Showing results by narrator "Jennifer Pickens" in All Categories

It was supposed to be a road trip to reconnect with my younger sister. We weren’t getting any younger and life had thrown us a few curves lately. Like her divorce and my…well, I’m not getting into that. Just two days into the trip, (getting lost, but that’s beside the point!) our world tipped off its axis. It began that frightening morning when we woke up, still sitting in the front cab of the RV. We were never the same women after that.

In We Got This, 75 solo mom writers tell the truth about their lives—their hopes and fears, their resilience and setbacks, their embarrassments and triumphs. Some of these writers’ names will sound familiar, like Anne Lamott and Elizabeth Alexander, while others are about to become unforgettable. Bound together by their strength, pride, and—most of all— dedication to their children, they broadcast a universal and empowering message: "You are not alone, solo moms—and your tenacity, courage, and fierce love are worthy of celebration."

Keep your head up, put one foot in front of the other, and never stop. For Bunny Beckman, former cop-turned-stripper, that motto had always been enough to keep the gun out of her mouth. Now, her beliefs, and her life, will be challenged in a way she never even imagined as the dead rise with a hunger for the living. To survive, she must face the monsters outside, and the demons within.

“I’m leaving.” Two shocking words, torching a marriage of over 20 years. Totally blindsided, Shannon, a middle-aged stay-at-home mom, is traded in for a newer model. One of the few possessions her cheating ex didn’t swipe was the mountain resort she inherited from her dear Aunt Maeve. With limited funds and bleak job prospects, the decrepit resort is a lifeline! Shannon discovers a wishing well in her forest and learns that magic is real. Who has time for bitterness when there’s a world of magical witchcraft to learn?

In December 1935, Zdenek Koubek, one of the most famous sprinters in European women’s sports, declared he was now living as a man. Around the same time, the celebrated British field athlete Mark Weston, also assigned female at birth, announced that he, too, was a man. Periodicals and radio programs across the world carried the news; both became global celebrities. A few decades later, they were all but forgotten. In The Other Olympians, Michael Waters uncovers, for the first time, the gripping true stories of Koubek, Weston, and other pioneering trans and intersex athletes from their era.

At an elite dinner party, manipulation turns to murder when the facade of refinement shatters in this slow-burning, intoxicating descent into horror.

In this terrifying novella from Tyler Jones, a young musician receives a custom, otherworldly guitar pedal created by a mysterious recluse with an unusual skill.

Don't You Dare is a compelling story that weaves together a current-day journey of discovery and a true-life love story between two women that took place over a hundred years ago. Newspaper headlines and stories back then didn't mention LGBTQ people. The LGBTQ community loved and lived in the background of society because it was too dangerous to do otherwise. All were hidden, just like the wedding photos belonging to author Gayla Turner's grandmother–Ruby.

Longtime bachelor Ron Burley has a rule against messing around with married women in his rural upstate New York town, but sassy, lovely Lavender has convinced him to break it. Their steamy affair sets someone off, but it isn't Lavender's clueless husband—it's Marta, Burley's clingy childhood friend and ex-lover.

Kathryn Walker enjoys an enviable life. Her husband is an accomplished doctor, her children are bright and successful, and she devotes herself to charity work that uplifts her Suburban Colorado community. Settling into a new year, her life couldn’t be better. . . Until April.

For years, Betsy Lupino has lived alone in a rundown apartment. Alone, except for the growing wall of darkness that slowly devours her thoughts and memories. When a mysterious stranger moves into the building, Betsy fears the worst: that all of the darkness inside her head has escaped into the real world.

Intersexion is a life-giving true story about choosing between social acceptance or health, fear or authenticity. Cynthia, an adjunct professor with a trunk full of ungraded papers and snack wrappers, has been an LGBTQIA+ ally for years—in convenient ways. She enjoys the company of her queer friends—but her support isn’t risky; it hasn’t cost her anything. Until she meets Danny.

Now that Geraldine Porter is retired, she's got time to devote to her favorite craft. You'd think the world of shoe-box-sized Victorian shadow boxes and little ceramic bathtubs would be trouble free. But Gerry's problems are anything but tiny. Gerry likes working in a smaller scale, yet her to-do list is anything but. Between creating a miniature Victorian room box for the holiday auction, teaching crafts at the Mary Todd Retirement Home, and watching her granddaughter, her calendar is bursting with holiday cheer—until she has to add in a murder investigation.

Another state. Another city. Another dead-end job. A stellar FBI agent until tragedy set her adrift, Karen Pantelli finds herself working at a pizza joint in Billings, Montana, trying to ignore the increasing global unrest dominating the news, when three armed men walk through the door. Soon a shocking turn of events launches her on a cross-country quest for a former college classmate, an alluring but manipulative woman with just one goal in life: to marry rich. Very rich.

Enough Rope was Dorothy Parker's first published collection of poems, and was a best seller. The Nation described her verse as "caked with a salty humor, rough with splinters of disillusion, and tarred with a bright black authenticity."

Emily Scott is a stand-up comedian and one-time bank robber who came into possession of knowledge that could get her killed. She knows the identity of Big Wheel. When presented with a chance to run away with a bag full of cash, she didn’t hesitate. But now pout on the road she’s stuck between two worlds. After spending 20 years getting good at one thing, and building her identity around it, can she abandon all that work and become someone new? And what happens when she finds out Chloe Medina is on her tail, the hot girl who broke her nose at high school after one kiss?

Want to be part of the 50 percent who complete their doctoral program? In just seven steps, you’ll learn tools and techniques to help you start strong, stay the course, and finish on time. Each step contains action items so you can apply the information for immediate results. You’ll learn how to position yourself for success, manage overwhelming emotions, build a supportive network, work smarter, and more. Informed by 20 years of work with hundreds of students and faculty, The Happy Doc Student Handbook demystifies the process so you can successfully navigate your program.

Her assignments were always to kill someone. That's what a hitman—or hitwoman—is paid to do—and that is what she does. Then comes a surprise assignment—keep someone alive! She is hired to protect Virginia Martin, the stunning and brilliant chief technology officer of a hot startup with an innovation that will change the world. This new job catches her at a time in her life when she's disillusioned, even depressed. She's confused about the “why”, but she addresses her charge as she always does, with skill and stealth, determined to keep this young CTO alive.

You would think that Shannon and her coven would have their act together by now—especially after Cynthia, who is waaay more experienced in the magical realm, joins them. Nope. With Shannon’s familiar, Robert the bobcat, still missing after being shot by Steve, and the budding romance with Devon also shot to hell, Shannon’s got some serious challenges. As for the rest of the neophyte coven members, Libby got the job promotion but she detests it. Careful what you wish for, right?

Two shocking words, torching a marriage of over 20 years. Totally blind-sided, Shannon, a middle-aged, stay-at-home mom, is traded in for a newer model. One of the few possessions her cheating ex didn’t swipe from under her nose, was the mountain resort she inherited from her dear aunt Maeve. With limited funds and bleak job prospects after being out of the workforce for so long, the decrepit resort is a lifeline.