Showing results by narrator "Amanda Ronconi" in All Categories

Grieving the loss of her fiancé two years ago, Kaylee longs for a fresh start. When she follows her best friend from Atlanta to Hamilton, Montana, Kaylee looks forward to the wild terrain and a new town to help her forget the memories and dreams of a life that will never be hers. After a tragic car accident, Ty Shaw is told he may never walk again. But Ty doesn't easily accept defeat, and through grit, determination, and more physical therapy than any man should ever endure, he beats the odds.

When fragile 16-year-old Hope Walton loses her mom to an earthquake overseas, her secluded world crumbles. Agreeing to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic but also a member of a secret society of time travelers. And she's alive, though currently trapped in the 12th century, during the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Hope has 77 hours to rescue her mother and get back to their own time.

Eff is riding west, away from the safety of the frontier city she's always known.... Eff could be a powerful magician if she wanted to. Except she's not sure she wants that kind of responsibility. Everyone keeps waiting for her to do something amazing - or to fail in a spectacular way. Worse, her twin brother, Lan, a powerful double seventh son, is jealous of all the attention she's been getting. Even as Eff protests that she's just an ordinary girl, she's asked to travel past the Barrier Spell with one of the new professors at her father's school. The land west of the Barrier is full of dangers, both magical and wild. Eff will need to use all her strength - magical and otherwise - to come safely back home.

What makes for a wonderful life? On a crowded Christmas train from Milan to Paris, Amy, an American headed to meet her fiancé, and Martijn, a Finn headed anywhere but home, meet cute. But when their train gets delayed in an Italian Alps hill town due to a snow storm, they, along with a passel of fellow stranded passengers, find comfort and joy in a cozy inn, run by a wise Italian man who forces them to look at the holiday and each other in a whole new light.

Eff is an unlucky 13th child...but also the seventh daughter in her family. Her twin brother, Lan, is a powerful double seventh son. Her life at the edge of the Great Barrier Spell is different from anyone else's that she knows.

In the US, there is a wide-ranging network of at least 370 food banks, and more than 60,000 hunger-relief organizations such as food pantries and meal programs. And yet hunger still affects one in nine Americans. What are we doing wrong? In Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries, Katie Martin argues that if handing out more and more food was the answer, we would have solved the problem of hunger decades ago. Martin instead presents a new model for charitable food, one where success is measured not by pounds of food distributed but by lives changed. 

When auctioneer Wren Morgan begins cataloging the contents of the Campbell mansion, she's unprepared to find something that can't be appraised - a dead man. After the body turns out to be a criminal with ties to a recent jewel heist, Wren comes face-to-face with Death Bogart. A private eye and part-time bounty hunter, Death is searching for the stolen jewels needed to convict a murderer.

When trauma enters the lives of the unsuspecting, it steals from their very soul. It not only robs them of peace and joy, it can take years and decades from their lives while they desperately try to fill the hole in their heart, pretending that their soul isn't leaking out of it. No one is ever prepared for trauma, and no one is ever left unchanged by traumatic events.

In southern Virginia coal-mining town in 1942, Bone Phillips has just reached the age when most members of her family discover their Gift. Bone has a Gift that disturbs her; she can sense stories when she touches an object that was important to someone. She sees both sad and happy—the death of a deer in an arrowhead, the pain of a beating in a baseball cap, and the sense of joy in a fiddle. There are also stories woven into her dead mama's butter-yellow sweater—stories Bone yearns for and fears.

When firefighter Randy Bogart perishes in the arson fire at an abandoned brewery known as the Brewmaster's Widow, Death Bogart and his girlfriend Wren Morgan travel to St. Louis, Missouri, to find closure. They discover that Randy left his badge behind at the firehouse before going to the brewery. But the coroner finds another badge on Randy's body, leaving Death and Wren with more questions than answers.

It's Valentine's Day in Beechwood Harbor and the town is rolling out the rose-colored carpet to host a group of eager singles in an effort to boost town tourism. The sleepy town is suddenly transformed into Cupid's playground, complete with chocolate fountains, bicycles built for two, and a romantic breakfast buffet. Of course, no one loves a singles' buffet quite like a pack of vampires. Only, they're not there for the dark-roast coffee and homemade sticky buns. 

