Showing results by narrator "AJ Ferraro" in All Categories

Police Officer Grace Booker’s life is good - but not quite everything she'd hoped. When a good deed goes wrong, she’s left with Dirty Harry, a raucous African parrot who really hates her. When Harry becomes louder and more neurotic, Grace takes him to the new local vet, Dr. Dani Wingate.

Valentina Rosas has always known what she wants. Mostly. Sort of. At least, she does now. And what she wants is the coveted staging role at Gia, San Francisco. With four years at the top of her class in culinary school and enough tenacity to fuel the entire Mission, no one doubts she is about to land the job of her dreams—including the three-person cheer squad made up of her best friend and adorably overbearing parents.

This powerful essay collection is a natural extension of the #MeToo movement, revealing the interior experience of women after they’ve inevitably been underestimated or hurt—the epiphany that the world is different than they thought it to be—and how they’ve used this knowledge to make change.

Facing summer with her two boys, ages 10 and seven, Pam Lobley was sifting through signups for swim team, rec camp, night camp, scout camp, and enrichment classes. Overwhelmed at the choices, she asked her sons what they wanted to do during summer: "Soccer? Zoo School? Little Prodigy's Art Club?" "Why can't we just play?" they asked. A summer with no scheduled activities at all. The thought was tempting, but was it possible? It would be like something out of the 1950s.

Veterinarian Trip Beaumont likes being a big fish in a small pond. There’s hardly an animal she can’t heal or a woman she can’t charm within fifty miles of Pine Cone, Georgia - except for the irritating and elusive new cop who keeps leaving parking tickets on her truck. Officer Jamie Grant has never liked rule breakers, but she’s especially incensed when she discovers Trip owns the truck that is constantly parked illegally. She’s searched carefully for a quiet, eclectic community to settle down with her drug-sniffing - albeit gastric-challenged - canine partner, Petunia.

Izzy Calabrese wants to make her restaurant a success. She has a passion for cooking and life in general. Romance is the furthest thing from her mind when she finds Mel Thomas crying after being abandoned by her husband...again. She tries to distance herself from Mel, but she keeps showing up. Clients know Mel Thomas as the CEO of her own consulting firm. She's smart, engaging, and successful. Anyone who knows her would never think she's insecure, but she's more fragile than anyone knows.

Life coach Elaine Raitt is educated, elegant, and dedicated to her profession. Blue-collar boi Joey Lang is too insecure to even approach her - that is until her well-meaning but meddling best friend Lisa decides to make Joey a life-coaching appointment with Elaine. A session meant to bring clarity only leaves them both feeling more confused about their purpose in life and love. Will Joey be able to find the strength to chase the woman of her dreams, and even if she does, will Elaine be willing to risk the life she loves for the woman who could be the love of her life?

Maya Vaughn, the hottest young pastry chef to emerge from the reality television machine, takes a turn as a judge on the very show that launched her career, expecting to find a nice change of scenery and a little diversion. A late-bloomer at 42 years old, Shannon Hayes is finally on the precipice of achieving her dreams. She has one shot to prove she can compete with chefs half her age and with much more experience. Engaging in a fling with a judge 14 years her junior would almost certainly kill that chance.

Can the truth really set you free? Genevieve Applegate is tired of her stagnant life and she's ready to make a change by going after her dream job in New Jersey. The listing seems ideal when Genevieve scans it, but a big surprise comes at her interview: Out Shore Magazine is an LGBT publication. She's willing to work around this detail with an innocent lie, one she'll keep from her longtime boyfriend as well as her new boss, Harper Davies.

For lesbians in Provincetown, seductive Sable is more than just a bedroom voice on late-night radio. Through her talk show, Nightlight, she is a fun, anonymous friend and confidante, until one mysterious caller attracts her attention. Behind Sable’s “mask,” Murphy Callahan allows herself to enjoy the no-strings radio relationship - she’s mourned the death of her partner for three years - and ignores the growing attachment as their very public conversations push permissible limits.

