Showing results by narrator "Caroline McLaughlin" in All Categories

Dwayne Carver is set to inherit his family's ranch in the heart of Texas Hill Country, which would be great if his first love wasn't raising and training horses. In order to keep up with his ranch duties and fulfill his dreams of owning a horse farm, he hires top trainer Felicity Lightburne. Felicity, wracked with grief over the death of her father, can't stand to stay on her family farm anymore, so she takes the job at Grape Seed Ranch sight unseen.

A smallpox epidemic begins in a whisper with a single death, and then the name of the victim surfaces: Abdulaziz al-Sherhi. In a nation rich in imagination, this name requires none at all. In the weeks that follow, the epidemic fears crescendo into a national roar. People panic about dying from this horrific terrorist-incited disease and clamor for a vaccination. Maggie Rider, a weary road warrior for a high-tech company, submits to the shot only to realize this is no ordinary immunization.

Avery Smith, who returned to her hometown of Bethel Springs after time spent away in the big city, is finally beginning to absorb the culture shock and settle into her job at the local Sheriff’s Department. The pay’s not great, there’s a decided lack of decent coffee and available women in town, but those are sacrifices she’s willing to make to in order to be closer to her aging and increasingly eccentric grandmother.

Weeping Under This Same Moon is based on a true story of two teenage girls from different cultures, whose paths intertwine, dramatically altering the course of their lives. In this testament to the power of love and the spirit of volunteerism, Mei and Hannah come together in celebration of culture and language, food and friendship, and the ultimate rescue of both young women from their own despair.

The Girl at the Baggage Claim is a provocative and important study of the different ideas easterners and westerners have about the self and society and what this means for current debates in art, education, geopolitics, and business. Never have East and West come as close as they are today, yet we are still baffled by one another. Is our mantra "To thine own self be true"? Or do we believe we belong to something larger than ourselves - a family, a religion, a troop - that claims our first allegiance?

They’ve watched us for centuries through the Rift. They’ve prepared. Invasion is inevitable. The Earth Fleet has known of the Watchers for years, unwilling to share the knowledge with humanity. Now it might be too late. Hidden away from the Fleet, one man is creating a new colony ship destined for the other side of the Rift, but he’s missing a few pieces. Three other people have varied paths to get there. Ace goes from the streets of Earth to the Fleet training facility on the moon. Flint, an ex-Fleet pilot, must decide if a job is worth his life.

The riveting story of China's rise from economic ruin to global giant in the four decades is illuminated by another, equally fascinating, narrative beneath its surface - the story of the country's emerging artistic avant-garde and the Chinese people's ongoing struggle for freedom of expression. By following the stories of nine contemporary Chinese artists, The Phoenix Years shows how China's rise unleashed creativity, thwarted hopes, and sparked tensions between the individual and the state that continue to this day.

Old flames burn hotter the second time around.... It’s been four long years since McCrea Coldiron watched Eleanor Mackenna walk out of his life. He wasn’t ready for the marriage noose then and never thought he would be. Single, free to do as he pleases, and running the Promise Point horse rescue ranch are the things that make him sure he was right to let Eleanor go.... This is until she comes back to town with a daughter he never knew about in tow.

ER Nurse Macy Wynn learned gritty essential lessons in the California foster-care system: Land on your feet and trust no one. She’s finally located the fellow foster child she loves like a sister, but the girl’s in deep trouble. Macy’s determined to help, no matter what it takes. Her motto is to “make it happen” in any situation life throws at her - even when she butts heads with an idealistic cop.

Seamstress Wendy Weatherford is overjoyed when she is offered the chance to be a mail-order bride for one of the men of Paradise Ranch. When she arrives in Haskell, Wyoming, her intended groom takes one look at her and refuses to go through with the wedding. He wasn't expecting his bride to be a former slave. Abandoned at the altar and alone on the frontier, Wendy doesn't know where to turn.

