Showing results by narrator "Tara Sands" in All Categories

The city of Tevanne runs on scrivings, industrialised magical inscriptions that make inanimate objects sentient; they power everything, from walls to wheels to weapons. Scrivings have brought enormous progress and enormous wealth - but only to the four merchant Houses who control them. Everyone else is a servant or slave, or they eke a precarious living in the hellhole called the Commons. There's not much in the way of work for an escaped slave like Sancia Grado, but she has an unnatural talent that makes her one of the best thieves in the city. 

The upstart firm Foundryside is struggling to make it. Orso Igancio and his star employee, former thief Sancia Grado, are accomplishing brilliant things with scriving, the magical art of encoding sentience into everyday objects, but it's not enough. The massive merchant houses of Tevanne won't tolerate competition, and they're willing to do anything to crush Foundryside. But even the merchant houses of Tevanne might have met their match. 

Sutton is having robot problems. Her mini-bot is supposed to be able to get through a maze in under a minute, but she must have gotten something wrong in the coding. This is frustrating for a science-minded girl like Sutton - almost as frustrating as the fact that her mother probably won't be home in time for Sutton's 10th birthday. Luis spends his days writing thrilling stories about brave kids, but there's only so much inspiration you can find when you're stuck inside all day.

Holy unanticipated occurrences! A cynic meets an unlikely superhero in a genre-breaking new novel by master storyteller Kate DiCamillo. It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry.

11-year-old Josh and 12-year-old Amanda just moved into the oldest and weirdest house on the block - the two siblings think it might even be haunted! But of course, their parents don't believe them. You'll get used to it, they say. Go out and make some new friends. But the creepy kids are not like anyone Josh and Amanda have ever met before. And when they take a shortcut through the cemetery one night, Josh and Amanda learn why.

As the only female civil engineer in her department, Grace Hudson needs space from men. Her last love interest traumatized her in ways she never saw coming; with that behind her, she is determined to focus on her career. Even so, a little flirting with a handsome stranger over coffee can’t hurt, right? In their short interaction, Grace dazzles Dameon Locke. But he’s focused on his newest development project and keeping his company afloat after his biggest investor pulled out.

When Kari Baxter is assigned an essay about what she wants to be when she grows up, her mind goes blank. She doesn’t want to grow up; she wants everything to stay just like it is. But Kari comes to realize that while making time stand still isn’t possible, she can enjoy every moment with her best family ever. Meanwhile, Ashley Baxter feels the same way. She is worried her siblings are growing up too fast. When she wins the role of Wendy in her school performance of Peter Pan, Ashley gets an idea. Maybe she and her siblings can pledge to never grow up at all!

Gail and Jon Durbin moved to the Chicago suburbs to set up house as soon as Gail got pregnant. But then she miscarried - once, twice, three times. Determined to expand their family, the Durbins turn to adoption. When several adoptions fall through, Gail’s desire for a child overwhelms her. Carli is a pregnant teenager from a blue-collar town nearby, with dreams of going to college and getting out of her mother’s home. When she makes the gut-wrenching decision to give her baby up for adoption, she chooses the Durbins. But Carli’s mother, Marla, has other plans for her grandbaby.

When Lauren and Ryan's marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart and only one rule: They cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, aster for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own.

Mara is a proud and beautiful slave girl who yearns for freedom in ancient Egypt, under the rule of Queen Hatshepsut. Mara is not like other slaves; she can read and write, as well as speak the language of Babylonian. So, to barter for her freedom, she finds herself playing the dangerous role of double spy for two arch enemies—each of whom supports a contender for the throne of Egypt. Against her will, Mara finds herself falling in love with one of her masters, the noble Sheftu, and she starts to believe in his plans of restoring Thutmose III to the throne. 

After Erin Fleming escapes from her controlling and abusive ex, she finds refuge in the heart of Santa Clarita, California. Eager to start over, she has a new name, a new look, and a new career. Settled into a private guesthouse, Erin can breathe free. Far from the shadows she’s outrun, Erin is finally learning to live for herself. Her new unexpected friendship with her landlord starts to crack open the armor Erin’s enclosed herself in. But it’s Matt who speeds up the pace of Erin’s heart and makes her wish for things she believes she can never have. 

Elsie Porter is an average 20-something, and yet what happens to her is anything but ordinary. On a rainy New Year's Day, she heads out to pick up a pizza for one. She isn't expecting to see anyone else in the shop, much less the adorable and charming Ben Ross. Their chemistry is instant and electric. Within weeks the two are head over heels in love. By May they've eloped. Only nine days later, Ben is out riding his bike when he is hit by a truck and killed on impact.

Discover the original bone-chilling adventures that made Goosebumps one of the bestselling children's books series of all time. Now with all-new bonus materials! Werewolf Village. The Doom Slide. The Coffin Cruise. These are just a few of the terrifying attractions that await Luke and Lizzy Morris at HorrorLand. Step right up and join the Morris family as they ride each ride - and scream each scream - for the very first time. Because it might also be their last.

The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh. Juli says, "My Bryce. Still walking around with my first kiss." He says, "It's been six years of strategic avoidance and social discomfort." But in the eighth grade, everything gets turned upside down: Just as Bryce is thinking that there's maybe more to Juli than meets the eye, she's thinking that he's not quite all he seemed.

Best friends Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani endure every parent’s nightmare when a tragic accident befalls their teenage boys, leaving one dead, another in a coma, and a third too traumatized to speak. Reeling from the worst night of their lives, the three mothers plunge into a desperate investigation of the bizarre incident. How could something so horrible happen in their wealthy Southern California suburb? They soon discover that the accident was just the beginning, and troubling discoveries lead to chilling questions: Do they really know their children? Do they even know each other?

Sloane isn't expecting to fall in love with a group of friends when she moves from New York to Florida - especially not a group of friends so intense, so layered with private tragedies and secret codes, so all-consuming. Yet that's exactly what happens. And it will lead her (and, um, her dad) on a life-changing adventure. Sloane becomes closest to Vera, a social-media star who lights up any room, and Gabe, Vera's twin brother and the most serious person Sloane's ever met. 

The year: 1983. The place: Ohio. The camp: Scary as heck. Camp Sweetwater is finally reopening, three decades after it mysteriously shut down. Campers Corryn Quinn and Tez Jones have each had more than enough of their regular lives - they’re so ready to take their summer at Sweetwater by storm. But before they can so much as toast one marshmallow, strange happenings start...happening. Can they survive the summer? Or will Camp Sweetwater shut down for good this time - with them inside?

In book four of the Klawde series, our favorite warlord cat turns his malevolent gaze to the one target he never thought he'd consider: Earth. But conquering a world is a challenge, even for Klawde, and he'll need two things for his plan to succeed: an army of zombie squirrels, and, of course, money. Lots of money. And he has a plan to get it. Meanwhile, as his evil pet plots world domination, Raj is also trying to make some extra cash. He's dying for a cool virtual-reality headset and is determined to get his yard-cleaning business off the ground to pay for it.

Many people are fed up with the way traditional religion alienates them. Too easily it perpetuates conflict, vilifies science, and undermines reason. Nancy Abrams - a philosopher of science, lawyer, and lifelong atheist - is among these people, but she has also found freedom in imagining a higher power. Here, Abrams explores a radically new way of thinking about God. She shows why an omniscient, omnipotent God that created the universe and plans what happens is incompatible with science - but that this doesn’t preclude a God that can comfort and empower us.