Showing results by narrator "Jess Nahikian" in All Categories

In her first book of comic strips, Emma reflects on social and feminist issues by means of simple line drawings, dissecting the mental load, ie all that invisible and unpaid organizing, list-making and planning women do to manage their lives, and the lives of their family members. Most of us carry some form of mental load - about our work, household responsibilities, financial obligations and personal life; but what makes up that burden and how it's distributed within households and understood in offices is not always equal or fair.

Study Break, a collection of interconnected contemporary Young Adult short stories written by Gen Z authors, explores different parts of "the college experience," from questioning your major to questioning your identity.

On a frigid December night, Megan Floyd vanishes from the mountain town of Fraser, Colorado. The extensive search provides no answers and as attention of her disappearance fades, the case goes cold. Her father, Tom Floyd, is forced to confront his worst fear that his daughter will never be found, and soon his life and marriage begin to disintegrate around him.

Fire and ashes! The city is burning! Young mage’s apprentice Thomena is gifted in the elements of wind and water, but she yearns to learn the secrets of fire. When she discovers another mage is the one starting fires around her city of Orlaun, her resolve is tested by tragedy and roaring infernos. She needs to win the trust of the toughest heroes around, the fire-fighting vigiles, but they are hard to impress. Can she save Orlaun before the fires consume all Thomena cares about?

Two days after arriving in Iceland for a promotional trip, Instagram influencer Alabama Wood goes missing. With no leads, the Icelandic police start their investigation by focusing on the two influencers seemingly closest to Alabama on the trip: Celeste Reed, Alabama’s best friend of ten years, and Hollie Goodwin, fitness guru and Alabama's unwilling idol.

Ellory returns to Pine Brook to navigate senior year after a two-month suspension and summer away - no boyfriend, no friends. No going back. Tormented by some and sought out by others, troubled by a mysterious note-writer who won’t let Ellory forget, and consumed by guilt over her not entirely innocent role in everything and everyone she’s lost, Ellory finds that even in the present, the past is everywhere. The path forward isn’t a straight line. And moving on will mean sorting the truth from the lies - the lies Ellory has been telling herself.

Who would've thought my life as a single mom could get tangled up with seven rugged tattoo artists? My focus has always been on raising my daughter, shielding her from the scars of my past. Love life? Non-existent. Until my adventurous friend dragged me into Swan and Rose, a tattoo parlor that screamed trouble and temptation. In a heartbeat, I'm thrust into a world of art, redemption, and seven sinfully alluring artists. Yeah, you read that right—seven. Each guy's got a past as colorful as their tattoos. And despite their rugged looks, they're hiding something more.

Zelda is stuck in a dream, a very strange dream where people can fly, bears sneeze money, and her childhood cat, Patches, is somehow alive—despite being run over years ago. Things only get stranger when Zelda meets Langston, a sweet if overly timid guy who feels more real to her than anyone she’s ever met. As Zelda and Langston explore the far reaches of the dreamscape together, they find themselves growing closer and closer. But what they uncover along the way pushes them towards a truth neither of them wants to face.

Aidan Thomas is a hardworking family man and a respected member of his community. He's also a kidnapper and serial killer who has murdered eight women. And there's a ninth, a woman he's renamed Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed where she fears for her life. When Aidan's wife dies, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter, Cecilia, are forced to move. Aidan brings Rachel along, introducing her to Cecilia as a family friend who needs a place to stay. After five years of captivity, surely Rachel is too brainwashed to attempt to escape.

Valerie is on a mission to reach the king. But when a gang of lawless Avalonian natives hijacks her prized war car, getting it back means a detour into dangerous territory. The frontier is overrun with cutthroat gangs, deadly bounty hunters, and mountain lords with their own brand of justice. When her mission thrusts her between warring factions, she’s forced to take sides in a battle she’s unprepared to fight. Secrets from her own past lie hidden in the forest, and with her mentor Damon missing, the only thing she can count on is her sword.

