Showing results by narrator "Laural Merlington" in All Categories

Lilly Jayne typically spends the harvest season baking festive pies and crafting colorful wreaths to enter in the library’s annual fundraising contest. But this year, autumn opens on a somber note when beloved local theater owner Leon Tompkin dies unexpectedly. His memorial sets the scene for a mini reunion of The Goosebush Players’ best and brightest alumni, including Hollywood star Jeremy Nolan... until someone plucks Jeremy from the spotlight - permanently.

With her family’s safety at stake, Megan must pick her way through the von Tresslers’ sordid family secrets and colorful personalities. She discovers that the malice that’s befallen Winsome has roots in the past, and she’ll need to dig deep to weed truth from lies and innocence from guilt, or the body count will grow even higher.

Between hosting a haunted house on her lawn, serving on the town’s 400th Anniversary Planning Committee, and prepping for the Fall Festival’s 10k fundraiser, Lilly has her hands full. She doesn’t have time for prickly newspaper reporter Tyler Crane, who’s been creeping around town, looking for dirt on Goosebush’s most notable families...until he’s found dead on the race route moments before the start. An unfortunate accident? Or did Tyler unearth a secret that someone in Goosebush is willing to kill to keep?

With the explosion of the older adult population, this important book explores the opportunities and challenges that this presents for the Christian community. Amy Hanson challenges us to let go of many old stereotypes regarding aging and embrace a new paradigm that sees older adults as active, healthy, and capable of making significant contributions. The author shows church leaders how they can unleash the power of the baby boomer population to strengthen their congregations.

Your First Year with Diabetes is the 12-month plan for anyone recently diagnosed with diabetes or for those wanting an inspired self-management plan. Taking listeners step-by-step through the first year, this practical guide provides the perfect blend of easy-to-digest information presented in a positive light, builds on need-to-know skills, and offers reasonable action items from which to choose for personal goal setting.

How would you feel if your 2-year-old child was diagnosed as autistic and mentally retarded? That he would go into his room and never come out, and would be institutionalized by age 17? This was the grim life sentence handed down to Lori and Jim Cairns regarding their son, JR. This diagnosis was made in 1996 - when little was known about autism, governments offered few helpful resources, and hope for recovery was disregarded as a myth, an urban legend.

Maggie O'Brien, a nurse and medic on a SWAT team, has a thirst for justice, and a chip on her shoulder. She lives in the shadow of her father, a famous (or infamous) cop. Is she more like him than she wants to admit? The question hits home when Maggie feels the desire - as all police, nurses, doctors and medics sometimes do - to dispense her own brand of justice. Soon she finds evidence that someone else may be acting on the same desire.

Each of the Godmothers - Toots, Ida, Sophie, and Mavis - brings her own unique strengths to their extraordinary friendship. In particular, Sophie's psychic gift has helped rescue the Godmothers from a few tight spots. But her abilities can spark trouble too. And on the eve of her first wedding anniversary, Sophie begins experiencing some very strange events in the house she shares with her beloved husband, Goebel.

There are no secrets between best friends. At least, Teresa "Toots" Loudenberry has always believed that to be the case. In the decades since she, Sophie, Ida, and Mavis met in Catholic school, they've shared all the joys and hardships of their colorful, extraordinary adventures. But right now, Toots can tell that Sophie is hiding something.

Working with difficult people can reduce your morale, threaten your productivity, deplete your energy, and waste your time. But you don't have to be helpless in the face of other people's craziness! Knowing how to handle coworkers' disruptive behavior is one of the most important career skills you can have, allowing you to become a more valuable employee and a more self-reliant person.

In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Nebraska schoolteacher Audrey Stone wants to support the war effort in any way she can. When her community starts a canteen at the train station, Audrey spends nearly every spare moment there, offering food and kindness to the soldiers passing through. She never expected to fall for a local boy...or face the challenges of budding love in the face of war.

As Sophie De Luca has learned, many things really are better the second time around. She's celebrating a wonderful year of marriage to her sweet second husband, Goebel. Meanwhile, the rekindled bond between Sophie and her childhood friends Toots, Ida, and Mavis is stronger and more supportive than it's ever been. All four are happily settled outside of Charleston, and Toots, who'd sworn to never marry again after eight trips down the aisle.

A bear wakes to wonderful smells that lead him to the house of Bubba Brayna. Bubba Brayna makes the best latkes in the village, but at 97, she doesn't hear or see well. When the bear arrives at her door, she believes he is her rabbi. Bubba Brayna and the bear light the menorah, play the dreidel game, and eat all the latkes. The mix-up is revealed, Bubba Brayna has a laugh about it, and everyone works together to make more latkes.

As the newest apprentices to Petrarch's Library, Dorrie and her brother are determined to help search for the missing key that could destroy their beloved library. On a training mission to 1912 England, Dorrie sees her chance to help. All she needs to do is get close to a lord with a connection to the Lybrarians' enemy - the Stronghold.

Cowboy-turned-banker Sam Castlerock arrives in Bear Creek, Wyoming, in a last-chance bid to prove himself to his father. He has one job to do: make the local bank profitable. The last thing he needs is a distraction—but that’s she’s the first thing he runs into. Emily Sands has never forgotten the cowboy she fancied as a teenager. And now he’s back in town. But she’s not the carefree youngster she once was. She’s a woman now—with a woman’s worries. Top on the list: keeping the family store afloat. Next: caring for her younger sister who needs extra help.

Moll Flanders, Defoe's 18th century classic novel, is at once a novel of sin and redemption and a playful and beguiling social commentary set between the Puritan age and the Age of Reason. Taking center stage in this whorl of irony, humor, pathos, and religious faith is one Moll Flanders - both the most plausible sinner and the most pious repentant in English literature. Moll is as controversial today as when she first appeared in 1722.

A novel of immense power, Wuthering Heights is filled with the raw beauty of the English moors and a deep compassion for the conflicting destinies of men and women. The novel begins with Lockwood, a tenant who takes up residence close to Wuthering Heights. His landlord, Mr. Heathcliff, proves to be surly, unfriendly, and rude. When Lockwood discovers a mildewed book with the names Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff, and Catherine Linton scratched on its cover, he begins to read, sojourning on a strange tale that proves irresistible. The heart-wrenching story he discovers about stubborn Cathy and wild-as-the-wind Heathcliff has been a favorite since its original publication in 1848.

Civility and society come head to head in Henry James’ seminal work. The heroine of this powerful novel is the spirited young American Isabel Archer. Blessed by nature and fortune, she journeys to Europe to seek her future, but what she finds may prove to be her undoing. She is courted by three men: an English aristocrat, an American gentleman, and a sensitive expatriate. Her invalid cousin becomes her benefactor and adviser.

For years, Monty Carawan has envied his sister's wealth. Spiteful and self-centered, he's convinced that her success came at the expense of his own future. But when the housing market plunges and Candace attempts to disentangle herself from Monty's mess, her brother’s malicious streak brings the family tension to a dangerous boiling point.

Life comes in stages. Even the Sisterhood has been content to let their gold shields gather a little dust while they enjoy their friends and family. But when a string of anonymous emails arrives at Pinewood, suggesting shady dealings at a local assisted-living facility, Myra Rutledge and her best friend, Annie de Silva, are more than ready to out-hustle a master con artist at his own game. They’ll need to enlist some new and untested allies in order to pull off their brilliant plan.