Showing results by narrator "Coleen Marlo" in All Categories

Renowned Harvard scholar and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore has composed a strikingly original, ingeniously conceived, and beautifully crafted history of American ideas about life and death from before the cradle to beyond the grave. How does life begin? What does it mean? What happens when we die? “All anyone can do is ask,” Lepore writes. “That’s why any history of ideas about life and death has to be, like this book, a history of curiosity.” As much a meditation on the present as an excavation of the past, The Mansion of Happiness is delightful.

The Lamaze method is virtually synonymous with natural childbirth in America. In the 1970s, taking Lamaze classes was a common rite of passage to parenthood. The conscious relaxation and patterned breathing techniques touted as a natural and empowering path to the alleviation of pain in childbirth resonated with the feminist and countercultural values of the era.

“We set our sights on each other almost from the beginning.”

So begins The Master’s Muse, an exquisite, deeply affecting novel about the true love affair between two artistic legends: George Balanchine, the Russian émigré to America who is widely considered the Shakespeare of dance, and his wife and muse, Tanaquil Le Clercq.

Twelve-year-old Joan is sure that she is going to hate her new home - but almost right away she finds a kindred spirit. “You’re lucky I didn’t just start throwing rocks at you. I can hide in the trees and nail a kid with a rock from 30 feet away”. That’s Sarah, who prefers to be called “Fox”, who lives with her writer father in a rundown house in the middle of the woods - near Joan’s suburb, but it feels like a totally different world. Joan and Sarah - Newt and Fox - spend all their spare time outside, and soon start writing stories together.

Private Investigator Nikki James has a lot to contend with. Her lover Michael Kelly walked out without so much as a goodbye, and what seemed like a simple case of stopping a runaway teen brought her face to face with another clutch of deadly vampires. But if that seemed bad, it is about to get a lot worse, because when Michael returns, it is not for her, but for the case.

A gripping and moving new collection of stories that reimagines the meaning of loss - through often unexpected and violent means. Joyce Carol Oates is not only one of our most important novelists and literary critics, she is also an unparalleled master of the short story. Sourland - 16 previously uncollected stories that explore how the power of violence, loss, and grief shape both the psyche and the soul - shows us an author working at the height of her powers.

Mitzy Moon is eager to test her expanding abilities. She’d love to look into the hit-and-run that struck down her favorite veterinarian while everyone was at the Yuletide Extravaganza. But before she can suss out a single tip, the advances of a charming green-eyed stranger offer a dangerous distraction.

Charlotte Brennan is no stranger to heartache and mortification. Her past is full of both. So when amazing and incredibly intense Hector Ayala literally jumps into Charlee's life, her walls are immediately up. Letting her guard down and sharing her past and deepest secret is not happening. Charlee is not looking to get her heart crushed once again. However, her willpower proves to be no match for Hector's mesmerizing pull.

Half a million dollars in drug proceeds, guarded by three men with automatic weapons - for professional thief Crissa Stone and her team, stealing it was the easy part. But when the split goes awry in a blaze of gunfire, Crissa finds herself on the run with a duffel bag full of stolen cash, bound by a promise to deliver part of the take to the needy family of one of her slain partners.

On the morning of his 40th birthday, anthropology professor Jackson Jones contemplates his future: Should he go back to Africa, where he did his fieldwork, and live with the Mbuti, or should he marry and settle down in the Midwest, where he now teaches? On the morning of her release from prison, Sunny, who grew up in a snake-handling church in the Little Egypt region of Southern Illinois, rents a garage apartment from Jackson. They become lovers, but they're pulled in different directions.

After smartphones, smart TVs, smart windows, and other smart products on the horizon, smart cities were the next logical step in trying to create a better, brighter, more sustainable, and economically sound future. A relatively new term, smart cities conjures images of a cooperative, wired, prosperous utopia where citizens of all classes achieve a high quality of life. In this audiobook, we look at the qualities needed for future cities to survive and thrive.

After the wedding of her cousin, Naomi, knitter Anna, a widow, finds herself missing love and the closeness of a husband. She feels a special connection with her grandmother as they both struggle to go on with life. Is Anna on the verge of finding happiness when she realizes John Esh is interested in her? Love begins to warm Anna's heart, but will she be so afraid of losing someone that she gives up the second chance that God has provided?

Catherine Cook-Cottone provides tools for clinicians working with clients to restore their healthy selves and use their bodies as a positive resource for healing and long-term health. The book goes beyond traditional treatments to talk about mindful self-care, mindful eating, yoga, and other practices designed to support self-regulation.

Mitzy Moon finally has a chance to spend a normal, murder-free day with family. And she’s super-excited to support her legendary snowmobile racer dad as he’s honored for his place in the record books. But instead of a celebration on the podium, she finds a corpse under the snow. With a holiday wedding at her bookshop looming, it’s a terrible time to take on a new case and an orphan. Somehow, Mitzy hopes to juggle the investigation, the nuptials, her meddling Ghost-ma, and an interfering feline. But when her new guest sees something he shouldn’t, her secrets start to unravel.

Nikki James is in San Francisco at the request of her partner and best friend Jake. The wife of an old friend is missing, and Jake intends to find her - whatever the cost. The authorities believe the kidnappings to be the work of a sick mind, but Nikki knows that the truth is something much worse - especially since she seems to have an unexpected psychic link to the killer. But as always, she is more than willing to risk her own life to save another's.

Marni Lange was just 17 when she fell passionately in love with the irresistibly sexy Brian Webster. Then a tragic accident tore them apart. Fourteen years later, Marni is now a successful businesswoman, about to appear on the cover of a national magazine - and come face-to-face with the world-famous photographer profiling her...Brian Webster. As Marni struggles with her attraction to the man who haunts her past, is she now brave enough to follow her heart and fight for what matters most?

Crissa Stone is a career criminal who has pulled a number of impressive heists by knowing how to keep her mouth shut and her temper in check. Still, as good as she is, she wants to get out of the life. All she needs is one last big score, enough to bribe her lover's way out on parole, setup a safe and stable new life, and get her daughter back. But things keep going wrong, like when her last two partners lost their cool and fought over the take instead of walking away $150,000 richer. The mess they made of the job and each other has put her on the run again.

The mayor of Chicago has announced a plan to round up the city's supernatural beings and put them in camps. With her due date looming, Maddy's best move would be to lay low for a while. But not everyone is willing to respect her privacy. Hounded by tentacled monsters, a rogue shape-shifter, and a tenacious blogger, Maddy turns to her most powerful ally, her uncle, Daharan, only to find him missing. Just when it seems like things can't get any worse, Maddy gets an invitation in the mail - to Lucifer's wedding.

Why can you vividly recall the day your father took you to your first baseball game many years ago, but you can’t remember where you just put the car keys? The process of how - and what - we remember is a fascinating window into who we are and what makes us tick. In this audiobook, we explore what science can and can’t tell us about memory.

Nikki James is just an ordinary, risk-taking, psychically inclined private eye until she hooks up with Michael Kelly. Now she is something more: one of the few, the chosen, the magic-wielding undercover operatives of the Damask Circle, an organization protecting humanity from a rising tide of evil.