Showing results by narrator "Sandy Rustin" in All Categories

Evie Baker is a great story-teller, an avid prankster, and a fantastic baker. And while she loves her parent’s bakery, she has no plans to stay in their small town and become stuffy or static. Evie wants to go on adventures and she knows just what she needs to do it! With her best friend, Cecily, by her side, Evie sets off into the Old Forest to find one of the Fel, a group of crow-like magical creatures who can’t lie.

In Jen Doll's young adult debut novel, Unclaimed Baggage, Doris - a lone liberal in a conservative small town - has mostly kept to herself since the terrible waterslide incident a few years ago. Nell had to leave behind her best friends, perfect life, and too-good-to-be-true boyfriend in Chicago to move to Alabama. Grant was the star quarterback and epitome of "Mr. Popular" whose drinking problem has all but destroyed his life.

A 13-year-old girl seeks answers about her past in the fourth dimension - and beyond - in this think-outside-the-box adventure. What do you do when it turns out your whole life has been a lie? Jadie Martin was always told she was abandoned by her parents. Creatures from the fourth dimension rescued her and placed her with a loving adoptive family. Now, Jadie acts as an agent for the beings, also known as Seers. She uses the fourth dimension as a shortcut to travel anywhere on Earth, performing missions calculated to guide the world toward a brighter future.

Justin Blackwood can't remember a time when he believed in the magic of anything, least of all love. A cynical businessman who grew up in a broken home, he guards his heart with every breath he takes. His job has taken him all over the world, and roots are the last thing he wants...until he meets a beautiful innkeeper in Whisper Lake. Warmhearted, free-spirited Lizzie Cole wants it all - the dream job of running her own inn and a man who wants to settle down. Despite a previous setback, she still believes in happily ever after and her perfect soul mate. She just has to find him.

Twelve-year-old Grace and her mother have always been their own family, traveling from place to place like gypsies. But Grace wants to finally have a home all their own. Just when she thinks she's found it, her mother says it's time to move again. Grace summons the courage to tell her mother how she really feels and will always regret that her last words to her were angry ones. After her mother's sudden death, Grace is forced to live with a grandmother she's never met.

Acclimating to a whole new world, Ellie meets a lonely but intriguing Cajun fisherman named Raphe who introduces her to the legendary white alligator that haunts these waters. Raphe and Ellie have barely found their way to each other when a huge bounty is offered for the elusive gator, bringing about a shocking turn of events that will test their love and their will to right a terrible wrong.

Rosie and Baker are hiding something. Something big. Their great grandmother made them promise to pretend she's alive until they find her missing will and get it in the right hands. The will protects the family house from their grandmother, Grim Hesper, who would sell it and ship Rosie and Baker off to separate boarding schools. They've already lost their parents and Great Grammy - they can't lose each other, too. The siblings kick it into high gear to locate the will, keep their neighbors from prying, and safeguard the house.

Rosie and Baker are hiding something. Something big. Their great grandmother made them promise to pretend she's alive until they find her missing will and get it in the right hands. The will protects the family house from their grandmother, Grim Hesper, who would sell it and ship Rosie and Baker off to separate boarding schools. They've already lost their parents and Great Grammy - they can't lose each other, too. The siblings kick it into high gear to locate the will, keep their neighbors from prying, and safeguard the house.

Sixteen-year-old Sabine Braxton and her identical twin, Blythe, don’t have much in common. When their father dies from an unexpected illness, each copes with the loss in her own way. Neither can offer each other much support...at least not until their emotionally detached mother moves them into a ramshackle Bay Area mansion owned by a stranger named Charlie. Soon the sisters are united in a mission to figure out who Charlie is and why he seems to know everything about them. Neither is prepared for the secret they uncover....

Starring the special bond between sisters throughout history, this fun and inspiring biography collection from author Aura Lewis is perfect for fans of Rad American Women A-Z and the Women in Art/Science/Sports series.

Some secrets have deadly consequences. Brynlee Parker thought her biggest challenge would be hiking to Dead Man’s Bluff and fulfilling her dad’s last wishes. She never thought she’d witness two men being viciously murdered while on a mountainous trail. Even worse, the deadly predator is now hunting her. Boone Wilder wants nothing to do with Dead Man’s Bluff, not after his wife died there. But he can’t seem to mind his own business when a mysterious out-of-towner burst into his camp store in a frenzied panic. Something - or someone - deadly is out there.

When evil descends like fog on a mountain community, no one feels safe. After hearing about a string of murders in a Smoky Mountain town, journalist Harper Jennings realizes a startling truth. She knows who may be responsible - the same person who tried to kill her three years ago. Now Harper must convince the cops to believe her before the killer strikes again. Sheriff Luke Wilder returned to his hometown, determined to keep the promise he made to his dying father. The sleepy tourist area with a tragic past hadn’t seen a murder in decades - until now.

Bina has never forgotten the time she and her mother ran away from home. Her mother promised they would hitchhike to the city to escape Bina's cruel father and start over. But before they could even leave town, Bina had a new stepfather, two new stepsisters, and a humming sense of betrayal pulling apart the bond with her mother - a bond Bina thought was unbreakable. Eight years later, after too many lies and with trouble on her heels, Bina finds herself on the side of the road again, the city of her dreams calling for her.

Reliance, Illinois tells the story of a young woman faced with choices that will alter the course of her own future, and offers a brilliant window into American life during a period of tumultuous change. Illinois, 1874: With a birthmark covering half her face, 13-year-old Madelyn Branch is accustomed to cold and awkward greetings, and expects no less in the struggling town of Reliance. After all, her mother, Rebecca, was careful not to mention a daughter in the Matrimonial Times ad that brought them there.

Break up with Chase Dexter, or I'll kill him. Holly Anna Paladin never expected such a gut-wrenching ultimatum. But the man threatening her makes it clear he's dead serious. With home invasions, hidden cameras, and bombs threats, Holly must make some serious choices.

When the world started to fall apart, the government gave everyone two choices: move into the Bubble Cities...or take their chances outside. Maggie's family chose to live in the world left behind. Maggie rechristens herself 'Ford Falcon' - a name inspired by the beat-up car at a nearby junkyard. But when Ford comes home one day to discover her family missing, she must find the strength to rescue her loved ones with the help of some unlikely friends.

When Holly Anna Paladin is given a year to live, she embraces her final days doing what she loves most: random acts of kindness. But one of her extreme good deeds goes horribly wrong, implicating Holly in a string of murders. Holly is suddenly in a different kind of fight for her life.

When the world started to fall apart, the government gave everyone two choices: move into the Bubble Cities... or take their chances outside. Twelve-year-old Maggie and her family chose the latter. They live in the world that was left behind. Deciding it's time to grow up and grow tough, Maggie rechristens herself "Ford Falcon" - a name taken from the beat-up car she finds at a nearby junkyard. This is where Ford's family goes to scavenge for things they can use and barter with.

In 2009, amid the global financial crisis, 21-year-old Shannon Young graduated from college with a degree in English and more than $80,000 in student debt. Less than five years later, she was completely debt-free. This is her story - a cautionary tale with a surprisingly hopeful outcome.

For the audience that made Commencement a New York Times best seller comes a novel about women making their way in the world. Self-doubting Ruth is coddled by her immigrant mother, who uses food to soothe and control. Defiant Francesca believes her heavy frame shames her Park Avenue society mother and, to provoke her, consumes everything in sight. Lonely Opal longs to be included in her glamorous mother’s dinner dates - until a disturbing encounter forever changes her desires. Finally, Setsu, a promising violinist, staves off conflict with her jealous brother.