As Liuan Huska went through years of chronic pain, she wondered why God seemed absent and questioned some of the common assumptions about healing. Countering a Gnosticism that pits body against spirit, Huska takes us on a journey of exploring how healing is not an escape from the limits of the body, but becoming whole as souls in bodies and bodies with souls. As chronic pain forces us to pay attention to our bodies' vulnerability, we come to embrace the fullness of our broken yet beautiful bodies. She helps us redefine what it means to find healing and wholeness.

Major Julie Anne Mitchell is on her own for a week while her partner, Lt. Reilly, is off on vacation with his girlfriend, Kayla. But from the moment Antonio walked into her office, her week was anything but dull. Ordered to drop everything, she is tasked to work with Antonio to prove the conspiratorial partnership between the former Senator Klum and the recently dead Waller Carplex. Digging into the dirt of a crime syndicate isn’t easy or safe. She soon discovers new villains, finds herself hunted by the ones she’s after, and is forced to deal with the unseen scars deep inside.

Nothing good ever happens after dark. Those were the words country singer Daleigh McDermott's father always repeated. Now her father is dead, and Daleigh fears she has returned home too late to make things right. As she's about to flee back to Nashville, she finds a hidden journal belonging to her father. His words hint that his death was no accident.

Libby Chance Sims was orphaned, along with her siblings, at an early age, traveled west on the Oregon Trail, and thought she had her fairytale ending when she met and married a good man at trail's end. But 10 years later, when her husband is killed in a logging accident, her life takes a horrific turn at the hands of unscrupulous "family friend", Hector. Fearing for herself and the lives of her two boys, she flees Oregon for Haskell, Wyoming and her family. But has she run far enough to escape her past?

This friendly, fun biography series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great--the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves. Each book tells the story of an icon in a lively, conversational way that works well for the youngest nonfiction listeners and that always includes the hero's childhood influences. This book features I. M. Pei, the award-winning Chinese American architect whose projects include the John F. Kennedy Library and the pyramid at the Louvre. 

Fifteen years ago, Willow Alexander was jilted at the altar by her high-school sweetheart, Graham Currie, who left their wedding rehearsal the night before knowing he would not be returning the next day. Confused and devastated, Willow remains in the small town of Glenmor in Cape Breton, caring for her ailing parents and nursing her heartache. What no one knows is that Willow lost more than her marriage on that shocking day, which is why she remains on her family’s expansive property, unable to let go of the secret she has kept hidden for more than a decade.

This friendly, fun biography series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great - the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves. Each book tells the story of an icon in a lively, conversational way that works well for the youngest nonfiction audiences and that always includes the hero's childhood influences. This book features critically acclaimed talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, who used her struggles in childhood as motivation to become "Queen of All Media". 

May Sotheby is the heiress to the ritziest restaurant in Grape Seed Falls. In business for over a hundred years, her father wants the restaurant in Texas Hill Country to stay in the family for generations to come, so he lays down some hard news for May: She has one year to find a husband, or the restaurant where she's worked since a teen will go to her already-married sister.

Austin Royal loves his life on his new ranch with his brothers. But he doesn't love that Shayleigh Hatch came with the property, nor that he has to take the blame for the fact that he now owns her childhood ranch. They rarely have a conversation that doesn't leave him furious and frustrated - and yet he still finds himself attracted to Shay in a strange, new way. As they work to make this Christmas the best the Triple Towers Ranch has ever seen, can they also navigate their rocky relationship to smoother waters?

Unwilling to be tied down, farrier Robin Cook has managed to pack her entire life into a 280-square-foot house, and that includes her Yorkie. Now, if things get too hard, she can pack up and get out of town in under an hour, and that's just the life she thinks she wants. No roots. No commitments. No relationships. Cowboy and co-foreman at Grape Seed Ranch Shane Royal has had his heart set on Robin for three years, even though she flat-out turned him down the last time he asked her to dinner.