Showing results by narrator "Laural Merlington" in All Categories

In Rapt, acclaimed behavioral science writer Winifred Gallagher makes the argument that the quality of your life largely depends on what you choose to pay attention to and how you choose to do it. Gallagher grapples with provocative questions - Can we train our focus? What's different about the way creative people pay attention? Why do we often zero in on the wrong factors when making big decisions? - driving us to reconsider what we think we know about attention.

The seven women of the Sisterhood have risked everything in the name of justice, including their own freedom. Their most recent mission promised to reward them with a presidential pardon and a chance to leave their enforced exile. But before they can enjoy their prize, they'll have to tackle a risky new mission in the heart of Sin City.

For years, Paula Woodley has suffered the broken bones and shattered self-esteem caused by an abusive marriage. But what can she do? Her high-profile, Washington power-broker husband is not a man to be crossed. Or so he thinks. The Sisterhood may not be an organization found in any of his memos, but he's about to take a meeting with them - and they'll be setting the agenda.

Upon arrival in Edmonton, Jessica is quickly outed as mystery writer J. B. Fletcher, and despite numerous protests, a hotel staffer arranges a book signing for her. This and touristy adventures arranged for the group make for a much busier trip than Jessica was expecting. When a hotel bartender, who also happens to be a stagehand for Emma’s play, turns up dead backstage at the theater, Jessica’s fun and relaxing vacation quickly becomes anything but.

Acclaimed nature writer Susan Hand Shetterly opens a window into the world of this fascinating organism by providing an elegant, often poetic, look at life on the rugged shore of the Gulf of Maine. Shetterly offers a close look at the life cycle of seaweed and introduces us to the men and women who farm and harvest it - and their increasingly difficult task of protecting this critical natural resource against forces both natural and man-made.

Nursing a broken heart, Robbie Jordan is trading in her life on the West Coast for the rolling hills of Southern Indiana. After paying a visit to her Aunt Adele, she fell in love with the tiny town of South Lick. And when she spots a "for sale" sign on a rundown country store, she decides to snap it up and put her skills as a cook and a carpenter to use. Everyone in town shows up for the grand reopening of Pans 'n Pancakes, but when the mayor's disagreeable assistant is found dead, Robbie realizes that not all press is good press.

The grandson of a Scottish clan laird, Duncan MacTavish is shocked to learn that his other grandfather was an English marquis whose title and London estate he is now required to take on. Worse still, he is engaged to a stranger who has mocked him in public. But his bride-to-be, Ophelia, has been guiding a lovely and witty, if dreadfully inexperienced, country girl named Sabrina through the latter's all-important first coming-out season.

Phoebe Hoban, author of definitive biographies of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Alice Neel, now turns her attention to Lucian Freud, the grandson of Sigmund and one of the greatest painters England has produced. Lucian Freud: Eyes Wide Open is the first biography to assess Freud’s work and life, showing how the two converge.

Through all their missions and adventures, the tightknit group of friends who make up the Sisterhood have learned one vital lesson: everybody has a weak spot. In the case of Yoko Wong's dear friend Garland Lee, the multimillion-selling performer known as America's beloved songbird, that weak spot was trusting her lawyer, Arthur Forrester. For years, he's taken advantage of her faith in him to amass a secret fortune. And now, in the deepest betrayal yet, he's dragged her into a lawsuit that could cost her home and everything she has left.

The Widow Spy is the firsthand account of a true Cold War spy operation in Moscow told exclusively by the CIA case officer who lived this experience. Martha D. Peterson was one of the first women to be assigned to Moscow, a very difficult operational environment. Her story begins in Laos during the Vietnam War where she accompanied her husband, a CIA officer. She describes their life in a small city in Laos, ending with the tragic death of her husband. Then her own 30-year career begins in Moscow.

In their unusual approach to justice, the seven women of the Sisterhood have stuck together through it all, including living as fugitives. But for the first time, the Sisterhood verges on falling apart after Charles Martin asks them to choose between two difficult assignments. The first job could make them more money than they could ever imagine, the second offers something even more valuable: a presidential pardon, and along with it, a chance for the ladies to finally emerge from hiding.

In the 21st century, a developmental phase of life is emerging as significant and distinct, capturing our interest, engaging our curiosity, and expanding our understanding of human potential and development. Demographers talk about this new chapter in life as characterized by people - those between ages 50 and 75 - who are considered "neither young nor old." In our "third chapters" we are beginning to redefine our views about the casualties and opportunities of aging.

Yoko Akia's mother was only 15 when a wealthy man swept her off her feet with promises of love. Instead, he filled her brief life with horror and misery. The Sisterhood has helped each other exact vengeance on rotten men before, but this time it's different. Their target is none other than America's favorite movie star - a brute who has conned the world into believing he's Mister Perfect. But he's about to learn that nobody - not even a powerful superstar - is above the Sisterhood's special brand of payback...

This audiobook uncovers the biggest scientific fraud of our age. It tells the fascinating and frequently astounding story of how the massive enterprise to restructure the genetic core of the world's food supply came into being, how it advanced by consistently violating the protocols of science, and how for more than three decades, hundreds of eminent biologists and esteemed institutions have systematically contorted the truth in order to conceal the unique risks of its products - and get them onto our dinner plates.

The first rule of a supernatural fight club? Don't kill your opponent. When the fighters come with lethal spells, werewolf strength, and half-demon powers, that can be a lot tougher than it sounds. It's hard to attract talent if they know they might not leave the ring alive. So when fighters at a California club start dying, it's bad for business. Witch detectives Paige Winterbourne and Savannah Levine take the case.

Working with difficult people can reduce your morale, threaten your productivity, deplete your energy, and waste your time. But you don't have to be helpless in the face of other people's craziness! Knowing how to handle coworkers' disruptive behavior is one of the most important career skills you can have, allowing you to become a more valuable employee and a more self-reliant person.

On a beautiful October day in the San Fernando Valley, teenager Missy Avila was lured into the woods, beaten, tortured, and drowned. Missy's best friend, Karen Severson, publicly vowed to find the killer and even moved in with Missy's family to help. Three years later, a surprise witness exposed the murderers as Missy's two best friends—one of whom was Karen. New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury delivers a story full of twists, turns, betrayals, and confessions.

Isabelle “Izzy” Flanders and Yoko Akia are beginning a new project—an indoor-outdoor café that will be the cornerstone of a market village. Izzy knows just the person to get the project off the ground: her old college classmate, Zoe Danfield, now vice president of a huge construction corporation. But the Zoe that Izzy reencounters doesn’t seem like her confident old friend. This Zoe is stressed, and Izzy eventually learns why. Buildings and bridges have been collapsing all over the world, causing hundreds of deaths, and Zoe suspects her firm’s inferior foundation materials are the cause.

Johanna Lindsey brings back her popular Malory family in this special holiday story, bringing her scandalous Malorys face-to-face with their distant gypsy kin. Fans will get a chance to see how it all started as their mysterious grandmother's gypsy kin comes to them for help, and another Malory falls head-over-heels for a member of the tribe.

Together, the seven fearless friends known as the Sisterhood have served sweet justice to villains who thought they were above the law. But payback has its price, and the Sisterhood's last assignment almost landed them in jail. Now the women are fugitives with a bounty on their heads, but they're not planning on hiding out for long - not when good friends need the kind of help only they can give.