Showing results by narrator "Jesse Vilinsky" in All Categories

For forever, Didi has had to be the best at anything her father demanded of her—the fastest runner, the master at chess, able to take down a deer with a bow and arrow at a dead sprint. If she fails, he denies her food. Clothes. Kindness. Yet he claims he loves her—he says he does—it’s why he pushes her.

I escaped from the first wave of monsters with a magic sword, a kidnapped duke, and a big chip on my shoulder. It's not enough for me to run. Not when this tide threatens to sweep over the entire world. I'm the only one who can warn people of what's coming. I'm the only one who knows the truth. And I'm the only one who holds a sword able to fight against the tide of plague and monsters...or am I?

Jane is the only person left on the planet, minding the only business left: a gift shop. She wasn’t born on Earth, but her ancestors were; they lived there before the AI in charge of geoengineering failed and the oceans got too hot to sustain the terrestrial food web and before humans took off to colonize other planets. She’s heading to college on Jupiter in the fall of 3020, so her days on the home planet—selling “American Epoch” postcards, “History: The Poster!” and “War: The Soundtrack” to tourists from the suburbs of Europa—are numbered.

Every Christmas Eve for the past 50 years, Ruby Harris, the owner of the historic B&B, The Christmas House, has opened her doors to strangers in need, showing them the compassion once denied to her. When Ruby invites her family home for the holidays, including her two adult grandchildren, Charlotte and Olivia, she hopes they will be able to put the past behind them. However, her plans for reconciliation implode as the women unravel secrets from the past that force them to confront the impact they've had on their dysfunctional family.

When Louisa is sent to stay with her grandparents for the summer, she’s not looking forward to it. While her brother is determined to find a way to stay on Deer Island forever, Louisa would rather be off having adventures with their globetrotting ornithographer parents. She’s a writer, and there’s nothing on all of Deer Island to write about - right? Louisa quickly discovers that small doesn’t necessarily mean quiet, and the island has plenty of scope for the imagination. It also has George, the boy who helps her see the world in a whole new light.

Since absorbing the power of the Life Tree, everything has changed. Scarlett is queen of a realm that until a few weeks ago she didn't even know existed and has more magic than she ever thought possible. But she worries it still isn't enough to protect those she cares about or to find a way to bring Raith, who had sacrificed himself to save his mother, back. With a looming war against a new enemy no one knows much about, Scarlett and Kaelem must find as many allies as they can.

Noah’s Rainy Day combines classic Liv Bergen irreverence and brainpower with an unflinching look at the darkest of human motivations, all while a whirlpool of increasingly terrifying events threatens to engulf Liv and Noah both in one final rainy day....

Though shadow sweeps over the land, light will not relent. On the run with the new King of Cragspear and her shadow guardian, Ilsaletta must gather the seven swords and destroy them all or risk her rival destroying not just Cragspear but the world. Something has changed with Ilsaletta's shadow bodyguard and as he slips away, Ilsaletta must choose between the fate of the world and her own heart. Can she follow duty and good, or will she try to keep what was never hers in the first place?

I'm hiding in my father's closet, desperately picking the lock on a box containing an ancient evil...when he emerges. He doesn't seem all that evil, but neither did my friends before they turned into monsters. I'd like to think that I don't need him. But I love books and he loves battles. I'm used to drinking tea and he's used to drinking the blood of his enemies....or whatever his kind drink. In a world stricken by plague, all my friends have become terrifying monsters, and I have no other option but to trust him to keep me safe.

Jessica Hagedorn's edgy and entertaining new novel centers on the lives of two women who are neighbors in Manhattan's West Village. Mimi Smith is a filmmaker of low-budget slasher movies in search of new material. Her neighbor Eleanor Delacroix is a legendary writer of erotic fiction, now nearing eighty and addicted to cocaine and gin. Their personal and artistic lives begin to collide in unexpected ways.

