Showing results by narrator "Thérèse Plummer" in All Categories

Twelve-year-old May is living in a desolate situation with only her grandmother, who is depressed about the absence of May’s mother, and her father, who works long hours and is almost never around. Due to her circumstance and her resentment over having to live in a low-income neighborhood, May often finds herself picking fights and getting into trouble. But when May is caught graffiti-ing her least favorite teacher’s classroom, she is faced with a choice: expulsion or one-on-one summer school with the teacher she most detests.

There's nothing 10-year-old Lily Sinclair likes about her new life in the city with her single mom. She misses her best friend, who seems to have forgotten her and their secret place, Willowood. She never sees her mom, who's working long hours at her new job. She's managed to make an enemy of the class bully. Mrs. Hiller from across the hall, who takes care of Lily after school, keeps preparing yucky healthy snacks for her. And she can't get her mother to tell her anything about her absent father. Her only source of comfort is her beloved pet gecko, Weemis.

When 12-year-old Hershey must run away with her mother to a women's shelter, she wonders how, among other things, she'll compete in the town talent show with her best friend, Phoebe; who will take care of her cat, Augustus Gloop; and if she'll survive being on a new bus route with her sworn enemy.

Now, in this collection of interconnected short stories, Jennifer Haigh returns to the vividly imagined world of Bakerton, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town rocked by decades of painful transition. From its heyday during two World Wars through its slow decline, Bakerton is a town that refuses to give up gracefully, binding - sometimes cruelly - succeeding generations to the place that made them. A young woman glimpses a world both strange and familiar when she becomes a live-in maid for a Jewish family in New York City. A long-absent brother makes a sudden and tragic homecoming.

Maya saw her first demon when she was seven. She learned to hide what she saw, ignore the paranormal beings around her and build an ordinary life. But she had to tell her secrets somehow, so she began drawing, creating her own world, her own characters. Twenty years after that first demon entered her life, her normal existence is shattered when she's faced with two of her comic book characters come to life. Living in our world for years, each has his own agenda.

It starts as a case of mistaken identity but it will slowly blossom into the union of two people so right for each other all of New Orleans society will stand up and take notice. As soon as aristocratic Rafael Navarro lays eyes on the copious curves of Catherine Mayfield he knows he must have her. His machinations will soon be his mistake; he has taken her to be a woman of another name and of easy virtue. He only realizes his flagrant folly after compromising Catherine's good name.

An affecting tale of the struggle to retain one’s humanity in the face of societal breakdown. With the population sliding toward unemployment, homelessness and desperation, one woman ekes out a living fashioning “reborns” for clients of a particular taste.

She's looking good, but Allison Avery can't believe it. Growing up with beautiful, blond sisters, Allison has always been the dark-haired, "interesting-looking" Avery. So when the devil shows up and offers to make her gorgeous, Allison jumps at the chance to finally get noticed. But there's one tiny catch, and it's not her soul: The devil wants her cell phone.

Gen's family is more comfortable spending time apart than together. Then Gen's mom signs them up for Camp Frontiera vacation that promises the "thrill" of living like 1890s pioneers. Forced to give up all of her modern possessions, Gen nevertheless manages to email her friends back home about life at "Little Hell on the Prairie", as she's renamed the camp. But it turns out frontier life isn't without its good points, like the cute boy who lives in the next clearing.

Female entrepreneurs are a growing force to be reckoned with. Each year, more and more women take the initiative and start their own business ventures - at twice the rate of men. Women continue to reshape the business world with innovative models, both large and small. So why is there a lack of clear-cut, expert advice aimed at this dynamic female audience?

Denise Farber has just moved back to New Orleans with her mom and stepdad. They left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and have finally returned, wagering the last of their family's money on fixing up an old, rundown house and converting it to a bed and breakfast. Nothing seems to work around the place, which doesn't seem too weird to Denise. The unexplained noises are a little more out of the ordinary, but again, nothing too unusual. But when floors collapse, deadly objects rain down, and she hears creepy voices, it's clear to Denise that something more sinister lurks hidden here.

Lights, camera - all Maeve needs is action. But at 18, a rare form of muscular dystrophy usually stands in the way of romance. She's got her friends, her humor, and a passion for filmmaking to keep her focus off consistent rejection...and the hot older guy starring in her senior film project. Tall, bearded, and always swaying, Cole Stone is everything Maeve can't be. And she likes it. Between takes, their chemistry is shockingly electric.

When the wild geese migrate over the little pond with its pink flamingos and clipped grass, Skylar and the others watch with envy. They like their pond, but there is something elegant and brave about being a real wild goose. But they've never flown before, and besides, there's never been a reason to go. Then a lost heron wants the pond geese to take him to Lost Pond, and Skylar thinks it's time for this motley crew to spread their wings and try out the great blue yonder. Adventure awaits...but, as they'll soon find out, so does great danger.

It's just not fair! No matter what a mess she makes, nobody ever gets mad at Witch Baby. Nobody except Lulu Witch, who cooks a magic brew that makes her baby sister disappear. But then she begins to worry that Mama Witch will get mad—very mad. Can Lulu wish Witch Baby back? Beginning learners will love this classic tale from Fancy Nancy author Jane O'Connor about children learning to welcome new siblings.

Lulu the witch girl is a little nervous about her first day of school, but she heads off with her broom and Dracula lunch box. She immediately loves her new teacher, Miss Slime, especially her wart. Lulu’s first flying lesson around the cemetery goes great! There’s only one thing she doesn’t like about witch school - curly-haired Sandy Witch, who seems to do everything better than Lulu.

Two meetings. One with Cleo Gallier and her daughter’s missing father, Jake, now a CIA agent, and another with an extremely handsome Russian Oligarch (with a dangerous past) whom Cleo instantly is besotted with.

In this ultimately deadly chess game stands Fiona, a striking redhead poised to kill Cleopatra Gallier. Cleo, the impossibly beautiful, clever, and wealthy former talk show host is as completely unaware of Fiona's existence as she is of Fiona's vengeful plan to kill her for taking out Fiona's love. The story unfolds in the deserts of Dubai and the beaches and gardens of Honolulu's paradise. Amidst CIA agents and a family that could explode if Cleopatra's deepest secret comes out, Cleo and Fiona finally face each other. But who is Fiona?

How did YOU collect SO MUCH POLLEN??? I have sticky hairs EVERYWHERE! Oh! I'm not sticky enough. It's okay. You don't need to collect as much pollen as a bee. Just be a butterfly. Right. You're saying I need to be STICKIER.

Bailey had gone home to Memphis for a few days and decided to meet up with five of her closest friends while she was there. She expected a few laughs and some light-hearted conversation, and had no idea they had a proposition for her. They desperately needed her to come back home for the summer. This would be no regularly scheduled trip and would take a lot of effort on Bailey’s part. But, she was determined to make it happen. Especially since one of the people asking her to come home happened to be tall, dark, and handsome.

Ivy Bauer is a young, bright soil scientist and inventor of a game changing organic irrigation system. She’s on top of the world when, suddenly, her husband is killed in a biking accident. Needing space to grieve, she takes a summer job as a gardener in Malibu. Conrad Reed is a wealthy Hollywood has-been who, after the death of his wife, feels overwhelmed by the care of his anxious stepson Hudson, massive cliffside estate, and deteriorating career.