Showing results by narrator "Lyssa Browne" in All Categories

Event planner Lexi Mannis has a busy life in Chicago - too busy to have a boyfriend. For special occasions, she has her stand-in boyfriend, Mac Northrop. Mac offers (almost) all the perks of a real boyfriend - furniture assembly, a date to big events, and someone to cook for. But they've never been "with benefits"...until one wickedly hot night crosses the line.

In this ordinary North Carolina suburb, family secrets are always in bloom. Samantha Montgomery pulls into the driveway of her family home to find a massive black vulture perched on the mailbox, staring at the house. Inside, everything has changed. Gone is the eclectic warmth Sam expects; instead the walls are a sterile white. Now, it's very important to say grace before dinner, and her mother won't hear a word against Sam's long-dead and little-missed grandmother, who was the first to put down roots in this small Southern town.

American author Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" was written in April of 1894 and originally published in Vogue in December of that year. The title refers to the time elapsed between the moments at which the protagonist, Louise Mallard, hears that her husband is dead, then discovers that he is alive after all. The short story is a mainstay of feminist literary study.

Do you feel like you are the only one struggling while raising your teenager? Academic stress, mental health, tech usage, competitive athletics, self-esteem issues, adolescent apathy, disrespectful behavior—it's tough to be a teen these days, and just as tough to parent one. If you're in the thick of it with your adolescent—or if you're getting a jumpstart on this difficult time—this book can help you untangle the complex challenges and improve your relationship with your kids.

A mosaic of seven regular townsfolk are going about their days, blissfully unaware their lives are about to interweave, interchange and interact; entangling into such a messy web that, together—and unbeknownst to them—they end up changing the face of America forevermore. In the mold of movies such as Traffic, Magnolia & The Usual Suspects, In the Middle of Middle America follows multiple characters, allowing the listener to become a fly on the wall to observe seven lives as they entangle into such a mess that it all leads to a head-spinning twist.

In a small religious community rocked by a spree of shocking murders, Detectives Salvi Brentt and Mitch Grenville find themselves surrounded by suspects. The Children of Christ have a tight grip on their people, and the Solme Complex neurally edit violent criminals - Subjugates - into placid servants called Serenes. In a town where purity and sin, temptation and repression live side by side, everyone has a motive. But as the bodies mount up, the frustrated detectives begin to crack under the pressure.

After asking the wrong people the wrong questions, Shannon Brown barely escapes with her life - and crosses paths with a handsome outlaw who cannot resist a lady in distress. Moved by the troubled stranger, Derek Ross agrees to help Shannon elude her pursuers. But the ferocity of his desire for Shannon stuns him and mystifies her. She's known so much hurt in matters of the heart - how can Derek be any different? Drawn into a shadowy world of danger and deception, Shannon is reborn in the arms of a man who lives by no one's rules. Derek's voice calms her fears and lowers her guard, making Shannon long to hear another heartbeat beside her own.

Tessie King has just inherited the biggest casino in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada: the Royal Lakeside. What she didn't bargain for are the problems she'd inherit with it. Having left Tahoe years ago, the underbelly of the casino trade is a far cry from the art world Tessie is used to. High-stakes cons, inside jobs, wise guys... Tessie quickly realizes she's in way over her head. And things go from bad to worse when questions start to arise about the nature of her father's death.

At the age of 55, record-breaking ultrarunner Mimi Anderson embarked on her most ambitious adventure yet. She wanted to become the fastest woman in history to run across America from Los Angeles to New York. For 40 days, the determined mother of three pushed herself on and on for more than 2,000 miles across the vast continent, despite the onset of severe pain, until she was forced to make a crushing decision: carry on and risk never being able to run again, or give up on her all-time goal.

You can call me Ella. Whenever you come to a crossroads, I’m that perpendicular track. My bad rap comes from the fact that the choice I offer is always, unapologetically, carnal. After making the courageous decision to leave her abusive husband, Perdie and her three young children start over and finally find the safety and love they all deserve. But years later, when tragedy strikes, Perdie is left wondering if the choice she made to leave has led them to this moment. If she were given the opportunity to take it all back and stay, would she?