Sawyer Drake has never known what she wants - except it isn't working in the family restaurant. In order to outrun her destiny, she bounces from job to job - and woman to woman. Nothing keeps her attention for very long. Nothing, that is, until she meets shy pastry chef Jori Diamantina. But Jori has no intention of risking the job she loves and a life she's comfortable with for a passing fling with Sawyer, no matter how strong the attraction. Sawyer has no idea what she wants from Jori, or from life, but she's about to find out - because Jori makes her want to stop running.

In the 1990s American workplace, survival of the fittest is sometimes less about clawing your way to the top than developing good camouflage. And Audrey Rohmer is doing her very best to blend in as an undistinguished middle manager. Uninspired by her job and uneasy about her father's new marriage, Audrey coasts through the work week leaning on her “partner in apathy”–an admin assistant named Pooter–to keep her relationship with the married head of her department from becoming water cooler gossip.

Recent retiree Ruth Singer is reflecting on her life and wondering what direction it might have taken if she'd made different choices. What if she'd had her tubes tied before her difficult youngest child was born? What if she'd run off with Danny Fortuna when she'd had the chance? Not only does Ruth ponder these questions, she lives those what-if lives in her imagination. As the chaos of her real life swirls around her, she contemplates the roads she never took, the choices she never made, and comes to understand how she became the woman she is - and why.

Single mom Celia has three kids, two jobs, and a burning desire to build a better life for her family. To make ends meet while she takes classes in graphic design, she accepts a job as a nanny. Only problem? Her new boss, Richard, is arrogant and infuriating, but he’s also incredibly attractive, and his rare flashes of charm soon start to melt Celia’s heart.

When Rachel shows up for an interview at a law office, she doesn't expect to be handed...a baby. But she embraces her new job - and her pint-sized sidekick - because if there's one thing Rachel's good at, it's having adventures. (Plus her new boss? Totally hot.) Bryce didn't even know he was a father until last week. Now he's behind on sleep and his organized office is sliding into chaos. Ordinarily, he'd hold out for an assistant with more experience and less attitude, but he needs help, and he needs it now.

Tasha Gerome tries to find the funny side of her everyday disasters. It’s just about the only thing that gets the single mother of twins through her chaotic life. Well, that, and a comfy pair of piggy slippers. But not everyone appreciates her brand of humor. Her deadbeat ex-husband certainly doesn’t get her jokes as he returns to town to bother her and the twins. A famous doctor threatens her with legal action over a misunderstanding. And her mother is more concerned with Tasha’s single status than her humor, dragging her kicking and screaming back into the dating game.

Cody Walsh leaves Arkansas for California...Lillie Ellis leaves New York to accept a post as a schoolteacher on the frontier near a small homestead she just inherited from her uncle...Cody rescues Lillie after a chance encounter in Independence, Missouri. Their destinies and desires become entwined as they face the perils of the untamed West. Despite their differences, they discover that love’s uncharted frontier is not for the weak in spirit or the faint of heart.

Welcome to the world of Bay West Social. Twenty-something Meg McTiernan is all about her career when her house hunt unexpectedly lands her at Bay West - a lesbian mecca tucked away in the suburbs of NYC - and her social life is given a turbo boost. There's a pool, a softball league, even a nightclub practically in her backyard. In this loaded environment, finding the right girl just got a lot more interesting.

An early morning hotel fire turns out to be anything but routine for firefighter Reid Webb, as her best friend and partner, Jimmy Grant, dies. Feeling responsible for the loss, Reid vows to look after Jimmy's young son - even if that means spending far too much time in the company of a woman she harbors feelings for.

It always starts out so innocent. A drink, a laugh, a bet. For 40-year-old Dee Harper, her humdrum life is about to become educated. When Dee's wealthy friend, Gail, makes her a ridiculous bet, she never dreams she'll actually go through with it. After all, dating 26 men in one year, from A to Z, is ludicrous. Right? Then Gail offers her $50,000 if she succeeds. Now that is an offer she can't refuse. From Adam the cocky limo driver to Kevin the klepto, Dee learns the hard way what sort of guy she doesn't want.