Showing results by narrator "Helen Laser" in All Categories

Pastor Rick tells us women are created to serve, to be pure, to submit, to be a delight to their husbands. Who are we to deny the very nature our Creator has built within us? When Del Walker fled her small hometown and its cult-like church six years ago, she vowed never to go back. Lars, the love of her life, was about to marry local golden girl Eve, author of a popular blog about the church's ‘Noble Wife' teachings. But now Lars is dead, and Del is convinced it couldn't have been an accident. When she returns for the funeral, she discovers the church has taken over the town.

It’s a doozy of a bad day for Beverly Diamond when she catches her husband, Larry, in a compromising position with his secretary. What’s a DC suburban wife to do with a soon-to-be ex, two young kids, and no degree or financial support in 1962? Beat the louse at his own game, that’s what.

Jennifer Worth lives to escape into the world of her favourite romantasy series, Elytheum Courts, where the romance is swoony and the men are brave, chivalrous . . . and winged.

Linkin Park is one of the 21st Century’s biggest, and most important, rock bands. All it takes is one quick glance at the numbers—11 Top 40 hits on the Hot 100 and six No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, over a dozen massive tours, 27 major award wins, 100+ million records sold worldwide, over 30 million monthly Spotify listeners—to realize that when it comes to the metrics of music consumption and fandom, there’s no bigger group in recent memory. And yet, despite their enduring legacy within rock, there’s never been a full, comprehensive biography of Linkin Park—until now.

Most spies take a break for the holidays, but not me, Charlotte Locke. As an analyst for Section 47, a secret spy organization, I normally use my magical form of synesthesia to uncover lies and track paramortal criminals from the comfort of my cubicle. But tonight I’m going out into the field, along with my partner, Desmond Percy, a powerful galvanist. Instead of enjoying Christmastime in the city, I’m in a German castle, dressed like a toy soldier and masquerading as a waitress at a swanky Christmas Eve party.

Gemma Turner once dreamed of stardom. Now the actress is on the cusp of obscurity. When she’s offered the lead in a radical new horror film, Gemma believes her luck has changed—but her dream is about to turn into a nightmare. One night, between the shadows of an alleyway, Gemma disappears on set and is never seen again. Yet, Gemma is alive. She’s been pulled into the film. And the script—and the monsters within it—are coming to life. Gemma must play her role perfectly if she hopes to survive.

According to Boston's elite society, Ella Mountbatten has it all: status, prestige, and a bright future. What they don't know is that her life as a socialite has become a gilded cage of abuse and oppression under the control of her cruel fiancé and domineering parents. Desperate to escape, Ella flees Boston and seeks refuge in the small town of Harmony Springs, Montana Territory, where her former friend now resides as the sheriff. But with her family determined to drag her back to Boston, Ella's hard-won freedom-and her very life-hang precariously in the balance.

The prestigious annual story anthology, featuring prize-winning stories by Kate DiCamillo, Jess Walter, Dave Eggers, Allegra Goodman, Jai Chakrabarti, Francisco Gonzalez, and more.

Time rewinds at the video store—the clerk is always hot and grumpy, and kindly retiree Mr. Hoffman rents the same thing every week. Audrey hangs around for both these reasons. But when her fellow film buff fails to appear, she goes to his house over the protests of her flannelly video store crush, who knows more than he lets on. It’s just like a movie. And she’s worried about the twist.

For the past five years, Ryan Richardson has relived that terrible night. With no trace of Ali after she is abducted, a cloud of suspicion hangs over him, though he is never charged. Trying to put his past behind him, Ryan changes his name and enters law school. It’s on a summer trip to Italy that he gets the call: his missing car has finally been found, in a lake in his hometown. But inside the car are two dead men. The only trace of Ali is a cryptic note, the envelope in her handwriting: If something happens to me…Reeling from the news, Ryan sees the man who has haunted his nightmares.

