Showing results by narrator "Lauren Fortgang" in All Categories

Attending high school in Steamboat Springs is Ida Bidson’s dream—it’s her next step toward becoming a teacher and her best shot at escaping a life of milking cows. It’s 1925, and from using telephones to attending movies, Ida is thrilled by her new experiences in Steamboat. She and her school friends even form a club, the Secret Sisters, to celebrate everything modern. But when they accidentally antagonize the strict, traditionalist principal, Ida’s high school career may be over before it even begins. It's up to the Secret Sisters find a way to save Ida’s dream!

One humiliating photo, a stupid prank, and a hashtag that goes viral. That's how my senior year goes from predictable to absurd in a heartbeat. This year is supposed to be easy. I've finally scored first chair in band, my college applications are done, and all my friends and I have to do is survive one more year of high school before our real lives can begin. Instead, I find myself in trouble with the principal, humiliated in front of the entire school, and fighting with my neighbor - AKA star quarterback, Prince Charming, and nicest guy on the planet.

When Abby spends a week with her grandparents at their summer house, she learns wonderful things about her family for the first time, as well as one piece of unhappy news.

In spring 2008, inspired by the Vietnam-era Winter Soldier hearings, Iraq Veterans Against the War gathered veterans to expose war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here are the powerful words, images, and documents of this historic gathering, which show the reality of life in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Savor gorgeous writing and the pleasure of romance with Best Lesbian Romance 2014. The lesbian literati in this volume comprising the very best of the year raise the bar with tales that grab listener's attention, and their libidos, and have them coming back for more. Romance is many things: Thrilling, inspiring, passionate, and life-altering. But most of all, love - whether new or lifelong - is filled with endless possibility.

After finding her - now former - fiancé in bed with another woman, Sara Simmons decides that love and marriage just aren't for her. What she needs is a hot fling. Enter hunky next-door neighbor Gavin Blake. But Gavin is playing for keeps, and he's vowed to hold out for more than sex. Begging isn't Sara's style...but she will if he won't!

In a world where magic is illegal, eight criminals led by rebellious Larkin are sent on a mission to rid their realm of an ancient evil lurking beneath the surface. Descending into a world full of unspeakable horrors, Larkin and her crew must use their forbidden magic to survive. As they fight in the shadows, Larkin finds a light in Amias, a fellow outlaw with a notorious past. Soon, Larkin and Amias realize that their destinies are intertwined. The eight of them were chosen for a reason.

Julia Farrow has it all. She's got the friends, the grades, the smile, the perfect reputation, and the new boyfriend who adores her. All in all, life is pretty much perfect for Grover High's favorite cheerleader. Until she's tagged, that is. That ridiculous "Geeks Gone Wild" hashtag is still going strong and while Julia has managed to steer clear of the drama unfolding between the jocks and the geeks, one embarrassing photo is enough to flip her world upside down. The boyfriend? He's out. The friends? Turns out they're more like frenemies.

To stand at the side of an elemental as their familiar is a gift given to few familiars. Yet here I stand with my thirteenth - Larkspur, child of the earth. I do not want this charge, for all my previous have ended in deaths I could not prevent. I am not sure my heart can take another loss of one bonded with me. Larkspur’s strength and heart call to me as only one other elemental's had, and I cannot deny the need to protect her and to shield her from all pain.

Gamer vs Player. Some girls have a dream guy, but Suzie's ideal boyfriend is totally real. He’s just...virtual. Suzie doesn't need to see her online gaming buddy to know that he’s her perfect match. The problem lies in reality, AKA high school. Ever since a humiliating photo of her surfaced on the first day of senior year, she hasn't been able to escape the attention of Luke Warner. Suzie thinks he doesn’t know her at all, and she seems convinced that she doesn’t like him. But what if she knew that he was her online BFF? That would change everything.