In the dark gothic town of Wickdon, Maggie Welty lives in an old creaking manor. Maggie's mother is an alchemist who has recently left town, leaving Maggie with just her bloodhound for company. But when Maggie spots a legendary ancient fox-creature on her porch, her fate is changed forever. Whoever tracks down and kills the hala in the Halfmoon Hunt will earn fame and riches - and if Maggie wins the hunt, she knows her mother will want to celebrate her. This is her chance to bring her home.

When eleven-year-old Pet Martin’s dad falls from a ladder on their family farm, it isn’t just his body that crashes to the ground. So does every hope her family had for the future. Money is scarce, and Pet’s mom is bone-tired from waiting tables at the local diner, and even with the extra hours, it’s not enough for a third surgery for Pet’s dad. Her five-year-old brother, Simon, now refuses to say anything except the word “cheese.” Worst of all? The ladder accident was Pet’s fault. She’s determined to fix things—but how?

In the final installment of Adam-Troy Castro's creepy Gustav Gloom series, the fate of the Dark Country rests on Gustav and Fernie's shoulders. After weeks of traveling on a quest to find their fathers, Fernie and Gustav finally come face-to-face with their nemesis - the evil Lord Obsidian. Filled with heroic action sequences, terrifying chills, and plenty of humor, this final book will keep fans on the edge of their seats.

Sixteen-year-old Sierra has been so caught up in her own world of saving animal test subjects and her father's disappearance, she hasn't paid much attention. When she finally finds his location, she and her friend set off on a covert interplanetary mission to rescue him, and she begins to see the corruption firsthand. Discovering that her father has been on the front lines secretly trying to save human test subjects inspires her to join a revolution. But she is afraid of the collateral damage of hurting the people she loves.

From acclaimed author Phoebe North comes a riveting, unexpected, and beautiful contemporary novel about a girl whose brother mysteriously disappears, the family and friends he leaves behind, and the stories - real and imagined - that they tell themselves to fill the empty space.

A necklace. A bugle. A lion statue. What do they have to do with each other? Absolutely nothing unless you’re Tildy, Leon, or Nell. These items matter an awful lot to them. Not because of what they are, but what—and who—they represent. Anatomy of Lost Things shares the crisscrossing stories of Tildy, Leon, and Nell, of the impossible losses they’ve each recently faced, and the unexpected histories of their prized objects.

As she painfully emerges from her grief, Liv comes face-to-face with two facts: She did not truly love Jack, and she does love her long-time colleague and mentor Streeter Pierce. But she wonders if she can find the courage to let him know or just how much longer she can hide her feelings. As Streeter and Liv are drawn together and a tender relationship begins, a gritty and often shocking set of events is unraveling around them. While fans of the series have long waited to know the truth about his past, Streeter’s honest revelations lead to nothing but fear and his worst nightmare.

What would you do if you turned on the faucet one day and nothing happened? What if you learned the water in your home was harmful to drink? Water is essential for life on this planet, but not every community has the safe, clean water it needs. In When the World Runs Dry, award-winning science writer Nancy Castaldo takes listeners from Flint, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey, to Iran and Cape Town, South Africa, to explore the various ways in which water around the world is in danger, why we must act now, and why you’re never too young to make a difference.

Liv has been forced to take a leave of absence from her job at the FBI following the tragic death of her love, Jack Linwood. She finds herself back home in Rapid City, South Dakota, far from her closest friend and colleague, Streeter Pierce, and her trusted dog, Beulah. Struggling with the risks and pressures of her career and the nostalgia of home, a heartbroken Liv questions whether or not she has made the right choices in life. As if that weren’t enough, she finds herself sitting in a bar staring up into the faces of the bizarre wax heads of the infamous citizens of of Deadwood.

Life on the road with Daddy is as good as gets for Hazmat. Together, they’ve been taking jobs and crisscrossing the US for years. Now Daddy’s talking about putting down roots—somewhere Hazmat can go to a real school and make friends. Somewhere Daddy doesn’t have to mail-order textbooks about “nature’s promise to all women.” Somewhere Mom’s ashes can rest on a mantel and not on a dashboard. While everything just keeps changing, sometimes in ways she can’t control, Hazmat isn’t ready to give up the freedom of long-distance hauling.