Showing results by narrator "Natalie Naudus" in All Categories

In this award-winning Christian devotional, author J. C. Beichner shares her own coming-of-age story of overwhelming childhood loss and her search for forgiveness. Combined with a beautiful collection of prayers and the author's pro-every-life testimony as a reflection, each of us can discover the infinite depth of God's mercy. Grace in Progress: Prayers for the Beautifully Broken is an honest and timely reminder of the ever-present availability and abundance of Jesus's love.

Akira Hamada is driven by past failure. Two years earlier, she had a chance to kill her greatest enemy - Kaito Mitsui. Instead, the Yakuza boss forced her to become an assassin in his employ. Now, Akira carries out the bloody business of the notorious crime syndicate and hates herself more each day. When Mitsui hears that his sister’s murderer will be on the cruise ship Starfish, he immediately tasks Akira with eliminating the man once and for all. This is what Akira has trained for, but a series of strange events on the ship tests her resolve and shows her a way to redemption.

Akiko "Jane" Thompson, a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian woman in her mid-30s, is attempting to forge a quietly happy life in the Bay Area with her fiance, Shiro. But after a bizarre car accident, things begin to unravel. An intruder ransacks their apartment but takes nothing, leaving behind only cryptic traces of his or her presence. Shiro, obsessed with government surveillance, risks their security in a plot to expose the misdeeds of his employer, the TSA. Jane's mother has seemingly disappeared, her existence only apparent online.

As a mother and a famous author, Ward DeFleur has it all. She lives in a beautiful estate in picture-perfect Connecticut, along with her teenage daughter, Stevie, where nothing can go wrong. Until, one night, when Stevie is brutally murdered and Ward’s entire world is shattered. Consumed by panic and grief, Ward vows never to put pen to paper again. Enter Bree Bennett. Bree is a recently divorced, former-journalist-cum-housewife, desperate to fill her days with something other than Pilates classes and grocery shopping.

Raised in a privileged community of wealthy survivalists on an idyllic, self-sustaining Oregon ranch, Marlo has always been insulated. The outside world, which the ranchers call “the Disaster”, is a casualty of ravaging climate change, a troubled landscape on the brink of catastrophe. For as long as Marlo can remember, the unknown that lies beyond the borders of her utopia has been a curious obsession. But just as she plans her escape into the chaos of the real world, a charismatic new resident gives her a compelling reason to stay.

Throughout Reduce, Reuse, Re-imagine, Beth Porter provides a great resources about recycling, explaining the complexity, guiding individual action, and contextualizing its history. This book reveals how we arrived at this state of dysfunction, and what steps we need to employ to be an active participant in strengthening our recycling system. Nature knows how to recycle itself, decomposing waste back into the soil to continue the circle of growth. We should follow its lead.

The West has taken to meditation with great enthusiasm. We contemplate. We concentrate. We embrace mindfulness techniques and a multitude of mantras. We have undertaken to “do” meditation. The Aspects of Meditation series is comprised of brief, precious texts in which Osho shows us the core of meditation is not about sitting silently or chanting a mantra. It is, instead, a question of understanding the subtle workings of the mind. In Book 4, Osho examines health and illness, disease and well-being as outgrowths of our sense of self and connection to our mind.

The West has taken to meditation with great enthusiasm. We contemplate. We concentrate. We embrace mindfulness techniques and a multitude of mantras. We have undertaken to “do” meditation. The Aspects of Meditation series is comprised of brief, precious texts in which Osho shows us the core of meditation is not about sitting silently or chanting a mantra. It is, instead, a question of understanding the subtle workings of the mind. In Book 2, Osho explores the purpose of meditation: to discover the self.

The West has taken to meditation with great enthusiasm. We contemplate. We concentrate. We embrace mindfulness techniques and a multitude of mantras. We have undertaken to “do” meditation. The Aspects of Meditation series is comprised of brief, precious texts in which Osho shows us the core of meditation is not about sitting silently or chanting a mantra. It is, instead, a question of understanding the subtle workings of the mind. In book one, Osho reintroduces us to our body, focusing on the “root” of the human, the soul.

Listeners will discover lost and forgotten women who wrote horror every bit as effectively as their male contemporaries. They will learn about their lives and careers, the challenges they faced as women working in a male-dominated field, the way they overcame those challenges, and the way they approached the genre - which was often subtler, more psychological, and more disturbing.

