Showing results by narrator "Amy McFadden" in All Categories

It's 1864 in downtrodden Lowell, Massachusetts. The Civil War has taken its toll on the town - leaving the economy in ruin and its women in dire straits. That is, until Asa Mercer arrives on a peculiar, but providential, errand: he seeks high-minded women who can exert an elevating influence in Seattle, where there are ten men for every woman. Mail-order brides, yes, but of a certain caliber.

Liz McGinnis never imagined herself living in a luxurious gated community like The Palms. Ever since she and her family moved in, she's felt like an outsider amongst the Stepford-like wives and their obnoxiously spoiled children. Still, she's determined to make it work - if not for herself, then for her husband, Phil, who landed them this lavish home in the first place, and for her daughter, Danielle, who's about to enter high school.

Brimming with life and unforgettable voices, the stories in Austin Bunn's dazzling collection explore the existential question: what happens at the end, and what lies beyond it? In the wry but affecting "How to Win an Unwinnable War", a summer class on nuclear war for gifted teenagers turns a struggling family upside down. A young couple's idyllic beach honeymoon is interrupted by terrorism in the lush, haunting "Getting There and Away".

Can the misfortunes of one woman's ancestors give her the strength to fight for her freedom? When Alice inherits a wooden chest from her deceased mother, she suddenly finds herself swept away by the devastating stories contained within.

Debutante dropout Andrea Kendricks is beyond done with big hair, big gowns, and big egos - so being dragged to a high-society Texas wedding by her socialite mama, Cissy, gives her a bad case of déjà vu. As does running into her old prep-school bully, Olivia La Belle, the wedding planner, who's graduated to berating people for a living on her reality TV show. But for all the times Andy wished her dead, nobody deserves Olivia's fate: lying in a pool of blood, a cake knife in her throat - but did the angry baker do it?

Eva Hanover hits 40 years of age...and she has it all: a brilliant career, a gorgeous brownstone in Brooklyn, and a sexy husband. Or, at least, she thought. In the wink of an eye, Eva's husband leaves her. She loses the brownstone and throws away her career in a fit of pique. With only the clothes on her back, she flees New York for the sunnier climate of Key Largo.

Lillian is a 40-something mother whose life is miserable. Her husband hits her when he drinks and her grown daughter treats her as a servant. Realizing that she is wasting time on two people who just don't care, Lillian leaves her little family of self-indulgent narcissists in search of a more meaningful life.

Three years after a series of massive waves takes out New York City and apocalyptic weather continues to shrink US coastlines, Julian and Kate's daughter returns to their Midwestern home...what's left of it. They should be thrilled, but while Kate is happy to have her daughter home, Julian can't quite believe it's really her. Since their daughter worked in New York City at the time of the first disaster, it seems impossible for her to be alive.

In the wilds of Alaska, Assistant District Attorney Shyla Pierce is supposed to be dead, killed in the pursuit of justice. But in fact she is very much alive, quietly in hiding and slowly recovering from her near-fatal injuries.

Cynical single gal Larissa has been to too many weddings. Nonetheless, when her friend Malena asks her to be a bridesmaid, she's a good sport, despite the floor-length aqua satin nightmare she's made to wear.

When Faith Garrity's twin sister died, she lost a part of herself. Unable to move past the pain, the once-driven ornithologist is at risk of losing her career as well. To save her job, she heads to the oil-ravaged wetlands of Louisiana. There, in the bayou community of Chenoire, she encounters the handsome but guarded Zackary Préjean, still suffering from a great loss of his own.

Zelda Lane...her very name made the local gossips raise their eyebrows. She'd scandalized an entire town and filled upright Taylor Matthews with enough young love to burst all bounds of propriety. But that was long ago. Now a pillar of the community, Taylor privately rued the day he'd let Zelda go.

Anti-shifter sentiment is at an all-time high when Kayla's transormation to werecat is captured on video and uploaded for the world to see. Suddenly, she becomes a symbol of the werebeast threat and - along with fellow cat Yoshi, lion-possum Clyde, and human Aimee - a hunted fugitive.

The first time Penny Hayden and Sam Roberts met as teenagers, she stormed off in an outraged huff. The second time, nine years later, she hauled off and kicked him in the shin! It was then that Penny's grandfather knew they were a match made in heaven....

Overwhelmed by single fatherhood, widower David Winthrop feared he was failing his savvy, sad-eyed, ten-year-old son. Still, he never expected hotshot divorce attorney Kate Newton to descend upon him like some avenging angel, bristling with maternal indignation on behalf of Davey junior, her pint-size "client." Worse, David found himself itching to peel away Kate's power pinstripes....

In December 1992 three groups of teenagers head to the theater to see the movie version of the famed Eons & Empires comic books. For Adam it's a last-ditch effort to connect with the girl he's had a crush on for years. Passionate fan Sharon skips school in Cincinnati so she can fully appreciate the flick without interruption from her vapid almost-friends--a seemingly silly indiscretion with shocking consequences.

Jessie Myrer is the daughter of the prison warden in Cayuta County, where there are few foreigners and even fewer Jews. Jessie's provincial views change when she meets her new across-the-street neighbor. At 15, sophisticated, German-born Elisa Stadler is a year older than Jessie. The girls would seem to have little in common, yet they soon become the best of friends. Then one night, they hear the music of the prison band's spellbinding solo bugler.

Claire and Liz have always had a friendship that defied the test of time, but when one of them is diagnosed with a disease that every woman fears, their bond is put through the wringer. How do you cope knowing your soul mate could be taken from you? Filled with memories of their life-long friendship, inappropriate behavior, bad tattoos, and shaving cats, the two friends will realize that laughter really is the best medicine.

For young parents Marilyn and Brad, adopting an orphan girl from Belgorod, Russia, was supposed to make their lives complete. But from the moment she arrives, 12-year-old Zhanna has one thing on her mind: setting fire to the family couch. At first Marilyn is determined to love the pyromania right out of her new daughter. But when Brad jets away on business-or so it seems-Marilyn is forced into a dark and hilarious game of cat-and-mouse with the preteen pyromaniac.

Most of us are lucky that some simple action - one that we've performed a hundred times - doesn't suddenly plunge our entire life into a private hell. But undeserved or not, unheralded or not, that's what happens to Joanne Lessing, a freelance photographer and the divorced mother of a teenage son.