Showing results by narrator "Melissa" in All Categories

Lidia Yuknavitch is a proud misfit. That wasn't always the case. It took Lidia a long time to not simply accept but appreciate her misfit status. Having flunked out of college twice (and maybe even a third time that she's not going to tell you about), with two epic divorces under her belt, an episode of rehab for drug use, and two stints in jail, she felt like she would never fit in. She was a hopeless misfit. She'd failed as daughter, wife, mother, scholar - and yet the dream of being a writer was stuck like "a small sad stone" in her throat.

Brother Lawrence was a 17th century Christian who had a dramatic spiritual awakening at the age of 18. Seeing a tree in winter, his soul suddenly opened to the presence of God. Within six years he had entered a Carmelite monastery in Paris, where he worked chiefly in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning. He practiced a simple and natural method. He merely turned his attention to the Divine Presence available at all times during any activity. He reports that he was as fully present with God while washing dishes in the kitchen as he was when partaking of the sacrament in worship.

Cupidville is overrun with new cupid recruits, and it’s up to me to train them in time for Valentine’s Day. Too bad I have four mates who keep insisting that it’s time for me to take a break. Juggling my role as the cupid boss, being a mate, and handling motherhood isn’t always easy, but it’s sure as hearts worth it. Let’s just hope I can get these cupid flunkies trained in time.

Simple. Neat. Orderly. A place for everything, and everything in its place. Karmen Handel's life growing up had been anything but quiet and simple. A deadbeat father, a mother who never wanted her, and a grandmother who could care less created the perfect recipe to ensure Karmen built a wall around herself and never let anyone in. When her past comes back to haunt her, Karmen has no one to help her. Until Nickel.

With her career as a Los Angeles event planner imploding after a tabloid blowup, Morgan Ross isn't headed home for the holidays so much as in strategic retreat. Breathtaking mountain vistas, quirky townsfolk, and charming small businesses aside, her hometown on Fern Falls is built of one heartbreak on top of another. Take her one-time best friend turned crush, Rachel Reed. The memory of their perfect, doomed first kiss is still fresh. Way fresher than the freezing mud Morgan ends up sprawled in on her very first day back, only to be hauled out via Rachel's sexy new lumberjane muscles.

Isabel has one rule: no dating. It's easier. It's safer. It's better...for the other person. She's got issues. She's got secrets. She's got rheumatoid arthritis. But then she meets another sick kid. He's got a chronic illness Isabel's never heard of, something she can't even pronounce. He understands what it means to be sick. He understands her more than her healthy friends. He understands her more than her own father, who's a doctor.

Her new job as an on-air reporter in sunny San Diego is a big break for Skyler Ruiz. No more covering small-town softball games or vegetable growing competitions. She’ll be working at the same station as her TV mega-crush and longtime idol, anchorwoman Carolyn McNamara, and that doesn’t hurt either. Unfortunately, people don’t always live up to expectations. Skyler’s hopes of impressing Carolyn are dashed when she discovers Carolyn has little time for newbie reporters and is downright unwelcoming.

Mika's first semester at Morgana hasn't been going well. She nearly killed the boy she likes, and found out she has a rare specialty that will put her life at risk if anyone finds out what it is. Not only is her basic magic still blocked, but she managed to stumble across a sacrificial killing in the forest. Finding out who killed the student and why is the only way she can keep her friends safe. Ethan, Lucien, Audrey, and a surprising addition agree to help her find out the killer and what they're up to.

Join Melissa Bernstein, co-founder of the wildly successful toy company Melissa & Doug, on a journey to triumph over anxiety, depression, and despair - a story she hopes will help others find their path to meaning and inner peace. Now, more than ever, Melissa’s message is needed by others, and her promise to all who journey with her is that you are not alone. This uniquely annotated audiobook takes fellow seekers behind the scenes of Melissa’s transformation with bonus commentary and insights, to help them with their own journeys.

