Showing results by narrator "Vanessa Johansson" in All Categories

Hope Anderson is at a crossroads. After six years with her boyfriend, she is no longer sure what she wants, and when her father becomes ill she heads to her family's cottage at Sunset Beach in North Carolina to make some difficult decisions. Tru Walls has been summoned across an ocean from where he was born and raised in Zimbabwe by a letter from a man claiming to be his father. In journeying to Sunset Beach, Tru hopes to unravel the mystery surrounding his mother's life, but the letter will lead him in an unexpected direction.

Cari Porter’s made it to Italy. But she hasn’t escaped. Dark Sky is still coming for her. Hidden in a safe house, Porter continues her search for answers about her past. Unfortunately for her, her past catches up with her. Just like everywhere else she’s been, people connected to her are killed, and she goes on the run again. This time, though, she’ll come face to face with someone who seemingly knows who she is. Will he give Porter the answers that she’s seeking, or will he be the one to finally bring her in…dead or alive?

Celia Willow is the baby of the family, and she’s sick of it. She's sick of being younger and smaller. She's sick of never being taken seriously. So when Celia's hamster surprises the Willows with his wish-granting powers, she blurts out her deepest desire. The problem? Celia didn't exactly wish to be furry. Her big brothers and sister can't let their parents see her like this, but they only have one night to fix things. How can Abner, Tate, and Derek reverse something as powerful as hamster magic...before breakfast?

Chicken? Abner is not a chicken, no matter what his brother Derek says. But when it comes to giving a speech in front of the whole town, Abner is...well...he's more than a little nervous. Then his sister Tate has an idea - bravery lessons. And the first one? Eat a roasted grasshopper. But Abner forgot something important. There's magic in the ground under his family's house and grasshoppers hatch from eggs laid in the ground. So what, exactly, would happen if a kid ate a grasshopper that had been soaking up magic all year long? BOING!

After exploring the Eastern Caribbean for several years on their 34-foot Creekmore, Connie McBride, her husband, and their 16-year-old son sailed away from their adopted home of St. Croix, west across the Caribbean to Bocas del Toro, Panama. What they found there will delight the reader as the archipelago comes alive in Eurisko Sails West: A Year in Panama. Howler monkeys, red frogs, and sloths in the jungle are accompanied by a symphony of parrots, oro pendula, toucans, and macaws.

Cari Porter's in France. She's hoping that her former apartment holds some answers in helping her to remember who she used to be. And maybe she's found something. There's a name, a passport, and a bank account. But is it actually hers? Or is it something that Dark Sky has planted in her apartment, hoping to draw her into a trap?

The life Olivia Harper always dreamed of isn’t so dreamy these days. The long work days are unfulfilling and so are things with her on-again, off-again boyfriend. So, when her mother has an accident and needs help recuperating, and looking after Olivia’s orphaned niece, Olivia heads home to Sea Glass Cottage. Cape Sanctuary on the Northern Californian coast is a beautiful town, but one that holds painful memories for Olivia, Juliet and Caitlin Harper.

Claire and her brother Jake have always been close. But after a devastating accident, Jake went through a downward spiral, losing all touch with reality and his family. Claire's found family and small-town bakery have become her sanctuary, but unfortunately, Jake's circumstances have taken a turn for the worse, and he finds himself at rock bottom, with a looming 15-year prison sentence. And now, she finds herself in a desperate battle to save the brother she loves.

Schools and teachers today are competing with highly engaging video games for students’ attention. That’s because the gaming industry knows how to keep kids captivated and aspiring to the next level. No one knows this better than Nolan Bushnell, the legendary father of the video game industry, and Dr. Leah Hanes, a leading educator, who have combined their years of experience to present a revolutionary way of learning that will change the future of education . . . and the world.

Lieutenant Sully Jax saved his unit during an IED attack, but he couldn't save his marriage. He can't even remember it. Recovered from his injuries, he's come home to the family and friends he knows-and an ex-wife who's a stranger to him. Lucy Crabtree was heartbroken last Christmas when Sully announced his plan to go on one last tour of duty, and devastated when he asked for a divorce after he awoke in the hospital with no memory of her.

