Showing results by narrator "Lauren Fortgang" in All Categories

Laney Brooks acts out. Married with kids, she takes the drugs she wants, sleeps with the men she wants, and disappears when she wants. Lurking beneath Laney's composed surface is the impulse to follow in the footsteps of her father, to leave and topple her family's balance in the process.

Unprofitables are banished to work camps to pay off their credit. Other tie-men and women look on apathetically. Fair is fair. Everyone knows you shouldn't use more credit than you are worth to the Company. They turn their attention to the next repackaged but highly coveted N-Corp product on the market, creatively advertised on the imager screens that adorn virtually every available flat surface. All the while, their mandatory cross-implants and wrist-worn "ICs" keep them focused on the endless cycle of work and consumption to which they are enslaved.

Janey DeMarco would love to have a sex life – and she has a serious crush on the new guy in her office. As manager for her family's P.I. firm, she knows an office romance would end in disaster. Not only are her parents former spies, but her older brothers are tall, dark and overly protective. Still, a little sex would go a long way to reducing her stress levels, and the man is hot...

When Kate Manchester and three friends discover a homeless boy on the streets one stormy afternoon, they have no choice but to help him. Ragged, hungry and as trouble-prone as an unruly puppy, the boy turns the women's lives upside down. But maybe upside-down is exactly what the women need. Kate's husband is cheating on her. Kimbrielle fears the cancer she once beat may be returning. Susanna is coming to grips with sudden widowhood and Micki is struggling with loneliness. As his troubles threaten to overwhelm them, the friends turn to each other.

A steamy, best-selling tale of Long Island lust, written as a daring literary hoax by Newsday columnist Mike McGrady and two dozen of his colleagues. For talk show host Gillian Blake, the suburbs have long been a paradise. On the radio, she and her husband are Gilly and Billy, local media stars and "New York’s Sweethearts of the Air". At home they’re the envy of their neighbors. Only in the bedroom is their life less than perfect. When Gillian learns that her husband has a mistress, she takes revenge the only way she can. With each lover she takes, her lust multiplies.

Tending to Virginia is a audiobook of one family's most important stories - how they happened, how they were perceived, how they were remembered, how their truth is revealed. In the end, an eruption of family confessions becomes revelation - revelation as legacy, passed down among a family's women; revelation as a family's gift in celebration of growing up, a process Jill McCorkle knows lasts into old age.

Bar owner Kevin Kowalski is used to women throwing their phone numbers at him, but lately he's more interested in finding a woman to settle down with. A woman like Beth Hansen. If only their first meeting hadn't gone so badly. Beth's tending bar at a wedding when she comes face-to-face with a tuxedo-clad man she never thought she'd see again. She tries to keep her distance from Kevin but, by last call, she can't say no to his too-blue eyes or the invitation back to his room.

Here, in her first collection in eight years, McCorkle collects 11 brand-new stories bristling with her characteristic combination of wit and weight. In honeymoon shoes, mud-covered hunting boots, or glass slippers, all of the women in these stories march to a place of new awareness, in one way or another, transforming their lives. They make mistakes, but they don’t waste time hiding behind them. They move on. They are strong. And they’re funny, even when they are sad.

Sally Miyake can't read, but she learns lots of things. Like bricks are made of clay and vitamin D comes from the sun. Sally is happy working in the kitchen at Sunnyside Plaza, the community center she lives in with other adults with developmental disabilities. For Sally and her friends, Sunnyside is the only home they've ever known. Everything changes the day a resident unexpectedly dies. After a series of tragic events, Detectives Esther Rivas and Lon Bridges begin asking questions. Are the incidents accidents? Or is something more disturbing happening?

The death of Thomas and Savannah McClair’s mother turns their world upside down. Raised to be fiercely curious by their grandmother Maggie, the twins become determined to learn the identity of their biological father. And when their mission goes viral, an eccentric producer offers them a dream platform: a fully sponsored podcast called The Kids Are Gonna Ask. To discover the truth, Thomas and Savannah begin interviewing people from their mother’s past and are shocked when the podcast ignites in popularity.

In 1908, 16-year-old Bridey runs away from her small town in Ireland with her same-age sweetheart, Thom. But when Thom dies suddenly of ship fever on their ocean crossing, Bridey finds herself alone and pregnant in a strange new world. Forced by circumstance to give up the baby for adoption, Bridey finds work as a maid for the Hollingworth family at a lavish, sprawling estate. She cares for the Hollingworth children as if they were her own, until a mysterious death changes Bridey and the household forever.

In an alternate 19th-century Italy, Elsa has an incredible gift: She can craft new worlds with precise lines of script written in books. But political extremists have stolen the most dangerous book ever scribed - one that can rewrite the Earth itself. Now Elsa must track down the friend who betrayed her and recover the book before its destructive power is unleashed. Can she handle the secrets she’ll uncover along the way - including the ones hiding in her own heart?

Eva and her husband, Peter, are in Hong Kong on a romantic getaway from London when Peter wakes up in their hotel room to an empty bed, his wife gone without a trace. His worst fears are confirmed: Eva wasn’t imagining things. Suddenly, he finds himself the number-one suspect in his wife’s disappearance, trapped in a foreign country with no one to turn to. He calls his boss, Forrest "Holly" Holcomb, who enlists the help of Catherine, his ex-flame and the enigmatic operator behind the darknet witness-protection program known as the Burial Society.

War has been simmering for generations, but the Legend is about to make the violence boil over. Forces gather from across the continent and even across the world as complex conflicts are forced into narrow categories. For the first time, Tani and her allies have a chance to make a difference, but that will pit them against one of the most dangerous warriors in the world. The Zeitai wants war as much as the Hero, and the result may really be the end of everything. Time is running out, sending everyone scattering in different directions before the final battle.

Jenna is certain of three things: No way is she already 30 years old. Except...she is. Annie the musical should never be crossed with Fifty Shades of Grey. But this perfectly describes the show she's currently starring in. And she can never return home - even if after 12 years her ex-boyfriend, Danny, wakes up from his coma and asks for her by name.

Cat lives in her high school. She never leaves, and for a long time her school has provided her with everything she needs. But now things are changing. The hallways contract and expand along with the school’s breathing, and the showers in the bathroom run a bloody red. Cat’s best friend is slowly turning into cardboard, and instead of a face, Cat has a cat mask made of her own hardened flesh.

Knit me into a cocoon. Help me eat a burrito. Pretend to be a chair at my dinner party. Wrestle a Komodo dragon. Race me in a lobster suit. Author Kelly Mahon posts absurd gig ads online and shares the conversations she had with the brave souls who wanted the job.

Hannah and Libby need a miracle. The PR agency they inherited from their grandmother is losing clients left and right, and the sisters are devastated at the thought of closing. The situation seems hopeless—until in walks Lou, an eccentric self-help guru who is looking for a new PR agency. Her business could solve all their problems—but there’s a catch. Whoever works with Lou must complete a twelve-week challenge as part of her “Crush Your Comfort Zone” program.

When Kate Cleary’s son, Jake, dies at his elite liberal arts college, she refuses to believe it was the suicide it appeared to be. Something sinister is at play, and Kate becomes determined to retrace Jake’s steps during his final days. Descending into a spiral of obsession that threatens her grip on reality, Kate falls farther into a dangerous mystery even as she gets closer to the terrifying truth that Jake himself wanted to keep hidden.