Showing results by narrator "Gail Shalan" in All Categories

At Recovery and Relief, a treatment center for girls with eating disorders, the first thing Shoshana Winnick does is attach herself to vibrant but troubled Rowan Parish. Shoshana — a cheerleader on a hit reality TV show — was admitted for starving herself to ensure her growth spurt didn’t ruin her infamous tumbling skills. Rowan, on the other hand, has known anorexia her entire life, thanks to her mother’s “chew and spit” guidance.

Unplug, relax, and return to the simpler life with these easy, step-by-step ideas for your favorite cottagecore activities including baking from scratch and easy container gardening. Returning to the simpler life has never been easier. If you’re craving the aroma of freshly baked bread, spending more time in nature, or seeing the sunlight filtering through homemade curtains, then cottagecore is for you!

When 12-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone - left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned. With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read. After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten.

Raised amid the fame and mystique of the Big Top, Charlie Lionheart holds the audience in the palm of his hand. But while his act captivates thousands, it's away from the spotlight where his true heart lies. Here, he humbly cares for his pride of lions as if they were his brothers, a skill of bravery and strength that has prepared him for his most challenging feat yet - freeing an orphaned infant from the dark bondage of a sideshow. It is a trade so costly that it requires his life in exchange for hers, leaving him tarnished by the price of that choice.

In Privilege Lost, Jessi Streib traces the lives of over 100 youth born into the upper-middle-class. Following them for over 10 years as they transition from teens to young adults, Streib examines who falls from the upper-middle-class, how, and why don't they see it coming. In doing so, she reveals the patterned ways that individuals' resources and identities push them onto mobility paths - and the complicated choices youth make between staying true to themselves and staying in their class position. 

Mimi is not thrilled to be spending her summer in Karachi, Pakistan, with grandparents she’s never met. Secretly, she wishes to find her long-absent father, and plans to write to him in her beautiful new journal. The cook's daughter, Sakina, still hasn't told her parents that she'll be accepted to school only if she can improve her English test score - but then, how could her family possibly afford to lose the money she earns working with her Abba in a rich family's kitchen? 

For Ellie Avery, the hardest thing about hosting a reunion of her husband Mitch's extended Southern family is remembering everyone's name. But this summer, the festivities are cut short by news that Mitch's air force squadron commander has been strangled. Then Mitch's look-alike cousin narrowly misses being shot during his daily workout, and Ellie realizes that someone wants to ground Mitch - permanently. Between her kids and her organizing business, she must unravel a perplexing mystery - or Mitch's afternoon jog may be a run for his life.

Moving four times in five years has honed air force wife Ellie Avery's packing and unpacking skills. But moving with a newborn daughter and husband Mitch in tow, during a heat wave, is enough to make her turn to chocolate for comfort. And when Ellie finds a local environmentalist dead on the side of the road, her instincts tell her this was no accident.

Spying from her window in New York City with high-powered binoculars, conspiracy theorist Zoe spots a man and woman on a park bench. Zooming in, she finds she can read the texts on the woman's phone. Her initial excitement turns to alarm when the woman's texts outline a plan to murder the man she is sitting next to. The police department is trying to manage a pandemic and catch a serial killer who has murdered six women. So, when Zoe reports the conspiracy to commit murder, the police have little time or patience for her theories. 

Ellie Avery balances motherhood, marriage, and her own business - Everything in Its Place - with cheerful efficiency. A maestro of organization, she sees her life as an easy checklist that does not include the untimely death of Penny Follette. Unlike the police, Ellie isn't convinced Penny's death was suicide. But it's an uphill battle getting the officials to take her seriously. Then another spouse is strangled, and someone tries to poison an outspoken female Air Force pilot. Poking about in closets and drawers, Ellie hopes to find the common thread tying the crimes together.

Air Force wife Ellie Avery knew moving her family south to Georgia would bring new friends, customs, and cuisine. But when she stumbles across two dead bodies - in one grave - while walking her Rottweiler in her new neighborhood, she finds her mint juleps suddenly tasting very sour. Now, with a double mystery brewing and dozens of guests about to arrive in her back yard, Ellie's agenda is once again packed. The only thing she hasn't penciled in is one killer of a party crasher who intends to make this celebration Ellie's last.

With swollen feet and a swelling belly, pregnant Ellie bravely joins the nation's tourists in seeing the sights in Washington, DC. But a fatal incident at the Metro station convinces Ellie that something is rotten in the capital city. Should she do the safe thing and pack her bags? Not likely when too many people are telling lies, hiding secrets, and acting suspiciously. Luckily, Ellie Avery is just the right woman to clean up the most mysterious cases of murder - even if she has to brave the most dangerous byways in the corridors of power.

Hit the jackpot with stories from Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, Walter Mosley, Alexander McCall Smith, and more superstars of mystery. 

Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit is an enchanting novel-in-verse loosely based on author Colby Cedar Smith’s maternal grandmother. The story follows Mary as she and her family emigrate from Greece to Detroit in the 1930s, creating a historically accurate portrayal of life as an immigrant during the Great Depression, hunger strikes, and violent riots.

 She'd inherited Jack Manning's bold heart, tempered once in a very great while by her stepfather's gentle upbringing and her mother's practical nature. But as far as Jackie Manning Bradshaw is concerned, she'll need that bold heart to work her way onto the Broadway stage, the only place she's ever wanted to be.

October, 1917 - Lena Garson, 19 years old, daughter of an old-fashioned banker and his wife, thinks of herself as a very well brought up young lady leading a quiet life with a predicable future. When Clarence Muldoon, son of the richest man in town, begins to court her, Lena feels her life is now going in the direction her parents want for her.

When Lena Manning finds herself widowed after World War I, she must build a new life for herself and her infant daughter. With the help of her church, she finds stability and contentment until the arrival of a new pastor turns her quiet life upside down. Turned out of her job at the church, Lena is offered employment and a home with a wealthy family. When the son of the house pursues her, she is drawn into the seductive world of wealth and power. Can she survive the secrets of that world, or will fear drive her back to her church where she can no longer be sure of her welcome?  

In the second of the Hometown trilogy, ex-Afghanistan vet paramedic Frankie McGill and resident deputy Gabe Zantos are caught up in a case of arson. A house at the end of a country road has stood vacant for years; it's occupants mice and the stray raccoon or two. When the derelict house catches fire, the only reason the Hawkesford Fire Department responds is because of the danger to the dry wheat fields surrounding it. But then not only a gunshot victim, but a charred body is found inside the house, along with evidence of a meth cooking operation. Accident, or murder? 

In a future where humanity has scattered itself across the stars and Earth itself is now a dimly remembered place of legend, two worlds of near-supernatural strangeness challenge two naive but courageous heroes.

When they were 15, Willa, Luz, and Britton’s friendship was everything. When they were 16, they stood by each other no matter what. When they were 17, they went through the worst. And when they were 18, Willa ruined it all. Now, it’s the week of graduation, and Willa is left with only a memory box filled with symbols of the friendship she destroyed: