Showing results by narrator "Lyssa Browne" in All Categories

When Tessie King inherited the Royal Palace Hotel, Lake Tahoe's biggest resort, she inherited a cranky board of directors along with it. A board that is demanding higher revenues, or Tessie's out. Faced with the possibility of losing her father's legacy, Tessie turns to her staff to help her come up with a plan: film the season finale of Battle Buffet, the hottest cooking competition show on TV, at the resort. It's a scheme sure to bring in the big bucks. But is also brings big trouble.

It's summer in St. Louis and Mercy Watts is on vacation from her parents. The great detective and his nosy wife are on a cruise and Mercy thinks she's off the hook for doing any investigating for them. But when a family friend has a fatal heart attack, Dad has one of his famous feelings and orders Mercy to look into it. Mercy tries not to get sucked in. She really does, but she's her father's daughter. Soon Gavin's death leads to a more grisly one, the death of a bride on her wedding day. Can the two be connected?

Event planner Lexi Mannis has a busy life in Chicago - too busy to have a boyfriend. For special occasions, she has her stand-in boyfriend, Mac Northrop. Mac offers (almost) all the perks of a real boyfriend - furniture assembly, a date to big events, and someone to cook for. But they've never been "with benefits"...until one wickedly hot night crosses the line.

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was an American novelist and short story writer best known for the novels "Little Women" and "Little Men." In her later life, Alcott became an advocate of women's suffrage and was part of a group of female authors during the Gilded Age to address women's issues in a modern and candid manner. In this gem of a collection are Alcott short stories: The Candy Country, A Modern Cinderella, The Brothers, Nelly's Hospital, and Debby's Debut.

Vacations can be murder, especially when you're Mercy Watts. She's trying to get away from it all, including her godmother's lawsuit and a certain situation with the mafia. So she heads to Roatan, Honduras, a place known for scuba diving and lawlessness. Mercy's on the island less than 24 hours when she discovers that she hasn't gotten away from anything. Her problems hitched a ride and increased tenfold. The deeper she dives, the more dangerous her vacation becomes.

When Will Kincaid's professional football career comes to an abrupt end in a single night, he's left to figure out what he's going to do with the rest of his life. He heads home to the small Virginia town where he grew up and crosses paths with Hannah Jacobs, the only girl in high school who had ever rejected him. It's Hannah who once made him question the choices he had made, and it's Hannah who's making him question them all over again. But with the weight of a secret he's managed to hide from the world his entire adult life hanging over him, he can't afford to question his choices.

A series of brutal murders has the homicide division of San Francisco's Hub 9 working overtime. But as the bodies mount, they begin to question whether the attacks are random or somehow connected. When one of their own falls victim, Detective Salvi Brentt and her homicide team join forces with the narcotics and cyber divisions to track down those responsible. They soon discover that a volatile new drug-tech experience, involving black market neural implants, has hit the streets, causing the epidemic of violence and missing persons.

"A Hunger Artist" is a short story by Franz Kafka first published in 1922. The protagonist, a hunger artist who experiences the decline in appreciation of his craft, is typically Kafkaesque: an individual marginalized and victimized by society at large. "A Hunger Artist" explores themes such as death, art, isolation, asceticism, spiritual poverty, futility, personal failure, and the corruption of human relationships.

Guinevere thought that her life was over, that she would spend the rest of her days in a convent or hidden away in Avalon, but she was wrong. Cursed by Morgan LeFay, Queen Guinevere is banished from Avalon and must face the ages alone, hiding in the shadows as a vampire. Through the centuries, she's watched Arthur return again and again, but her love and respect for her husband and king has kept her away. Until now. Morgan LeFay has returned with an ominous threat, and once again Guinevere is forced to make an impossible choice.

contemporary fiction, emotional drama, relationships, modern romance, love and loyalty, personal growth, close friends, female protagonist, commitment fears, marriage test, friendship dynamics, life choices, family ties, self-discovery, emotional conflict, relational tension, new beginnings...

Algernon Henry Blackwood (March 14, 1869 - December 10, 1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The following recording includes the short stories "The Olive" and "Ancient Lights."

Debby's Debut, written in 1863, is a delightful story that smells of the sea and summer, of joy and youthful innocence, of love, tenacity and courage to claim one's ideas, in which the typical themes of Alcott's production—the construction of female identity, the dignity of work, the importance of honesty and always remaining faithful to themselves, the safeguarding of the good values that modern society risks forgetting—find a lively, ironic and absolutely convincing expression. An unmissable gem for Alcott lovers.

Thirteen-year-old Evan Hanson is always the last in her family to know what's going on. Her father, Gene, who's been meaner since he began serving in Vietnam, isn't around much, and she likes it better that way. But then her brother, Adam, gets drafted and her anti-war mother, Endura, takes him across the border to Canada, leaving Evan alone with Gene and her younger, special needs brother, Teddy. When he realizes Endura isn't returning, Gene takes Evan and Teddy to Eat and Get Gas, his mother's cafe and gas station.

Louisa May Alcott's short story "The Brothers" is set during the Civil War. Narrated by a wartime nurse, the story tells of one white brother and the other, who is half black, who meet in a hospital. Due to a previous grudge between them, the black brother tries to kill the white brother. Preaching the religion of humanity and kindness, she draws from her personal experiences to create this amazing work. This piece first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in November 1863.

A Modern Cinderella is a collection of four short stories by Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women. Like her more famous novels, Alcott tells stories of young women interacting with people and events from the late 1800s. Louisa May Alcott bestows a truly amusing and thoroughly modern retelling of The Brothers Grimm's Cinderella. Alcott pokes fun throughout, describing a "cool blonde" as "having many cares those happy little housewives never know."

Susan Lentigo's daughter was murdered twenty years ago and now, at long last, this small-town waitress sets out on a road trip all the way from Upstate New York to North Dakota to witness the killer's execution. On her journey, she discovers shocking new evidence that leads her to suspect the condemned man is innocent and the real killer is still free. Even worse, her prime suspect has a young daughter who's at terrible risk. With no money and no time to spare, Susan sets out to uncover the truth before an innocent man gets executed and another little girl is killed.

Former international flight attendant Annie Taylor is embracing her country roots and racing toward a future with her sustainable farmer fiancé, but wedding plans are complicated by her new job, a mysterious ex-boyfriend, and a narcissistic father. Meanwhile, Annie's old-fashioned grandma, Beulah, is facing a shake-up in the last place she ever thought she would - home. A crisis on May Hollow Road follows a friend's betrayal, challenging Beulah's forgiving nature.

He was the sole survivor when his village was massacred. The boy spends his days alone in the woods, feeling more of a kinship with animals than with the people who took him in but never really accepted him.

Former New York City flight attendant Annie Taylor is adjusting to farm life when her grandmother threatens to tear down the old stone house, unable to finance a restoration after the summer fire. Annie's boyfriend Jake has severed his corporate life in Cincinnati and is jumping headlong into sustainable farming on the land next door. Their new relationship is wonderful - but can it last? As they take steps forward, a paralyzing fear of abandonment threatens to destroy her trust in Jake.

What is Reach!? As opposed to reach, Reach!, with an exclamation point, portrays emotion. This book is about magic. It is about creating something out of nothing. It is about bravely closing your eyes, pushing through your fear, and reaching for something that is not yet within your grasp. Once armed with the lessons and stories in this book, you will have the essential skills needed to achieve all of your dreams.