Showing results by narrator "Vanessa Johansson" in All Categories

It's not Fourth of July on Mackinac Island without fireworks and fudge. The Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop is supplying the treats-and Allie McMurphy has hired Rodney Rivers, the biggest name in aerial displays, to create an unforgettable spectacle. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a case of red, white, and boom when Allie finds him dead, covered with screaming chicken fireworks, just before the entire warehouse of pyrotechnics goes up in smoke. Is it arson or is it murder?

A submerged car is pulled from the bottom of the lake. The driver has been shot in the back of the head and no other bodies are found. Only the legendary Dragon's Heart remains inside. When it rises to the surface, greedy collectors from around the world gather. They'll stop at nothing to gain possession of the priceless artifact. Only one person stands in their way…

The pact is broken. The human world that Alex once belonged to is no longer safe. From every direction, lycans from other packs are arriving, forming an army that will hopefully be ready to fight Valkos and his werewolves. Assuming, of course, that they can stop fighting among themselves first. And that Alex can somehow find a way to lead them. Before she can do that, though, she must harness the new magic that's awakened in her - magic that took her grandfather years to master. She has weeks to master it.

Since childhood Nila Carter has been made to spend every weekend at the family cabin. In her teenage years she believes it to be a prison; as an adult it becomes her sanctuary and means to survive. When a mysterious outbreak occurs in India, Nila's brother, Bobby, a virologist with the CDC, places the family on a precautionary alert to be ready to bug out. Unlike anything he's ever seen, the rabies-like virus is not just deadly; it causes extreme violent behavior in those infected.

Lisa Lisson's life seemed perfect: she had married her high school sweetheart, applied her marketing degree to a position at FedEx Express Canada, and would ultimately become president of the company. One night, after putting their four children to bed, her husband, Patrick, marvelled at their lives. Just a few hours later, Patrick had a massive heart attack and was in a coma. Part leadership guide, part memoir of loss, and part personal empowerment primer on how to achieve your goals, Resilience is an inspirational story.

Hope Anderson is at a crossroads. At 36, she's been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family's cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future.

There's always someone to do things with, and she likes to help take care of her younger brothers and sisters. But now Mallory's working on an important writing project, and she needs peace and quiet. So why won't everyone leave her alone? Nicky needs help tying his shoes, Claire wants a sandwich, someone has to break up the triplets' fight, and Mallory feels like a full-time baby-sitter. And there's only one thing to do: This baby-sitter is going on strike!

Mallory and Claudia are helping Stacey unpack from her move back to Stoneybrook when they find an antique trunk in the McGill's attic. Stacey doesn't want the dusty thing, so she gives the trunk to Mallory...who finds an old diary at the bottom of it. The diary belonged to Sophie, a girl who lived in Stacey's house in the 1890s. As Mallory reads deep into Sophie's diary, she discovers a mystery on their hands to solve, because Stacey's house isn't big enough for her, her mom...and a family of ghosts!

Fourteen-year-old Angie and her mom are poised at the edge of homelessness...again. The problem is her little sister, Sophie. Sophie has an autism-like disorder and a tendency to shriek. No matter where they live, home never seems to last long. Until they move in with Aunt Vi, across the fence from a huge, black Great Dane who changes everything.

It's a horror-movie extravaganza in this, the second sequel to Brent Hartinger's Geography Club. Two complete books in one recount the stories of best friends Russel and Min who sign up to be extras on the set of a zombie film and learn that there's nothing scarier than high school romance.

Eighteen-year-old Evelyn Jones lands a job in small-town Alaska, working for a man in his isolated mountain home. But her bright hopes for the future are shattered when Donald White disappears, leaving her to face charges of theft, embezzlement - and a brutal double murder. Her protestations of innocence count for nothing. Convicted, she faces life in prison...until fate sends her on the run.

In the wake of her husband's sudden death, Cassie Costas finds her relationship with her teenage stepdaughter unraveling. After their move to historic Tarpon Springs, Florida, Savannah hates her new town, her school and most of all her stepmom, whom she blames for her father's death. Cassie has enough to contend with as she searches for answers about the man she shared a life with, including why all their savings have disappeared.

When Yaara meets Aryeh, her father's boyhood friend, she is instantly drawn to his impassive and archly assured presence. It is not long before she forsakes her devoted and well-meaning husband for the powerful, mysterious older man who seems to embody all that she lacks: will, strength, and the key to her parents' inaccessible pasts.

In a hotel room in the middle of the night, Abby, a young feminist economist, lies awake next to her sleeping husband and daughter. Anxious that she is grossly underprepared for a talk she is presenting tomorrow on optimism and John Maynard Keynes, she has resolved to practice by using an ancient rhetorical method of assigning parts of her speech to different rooms in her house and has brought along a comforting albeit imaginary companion to keep her on track—Keynes himself.

Everything has fallen apart for Kate Rigsby: she is freshly single—separated from an ex she never really liked—and freshly fired—from a job she never really liked, either. Somehow, she's reached the age of thirty-one and the only things she truly cares about are her Goldendoodle, Eric, her two best friends, and proving to her parents (and, if she's honest, to herself) that she made the right choice moving to the city. Except, instead of thriving, she finds that her life has taken a nose-dive. So when a job at Treetops Creative Retreat suddenly lands in her lap, she's thrilled.

Full of wry humor and deep compassion for our modern vulnerabilities, the stories in Frog and Toad Are Doing Their Best perfectly capture the heartwarming authenticity of Lobel’s famous amphibian friends while revealing razor-sharp truths about the world we live in today. Through Frog and Toad, we see the anxieties that are woven throughout our everyday existence, from our well-meaning but often failed attempts at practicing self-care to our struggle to balance the gifts and burdens of technology.

Being a "total spaz" in gym is bad enough, but now Mallory's worst nightmare has come true. Gym class has gone co-ed! Pre-teen girls are sure to relate to this latest book in the phenomenally popular Baby-Sitters Club series.

Between her kitty quilt-making business and her three beloved cats, Jill has her hands full. That doesn't stop her from wanting to solve the mystery of the milk cow that's gone missing from her friend's farm. But imagine her surprise when a stolen cow leads to the discovery of 50 stray cats and one dead body - a victim of cold-blooded murder....

In a breakthrough book for the series, Mallory says good-bye to Stoneybrook and hello to the Riverbend School. The boarding school in the Berkshires introduces Mallory to a new group of friends - and a not-so-friendly roommate.

McKenzie Shaw would do anything for her hometown of Haven Point. It may be small, but it’s never let her down…unlike gorgeous, infuriating Ben Kilpatrick. He was her childhood hero until he closed his family’s factory, leaving the town’s economy in shambles. Now his tech firm is considering opening a local facility. For Haven Point’s sake, McKenzie has to grit her teeth and play nice.