Showing results by narrator "Karissa Vackers" in All Categories

Jasmine Thurman is desperate. If someone doesn't answer her Help Wanted sign soon, her struggling café in the heart of Texas won't be open much longer. But when a handsome traveler pops in for a country-fried steak, her luck begins to turn around. Hiring Flint Walker is the solution she's been looking for, and if her business can have a second chance, then maybe her love life can too.

When Janie's husband Max doesn't come home one night, she's doesn't know what to do. Why would he leave her and their baby daughter, with no explanation? Then the police turn up, asking questions about the body of a woman found outside a local bar. They want to know where Max was last night. Where Max is now - but Janie has no idea. They want answers, but Janie only has questions. She loves Max more than anything. But did she ever really know him at all?

Cattail Island in the Outer Banks is a popular destination for honeymooners and nature lovers alike. So it is a huge blow when the murder of a newlywed grinds the pre-summer season to a screeching halt. Bookseller Callie Padget launches her own investigation, after mysterious customer Geri-Lynn Humfeld, caretaker of the island’s protected wild horses, brings in an irresistible piece of information.

Let’s face it, estate planning is complicated and confusing. And talking about your death is uncomfortable. It’s no wonder estate planning is one of those things parents put off until it’s too late. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Remember the story of Cinderella, the orphan mistreated by her evil stepmother and stepsisters? Consider an alternative legally "happily ever after" that starts with an estate plan and ends with Cinderella keeping the house! The reality is that children all over the world suffer because their parents fail to put an estate plan into place.

This book spotlights female scientist Temple Grandin, whose experience being on the autism spectrum has informed her advocacy and her work as an animal behaviorist. Temple Grandin's pride in being different and how it shaped her world is celebrated in this biography.

Bethany Davis has worked in some of the most exciting restaurants in New York City. She's from Quinn Valley, a small Idaho town, and she hasn't been home for more than a few days in years. Her mother is sick, and it's a blessing, in a way, that her restaurant just closed and she's out of job, because now she can take as much time as she needs to be with her mom. If she's going to stay, though, she needs a job ASAP. But the only option available is at Quinn's Pub, owned by her first love, Ryder, and his sister Maggie.

Hannah Keane is tired of being on the road. She's eager to move home and live a quiet life, writing music and teaching at the local kids' center. For David Quinn who is in no hurry to find love, she is the very last person on his list. Hannah even seemed to look down her nose at him the last time she saw him, like she did back when they were in high school. But, David starts to worry that something else is going on - that Hannah is running from something and won't be able to stay in Quinn Valley after all.

Maggie Quinn loves her role as bartender and co-owner of Quinn’s. Calling Charlie Keane to place her weekly order is something she looks forward to. It’s no secret to her friends and family that Maggie has a crush on Charlie’s voice. She’s eager to meet him in person, but Charlie keeps rescheduling their business lunch - and he may have waited too long for his own good.

Mina’s life is going according to plan; she’s acing AP Calc and is perfectly content with her nonexistent social life. Though only a high school junior, Mina knows time is an investment, and she’s putting all her capital into academics. Oliver, a child abuse survivor who grew up in the foster care system, is ready to burn down his old life and start from scratch - complete with a new name and emancipation papers - in LA. When the two are thrown together through circumstance and develop an unexpected connection, they discover how hard it is to keep the past in the past.

Our food system is undergoing a total transformation that impacts how we produce, get, and consume our food. Market researcher and bestselling author Paco Underhill—hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a Sherlock Holmes for retailers”—reveals where our eating and drinking lives are heading in his “delectable” (Michael Gross, New York Times bestselling author of 740 Park) book, How We Eat.

An injured, young dog trudges the city streets, trembling from cold, from fear, from lack of food. Battered by the howling wind, he searches desperately for his lost family, yet day after day, week after week, all he ever finds is heartbreaking loneliness. But then, one magical spring morning....

When Callie is laid off from her reporting job, she returns to her hometown of Cattail Island and lands a gig at the local bookstore—the same one where she found comfort after her mother died.

All Callie wanted was a quiet weekend with her best friend. She promised her mom she could handle running her family’s escape room business while her mom is out of town. Instead a Satanic cult shows up, claiming that the prop spell book in one of the rooms is the real deal, and they need it to summon the right hand of the devil. Naturally they take Callie and her friend, Mag, along with them. But when the summoning reveals a handsome demon in a leather jacket named Luke who offers to help Callie stop the cult from destroying the world.

The first time Allie Brazas was sexually assaulted, she was 17. Three years later, after joining the Navy, she became the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of her acting Command Master Chief. Life seemed to be turning around for Allie when she got married to an active duty K9 handler. Two months later, he was killed in action in Afghanistan. Alone, confused, and overwhelmed with grief, Allie wasn’t sure if she’d ever escape the hole that life kept pushing her into. It wasn’t until she embraced her journey that Allie was able to climb out of that hole.

Justice always comes. Claire Vetra is looking for two men. The first man she’ll kill. The second man she’ll also kill - after she makes him watch as she destroys everything he’s built. This is only the start of Claire's revenge against the World Alliance Order, which held her hostage for a year and subjected her to live human testing in the name of medical science. But when Claire begins to unravel her past, she discovers that unlocking the memories of what happened to her might destroy the remaining shreds of her sanity.

What do a crooked detective, an upstanding psychiatrist, and a teenager who can’t remember killing her parents all have in common? Nine years of lies.

Americans, for all our talk of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, obsessively seek advice on matters large and small. Perhaps precisely because we believe in bettering ourselves and our circumstances in life, we ask for guidance constantly. And this has been true since our nation's earliest days: From the colonial era on, there have always been people eager to step up and offer advice, some of it lousy, some of it thoughtful, but all of it read and debated by generations of Americans.

Bobbi Rebell taps into her exclusive network of business leaders to share with you stories of the financial lessons they learned early in their lives that helped them become successful. She then uses these stories as jumping off points to offer specific, actionable advice on how you can become a financial grownup just like them. You're guided by proven examples and given the information you need to make choices that are right for you. How to Be a Financial Grownup will especially appeal to you if you're interested in new ideas to better manage your finances.

In partnership with Texas Monthly, Pamela Colloff's "The Witness" is now available as an audio download, where the length and timeliness of a podcast meets the high-quality production of a full-length audio program. For more than a decade, it was Michelle Lyons's job to observe the final moments of death row inmates - but watching 278 executions did not come without a cost.

In partnership with Texas Monthly, the following articles spotlighting true crime are now available in a bundle as an audio download: "The Cheerleader Murder Plot" features a woman who went to extreme, murderous lengths to ensure her daughter's spot on the cheerleading squad. "The Last Ride of Cowboy Bob" profiles the mysterious Peggy Jo Tallas who, disguised as a man, robbed banks and confounded police for years. Also featuring "A Kiss Before Dying", "The Talented Mr. Khater", and "Just Desserts".