Showing results by narrator "Paige McKinney" in All Categories

We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human. Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader, and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else.

For Cain Casey, nothing is more important than family, and having hers close - Emma, Hayden, Hannah, and the new baby - is as near as she’ll get to true happiness. But enemies who lurk in the shadows threaten more than just her business, forcing her to question whether the biggest threat comes from having it all. As Cain continues to search for lingering adversaries like agent-turned-drug dealer Anthony Curtis, the FBI is hot on her tail and will stop at nothing to lock her away. Add the Russian mob into the mix, and it might be too much to handle.

With the arrival of Courtney Carrington, Margaret's youth sparked into color. But first loves can scar. Margaret hasn't seen Courtney in years and that's for the best. But when Courtney loses her father and returns to Tanner Peak to take control of the family store, Margaret comes face-to-face with her past and the woman she's tried desperately to forget. The fact that Courtney has grown up more beautiful than ever certainly doesn't help matters.

Kelsey Brunel knows exactly what the future holds: She’ll one day inherit the Arizona dude ranch that has been in her family for three generations. She tells herself that the business and her good friends are all she’ll ever want or need. Long-term relationships aren’t in the picture, which, after witnessing the devastation of her parents’ failed marriage, is just fine with her.

For Addison Fairchild, success is a guarantee. Groomed since childhood to run a division of Fairchild Enterprises, she takes her birthright seriously. Maybe a little too seriously, if you ask her friends. But work is so much easier than the rest of her life. For Katie Cooper, money has never been important. That is, until her father gets dementia and needs full-time care. As the bills start to pile up, Katie takes a second job as a temporary personal assistant. Two minutes and one spilled cup of coffee later, she's sure she's not ready for Addison Fairchild.

Hit woman and thief Reed Gable works for the highest bidder, no matter where the job takes her. An orphan of circumstance, Reed knows the streets of Las Vegas better than anyone. Growing up rough has gotten her to the top of her profession, and she plans to stay there. Accountant Brinley Myers, a recent hire at the Moroccan Casino, discovers a money laundering operation orchestrated by the New York mob, and suddenly, her life and the people in it become collateral damage.

Gina Antonelli had big dreams once, of riding her athletic achievements all the way to West Point and being the first in a long family line of soldiers to serve as an officer. When that dream died along with the girl she'd planned to marry one day, she'd vowed to forget about happily ever afters. When Gina agrees to renovate Carrie's soon-to-be new house as a favor to her brother's boss, she doesn't welcome Carrie's overtures at friendship or her own unexpected attraction.

Tally Dewilde forges her own path when she chooses to go into veterinary medicine and ignores her mother’s desire that she establish a boutique clinic for the pets of the wealthy in Manhattan. When she arrives in rural Upstate New York to join Sydney Valentine’s animal hospital, the break with her old life seems complete on every level. Until an unwelcome reminder of the painful past arrives at her door in the form of Roman Ashcroft.

More and more traditional professional services firms are turning to "productization" as a strategy to grow, improve valuations, and to fend off new digital-first competitors. However, many of them will fail and waste a lot of money in the process. Productize first outlines the "Seven Deadly Productization Mistakes" made when pursuing a product strategy, then provides the blueprint for overcoming each of these missteps. It is designed to be a practical playbook for any leader of a professional services business who wants to successfully accelerate growth.

Accountant and financial advisor Lacey Chamberlain doesn't consider herself a control freak. She's merely a planner-orderly, neat, and content in her tidy little life. When a marketing firm moves into the empty office next door, the loud-music-playing, stinky-food-ordering, kickball-in-the-hall staff make Lacey crazy. Marketing expert Alicia Wright is spontaneous, flies by the seat of her pants, and lives in the moment-all the things Lacey is not. She's also gorgeous, thoughtful, and seems determined to make Lacey like her. They say opposites attract, but for how long? And is that really a good idea?

