Showing results by narrator "Josh Hurley" in All Categories

It's Saturday night in Santa Barbara and it seems like everyone is headed to the same destination. The reason is simple: To celebrate the end of school. But for eleven different people the motives are bit more complicated - to be noticed, to hook up, to make friends, to numb the pain, to get over an ex, to say goodbye. As each character takes a turn and tells his/her story, the eleven individuals intersect, reconnect, and combine in ways that none of them ever saw coming.

MacKenzie Hamilton has the unique ability to see letters and numbers in colors. Her synesthesia seemed almost useless until she decided to start categorizing people based on their names’ color combinations. For instance, her parents’ names are pretty, so they’re destined to reconcile. And David Shaw, the boy next door, has an ugly name, so of course, she had to push him away. For three years, she’s lived with a false sense of security until senior year, when her color theory is put to the test in the worst way possible.

After surviving the crazy events of his first weeks in New York City, nine-year-old Otis Dooda is starting out at a brand-new school. He would love to make a good impression, but life in Tidwell Towers is never that easy.

With his disgusting seatmate, the possible impending alien invasion, and the introduction of his new nemesis, Sid Frackas "The Greatest LEGO Genius Who Ever Lived" (a title Otis thought was his!), things are getting downright dangerous!

Caw has defeated the dreaded Spinning Man and vanquished the Mother of Flies. But a new feral has appeared - one who intends to uphold the Spinning Man's dark legacy. Known as the White Widow, this spider feral is determined to destroy Caw and bring Blackstone back into an era of crime and fear.

Now everyone Caw holds dear is in danger. And this time Caw may not be able to protect them.

In a single night, Ani's life was torn to shreds - and Ben struggles with the weight of trying to fix the unfixable in this heartbreaking and edgy debut novel. Ben could date anyone he wants, but he has eyes only for the new girl - sarcastic, free-spirited Ani. Luckily for Ben, Ani wants him, too. She's everything Ben could ever imagine. Everything he could ever want. But that all changes after the party. The one Ben misses. The one Ani goes to alone. Now Ani isn't the girl she used to be, and Ben can't sort out the truth from the lies.

Whether they're on the baseball field or in Nate's basement devouring the newest issue of their favorite comic book, Dan and Nate are always talking. Until they're not. After an accident at baseball practice, Nate's fallen into a coma. And if Dan ever wants to talk to Nate again, he's got to take a page out of his hero Captain Nexus' book and do whatever it takes to save the day. But heroes have powers - and without Nate, all Dan has is a closet stuffed with comics and a best-friend-shaped hole in his heart. There's no way a regular kid can save the day all on his own. Right?

In The T.I.G.E.R. Protocol, Dr Akil Palanisamy uses his training in Western medicine and complementary therapies to create an integrative approach to treat autoimmune diseases. Addressing five key elements - Toxins, Infections, Gut health, Eating right and Rest and balance - this approach has proved remarkably effective for both patients with full-blown disease and those who had been told they were on the path to autoimmunity.

A remarkable coming-of-age story with special appeal to dog lovers. This was supposed to be a simple summer for Billy - one more lazy expanse of time before college began. He'd fill the hours playing with Jimmy - his canine best buddy - going camping and doing all the things he promised Jimmy they'd do before Billy left. But that was before the accident that shook the entire town. It was before the summer job that turned into something so much more than a way to get a paycheck. And it was before Vicki.

Only one thing can make veterinarian Noah Cuthbert return to Magnolia Harbor—his mother's failing health. He'll do anything to help his family, including taking a short-term gig at the local animal clinic. What he doesn't count on is getting up-close-and-personal with the clinic's new manager, a woman whose love and compassion for every stray that crosses her path has him rethinking his plans to head back to his big-city life...

The stories in Paul Alan Ruben's Terms of Engagement explore father and son as intimate enemies, each yearning to be understood, acknowledged, and validated by the other. Raw and gripping as delivered by a cast of incredible narrators, these nine stories take place in collision territory - where father and son engage in trying to repair their alienation.

