Showing results by narrator "Elise Arsenault" in All Categories

It’s a smoky autumn morning when Kimber Clark gets the alert: her kindergartner’s school is on lockdown. She’s still drunk when she joins other parents outside the police tape, but not so drunk that she can’t pick up details: Zack Linzy, a high schooler, opened fire in the school cafeteria, killing four people. But that’s not possible. Zack Linzy is a freak, a boy who assaulted Kimber’s daughter, and Kimber killed him with a shovel two days ago.

Recent media stories about education have featured the "Science of Reading," whose proponents typically present the systematic teaching of phonics as a one-size-fits-all method that guarantees reading success for all students. But as literacy scholars Patricia Paugh and Deborah MacPhee demonstrate, the decoding of words is only one of many skills that are central to an effective early literacy education.

Twelve-year-old Melanie has been in foster care her whole life, moving from home to home—unloved and unwanted. And although she has found relative contentment with her current foster parents, Melanie harbors a secret that, if discovered, would blow her world apart. Someone talks to Melanie, a presence no one else can see or hear, and this presence has a message for her: Something bad is about to happen.

Eliza Jacobson has always been the black sheep of her mega-successful family, who runs the HealthNut Corporation. She’s not as pretty, talented, or business-savvy as her older sister, but she loves volunteering to work with the dogs at Pretty Paws, especially Athena, a Great Dane whose high-anxiety habits make her nearly unadoptable. After her last-chance opportunity to become a vet tech collapses, she takes a job at the call center of HealthNut’s competitor, Thetalife Supplements, where she meets the dashing, charming, sweep-you-off-your-feet CEO, Tony Costos.

Liz Benjamin has lost her place in the world. With her closest friends both preoccupied by a sport she has no interest in and her father having recently remarried a woman she loathes, it's enough to make Liz pack her bags and leave Anchorage for good. That is, until a handsome stranger arrives in town and starts asking all the wrong questions. Investigative reporter Dorian Whitley is on the verge of a career-making discovery. But he hadn't counted on a beautiful, spirited, infuriating woman thwarting him at every turn. Could she somehow be the key to uncovering his story?

Summit and the team are locked in a vicious battle against one of their own. The team has never encountered such evil and will have to go to extremes before the end. In addition to the battle raging on in the angel world, Summit must face the battle going on in her heart. Things between Lucas and Summit have gotten complicated and at times, explosive. Can she put her feelings aside and be the leader her team so desperately needs? Or will this battle mean the end of Toren team?

The team is still trying to cope with the sudden and shocking actions of their leader, Summit. They are deep in chaos and grief, but ready or not, evil is here. This battle isn't like any they have ever faced. Their loyalty will be tested. Their strength and courage will be challenged. Yet no matter what dangers may come, like the Noru and the Guardians before them, the Toren will rise to the occasion....

Madison Fox survived her first week as California's newest illuminant enforcer, but if her grumpy boss, Mr. Pitt, was impressed, he hasn't told Madison. In fact, there's a lot her boss has been closemouthed about, including the dark secret haunting his past. But Madison's problems are just igniting. Neighboring regions report an uncharacteristic flare-up of evil, fire-breathing salamanders blaze unchecked across the city, and Black Friday looms. Trapped doing cleanup amid mobs of holiday shoppers, Madison watches from the sidelines as dubious allies insinuate themselves in her region.

Madison Fox is determined to reform Jamie, her half-evil pooka, but the bond linking her to Jamie works both ways. Already, it has manipulated her into bending the rules. If she continues down this path, she could doom her soul. Since her judgment can't be trusted, a high-ranking inspector now dictates Madison's every interaction with Jamie, and each directive drives them further apart. Unfortunately, Madison has bigger issues than the potential degradation of her soul.

For years, writers and filmmakers have speculated about the possibility of the Earth being invaded by aliens from another planet. But what if the aliens have been watching us, infiltrating us via human collaborators or even surgically altering themselves to look human?

