Showing results by narrator "Allyson Ryan" in All Categories

A mordantly funny, all-too-real novel in the vein of Tom Perotta and Emma Straub about a suburban American family that has to figure out how to survive themselves and their neighbors in the wake of a global calamity that upends all of modern life.

Katy MacBain moved to Spellbound Falls with secrets she plans to keep. The newest member of the Fire and Rescue Team, she disappeared for three weeks before arriving on the job. She doesn't understand why Gunnar Wolfe - the town's interim fire chief and her boss - seems determined to uncover the truth of what happened to her during that time. Or why she's more attracted to him than she's ever been to any other man.

When Nichole discovers that her husband, Jake, has been unfaithful, the illusion of her perfect life is indelibly shattered. While juggling her young son, a new job, and volunteer work, Nichole meets Rocco, who is the opposite of Jake in nearly every way. Though blunt spoken and rough around the edges, Rocco proves to be a dedicated father and thoughtful friend. But just as their relationship begins to blossom, Jake wagers everything on winning Nichole back - including their son Owen's happiness.

Historian Jaya Jones finds herself on the wrong side of the law during an art heist at the Louvre. To redeem herself, she follows clues from an illuminated manuscript that lead from the cobblestone streets of Paris to the quicksand-surrounded fortress of Mont Saint-Michel. With the help of enigmatic Lane Peters and a 90-year-old stage magician, Jaya delves into France's colonial past in India to clear her name and catch a killer.

Innkeeper Holly White is decking the halls this Christmas season, but someone is on the naughty list when a body is discovered in the fifth installment in the Christmas Tree Farm mystery series from bestselling author Jacqueline Frost.

My life isn't so bad. True, I don't have a love life to speak of, but I do have a cute house in the suburbs of Los Angeles, a cat, and a quirky best friend. Enter Rand Balfour, a sinfully attractive warlock who insists I'm a witch and who just might turn my life upside down. Rand hires me to help him solve a mystery regarding the death of his client, who also happens to be a ghost. Along the way, I not only uncover the cause of the ghost’s demise, but in the process, I actually bring the ghost back to life....

Caring for young children is one of the most challenging tasks an adult will ever face. No matter how much you love your child, there will be moments filled with frustration, anger, and even desperation. There will also be questions: Why does my four-year-old deliberately lie to me? Why is everything a struggle with my three-year-old? Should I ever spank my preschooler when she is disobedient? Over the years, millions of parents have come to trust the Positive Discipline series and its common-sense approach to child-rearing.

Our prisons and mental hospitals are filled with tragic stories like Tuesday Storm's. Her early childhood was riddled with torturous "games" and violent physical attacks. She was isolated from the rest of her family, locked in an attic with nothing but a bare bed and a bucket for a toilet, and fed just enough to be kept alive. The experts say it's next to impossible to find the soul's light in a dark past like Tuesday's.

While building a wilderness trail for a new five-star resort in Spellbound Falls, underachieving playboy Alec MacKeage rescues a beautiful woman who is being chased by kidnappers and agrees to let her hide out with him for a few days. But when those days stretch past a week, Alec finds himself fighting his attraction to the mysterious Jane Smith - despite knowing the woman isn't who she claims to be. Then again, neither is he....

The Hawthorne family has it all. Great jobs, a beautiful house in one of the most affluent areas of Northern California, and three charming kids whose sunny futures are all but assured. And then comes their eldest daughter's senior year of high school....

Welcome to Wicked - the paranormal sixth borough of New York that's home to witches and goblins, werewolves and necromancers, elves and vampires‚ and former Detective Dani DeMarco. Dani's busy with the grand opening of her family's pizza parlor when a knock on the door leaves her face to face with the stunning yet lethal vampire in charge of the NYPD's supernatural branch - Captain Matthew King. There's been a high-profile double homicide in the Sixth Borough, and Dani's peculiar talent is the only hope to untangle the web of lies and magic connecting the dead victims.

Library director Lindsey Norris is happy to learn the Briar Creek Public Library is the beneficiary of the Dorchester family’s vast book collection. However, when Lindsey and the library staff arrive at the old Victorian estate to gather the books, things take a sinister turn. One of the bookcases reveals a secret passage, leading to a room where a skeleton is found, clutching an old copy of The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Maximilian Oceanus arrives in Spellbound Falls just in time to save Olivia Baldwin from an overly aggressive suitor, only to find himself attracted to the beautiful, if rather aloof, widow. And although Mac has come to Inglenook to get a handle on fatherhood, his newly discovered six-year-old son has set his sights on finding his father a wife. Olivia, however, is busy getting Inglenook ready for its new season, so she doesn't have time to deal with her growing attraction to the dangerously seductive Mac.

In Brave Enough, Jessie Diggins reveals the true story of her journey from the American Midwest into sports history. With candid charm and characteristic grit, she connects the dots from her free-spirited upbringing in the woods of Minnesota to racing in the bright spotlights of the Olympics. Going far beyond stories of races and ribbons, she describes the challenges and frustrations of becoming a serious athlete.

When Kerry Cohen reached her early 40s, she realized she had a drinking problem - just enough to blur the edges of her life that had become a monotony of working, carpooling the kids to school, and everyday distractions. What she also realized was that she wasn't the only one. Lush is a gripping memoir that examines Kerry's struggles with alcohol, a struggle that a rising number of middle-aged women are facing. Wonderfully poignant and relatable, Lush follows Kerry as she attempts to rediscover the awe in her life, leaving mistakes, regrets, and the bottle behind her.

In recent years "recovery" has become a sports and fitness buzzword. Anyone who works out or competes at any level is bombarded with the latest recovery products and services: from drinks and shakes to compression sleeves, foam rollers, electrical muscle stimulators, and sleep trackers. In Good to Go, acclaimed FiveThirtyEight science writer Christie Aschwanden takes listeners on an entertaining and enlightening tour through this strange world.

I've been in love with Trip Wiley since I was 16 years old. Yep. That Trip Wiley. Academy award-winning actor, known philanthropist, People's Sexiest Man Alive two years running.... Yeah. It's not like I'm some delusional stalker-fan. It just so happens that he was my high school sweetheart back in 1991. In the years since, he's simply been The One That Got Away. We just can't seem to get on the same page at the same time. Our timing may have sucked, but the feelings had already been confirmed. Years ago.

If the story doesn’t end with marriage or a child, what then? This question plagued Glynnis MacNicol on the eve of her 40th birthday. Despite a successful career as a writer, and an exciting life in New York City, Glynnis was constantly reminded she had neither of the things the world expected of a woman her age: a partner or a baby. She knew she was supposed to feel bad about this. After all, single women and those without children are often seen as objects of pity. Glynnis refused to be cast into either of those roles and yet the question remained: What now?

A master of disguise, Isabel Roma spends her life pretending to be other women. Normally her emotions are reined in tight - but sexy mercenary Trevor Callaghan has a knack for getting under her skin. The elite operative's quiet strength and raw magnetism affect her in ways she's never felt before, a distraction that can quickly turn deadly in their dangerous line of work.

In just a few years, today's children and teens will forge careers that look nothing like those that were available to their parents or grandparents. While the US economy becomes ever more information-driven, our system of education seems stuck on the idea that "content is king", neglecting other skills that 21st century citizens sorely need.