Eva Howell seemed to have it all. But she never expected that her husband would feel so betrayed by a secret from her past that he’d walk away. Now Eva is back in her hometown and trying to move on with the only person who can truly understand. Following years of healing, Madison Howell is finally happy. But she’s in love with the town vet, Dr Luke Gentry, and can’t bring herself to tell him. Years ago, his dad died protecting Maddie and her sister, so how could he ever love her back?

Julie Hayes is finally making it as a reporter - with a column at the New York Dailyunder her own byline - when her husband, Jeff, tells her he has fallen in love with another woman and wants a divorce. Blinded by anger and hurt, she flees their Chelsea apartment. Before the night is over, she will be lying bound and gagged on the floor of a trailer, the victim of a sexual assault by two masked men. Now a tabloid headline herself, Julie tries to help the police search for her assailants. But she is not the same woman anymore.

In an era of “hot takes” and easy generalizations, this collection reclaims the absurdities and paradoxes of life as it is actually lived from the American fantasy of “niceness”. In Macy’s world, human desires and fatal blind spots slam headlong into convenient social-media-driven narratives that would sort us into neat boxes of insider or outsider; good or bad; with us or against us.

In her debut novel, Let's Hope for the Best, Carolina Setterwall recounts the intensity of falling in love with her partner Aksel, and the shock of finding him dead in bed one morning. Carolina and Aksel meet at a party, and their passionate first encounter leads to months of courtship during which Carolina struggles to find her place. While Aksel prefers to take things slow, Carolina is eager to advance their relationship - moving in together, getting a cat, and finally having a child.

Tate Willow is pretty and nice, and most people think she’s smart. But Tate doesn’t feel smart…until she falls into an old well in the backyard and her mind starts working double-time. She sails through her homework and can read a book in minutes. But keeping Tate in line is becoming a full-time job for her brothers and sister. She’s strangely attracted to water of all sorts - streams, sprinklers, waterfalls. Can they get her wild water magic under control?

An editor at a small Manhattan publishing house, Frances Girard, is plagued with the curse of self-awareness. She knows she will never write a book and is resigned to living a dull, sensible life in which people like her "are not allowed to have a nervous breakdown". But she secretly envies those with creative aspirations. When she meets Paul Treat - the man fated to change her life - the avant-garde theater director is clad only in a towel. Frances is instantly attracted to his unpredictable, larger-than-life persona. They act out scenes from plays and embark on an erotic relationship like nothing Frances has ever known.

Julie Hayes has come up in the world. Her days as a starving actress behind her, she is married to a globe-trotting journalist, keeping up with her friends from her fortune-telling days, and celebrating a year of gainful employment at the New York Daily. But one of her colleagues is found shot dead in his office - and Julie may have been the last person to see him alive. With a reporter's nose for a scoop, Julie investigates the violent death of one of New York's most infamous - and despised - gossip columnists.

Jessica Clayton has made a career out of helping others downsize—because she’s learned the hard way that the less “stuff,” the better, a policy she applies equally to her relationships. But a new client is taking Jess back to Cape Sanctuary, a town she once called home…and her little sister Rachel. While Jess couldn’t wait to leave Cape Sanctuary Rachel put down roots, content for the world—and her sister—to think she has a picture-perfect life.

In an effort to cure an ailing relative, Dr. Kat Odgers makes a revolutionary new drug - and powerful new enemies. She has no idea what her latest concoction is capable of, but Jake Isaacs knows. And Jake must get to Kat before someone else does. Her safety is his mission, but the assignment gets complicated when a strong mutual attraction threatens to throw him off course.

When Nathan Isaacs walks suddenly back into Jaci Williams's life, she wonders if she ever knew her ex at all. Because it turns out he was a government-trained killer...and the only thing standing between her and death. Nathan gave everything to his country - his life, his family, even the one chance he had for happiness with the woman he loved. Then the agency he worked for betrays him, and they're targeting Jaci, too. Now their only chance of survival lies in finding out why someone wants them dead.