matter what a mess she makes, nobody ever gets mad at Witch Baby. Nobody except Lulu Witch, who cooks a magic brew that makes her baby sister disappear. But then she begins to worry that Mama Witch will get mad—very mad. Can Lulu wish Witch Baby back? Beginning learners will love this classic tale from Fancy Nancy author Jane O'Connor about children learning to welcome new siblings.

Lulu the witch girl is a little nervous about her first day of school, but she heads off with her broom and Dracula lunch box. She immediately loves her new teacher, Miss Slime, especially her wart. Lulu’s first flying lesson around the cemetery goes great! There’s only one thing she doesn’t like about witch school - curly-haired Sandy Witch, who seems to do everything better than Lulu.

New to the Windsor court, beautiful and quick-witted Felise Scelfton instantly becomes the coveted object of desire. Spurred on by her flirtatious manner and rumors of her dowry, knights brandish their swords for her hand in marriage, but King Henry II has already decided her fate—His royal command gives her hand to Sir Royce Leighton, the scarred and brooding lord of Segeland, in order to seal a political alliance. Despite a tempestuous beginning, their arranged marriage gives way to desire, and Royce’s bitter memories are soothed by his alluring young wife.

Anne Gifford's dowry—or lack thereof—is of no concern to Sir Dylan DeFrayne. Wrapped in each other's arms, what more could they possibly need? Yet the young lovers' passion can never be sanctioned—the DeFraynes and Giffords have been sworn enemies for decades. Lest more blood be shed, the two must keep their affair a secret…and plot their elopement. Clad in threadbare hand-me-downs, Anne never expects the powerful and aged Brennan Forbes to remember her face, let alone propose marriage.

The Black Prince of England hungers to capture the lands of France, and Sir Hyatt Laidley is just the knight for the task. In exchange for years of faithful service, Hyatt will receive both land—and lady—of De La Noye in Aquitaine. When Hyatt and his men attack, both Lord and castle fall, but the young and newly widowed Aurelie is not so easily conquered. Impassioned by the subjugation of her people, Aurelie pledges to forever honor her late husband. She may be condemned to marry the English bastard, but her heart will never yield!

Diana Merriman, a physical therapist, is probably the only person in the small town of Snow Haven, North Carolina, who isn’t looking forward to Christmas. It’s been three weeks since her fiancé Linus was critically injured when a car hit him as he biked home. Watching him open his eyes is the only gift she wants, but she can’t help losing a little more hope every day. But an unexpected visit from a friendly neighbor and finding a snow globe of Snow Haven—a gift Linus had hidden in the closet—the night before Christmas Eve changes things in ways Diana never would have imagined.

A powerful, uplifting story of female friendship and resilience—with just a hint of magic—as three young women whose bond was shattered years before by tragedy rediscover their connection, with the help of a long-lost gift they were meant to share.

Two meetings. One with Cleo Gallier and her daughter’s missing father, Jake, now a CIA agent, and another with an extremely handsome Russian Oligarch (with a dangerous past) whom Cleo instantly is besotted with.