Showing results by narrator "Jennifer Jill Araya" in All Categories

“Just do this one thing for me.” Drew's mother says it more often than good morning. Heidi Hill has been juggling shady side hustles for all of Drew’s seventeen years, and Drew knows that “one thing” really means all the tedious and necessary things her mother thinks are boring, including taking care of her fifteen-year-old sister and eight-year-old brother. In fact, Drew is the closest thing to a responsible adult they’ve ever known.

In early 2022, life in the port city of Mariupol, Ukraine was safe and predictable for Adoriana Marik. The thirty-one-year-old tattoo artist loved walking her dog by the seaside and meeting friends at cafés and public gardens. But all that changed on February 24, 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his “special military operation.”

When mankind’s attempts to control nature backfire, Texas descends into a wasteland. Storms rage and ravenous beasts roam the Outer Grid. The only safe havens rest inside the tech-obsessed domed cities. But when her parents are murdered inside the Plex City dome, seventeen-year-old Juniper Conway wants revenge. Ties to her extended family threaten to pull her back as she runs from city to city. The Plex is endangering its citizens by legalizing a deadly nano drug, and Juniper’s family needs her help to deliver the counteragent.

J.P. Green has always felt out of step. She doesn’t wear the right clothes, she doesn’t say the right things, and her body…well, she’d rather not talk about it. And seventh grade is shaping up to be the worst year yet. So when J.P. discovers a mysterious door in her neighbor’s treehouse, she doesn’t hesitate before walking through. The door sends her three days forward in time.

Billionaire heiress Brekka Thornton is headed for Olympic fame and glory until a car accident destroys all her plans. She redirects her efforts toward conquering the business world with her brother, Trig, closing the door on her old life without a backward glance. An IED blast sends Rob Graham back to the US with a purple heart and a broken back. After a miraculous recovery, he returns home to find that his dad needs him to run the family business. Rob never hesitates, even though he hates car sales more than pop up ads.

Pebble Cove is not the sleepy coastal town Rosemary remembers from her childhood. Ghosts are everywhere. But apparently only she can see them. When Rosemary Woodmere inherits her estranged grandmother's Victorian teahouse, she doesn't expect to also inherit a ghost named Asher from the 1920s. Things get weirder for Rosemary. Her grandma was supposedly murdered. A body has washed up on the beach and the police suspect her in the man's murder. She's trying to navigate her newfound ability to talk to ghosts. And she doesn't even know the first thing about tea.

There's nothing like the Stoneybrook farmers market in summer. Fresh flowers, organic veggies, delicious jams...and a dead body. When an outsider turns up murdered, all of the evidence points to his rival, Stoneybrook's beloved florist. Unable to believe a pillar of their community could be guilty of such a heinous crime, Hadley dives head-first into the investigation. Sure, she's busy looking for a new house, running her business, and dealing with her ex - who's back in town - but Hadley is determined to find the truth before the wrong man goes to jail.

You're a caring mother of boys, part of the "boy mom" phenomenon - now learn how to raise your son to be compassionate, empathetic, and emotionally intelligent with this parenting guide made just for you.

Charlie Rhodes is at a crossroads in her life. Her big secret is out - at least with the most important person in her life Jack Hanson - and now they have to deal with a whole new reality. Things are going relatively well when the Legacy Foundation is sent on a mission to Charleston. It seems women are dying under strange circumstances. Charleston is a new environment and Charlie and Jack are embracing a brand new world. Things are going to be fine...as long as they live to tell the tale.

When Callie took over the Gull5's Nest Bed-and-Breakfast, she thought life would be stable and predictable. Instead, the last few months have taken her on a journey of some of her highest highs and lowest lows. Looking for some semblance of peace, Callie focuses on the things within her control. So, when a man sitting on the boardwalk outside the B and B dies from what looks like natural causes, Callie should be able to leave it alone. Except that the man's spirit implored her to solve his murder as he passed on, and she couldn't get the mystery out of her head.