Our media environment is in crisis. Polarization is rampant. Polluted information floods social media. Even our best efforts to help clean up can backfire, sending toxins roaring across the landscape. In You Are Here, Whitney Phillips and Ryan Milner offer strategies for navigating increasingly treacherous information flows. Using ecological metaphors, they emphasize how our individual me is entwined within a much larger we, and how everyone fits within an ever-shifting network map.

Top toy designer Star Clearwater is convinced that Christmas is cursed. What's supposed to be her hard-earned vacation turns into chaos when her mother lures her to the North Pole only for all spell to break loose at her arrival. A heinous hex threatens the entire toy production inside Santa's Toy Workshop, putting millions of children's wishes in jeopardy. If her mother - who reports directly to Mrs. Claus - can't get things under control, Christmas won't be the only thing getting canned.

Lost at the far side of the sun, two pilots, five space tourists, and one fluffy dog explore a miniature planet steeped in mystery. The planet is small enough to circumnavigate in a few hours. Treetop clouds form in unusual shapes. And what's that rumble each morning? Even their remarkably perceptive pup hasn't figured that one out. Will they be marooned forever? It will take scientific ingenuity and a good sense of humor, but these marginally clever castaways stand a chance.

Saying Toby Klein is an unlikely cheerleader is like saying Paris Hilton might be into guys - understatement of the year. But as a Bayport High cheerleader and an undercover government operative, she's living a life that's anything but typical. Being on the Squad has its benefits, but just as Toby is getting the hang of protocol and pep rallies, fate kicks things up a notch.

When baker extraordinaire Leilani Trusdale left the bustle of New York City for Georgia's sleepy Sugarberry Island, she didn't expect her past to follow. Yet suddenly, her former boss, Baxter Dunne, aka Chef Hot Cakes, the man who taught her everything pastry, wants to film his hit cooking show in her tiny cupcakery. The same Chef Hot Cakes whose molten chocolate-brown eyes and sexy British accent made Lani's mouth water and her cheeks blush the color of raspberry filling - stirring all kinds of kitchen gossip....

The authors joined forces professionally when Kathy hired Shannon to be a member of her leadership team. This book describes the transformation they led to convert operations from traditional manufacturing to a lean enterprise. Kathy (executive leader responsible for profitability) and Shannon (transformation leader) share the finer points of a comprehensive change process, the challenges and triumphs, and the real emotion involved during their quest for success.

Ava Dove—the sixth of the seven famed Dove sisters and owner of Ava Dove’s Landscaping and Specialty Teas—is frantic. Just as her new tearoom is about to open, her herbal teas have gone haywire. Suddenly, her sleep-inducing tea is startling her clients awake with vivid dreams, her romance-kindling tea is causing people to blurt out their darkest secrets, and her anti-anxiety tea is making them spend hours staring into mirrors. Ava is desperate for a remedy, but her search leads her into dangerous territory, as she is forced to face a dark secret she’s been hiding for over a decade.

Lumi's life is thrust into seasonal overdrive as throngs of visitors make their way to her family's reindeer sanctuary, eager to sip hot cocoa and visit with Santa's retired fleet. Rumors are swirling that she might be getting a shiny new diamond ring in her stocking this year, but Lumi isn't so sure. If anything, Prince Corbin seems to be giving her the cold shoulder, leaving her to wonder if she's headed for holiday heartbreak instead.

Moving is a major life change - time-consuming, expensive, often overwhelming, and sometimes scary. But it doesn’t have to be! Instead of looking it as a burdensome chore, consider it a new adventure. Ali Wenzke and her husband moved 10 times in 11 years, living in seven states across the US. She created her popular blog, The Art of Happy Moving, to help others build a happier life before, during, and after a move. The Art of Happy Moving builds on her blog, offering step-by-step guidance, much-needed comfort, practical information, and welcome advice.