Showing results by narrator "Natasha Soudek" in All Categories

As we see the catastrophic effects of the Anthropocene proliferate, advanced technologies also grant us greater access to the furthest reaches of the world's oceans, facilitating the discovery of countless new species. Stacy Alaimo explores the influence this newfound intimacy with the deep sea might have on our broader relationship to the nonhuman world. While many images of these abyssal creatures circulate as shallow clickbait, aesthetic representations can be enticing lures for speculating about their lives.

Lady Firebird Caldwell returns to the world of her birth, Netaia, intending to introduce her young sons to the noble Electors while her husband, Brennen, conducts a military inspection. When mysterious ships in distress suddenly approach the planet, the Electorate sends her to initiate first contact. Forced to work alongside a vengeful childhood enemy, Firebird uses everything within her power—even her passion for music—to negotiate, only to discover their alien technology threatens all the worlds she holds dear.

John Irving’s fifteenth novel is “powerfully cinematic” (The Washington Post) and “eminently readable” (The Boston Globe). The Last Chairlift is part ghost story, part love story, spanning eight decades of sexual politics. In Aspen, Colorado, in 1941, Rachel Brewster is a slalom skier...

With three powerful groups vying for control of the discovery's unlimited potential, it will take a delicate touch not to tip the scales toward war. Something Tate Fisher, a newly accepted dragon, ridden with a bit of a memory problem, has never been known for possessing.

Working from a strong base in attachment theory, esteemed clinician Ruth Cohn explores ways therapists can recognize the signs of childhood neglect, provides recommendations for understanding lasting effects that can persist into adulthood, and lays out strategies for helping clients maximize therapeutic outcomes. Along with extensive clinical material, chapters introduce skills that therapists can develop and hone, such as the ability to recognize and discern nonverbal attempts at communication.

As a newcomer to the Greenland werewolf pack, Dee has struggled to find her place. She's too outspoken, too smart, too independent to play mate and second fiddle to the male wolves. But belonging is important and life as an outsider too rough, so all this wolf wants for Christmas is a mate and a home of her own. You'd think shopping for a wolfie playmate would be easy - and you'd be wrong. Because available wolves are in short supply and the only other candidate she's met? Carr's a big, violent Viking werebear who can't wait to hit the road.

From the young Vietnamese girl who turned down freedom in order to share the gospel in her Communist homeland, to the Australian missionary who spread the message of forgiveness and healing across India after her husband and sons were burned alive, these women overcame Extreme adversity to become leaders and ministers of the underground church in Pakistan, India, Romania, the former Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Nepal and Indonesia.

From the opening story, "Willing" - about a second-rate movie actress in her 30s who has moved back to Chicago, where she makes a seedy motel room her home and becomes involved with a mechanic who has not the least idea of who she is as a human being - Birds of America unfolds a startlingly brilliant series of portraits of the unhinged, the lost, the unsettled of our America. Lorrie Moore explores the personal and the universal, the idiosyncratic and the mundane, with all the wit, brio, and verve that have made her one of the best storytellers of our time.

On her 18th birthday, Cleo receives a mysterious invitation to a scavenger hunt. She's sure her best friend, Hope, or her brother, Connor, is behind it, but no one confesses. And as Cleo and Hope embark on the hunt, the seemingly random locations and clues begin to feel familiar. In fact, all of the clues seem to be about Cleo's dead boyfriend, Declan, who drowned on a group rafting trip exactly a year ago: a bracelet she bought him, a song he loved, a photo of the rafting group, taken just before Declan drowned.

Only nine months after her debut as the superhero Dreadnought, Danny Tozer is already a scarred veteran. Protecting a city the size of New Port is a team-size job and she's doing it alone. Between her newfound celebrity and her demanding cape duties, Dreadnought is stretched thin, and it's only going to get worse. When she crosses a billionaire supervillain, Dreadnought comes under attack from all quarters. From her troubled family life to her disintegrating friendship with Calamity, there's no lever too cruel for this villain to use against her.

Eight years have passed since Stella last saw Ivo, but when he returns, the reunion of their unconventional family will change the course of her ordinary life. As children, Stella and Ivo grew close as their parents embarked on an affair that would shatter both families. Later, as teenagers, their own relationship would be the cause of further scandal. Now, as adults, they set out on an odyssey to uncover the truth about another family’s past—and to understand their own.

At Heim Hochland, a Nazi breeding home in Bavaria, three women’s fates are irrevocably intertwined. Gundi is a pregnant university student from Berlin. An Aryan beauty, she’s secretly a member of a resistance group. Hilde, only eighteen, is a true believer in the cause and is thrilled to carry a Nazi official’s child. And Irma, a forty-four-year-old nurse, is desperate to build a new life for herself after personal devastation. All three have everything to lose.

After the events in the Harridan's city, Tate is settling back into life in her chosen home of Aurelia. Peace doesn't last long when a simple misjudgment leads to an event Tate would do anything to avoid—making her formal debut to court. When an attack on the palace leads to the discovery of a dead body at the nexus between Tate's world and the dragon's, Tate will find that her enemies are no longer content to exist in the shadows. They have a plan, and not all her allies will be standing on her side in the final battle for the fate of this world.

No longer nameless or alone, Tate has put down roots in the city of Aurelia. She's found a home, friends, and a misfit family. When an assassination attempt leads to a dangerous loss of control over her dragon, Tate is sent to the farthest reaches of the empire on a mission she can't refuse. It isn't long before Tate stumbles into her usual brand of trouble. Kidnapped and separated from her closest allies, Tate will have to find a way to survive old enemies and new acquaintances.

Dak Hamee is a unique Hork-Bajir. His people call him a seer. He learns more quickly and completely than the rest of his docile race. Hork-Bajir like him are born once a generation. Aldrea is a young Andalite. Daughter of the notorious Prince Seerow. It is only after she and her family are sent to the Hork-Bajirhome world that she begins to fight the Yeerks—and, with Dak's help, ultimately discovers their hideous plan. Esplin 9466 is the Yeerk that will become the feared Visser Three. He has set out to defeat the Hork-Bajir, and begin the building of the Yeerk Empire.

Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who - and what - he’s become. As their group is continually torn apart, the girl, the prince, and the monster find their fates irrevocably intertwined. They’re pieces on a board, being orchestrated by someone...or something. The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet - those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.

Most days, Andrea doesn't know whether she wants to kiss Tanner or punch him in the gut. He is seriously hot, with legit bedroom eyes and that firefighter body of his, but he's a major player, and they can't get along for more than a handful of minutes. Until now.

A fresh look at the wheel of the year, drawing on the power of intuition to create rituals and celebrations in harmony with your own traditions, your locale, and the climate of where you live. Year of the Witch will help listeners create their own intuitive practices in harmony with the climate, culture, and local spirits where they live. It's of interest to witches coming off the Wiccan path and looking for a more personal approach to celebrating the rhythms of nature.

Fire dragon Orion Garrison is rich, eligible, and hot in more ways than one, but that hasn't been enough to find him a true life mate. And even his billions won't keep shifter matchmakers The Mating Game from showing him the door when the he arrogantly demands they find him a woman to bear his dragonlings. Cadence Bergmann has always known the chilling truth - if her ice dragon half starts to show, she'll be married off to someone from her long-estranged clan, even if she can't shift, can't fly, and her icy breath is only good for chilling margaritas.

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself. A prince in danger must decide who to trust. A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings. Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war. In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light.