Showing results by narrator "Brittany Pressley" in All Categories

While Lula Bell Bonner tries desperately to fit in by not standing out, her wise and irrepressible Grandma Bernice says: Let your light shine! It's Grandma Bernice who provides the joy that balances Lula Bell’s difficult school life, but when this balance is upended, when Kali Keele turns up the heat on her cruel teasing, and when the talent show - that she should NEVER have signed up for - is about to happen, how in the world can Lula Bell cope?

In Beumer's down-to-earth approach, unique format, and deeply resonant message, everyone can find something that speaks to them; it is the perfect read for those who struggle with excess frustrations and anxieties that cause them to question and abandon their faith. Her encouraging language moves readers to consider drawing back to their faith in God and overcoming the fears and negative feelings that are holding them back. Many of the readers of Launch out into the Deep find it to be a healing work.

In rural North Georgia two decades after the Civil War, 13-year-old Lulu Hurst reaches high into her father's bookshelf and pulls out an obscure book, The Truth of Mesmeric Influence. Deemed gangly and undesirable, Lulu wants more than a lifetime of caring for her disabled baby brother, Leo, with whom she shares a profound and supernatural mental connection.

In the town of St. Hilaire, most make their living by talking to the dead. In the summer, the town gates open to tourists seeking answers while all activity is controlled by The Guild, a sinister ruling body that sees everything. Dec Hampton has lived there his entire life, but ever since his parents died, he's been done with it. He knows he has to leave before anyone has a chance to stop him.

Decades after the Vietnam War and Toby’s life-changing summer with Zachary Beaver, Toby’s daughter, Rylee, is at a crossroads - her best friend, Twig, has started pushing her away just as Ben, a new kid from New York, settles into their small town of Antler. Rylee befriends Ben and learns that Ben’s father was a first responder on 9/11. The two unlikely friends soon embark on a project to find Zachary Beaver and hopefully reconnect him with Rylee's father almost 30 years later.

Twelve-year-old Viviani Fedeler, proud resident of the New York Public Library, has her sights set on becoming a star reporter. She’s thrilled when Miss Hutch announces a story contest where the winner gets their essay printed in the New York Times! But then, Viviani gets her first-ever case of writer’s block. As she struggles to find inspiration, the library is hit with a strange mystery involving overdue books, secret messages, and perhaps a spy lurking among the shelves.... Will Viviani be able to crack the code and find the perfect story worthy of a byline?

Unsinkable and wrecked by grief, motherless and aimless and looking for connection, Helen Dedleder is a girl with a gift she doesn't want to use and a pack of friends who are all just helping each other get by. So cut off from the rest of the world that even the internet is blocked (never mind traffic in and out), Rosary, California, is run by evangelicals but was named by Catholics. It’s a town on very formal relations with its neighbors, one that boasts an oil refinery as well as a fairly sizable population of teenagers.

In this powerful and virtuosic collection of interlocking stories, Peter Orner, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, takes the short story to new heights. Through 44 compressed gems, Peter Orner chronicles people whose lives are at inflection points, gripping us with a series of defining moments.

Amelia Bedelia and her friends learn about recycling, upcycling, and making art in this funny story about community and friendship. With Amelia Bedelia involved, there are guaranteed to be a few funny mix-ups!

Thirty-eight-year-old Posey Jarvis is the self-appointed “empress” of rural Spark in Cooke County, Tennessee. She spends her days following every word about her idol and look-alike Jackie Kennedy, avoiding her stalwart husband Vern, and struggling to control her newly defiant daughter Callie Jane—all while sneaking nips of gin. When Posey unexpectedly inherits a derelict mansion from her quirky old aunt Milbrey, she finagles her way into hosting her high school’s twentieth reunion there.

All Virginia Hill wanted was a better life. She escaped her abusive father and dreary, small-town Georgia existence by marrying a man who took her to Chicago. But the realities of the Depression—and her husband’s volatile temper—soon destroyed Virginia’s fragile idea of happiness. With the help of a new friend, Madeline, she finds the courage to stand up to her husband—only to end up divorced and destitute.