Charlie Rhodes has spent her entire life wondering who she is, why she was abandoned as a child, and what’s behind the magical powers she can wield in the blink of an eye. She’s finally getting her answers. Now that she’s been reunited with her birth mother and brother, the search is on for her father. He’s supposed to be somewhere in Boston...but where? He’s fallen out of touch, and finding him is virtually impossible. Thankfully for Charlie, the Legacy Foundation’s next assignment is in a suburb of the very city where she lives.

All Georgia Rae Winston wants is to fall in love. Life, of course, has other plans. Georgia’s biggest challenge in the farming town of Wildcat Springs, Indiana, is figuring out how to win Evan Beckworth’s heart. Until the day she discovers the body of a former student in the woods. She assumes it was an accident. When she starts to suspect it wasn’t, it stirs memories of her father’s murder nine years earlier. A murder never solved. Georgia refuses to let that happen this time.

Coral has always been different, standing out from her mermaid sisters in a society where blending in is key. Worse yet, she fears she has been afflicted with the dreaded Disease said to be carried by humans - emotions. Her sister had the Disease, and Red Tide took her away. Will it come for Coral next? Above the sea, Brooke has nothing left to give. Depression and anxiety have left her feeling isolated. Forgotten. The only thing she can rely on is the numbness she finds within the cool and comforting ocean waves. If only she weren’t stuck at a new group-therapy home.

In this frank and moving inside account, Zelenskyy’s former press secretary tells the story of his improbable rise from popular comedian to the president of Ukraine. Mendel had a front row seat to many of the key events preceding the 2022 Russian invasion. From attending meetings between Zelenskyy and Putin and other European leaders, visiting the front lines in Donbas, to fielding press inquiries after the infamous phone calls between Donald Trump and Zelenskyy that led to Trump’s first impeachment.

An award-winning novel from one of Ukraine’s most prolific contemporary authors, Forgottenness tells a spellbinding story of belonging and uprootedness, as understood by two exiles across time. An exceedingly anxious narrator grapples with a host of conditions, from obsessive-compulsive disorder to a creeping sense of agoraphobia. As her symptoms deepen, she finds unexpected solace researching Viacheslav Lypynskyi (1882-1931), a social and political activist of Polish descent who played a pivotal role in the struggle for Ukrainian independence—and who nursed his own comorbidities.

Soul Riders tells the heroic tale of four young girls who have been chosen by destiny to save the world from the ancient demon: Garnok and his band of dangerous Dark Riders. Lisa is a teenage girl who is still coming to terms with the tragic loss of her mother in a riding accident and has sworn never to go near a horse again until she met Starshine, a mysterious blue-maned steed who comes to her in dreams.

Perfect vacations or last resorts? In this collection of short psychological thrillers, bestselling authors bring trouble to paradise. Today’s itinerary: surfing, sailing, hiking, facing your worst fears . . . Most dream vacations never live up to expectations—but few cause this many nightmares.

The Princesses of Ever are beloved by the kingdom and their father, the King. They are cherished, admired. Cursed. Jane, Alice, Nora, Grace, and Eden carry the burden of being punished for a crime they did not commit, or even know about. They are each cursed to be without one essential thing - the ability to eat, sleep, love, remember, or hope. And their mother, the Queen, is imprisoned, frozen in time in an unbreakable glass box. But when Eden’s curse sets in on her 13th birthday, the princesses are given the opportunity to break the curse.

Brynn Finley is the only mermaid in class who hasn't been able to learn mer-magic. Without it, she can't be a guardian of the sea with her parents and friends. On her quest to solve this mystery, Brynn encounters a loveable sea turtle, a pair of selkie sisters, and Phaedra, the great and terrible sea witch.

A Word Is Not A Sparrow is a diverse anthology of stories set amid Russian repression through the centuries; personal narrator testimony about the impact in America of immigrant grandparents from Ukraine and elsewhere; powerful fables and allegories that deliver universal messages about displacement, migration, and human connection; and classic Cossack folk tales that are a touchstone of Ukrainian culture. Listen as we let these words fly out around the world.