Showing results by narrator "Lauryn Allman" in All Categories

Every October, the school where I work takes a trip to a local farm to pet the animals and search for the perfect Halloween pumpkin. This year is even more special, as my daughter, Claire, is coming. She’s so excited, and we really need some fun time together after what we’ve been through.

When bookish young American Sylvia Beach opens Shakespeare and Company on a quiet street in Paris in 1919, she has no idea that she and her new bookstore will change the course of literature itself. Shakespeare and Company is more than a bookstore and lending library: Many of the prominent writers of the Lost Generation, like Ernest Hemingway, consider it a second home.

Everyone in the small Midwestern town of Henderson looks up to my perfect parents. With dependable jobs as a midwife and the town sheriff, they help this close-knit community feel safe. But the locals didn’t grow up in my parents’ house. They don’t know what I know. And they wouldn’t believe me if I told them....

Mark and I pride ourselves on giving visitors to our hotel, high on the rugged Maine cliffs with views of the ocean, a vacation they won’t forget. But the Rowes are strangely overfamiliar when they arrive with their teenage daughter. The wife puts a hand on Mark’s forearm, and her husband meets my eyes with a knowing look as I hold my little son tight. They gush that they loved their previous stay here, but I’m certain I’ve never seen them before.

I’d heard of the Baby Caroline case, of course. When a baby is snatched from her mother’s arms, the whole country knows about it. I knew about the parents left lying by the swimming pool, the open window in the nursery. But I never dreamed it had anything to do with me. Today, my beautiful daughter turned one. We were unwrapping gifts and blowing out candles when the knock came at the door, and they took my mother away. The police say she’s not really my mother. That she stole me, 30 years ago.

When the love of Tasha’s life, Luca, joins the air force to fight against the evil Nazi invaders, she knows she has to follow her heart—and him—into battle. Headstrong, impulsive and a daredevil, she’s the perfect recruit. Tasha’s sensible older sister, Nadia, plans only to stop Tasha’s madness and bring her home. But a chance encounter puts her in a plane, soaring above the clouds, and she also finds her calling.

Burnout is more widespread than ever before, and it's time to do something about it. Rooted in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), this book delves into the systemic, cultural, and economic contexts that contribute to burnout, and gives you the tools to exit the cycle. Exercises and reflection questions help you reconnect with your values to find what's really important, and disentangle yourself from unhelpful thought patterns. By engaging with your emotions rather than avoiding or suppressing them, ACT allows you to respond more effectively and become re-engaged in your own life again.

Meghan Gray hasn’t returned to the golden sands of Hatteras Island since her beloved Pappy passed away 10 years ago. But with her life in New York falling apart—and her dreams of becoming a successful chef going up smoke—she quits her waitress job and heads back home on a hot summer’s day, hoping she’ll find some answers there.

The best-known secret in the city, Jane is an underground health clinic composed entirely of women helping women, empowering them to embrace their futures by offering reproductive counseling and safe, illegal abortions. Veronica, Jane’s founder, prides herself on the services she has provided to thousands of women, yet the price of others’ freedom is that she leads a double life. When she’s not at Jane, Veronica plays the role of a conventional housewife—a juggling act that becomes even more difficult during her own high-risk pregnancy.

This audiobook looks at what it feels like to be an autistic parent, offering valuable insights, knowledge and wisdom on parenting autistic and non-autistic children. Three mothers reflect on their experiences of growing up as undiagnosed autistics, venturing into and embracing motherhood, and connecting with their children in a unique and powerful way. Full of wit and warm advice, this audiobook empowers autistic parents and reassures them that autism is a strength in raising their children with love, knowledge and experience.

Travel journalist and mountaineer Nick Grevers awakes from a coma to find that his climbing buddy, Augustin, is missing and presumed dead. Nick’s own injuries are as extensive as they are horrifying. His face wrapped in bandages and unable to speak, Nick claims amnesia - but he remembers everything. He remembers how he and Augustin were mysteriously drawn to the Maudit, a remote and scarcely documented peak in the Swiss Alps. He remembers how the slopes of Maudit were eerily quiet, and how, when they entered its valley, they got the ominous sense that they were not alone.

Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. Year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury - and a magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby intray? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver's conference? And perhaps most pertinently - who is driving the ship?

When my husband found this perfect little cabin in the woods for our honeymoon, I couldn’t wait to get away. Just us in the middle of the forest, waking up every day in the trees, ending each night in the hot tub under the stars. But now I’m not sure that I know my husband at all.

Florida, 1883. Cassie Gwynne is looking for a fresh start when she steps off the steamship in Fernandina harbor for the very first time. She’s trying very hard to become the proper society lady her father wished she was. She’s styled her unruly hair, shined her boots, and even purchased a whole new wardrobe. However, she’s certain finding a body is not very ladylike behavior. To make matters worse, her aunt Flora is arrested for the murder. Desperate to save the only family she has left, Cassie vows to untangle the mystery herself, no matter how much the locals disapprove.

Ten years ago: On a warm summer’s evening, four childhood friends gather at a slumber party.... Before dawn breaks, the nightmare begins. One of them dies. One of them is a killer.

Aria Abbott has never had a home. Drifting through the foster system for most of her life, she finally finds herself in a situation so unbearable that she has no choice but to run away. Sleeping on the streets pushes Aria beyond any suffering she has felt before; the only thing worse than seeing no escape is the knowledge that no one in the world cares enough to try and find her. Enter Taylor, a homeless young man with a charismatic smile and a dream of fame, fortune, and the sunshine of LA. Swept up in his energy, Aria and Taylor board a greyhound bus and never look back.

Jo is my best friend. From high school to adulthood, we’ve gone through everything together. Even when I made a foolish mistake and betrayed her in the worst way, she forgave me. She’s godmother to my son, and our lives are intertwined. We want the best for each other, always. I hope she approves of my new boyfriend, Noah. How could she not? Noah is kind, attentive, and loves me for who I am. But when I introduce them over dinner one evening, Jo doesn’t look happy. She’s always been protective of me, and as Noah clutches my hand, I force her reaction to the back of my mind.

I am at home with the television on when I hear the news. A woman has been found by the docks. In heavy tones, the reporter says it appears the notorious local serial killer has returned. My breath comes short in my chest. My legs tremble. I know that can’t be true, because I know who the killer was. My father. My sisters and I learned the shocking truth after his funeral. We made a pledge to say nothing: Revealing the truth would only bring more pain. We set fire to his confession, turning his secrets into ash. But now, someone is sending us a message. Someone knows we lied.

Young, bookish Sylvia Beach knows there is no greater city in the world than Paris. But when she opens an English-language bookshop on the bohemian Left Bank, Sylvia can't yet know she is making history. Many leading writers of the day, from Ernest Hemingway to Gertrude Stein, consider Shakespeare and Company a second home. Here some of the most profound literary friendships blossom - and none more so than between James Joyce and Sylvia herself.

In the state of Liberty, water is rationed, free speech is hardly without a cost, and Texas has just declared itself its own country. In this society, paranoia is well-suited because eyes and ears are all around, and they are judging. Always judging. This terrifying terrain is explored via Eleanor, a young woman eagerly learning about her magic through her coven. But being a white witch is not as easy as they portray it in the books, and she’s already been placed under "house arrest" with a letch named Stan, a coworker who wronged her in the past and now exists in the form of a cat.