Showing results by narrator "Karissa Vacker" in All Categories

Cinderella married the man of her dreams - the perfect ending she deserved after diligently following all the fairy-tale rules. Yet now, 13 and a half years later, things have gone badly wrong, and her life is far from perfect. One night, fed up and exhausted, she sneaks out of the palace to get help from the witch who, for a price, offers love potions to disgruntled housewives. But as the old hag flings the last ingredients into the cauldron, Cinderella doesn't ask for a love spell to win back her Prince Charming. Instead, she wants him dead.

When young wife and mother Zoe Kruller is found brutally murdered, the police target two suspects: her estranged husband, Delray Kruller, and her longtime lover, Eddy Diehl. In turn, the Krullers' son, Aaron, and Diehl's daughter, Krista, become obsessed with each other, each believing the other's father guilty. By novel's end, the fated lovers are at last ready to exorcise the ghosts of the past and come to terms with their legacy of guilt, misplaced love, and redemptive yearning.

When a bet is made between squabbling fairy siblings, Princess Gabriella finds herself magically whisked from her perfect life and replaced by an imposter. Her princess training dictates that she make the best of her circumstances, but Gabriella has her work cut out for her when she's forced to join the chaotic fairy family. Meanwhile, fairy Phleg enjoys the luxurious bedsheets and honeyed milk of royal life, but turns the castle upside down as she tries to pose as the princess.

Thousands of miles south of the island of Bliss, day and night last for 72 hours. Here is one of the natural wonders of this world: a whirlpool 30 miles wide and 100 miles around. This is the Drain. Anything sucked into its frothing, turbulent waters is never seen again. Wren has spent most of her life on Edgeland, a nearby island where people bring their dead to be blessed and prepared for the afterlife.

Feminine traits that were once disparaged as weaknesses—such as sensitivity, intuition, and feeling emotional—are reclaimed as powerful strengths that can be embraced as the keys to a happier life for everyone.

Lila Bennett's bad choices have finally caught up with her. And one of those decisions has split her life in two. Literally. In one life, she's taken hostage by someone who appears to be a stranger but knows too much. As she's trapped in a concrete cell, her kidnapper forces her to face what she's done or be killed. In an alternate life, she eludes her captor but is hunted by someone who is dismantling her happiness, exposing one secret at a time.

This uplifting book is a heartfelt wish for all children and a timeless introduction to the Grammy Award-winning and multi platinum singer and songwriter. YOU ARE FEARLESS presents Taylor Swift’s inspirational journey, encouraging children to be fearless, defy limits, and follow their hearts.

Sage Byrd has lived in the coastal town of Spunes, Oregon (not to be confused with Forks, Washington) her entire life. She's learned to love her small world, with the misfit animals on her hobby farm, and her friendships with the town's inhabitants. But when her 5-year relationship ends and her ex, town-golden-boy Ian, suddenly gets engaged, Sage needs a win - something that will convince everyone to stop pitying her all the time, and to put Ian in his place. The Festival of Spunes, the town's annual summer competition, would be the perfect opportunity. She just needs a partner.

Sixty-four-year-old Joe has known violence his entire life. For forty years, he’s worked as an enforcer for loan shark and close friend Maxie Smith, breaking more than a few bones along the way. When Maxie abruptly fires him, Joe isn’t sure where to lay the blame—on Maxie, the man he once considered his brother, or on the early-onset Alzheimer’s that made Maxie lose faith in him in the first place. To keep his head above water, he begins to operate a food truck that’s barely getting by. Desperate to regain some purpose in his life, Joe makes a life-altering decision.

Margo Anderson is sworn off commitment. Alongside her best friend Jo, she runs a viral podcast featuring rules for hooking up without catching feelings. So when Jo surprises her by deciding to get married and takes up a sponsor’s offer to host an all-expenses-paid wedding trip on Catalina Island, they have the whole internet to answer to. In a scramble for content to appease their disappointed listeners, Margo cooks up a social experiment: break all her own dating rules, just to prove that it’s a bad idea.

It has always been Eda's dream to become empress, no matter the cost. Haunted by her ambition and selfishness, she's convinced that the only way to achieve her goal is to barter with the gods. But all requests come with a price and Eda bargains away the soul of her best friend in exchange for the crown. Years later, her hold on the empire begins to crumble and her best friend unexpectedly grows sick and dies. Gnawed by guilt and betrayal, Eda embarks on a harrowing journey to confront the very god who gave her the kingdom in the first place.

Eleven-year-old Anthoni Gillis is not the kind of kid who believes in fairies, unicorns, or even the word maybe. She's more of a comic-book girl. So when her mom brings her to Thunder Lake for a summer at the Showboat Resort, she doesn't believe the local rumors about the Boulay Mermaid. Anthoni has bigger fish to fry. She's always wanted a true-blue friend. But it's been hard to find one, since for the past five years she's been bouncing from town to town, helping her mother sell Beauty & the Bee cosmetic products to keep them both afloat. This summer will be different, though.

Welcome back to Bayview High.... It is a year after the action of One of Us Is Lying, and someone has started playing a game of truth or dare. But this is no ordinary truth or dare. This game is lethal. Choosing the truth may reveal your darkest secrets, accepting the dare could be dangerous, even deadly. The teenagers of Bayview must work together once again to find the culprit, before it's too late....

Sixteen-year-old Sarah can't draw. This is a problem, because as long as she can remember, she has "done the art." She thinks she's having an existential crisis. And she might be right; she does keep running into past and future versions of herself as she wanders the urban ruins of Philadelphia. Or maybe she's finally waking up to the tornado that is her family, the tornado that six years ago sent her once-beloved older brother flying across the country for a reason she can't quite recall.

In Gwenda Bond's The Date from Hell, the hilarious, romantic sequel to Not Your Average Hot Guy, Callie and Luke’s date is thwarted when Lucifer gives them three days to redeem a soul....

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.

Waverly Camdenmar spends her nights running until she can't even think. Then the sun comes up, life goes on, and Waverly goes back to her perfectly hateful best friend, her perfectly dull classes, and the tiny, nagging suspicion that there's more to life than student council and GPAs. Marshall Holt is a loser. He drinks on school nights and gets stoned in the park. He is at risk of not graduating; he does not care; he is no one. He is not even close to being in Waverly's world.

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.

Meet Eve. She's a dreamer, a feeler, a careening well of sensitivities who can't quite keep her feet on the ground, or steer clear of trouble. She's a laugher, a crier, a quirky and quick-witted bleeding-heart worrier. Meet Ben. He's an engineer, an expert at leveling floors who likes order, structure, and straight lines. He doesn't opine, he doesn't ruminate, he doesn't simmer until he boils over. So naturally, when the two first cross paths, sparks don't exactly fly. But then they meet again. And again. And then, finally, they find themselves with a deep yet fragile connection....

"Ageless" Hollywood diva Jessica Gray is finishing the last leg of her one-woman show in St. Louis, Missouri, and the nearby town of Chouteau Forest is dazzled. During the show, she humiliates three homeless women onstage, fires her entourage - not for the first time - and makes a bitter enemy of the town's powerful patriarch. After she collapses at an after-show party and is rushed to the hospital, she ignores the advice of her doctors and discharges herself in order to return to LA.