Showing results by narrator "Carol Monda" in All Categories

Whether laughing to tears reading Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great or clamoring for more unmistakable "me too!" moments in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, girls all over the world have been touched by Judy Blume's poignant coming-of-age stories. Now, in this anthology of essays, 24 notable female authors write straight from the heart about the unforgettable novels that left an indelible mark on their childhoods and still influence them today. After growing up from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing into Smart Women, these writers pay tribute to one of the most beloved authors of all time.

Restaurant kitchens have long been dominated by men, but, as of late, there has been an explosion of interest in the many women chefs who are revolutionizing the culinary game. And, alongside that interest, an accompanying appetite for smart, well-crafted culinary memoirs by female trailblazers in food. Nearly 70 years earlier, there was Alice.

As a young boy, Oliver York witnessed the murder of his wealthy parents in their London apartment. The killers kidnapped him and held him in an isolated Scottish ruin, but he escaped, thwarting their plans for ransom. Now, after 30 years on the run, one of the two men Oliver identified as his tormentors may have surfaced. Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan are enjoying the final day of their Irish honeymoon when a break-in at the home of Emma's grandfather, private art detective Wendell Sharpe, points to Oliver.

In the 1970s, New York City hit rock bottom. Crime was at its highest, the middle class exodus was in high gear, and bankruptcy loomed. Many people credit New York’s master builder Robert Moses with turning Gotham around, despite his brutal, undemocratic. and demolition-heavy ways. Urban critic and journalist Roberta Brandes Gratz contradicts this conventional view. New York City, Gratz argues, recovered precisely because of the waning power of Moses.

For marine biologist Julianne Maroney, two weeks in tiny Declan's Cross on the south Irish coast is a chance to heal her broken heart. She doesn't expect to attract the attention of FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan - especially since a Donovan is the reason for her broken heart. Emma and Colin are in Ireland for their own personal retreat. Colin knows he's a reminder of everything Julianne wants to escape, but something about her trip raises his suspicion. Emma, an art crimes expert, is also on edge. Of all the Irish villages Julianne could choose…why Declan's Cross?

When a huge alien spacecraft crashes on the island of Cuba, the world scrambles to investigate. Secretive organizations have waited for generations for this opportunity, and they do not hesitate to send in recovery teams. Cooperation between nations breaks down as every government wants the newly discovered technology for themselves. Naturally, the Cubans have beaten everyone else, and the island is beginning to change. Aircraft flying reconnaissance are swatted from the skies.

What if some of the artists we feel as if we know - Meryl Streep, Neil Young, Bill Murray - turned up in the course of our daily lives? With wit and insight, Marni Jackson takes a world obsessed with celebrity and turns it on its head. This is what happens to Rose McEwan, an ordinary woman who keeps having strange encounters with famous people. In Don't I Know You?, she shows us how fame is just another form of fiction, and how, in the end, the daily dramas of an ordinary woman's life can be as captivating and poignant as any luminary tell-all.

On the three-year anniversary of the tornado that orphaned the McCloud children, a cosmetics factory outside of Mercy is bombed, and the lab animals trapped within are released. Tucker reappears, injured from the blast, and seeks the help of nine-year-old Cora. Caught up in the thrall of her charismatic brother, whom she has desperately missed, Cora agrees to accompany Tucker on a cross-country mission to make war on human civilization. Cora becomes her brother's unwitting accomplice, taking on a new identity while engaging in acts of escalating violence.

Rachel Fleischer has good reasons not to be at her father's deathbed. Foaling season is at hand, and her horses are becoming restless and difficult. Her critical mother and grasping sister could certainly handle Marty Fleisher's resistance better without her. But Malachi, her 80-something horse manager - more father to her than Marty has ever been - convinces Rachel she will regret it if she doesn't go. When a stranger at her father's funeral delivers an odd gift and an apology, Rachel finds herself drawn into the epic story of her father's World War II experience.

Justin Childs is handsome, likeable, smart. A devoted son to his mother, Carol; a loving husband to his wife, Annie; and a sure-footed, savvy business partner to his best friend from college, Will. To so many, the perfect man. He’s also a liar. And now he’s dead. When Justin’s body is retrieved from the wreckage of a car accident, his death leaves his loved ones with more questions than answers.

Deserts of sand and deserts of the heart, Middle Eastern deserts and American deserts: Two Deserts, a collection of stories, follows the circles of two unforgettable women across cultures and deserts. The Arabian circle includes a 17-year-old girl yearning for freedom and a Muslim mother plotting to rescue her son from a jihadist movement. The American circle includes a hooker who is training her daughter for the life, a priest in love, and a club of women whose husbands are dying.

A collection of sweet, tender, poetic, beautiful, heart-wrenching, sensual love stories.

Few people can say they have seen some of the most significant moments of the 20th century unravel before their eyes. Marita Lorenz is one of them. Born in Germany at the outbreak of World War II, Marita was incarcerated in a Nazi concentration camp as a child. In 1959, she traveled to Cuba where she met and fell in love with Fidel Castro. Yet upon fleeing to America, she was recruited by the CIA to assassinate Castro. Torn by love and loyalty, she couldn't bring herself to slip him the lethal pills.

A friendly, rotund cat visits six diverse people in an busy urban neighborhood, receiving snacks and love. When a near-accident threatens the cat, the neighbors pull together as a community. Told from the point of view of each of the neighbors, this heartfelt story reflects the universal desire for connection and companionship.

Acclaimed author Shelby Hearon is winner of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award and two Texas Institute of Letters fiction awards. Taking place during the 1960s’ rebirth of feminism, The Second Dune is an insightful and emotional tale revealing one woman’s search for independence.

Lizzie Addler's dream of working in Italy is about to come true - that is if she can convince passionate Italian chef Dante DeFiore to keep his side of their bargain. Dante might be hotter than the Italian sun, but he's as cool as ice toward Lizzie.... Dante hasn't the time to pander to Lizzie's dreams of culinary fame - he has a restaurant to run! But as Lizzie proves herself to be a spectacular addition to his kitchen - and to his life - Dante wonders...can he keep her forever?

Hellfire Canyon features Alf Brolin, a tall drink of water who guns down innocent victims with the same carelessness with which he quotes classic literature. Federal trooper Zach Thomas, however, lacks any appreciation for Brolin's airs and means to see the outlaw put six feet in the ground.

Sex, love, and forgiveness - can they coexist, and can romance author Sarah write them into her life? Although best-selling author Sarah O’Malley is sure her next erotic-romance novel will be another hit, she finds it near to impossible to replicate the same results in her personal life. At 45 years old, Sarah now finds herself divorced and a single mother of two. Sarah journeys back to her childhood home to nurse her mother who is suffering from Alzheimer's, and she inevitably encounters the ghosts of her past.

Littlefield, Massachusetts, named one of the Ten Best Places to Live in America, full of psychologists and college professors, is proud of its fine schools, its girls' soccer teams, its leafy streets, and charming village center. Yet no sooner has sociologist Dr. Clarice Watkins arrived to study the elements of "good quality of life" than someone begins poisoning the town's dogs. Are the poisonings in protest to an off-leash proposal for Baldwin Park - the subject of much town debate - or the sign of a far deeper disorder?

In this meditative and flavorful essay, Alexandra Johnson visits Viggiano and the large, extended Italian family that would have been her own - had she married the youngest son, Giorgio, her old boyfriend. Now married to another man, she returns to the house to help Giorgio improve his English as he thinks about leaving southern Italy and its struggling economy behind.