Showing results by author "Alyssa" in All Categories

With the dawn of the 20th century on the horizon, the fortunes of the venerable Vanderbilt family still shine brightly in the glittering high society of Newport, Rhode Island. But when a potential scandal strikes, the Vanderbilts turn to cousin and society page reporter Emma Cross to solve a murder and a disappearance....

As the 19th century draws to a close, reporter Emma Cross is sent by the Newport Observer to cover an elite house party at Rough Point, a "cottage" owned by her distant cousin Frederick Vanderbilt that has been rented as an artist retreat. To her surprise, the illustrious guests include her estranged Bohemian parents - recently returned from Europe - as well as a variety of notable artists, including author Edith Wharton.

Hannah knows there's been a mistake. She doesn't need to be institutionalized. What happened to her roommate at that summer program was an accident. As soon as the doctor and judge figure out that she isn't a danger to herself or others, she can go home to start her senior year. Then Lucy arrives. Lucy has her own baggage, and she's the perfect project to keep Hannah's focus off all she is missing at home. But Lucy may be the one person who can get Hannah to confront the secrets she's avoiding - and the dangerous games that landed her in confinement in the first place.

Mercy Alston knows the best thing to do with pesky feelings like "love" and "hope": avoid them at all costs. Serving as a maid to Eliza Hamilton, and an assistant in the woman's stubborn desire to preserve her late husband's legacy, has driven that point home for Mercy - as did her own previous heartbreaks. When Andromeda Stiel shows up at Hamilton Grange for an interview in her grandfather's stead, Mercy's resolution to live a quiet, pain-free life is tested by the beautiful, flirtatious, and entirely overwhelming dressmaker.

Welcome to Sustain This! A slow fashion podcast that's about so much more than clothes. Join us every Tuesday as your hosts Alyssa, Christina and Signe chat all things mindful consumption, personal style and the quest for building a more intentional life...and wardrobe! Alyssa Beltempo is a sustainable stylist, Christina Mychas, a shopaholic turned minimalist-ish, and Signe Hansen is a colour consultant and slow fashion style coach. Together we will unpack the nuances of what it really means be a conscious consumer & find more joy in what we have right now. Let's go!

Who could possibly throw over a woman as beautiful and vivacious as Roxana? Certainly not Alex Winslow, the Earl of Ayersley, who has spent years trying in vain to forget his unrequited love. When he learns she's been abandoned by her cad of a fiancé, he finds himself offering a shoulder for her to cry on. Comfort soon turns into a passionate kiss—and scandal when they are caught in an embrace.

Equip yourself and your spouse with powerful and life-changing prayers that will strengthen your marriage and help you discover the peace, provision, and joy that comes from trusting God with your most important relationship. Regardless of where you are in your marriage journey—be it newly engaged, celebrating a golden anniversary, or weathering a storm—this book is your companion, guiding you to pray effectively for every aspect of your marriage.

Touching on topics like fear, worry, dissatisfaction, anxiety, and body image, Alyssa Bethke walks you through issues that rob you of your joy and helps you recognize them for what they are: distractions. With all of its expectations and contradictions, this world can take a major toll on us. Be skinny, but not too skinny. Work and hustle, but stay home and be a good mom. Be wild and free while tidy and pure. Love your husband, but be independent. Alyssa Bethke shares a compelling collection of relatable essays that will help you embrace and cultivate beauty in your life.

How do we find contentment in God when we feel so hidden? Sara Hagerty unfolds the truths found in the biblical story of Mary of Bethany to discover the scandalous love of God and explore the spiritual richness of being hidden in him. Every heart longs to be seen and understood. Yet most of our lives is unwitnessed. We spend our days working, driving, parenting. We sometimes spend whole seasons feeling unnoticed and unappreciated. In Unseen, Sara Hagerty suggests that this is exactly what God intended. He is the only one who truly knows us.

Freshman year of college is hard even when you're not tied to the future king of a supernatural society. Allie dives into college head first, with Hailey as her roommate and the city of New Orleans as her backyard. As things within The Society heat up, Allie realizes that whether she's with Levi or not, she's in far too deep to turn back.

A summer in New Orleans is exactly what Allie needs before starting college. Accepting her dad's invitation to work at his hotel offers an escape from her ex-boyfriend and the chance to spend the summer with her best friend. Meeting a guy is the last thing on her mind - until she sees Levi.

Summer's end approaches, and it's time for the Harvest Festival, the last big event of the season, held by Mamie Fish, wife of millionaire railroad tycoon Stuyvesant Fish, at their grand "cottage", Crossways. The crowning jewel of the evening will be the guest of honor, Prince Otto of Austria. As acting editor-in-chief of the Newport Messenger, Emma must attend the Harvest Festival. The next morning, the prince is found dead in the side garden at Crossways, making it clear a murderer crashed the party.

Hekate Calling explores the intersection of business expansion, feminine embodiment, ancestral healing and the awakening of your soul. Tune in every week to learn more about these topics with Alyssa and special guests. alyssapfennig.substack.com

Levi's got it all. He's a paranormal prince with more money and power than he knows what to do with, but something is missing - a mate. He has only until college graduation to find her. Allie's perfect, but she wants nothing to do with him. When attraction becomes something more, will he take a chance and show her who he really is, or will he lose everything?

These four MMF short stories bring the heat with the kind of immersive writing that takes you right into these characters’ worlds, from the hard streets of the LA underground crime scene to an Australian vacation, to a London college town and a luxury NYC loft. Each story is completely different from the next, but they all share one thing—whether it’s their first time or a long-term thing, these guys are bi and they don’t hold back.

Shortly after her 16th birthday, Sunshine Griffith and her mother, Kat, move from sunny Austin, Texas, to the rain-drenched town of Ridgemont, Washington. Though Sunshine is adopted, she and her mother have always been close, sharing a special bond filled with laughter and inside jokes. But from the moment they arrive, Sunshine feels her world darken with an eeriness she cannot place. And even if Kat doesn't recognize it, Sunshine knows that something about their new house is just...creepy.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat colors outside the lines of the traditional cookbook by asking you to challenge everything you know about cooking through a guide that’s part culinary interrogation and part cookbook. If you’ve ever wondered about the “why” behind the science of good cooking, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is the cookbook for you! Perfect for those who would rather theorize about cooking than actual cook, Samin Nosrat transcends the traditional practice of simply providing you with recipes.

Emma's job is to take note of the real players off the field—Newport's well-bred elite. But the fashionable façade is breached when a woman demands to speak to the wife of Senator George Wetmore—until she is escorted off the grounds by the police. The next morning, police detective Jesse Whyte asks Emma to meet him at the Wetmores's Bellevue Avenue home, Chateau-sur-Mer, where the senator's wife, Edith, has mysteriously asked to see her. Upon entering the mansion, Emma is confronted with a crime scene.

A dying film maker determined to turn his own death into his most celebrated work of art enlists one of his former actresses, Annie, to assist. But when he relinquishes the directors chair he also relinquishes his power, and Annie has her own plans for this most final of performances. A haunting tale of sci-fi horror in which the women abused by the ultimate bad media man take exquisite revenge.

1899: A dinner party hosted by Ella King at her magnificent Gothic-inspired cottage, Kingscote. Ella's son staggers in, obviously inebriated, and the family's butler is found pinned against a tree beneath the front wheels of Philip's motorcar, close to death. At first, the tragic tableau appears to be a reckless accident - one which could ruin Philip's reputation. But when Emma later receives a message informing her that the butler bullied his staff and took advantage of young maids, she begins to suspect the scene may have been staged.