Best-selling author Carla Cassidy brings danger and deception to Dead River Ranch for the Coltons of Wyoming. Ranch foreman Gray Stark and heiress Catherine Colton may live together on Dead River Ranch, but they're from different worlds. She made that clear when she broke his heart years ago. With their passionate, complicated past, marriage is not an option. Until he finds out that she - and her unborn baby - are targets. Making Catherine his wife is the best way to ensure her safety.

Corpse Pose: Listeners will bend over backward for the debut of the first yoga mystery series. Ever since her husband ditched her - for another man - A.J. hasn't exactly been on the road to inner peace. Then her yoga-guru aunt is found dead, and A.J.'s named the sole heir to her lucrative yoga studio - making her a multimillionaire, a prime suspect, and the killer's next target.

It's 1965 in a tight-knit working-class neighborhood in Queens, New York, and Ruth Malone - a single mother who works long hours as a cocktail waitress - wakes to discover her two small children, Frankie Jr. and Cindy, have gone missing. Later that day, Cindy's body is found in a derelict lot a half mile from her home, strangled. Ten days later, Frankie Jr.'s decomposing body is found. Immediately, all fingers point to Ruth. Pete Wonicke is a rookie tabloid reporter who finagles an assignment to cover the murders. He begins digging into the case.

Last spring Claire's seemingly normal - if not totally screwed up - life was tossed on its head. For five years she'd been one of the damned - a human that knows the truth about the otherworldly among us. She'd worked for The Boss - the Demon King himself - as his administrative assistant, handling everything from early retirements, to Maintenance's incessant requests for dental. No one gets dental.

Bettina Vasilis can hardly believe it when basketball star Brady Cullen asks her out, and she just about faints when her strict father actually approves of him. Over the course of the summer, Bettina falls in love with Brady - and with the new freedom that comes along with him. But when school starts up again, Brady changes. What happened to the sweet boy she fell in love with? Then she meets a smoldering guy in his twenties, and this "Cowboy" is everything Brady is not.

Trinity Marrow has lost the battle and her beloved Protector. Even with both demons and Wardens on her side, Trin may not win the war against the Harbinger. Bringing Lucifer back to the world to fight the Harbinger is probably a really, really bad idea, but they’re out of options - and the world’s ultimate fallen angel is the only being powerful enough to impact the outcome. As Trin and Zayne form a new and more dangerous bond and Lucifer unleashes hell on earth, the apocalypse looms and the world teeters on the end of forever.

With her long ponytail and sparkling green eyes, Tessa Donovan looks more like the girl next door than a businesswoman - or a heartbreaker. Which may explain why Detective Luke Asher barely notices her when he arrives to investigate a break-in at her family’s brewery. He’s got his own problems - starting with the fact that his partner, Simone, is pregnant and everyone thinks he’s the father.

Margaret "Cuckoo" Clarke recently had a brief stay in a mental institution following an emotional breakdown, but she's turning over a new leaf with her "Operation Happiness". She's determined to beat down the bad vibes of the Haters, the Terror Teachers, and all of the trials and tribulations of high school by writing and drawing in her diary. And when life gets really tough, she works through her own moments of uncertainty through imaginary conversations with her favorite literary characters.

Here, in her first collection in eight years, McCorkle collects 11 brand-new stories bristling with her characteristic combination of wit and weight. In honeymoon shoes, mud-covered hunting boots, or glass slippers, all of the women in these stories march to a place of new awareness, in one way or another, transforming their lives. They make mistakes, but they don’t waste time hiding behind them. They move on. They are strong. And they’re funny, even when they are sad.

World-renowned artist and sharp-tongued wit Clementine Pritchard is done. Years of therapy and medication have gifted her with little more than sweaty palms and gastric upset. Now, after flushing away a cabinet full of prescriptions, she gives herself 30 days to tie up loose ends (finish one final painting, make nice with her ex-husband, find a home for her cat) and enjoy one last month of art-world parties, road trips, and outrageous acts.