Reporter Lee Ellerin’s investigation into a young woman’s unsolved murder gained national attention—only for her to lose everything due to a tragic mistake. After being publicly ridiculed for causing a suspect’s death, Lee is forced to leave her career behind. Five years later, pregnant college student Amanda Hartley lies in a coma. The police say she attempted suicide, but the details don’t add up. Where is the father? Who was paying for Amanda’s Manhattan penthouse? Why did Amanda have a note with Lee’s name in her backpack?

Victor and Zoey are getting old, well old-er, and it’s beginning to be a real problem. Best friends for a decade, they have seen each other through bad dates and office drama, late nights and hungover brunches, during their years together in New York City. As their wild twenties come to a close, though, the dynamic between the two is shifting. Coming off a tough breakup, Victor dedicates his energies toward building a career writing celebrity profiles for one of the last glossy magazines left, while Zoey navigates the terrain at her nascent fashion startup.

Bea Abramovitz has a gift for math and numbers. With her father, she studies the burgeoning Wall Street market’s stocks and patterns in the financial pages. After college she’s determined to parlay her talent for the prediction game into personal and professional success. But in the 1920s, in a Lower East Side tenement, opportunities for women don’t just come knocking. Bea will have to create them.

After too many dates, thirtysomething Mimi Perkins is still single, unmoored, and longing for love. So when Ren Yardley—a handsome, divorced fellow drama teacher and single father—falls in love with her and proposes, she’s sure this is at last the good news her psychic predicted. Soon after proposing, Ren receives the devastating news that his ex-wife has been in a debilitating car accident, prompting him to temporarily move back into his former home to care for her and his daughters.

Set in neon-drenched Providence, Rhode Island, circa 1987, just two years after a plane carrying four mafia-affiliated law-firm partners exploded over the Atlantic along with the cushy lives of their once wealthy wives.

Malrosa is a princess of the Athanatos, powerful immortal insect people who have been systematically assaulting Vita's island for years. When Vita ends up fusing her soul with her, the resulting gestalt must struggle to reconcile her conflicting viewpoints and beliefs. Now in love with two homes and full of perspective her old self lacked, Vita must bring peace between warring islands... and if there's one thing Vita has always been bad with, it's peace. This is the fourth and final book of Vigor Mortis.

The streets of New York in 1920 are most certainly not paved with gold, as Minnie Soffer learns when she arrives at Ellis Island. Her father, who left Ukraine when Minnie was a toddler, feels like a stranger. She sleeps on a mattress on the kitchen floor. She understands nothing at school. They came to America for this? As her family adjusts to this new life, Minnie and her brother work hard to learn English and make friends. When her father, Ike, opens his own soda shop, stability and citizenship seem within reach.

I catch them together at 6:52 in the morning, lying in bed like newlyweds. His face was buried in her mass of dark hair. For a moment, I think I must be dreaming. "I've never seen her before in my life," he says, looking at me. But before I even know how to respond, two men break down the front door. Pound up the stairs. I run, but I can't hide. They take us to a cabin in the middle of nowhere. I'm trapped with a man who I thought I was going to marry, but who swears he doesn't even know me. And then he looks me right in the eye and whispers: "I'm sorry."

I wish I could say that the tragedy of little Jack disappearing brought me and Nate closer together. But my husband is more distant from me now than he’s ever been. Perhaps that’s why I don’t ask him exactly where he’s going when he sets off on another business trip. Or perhaps I was too distracted by the woman moving in across the street with bouncing blonde hair and a cherubic toddler boy. He reminds me so much of the child I lost. But his mother doesn’t seem to properly watch him. And I can’t be sure, but I think Nate and this woman share a look of recognition before he leaves.

Now twenty-four, Hanna is living an outwardly normal life of domestic content. Married to real estate agent Jacob, she’s also stepmother to his teenage daughter Joelle. They live in a beautiful home, and Hanna loves her career as a phlebotomist—a job perfectly suited to her occasional need to hurt people. But when Joelle begins to change in ways that don’t suit Hanna’s purposes, her carefully planned existence threatens to come apart.