Showing results by narrator "Laura Knight Keating" in All Categories

How badly do you want to be famous? What - or who - would you sacrifice? These are the questions Justine Childs is forced to reckon with as the main suspect in the murder of it-girl Eva-Kate Kelly. Not long ago, Eva-Kate drew Justine into her orbit before meeting her untimely end in a Venice Beach canal. Prosecutors and the public want to know: Did Justine, now a social media darling in her own right, kill her celebrity best friend? Can anyone be trusted to tell the truth? Justine has always wanted people to know her name - but not all notoriety is created equal.

Johanna has had more than enough trauma in her life. She lost her mom in a car accident, and her father went AWOL when Johanna was just a baby. At 16, life is steady, boring...maybe even stifling, since she's being raised by her grandparents who never talk about their daughter, her mother Mandy. Then he comes back: Robert Newsome, Johanna's father, bringing memories and pictures of Mandy. But that's not all he shares. A tragic car accident didn't kill Mandy - it was Johanna, who at two years old, accidentally shot her own mother with an unsecured gun.

Maggie is finding it harder and harder to get along with her stepmother and stepsiblings while her father is away. It doesn't help that every time Maggie finishes cleaning laundry, flying pigs swoop in to muddy everything up and get her into trouble! One day while she's out collecting berries and her stepbrother is fishing, Maggie catches a magical fish herself. The fish promises to make one of her wishes come true, but only if she frees him. Maggie wants a new family more than anything, but how much faith can she put into a talking fish?

The source has been destroyed. Food is scarce. Tensions are rising. Then the earthquake strikes. Esther and Caleb hit the road, leading a ragtag caravan. Their destination? A mythical city where they hope to find food and shelter - not to mention a way to make it past age 19. On the way, alliances and romances blossom and fracture as the group faces vicious gangs, violent weather, and more variants. Esther must rally to take charge, accepting the help of a blind wilderness guide, Aras.

For fans of The Red Tent and The Dovekeepers, India Edghill breathes new life into the biblical story of Vashti and Esther with her signature historical richness, epic scope, and sweeping romance. You may know part of the story already, but you only know what history has passed along. The story of how Vashti, queen of queens, the most beautiful woman in all the empire, defied the king, her husband, and so lost her crown.

Welcome to the wasteland. At 15, the citizens of Prin marry. At 17, they reproduce. And at 19, they die. Esther thinks there's more to life than toiling at the assignments - Harvesting, Gleaning, Excavating - day after day under the relentless sun, just hoping to make it to the next day. She doesn't care that her best friend, a variant, is considered "the enemy". She doesn't care that Levi, who controls the Source, is the real enemy and might send his Taser boys after her if she makes one wrong move. Then Caleb shows up. Could there be another way to fight for survival?

Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge of Internment, the floating city in the clouds where she lives, can lead to madness. Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. If she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in her best friend, Pen, and in Basil, the boy she's engaged to marry. Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas.

Eleven-year-old Izzy feels as though her whole world is shifting, and she doesn’t like it. She wants her dad to act like he did before he was deployed to Afghanistan. She wants her mom to live with them at the marina where they’ve moved instead of spending all her time on Block Island. Most of all, she wants Piper, Zelda, and herself - the Sea Stars - to stay best friends, as they start sixth grade in a new school.

By studying the Weston Farm Circles, her town’s legendary crop circle phenomenon, she’ll not only demonstrate the existence of extraterrestrial life, but also win the McMurray Youth Science Competition—a feat she’s sure will impress her distant NASA scientist father. Dani most certainly does not believe in aliens. How can she, when they go against every scientific principle she’s been taught?

Franny never lets anyone know how often she thinks of the charismatic, troubled mom who left her years ago, any more than she talks about the unaccountable things Mom did while she was still in the picture. Life with Nana is safe and secure, and Franny’s innovative art projects fill in any lonesome times.

Seventeen-year-old Gabe’s life is a mess. His debut album—produced by his rock star dad—made him an overnight sensation, but his second album tanked, he just got dumped by his on-again, off-again girlfriend, and he’s desperate to come up with the money he needs to fix a major screwup. The only place he can be free from the paparazzi and rumors is the family farm—the farm that 17-year-old Juniper’s family has managed since before she was born.

Georgina watches me. She doesn’t try to poke me or pull my tail. She doesn’t push her face into mine, and she speaks very softly. “Welcome,” she says. Most shelter animals dream of going home with a forever family. But for Elvis, being chosen by Mrs. Pemberton is a nightmare. He’s been taken away from his sister, Etta, and is determined to get back to the shelter to find her.

Marian seems really cool … and nice … and we've got SO MUCH in common. Well, two things at least. But if feels like more. I don't think I've ever met someone I wanted to be friends with so badly!

Seventeen-year-old Olivia Owens isn't thrilled that her dad's getting remarried...again. She's especially not thrilled that he cheated on her mom, kicked them out of their Rhode Island home, and cut Olivia out of her rightful inheritance. But this former heiress has a plan for revenge. While hundreds of guests gather on the grounds of the gorgeous estate where she grew up, everyone will be thinking romance—not robbery. She’ll play the part of dutiful daughter, but in reality she’ll be redistributing millions from her father’s online accounts.

After her exploits in Tunisia, Jo Rivers knows she’ll never lead a normal life. She also can’t move on until she grasps the evolution of her mathematical gift and confronts her unresolved feelings after meeting Noble. With Kai undercover, Noble is the only one who has the answers Jo needs. There’s just one small problem: Noble has vanished, leaving only a coded message in the stars. When a friend from Jo’s days in China goes missing, it coincides with a new PSS assignment involving a potentially catastrophic satellite breakdown. Jo suspects something more sinister is at play.

Sometimes our feelings are so big, our dreams and our worries so wide, that we can’t find the words to express them. How MUCH love we feel; what a new sibling will bring; exactly what it’s like to take a hard tumble, or to want the sun to shine on a rainy day. These thoughts and questions are explored by Hans and Monique Hagen in poems pitched perfectly to the children who wonder.

Once in your life, sometime after your first memory but before you can drive a car, something is going to happen to you that doesn’t happen to anyone else you know. It might be something good. It might be something bad, or special, or funny, or shocking. For Millie, it’s something really sad. Lolo, her neighbors’ infant daughter, dies—unexpectedly, suddenly, inexplicably—on the night Millie babysits. There’s nothing she could have done. There’s nothing she can do now. So how does she go on? She does what you’ll do. She finds her way.

Hattie Tilney isn’t a believer. Yes, she’s a senior at America’s most (allegedly) haunted high school, Northanger Abbey. But ever since her paranormal-loving dad passed away, she’s hung up her Ghostbusters suit, put away the EMF detectors and thermal cameras, and moved on. She has enough to worry about in the land of the living—like taking care of her younger brother, Liam, while their older sister spirals out and their mother, Northanger’s formidable headmistress, buries herself in her work.

Meet Luna Muna. Luna Muna is a curious young girl who loves outer space. In fact, she’s going to be an astronaut one day! One night, after wishing on a shooting star, Luna Muna discovers a secret power: when she wears her special sparkly space helmet, she can float just like the astronauts in space! After bedtime, Luna Muna blasts off on a wild adventure and discovers that while space is very exciting, her home on Earth is pretty special too.

Have you ever tasted the stars? On a cold, clear night, Molly gazes up at the bright stars above, which look good enough to eat. If she could reach far enough surely it wouldn't hurt to try just one. Would it?