Showing results by narrator "Jennifer Aquino" in All Categories

Ocean Sun has always felt an enormous pressure to succeed. After struggling with depression during her senior year of high school, Ocean moves to New York City, where she has been accepted at a prestigious university. But Ocean feels so emotionally raw and unmoored (and uncertain about what is real and what is not) that she decides to defer and live off her savings until she can get herself together.

The ink on Cecilia's divorce papers might be dry, but she’s in no hurry to connect with another traveling businessman, especially the spatially challenged one seated beside her on a crack-of-dawn flight from San Francisco to Madrid. Felip should be on top of the world running his family’s cava empire, however life has left him feeling unfulfilled as of late. Good conversation and a hard-won smile from his seatmate—a grumpy but lovely American hearing-impaired teacher—have him wondering if maybe fairytales are possible.

Ami is determined to break the Torres family wedding curse. Her own disaster of a reception ended with all the guests getting food poisoning, and she left her cheating husband soon after. But even though she's still processing her own divorce, Ami won't let her twin sister Olive's day be anything but perfect. Olive may think she wants a private ceremony in Maui, where she and her fiancé Ethan first fell in love, but Ami knows better and secretly flies the whole Torres family out to surprise the couple.

From the Women's March in DC to #BlackLivesMatter rallies across the country, there has been a rising wave of protests and social activism. These events have been an important part of the battle to combat racism, authoritarianism, and xenophobia in Trump's America. However, the struggle for social justice continues long after the posters and megaphones have been packed away. After the protests are heard, how can we continue to work toward lasting change?

The Minerva Sierra Challenge is a grueling spectacle, the cyborg’s Tour de France. Rich thrill seekers with corporate sponsorships, extensive support teams, and top-of-the-line exoskeletal and internal augmentations pit themselves against the elements in a daylong race across the Sierra Nevadas. Marmeg Guinto doesn’t have funding, and she doesn’t have support. She cobbled her gear together from parts she found in rich people’s garbage and spent the money her mother wanted her to use for nursing school to enter the race.

Triumph. Tragedy. The empyreal. The infernal. Even the mundane, filtered through the fantastical. Superheroes are, appropriately enough, a sort of super-genre, encompassing all other story types. This YA anthology features thirteen short stories that creatively turn superhero tropes on their head, while still paying homage to the genre that has found fans for more than eight decades. And there will be no mistake—superheroes don’t have to just be generic handsome white dudes.

At the beginning of February 2060, Mount Erebus erupted, the first of a chain of Antarctic volcanoes that forever changed Earth’s future. Within days, sea levels began to rise, until 60 meters of water claimed coastlines worldwide. Twelve-year-old Xin-yi and her mother fled their home, surviving among a community of rice farmers. A year later, a chance conversation with international census officials prepared her for a new life.

Astrid has reclaimed her name and her voice, and now seeks to bring down the Sisterhood from within. Throwing herself into the lioness' den, Astrid must confront and challenge the Aunts who run the Gean religious institution, but she quickly discovers that the business of politics is far deadlier than she ever expected. Meanwhile, on an outlaw colony station deep in space, Hiro val Akira seeks to bring a dangerous ally into the rebellion. Whispers of a digital woman fuel Hiro's search, but they are not the only person looking for this link to the mysterious race of Synthetics.

Beckett Samuelson has had enough stepmothers to spot a gold digger when he sees one. So when his ailing father announces his engagement to the private nurse he's only known for two months—who's also forty years his junior—Beckett has to step in. But as he gets to know the woman, he realizes she's the perfect next Mrs. Samuelson. If only he was the intended groom.

Beauregard has always had big dreams. He wants to travel the world and see all the sites, but how could he possibly go around the globe if he is too scared to fly? With the help of one cardboard box and some amazing new friends, Beauregard goes on the adventure of a lifetime and realizes he is actually pretty brave after all!

In her first collection of poems, Ching Yeung Russell captures elements of her youth in rich, vivid snapshots and authentic detail. Listeners of all backgrounds will relate to spirited Yeung Ying, her dynamic family, and her courage in the face of life's obstacles.

Lito Val Lucius has no faith, and no loyalty. An elite Icarii soldier of Venus, he was thrown into disgrace after the sudden disappearance of his partner, Hiro. Then Hiro is discovered alive, and a traitor, and Lito is offered a shot at redemption: but only if he hunts down and kills his former partner in cold blood. As the war between the Geans and the Icarii reaches a head, Lito and the First Sister must decide what—and whom—they are willing to sacrifice in the name of duty, or for love.