Showing results by narrator "Julie McKay" in All Categories

When small-town girl Kennie Sue Ledbetter wakes up in a Reno hotel between two guys in rumpled tuxedos, she thinks things can't get any worse. When she steps on the wedding bouquet and sees the ring on her finger, she knows things can't get any worse. But then she finds out she's married to the guy who won her in a coin-toss in front of the wedding chapel, and "worse" has a name and a face: Alexander Carruthers, the gorgeous silver-tongued devil who believes in love at first sight, in fate, and in doing whatever it takes to keep her.

Stuck with a plane ticket to Israel bought for her by a Polish Catholic ex-boyfriend, Eileen Pollack sets out on a hectic, solitary journey around the country, cataloging the region’s rich history, natural beauty, and troubled politics, while examining her own complicated relationship to her Jewish faith and heritage. In this darkly comic, incisive, and nuanced essay, Pollack upends the listener’s expectations as well as her own. A travel essay filled with bewilderment, outrage, humor, and faith, “All of Us, We All Are Arameans” takes us on a trip around Israel and the West Bank that few American tourists would have the chutzpah to attempt.

Writer Halley Brennan couldn't dream up a better love story than her own. Married for eleven years, she and her husband, Adam, are still living their happily ever after. They both know what they want - and don't want - for their life together. And that includes being child-free. But when one of them has a change of heart about wanting a baby, it brings their marriage and life plans into harsher focus. Devastated that this bombshell might destroy their relationship, Halley finds comfort in her closest friends.

There's something about a man in uniform…but there’s something about a woman in one, too. When Hallie McCabe meets Philip Johnston at a picnic, she is drawn to his integrity. He is a gentleman. But also an officer. From her ship. Aware of the code against fraternization between officers and enlisted, Hallie conceals her Navy status, hopeful she and her secret will stay hidden on their aircraft carrier until she can figure out a way for them to sail off into the sunset together.

Suffering from Peter Pan Syndrome and survivor guilt, Navy Seahawk pilot and playboy, Brian “Skylark” Crawford, swears he’ll never settle down, unsure he deserves the happiness promised by marriage - besides, there’s too many hot chicks out there. War widow and veterinarian, Daisy Schneider, swears to love only animals after her Marine pilot husband is killed in Afghanistan. Although she fills her life with work, it fails to put a dent in her loneliness - or the guilt that she might have saved her husband.

At 25 years old Stephanie Yoder was already fed up with the monotony of 9-5 life. After much agonizing, she quit her stable desk job to backpack around Asia. During a year of travel through Japan, China and South East Asia she became a minor Chinese celebrity, was attacked by giant parrots and met the love of her life. In A Year Without Make-Up, Yoder chronicles some of her craziest adventures along with providing helpful tips and encouragement for others looking to make a life change.

What does it mean to grow up with pink bits between your legs? Writer Kat George takes you on a journey of self-discovery from the moment you're pushed out of a vagina, to the moment you realize you have one, and the ongoing struggle of figuring out what it all means. From her first period, to sex in a hostel cloakroom, to fully lucid cervical biopsies, Kat's charming, sometimes painful yet hilarious stories of feminine exploration will have you giggling, squirming, and hopefully feeling a little bit less alone when you're face-to-face with your own sexuality.

When Ava Fodor returns to New York from Paris, she leaves behind her budding romance with Pierre and turns her attention to another man: Zsolt Fodor, her father. He's a penniless Hungarian poet transplanted to New York in the wake of the failed 1956 Hungarian uprising. Raised by her New England grandparents, Ava barely knows him. Dramatic, effusive, emotional, he's everything her grandmother warned her against. Yet his crazy conversation fascinates her. His chicken paprikash isn't bad either.

Kerida Nast and her companions have succeeded in finding Jerek Brightwing, the new Luqs of Farama, and uniting him with a part of his Battle Wings, but not all their problems have been solved. Farama is still in the hands of the Halian invaders and their Shekayrin, and it's going to take magical as well as military strength to overcome them. Unexpected help comes from Bakura, the Princess Imperial of the Halians, whose gifts have been suppressed.

Chicago, 1938. Late one night, before the 10:00 show, the body of a prominent radio actress is found dead in the station's lounge. All the evidence points to murder and one young up-and-coming radio actress, Vivian Witchell, as the next victim. But Viv isn't the type to leave her fate in the hands of others - she's used to stealing the show. Alongside charming private detective Charlie Haverman, Vivian is thrust into a world of clues and motives, suspects and secrets. And with so much on the line, Viv finds her detective work doesn't end when the "On-Air" light goes out.

When Megan arrives on the cancer ward for her first treatment, she's frustrated to be on the pediatric unit. There's only one other teen there: Jackson Dawes. He's cute, rebellious…and obnoxiously charming. Megan can't stand the way he meets his illness with such positive energy. But when her own friends are scared off by her illness, Megan finds she doesn't really mind Jackson's playful antics. As they begin the tentative stirrings of first love, they also start the most aggressive round of treatments on their tumors. Can the power of first love overcome the heartbreak of cancer?

The Faraman Polity was created by the first Luqs, and has been ruled for generations by those of the Luqs bloodline. It is a burgeoning empire maintained by the combined efforts of the standing military force and the Talents of the Halls of Law. While the military preserves and protects, it is the Halls' Talents - those gifted from birth with magical abilities - who serve as the agents and judges of the Law. For no one can successfully lie to a Talent.

There are plenty of parenting books out there, but as a working parent there's never been a trusted guide that coaches you how to do well at work and be the loving and engaged mother or father you want to be. Enter Workparent. Whether you're planning a family, pushing for promotion during your kids' teenage years, or at any phase in between, Workparent provides all the advice and assurance you'll need to balance your family and career in your own authentic way.

What do you get when you take a witty housewife with deep, dark secrets and coop her up in a house with a frustratingly demonic dishwasher and a professional killer who just happens to look like The Gladiator? You get a thrilling tour de force of unexpected action that's peppered throughout with comedic beats and seriously dark undertones. From the opening paragraph all the way to the very end, Error Code is a non-stop romp. R. K. Howard is an American author.

The Jazz Age comes alive with a love story for the ages: a rugged Prohibition agent and a saucy flapper from one of Appalachia's most notorious bootlegging families.... Manhattan, present day. Ella Hawthorne thinks she's going crazy when she hears strange noises coming from the walls of her new apartment late at night. When she discovers that it used to be home to a speakeasy during the Jazz Age, she's determined to discover the building's secrets.

Sassy has never been so dangerous. Question: What do you get when you take a witty housewife with deep, dark secrets and coop her up in a house with a frustratingly demonic dishwasher and a professional killer who just happens to look like The Gladiator? Answer: You get a thrilling tour de force of unexpected action that's peppered throughout with comedic beats and seriously dark undertones. From opening paragraph all the way to the very end, Error Code is a non-stop romp.

As close as sisters for 20 years, Sarah and Lauren have been together through high school and college, first jobs and first loves, the uncertainties of their 20s and the realities of their 30s. Sarah, the only child of a prominent intellectual and a socialite, works at a charity and is methodically planning her wedding. Lauren - beautiful, independent, and unpredictable - is single and working in publishing, deflecting her parents' worries and questions about her life and future by trying not to think about the subject herself.