Showing results by narrator "Sandy Rustin" in All Categories

In shock and found clinging to a tree branch, Bethany Richter is pulled from thrashing floodwaters that have decimated the town of Garnett, Texas, and killed a dozen others. Six months after solving the murder of a local waitress, Annie McIntyre is working as an apprentice P.I. when she's handed her first solo case: uncover the identity of the man who rescued Bethany before he was swept downriver. When Annie's search turns up a different victim—shot dead, not drowned—Annie questions if the hero they seek is actually a killer.

When Holly Anna Paladin is given a year to live, she embraces her final days doing what she loves most: random acts of kindness. But one of her extreme good deeds goes horribly wrong, implicating Holly in a string of murders. Holly is suddenly in a different kind of fight for her life.

Lucille seems to have nothing going for her. With the bills piling in, the house falling apart around her, and her sister's growing distress, it is precisely the worst possible moment for Lucille to fall recklessly in love with her best friend's twin brother, Digby, who is practically engaged.

As Aerieville, Tennessee’s Flower House finally gains in popularity, Sierra Ravenswood finds herself feeling ready for new challenges. Luckily, the shop has grabbed the attention of the mayor’s daughter, and bride-to-be, Marissa Lakely. Sierra is thrilled, and nervous, to land her most important job yet: providing flowers for the biggest wedding Aerieville has ever seen. Everything seems to be under control until Sierra makes a startling discovery: the wedding planner, lying in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. He survives only long enough to mutter: “It was the snake.”

You need to work to live. That’s the truth for most people, and plenty of people in power have been abusing that truth for centuries. Long before the first labor unions were formed, workers still knew what exploitation looked like. It looked like the enslavement of Black people. It looked like generations of children dying in dangerous jobs. It looked like wealthy people hiring private militaries to attack their employees. But workers have always found a way to fight back.

The black sheep of the Callaway clan, Sean Callaway is the one sibling who refused to follow in the family tradition of firefighting. Instead, he lives his life in music. On the outside, he's a free-spirited rock star, but on the inside, Sean is haunted by the death of a childhood friend, a tragedy no one knows he witnessed. He's kept the secret for twenty years. But nothing stays hidden forever…

Hadley is angry about a lot of things: Her mom going to jail. Having to move to another state to live with her older sister, Beth, even though they haven't spoken in five years. Leaving her friends and her school behind. And going blind. But then Hadley meets Lila. Lila is an abandoned dog who spends her days just quietly lying around at the local dog rescue where Beth works. She doesn't listen to directions or play with the other dogs or show any interest in people.

Chris and Maia aren't off to a great start. A near-fatal car accident first brings them together, and their next encounters don't fare much better. Chris's good intentions backfire. Maia's temper gets the best of her. But they're neighbors, at least for the summer, and despite their best efforts, they just can't seem to stay away from each other. The path forward isn't easy. Chris has come out as transgender, but he's still processing a frightening assault he survived the year before.

Sixteen-year-old Sabine Braxton and her identical twin, Blythe, don’t have much in common. When their father dies from an unexpected illness, each copes with the loss in her own way. Neither can offer each other much support...at least not until their emotionally detached mother moves them into a ramshackle Bay Area mansion owned by a stranger named Charlie. Soon the sisters are united in a mission to figure out who Charlie is and why he seems to know everything about them. Neither is prepared for the secret they uncover....

The insect world is a fascinating place. You may not think so. You may think insects are gross. Or scary. Or dangerous. But there’s so much more to insects than what meets the eye. Told through hilarious prose and packed full of jaw-dropping facts, Brenna Maloney’s first-person narrative presents the big picture on bugs. Insects play a critical role on our planet—as pollinators, garbage collectors, artistic muses, research partners, and even as “dinner.”

The Walls Around Us introduces Violet, a dancer on the cusp of stardom, and Amber, who's been jailed in a juvenile detention home for years. Tying them together is the home's long-dead Orianna, who holds the key to dark mysteries.

Justin Blackwood can't remember a time when he believed in the magic of anything, least of all love. A cynical businessman who grew up in a broken home, he guards his heart with every breath he takes. His job has taken him all over the world, and roots are the last thing he wants...until he meets a beautiful innkeeper in Whisper Lake. Warmhearted, free-spirited Lizzie Cole wants it all - the dream job of running her own inn and a man who wants to settle down. Despite a previous setback, she still believes in happily ever after and her perfect soul mate. She just has to find him.

Camille couldn't be having a better summer - she kills it as Ophelia in her community theater's production of Hamlet, catches the eye of the cutest boy in the play, and nabs a spot in a prestigious theater program. But on the very night she learns she got into the program, she also finds out she's pregnant. She definitely can't tell her parents. And her best friend Bea doesn't agree with the decision Camille has made. Camille is forced to try to solve her problem alone - and the system is very much working against her.

One of the founders of US cryptology who would eventually become one of the world’s greatest code breakers, Elizebeth Smith Friedman (1892-1980) was a brilliant mind behind many important battles throughout the 20th century, saving many lives through her intelligence and heroism. Whip-smart and determined, Elizebeth displayed a remarkable aptitude for language and recognizing patterns from a young age.

From Newbery Honor medalist Susan Campbell Bartoletti and in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in America comes the tirelessly researched story of the little-known DC Women’s March of 1913. Bartoletti spins a story like few others - deftly taking listeners by the hand and introducing them to suffragists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. Paul and Burns met in a London jail and fought their way through hunger strikes, jail time, and much more to win a long, difficult victory for America and its women.

Cora Mae Tipton knows every inch of Shadow Mountain. In the shade of the towering trees, amidst the thickets, streams, and smokehouses, the rhythm of life around her beloved holler hasn’t much changed for generations. Until now. For the first time, electrical power is coming to the rural communities of eastern Kentucky. Cora knows in her heart how much good could come of it. Electrical power means progress. Connection to the outside world. More light. And electricity might just help make her dreams of a life beyond Shadow Mountain come true.

Twelve-year-old Garnet regrets that she doesn’t know her family. Her mother has done her best to keep it that way, living far from the rest of the magical Carrefour clan and their dark, dangerous mansion known as Crossroad House. But when Garnet finally gets summoned to the estate, it isn’t quite what she hoped for. Her relatives are strange and quarrelsome, each room in Crossroad House is more dilapidated than the last, and she can’t keep straight which dusty hallways and cobwebbed corners are forbidden.

Rosie and Baker are hiding something. Something big. Their great grandmother made them promise to pretend she's alive until they find her missing will and get it in the right hands. The will protects the family house from their grandmother, Grim Hesper, who would sell it and ship Rosie and Baker off to separate boarding schools. They've already lost their parents and Great Grammy - they can't lose each other, too. The siblings kick it into high gear to locate the will, keep their neighbors from prying, and safeguard the house.

The best way to understand confidence is to see it in action. That’s why best-selling authors Katty Kay, Claire Shipman, and JillEllyn Riley have collected 30 true stories of real girls, pursuing their passions, struggling, and stumbling, but along the way figuring out how to build their own special brand of confidence. From Bali to Brazil, South Africa to Seattle, Australia to Afghanistan, these girls took risks, doubted themselves, and sometimes failed. But they also hung in there when things got hard.

Alexa Parker and Braden Elliott fell in love when they were 12 years old. On a summer day, while searching for sea glass on the beaches of Washington State, they discovered an unusually shaped blue bottle. The ever-imaginative Alexa declared it a genie's bottle. Popping the cork, they were surprised by a rogue wave that sprayed them with a fine, cool mist. Closing their eyes, they each made a wish...