Mal lives on the fringes of high school. Angry. Misunderstood. Yet loving the world - or, at least, an idea of the world. Then he meets Hooper. Who says he's from another planet. And may be going home very soon.

Steven (Slim) Pickings is on the edge of a breakdown - but then, it always feels like Slim is teetering on the edge of something. The difference this time is that something’s caused Slim’s worries to come alive! He’s set loose a bunch of annoying, pesky, outrageously contagious creatures - and they’re infecting everyone they meet and massing to take over the town! To stop them, Slim will have to do more than just team up with his family and friends - he’ll have to face his fears, literally.

Danny Kelly cares only for rock 'n' roll and fast cars. Too bad he's stuck in the capital of country music and he's banned from driving until he turns 21. Plus he likes other boys, a secret that he's vowed to keep until he graduates high school. When his stepdad's new truck roars off on its own, Danny discovers a secret that is endangering cars and drivers across America. It almost kills Danny, too, until he's saved by 17-year-old Kevin Clark.

Lucas Adebayo grew up on a small mining ship in the asteroid belt but wants to join the Navy and become the best pilot in the galaxy. The Navy has never accepted a Belter cadet before, but Lucas’ skills secure him a place on the training ship, the Orpheus. Life in the Navy couldn’t be more different than life in the Belt, and Lucas struggles to find his place. As a Belter, he’s an outsider among his peers; as a Navy cadet, he doesn’t quite fit in at home anymore, either.

One frigid winter night, Mia and Michael Slate's comfortable world dissolves in an instant when they discover their best friend has cheated them out of their life savings. At the same time, a few doors down, their teenaged son passes out in the snow at a party - a mistake whose consequences will shatter not just their family, but an entire community.

Twelve-year-old Fee is a shy Korean American boy and a newly named section leader of the first sopranos in his local boys' choir. At their summer camp, situated in an idyllic and secluded lakeside retreat, Fee grapples with his complicated feelings towards his best friend, Peter. But as Fee comes to learn how the director treats his section leaders, he is so ashamed he says nothing of the abuse, not even when Peter is in line to be next.

Homesick 10-year-old Stanley Sweetsong doesn't think he'll ever be good enough to join the Betters, the school's most exclusive club. What he needs is a pal - someone to help him hatch a plan to outsmart these snobs. So Shoebag uses his secret formula to transform himself back into Stu Bagg. Suddenly, Stanley has a new roommate who inspires him to come up with a better, even more elite club: the Butters.

I’d always think of it as the summer that I loved a girl... Seventeen-year-old Lang Penner and his mother are spending the summer in the caretaker’s cottage at Roundelay, the sprawling East Hampton estate of legendary rocker Ben Nevada. Lang passes the time walking on the beach and hoping for a glimpse of his idol. When they finally meet, Nevada is very different from the man Lang imagined. He finds himself confiding in the retired star about his homosexuality.

The fantastical story of a lonely 11-year-old whose parrot takes him on a magical mystery tour of a planet where sleeping is against the law. Chester Dumbello's mom interprets people's dreams. One day a white, one-eyed parrot flies into the Dream Caf. Chester's mom says that the day something rhymes with orange, they can keep the parrot. Since nothing does, she comes up with the name Lornge, and the parrot becomes the newest member of the Dumbello family.

In 1918, when Henry Blake Fuller was 62 years old, he completed the manuscript of a novel, Bertram Cope’s Year. Though Fuller was well known as an accomplished realist and had published 12 previous novels, this work was his first published fiction to address the topic of homosexuality. In the novel Bertram Cope, a handsome young college student, is befriended by Medora Phillips, a wealthy older woman who tries to match him with several eligible young women. However, Bertram is emotionally attached only to his friend and housemate, Arthur Lemoyne.