In the touristy city of Hot Springs, Arkansas, a woman named Lyra lives a rather modest life with the incurable mental disorder, schizophrenia. Clever, curious, and determined, she is constantly challenged by her desire to find some semblance of “normalcy”—whatever that means—alongside her depression, anxiety, critical self-talk, and frequent auditory hallucinations. Lyra is a work of literary fiction that represents a fraction of the challenges of living in an area where mental health is downplayed or misunderstood, and mental health services are underfunded.

Captain Shea Lara is the leader of The Veiled Duchess, the most feared pirate ship in all of Nereid. And now, after completing her former mentor's final score, she's retiring. Everything she's known seems to be coming to an end. Until a night in her favorite tavern, when a mysterious stranger drags her back into the fold with an offer for a score, she can't refuse. All she has to do is kidnap the crowned princess of the northern Queendom, Joana of Arethusa.

A missing king, rumors of war coming from the North, and a Southern prince determined to preserve the peace that has lasted a generation. An agent, known only as The Traveler, is sent across time and space to protect a prince in a medieval era while keeping her true origins a secret. The prince, along with four loyal companions, journey North to find a missing king who can provide stability to a strategic realm. The Traveler must quickly earn the trust of this small group and finds herself growing attached to the one man distrusted the most.

Summer 1940. Fourteen-year-old Tessa Graham finds herself in a new, unfamiliar world. For her safety, she is sent from England to Chicago to live with the prominent Ardley family just before the London Blitz. On the University of Chicago campus, 18-year-old Anthony Ardley has to make a choice. His country stands at the brink of war. What will happen when Tessa and Anthony cross paths on the way to discovering themselves? A coming of age tale that emerges into an epic love story, this book takes you back to Chicago in the pre-war era, when two young people must find their paths.

As a teenager, Hannah Jacobs was excited for a sleepover with her older sister Casey, but a blizzard altered their plans. Sometime that night, an unknown killer broke into Casey’s apartment in Laramie, Wyoming, and brutally stabbed her multiple times, leaving her for dead. Ten years later, Hannah is still haunted by the murder of her sister that fateful night, and with no viable suspects or evidence, the case has long turned cold, nearly forgotten by everyone except her. Determined to uncover the truth, Hannah shutters her Private Investigation firm and travels to Laramie.

The Late Bloomer is harrowing, grim, and poignant in the way of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Told in Kevin March’s singular and unforgettable voice, delivering a gripping narrative with an unsparing climax as moving as it is terrifying, The Late Bloomer defies expectations of the genre and will haunt those who listen to it.

Captain Shea Lara and the crew are back in this thrilling sequel to The Veiled Threat, The Veiled Descendants. It's been a year since she struck the deal - a year since she promised to marry her princess, a year of adventure, darkness, and change. Her fiancé has chased Shea across the Nereidan seas, but now it's time for her to come back to Arethusa. The storm has arrived, and none of them are prepared for what’s coming.

When American teen Kit Bridges moves to England to attend an elite equestrian boarding school, neither she nor her new home will ever be quite the same.

After school one day, Frankie, a lover of physics and astronomy, has her first sexual experience with quiet and gorgeous Benjamin - and gets her period. It’s only blood, they agree. But soon a gruesome meme goes viral, turning an intimate, affectionate afternoon into something sordid, mortifying, and damaging. In the time it takes to swipe a screen, Frankie’s universe implodes. Who can she trust? Not Harriet, her suddenly cruel best friend, and certainly not Benjamin, the only one who knows about the incident.

No matter how many times Amara's family moves, the monster follows. Her mother dismisses her fears as childish. Her dad seems to believe her, but doesn't do anything about it. After what happened to her friend Avery, Amara avoids getting close to anyone new. Until Lacy. Now with the bright girl from Ms. Linus's fifth-grade class at her side, Amara is terrified for her safety - but maybe with Lacy's help, she can finally get rid of the monster once and for all.