Showing results by narrator "Christine Lakin" in All Categories

A small southern town was evacuated after a freak power-plant accident. As the first anniversary of the mishap approaches, some residents are allowed to return past the national guard roadblocks. Mount Hope natives Maggie and Jordan quickly discover that their hometown is not as it was before. Downed cellular networks fail to resume service. Animals savagely attack humans. And the damaged power plant, where Jordan’s father is an engineer, is under military lockdown.

When it comes to losing her virginity, 17-year-old Alex has every intention of waiting for "the one". Problem is, she's attracted to trouble. After a traumatic breakup leaves her emotionally scarred and therapy pushes her past her breaking point, Alex departs from her New Jersey hometown to stay with her cousin, Caleigh, in LA, hoping to distance herself from boy trouble for the summer.

Becca Ortiz knows to remain calm in a crisis. As a psychologist for the LA Police Department, she spends her days helping people in extreme situations. But LA is full of vulnerable people and Becca can’t save them all. So when her foster daughter, Ash, goes missing, Becca finds herself living the same kind of nightmare as the victims she counsels. While fresh horrors bring back old memories, Becca’s search will push her to the edge of reason. Because loving someone means nothing if you can’t keep them safe...

Southern California, 1960s: endless sunny days surfing in Malibu, followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky A-Go-Go. In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donelly is breaking the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sport—and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of her unconventional lifestyle.

When Alix's charismatic girlfriend, Swanee, dies from sudden cardiac arrest, Alix is overcome with despair. As she searches Swanee's room for mementos of their relationship, she finds Swanee's cell phone, pinging with dozens of texts sent from a mysterious contact, L.T. The most recent text reads: "Please tell me what I did. Please, Swan. Te amo. I love you." Shocked and betrayed, Alix learns that Swanee has been leading a double life - secretly dating a girl named Liana the entire time she's been with Alix. Alix texts Liana from Swanee's phone, pretending to be Swanee in order to gather information....

Cheney flips mental illness inside out, exposing the visceral story of the struggles, stigma, relationship dilemmas, treatments, and recovery techniques she and others have encountered. Sometimes humorous, sometimes harrowing, Modern Madness is the ultimate owner's manual on mental illness, breaking this complex subject down into readily understandable concepts like instructions for use, troubleshooting, maintenance, and warranties.

Belle likes to think herself immune to the dizzying effects of fabulous wealth. But when her best friend Summer invites her on a glamorous girls' getaway to the Mediterranean aboard her billionaire boyfriend's yacht, the only sensible answer is yes. Belle hopes the trip will be a much-needed break from her stalled acting career and uniquely humiliating waitressing job, but once aboard the luxurious yacht The Lion's Den it becomes clear that all is not as it seems.

Davie and her friends are sealed away behind a powerful shield, and one of the most dangerous dragons alive is in captivity, but they are far from safe. She must mend her friendship and decipher visions of unknown people determined to bring them down. Can they figure out what is really going on before the ultimate evil is unleashed on the world? Dragon Oracle Omnibus: Volume 3 contains books 7-9 in the Dragon Oracle urban fantasy series.

On the Clock takes us behind the scenes of the fastest-growing segment of the American workforce to understand the future of work in America - and its present. Until robots pack boxes, resolve billing issues, and make fast food, human beings supervised by AI will continue to get the job done. Guendelsberger shows us how workers went from being the most expensive element of production to the cheapest - and how low wage jobs have been remade to serve the ideals of efficiency, at the cost of humanity.

This thoughtful, wry story is about two girls - a 'punk' and a 'priss' - who find themselves facing each other in a peer-counseling program and discover that they have some surprising things in common.

Humans are master pretenders. We often seem stronger, calmer and more mature than we really are, while the truth is we're full of doubts and self-criticism that pushes us to borrow reassurance from friends, beliefs from strangers on the internet, or attention that, in the moment, makes us feel successful, but leaves us totally hollow and burnt out. Dr. Smith uses examples from her own life and the lives of her therapy patients to explain how we borrow confidence, calmness and beliefs from our relationships and offers solutions and steps for building a life with our own best-thinking.

