Showing results by narrator "Sharon Freedman" in All Categories

Captain Acantha is seething inside. Enraged when her despised older sister is a no-show for a mandatory meeting, the ruthless pirate queen sets sail to bring the bane of her existence into line. But after months of endless searches across oceans, the fearsome fighter comes to the ugly conclusion that the answer lies with the oracle, the only human she hates more than her sibling.

Dawson Shay could never be accused of being a bubbly ray of sunshine. Like, not ever. But her outlook on life has only gotten worse since she moved across the country for her dream job rebuilding motorcycles . . . only to lose the job to someone else. Now her run of bad luck includes a wilderness retreat with the entire company—including the asshat who stole her job. Fortunately, Tully Faulkner's bearded, tattooed hotness is pretty much the perfect distraction.

The Vampire king's fascination with me has drawn me into a game I'm not sure I can win. I thought I had Ezekiel under control. That his hunger was tempered, and we had an understanding, but he proved me wrong in the most horrific way. This is a game to him, and I'm his latest toy.

Echoes of Exile reveals the seismic disruptions of twentieth-century European history through the intimate lens of one family's struggle to survive. Setting out to record the life of her mother, Ruth, Daniela Spenser unearthed personal facts and stories that additionally illuminate the shared traumas and experiences of millions of Czech, Polish, and German Jews who died in the Holocaust, as well as the stories of those who survived and lived under Communism and the Cold War.

The Order of Helsing have protected the innocent from the Vampire King's ravenous hunger and cruel games for centuries. He can't be killed. Because this ancient being has no master. Once every century he rises from his vampiric sleep to feed, and the Order assigns an operative to watch over him. This century, I'm that watcher. I can't say I'm thrilled. I have a disgust for suckers, so babysitting vampire royalty is not on my to do list. But when the Order says jump, you don't ask why.

Welcome to Passover, a Jewish holiday that has been celebrated for thousands of years. The heart of Passover is the seder—a meal full of rituals, special foods, and songs—where we gather together to retell the story of the Exodus, when the Jewish people achieved freedom from Egypt.

Focusing on the lived experience of campers and camp counselors, The Jews of Summer demonstrates how a cultural crisis birthed a rite of passage that remains a significant influence in American Jewish life.

Your Eyes Will Be My Window reclaims the two erasures of Esta Plat. Murdered in Ukraine by Nazi troops in 1942, evidence of the life of Esta Plat was preserved in a bundle of her letters until the letters were tossed into a dumpster and destroyed. Haunted by the inheritance of survivor's guilt and shame in a family that kept no Old World keepsakes except her grandmother's one-sentence memory of Esta Plat, Jodi Varonis compelled to sift through records of Europe's genocidal past.

This issue of Assemble Artifacts is packed with thrillers, sci-fi, horror, and more. It features Hongfei Liu's brilliant artwork and stories of elite survival, supernatural battles, and eerie mysteries. You'll find haunting twists on a childhood tale, genetic secrets with life-or-death stakes, and unsettling explorations of relationships under pressure.

When Ryan and Emma Burrows win a luxury holiday to Menorca, it feels like the fresh start their marriage desperately needs. Seventeen nights in a sun-soaked villa with their six-year-old daughter, Callie. What could go wrong? Their neighbours seem friendly enough. Jack and Sheena, with their two young boys, are quick to organize playdates. Max and John, charming and sociable ex-pats, seem eager to make friends. But beneath the surface, tensions simmer. Emma can’t shake the feeling that something is off.

Ehli-nikkalu, eldest daughter of the Hittite emperor, is married to a mere vassal of her father's. But despite her status, her foreignness and inability to produce an heir drive a wedge between her and the court that surrounds her. When her secretary is mysteriously murdered while carrying the emperor a message that would indict the loyalty of his vassal, Ehli-nikkalu adopts the dead man's orphaned children out of a guilty sense of responsibility.

Judaism has survived for 3,500 years by embracing a few, some arguably paradoxical ideas: Life is hard. It also has the potential to be joyous. Every single human has a spark of something extraordinary in them. And every one of us should try to do 1 percent better. In The Jewish Way to a Good Life, straight-shooting Rabbi Shira Stutman distills thousands of years of Jewish wisdom into practical, time-tested strategies for living a more meaningful life. She reminds us: You don't have to be Jewish to do Jewish. And she tells us how.

This powerful new novella is a darkly comic portrait of a Jewish family in today's Poland, struggling to express their love for one another in the face of a past that cannot and will not be forgotten. The grandfather is a doctor, a Holocaust survivor who has now vowed to live only for pleasure.