Showing results by narrator "Therese Plummer" in All Categories

A striking and nuanced collection, bringing to life awkward college students, disgraced public figures, raunchy grandparents, and mystical godmothers. To listen to these stories is to experience the transporting joys of discovery and affirmation, and to realize that story writing in America continues to flourish.

Riding into the arena under the furling blazon of the blue falcon, Sir Conan de Corbney accepts a token from the young beauty, Lady Chandra, sparking a romance foretold long ago. That is, unless Conan’s mother can help it. Colluding with her son’s rival, Sir Tedric, Lady Udele secretly arranges a more lucrative marriage for her son and weds him to Edwina—Chandra’s older sister—while Sir Tedric claims the fiery Chandra for himself.

When an Armani-clad body turns up in a shallow forest grave, Nichelle Clarke is the first reporter on the scene. She soon discovers the victim is a tobacco lobbyist with powerful connections. Local politicians are pushing for a quick arrest. Nichelle thinks they seem nervous. Even more so after a second victim is found dead. Nichelle's search for the killer soon uncovers a jaw-dropping trail of malfeasance and debauchery that stretches all the way to Washington, DC. It's the kind of story that can make a crime reporter's career.

Can you fall in love while operators are standing by? Kevin’s a widower doctor with a precocious 12-year-old. He’s just met Mary, his daughter’s substitute teacher, who is experiencing her first Christmas without her beloved mother. As the holiday season ramps up, the twosome is unaware they’re also both in hot pursuit of a limited edition poinsettia angel being sold on their favorite television shopping channel.

When you start to feel worried or overwhelmed, mindfulness is a powerful way to stop that anxiety in its tracks. This guide to mindfulness for teens shows you how to stay calm and focus on the moment, so you can clear your mind and take control of any challenge.

With his father’s mysterious disappearance and his brother Ronnie enlisting in the Vietnam War, 13-year-old TJ Crowley is left alone with his racist, unstable mother, Kate. The newly enforced Fair Housing Act results in the unthinkable for the Crowleys when a Black family, headed by the eminent Dr. Washington, crosses the racial red line and moves in next door. Kate is quick to warn TJ that their new neighbors are strictly off-limits and makes a panicked call to beg Ray, her old flame, to travel to their home in Wichita Kansas to help deal with “the problem next door.”

Alice and her husband Jake own a barbecue restaurant in Austin, Texas. Hardworking and popular in their community, they have a loving marriage and thriving business, but Alice still feels that something is missing, lying just beyond reach. Carla is a strong-willed young girl who's had to grow up fast, acting as caretaker to her six-year-old brother Junior. Years ago, her mother left the family behind in Honduras to make the arduous, illegal journey to Texas.

St. Peter's Square, Rome. White smoke signals that a new Pope has been chosen. Is it possible that the new Pope...is a woman?The world is watching as massive crowds gather in Rome, waiting for news of a new pope, one who promises to be unlike any other in history. It's a turning point that may change the Church forever. Some followers are ecstatic that the movement reinvigorating the Church is about to reach the Vatican, but the leading candidate has made a legion of powerful enemies who aren't afraid to kill for their cause.

Clay Adams isn’t equipped to deal with two traumatized children—but deserting the niece and nephew entrusted to his care isn’t an option. So he needs to find help. Fast. Sought-after nanny Cate Shepard seems like the solution to his problem. But while she’s moved by the children’s plight and their floundering uncle, her own issues could make the job difficult.

With a sting set for a downtown bar, Special Agent Lara Grant and her team are on high alert to snare the most dangerous man in Manhattan. No one tears their team apart and gets away with it. Their aim: to get the perp's DNA from his shot glass.... Mission accomplished, but each step forward in the case takes them two steps back into Lara's past - this time to the years before her undercover assignment and a family torn apart by a brutal murder. But Lara knows she can focus only on the present.

Special Agent Lara Grant would do anything to get her mark - until her last undercover case, infiltrating the notorious Moretti crime ring, forced her to get close to the top. Way. Too. Close.... Now, starting a new job in New York City, all Lara wants is to leave the ghosts of her past behind. Until a dramatic sniper attack leaves Lara's face - and real name - all over the media. In the blink of an eye, her cover is blown, her identity exposed.

Anyone Who Had a Heart is the story of a man who has always expressed his deepest feelings through his music. Filled with the emotional power that defines Burt Bacharach's most unforgettable songs, his memoir offers a candid backstage look at show business as well as the personal struggles of an artist whose incredible body of work has earned him a unique position in the American cultural landscape.

Special Agent Lara Grant's team are racing against the clock to prove infamous crime boss Moretti is behind a recent series of murders. With each lead ending up in a body bag, Lara's trapped by the weight of her own guilt. How many would still be alive if it weren't for her troubled history with the villain? But he won't quit, so neither can Lara. The sniper is the key to finding the link between Moretti and the current cases. But before they can reach him, Moretti hits closer to home than Lara could have imagined....

With her trusted team all focused on getting justice, Special Agent Lara Grant is relieved to finally see some progress, even if their investigation has now turned to delving into some gruesome events from over 20 years ago. An exhumation is necessary to unravel all the knots of this case, but Lara is surprised by how close their quarry is.... In fact, he's just one step ahead, almost teasing them by how near he is....

Destroying Moretti was Special Agent Lara Grant's biggest coup, but she paid a heavy price to make the bust. She'll do anything to keep him - and her secrets - behind bars. But Lara knows he's playing the FBI like a maestro even from jail. So when her boss' daughter is kidnapped, it's personal...and not just for Lara.

T.J. had the world in the palm of his hand. He was handsome. Popular in school. Smart. A stellar athlete. The son of superstar pro quarterback Tony Okerson, he seemed destined to follow in his father's footsteps to a career of gridiron glory. That bright, shining dream ends when T.J.'s lifeless body is found on a rocky shoreline near his family's Chesapeake Bay home.

Katherine shows up at Lucy’s Manhattan doorstep having run away from the marriage altar. Lucy isn’t thrilled to see her former sorority sister—her own life as a children’s book illustrator is complicated enough, especially as she may be falling out of love with her boyfriend. Along with Lucy’s oddball best friend, Julia, the women tackle the complicated challenge of being young, lost, and in search of life in New York City.

Ryanna Raines is the host of a popular true-crime podcast. Her specialty is investigative journalism, her style is truth-seeking moxie, and with millions of listeners along for the ride, her star is rising. But when an intriguing message is left on her tip-line, the reporter is pulled into the most challenging case of her career.

For generations, we've been taught that women and men differ in profound and important ways. Women are more sensitive and emotional, whereas men are more aggressive and sexual, because this or that region in the brains of women is smaller or larger than in men, or because they have more or less of this or that hormone. This story seems to provide us with a neat biological explanation for much of what we encounter in day-to-day life. But is it true? According to neuroscientist Daphna Joel, it's not.

"Responsibility" should be Nicole Keyes' middle name. After all, not many people would sacrifice their lives to run the family bakery and raise a younger sibling. But with Nicole's twin sister now blissfully married and her younger sis turning out more femme fatale than girl-next-door, super reliable Nicole is getting sick of putting everyone else's needs first!