Thirteen-year-old Evan Hanson is always the last in her family to know what's going on. Her father, Gene, who's been meaner since he began serving in Vietnam, isn't around much, and she likes it better that way. But then her brother, Adam, gets drafted and her anti-war mother, Endura, takes him across the border to Canada, leaving Evan alone with Gene and her younger, special needs brother, Teddy. When he realizes Endura isn't returning, Gene takes Evan and Teddy to Eat and Get Gas, his mother's cafe and gas station.

Five years later, Lincoln Beckett and I are still finding ways to stretch and bend the rules, breaking those that threaten to hinder us. To an outsider, everything looks perfect. But with each day apart, and with each new obligation, I'm learning that even strengths have their weaknesses and perfections have their flaws.

Banner Clairmont hated the idea of her beloved Lyonsgate Plantation being sold, even to dashing Rory Stewart, who seemed to know so much about her. But as they toured the grounds before that evening's costume ball, she sensed the house welcoming the intruder, sharing its ghostly secrets. Rory was fascinated by the estate, and even more by his lovely guide. But who, he wondered aloud, were the early guests?

"A Hunger Artist" is a short story by Franz Kafka first published in 1922. The protagonist, a hunger artist who experiences the decline in appreciation of his craft, is typically Kafkaesque: an individual marginalized and victimized by society at large. "A Hunger Artist" explores themes such as death, art, isolation, asceticism, spiritual poverty, futility, personal failure, and the corruption of human relationships.

No one's more surprised than Mia Rubie when she unexpectedly inherits her father's elite auto racing team. Mia hasn't been near a race car—or a certain Italian driver—since she walked away from a promising racing career fifteen years ago. But with the racing season about to begin and a letter from her father tugging at her heartstrings, she reluctantly puts her life on hold to travel the world with Rubie Racing...and Luca Toscano, the only man she ever loved.

Guinevere thought that her life was over, that she would spend the rest of her days in a convent or hidden away in Avalon, but she was wrong. Cursed by Morgan LeFay, Queen Guinevere is banished from Avalon and must face the ages alone, hiding in the shadows as a vampire. Through the centuries, she's watched Arthur return again and again, but her love and respect for her husband and king has kept her away. Until now. Morgan LeFay has returned with an ominous threat, and once again Guinevere is forced to make an impossible choice.

"A Dog's Tale" is a short story, written by Mark Twain, told from the standpoint of a loyal household pet. It first appeared in the December 1903 issue of Harper's magazine. In January of the following year it was extracted into a stand-alone pamphlet published for the National Anti-Vivisection Society. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer.

Nemo Frisby used to be a detective. Now he drives an Uber between billionaire mansions in California. But he never lost the nose for the case - and when his housecleaner, Trinity Fox, discovers a young woman lying dead in her neighbourhood, she persuades him to help her prove it wasn't suicide. Their investigation leads them to the Bel Air home of a wealthy movie producer, who built his mansion over a Native American burial site. Ancient mythology tells of a demon who, if unearthed, can imbue evil men with terrible power.

Former New York City flight attendant Annie Taylor is adjusting to farm life when her grandmother threatens to tear down the old stone house, unable to finance a restoration after the summer fire. Annie's boyfriend Jake has severed his corporate life in Cincinnati and is jumping headlong into sustainable farming on the land next door. Their new relationship is wonderful - but can it last? As they take steps forward, a paralyzing fear of abandonment threatens to destroy her trust in Jake.

Summer, set in New England, is a novel by Edith Wharton, published in 1917. The novel details the sexual awakening of its protagonist, 18-year-old, Charity Royall, and her cruel treatment by the father of her child. Only moderately well-received when originally published, Summer, has had a resurgence in critical popularity since the 1960s.