Showing results by narrator "Maria McCann" in All Categories

We are established loners—each limited by the boundaries we set—but when a young boy’s life hangs in the balance, we discover we have more in common than we thought.

When Jane Epstein's brother makes this confession, a tsunami of memories floods over her. She remembers the years of sexual abuse at his hands. The pain. The shame. Suffering from trauma few talk about, Epstein searches for solace in strip clubs and hotel rooms. She finds love, loses it, and loves again. Years pass before she dares to dive into the depths of her past. Only then does she begin to heal.

The crown now sits atop Eleira's head. With her new powers as queen, she can begin the healing process to reunite the Haven's ailing vampires. But a deep betrayal from one close to her heart has undermined all sense of safety. Morgan's lingering spirit continues to overshadow Eleira's rule. Elsewhere, the forsaken sisters have received the blood gift. But their maker was not the promised one, and the consequences will cast lasting effects on everything that is yet to come. Meanwhile, a new threat lurks beneath the Haven. An army, grown there for centuries, is now ready to strike.

When the Bough Breaks presents a breakthrough concept of mourning, documenting the process of evolution from initial grief to an altered outlook on life. Excerpts from interviews with fifty parents who lost a child from age five to forty-five trace the road from utter devastation to a revised view of life, resulting in a work that is a tribute to resilience and the indomitable human spirit.

Welcome to the fascinating world of behavioral paradoxes: apparent contradictions which make sense once we understand the human needs and motivations behind them. This inspiring book invites you to ponder contradictory behaviors which reflect our shared humanity and, surprisingly, offer pathways to improved mental health, meaningful living, and well-being for ourselves and others.

Well, Evie doesn't want to find out! Evie Jones is a widow of three years, with an eighteen-year-old daughter. Struggling to simplify her life and trying desperately to convince her daughter not to leave the nest. And her 'No Dating' rule is part of that struggle. So is selling her big house and moving into something smaller. To help with that plan, she hires a handsome contractor to complete her partially finished basement.

The story begins in 1940s Palestine, where twins Rasheed and Rasheeda Dinar work in the family’s inn. When Rasheed falls in love with Natalia, a Jewish woman, he applies what he learned from the Jesuit priest who mentored him to his budding relationship, but by then relations between Arabs and Jews have become tense. And when those tensions come to a breaking point, Natalia mysteriously disappears, and Rasheed and Rasheeda are chased out of Palestine forced to flee to Beirut, Lebanon. As the years pass and the Dinar family expands and enters the 1970s, their convictions are tested.

As a scrawny goat shifter in a pack of werewolves, my role is to get into places they can't go. The alpha who took me in after my parents died molded me into a master thief. For four long years, he's lined his pockets, while I've taken all the risks. Now he's sending me after the magical artifact he's chased for years. This is my chance to escape. All I have to do is pull off the biggest heist I've ever attempted, escape the seethe of vampires I'm about to rob, and ditch the wolves who watch my every move.

Coexisting with a demon is going to take more than a meditation playlist and good intentions. These days, I’m training hard core. My only accessories are bladed weapons and bruised ribs. It’s a price I’m willing to pay if it means staying in control.

How fast can charity fundraiser CeCe Barclay’s unimpeachable society life come tumbling down? One minute she’s speaking before Chicago’s glitterati. The next, her financier husband is wanted for embezzlement. Her assets seized and her fall mortifyingly public, CeCe grasps for refuge—and employment—as a sorority housemom at Eli Whitney University, her daughter Hayden’s alma mater.

A shy young fairy, named Pansy, longs to have exciting adventures. One day while in the forest with her friend, Lightning the firefly, she loses track of the time and is very late for dinner. In her hurry to get home, she becomes lost in the dark and meets a strange creature. When this happens, she discovers an old secret that could threaten the safety of her town.

Barry and Beth, high school sweethearts separated by time and circumstance, find themselves reunited at the Blue Loon Village senior living center in Minneapolis. Now both seventy, they rekindle their relationship only to discover how differently time has shaped them. Beth has blossomed into a free spirit with a goth flair, while Barry has transformed into the curmudgeon he swore in his youth he’d never become.

A desperate murder committed by Angela Miller’s mother tore Angela’s life apart and brought her to Martha’s Vineyard to live with her wealthy grandparents. It’s where her cousin, Kiki King, was born and raised, and Kiki now wants nothing more than to see the world beyond its sandy perimeter. Kiki’s mother escaped it. She took a late-night swim off Tashmoo Beach and was never seen again.

Avery Stone will do anything to have the family she didn't have growing up—even marry a man she doesn't love. Or at least that was the plan until she woke up on her wedding day with feet so cold she might as well name them Elsa…from Frozen, get it? After asking her deceased Grammy for a sign that she is doing the right thing, she receives a news alert on her phone announcing the newest cast member of Fairytale Love, who just happens to be the man she shared the best two weeks of her life with five years earlier and who she's loved and pined after ever since.

In Anger, Xane’s journey reaches a boiling point as she experiences anger for the first time—an emotion that threatens to override her core programming. After mastering fear, shame, sadness, and love, anger poses a new danger. Xane’s malfunction could destroy everything she’s worked for, and as her red eyes signal impending failure, she must find a way to control this overwhelming emotion before it leads to her self-destruction.

What happens when a Synth learns to love? LOVE thrusts Xane into the most powerful emotion yet: love. As she continues to understand human emotions, love proves to be a complex and intense challenge. Guided by River, Xane explores relationships, desire, and self-discovery, all while learning that love isn’t as straightforward as she thought. With multiple love interests, including the mysterious Levi and fellow musician Adrian, Xane is pulled in many directions, forcing her to question her identity and emotions.

After raising twin girls as a single father and spending his days on construction sites, Ford was ready to live out his early retirement on his terms, which included solitude and fishing. So he ditched the big city, moved to a town the size of a postage stamp, and bought a house in the middle of nowhere without a neighbor in sight. His recluse plans hit a snag when the abandoned house down the road is suddenly inhabited by a woman who bears a striking resemblance to his childhood crush and her four kids.

After years of being signed up to every matchmaking site known to man, speed dating, getting set up by well-meaning (if somewhat delusional) friends and family, and even applying for the reality TV show Fairytale Love to find her prince charming, Kennedy Dawes was starting to lose hope. On the advice of her therapist, she'd written down—in excruciating detail—everything she was looking for in an attempt to manifest her Mr. Right. There was just one problem—she couldn't get Mr. Wrong out of her mind.

After serving his country for twenty years, the retired Navy SEAL was footloose and fancy-free. He wanted to travel and reconnect with family. One of his first stops was to spend the summer visiting his brother and cousin. Three months in Whisper Lake, and then he'd be on to his next adventure. Nothing was going to derail his plans. Not even a stunning, smart, sarcastic Sofia Vergara look-alike who made him want things he'd never wanted before.

Serena Stapleton’s father insists she marry in order to satisfy his debt. Upset and angry, Serena boards a train to faraway California. Halfway through the journey, the train is held up by outlaws. Serena is struck on the head and thrown from the train. Tim Dawson, the widowed doctor in Fort Riggins, Montana, rushes to where Serena is injured. He takes care of her in his clinic. His mother insists the young woman recover in their home. Serena, waking to strangers and terrified, claims no memory of what happened to her—praying this might be her way out of the marriage contract.