Young married couple Gabriel and Chloé have a picture-perfect life. But when athletic Chloé suddenly drowns, Gabriel is left to grapple with the mysterious circumstances of her death. Brokenhearted, he pours out his grief in a bereavement group and is consoled by photographer Emma. While the two grow closer, Gabriel can't help but feel Chloé's presence everywhere he goes. And as revelations about Chloé slowly emerge, he begins to wonder, is Emma really that different?

After the untimely death of her husband, Blair Morgan leaves her privileged life - against the wishes of her father - to work with the poor in Central America. Focused on helping the people of this war-torn region, she's uneasy when journalist Craig Taylor suddenly appears. Blair is determined to keep her true identity a secret, but finds herself confiding in brave and confident Craig. He has an agenda of his own, and when he finally puts his plans into action, both he and Claire must scramble to save their lives - and their hearts.

Are Amelia Bedelia and her friends barking up the wrong tree? Recess just got super exciting. Amelia Bedelia and her friends are on the playground when they hear a strange noise coming from a nearby tree. It’s a tiny kitten stuck on a high branch! It’s up to Amelia Bedelia and her friends to figure out how to rescue the kitten and, once they do, to find the little cat a purr-fect new home!

Charlotte, NC. 1918. Broadway darling Calla Connolly had it all: a rising career on the stage and a loving fiancé, a fellow stage actor. But after his tragic death early in the war, Calla is touring the American training camps, hoping to convince General Pershing to let her tour the French front to cheer the men and honor her fiancé's memory. But her hopes are dashed when she contracts Spanish flu while performing at Camp Greene.

Eleanor, like so many others, is used to watching her famous father from afar. To the world, Hugo Harrison is the brilliant and charismatic tech genius whose AI inventions seem to create a better new reality. But to Eleanor, whose mother had an affair with Hugo years ago, he is something even more intriguing, and dangerous—a secret. When Eleanor’s spying leads her to a posting for a live-in summer nanny job for Hugo's young son—her half-brother—she knows she has to apply. This is finally her chance to learn about her father, his family, and the life that could have been hers.

Grace Williams has her future all mapped out. A high school senior in her beloved state of Texas, Grace plans to move to New York City after graduation to study at Barnard College, and maybe, someday, win a Nobel Prize in biology. When she's asked to tutor Jack Nelson, the star baseball player who's flunking bio, she thinks it'll be just another activity to list on her college application. Studying turns to flirting, flirting becomes secret hookups, and despite her expertise in bio, Grace gets pregnant.

At thirty-two, Jillian Parrish finally finds the courage to put herself in the driver’s seat of her life. Pregnant and recently divorced, she and her seven-year-old daughter find refuge and solace on Pawleys Island, South Carolina—Jillian’s only source of happy childhood memories. Summers spent at her grandmother’s beach house had been Jillian’s sanctuary from indifferent parents—until her best friend Lauren Mills disappeared, never to be found.

April 1913--Belle Newbold hasn't seen mountains for seven years--since her father died in a mining accident and her mother married oil and gas magnate, Shipley Newbold. But when her stepfather's business acquaintance, Henry Ford, invites the family on one of his famous Vagabonds camping tours, she is forced to face the hills once again--primarily in order to reunite with her future fiancé, owner of the land the Vagabonds are using for their campsite, a man she's only met once before.

Told in parallel timelines, Kate begins to live two lives--one in which Olivia resurfaces and one in which she doesn't. In the reality that follows her daughter's death, she maneuvers through every mother's worst nightmare, facing grief, rage, and the question of purpose in the aftermath of such profound loss. She endures, day by day, in a world without her daughter. In her alternate timeline, while she explores a tremulous romance with her best friend, Jason, she finds herself grappling with the ex-husband who abandoned Kate and Olivia years prior.