Showing results by narrator "Josh Hurley" in All Categories

The stories in Paul Alan Ruben's Terms of Engagement explore father and son as intimate enemies, each yearning to be understood, acknowledged, and validated by the other. Raw and gripping as delivered by a cast of incredible narrators, these nine stories take place in collision territory - where father and son engage in trying to repair their alienation.

With short, fast-paced, alternating point of view chapters, The Death Code starts several weeks after The Murder Complex ends. Zephyr keeps the secret about Meadow close - that if she dies, The Murder Complex will be destroyed, too. Meadow, desperate to find her brother, father, and little sister, is determined to fight fearlessly to the end, even if it means sacrificing herself and her friends, new and old.

Recruitment Day is here...if you fail, a loved one will die. For Lucian "Lucky" Spark, Recruitment Day means the Establishment, a totalitarian government, will force him to become one of five Recruits competing to join the ruthless Imposer task force. Each Recruit participates in increasingly difficult and violent military training for a chance to advance to the next level. Those who fail must choose an "Incentive" - a family member - to be brutally killed. If Lucky fails, he'll have to choose death for his only living relative: Cole, his four-year-old brother.

Koji Owens is the new kid...again. As the only son of an Air Force F-16 pilot, he's learned to adapt and survive every time they move. It's not easy starting over with new friends and schools every two years, but when the Owens family makes their final move to New York, Koji finally has hope for a normal high school life - that is, until he finds a strange bracelet in his locker.

Benny's life is slowly unraveling. His parents are newly divorced, his mom chooses to move away, and Benny and his brother and sister are left with their chain-smoking dad, who has just been diagnosed with lung cancer. Benny is lonely, anxious, and very angry. He can't sleep at night and spends his days trying to survive fifth grade.

Only one thing can make veterinarian Noah Cuthbert return to Magnolia Harbor—his mother's failing health. He'll do anything to help his family, including taking a short-term gig at the local animal clinic. What he doesn't count on is getting up-close-and-personal with the clinic's new manager, a woman whose love and compassion for every stray that crosses her path has him rethinking his plans to head back to his big-city life...

Ryan and Regan Resnick are the youngest members of a top-secret team exploring the greatest discovery ever made: a vast alien city buried deep underground - as potentially deadly as it is astonishing. When the city is captured by highly trained soldiers led by a ruthless alien, the adult members of the team are taken hostage. Now Ryan and Regan are the team's only hope of survival.

Koji Owens is running out of everything: time, places to hide, people to trust, and worst of all...his soul’s potent energy. With the aftermath of Dr. Livingston’s vicious attack still making news headlines around the globe, it’s almost impossible for him and his friends to keep their identities under wraps. Backed into a corner, with only the efforts of Drake and the FBI to protect him from an international manhunt, Koji doesn’t know how much more he can take. It’s all he can do just to keep a grip on the raging Kur fury that threatens to break his mind.

Steven (Slim) Pickings is on the edge of a breakdown - but then, it always feels like Slim is teetering on the edge of something. The difference this time is that something’s caused Slim’s worries to come alive! He’s set loose a bunch of annoying, pesky, outrageously contagious creatures - and they’re infecting everyone they meet and massing to take over the town! To stop them, Slim will have to do more than just team up with his family and friends - he’ll have to face his fears, literally.

Everything done in darkness will eventually be brought into the light. I ran, but all it did was keep me one step ahead of my past. I tried to start over; new name, new identity. But you can't change your soul. A fresh start at college was just what I needed. For a while, it worked. I was the party girl, the one who seemed confident, but it was a lie.

Twenty-four-year-old Russel Middebrook and his boyfriend have moved to Los Angeles so Russel can try to make it as a screenwriter. Almost right away, in a forgotten old house off of Sunset Boulevard, Russel meets Isaac Brander - a once-famous film producer who is convinced he can turn Russel's screenplay into a movie.

Fourteen-year-old Stark McClellan (nicknamed Stick because he’s tall and thin) is bullied for being "deformed" - he was born with only one ear. His older brother, Bosten, is always there to defend Stick. But the boys can’t defend each other from their abusive parents. When Stick realizes Bosten is gay, he knows that to survive his father's anger, Bosten must leave home. Stick has to find his brother, or he will never feel whole again. In his search, he will encounter good people, bad people, and people who are simply indifferent to kids from the wrong side of the tracks. But he never loses hope of finding love - and his brother.

Across the US, student activists are exposing a pervasive cover-up of sexual assault on college campuses. Every day more survivors come forward. But other survivors choose not to. We Believe You elevates the stories the headlines about this issue have been missing - more than 30 experiences of trauma, healing, and everyday activism, representing a diversity of races, economic and family backgrounds, gender identities, immigration statuses, interests, capacities, and loves.

Escaping to Credence was supposed to be Becca's shot at a new life, but some secrets refuse to stay hidden, and now that the truth is out, everything changes. Everything. The people she thought she could trust lied. The guy she thought cared about her kept her in the dark. And with no one to turn to, Becca finds it hard to unravel the truth. When she finally does, her past and present collide in a way no one saw coming.

I left everything I knew behind. But it was worth it. He was worth it. No one thought an ordinary girl like me would last two minutes living with the Amish, not even me. There are a lot more rules and a lot less freedom, and I miss my family and the life I once had. Worst of all, Noah and I aren't even allowed to see each other. Not until I've proven myself. If I can find a way to make it work, we'll be Noah and Rose together forever. But not everybody believes this is where I belong.

The sinister Spinning Man has been defeated - but a powerful new villain has risen from the shadows. The Mother of Flies has eyes everywhere, and she is searching for Caw. As the last survivor of a long line of crow ferals, Caw holds a crucial piece of Blackstone's legacy - one the Mother of Flies will stop at nothing to find.

Caw has defeated the dreaded Spinning Man and vanquished the Mother of Flies. But a new feral has appeared - one who intends to uphold the Spinning Man's dark legacy. Known as the White Widow, this spider feral is determined to destroy Caw and bring Blackstone back into an era of crime and fear.

Now everyone Caw holds dear is in danger. And this time Caw may not be able to protect them.

It's Saturday night in Santa Barbara and it seems like everyone is headed to the same destination. The reason is simple: To celebrate the end of school. But for eleven different people the motives are bit more complicated - to be noticed, to hook up, to make friends, to numb the pain, to get over an ex, to say goodbye. As each character takes a turn and tells his/her story, the eleven individuals intersect, reconnect, and combine in ways that none of them ever saw coming.

Twelve-year-old Fee is a shy Korean American boy and a newly named section leader of the first sopranos in his local boys' choir. At their summer camp, situated in an idyllic and secluded lakeside retreat, Fee grapples with his complicated feelings towards his best friend, Peter. But as Fee comes to learn how the director treats his section leaders, he is so ashamed he says nothing of the abuse, not even when Peter is in line to be next.

In a world filled with magic, love might be the final answer in the eternal battle between good and evil. When Lux is tasked with retrieving the virtuous Lily for his master, his entire world is put in jeopardy. Lux must battle goblins, demon dogs, and sea dragons to rescue the one he loves, and that's only the beginning of what he must face... Virtue is a fairy tale for young adults with action, suspense, and romance. It contains mild language and some suggestive dialogue. Recommended ages 14 and up.