Showing results by narrator "Tavia" in All Categories

It begins with a bang: Kathleen Stone is watching her friend, Dolly, and his fellow drag queens from The Pink Parrot perform at the Halloween parade when their float explodes. Suspecting foul play, The Pink Parrot's owner, Big Mamma, hires Kat to find the culprit. Meanwhile, Kat has not given up on her quest to bring gangster Salvatore Magrelli to justice and once more dons a disguise to infiltrate The Skyview, an exclusive club run by his wife, Eva.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is a true leader. Growing up in Park Ridge, Illinois, Hillary was inspired by the philosophy of John Wesley, who urged his followers to "do all the good you can". Rising to prominence in 1992 as the first lady of the United States, Hillary captured the world's attention with her bold ideas and political forcefulness. From her time at Wellesley to her life at the White House and beyond, Hillary has been at the forefront of huge change.

Elmira Bayrasli's colorful narrative brings listeners inside the world of high-growth entrepreneurs as they overcome vexing obstacles to build businesses that create jobs and economic growth and - perhaps most important - shift mindsets. Here are the people who personify the transformative force of entrepreneurship from parts of the world that will be the source of the overwhelming amount of economic growth over the next 25 years.

The authors discuss the current research on unconscious bias and insider-outsider dynamics and focus on how to translate that current research into best practice for leaders. SET for Inclusion follows the stories of three diverse characters in a large modern organization - a top executive, a middle manager, and an individual contributor. Each of these characters is working to make inclusiveness real, to provide tangible benefits for them as individuals and for the organization.

While millions of consumers carry on unaware, powerful companies are racing to gain more knowledge and data than anyone, including any government, has ever had. The goal is to understand consumer behavior and desires, from mundane matters to our most private and intimate affairs. This massive trove of data represents an immense prize for these companies. In economic terms it is one of the most valuable assets on the planet.

Except for their gorgeous faces, identical twins Mercedes and Marcie Calder are nothing alike. Mercedes is a movie star in LA with a sexy husband, two beautiful children, and an exciting, glamorous lifestyle; Marcie is an art teacher in Minnesota with a shy disposition and a quiet life alone. But when Mercedes is found dead - mysteriously drowned in her swimming pool - Marcie is the only person who can step into her shoes and finish her latest movie.

Choice. Power. Speed. Today's leaders continually face these forces. But with too many choices, too much power, and too much speed, leaders often make decisions in a heightened state of emotion (and drama). Hasty decisions are often poor ones, and in this climate there is no place to hide. Privacy is a thing of the past; the days of covering up or ignoring a problem are over. In today's transparent culture, the decision making of leaders is more vulnerable than ever - and it is more critical than ever to get it right.

Maggie Steele is a gritty farm girl from tiny Grain Valley, Kansas, who pours her broken heart into the daring, dangerous sport of pole-vaulting. Driven by a secret she cannot share with anyone, Maggie finds herself on a quest to soar far higher than critics think a girl should ever go. Unflinching in its exploration of teenage grief and filled with brilliant descriptions of a breathtaking, beautiful sport, Maggie Vaults over the Moon is a powerful and rewarding story for middle-grade listeners and adults.

Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night opens on September 4, 1913, two months after the Fourth of July tragedy. Owen, the girls' father, "turns to drink" and abandons his family. Their mother Grace falls victim to the seductive powers of Grief, an imagined figure who has seduced her off-and-on since childhood. Violet forms an unlikely friendship with Stanley Adamski, a motherless outcast who works in the mines as a breaker boy.

A whispering voice at the back of my mind reminds me that I've been this way for some time. Dead, that is. The dead have a very broad view of the living, of actions performed out of sight, of thoughts believed to be private. I would know. Losing both parents is a trial no child should endure, and Marina and Dylan have endured enough. They deserve the one thing I could never give them: a mother's love. A mother's love, and the truth.

