Showing results by narrator "Kirby Heyborne" in All Categories

In downtown Chicago, a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to "My Dearest" is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate, Quinn Collins, to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she's the person Quinn thought she knew....

Escaping a horrible marriage, Carolyn Connor has no desire to think about men - a vow she's determined to keep while on vacation in St. Lucia. She'll take the Caribbean sun and sea and plenty of tropical drinks with those cute umbrellas poolside, thank you. She absolutely does not need male company, no matter how tan and rock-hard his body may be. Easy enough, but then Carolyn meets the charming Marguerite Argeneau, who is infamous among her family for her matchmaking prowess.

In Fall of Angels, the sixth installment of the Saga of Recluce series, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., introduced the engineer/smith Nylan, the only man among the leadership of the company of "angels" marooned on a high plateau in the west of Candar, and perhaps the one person most responsible for their survival. But the angels are a matriarchal band, and so Nylan must leave his companions and seek a life elsewhere. He travels down from the plateau into the world of warring kingdoms and strange magics with his companion, Ayrlyn, the healer, and his infant son.

Scarcely a year after the events of Cyador's Heirs, Lerial uses his mastery of Order and Chaos, the competing natural forces that shape his world and define the magic that exists within it, to utterly destroy an Afritan military force crossing into Cigoerne. Five years later, Lerial, now an overcaptain and a field commander of Cigoerne's Mirror Lancers, must lead three companies of troops into Afrit on a mission of mutual interest.

The keep of Westwind, located in the cold mountainous heights called the Roof of the World, is facing attack by the adjoining land of Gallos. Arthanos, son and heir to the ailing Prefect of Gallos, wishes to destroy Westwind because the idea of a land where women rule, no matter how small and how isolated, is total anathema to him. Saryn, Arms-Commander of Westwind, is dispatched to the neighboring land of Lornth to seek support against the Gallosians.

Hunter, Autumn, and Summer - three of Kristina Snow's five children - live in different homes, with different guardians and different last names. They share only a predisposition for addiction and a host of troubled feelings toward the mother who barely knows them, a mother who has been riding with the monster, crank, for 20 years.

Cultivation is a struggle through which the weak are forged into Masters. If you want to ascend, you need to heed the teachings of the ancient warriors and the wars that raged across the worlds. The best place for an Exorcist to develop in the world of Nikrim is the Cloud Abode. Millions of cultivators dream of getting there, devoting their youth to the path of cultivation. Those who have already proved to be worthy and have become Abode students continue to strive for more, trying to overcome their limits, and reach the very peak of their development.

From the day they met, John and Elizabeth were destined to fall in love. Their whirlwind romance started when they were young college students and lasted nearly 30 years - until Elizabeth died of cancer. So when John Baxter is asked to relive his long-ago love story with Elizabeth for his grandson Cole's heritage project, he's not sure he can do it. The sadness might simply be too great.

Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was. Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it's just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos.

Meditations with Miya Blue is an upbeat, irreverent story of a wellness influencer living her best (sponsored) life. That is, until a very un-Zen series of events threatens to pull the thread of Miya's calm and unravel her carefully woven world.

The military showdowns, the insectoids, the search for the Gates of Ecumene, and the pursuit of Jiang Dao are all in the past. Earth, too. Kai found himself in a new and unfamiliar world, one unlike anything he has ever seen before. Heavily injured and alone, he takes a new step on his path of cultivation. What awaits him in a world where humans are considered nothing more than ordinary beasts.

The Great Tournament had brought out the strongest and most promising cultivators of the younger generation. However, fate, as always, cared not for the affairs of the mortal world and continued on its business. The Indestructible Tower was opened soon after the Tournament, and the pursuit for power turned into a massacre of the Celestial Plateau's elite. But, a small group of six people still managed to escape. Unfortunately, they ended up in a completely new world.

The magical world teeters on the brink of collapse. The Dragon King, Celebrant, has united the dragons into a vengeful army, and only a final artifact stands in the way of them unleashing their fury against humankind. With established allegiances shifting under the strain, Seth and Kendra find themselves in desperate need of new allies.

Decades after the fall of Cyador, its survivors have reestablished themselves in Cigoerne, a fertile country coveted by hostile neighbors in less hospitable lands. Young Lerial, the second son of Duke Kiedron, lives in the shadow of his older brother Lephi, the heir to their father's realm. Lerial's future seems preordained: He will one day command his brother's forces in defense of Cigoerne, serving at his older sibling's pleasure and no more.

Many bemoan the decay of culture. But we all have a responsibility to care for culture, to nurture it in ways that help people thrive. In Culture Care artist Makoto Fujimura issues a call to cultural stewardship, in which we become generative and feed our culture's soul with beauty, creativity, and generosity. We serve others as cultural custodians of the future. This is a book for artists, but artists come in many forms.

What if your favorite characters came to life? Billy’s spending the summer in a lakeside cabin that belongs to the mysterious Dr. Libris. But something strange is going on. Besides the security cameras everywhere, there’s Dr. Libris’s private bookcase. Whenever Billy opens the books inside, he can hear sounds coming from the island in the middle of the lake. The clash of swords. The twang of arrows. Sometimes he can even feel the ground shaking. It’s almost as if the stories he’s reading are coming to life! But that’s impossible...isn’t it?

Exploring the rich depths of the history of Recluce, Magi'i introduced Lorn, a talented boy born into a family of Magi'i. A fastidious student mage who lacked blind devotion, Lorn was made into a lancer officer and shipped off to the frontier. Having survived an extended stint fighting both barbarian raiders and the giant beasts of the Accursed Forest, Lorn has proven himself to be a fine officer - perhaps too fine an officer. As his prowess has grown, so has his number of enemies and rivals.

Seeing yourself as God sees you is essential to overcoming your deepest struggles, having healthy relationships, living in freedom, and fulfilling your life purpose. Yet most of us look at ourselves with warped mirrors, believing lies that lead to shame, guilt, fear, insecurity, and spiritual stagnation. The lies of our past keep us stuck, struggling with the same issues and habits for years. But according to the first three chapters of Ephesians, that's not how God sees us at all.

The closer one gets to Heaven, the cruel and harsher the worlds and their inhabitants become. But Kai was never the type that gives up easily. He broke free from his shackles, healed all his wounds, and traveled far from the city of slaves in which fate had tossed him as if to test his skill and will. After a successful and very cunning scheme, Kai and his team reached the Cloud Abode. There, they’ll have to either prove their worth as cultivators or perish.

Team Work presents a new approach to creating healthy, fulfilling, successful teams, and it all starts with individuals who put the team before themselves.