Showing results by narrator "Stacy Gonzalez" in All Categories

I have a plan. A goal. It never occurred to me how sheltered I was until I played—and failed—a game of Never Have I Ever. Now, I have a list of firsts I want to experience. And there's only one person who can help me with it. Grayson is the complete opposite of me. Tattoos, dark hair, piercings. You name it, he's probably done it. And now I'm on the way to ask him to take my virginity and to show me his world, how he lives, how I can be like him.

“How do I make my user stories smaller?” “What is the right size for a user story?” “What is the difference between an Epic and a Story? And where do Tasks and Sub-Tasks fit in?” Allan Kelly found himself answering these questions, and similar ones, again and again so...he sat down to write the answers and this book was born.

Angel’s View Ranch has always been special to Annelise McCade. Once upon a time, it was her family’s land, until her grandfather sold it to billionaire Wallace Sheridan. Now employed as the live-in caretaker, Annie is just trying to make it through the holidays with both her sanity and her niece's and nephew’s faith in the magic of Christmas intact.

In his introduction, guest editor S. A. Cosby observes that writing short stories is “a special skill that combines brevity with wit and cleverness and the hint of the existential malaise that imbues crime fiction with its gravitas.” The stories in this collection overflow with gravitas in the most unexpected ways: a cryptic note left on a windshield, a murder for hire meets a game of Mouse Trap, a swipe right on a dating app goes horribly wrong.

Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate devastation, Indigenous science is nowhere to be found in mainstream environmental policy or discourse. And while holistic land, water, and forest management practices born from millennia of Indigenous knowledge systems have much to teach all of us, Indigenous science has long been ignored, otherized, or perceived as "soft"--the product of a systematic, centuries-long campaign of racism, colonialism, extractive capitalism, and delegitimization.

A year's worth of management wisdom, all in one place. We've reviewed the ideas, insights, and best practices from the past year of Harvard Business Review to keep you up to date on the most cutting-edge, influential thinking driving business today. With authors from Ginni Rometty to Robert I. Sutton and company examples from Maersk to Nvidia, this volume brings the most current and important management conversations right to your fingertips.

Right now, you are conscious energy manifested in physical form. You can learn how to release that energy from the physical body to venture into other realms. This guide will take you on an amazing journey through seven of the astral realms of energetic worlds you never imagined existed. Chapter by chapter, you will discover the limitless potential of the universe, and what lies beyond will be revealed. From the home of spirit guides to the masters of the multiverse, you will learn how to explore them all through soul travel.

Equipped with a burner phone and a new job, Cassie Peters has left her hectic and secretive life in New York City for the refuge of her hometown of Mammoth Lakes, California. There, she begins working again with Yosemite Search and Rescue, where a case she worked a decade ago continues to haunt her.

Dr. Estevez guides artists at all levels and in all disciplines to build a creative life that resonates deeply with their core values, and to cultivate an artistic practice that is joyful and sustainable. She shares her discoveries and insightful coaching exercises that stem from the belief that when we are connected to what resonates deeply within us, the "tortured artist" trope simply doesn't hold. By looking at creative work through a new lens, she provides us a mean to begin—or to begin again—in sustaining ways.

If there's no place like home, that's more than okay for Mara Makinen. In fact, she prefers it that way. Going back to the place where she made the worst mistake of her life? Not ideal. So when a family emergency forces Mara to return home to her small lake town in Maine after seven years, she knows there's only one way she'll get through it unscathed: avoid Ambrose King at all costs. But that might prove difficult considering he lives right across the street.

October 2021. Whitney Lyn Allen’s happiness came screeching to a standstill. Stunned by her husband Ryan's rare allergic reaction to a bee sting, the 35-year-old felt hopeless after Ryan succumbed to irreversible brain damage. With his unexpected death leaving a massive gap in their close-knit family, she feared she would never be enough to raise their two young boys.