When 17-year-old Sara Thibault's father is killed in a mudslide, her mother sells their vineyard to a rival family whose eldest son marries Sara's sister, Lydia. But a violent tragedy compels Sara and her sister to flee to New York, forcing Sara to put aside her dream of following in her father's footsteps as a master winemaker. Meanwhile, Philippe Lemieux has arrived in California with the ambition of owning the largest vineyard in Napa by 1900.

Just as Emmalee prepares to escape her hardscrabble life in Red Chert holler, Leona dies tragically. Grief-stricken, Emmalee decides she'll make Leona's burying dress, but there are plenty of people who don't think the unmarried Emmalee should design a dress for a Christian woman - or care for a child on her own.

When Maddie Michaels, AKA Mrs. Frugalicious, is invited to take a local news crew with her on a Black Friday shopping expedition, she’s excited to show viewers at home how to score the season’s best savings. Despite a negative comment from Contrary Claire - the sole naysayer in her growing Frugarmy - Maddie is hopeful her first TV appearance will be a bargain-savvy success. But Black Friday eve takes a bleak turn when a shopper is crushed beneath a pallet of toasters.

For the audience that made Commencement a New York Times best seller comes a novel about women making their way in the world. Self-doubting Ruth is coddled by her immigrant mother, who uses food to soothe and control. Defiant Francesca believes her heavy frame shames her Park Avenue society mother and, to provoke her, consumes everything in sight. Lonely Opal longs to be included in her glamorous mother’s dinner dates - until a disturbing encounter forever changes her desires. Finally, Setsu, a promising violinist, staves off conflict with her jealous brother.

When a powerful development company sets its sights on Mason County, Virginia, as the location for a sprawling resort for the rich, the locals begin taking sides. Many residents see the resort as economic salvation for the small Blue Ridge Mountains community, while others fear the county will become financially dependent on a predatory company. Few oppose the development more vocally than veterinarian Rachel Goddard.

Sammy Ikua Gachagua had lost his father to AIDS, his mother to abandonment, and his home to poverty. By age ten, he was living in a shack with seven other children and very little food. He entered Tumaini Children's Home seeing it as a miracle with three meals a day, a bed to sleep in, and clothes on his back. When Claire Diaz-Ortiz arrived in Kenya at the end of an around-the-world journey, she decided to stay the night, climb Mt. Kenya, then head back home to Maine.

"If our families are to flourish, we will need to learn and practice ways of forgiving those who have had the greatest impact upon us: our mothers and fathers." Through the authors' own compelling personal stories combined with a fresh look at the Scriptures, Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers illustrates and instructs in the practice of authentic forgiveness, leading you away from hate and hurt toward healing, hope, and freedom.

This fresh look at Hollywood's "Queen of Screwball," Carole Lombard, presents a first-ever examination of the events that led to the shocking flight mishap that took her life on the side of a Nevada mountain in 1942. It also provides a day-by-day account of the struggles of Lombard's husband, Clark Gable, and other family, friends, and fans to cope with the tragedy. In effect, having just completed the first sale of war bonds and stamps in the nation following its entry into World War II, Lombard became the first Hollywood star to sacrifice her life in the war.

A History of the Present Illness takes listeners into overlooked lives in the neighborhoods, hospitals, and nursing homes of San Francisco, offering a deeply humane and incisive portrait of health and illness in American today....In the tradition of Oliver Sacks and Abraham Verghese, Aronson's writing is based on personal experience and addresses topics of current social relevance. Masterfully told, A History of the Present Illness explores the role of stories in medicine and creates a world pulsating with life, speaking truths about what makes us human.

A charming, heartwarming Christmas tale about the power of family, tradition, and love - sure to delight fans of Debbie Macomber and Richard Paul Evans. In 1875, Owen Thomas, a poor Welsh coal miner, falls in love with a beautiful London actress, Jessica Lavery. He builds her a cottage in his village and enchants her with the promise of the holidays they’ll share after they marry.