At some point in our lives, most of us have been affected by caring adults whose advice, guidance, and example made a difference. In The Person Who Changed My Life, individuals who have distinguished themselves in their fields write about the men and women who served as their mentors.

For Lindsay Kent, Vineyard is her dream job. She's thrilled when her boss leaves her in charge (well, half charge) and tells her to feel free to make changes. Lindsay has tons of ideas that she's been dying to put into action, and this is her big chance to increase the success of the business and prove she's more than ready to run things solo. But getting the boss's daughter on board is harder than expected. The uptight and annoyingly attractive Piper is blocking her every move. For Piper Bradshaw, Vineyard is not her job. She already has one.

Six months after Hurricane Katrina has devastated most of New Orleans, detective Sept Savoie is battling the nightmare of everything the storm has taken from her when a brutalized body turns up behind one of New Orleans's most famous restaurants, which is run by Keegan Blanchard. The more Sept works through the clues, the more they point to Keegan, which makes the relationship growing between them anything but love at first sight. The first death is only the beginning, though, as the miles of deserted neighborhoods Katrina left behind provide the perfect stage for murder.

Preternatural private investigator and paranormal huntress Kassandra Lyall is used to working alone. Whenever there's a murder or a mystery to solve that involves the preternatural she's the witch they call. When she's contacted to help the local cops work on a mysterious murder case, she finds herself needing all the help she can get. A bloodthirsty werewolf is loose in the city and on a killing spree. As if her plate weren't full enough, a strange she-wolf seeks Kassandra's aid, asking her to help find her missing brother.

Cat Glamour is going through a rough spot in her life. When she decides to take control again and try to lose weight, the last thing she expects is a genie to pop out of her Wii machine offering her three wishes! Unfortunately for Cat, her genie is somewhat unreliable in his wish-granting capabilities. In a series of hilarious misadventures, Cat and Gene travel to a castle in France and back in time 20 years in an attempt to realize Cat’s wishes. But is it possible to get a second chance at real love and self-love?

Meg Tallmadge is a veterinarian at a clinic in Laramie, Wyoming. She’s got a great job, great friends, deep ties to the family ranch, and big plans for her vet future. Sure, there are bumps in the road, like her mom’s continued denial about who Meg is and her painful and infuriating attempts to make Meg a “proper” woman. Then there’s Meg’s recent breakup with a girlfriend, which has her wondering why she can’t seem to open up to relationships.

Levi Montbard loves history and isn’t afraid to search it out no matter where it takes her. A scroll she acquires to sell in Montbard’s Antiquities in New Orleans leads Levi on an adventure that will take her from London to Morocco, by way of the Sahara Desert. A story of a female Templar Knight should sound like a hoax, but to Levi the new information rings true. Proving the scroll accurate becomes an obsession. She’ll stop at nothing to uncover the truth.

Riley Dawson is a psychotherapist with a lycanthropic affliction. She’s a werecoyote, to be precise. A foundling adopted by wealthy parents, Riley led a privileged life until she fell in love with Fiona Bell, an evangelical preacher’s daughter. Raging hormones, the full moon, and the pull of Fiona Bell on her teenage heartstrings triggered her first transformation. Unfortunately, her parents witnessed the change and sent her off to college with a trust fund and an agreement never to return home.

Dylan Prescott has all the answers, even when she doesn’t know the questions. She’s in her element cruising the singles scene and crushing cases as a newly minted NYPD detective. Equal parts free spirit and thrill seeker, catching bad guys and charming good girls are what she was born to do.

It's business as usual for crime boss Cain Casey as she maneuvers to form an alliance with the Jatibon organization and secure peace among the ruling families in New Orleans. Cain's new associate Remington Jatibon is a lot like Cain used to be - a playgirl with a passion for bedding beautiful women and an even greater passion for expanding her father's empire, on both sides of the law. When Remi meets Dallas Montgomery, a budding actress working for the studio Remi's father has just acquired, she finds that there is more to Dallas than is included in her press pages.