Showing results by narrator "Samara Naeymi" in All Categories

A small-town waitress, awestruck by dreams of a bigger world, looks forward to the biggest break of a budding career in this darkly comic short tale of what happens when innocence collides with cynicism. Eighteen-year-old Keridee is done with high school, her cheating boyfriend, her jealous friends, and Nowhere, Florida. She’s determined to do something with her life, and her small-time modeling agent has already scored her a gig. She’s working an event for a real estate mogul who happens to own a huge modeling agency. What if he’s dazzled by her smile and makes her a star?

Lauren is angry enough that her mother couldn’t find time to show up to the opening of her new art gallery. But when she gets home and discovers the gift her mother has sent instead, Lauren comes undone in the face of a temptation that will push her to the edge, closer to her demons and the bitter taste of a mother’s love.

A young novelist trapped in a bad relationship takes the first step toward true pleasure and tenderness…but does she have the courage to be swept off her feet? It doesn’t matter how many people read and like her new book, there’s only one man’s opinion that matters to Clara…or at least that’s what she thinks. But when a chance encounter at a film premiere introduces her to someone new - someone who understands her in a way the first man can’t - Clara finally discovers the validation she really wants and needs.

Heidi is writing a script to explain the financial industry, based on how the men within it approach romance. Her clueless heroine is looking for a Wall Street husband, but who’s the best option? The trader? The investment banker? The venture capitalist? Scene by sizzling scene, Heidi considers their assets. What she wants for certain is a happy ending - but when she hits a dead end, it might take a real-life finance guy to show her what a long-term investment really looks like.

1960s New York, and Emma Bowden seems to have it all - a glamorous Manhattan apartment, a loving husband, and a successful writing career. But while Emma and her husband, Jonathan, are on vacation at the Hamptons, a child drowns in the sea, and suspicion falls on Emma. As her picture-perfect life spirals out of control and old wounds resurface, a persistent and monotonous voice in Emma’s head threatens to destroy all that she has worked for....

A frustrated lawyer finds release where she least expects it - and where she needs it most - in this exhilarating, sexy romp through the finest gluten-free indulgences in a New York City grocery store. After another long workday, the only thing Meredith wants is a big bowl of paleo maple-pecan coconola. But the hour-long checkout line at 7:00 p.m. at an all-organic supermarket stands between her and satisfaction, and the yupster mob is working her last nerve. Then, out of nowhere, a spontaneous flirtation with a stranger shows her there’s a lot more than coconola waiting for her.

You will not believe what you are reading - even though it all feels so real. Only a man like Smilin’ Jack could monetize civil war. After the infamous business tycoon launches a hit TV show that pits American and Confederate gladiators in brutal battles, his grisly spectacle draws the attention of psychopaths across the nation.

Cold case reporter Sloane Grayson has come to a small mountain town in Virginia to solve a mystery. Thirty years ago, her mother was one of four women who vanished during a music festival. The event’s promoter was eventually convicted of their murders, and Sheriff CJ Taggart closed the case. But for Sloane, it’s still open. Because the bodies were never found. With Taggart now long dead, Sloane must make do with questioning the victims’ families and the few remaining witnesses once again. If they’re still willing to dredge up memories of a crime that made their town notorious.

In this exceptional book, inclusion leader Annahid Dashtgard shares her experiences looking for and teaching about belonging in our divided world. Through moving and deft interlocking stories, Dashtgard examines what it means to belong—to a country, in a marriage, and in our skin—and the price we pay when that belonging is absent.

In this hilarious, yet fact-filled book, Elise Gravel uses her kid-friendly wit to break down what disinformation is, why people spread it, and how to tell what is real and what isn't. And that's the truth!

Radiant Basket of Rainbow Shells, scholar of curses and magical history, has spent several years on a research expedition abroad in Quruscan, one of the four kingdoms of the Tetrarchia. When Radiant’s home country of Loasht suddenly revokes his citizenship—and that of his entire ethnic enclave—he soon finds that Quruscan is no longer a safe haven either. He needs someone to help him escape: someone with the sheer cunning to escort him to safety. The perfect candidate is Kalyna Aljosanova: a crafty, mysterious mercenary with an uncanny reputation.

It's time to go, but no one can find Hannah! That’s because she’s in the park with too much to do. She needs to collect caterpillars and sticks, make a bow and arrow, and build a bed out of leaves. Deep in the shrubs, she sets up a secret hideout where she can hunker down over the campfire, lost in her own little world. But for how long? When a voice cuts through the branches, Hannah realizes someone is still looking for her. Can she find her way out of the shrubs, or will she stay wild forever?

As the daughter of a renowned War Hero, Shaya was destined for a life of heroism and glory. A life she desired more than anything else—until her mother sacrificed herself for the cause and the very Empire she died for stole Shaya’s dreams from her.

Cunning and resourceful, Shaya worked hard to keep her and her brother safe, clawing themselves out of a system set against them and gaining the power they needed to find their way in life again.

Kalyna's family has the Gift: the ability to see the future. For generations, they traveled the four kingdoms of the Tetrarchia selling their services as soothsayers. Every child of their family is born with this Gift—everyone except Kalyna. So far, Kalyna has used informants and trickery to falsify prophecies for coin, scrounging together a living for her deteriorating father and cruel grandmother. But Kalyna's reputation for prophecy precedes her, and poverty turns to danger when she is pressed into service by the spymaster to Rotfelsen.

Meticulously researched through primary sources and in-depth interviews, Loch Ness Uncovered is the fascinating true story of the conspiracy that sparked intrigue worldwide. With an engaging narrative, here is a nonfiction book that will transport young listeners to a thrilling world of monster madness.

In post-Roe America, where our bodies are not our own, the conversation around reproductive healthcare has been systematically stripped of its humanity. Yet no one, but for the patient themselves, understands the humanity in abortion care as the physicians who provide it do. For the first time, one of the 10 doctors to perform third-trimester abortions in the US shares 6 stories that challenge preconceived notions of who gets abortions—and why.