Hannah Glick finds herself at a crossroads in her life. Her community offers her love and support after the untimely death of her husband, but an Englisher offers her the chance of a new life after her unexpected tragedy. Wealthy businessman Trey Peterson is surprised by his attraction to the gentle Amish woman who works as a housekeeper in the Lancaster Grand Hotel. They share a common bond of loss and are able to offer each other comfort and support as they journey through their grief.

One year after the tragic loss of her husband, Mercer Leighton returns home to Rarity Cove to be near family and resume her former job at the St. Clair resort. What she doesn't count on is being witness to a double murder in nearby Charleston's French Quarter. Charleston Homicide Detective Noah Ford is no stranger to the dark, violent side of humanity. Nor is he happy about the lone eyewitness in his investigation being part of one of the South Carolina Lowcountry's most prominent families. However, when an attempt is made on the beautiful widow's life, Noah vows to protect her.

Tragedy strikes Palmetto Deaf School - twice. With one student murdered and another missing, it's up to homicide detective Catelyn Clark to find the killer - and probable kidnapper - fast. She'll even work with her ex-boyfriend, FBI agent Joseph Santino, to solve the case...while keeping her distance. Relationships between cops never work; her parents taught her that. They also taught her that the only one she can rely on is herself.

While a college student at The New School, Melissa Febos spent four years working as a dominatrix in a midtown dungeon. In poetic, nuanced prose, she charts in Whip Smart how unchecked risk-taking eventually gave way to a course of self-destruction. But as she recounts crossing over the very boundaries that she set for her own safety, she never plays the victim. In fact, the glory of this memoir is Melissa's ability to illuminate the strange and powerful truths that she learned as she found her way out of a hell of her own making.

Lucy and Ethel. Laverne and Shirley. Dorothy and Sophia and Blanche and Rose. It’s the women around us who make us who we are, and Chicken-Fried Women is a celebration of them. It’s about the women who raised us, made us, taught us to cook and clap back. It’s the ones who prayed for us, raged at us and humbled us a notch or two when we needed it.

Power Play is a romance collection consisting of Filthy Riches and Scorpio, two former top 100 Amazon Romances that'll run you through a gambit of emotions. Buckle up for a wild ride. Filthy Riches: I’m just a girl, with dreams too big and hopes verging on hopeless. I never planned to become his. Nathan Stone. Fiercely handsome. Powerful. The pull between us borders on primal. Scorpio: Scott Danger. His name even comes with a warning label. Handsome, rich, and sexier than any man should be, he’s pursuing me hard and fast.

Start your winning battle against cognitive distortions with this guide. It’s filled with practical advice and information from an experienced clinician who has helped countless adults and children reframe their negative thoughts and nurture a more positive mindset.

We're programmed to fear getting older…and if you've ever stared into the mirror, wondering where that new wrinkle came from or worrying about the amount of gray in your hair, you know this all too well. You may not feel any different on the inside from how you did 30 years ago, so it can be jarring to see a different face looking back at you…but this isn't a decline you're seeing—it's growth.

There's a killer on the loose in San Francisco, and he's stalking newlyweds. When the usual procedures to stop him don't work, four women, each holding a piece of the puzzle, form a Women's Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case. 1st to Die is the start of a new series of crime thrillers from James Patterson.

When Clio conned her way into the Underworld, her job was to steal magic that could protect her homeland. Instead, she escaped with the rebel son of a notorious spell weaver family. And in the process, she exposed his most calamitous spell, putting her people - and all magic - in peril. Now she and Lyre face two impossible feats: Recover his creation, and do it before his family catches up to them. But when the spell is unleashed with devastating results, caution is no longer an option.

Jace is back in Ridgewater and confident he's over Alyssa. After all, she's moving on with his best friend and doesn't seem to remember their kiss from last summer—the one he hasn't been able to forget. But if she's happy, he's happy. Or so he tells himself. But when his best friend offers Jace a chance to win her back without ruining their friendship, it's an offer he can't resist. One week to charm Alyssa and if he succeeds, his best friend will step aside.