Showing results by narrator "Lauren Pedersen" in All Categories

Former wild child Katrina Bouvet longs to be taken seriously. So when she’s commissioned to create a garden honoring her late estranged stepsister, she vows to make it serve as her redemption. But her high hopes are threatened after she’s forced to work with the grieving widower–the man who broke her heart.

"Love is patient, love is kind, love is . . ." The words are so familiar they almost lack meaning, a Christianese version of "live, laugh, love." Even non-Christians are familiar with the Love Chapter of 1 Corinthians, read at weddings, painted on decorative signs, and preached regularly from the pulpit. But what happens when these verses are taken seriously? What would it take for someone to live out the Love Chapter as literally as possible?

A thousand eyes were watching me. Nobody in the room was talking, and the only sound was a muffled cough from the darkness in the back of the auditorium. Why wasn’t everyone whispering to their neighbors? Shouldn’t they be playing on their cell phones or even sleeping—like normal teenagers? I quickly thought back to high school when I was sitting where they were today. I couldn’t tell you the name of one person that came to speak, nor could I recall one subject matter that he or she would have even talked about.

When Celine Lowry leaves Viewpoint, Virginia for the west with her husband and four children, the last thing she expects is to lose her whole family and be captured by Indians. Thinking that her life might be over, she’s surprised when she gets a second chance at love with a recently widowed man too.

The seafood industry on the coast of Mississippi has attracted waves of immigrants and other workers, oftentimes folks who were either already acquainted with maritime livelihoods or those who quickly adapted to the resources of the region. For generations, the industry has provided employment and sustenance to Coast peoples.

Young widow Eva Vestal assumes loneliness is God’s permanent plan for her life. She keeps busy by raising her son and co-managing the Inn at Falls Creek with her elderly father, but her heart yearns for more. Solomon “Solo” Cotter has spent his life working with horses, but he secretly wants to write a book of the children’s stories his grandfather told him as a boy. He barters with Eva’s father for a 40-night stay at the inn, a needed respite from work to get his stories on paper.

Mabel plans to bring the thrills of volunteering to the masses—if she doesn’t go to the dogs first. When Mabel finds herself sharing a thicket with a dead body while volunteering with canine search-&-rescue, her life has clearly—once again—gone to the dogs!

In Scientific Americans, Susan Branson explores the place of science and technology in American efforts to achieve cultural independence from Europe and America's nation building in the early republic and antebellum eras. This engaging tour of scientific education and practices among ordinary citizens charts the development of nationalism and national identity alongside roads, rails, and machines.

Shiloh Sloan, the girl from the wrong side of the bridge. The girl shunned because of accusations she’d made against the town’s star football player. Now, she’s returned to teach the children of the people who had turned their backs on her in hopes of showing them how wrong they were.

After losing her job of 23 years, Mabel decides to launch what will surely be a glamorous new career as an author. Having recently inherited her late grandmother’s house, she has the freedom to spend time volunteering and writing about her experiences.

Life has not been easy for Marta and her daughter, Jannah. On the brink of losing her home and suffering from a broken heart, Marta has lost all hope. James has never gotten over the fact that he wasn’t able to be a father to his own daughter. When he became Marta’s next-door neighbor years later, he was overjoyed to finally be the father he always wanted to be and has worked on building a relationship with Marta and Jannah ever since. Will he ever have the heart to connect Marta with the biological mother she has never known?

Two girls living a continent apart become pen pals. Quiet and shy, Neyah lives in a rural African village and longs for more time in school, but spends most days fetching filthy water for her family to survive. Bold and boisterous, Abby lives comfortably in a modern city and spends much of her time planning her social calendar. Despite their differences, an unlikely friendship forms, and they discover they have one thing very much in common. T

Mark and Elias Hammond are brothers in bustling Boston. The two brothers have been very close from childhood, and especially since they made a promise to their dying mother years before that they would never be separated.

Englischer Marcy Sutton flees her home in Ohio when problems caused by her husband Scott’s gambling addiction wreak havoc. She takes her two young children to stay at a friend’s lakeside cabin in Indiana, but on the way, the car breaks down, and they are stranded in a blizzard. Marcy and her children seek shelter with Hester and Gideon’s Amish family, whose simple way of life reminds Marcy of the true meaning of the Christmas season.

Marley Brooks is used to receiving fan mail, but when letters from one particular fan take a dangerous turn and a coworker is killed, she leaves her job and flees to Misty Hollow. Her desire to hide doesn’t come easy, as even the people in this remote mountain town recognize her. The letters continue, and Marley enlists the help of local farmer Dirk Mason, former military police.

Delaney Cooper receives a text from her identical twin sister, Danica, saying she’s in trouble. Again. Except this time, she doesn’t want help. She wants her sister to stay out of it. The trouble was too great this time. Remembering they’d vacationed often in Misty Hollow as children, and her sister often mentioned how much she wanted to go back, Delaney (Delly) packs up the camper and heads out to find her sister before their mother returns from her cruise. She had no idea exactly how bad the trouble following her sister was.

1943: The world is at war and the outcome is anything but sure. In the heartland, communities like Caroline, Iowa, must bind together to support the cause. As the war drags on, few families escape paying the ultimate price. But the unity of this close-knit community is threatened by a violent death: a murder committed in the basement of the town's beloved Church Street United Brethren. Everyone, including the congregation's handsome new pastor, becomes a suspect.

Taya Trapp has faced danger before, but never like this. Former special ops, she's now on a mission to keep her niece safe from the hands of her abductors. Her only option is to hide out in the middle of the Ozark mountains, where she meets Ryan Boyne, a crime novelist with a tender heart. Together, they must unravel the secrets of Misty Hollow to bring down a man called The Boss, a task that will test them both to their limits.

As a widow with two-year-old twins and a struggling orchard, Rebecca King's dreams of expanding her business seem near impossible. To make matters worse, a troublesome string of destructive acts around Promise Glen threatens her roadside fruit and vegetable stand, forcing Rebecca to accept the help of her condescending new neighbor, Nathan Mueller.