One hot summer night, Lourdes, Fernanda, Ana, Perla, and Pauline hold a séance. Their tipsy laughter turns to terror when the flames burn straight through their prayer candles and Fernanda starts crawling toward her friends and chanting in Nahuatl, the language of their Aztec ancestors. Over the next few weeks, Fernanda starts acting strangely—smearing herself in black makeup, shredding her hands on rose thorns, sucking sin out of the mouths of the guilty. The local priest is convinced it's a demon, but Lourdes suspects it's something else—something far more ancient and powerful.

For Amelia Rose Grayson, there was only ever one love: Cal Hollister. When Cal, a police captain, is wounded, she’s there for him and helps nurse him back to health. After he shrugs off their undeniable chemistry, Amelia knows she needs to cut all her old ties. She escapes her small-town life and forges a new path, trying to leave Cal behind. But Amelia can't break free of Cal’s orbit. Emotion—and an unrelenting passion—takes over when they reconnect, sending them both into dangerous territory.

All cookies are made with love—even if twenty-seven-year-old Karina Cortés doesn’t believe in the concept. For her, a simple life with no attachments is a good life. Karina is able to secure an incredible job at Singular Cookies, Inc., a small family-owned cookie manufacturing plant in Fort Pierce, Florida. And although the founders of the company treat her like family, Karina insists she doesn’t need or want one. And she couldn’t be happier with her single life. But work and play collide when she meets the company’s hot new mechanic, Ian Feliciano, who stirs up feelings she tends to avoid.

Maximillian von Hansburg, baron of Laudon and heir to the duke of Aquilla, is not having a merry Christmas. He’s been dumped by a princess, he’s unemployed, and his domineering father has sent him to New York to meet a prospective bride he has no interest in. In the city, he meets Dani Martinez, a smart (and gorgeous) professor he’s determined to befriend before their best friends marry in the Eldovian wedding of the century.

Brought to Cuba as slaves, the Yoruba people of West Africa preserved their religion's heritage by disguising their gods as Catholic saints and worshipping them in secret. The resulting religion is known as Santeria, a blend of primitive magic and Catholicism now practiced by an estimated five million Americans. Santeria: The Religion is an informative and insightful examination of an African religion's survival in the New World.

While writing an article for Rolling Stone, Cecilia works to reveal the mystery that has intrigued fans and discovers a classic tale of two soulmates separated by fate and circumstance. Rock star Eddie Vee once sang with his soul, dedicating love songs to Sara Friedman, his inspiration and first love. Now, Eddie takes refuge in anonymity, closed off to the past. Sara, too, has distanced herself from their love, moving thousands of miles away to live the life she once railed against. As Eddie and Sara tentatively open up to Cecilia about broken dreams, she struggles to give them a happy ending.

On Christmas Eve, 85-year-old Miriam Caravasios steps onto the ice that surrounds her seaside estate on Maine's Mount Desert Island. As a younger woman, she used to steal out on winter nights to meet her lover, walking across the frozen reach to their secret meeting place. She knows the way—but not the year. Miriam, her mind clouded by dementia, doesn’t hear the snap of thin ice until it’s too late.

School counselor Lucy Galindo has a secret. To her coworkers, friends, and even family, she’s shy, sweet, and constantly struggling to hold off disaster (read: manage her anxiety and depression). But online? She’s bold, confident, and always knows what to say—it’s how she’s become the wildly popular @TheMissGuidedCounselor. It’s also why she keeps her identity anonymous. Her followers would never trust the real Lucy with their problems.

When six book influencers take a weekend getaway to connect with their fellow creators, it’s meant to be a chance to relax, collaborate, and discuss all of the books they love. But from the start, something’s clearly amiss. From the host’s mysterious absence and an unexpected guest to an odd occurrence in town and the strange and worrisome behavior of the neighbors, what starts out as an innocent and lively vacation quickly becomes a weekend filled with terror.