Showing results by narrator "Victoria Villarreal" in All Categories

Ava Granados will never forgive herself for being late to her beloved nana’s deathbed. But due to a flash flood that left Ava in a fender bender with a mysterious boy, she missed her grandmother’s mystical blessing - one that has been passed between the women of her family upon death for generations.

As Monster High prepares for its annual talent show, Frankie Stein is left wondering what they could perform. When Torelei Stripe mocks Frankie's music playing abilities, Frankie is left even more confused about which of their brain parts is exciting enough for the talent show.

Anna Lucia Bell believes in luck: bad luck. Bad luck made her best friend stop talking to her. Bad luck caused her parents' divorce. Bad luck is forcing her mother, Miriam, to sell the family's beloved bookstore. And it is definitely bad luck that Anna seems to be the only person in the world Miriam is unable to recommend a life-changing book. When Anna finds out that she and her mom are spending two months in a New England seaside town called Rockport, she expects a summer plagued with bad luck too. But Rockport has surprises in store for Anna.

Callie Taylor would never be seduced by a charming, wealthy man again! An island girl, she grew up hearing stories about her mother’s idyllic childhood in her native Turks and Caicos. She wondered if she’d ever find a love like her parents. Her Australian father moved halfway around the world to be with her mother after a chance meeting. He left his old life for their love.

Mystery shopping is a unique industry that allows management to get an inside look at various aspects of their businesses. Mystery shops can evaluate customer service, store appearance, availability and placement of promotional signage, and so much more! Traditional mystery shops are covert and in-person, but non-traditional shops, such as revealed and remote shops, are becoming more popular.

Mia has had a heart condition her whole life. She’s not afraid of dying but something has always stopped her from her biggest fear: tracking down her biological mother in Spain...until now. Before her next surgery, Mia wants to meet the woman who gave her away once and for all. Kyle has always been the life of the party...that was until the car accident that killed his best friend. Since then he’s been reeling with guilt and willing to do just about anything to escape his reality. After a twist of fate, Mia and Kyle meet and make the decision to travel to Spain together in search of answers.

The year is 2038, and the formerly bustling town of Three Rivers, Texas, is a surreal wasteland. Under the authoritarian thumb of its tech industrialist mayor, Pablo Henry Crick, the town has outlawed reading and forced most of the town’s mothers to work as indentured laborers at the Big Tex Fish Cannery, which poisons the atmosphere and lines Crick’s pockets. Scraping by in this godforsaken landscape are best friends Prosperina and Neftalí—the latter of whom, one of the town’s last literate citizens, hides and reads the books of the mysterious renegade author Jazzmin Monelle Rivas.

For generations, a monster called the Memory Eater has lived in the caves of Whistler Beach, Maine, surviving off the unhappy memories of those who want to forget. And for generations, the Harlows have been in charge of keeping her locked up—and keeping her fed. After her grandmother dies, seventeen-year-old Alana Harlow inherits the family business. But there’s something Alana doesn’t know: the strange gaps in her memory aren’t from an accident. Her memories have been taken—eaten. And with them, she’s lost the knowledge of how to keep the monster contained.

Natalie is living her dream: topping the charts and setting records as a Brazilian pop star...until she's dumped spectacularly on live television. Not only is it humiliating - it could end her career. Her PR team's desperate plan? A gorgeous yet oh-so-fake boyfriend. Nati reluctantly agrees, but William is not what she expected. She was hoping for a fierce bad boy - not a soft-hearted British indie film star.

An immersive, historical novel based on true events: In 1938, Orson Welles's legendary radio dramatization of H.G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds terrified Americans into believing Martians were invading. Eleven years later, an Ecuadorian radio station adapted the show—with catastrophic consequences. Now, two young journalists are determined to uncover what really happened to their families that night—even as secrets endanger their future.

Before: One year ago, best friends Nora and Julia were starting their senior year of high school, with plans to apply to the same university so they wouldn't be separated. When Dillan Fletcher comes back to town, life as Nora knows it begins to unravel. And then, the unthinkable happens. After: Months after surviving the accident that killed her best friend, Nora Radford is stagnating. Dillan has remained by her side, but he and other friends are starting university, while Nora is still trying to unravel the lies that Julia told, lies disguised as friendship.

As the fact checker for a popular magazine, Gabby DiMarco believes in absolute, verifiable Truths—until they throw the facts of her own life into question. The genealogy test she took as research for an article has yielded a baffling result: Gabby has a sister—one who’s been desperately trying to find her. Except, as Gabby’s beloved parents would confirm if they were still alive, that’s impossible.

When she was younger, “thirties” had felt so…settled. Before she’d been betrayed. But, that was then. She wouldn’t let herself be star-struck into foolishness. She wouldn’t let her dreams be shattered. Izzy would put her head down and do what she had to do until life became more than a struggle and allowed her to dream again. Gabriel Stone was not good at many things. Mainly relationships. Passionless. The word seemed harsh. But it was an accurate description of his life. Nobody cared for him and he had no one to care for. And he was fine with that.

When Lexi receives an invitation to participate in a brand-new escape room, along with her best friend Tess, she’s thrilled. They could both use the distraction after a recent tragedy. But once inside, they learn that they must compete against one another. What do you do when your best friend suddenly becomes your biggest adversary, and every choice you make puts her in danger? How far will you go to win?

Deandra “Dee” Hendricks is settling into her new life in Axia. She’s got her trusty baby dragon, Havoc, by her side; is sharing an apartment with her best friend and roommate, Wendy; and even has her first pet-sitting client. Things are looking up!

When Lou enlists her best friend, Molly, to shave her head, it’s partly so she doesn’t have to deal with washing her hair all the time while on tour—and partly because she’s ready to be a new person. No stranger to reinventing herself, restless Lou is a Cuban-American girl who’s never left Texas, let alone the country. But the “New Lou” has deferred her first semester at Texas State to work for a celebrity musician on tour. She’s bound for China, Japan, half of Europe, and everywhere in between, though it means getting intimately acquainted with the band’s dirty laundry.

1836, Wisconsin. Catalina lives with her pa and brother in a ramshackle cabin on the edge of the wilderness. Harsh winters have brought the family to the brink of starvation, and Catalina has replaced her poet's soul with an unyielding determination to keep Pa and her brother alive. When a sudden illness claims Pa, a strange man appears—a man covered in bark, leaves growing from his head, and sap dripping from his eyes.

It's been six months since Sarah's mom died. Three months since her dad fell apart. Sarah has left her fine arts boarding school to take care of her dad and her little brother, and now she's trying to hold everything together at home while adjusting to the local public high school. With her dad's drinking and spending getting out of control, Sarah struggles to make sure that the bills are paid, that her brother is fed and safe, that her dad's grief won't crush them all. She has no time for art, unless she's cranking out a piece to sell online for some grocery money.

Frenemies Whit and Zay have been at odds for years (ever since he broke up with her in, like, the most embarrassing way imaginable), so when they’re forced to organize the fall formal together, it's a literal disaster. Sparks fly as Whitney—type-A, passionate, a perfectionist, and a certified sweater-weather fanatic—butts heads with Zay, a dry, relaxed skater boy who takes everything in stride. But not all of those sparks are bad....

On most days, teacher and librarian Luis Soriano Bohórquez packs his two burros, Alfa and Beto, with books and makes his way over mountains and through valleys to visit children in far-flung villages in rural Colombia—all for the sake of literacy and culture. Based on the work of a remarkable man and his intrepid burros, this bilingual English and Spanish edition celebrates the impact that a special mobile library—called the “biblioburro”—has had on the lives of real children.