Join mother and daughter as they wade through the trenches of flowers and favors, grueling gown decisions…and the cold, cruel realities of a budget. With luck, love and loads of patience, they come out on the other side, bloodied but unbowed, replete with life lessons - and closer than ever before.

On the run from an abusive man, Megan Liu and her mom find work cleaning an ancient Beijing opera house in exchange for room and board. Meeting Kristy, the lead performer of the theater’s current show, ignites Megan’s long-buried singing ambition. But Kristy’s hiding something; and digging into her secrets, Megan uncovers more mysteries—including her mom’s childhood connection to the theater and a decades-old murder. The more Megan learns, the more her dreams and reality begin to blur. Something’s calling her from deep within the opera house, and it’s ravenous…

On the night of the Hungry Ghost Moon, when spirits can briefly return to the living world, Jodi Wu and her best friend sneak into Portland’s Chinese Garden and Ghost Museum. Kneeling before the pond where Jodi’s toddler drowned one year before, they leave food offerings and burn joss paper—and Jodi prays that Ella’s ghost will return for the night. To distract Jodi from her grief, the two friends tell each other ghost stories as they explore the museum.

Lexa Thomas has never quite fit in. Having grown up in a family of blondes while more closely resembling Constance Wu, she's neither White enough nor Asian enough. Visiting her father in Taiwan as a child, Lexa thought she'd finally found a place where she belonged. But that was years ago, and even there, some never truly considered her to be a part of the family. When her estranged father dies unexpectedly, leaving the fate of his Taiwanese family in Lexa's hands, she is faced with the choice to return to Taiwan and claim her place in her heritage.

Have you ever wondered why winning lottery tickets always seem to be purchased in a small town in the middle of nowhere? Nadine did more than wonder. Unhappy with the way her life turned out and desperate for a change, she devises a plan to travel to a remote town that appears to pay out lottery winnings every week. Her lackadaisical husband Sam is hesitant at first (which irritates the hell out of Nadine) but then joins her on a trip that will surely change their lives. W

Hailed as “The Paris Review of BIPOC literature,” Kweli Journal has been a launching pad for many of today’s most celebrated writers. This powerful anthology marks the journal’s 15th anniversary, showcasing 15 unforgettable stories curated by founder Laura Pegram. With a foreword from award-winning author Edwidge Danticat, the narratives included in this vivid anthology explore the devastation of leaving home and the struggle to adapt to reimagined lives, lost loves, distant families, and buried pasts.

Holly-Mei Jones has finally settled into her new friend group in Hong Kong—that is until suddenly everyone starts talking about dating. Which Holly-Mei is not ready for. At least she has her school’s Experience Week to look forward to. Holly-Mei can’t wait to show off Taiwan, where her beloved Ah-Ma is from, to her friends. The trip is going to be perfect…right? Maybe not. On top of the pressure to date, Holly-Mei starts to wonder if maybe being half-Taiwanese isn’t enough. In the face of these big questions, will Holly-Mei be able to finally feel like she belongs?

For Naomi, every day begins the same way: She awakens in a strange garden with a box of unopened letters. Will the letters contain answers or reveal unbearable truths? Naomi wanders the garden every day but can't remember how she got there. An ever-present and mysterious box of unopened letters calls to her. Even though these letters might provide the answers, she can't bear to open them.

In The Sermon of Loss, power is gifted by food, its use tightly controlled by the Masked Ones, state sorcerers who never show their faces – and pay an enormous price as they slowly starve to death, unable to eat the foods they once burned for magic. The story follows Teros, a gifted young magician attempting to keep himself free of the palace. Unfortunately, the High Priest is determined to capture him and sends 732, his most lethal magician, in pursuit. 732 has spent her life in service of the crown, taken from her family at five years old.

Mo Sarda carefully guards his peaceful life from other people’s messy feelings. He co-parents his daughter with no drama, sits quietly at family gatherings, tends to his beloved plants, and volunteers to teach blacksmith skills at the local Folk School. No one seems to get him, except for his family, and that’s completely fine with Mo—there’s no one else he needs. Then along comes Jessica Anderson and her damn crossbow.