Showing results by narrator "Gail Shalan" in All Categories

Natalie Walker is the reason her older brother and sister went to prison over fifteen years ago. She fled California shortly after that fateful night and hasn’t spoken to anyone in her family since. Now, on the same day her boyfriend steals her dream job out from under her, Natalie receives a letter from a lawyer saying her estranged mother has died and left the family’s historic Santa Cruz house to her. Sort of. The only way for Natalie and her siblings to inherit is for all three adult children to come back and claim it―together.

A stranger is trespassing in Celeste Turner's backyard, moving through the shadows around her shed. It could be a harmless backpacker seeking temporary refuge, but experience has taught Celeste to be extra wary. Not wishing to draw unwanted attention, she cannot turn to the police. Celeste is an outsider to this region of rural Florida, and all the locals see is a "city girl" who swooped in to secure her inheritance. But Celeste needs her new life to work, so she must confront her intruder. To her surprise, she finds out that her unwanted guest is a young backpacker named Daisy.

Two dead students. A coded reference to Shakespeare. And the promise of darker things to come. Near a small college campus, a student is found strangled in an abandoned barn on the outskirts of town. She's been posed to look like a painting of Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet, the scene taunting the police with a message they don't understand.

Every girl in Ballamor dreams of being chosen by the fey. For some, because the fey promise to deliver them to the beautiful faery realm. For Larken, because her closest friend was chosen the previous year. She tries to accept her fate - until she discovers that her friend is in danger and the promise of eternal joy amongst the fey could be a lie. Larken breaks the sacred covenant between humans and fey and enters the faery realm to find her friend. Her only ally is Finder, a faery prince of the Autumn Court who now owes her a debt after she unwittingly saves his life.

An unflinching examination of motherhood and the dark side of domesticity set against a suburban backdrop that's anything but blissful. This twisty tale invites listeners to a slow motion unravelling that culminates in a devastating finale!

Summer, 1958. Vivienne Rhodes thinks she’s finally landed her break playing Helen of Troy in Apex Pictures’ big-budget epic, A Thousand Ships, an anticipated blockbuster meant to resurrect the failing studio. Naturally, she’s devastated when she arrives on the remote Italian island of Tavalli and finds herself cast as the secondary character, Cassandra—while her nemesis, the fiancé-stealing Lottie Lawrence, America’s supposed “sweetheart,” is playing the lead role instead.

At seventeen, Alice Marble has no formal tennis skills and no coach. What she does have is an ability to hit the ball as hard as she can and a strong desire to prove herself. With steadfast determination and one sacrifice after another, Alice plays her heart out on the courts of the rich and famous, at national tournaments, and—the greatest of them all—at Wimbledon, rising to be one of the top-ranked players in the world.

During one unforgettable year in their twenties, best friends Emma, Fern, Carolina, and Andi make a pact to embrace whatever life throws at them, inspiring Fern to write a memoir detailing their escapades and the magical power of saying Yes. But fast forward twenty years and they have reached their bandwidth of responsibilities. Fern is a full-time writer struggling to pay the bills. Carolina is a fitness-obsessed workaholic. Andi is a disillusioned human rights lawyer. And Emma is a stressed-out divorcée in the thick of planning her daughter’s wedding.

It’s 1940, and Jody is moving with her military family yet again—this time to a small naval base in Pearl Harbor. She’s always created a “top ten” list for each new home to help her adjust, and with Hawaii being so beautiful and her loyal dog Happy by her side, it’s easy to find things to add. But Jody’s mom is convinced the island is dangerous and starts constantly practicing first aid. Jody also learns that Happy is getting older and beginning to slow down.

A solar powered girl. A ballerina vigilante. A boy with an alien sharing his brain. A girl with a black hole for her heart. And a werewolf with confidence issues. This is the next generation of heroes Doc Silence has gathered together, a random collection of amazing kids he hopes to train to make the world a better place. But Silence isn't the only one collecting super-powered teenagers.

Not to brag, but Brynn Whittaker is basically killing her senior year. She's got the looks, the grades, and a thriving "flirt coach" business that will help pay for her ultimate dream school: Stanford University. But when a highly incriminating video goes viral after the first rager of the year, Brynn finds herself at the center of a school-wide scandal of catastrophic proportions.

Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit is a beautifully written novel in verse loosely based on author Colby Cedar Smith’s maternal grandmother. The story follows Mary as she and her family emigrate from Greece to Detroit in the 1930s, creating a historically accurate portrayal of life as an immigrant during the Great Depression, hunger strikes, and violent riots. Mary lives in a tiny apartment with her immigrant parents, her brothers, and her twin sister, and she questions why her parents ever came to America.

I’m the crazy fun one. Pedal to the floor, balls to the wall, party all weekend guy. The guy everybody calls for laughs and a good time. And I always deliver. So, when Ainsley Winslow and I made a pact for a summer fling, I was all in. What hot-blooded college male doesn’t jump at the chance for a no-strings-attached relationship? Not this one. Then summer drew to a close, and I found myself wanting time to move slower. Ainsley Winslow is a girl of her word. When fall inevitably came, she vanished.

Alberto's life isn't easy: He's an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who lives with his sister's abusive boyfriend-but he'd always accepted his place in the world. Until he starts hearing the voice of a man called Captain America, a voice that wants him to achieve more, no matter the cost.

Danielle Silver is a Philadelphia high school senior at the dawn of the ’90s. Ever since her parents split up, she has known her father was gay, but she never expected to be hit with the bombshell that he is HIV positive. As he sickens, and AIDS starts to claim the lives of his friends, Danielle searches for silver linings while trying to balance paralyzing fear, grief, her social life, and schoolwork—capturing all the feelings as adolescence and some hard facts collide.

Larken survived the Starveling, but her greatest battles are yet to come. Haunted by memories of the flames that nearly took her life and desperate for Finder to heal her, she plots to rescue him from imprisonment in Shadeshelm. Larken searches for allies within the other courts of the faery realm, but she finds that without the Starveling, the court rulers are consumed by their own political games.

In the aftermath of her father’s death and the crash that killed her mother and five-year-old sister, Jess is determined to take care of her surviving brothers, teenage Frankie and nine-year-old Tom. But as the three siblings struggle through grief, ever-present questions loom: Why did their dad take his own life? Where was their mother going?

In the Little Book of Dog Care, life-long dog lover and deathcare veterinary practice owner Ace Tilton Ratcliff delivers a must-have primer for every dog parent. What should you do when your dog is scared during a thunderstorm? How can you make clipping their nails less miserable? When do they like to eat? What can’t you feed them? Endless questions, expert-certified answers.

Julia and Sienna Larkin are sisters-in-law, connected by Julia’s husband and Sienna’s brother, Jason. More than that, the two are devoted best friends and business partners, believing that theirs is a uniquely unbreakable bond. To Sienna, her protective brother can do no wrong, and although Julia knows he’s not perfect, they’ve built a comfortable life and family together. Recently, Jason has been putting in long hours to secure a promotion at work, so when his boss is found brutally murdered—his lips sewn shut—the Larkins are shocked and unsettled, especially as local gossip swirls.

All science classrooms discuss animals that hibernate during winter months, but few know about animals that estivate—a prolonged sleep during hot or dry periods. Learn about the reasons estivating animals become dormant—whether it's because warm weather threatens food supply or to avoid increased body temperatures. From the ladybug to the salamander, from the lungfish to the desert hedgehog, twelve estivating animals and their habits—both when sleeping and awake—are explained clearly and elegantly.