Showing results by narrator "Mikhaila Aaseng" in All Categories

It's the summer of 1959, and the well-trimmed lawns of Sunnylakes, California, wilt under the sun. At some point during the long, long afternoon, Joyce Haney, wife, mother, vanishes from her home, leaving behind two terrified toddlers and a bloodstain on the kitchen floor. A beguiling, deeply atmospheric debut novel from the cracked heart of the American Dream, The Long, Long Afternoon is at once a gripping mystery and an intoxicating vision of the ways in which women everywhere are diminished, silenced and ultimately under-estimated.

When their parents die at the tail end of the coronavirus pandemic, Louise and Mark Joyner are devastated but nothing can prepare them for how bad things are about to get. The two siblings are almost totally estranged, and couldn't be more different. Now, however, they don't have a choice but to get along. The virus has passed, and both of them are facing bank accounts ravaged by the economic meltdown. Their one asset? Their childhood home. They need to get it on the market as soon as possible because they need the money.

“How are you feeling today?” We may think of emotions as universal responses, felt inside. Using decades-long, cutting-edge research, acclaimed psychologist Batja Mesquita asks us to reconsider emotions through the lens of what they do in our relationships, both one-on-one and within larger social networks.

Lauren Bailey may be a romantic at heart, but after a decade of matchmaking schemes gone wrong, there's only one match she's committed to now - the one that will make her a mother. Lauren is a dedicated first-grade teacher in Idaho, and her love for children has led her to the path of international adoption. To satisfy her adoption agency's requirements, she gladly agreed to remain single for the foreseeable future; however, just as her long wait comes to an end, Lauren is blindsided by a complication she never saw coming: Joshua Avery.

The author, Amy Gallaty, has a new book out, at first prompting Angell and Sullivan to question how far she is prepared to go in the name of promotion. But when Amy attracts the attentions of a stalker and then a second murder mirrors another of her plots, they realize they are up against a cruel and clever psychopath, one who may have a more personal agenda. Working with the FBI, Angell and Sullivan find themselves in a race against the clock to unlock the secrets in Amy’s past before the killer can strike again.

In 1989, the Alphabet Killer, Professor Rodney Boone, murdered eight students. The victims, A to H, were each found with their surname initial carved into their neck. Victim nine narrowly escaped, and the murderer was left to burn to death. Eight years later, rookie Police Officer Rebecca Angell is thrown headlong into assisting a murder investigation. A body is found floating in the sewer, bearing the initial J. The investigators are convinced they are dealing with a copycat killer, but Boone's body was never recovered....

Deep in the dark forest, in a cottage that spins on birds’ legs behind a fence topped with human skulls, lives the baba yaga. A guardian of the water of life, she lives with her sisters and takes to the skies in a giant mortar and pestle, creating tempests as she goes. Those who come across the baba yaga may find help, or hinderance, or horror. She is wild, she is woman, she is witch—and these are her tales.

Alexandra Lange now turns her sharp eye to another subject we only think we know. She chronicles post-war architects’ and merchants’ invention of the mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. In Lange’s perceptive account, the mall becomes newly strange and rich with contradiction: Malls are environments of both freedom and exclusion—of consumerism, but also of community. Meet Me by the Fountain is a highly entertaining and evocative promenade through the mall’s story of rise, fall and ongoing reinvention.

Caught between warring factions, Kaishi and her tribe face extinction. When a burning meteor lights up the night, Kaishi investigates and finds a creature with answers for everything, with secrets that could let Kaishi save her people. All Kaishi has to do is follow Its orders, no matter where they might lead.

For Sera Wheeler, the Olympics is the reason for everything. It’s why she trains 30 hours a week, starves herself to under 100 pounds, and pops Advil like Tic Tacs. For her mother, Charlene, hungry for glory she never had, it’s why she rises before dawn to drive Sera to practice in a different state, and why the family scrimps, saves, and fractures. It’s why, when Sera’s best friend reports the gymnastics doctor to the authority who selects the Olympic Team, Sera denies what she knows about his treatments, thus preserving favor.

Antique-store owner Cricket Crosby’s life is turned upside down when she discovers that the rumors of her husband’s affair aren’t just leisurely Southern gossip. Her plan: hire an investigator; find an attorney; enlist the help of her new assistant, Ruby; and make her husband pay.

Get in. Get out. Get paid. That's the motto for this squad of hardened mercenaries—one they're about to test as they get sent on a secret mission to a backwater world teeming with unexpected enemies. From jungle swamps to deadly caves, secret bases to burning starships, Sever Squad takes the fight across the galaxy in this complete military sci-fi collection of six novels.

When a strange rescue signal comes in, Sever Squad gets the call. They're tough, reckless, and one carries a giant hammer. Except this mission's different: the signal's calling for help, but the planet's deserted.

Sway turns marketing professionals into powerhouses by showing them how to build a strategic framework that enables greater proficiency and leads to growing levels of influence. This framework is the G.R.I.T. Marketing Method created by Christina Del Villar.

Ignos lied. The alien promised to take Kaishi and her friends back to Earth, to home. Instead, Ignos has brought them to its own world, teeming with other parasites that see the humans as hosts, and a potential gateway to their own survival. The Sevora make an offer to Kaishi: join with them, take their technology, and forge a new destiny for both species together.

On Isle Royale, a unique national park more than fifty miles from the Michigan shore and about fifteen miles from Minnesota, a thrilling drama is unfolding between wolves and moose, the island’s ultimate predator and prey. For over sixty years, in what has been known as the longest study of predator and prey in the world, scientists have studied the wolves and moose of Isle Royale and the island’s ecology to observe and investigate wildlife populations.

Following the Sevora's guidance has brought Kaishi and her people back from ruin and into prosperity, but as miracle after miracle pours from the voice in her head to the forges in Kaishi's great city, interstellar eyes take notice. Sax arrives on Earth with a single goal: find the Sevora, and destroy it, along with its hosts. Until, on the brink of victory, Kaishi's life is spared by a strange intervention, one that will take her away from Earth and into a galaxy far larger, and far more dangerous, than she ever imagined.

After leaving Dynas with secrets and suspicions, Sever Squad abandons their employer and makes for a secluded mining world to figure out what's next. An offer to help remove some stubborn locals serves as a paycheck, one that quickly turns sour when Sever realizes those same locals aren't exactly the deadly killers they're supposed to be.

They fought their way in. Now they're trapped, split up, and facing a fate worse than death as a gene-splicing scientist experiments on her newest test subjects.

After breaking open a sinister secret and deserting DefenseCorp, Sever Squad's been invited back, providing they give up the little girl they've sworn to protect. Going home isn't easy, but Sever needs new gear, medical attention, and a hot meal after their fight on Wexer. At first, the Nautilus brings back memories, from familiar faces to friendly concourses. It's almost enough to let Sever relax. Almost.