Can Amy's rocky start in Paris turn into a happy ever after? Amy didn't realize how stale her life was until she jetted off to Paris without telling a soul - not even her husband - and had the adventure of a lifetime. Now as she tries to establish herself in the City of Light, she finds that despite a fun (and quirky) group of friends and the ability to indulge in French pastries whenever she wants, reinventing her life is much harder than she imagined.

Anna Crane, soon to be married, reflects back on her childhood in Ohio during the 1960s and ‘70s with her two sisters and her charismatic, self-destructing mother. Evoking the claustrophobia of small-town life, Anna’s first passionate love affair with a troubled boy who works as a groom and trainer at a horse track, and her mother’s endless stream of suitors and a failed marriage, the novel races toward a chilling conclusion when Anna is betrayed by the two most important figures in her young life.

Chicago event planner Collins Brady knows how to make the magic happen for her clients. In her mind, she adds the sparkle that makes everything shine. If only she had that same sparkle in her personal life. While she's good at her job, her true career dreams lie elsewhere. If she could do anything, it would be to become an equestrian riding instructor. That dream, however, is shelved due to practicality. And that's not the only thing Collins has shelved.

Planning a memorial with flowers, music, and food isn’t that different from a wedding, right? But Liz has had a crippling fear of death since losing her younger sister in a childhood tragedy. Knowing her husband and twin sons depend on her income, she reluctantly agrees to produce end-of-life events. As Gabbi promised, the money starts rolling in. When an old real estate tycoon hires them to plan his “after party,” Liz finds an unlikely mentor. Just as things are looking up, she learns that someone she loves has a serious illness. Death planning gets personal.

After landing her dream job as an assistant buyer for a luxury fashion retailer in Minneapolis, Taylor Hartigan's life becomes a nightmare. Performing mundane tasks and catering to the ridiculous whims of the boss from hell, she sees no opportunity for advancement. Though she's never quit anything in her life, Taylor walks out and heads home to Chicago, the city that holds her heart. With her confidence shaken and no job on the horizon, she knows she has to find herself again.

When June arrives on the coast of New England, baby in arms, an untrustworthy man by her side, Mabel - who rents them a cabin - senses trouble. A few days later, the girl and her child are abandoned. June is soon placed with Mabel's friend, Iris, in town, and her life becomes entwined with a number of locals who have known one another for decades.

A wildfire rages in the foothills outside Evangeline Everhardt’s hometown, and the power utility company has accused Eve’s brother of starting it. Aaron Ashe seems like the type: a long-time drug addict, a disgruntled former employee, and recently killed resisting arrest by a sheriff’s deputy. He’s not even buried before SE&G is pointing the finger. When Eve’s husband, Sergeant Deputy Hank Everhardt, won’t fight to clear Aaron’s name, Eve takes the investigation into her own hands.

December in Savannah, Georgia, is a sight to behold. Twin sisters Tabby and Sage Winslow are busier than ever setting up for the big celebration. But that isn’t the only thing on the sisters’ minds. Both Sage and her fellow employee Mary Nicole are vying for the sought-after assistant-manager job at the plant nursery. But when Loren Lee, their boss, is found dead and Sage becomes the police’s favorite suspect, both Winslow girls know that they’ll need more than a flicker of magic and their sisterhood to solve the murder and clear Sage’s name.

Jayne Marks is questioning the choices she has made in the years since college and is struggling to pay her bills in Manhattan when she is given the opportunity to move to Paris with her wealthy lover and benefactor, Laurent Moller, who owns and operates two art galleries, one in New York, the other in Paris. He offers her the time and financial support she needs to begin her career as a painter and challenges her to see who and what she will become if she meets her artistic potential.

Long before Amelia Earhart became a superstar, she was a girl who longed to touch the stars. But the dresses women had to wear at the time made those dreams seem almost impossible. Amelia didn't let that stop her. As a young aviator breaking records and expectations, she learned to fly her plane with flair. Later, she dared to create a trendsetting fashion line for active women like herself.