Showing results by narrator "Nikki Massoud" in All Categories

Eighteen-year-old Amir Azadi always knew that coming out to his Muslim family would be messy, but he wasn't expecting it to end in an airport interrogation room. Now, he's telling his side of the story to the stern-faced officer. Amir has to explain why he ran away to Rome (boys, bullies, blackmail) and what he was doing there for a month (dates in the Sistine Chapel, friends who helped him accept who he is and, of course, drama) all while his mum, dad and little sister are being interrogated in the room next door.

So began the stories Marjan’s father told her as a little girl – tales of mythical beasts that filled her with curiosity and wonder: Griffons. Unicorns. Dragons. But Marjan is not a little girl anymore. After her father’s sudden death, she is trying to hold it all together: her schoolwork, her friendships and her dad’s struggling veterinary practice. But a mysterious visitor soon reveals that Marjan’s father was no ordinary vet. The creatures from his stories are real – and he travelled the world to care for them.

Surviving the Neverseen King's lethal bridal competition earned me the title of wife and queen. After the darkest, bloodiest night of my life, I am to don a wedding gown and marry the deadly fae king who lives in shadows. When sabotage and murder are discovered in the palace after the wedding, my new husband and I have no choice but to find out who is trying to usurp his throne. Yet the question that plagues me most isn't about power, magic, or the fate of the worlds.

Every house witch knows: the kitchen is an essential part of your magical practice. From preparing food to enjoying a meal, it’s important to honor the process of making a dish, to appreciate each individual ingredient, and to make magic from the recipes you already know and love.

Published to challenge the historic narrative of music and music writing being written by men, for men, This Woman's Work seeks to confront the male dominance and sexism that have been hard-coded in the canons of music, literature and film and has forced women to fight pigeon-holing or being side-lined by carving out their own space.

Over the past five years, Mitra Esfahani has known two constants: her best friend Bea Ortega and The Book—a dogeared moleskin she and Bea have been filling with the stanzas of an epic, never-ending poem since they were 13. For introverted Mitra, The Book is one of the few places she can open herself completely and where she gets to see all sides of brilliant and ebullient Bea. There, they can share everything—Mitra’s complicated feelings about her absent mother, Bea’s heartache over her most recent breakup—nothing too messy or complicated for The Book.

Who are you? You are data about data. You are a map of connections—a culmination of everything you have ever posted, searched, emailed, liked, and followed. In this groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction, Kerry Howley investigates the curious implications of living in the age of the indelible. Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs tells the true story of intelligence specialist Reality Winner, a lone young woman who stuffs a state secret under her skirt and trusts the wrong people to help.

Magic meets healthy living in this guidebook to help you become a healthier version of yourself. From crystal healing to moon cycles to other natural remedies, you’ll learn everything you need to know to strengthen, treat, and support your body and spirit - all while using your witchcraft skills. In The Witch’s Guide to Wellness, you will bring your spiritual practice into the practical world with spells, potions, and powerful activities.

Nazanin and her friends are on the brink of adulthood. As they prepare for a wedding, outside their living room the Iranian Revolution simmers and threatens to alter the course of their lives. Set over the course of 14 years, Sanaz Toossi’s timely world premiere play, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, shines a light on the daring potential of friendship amid the relentless aftershocks of political upheaval.

From the organization We Need Diverse Books and Dhonielle Clayton, the co-author of Blackout, comes a fantasy collection of short stories from a list of diverse, award-winning, and best-selling authors. This critically acclaimed young adult anthology welcomes every voice to lead, empower, and take command of their universe.

Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club series featured a complex cast of characters and touched on an impressive range of issues that were underrepresented at the time: divorce, adoption, childhood illness, class division, and racism, to name a few. In We Are the Baby-Sitters Club, writers from the original BSC generation will reflect on the enduring legacy of Ann M. Martin’s beloved series, 35 years later - celebrating the BSC’s profound cultural influence.

In Kisia's conquered north, former empress Miko Ts'ai is more determined than ever to save her empire. Yet, as her hunt for allies grows increasingly desperate, she may learn too late that power lies not in names but in people. Dishiva e'Jaroven is fiercely loyal to the new Levanti emperor. Only he can lead them, but his next choice will challenge everything she wants to believe about her people's future. Abandoned by his Second Swords, Rah e'Torin must learn to survive without a herd. But honor dictates he bring his warriors home....

As the healer’s daughter, Malka has seen how the wood’s curse has plagued her village, but the Ozmini Church only comes to collect its tithe, not to listen to heretics with false stories of monsters in the trees. So when a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka’s mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes an impossible bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest: bring the monster out and spare her mother from execution.

As the healer’s daughter, Malka has seen how the wood’s curse has plagued her village, but the Ozmini Church only comes to collect its tithe, not to protect heretics with false stories of monsters in the trees. So when a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka’s mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes an impossible bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest. If she brings the monster out, he will spare her mother from execution.

Margaret Parker and Hattie LaCour never intended to turn outlaw. After being run off their ranch by a greedy cattleman, their family is left destitute. As women alone they have few choices: marriage, lying on their backs for money, or holding a gun. For Margaret and Hattie, the choice is simple. With their small makeshift family, the gang pulls off a series of heists across the West.

Ruby Spencer is spending one year living in a small cottage in a tiny town in the Scottish Highlands for three reasons: to write a bestselling cookbook, to drink a barrelful of whisky, and to figure out what comes next. It’s hard to know what to expect after an impulse decision based on a map of Scotland in her Manhattan apartment—but she knows it’s high time she had an adventure. The moment she sets foot in Thistlecross, the verdant scenery, cozy cottages, and struggling local pub steal her heart. It doesn’t hurt that Brochan, the handyman, keeps coming around to repair things at her cottage.

“What's most compelling about a scientific story is the way it challenges us to think about the concepts we take for granted,” writes guest editor Carl Zimmer in his introduction. The essays in this year’s Best American Science and Nature Writing probe at the ordinary and urge us to think more deeply about our place in the world around us.

In 2012 the rebel suburb of Daraya in Damascus was brutally besieged by Syrian government forces. Four years of suffering ensued, punctuated by shelling, barrel bombs and chemical gas attacks. People’s homes were destroyed and their food supplies cut off; disease was rife. Yet in this man-made hell, 40 young Syrian revolutionaries embarked on an extraordinary project, rescuing all the books they could find in the bombed-out ruins of their home town. They used them to create a secret library, in a safe place, deep underground.

Following the untimely death of their parents, Anne, Beatrix, and Violet Quigley have made a business of threading together the stories that lie at the bottom of their customers' teacups. Days at their teashop are filled with fortune-telling intertwined with the sound of clinking china and the scent of cinnamon shortbread. When the Council of Witches comes calling with news that the city Diviner has lost her powers, the sisters suddenly find themselves being pulled in different directions.

Using a simple seven-step system, financial coach Jessie Susannah Karnatz - a.k.a. the Money Witch - provides an easy-to-follow method to take control of your money with clarity and confidence.