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle. But once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave. One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them by going straight to Coldtown's opulent heart.

Davie was lost and presumed dead. With no choice but to move on without her, Bron, Mallory, and Mickey are forced to prepare for a war they appear incapable of winning. When a young street urchin shows up claiming to have critical information, they may have found salvation. Will they risk everything on the fantasies of a homeless orphan boy? Dragon Oracle Omnibus: Volume 2 contains books 4-6 in the Dragon Oracle urban fantasy series.

In Love Her, Leave Her (book 2 of Cheater. Faker. Troublemaker.), newly redemptive Elias King chases his second chance at love across the country. When his past mistakes put his and Alex's future on the line, Elias must prove that his determination to change is stronger than his addictions. Now back in her hometown, Alex is forced to turn to Elias when her abusive ex reappears. After Elias risks his life to keep Alex and her family out of harm's way, Alex is left to decide if she can trust a boy with a dangerous hold on her heart or if she should turn her back on him for good.

Based on the extraordinary true story of America's first-ever female detective, this fast-paced adventure recounts feats of daring and danger...including saving the life of Abraham Lincoln! Eleven-year-old Nell Warne arrives on her aunt's doorstep lugging a heavy sack of sorrows. If her Aunt Kate rejects her, it's the miserable Home for the Friendless. Luckily, canny Nell makes herself indispensable to Aunt Kate...and not just by helping out with household chores. For Kate Warne is the first-ever female detective employed by the legendary Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Welcome to Prague, 1970: ground zero in a Cold War of spies and sorcerers. The streets are a deadly chessboard on which the CIA and KGB make their moves, little dreaming that a deeper game is being played between the Consortium of Ice and the Acolytes of Flame, ancient organizations that seek to harness elemental magic. Tanya Morozova is a KGB officer and the latest in a long of Ice sorceresses; Gabe Pritchard is a CIA officer and reluctant Ice recruit. Enemies at one turn, but forced into alliances at the next, their relationship is as explosive as the Cold War itself.

Well, now you've gone and done it, America. You've elected Donald K. Trump president, and the US will never again be the same! The problem for all of us is that he's got plans - lots of them. The list reads like a bad acid trip: nominating Bernie Madoff for secretary of the Treasury; "Trumpifying" the Constitution; making personal real estate deals with Vladimir Putin; staging a hostile takeover of one of America's great news magazines - to name just a few.

Nell has always wanted to be an actor, but doubts her ability. As a member of her school’s theater program, she prefers working backstage. On the way to a contest, an unexpected blizzard strands her acting troupe in a creepy motel. Soon they meet a group of strangers from another high school—including the mysterious and handsome Knox, who insists they play the game Two Truths and a Lie.

On a river deep in the Mexican jungle stands the colossal villa Xanadu, a wellness center that’s home to an ardent spiritual group devoted to self-help guru Paul Bentzen and his enigmatic wife Kali. But when Paul mysteriously dies, his entire estate—including Xanadu—is left not to Kali, but to his estranged niece Sveta. Shocked and confused, Sveta travels from New York City to Mexico to pay her respects. At first, Xanadu seems like a secluded paradise with its tumbling gardens, beautiful people, and transcendent vibe.

Rejoice! A new messiah has come, and her name is Julie. Born to Murray Katz, the solitary (and celibate) keeper of an abandoned lighthouse on the Jersey shore, our protagonist arrives on Earth boasting supernatural abilities evocative of her divine half-brother, Jesus. As a child, she revels in her talent for walking on water, resurrecting dead crabs, and treating fireflies as luminous alphabet blocks. But after she reaches adolescence, her life becomes as challenging and ambiguous as any mortal’s.