Showing results by narrator "Jennifer Jill Araya" in All Categories

Hope Taylor is ready to start her new life as the first female pastor of Faith Chapel Episcopal Church in Apple Springs. The Northern California town's quaint cottages, bungalows, and shops promise a fresh start. But where is Father Christopher? The kindly old rector who hired Pastor Hope was supposed to meet her upon her arrival, but he's nowhere to be seen. Hope's faith springs eternal, so she explores the little white church hoping to find Father Christopher. But when she enters the columbarium, she instead finds church elder Stanley King - his skull crushed by a fallen burial urn.

On Saturday morning, Cora Maxwell finds her teenage son’s clothes covered in blood. A small town torn apart by a horrific hate crime. An investigative reporter hell-bent on finding the truth. A mother’s worst nightmare. What really happened to the Reyes boy? In the heart-stopping and timely suspense novel Secrets Mothers Keep, widow and mother Cora Maxwell faces the hardest decision of her life. In a world where there are few second chances, do you grant one to your child? And if so...what is the cost?

When Nate Porter left Helen, Alaska, to become a firefighter with the Forest Service, he claimed it was because he craved adventure. The truth was, he couldn't stand to hang around, pining for a girl the town's century-old feud meant he could never have. But Nate got over Lydia Lipin years ago, or so he thought until he learns that an old rival has come sniffing around. The solution - a trip home with his rescue puppies to prove to himself he completely extinguished that old flame.

Newbery Honor winner Kathryn Lasky, author of the Guardians of Ga’hoole series, delivers a riveting adventure about young British spies on a secret mission in Germany in WWII.

It’s not every day you discover you might be related to Anastasia…or that the tragic princess actually survived her assassination attempt and has been living as the woman you know as Aunt Anna. For Jess Morgan, who is growing tired of living her life to please everyone else, discovering her late aunt’s diaries shows her she’s not the only one struggling to hide who she really is. But was her aunt truly a Romanov princess? Or is this some elaborate hoax? With the help of a supremely dorky but undeniably cute local college student named Evan, Jess digs into the century-old mystery.

A futuristic alien world, supernatural abilities, an ancient conspiracy, and the power of love and friendship; a teenage girl's life changes when she is abducted from home and becomes the human race's last hope to survive a deadly illness. Harper just wants to be a normal 17-year-old girl, playing soccer with her friends and going to school, not understanding why her mom keeps her inside, locked away from the outside world. But once Harper stumbles upon a mysterious glowing figure in the Nevada desert, a chain-of-events is triggered that will change her life forever.

Now, I really did mean to keep my mouth shut. I was going to be the perfect, quiet, well-heeled fiancé. But since I am neither well-heeled nor a fiancé, it was only a matter of time before I would mess up even with the best intentions. Breakfast with the Somersets was about as much fun as Russian roulette. Between the evil sneers, rotten barbed comments, and just plain condescendence, it was hard to get my good eat on, despite the lavish spread.

In this contemporary romance, young Caroline struggles with loneliness after her father's death, her brother’s military deployment, and her mother's deteriorating health. All the while, she juggles graduate school and a full-time job while remaining focused on her future. That is, until Hashim, an exotic stranger, moves into her garage apartment.

What happens when you're middle-aged? Is it over? Will you change or remain the same? What will you do with the second half of your life? All of the short stories and essays in this collection illuminate this incredibly interesting and vital stage. All characters demonstrate how they have chosen to navigate this new world. Some are more successful than others, but all are interesting.

Time traveling Parminder - a.k.a. Pammi - must stop a power-hungry Able from the future from destroying the ancient city she visits, where Ables like her live freely. If she is unable to stop him, the city of Zanum vanishes forever, taking Pammi, and all other Ables with it.

Inga Belova leaves NYC for post-perestroika Moscow to launch her own business. She falls in love with two women along the way. Gary Shteyngart says, “If you're going to read one bisexual management consulting Russian novel this year, please, dear god, make it this one."

This Ally Parenting audiobook is the synthesis of 22 years of teaching parents through private parenting consultations, classes, and speaking engagements. Each chapter is an answer to questions parents have asked about how to get more cooperation from their children, or how to make them more responsible, or how to get their child to talk to them more. Parents who had tried many common strategies such as taking things away, isolating, yelling, pleading, threatening, shaming, questioning, and commanding, couldn't stand it anymore.

Do you ever feel like you have to be different things to different people? Do you struggle with pulling yourself together? Rachael ultimately realized this too, and finally discovered what it takes to make a fractured life whole again.

Middle age hits hard for Karen Grace. She’s spent her entire career working for one corporation, an increasingly soul-sucking health insurance company in southern California. Nearing the big five-oh, Karen's marriage is foundering, and her mother’s health is declining. All she has left is her work family, the employees she’s mentored and nurtured over the years. When a young corporate gunslinger arrives, determined to fire them all and shut down the Newport Beach office, Karen goes to war.

Laura Holland, a rising journalist, endures a night of terror when she is attacked in her home in the middle of the night. Although she fights off the would-be rapist, his parting words are a threat to return. At the urging of her husband, Laura undergoes therapy to recover from the trauma. Laura decides to write a hypothetical legal case, which plays out the events of that night had she had a gun and had shot and killed her assailant. She enlists the help of a young, black attorney, Thomas Bennett. Though Thomas proves to be clever in the rules of the criminal justice system, his striking resemblance to her attacker does not go unnoticed.

Nothing in Margo Simmons’ life comes easy. She can’t claim the inheritance on a condo apartment her uncle has left to her until she is gainfully employed in a job for a year. She meets the man of her dreams but anguishes over a loving relationship because he is still emotionally tied to his deceased wife. With great difficulty, she becomes the guardian to a recently orphaned child she had been tutoring. Margo evolves from an insecure, newbie elementary teacher into a woman determined to fulfill the secret desires locked in her heart.

Every woman needs a friend like Karen Grace. In this third audiobook in the series, Karen travels from Palm Springs to Newport Beach to Denver reuniting with friends, all of whom struggle with matters of the heart.

Dawn was a fragile young woman scarred by pneumonia as a child; she was effectively wrapped in cotton wool to protect her most of her young life. In an effort to improve her health and possibly find a man, her mother sent her to live with her aunt over the summer period and at once caused upset when a man showed interest in her - the same man her cousin wished to court. Her world was complete...or at least it was until her new love was arrested for a most evil crime.

New York City, 1906. With the fast-approaching death of their mother, the lives of two sisters, Martha and Lilah Caldon, are about to change. Lilah, the younger of the two, is favored by their mother. She receives the best education and attends various social events outfitted in the finest wardrobe. The only exception is the annual Broadway play Martha attends with her parents, when Lilah is left at home. Every year since she turned 16, Martha and her parents have gone backstage after the play to meet Miss Sahara, the beautiful leading actress.

When Karen Grace turned 50, she lost her marriage and her job. Now, she's starting over, and this time, she's determined to build a new life on her own terms. However, she's being pulled in multiple directions: Her family and friends want more of her time, her hometown sweetheart wants a commitment, and her fledgling business is on life support. With the hard-won confidence of midlife, Karen knows what she needs to do, and pays the heartbreaking price for pursuing her dreams.