Showing results by narrator "Gail Shalan" in All Categories

She'd inherited Jack Manning's bold heart, tempered once in a very great while by her stepfather's gentle upbringing and her mother's practical nature. But as far as Jackie Manning Bradshaw is concerned, she'll need that bold heart to work her way onto the Broadway stage, the only place she's ever wanted to be.

When Lena Manning finds herself widowed after World War I, she must build a new life for herself and her infant daughter. With the help of her church, she finds stability and contentment until the arrival of a new pastor turns her quiet life upside down. Turned out of her job at the church, Lena is offered employment and a home with a wealthy family. When the son of the house pursues her, she is drawn into the seductive world of wealth and power. Can she survive the secrets of that world, or will fear drive her back to her church where she can no longer be sure of her welcome?

In the early 1800s, Lark and her brother set out to cross the North American continent to settle in the west. In the wilderness, she finally tastes the freedom her restless soul has thirsted for all her life. However, when she meets Charles, a half Crow who feels just as out of place in the world as she does, Lark begins to understand that her wanderlust isn't just a hunt for a new home - it's for someone who can love her independent spirit.

Heather Kaminsky returns to Bethany Beach, Delaware with its farms, boardwalk, and freedom and her Great Aunt Ruby Wellington's house. She's there to help her dying aunt, but she doesn't even think she can help herself, after surviving a brutal attack and quitting her corporate job in her 30s.

How does someone give their heart away when they don't have all of the pieces? Not that Makenna really wants a second chance at love anyway. She is stuck in her tragic past, secretly living every day for her deceased fiancé, while her new boyfriend, Drew, is gently nudging her into the present. Desperate to appear normal again, she slaps on a happy face and goes through the motions of a normal, healthy relationship - but with the exception of even a single kiss.

After a year of preparation, 18-year-old Raven Smith has planned out every detail of her summer vacation in Europe. Yet, while still enroute to Italy, Raven finds a letter in her carry-on suitcase that tells her not to go to Europe, that an "evil agent of Hell" is looking for her and he will find her if she disregards the letter's message.

It's Christmas and there are wedding bells ringing around Coulter's Restaurant as they prepare to celebrate Rosalie and Michael's wedding. But the bride is hiding something, a secret that she won't even share with her fiance, and that secret has Rosalie calling off the wedding. Can Grace, her best friend, intervene in time to save Rosalie from making the biggest mistake of her life?

Grace Coulter has been hiding in the kitchen of her family restaurant since she was eight years old. That's when the name-calling began. Stretch, skinny-minny, boy in girl's clothes, all because of the slender height that had her towering over even the tallest boys in the class. Now, nearly thirty years later, Grace is head chef of the failing restaurant and still hiding in the kitchen. Like many businesses during the current recession, Coulter's may have to start laying off employees or even close.

Historical fact-based fiction about the famous spy who played a key role in Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. This narrative takes place between July 1861 and July 1862 and is the first in a series about the Confederate Secret Service and the women who were its most effective agents. Belle Boyd was the first woman in American History to be formally commissioned an army officer.

Patty Gayle and the Legend of Kingsley is a fantasy set in Kingsley Lake, Florida, in 1960. It's the journey of Patty Gayle, a twelve-year-old awkward girl, who doesn't think she has much purpose in life until she is given a key that unlocks possibilities of which she could only dream. The key leads her on an adventure to a magical land that she thought only existed in her grandmother's stories.

Fall in love all over again. Seventeen-year-old Taylor Lawton has a crush on Timothy Cooper, a boy at her school, and as crushes go, things are normal. He ignores her. She doesn't speak to him. Until their English teacher, Mrs. Walker puts them on a project together. A turn of fate then throws them both for a loop. For an entire week, they will stay beneath the same roof. Will this be too much togetherness? What will Taylor do with Timothy's painful secret? A light audiobook with a touching storyline, this tale is enjoyable for both young adults and grown-ups alike.

In a future where humanity has scattered itself across the stars and Earth itself is now a dimly remembered place of legend, two worlds of near-supernatural strangeness challenge two naive but courageous heroes.

Emma is in a race against time to break free from her father's mark while the drums of war draw nearer. The darkness inside her is growing, so too is the hunger for power, which begs the question: Who will she be when it's all over? Adrianna, forced to remain in Sheol with her controlling protector, has begun the work of altering Levaroth's mind. But his sacrifice, along with her magic, will be just what Emma needs to survive.

In the second of the Hometown trilogy, ex-Afghanistan vet paramedic Frankie McGill and resident deputy Gabe Zantos are caught up in a case of arson. A house at the end of a country road has stood vacant for years; it's occupants mice and the stray raccoon or two. When the derelict house catches fire, the only reason the Hawkesford Fire Department responds is because of the danger to the dry wheat fields surrounding it. But then not only a gunshot victim, but a charred body is found inside the house, along with evidence of a meth cooking operation. Accident, or murder?

Set against the backdrop of Karachi, Pakistan, Saadia Faruqi’s tender and honest middle grade novel tells the story of two girls navigating a summer of change and family upheaval with kind hearts, big dreams, and all the right questions. Mimi is not thrilled to be spending her summer in...

Six months ago, Kate’s twelve-year-old daughter Melanie disappeared. It’s been six long months since Kate identified her battered, lifeless body. Kate is only just beginning to come to terms with her daughter's murder when a sinister message appears on her computer screen: WHY DID YOU LET HIM HURT ME, MUMMY? More horrifying messages follow. Only one person could be doing this to Kate—Melanie’s murderer.

It’s the end of 6th grade and Zella wants to be the one who thinks of the best class prank—a long-held tradition that administrators allow, with parameters. In alternating chapters told by Zella, best friends Bowie and Janea, Shelby the school sleuth, and the town of Kettleby, Zella's story reveals her quest to uphold her image as class clown and bask in the spotlight.

The stories in this anthology range from quietly strange to ambitiously speculative. Humans transform into cosmic energy or sentient algae. A man wakes up in a new body in a world with continents cut out, months absent from the calendar year, and souls misplaced. Students at a high school regularly vanish without a trace. A woman descends into the depths of the ocean and encounters all-knowing creatures who may have the answers to her deepest questions.

While on the run from Rurales in Mexico, Lou Prophet stops at the familiar desert town of Chisos Springs. Except now it’s called Moon’s Well. And it appears that more than the name has changed. It’s being controlled by the scoundrel Mordecai Moon, who even charges people for water. Lou Prophet won’t stand for such shady business, but he’s never made an enemy like Mordecai...

Grace Deming didn't want to uproot her family to care for her difficult mother-in-law, but she's determined to make the best of it for the sake of her daughter Shyla's future. Their new home is enormous; the neighborhood, prestigious. If the worst of it is that Althea dislikes her, she can cope. After all, Althea Deming is a sweetheart. Everyone says so—her husband, the neighbors. And soon, so does Shyla, the once vibrant and happy child now a shadow of her former self. What's wrong with Grace that she can't trust her? But all her instincts are screaming at her that Althea is dangerous.